So a local radio station introduced a talking point this afternoon of “What is one thing you now hate because of your job?” Most people called in and answered with something that related to their jobs. For instance, a truck driver no longer wants to do road trips, or a school teacher now hates children. I had a few seconds to come up with my answer and I was surprised at what it was.

A number of years ago, while I was between jobs, I a took limited-time gig at Costco. I was hoping it would turn into something more but alas didn’t stick around long enough for it to pan out. My job was to collect the carts in the parking lot and bring them back up to the front of the store.

Costco has big carts, they have to, seeing how the place sells everything in bulk. Well, their carts are heavy as well. So going out into the heat of the parking lot and corralling them up and pulling them up to the front of the store wasn’t an easy job. What makes it even more difficult is the customers. You see when you have 25+ carts, even though they are wheeled, they tend to be heavy bastages. The story provided me a long rope that had a wooden handle on one end and a hook on the other. The idea was to take the hook and latch it onto the backside of the train of carts, and then pull with the wooden handle up at the front where you could also steer the mass by bumping into it with your hips.

People are idiots.

I’m sorry, did I not make myself clear?

PEOPLE ARE IDIOTS.

You see while I was struggling/straining/steering to get carts out from between the cars, various customers would come along and attempt to abscond with one. Never mind they are tethered together or that a mass in motion tends to stay in motion or anything logical. Nope. Forget that. They wanted a cart and they want that cart now.

Never mind that their selfishness is causing me to stop what I’m doing, which in turn is slowing down every other person looking to procure a cart from my herd, they need that cart NOW!

Oh wow. Looking back at knowing where I was trying to steer this story, I can see you thinking that the thing I hate is people. That, while true, isn’t actually where I was trying to go with this. No, where I was going to go is to say that after my experience with people and how they would sprawl their carts in between other cars and run them up onto the cement planter islands, that I would never again do that myself. It’s true. To this day I’ve returned my carts to the proper collection stalls or roll them back up to the front of the store.

Getting those carts out from between parked cars was a nightmare. I refuse to subject another person to have to get my cart out of one of those tight spaces.

Oh, and I do hate people. Not going to deny that.

Self-inflated righteousness?

Maybe.

Not trying to be a Dwight in a world full of idiots?

More likely.

Tootles all.

😛

I’m sitting here with my kids helping them with their homework (and yes farting around on this post in between their questions).

Did I get a nap?

Hell no.

Did the wife find something to bug/honey-do for me? Hell’s yes.

So the wife and I are sitting in a meeting and I start yawning. The person we are with say’s “Looks like you could use a nap”. I nod and say, “Can’t ever seem to get one with all the odds and ends I end up having to deal with”. My wife scoffs and says, “Don’t look at me, I just asked you to pick up raspberries on your way home.” My response is, “Yes but recall that prescription issue with our son? We’ll between my phone calls and having to go down to fix it, it took up much of my free time. Also, you know how you let our daughter stay home from school today? Well, I got to be the one to feed her while you are working.” She turns away and says “Whatever”.

These things add up. Next thing you know there isn’t enough time for “Dave time”.

So, no.

I wasn’t able to sneak in a nap once again.

The prior two days I had other “emergencies to deal with” that weren’t really emergencies so much as them being “crap to deal with”. The wife thinks they need to be handled yesterday so that in her book is an emergency.

Over the course of writing everything above this line, I was interrupted seven times.

Yeah !!!

Tootles allzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

zzzzzzzzz

zzzzzz

zzzzz

zzzz

zzz

zz

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I’m hanging out at my local grocery store with my laptop and doing some story cleanup.

The kids are back in school.

The fires are still raging all over and our air is still bad.

I still feel overwhelmed and in the need of a vacation.

wa wa wa…

Suck it up ya crybaby.

My father came to visit a few days ago [ and with him not being biased in any way 😉  ] asked if I ever get time off? I said when the time is right I will take some time off but now isn’t the right time.

He then said, “Your wife does these day trips, why don’t you?”

My answer was, “It’s because my days off are Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday and with her working full time, my weekends are mostly spent tending to kids issues with getting to school, picking them up again, and then transporting them around between different activities after school. Yeah, I get about 4 hours in the middle but that often ends up being errand/honey-do time. My wife is working during this time and isn’t able.”

The fact that we have 2+2 kids isn’t helping any either 😛

Do you know I walk alone to a grocery store with my laptop? So I can be alone. Now, if only I could find some way of taking a nap as well…

I used to do that, in my car at least. When the weather is less nasty/hot/smokey, I would arrive an hour before needing to pick up a kid and lean the seat back in my car and catch some Z’s. It’s finally September so the weather is going to start cooling soon. I even have a few blankets stashed in my car for these occasions.

On the store’s music system playing right now is the song 867-5308/Jenny. Yes, I’m smiling.

I’m still looking into doing one of those Amtrak trips to Washington DC all by myself.

The thought of being left alone and taking a nap is… is… divine?

Okay, that’s enough of that Dave.

Back to reality.

Not much is new.

Still chugging away at my story.

Trying to not let myself get discouraged.

Doing my best not to let go of that dental floss string of sanity in my mind.

SQUIRREL!

I love that guy. Mark is a truly decent human being. He is, in my opinion, an anti-DWIGHT.

Tootles all

🙂

Where to begin…

…

(Hey Dave, maybe at the beginning?)

…

No, I don’t know if this is going to be a linear thing. This feels more like a misshapen rant.

So… I’m old(ish)

I’m a part of a writing group where I’m the youngest* person.

*(I could be wrong)

My current story, which I’ve been putzing with over the past few years, is A New Day. It’s basically a story of a downed pilot who befriends an escaped slave girl on a lost world. They fight to survive as Jessica’s goal is to find a means of contacting fleet for a rescue. The first 10 chapters dealt with them learning to cope with each other in order to survive while working towards their goals. Jessica becomes ill and slips into a comatose state. The next few chapters deal with Cerbril, the young x-slave girl, tending to her new friend. While this is ongoing, Jessica’s mind is reeling from dealing with the alien poisons that incapacitated her. To put it simply, her life flashes before her eyes. The next few chapters deal with Jessica’s life in these flashes and this is where I’ve run into a problem.

My story jumps to new and different characters that play a part in how Jessica gets stranded on this world in the first place as well as how she is eventually found. No, it’s not all part of her memory as she couldn’t be at every place at once. It is in effect, a new start, an earlier start. The part where Jessica crash’s lands on the planet is actually the middle part of the story. I’m now telling the beginning part of how Jessica got there. Confusing? My reviewers seem to think so. In my defense, I’ve read plenty of other novels where there is an ensemble cast and each chapter or section is played out by one of those characters. This is apparently too jarring for my review group. They are complaining they can’t follow as they don’t understand who these people are. (sarcasm)News flash, all original stories contain characters you don’t know at first.

Do they have merit? Or am I an artist that nobody understands? Or am I being delusional and is my work is to0 scattered? Am I the Dwight that can’t see the forest of suck since all the trees of my brilliance are blocking my view?

I’m not trying to belittle these people, I like them. But there is the saying, know your audience.

Are they the right fit for my stuff? I’m not a romance novel reader and so I’m not going to be the best person to evaluate your hunky broad-shouldered biff story. I had to explain to one of them what a ‘Fleet’ is in the context of the story. This person got confused between the various characters mentioning the word throughout the material. “Think pearl harbor during World War 2 where the Japanese used their fleet to attack our fleet. The good guys have one and the bad guys have one.”

Yeah, I get it… wrong audience.

That being said, my story could still genuinely be a piece of crap.

Enter in my lack of faith and case of imposter syndrome.

What the frick do I do?

Give up writing? Give up on the group? Give up on this particular story?

OR

Stand firm? Know these people are not wrong so much as they aren’t the best fit?

…

This is where I am…

For now at least, my rant is over.

🙁

My son turns 11 tomorrow.

11 years ago I was sitting at my computer when my wife to me telling that her water broke.

Time slipping by… I hate you

*

On a side note, the kids go back to school next week so after a year and a half, I will finally get time for me again.

Needless to say, I sheepled myself into purchasing this book.

It’s Tuesday.

I spent some time up in N.W. Arkansaw.

My family got back a few days ago.

Did you know that Oregon-saw has different traffic laws?

Yes, if you are reading between the lines, I got into a traffic accident.

So in California, when two lanes merge into one, the vehicles in both lanes take turns merging into the new common lane. Not so in this hill-billy state. I learned that when you are in the right lane, you must completely yield to traffic in the left lane and only attempt to merge once there is room. Yep, the hill-billies take offense otherwise and side-swipe you for impeding on their god-given right of way.

Okay, that’s enough of that. I’m starting to get mad again. I need to end this post and get back to reviewing one of my peers’ submissions.

Tootles all

I was left alone today.

I didn’t have to cart any kids anywhere.

I didn’t have to listen to any whinny bitching about this or that.

I’m as shocked as I can be without wetting myself.

I did have to wash our bed sheets as somebody had an accident (It wasn’t me… this time :P)

I did have to cook dinner and went to pick up lunch.

I did finish putting our front yard furniture cushions back together after washing it over the past few days due to “I didn’t do it” some unexplained mud splatters.

So… what did I do with my time?

I took a nap. Yep, a nap. I went out into my backyard and curled up into a hammock and passed out. It was bliss. Then, over the rest of the day, I got about 4,000 words written on my Jessica Day story. Yes, it’s supposed to be called ‘A New Day’ but old mental habits are hard to break.

I’m still doing some cleaning up on it but otherwise, my submission for the July meeting is done. It’s not late. Holly basting bouncing butter balls of bureaucracy.

I did it.

Now i’m at a loss.

Do I keep pushing on and try to get ahead for next month?

Do I stop and smell the freshly washed sheet?

Do I continue looking up random pictures on the internet claiming its all part of my novel/blog research?

I don’t know…

I looking up at the skyline and watching as some huge cloud is drifting by off in the horizon. It’s cool watching it.

I am… at least for the moment… at peace.

F-Ya!

I can hear sirens going off in the distance. Hope it isn’t serious. My neighbor walked by a moment ago and I chated with her about how our lives are going. Four years flashed before my eyes and I missed it. Her youngest daughter graduated from UC Irvine. I recall her heading off to college and now here I am, four years later.

Ughhh….

Focus on the cloud Dave.

A couple of days ago Amazon had their prime day sales event. I bought myself something, go ahead a guess what it was. I’ve already mentioned it above. Did you guess hammock? That’s it, I bought myself another hammock. Only this one isn’t a backyard one on an aluminum stand. This one is a larger two person one with an under blanket which is used for sleeping in overnight.

Yep, my big splurge was all about relaxing.

Will I use it? I sure hope so. I do use the other two in my backyard, when time allows. I do plan on using this one as well should my life change in such a way that people stop peeing and learning how to fix their own meals.

One day at a time Dave, one day at a time.

Just because you got a single day off to enjoy yourself doens’t mean you get to go thinking it’s going to happen again.

I haven’t done this in a while…

<Commercial Break> *FU Dwight* </Commercial Break>

And now back to the program.

What else is there to talk/rant about?

Hey Dave, enjoy that cloud again.

Okay…

It’s getting darker, not because of rain but because of the setting sun. It’s as of this very moment, 8:21pm. I live in the Sacramento area of California and today is June 24th. The days from this point forward are going to start getting shorter again. (silent yippie as I’m not a summer person.)

What can I make out of the cloud using my imagination? The whole thing sorta looks like a backwards swimming dolphin. The tail is the leading edge.

And now it no longer does.

Am I rambling?

Yes, yes I am.

It’s my time right now. It’s my day off.

The dolphin looks like it got a labotamy with the top part of its head now missing/blown away.

Its buthole region is being illuminated by the setting sun so it’s looking even weirder.

Its changing again.

Next thing I know my own kids are going to be graduating from their next stages of life and I’ll be once more wondering where did the time go. Did I waste it all gazing at cloud buttholes?

Yeah, I said it. Cloud buttholes.

It really happened.

I never really had made up my mind on the title but this one fits. The story was still being crafted when I was calling it by its earlier(beta) name.

What else…

I’m currently sitting on the throne, with a laptop, after the family took me out for dinner to the Olive Garden. It’s fathers day today. I’m betting some of you don’t want to know these kinds of details. It’s alone time so I’ll take it.

** This just in ** the wife came in and banged on the outside of my door bitching about us needing a new water hose nozzle for our front yard.

Ughhh…

Time to finish up and head back out because somebody is getting pissy about not being able to handle a hose without spraying themselves in the face.

Tootles…

Hey Dad…

Hey Dave…

Do we have any…

How do I…

I can’t find…

We need more….

Don’t forget we have…

Where is the…

My life.

I’m sitting out in my backyard after cooking dinner for the family. Earlier I had asked the kids what they wanted, and they said salmon, so I picked some up because they requested it.

That dinner, aside from me taking my portion, sits on the counter getting cold.

I gave up on trying to edit/review one of my friend’s submissions as I keep getting interrupted.

I HATE BEING INTERRUPTED CONSTANTLY.

I can’t focus. As soon as I get myself focused once more on what is before me, I get interrupted yet again.

Can you help me…

We ran out of toilet paper…

I can’t open…

When is…

Were out of…

Can I…

PERSON is hitting me…

All of that, in my ‘little’ head, comes across as… “You look you’re trying to do something, time to screw that up.”

And now the kids want to go into the pool. Guess I’ll put away my laptop and go grab my waterproof *paperwhite.

*(This of course brings its own issues where I’m going to find myself reading the same paragraph over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over…)

Tootles (to my sanity)