• Archive for September, 2017

    Frustration and Perspective

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    I spent all day studying and prepping to try and write a short story that is supposed to be finished and in final draft form on Tuesday- and I could not write anything tonight. I felt angry. I felt like giving this writing nonsense up. What’s the point. I can’t write when I need...

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    Snooze and Study

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    Instead of going out and partying down after work tonight like I usually do on a Friday night, I came home and collapsed in the recliner for a while. Halfway in and out of slumber, I watched the end of Breakfast at Tiffany’s on a local over-the-airwaves movie station- a film which I don’t...

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    When The Sneezes Came

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    Tonight I am nursing a mildly sore throat and a runny nose after a day of sneezing here and there. I was fine when I got up, but early on I sneezed once. And then once I got to work, early in the day, I sneezed three times in rapid succession. And not more...

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    I Almost Cried

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    Tonight it rained, and while she didn’t look a day older, my sister turned a calendar year over, welcoming a new number to the sum symbol of her years, and she still acted the same, strong and confident and concerned and striving, happy and thoughtful and mostly content. The cats yawned when I came...

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    Writing Is Fighting

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    After the whirlwind Wisconsin trip this weekend, I enjoyed going to the third class of Gish’s Short Story writing workshop. The more time I spend around him in that class, the more I realize how little I know about so many aspects of writing, and particularly in its technical dimensions. Gish is great at...

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    The Beginning of the End: Milwaukee

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    The beginning of the end of this weekend’s quick trip began at 4 AM Milwaukee time this morning, which I think calculates to 2 AM last week Albuquerque time. Scott and I stayed at a hotel by the airport, so I was in the airport by 4:35, but I still cut it close to...

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    A Quick Trip: Milwaukee

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    My brother had warned me: one of his company’s owners was making two tickets to the Cub-Brewers game today available last Wednesday through a drawing. If he won them by chance, we had a decision to make. And on Wednesday, he called me- he had won the tickets. I looked into airfare prices on...

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    Starting A Story

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    For the short story class I am in, part of our work obligation is the expectation that each student will write a short story during the month’s class time. We meet together for four weeks and read an acclaimed story each week and talk about it, and we talk about what goes into creating...

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    Gotta Have The Magic

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    Two weekends ago, the Cubs played their closest challenger to the National League Central division crown, the Milwaukee Brewers, in a weekend series at home in Chicago. The weekend began and ended with no changes in the Cubs’ win column, and at the end of it, Milwaukee was three games closer to taking the...

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    Cosmic Vacuum

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    When I was younger, I wanted to be a preacher. I think I loved people pretty well back then, for the most part. I didn’t expect a lot from others. I didn’t demand a lot from them. I had a decent policy of “care, don’t compare.” You can’t love well if you spend your...

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    The Unmechanic Fixes: A Blinker Unit

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    Tonight was another enjoyable adventure in auto repairs, the Unmechanical Way. I mentioned in an earlier post that when I had driven up to check out Monument Valley in early August, I was driving on a rutted road in some back country around the park when I got out of my truck to take...

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    Herbert and Hillerman

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    After about two months of listening to the audio book while I drove to and from work and out about twon and on a few day trips, I finally finished one of the more hefty- and meaty- books I’ve read in a long time. “Dune” by Frank Herbert is considered by some to be...

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    The Wonder of Words

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    When it comes to creativity, it’s always perplexing to me why you can produce something worthwhile or even fairly easily one day and have such struggles on other days. Creativity truly is mysterious. And it is also the case when you create something that you might think is mediocre or insignificant, only to discover...

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    Visit of the Magi

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    When a mostly young Father Sophos assumed his post as the shepherd of the East Main Catholic Mission, he was surprised to discover that his new position came with a building, but no congregation. For some reason it was still in the books as a Catholic parish, but aside from his paid secretary and...

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    Riff Raff

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    It is getting late and I’ve written nothing, so here is generic words, September 16, 2017 edition. It was a week ago that the girl cat started acting weird and frozen and she quit eating for a few days. That was a week ago. Now she is back to her talkative, hungry self. I...

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    Photo Practice

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    This evening after work, it was as good a time as any to mess around with the camera and try to make some progress understanding how to use it. The truth is, when it comes to taking photos and processing photos, I am still a hack. I am enjoying and growing more comfortable with...

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