Some time last year I watched a documentary titled Zombie Girl about a thirteen-year-old girl from Texas who wrote, produced, and directed her own feature length zombie movie. Being that I saw this documentary at the onset of my own writing career, I was enthralled. This girl, Emily Hagins, was doing at thirteen what I was setting out to do in my own life at thirty-one. Using Emily as my inspiration, I made it a goal to start making short films from my stories. I’ve been researching how to write a screenplay, but haven’t had enough time to sit down yet to give it a go. Unfortunately, a lot of my stories will need to be edited to the point they will become unrecognizable because of the budgets I’m going to … Read entire article »

The violent roar of Slipknot blares in my ears as I continue on in my failed attempt to drown out the incessant whining of the younger generation in the room with me. I catch a little bit here and there but never enough to make out any discernible conversation, just the word or two that manage to sneak their way past my earbuds in the quieter pauses of the song. I silently gaze every now and then to catch someone across the room in mid conversation, wondering my own mind what in the world they are talking about. The conversations they are holding in my head are enough to provide me my own amusement. I can’t help but sit and wonder what it must be like to be so young, an … Read entire article »

For the sake of my own sanity – pun intended; you’ll see why later – I’ve decided it’s high time I quit hiding from myself and come out of the closet. I’ve spent my whole life hiding and living in fear and shame of who I really am and now, in my thirty-third year, I have reached a turning point. As I’ve grown older, especially in recent years, I’ve discovered that I really don’t care what people think of me or how they choose to judge me. In light of recent events, it’s become apparent to me that life is too short and precious to live in fear and besides, great things happen when that weight is lifted off your shoulders and you allow yourself to be free. I recently finished … Read entire article »

Wendy, this post is for you. When I was younger, my mother would put me and my sister in Delta’s care and ship us off to Oregon to spend the summer with my grandmother and great grandparents. She (my grandmother) had moved in with them some years ago to take care of them in their old age; and with them she lived until they passed on. Whether or not my mother just wanting to get rid of us for three months was the reason or not, I don’t care. I loved visiting Portland. Come to think of it, I used to have a collection of those little pin-on wings Delta used to give out to unaccompanied children. I wonder what ever happened to them? An e-mail from Delta touting some Fall deals … Read entire article »

So what’s it like living with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?When I leave the house, I have a ritual I have to perform. I go over a list in my head while performing it. I actually say out loud “phone”, and feel for my phone in my left front pocket; then “knife”, and feel for my knife clipped to my right pocket; then “wallet”, and make sure my wallet is in my right rear pocket; “keys”, and grip the keys tightly in my left hand to make sure they’re there; “thumb drive”, and feel for the thumb drive in my right pocket; “iPod”, and make sure my iPod is in my left pocket with my phone; then “paper”, and press my left rear pocket to make sure I hear the slight crumbling sound … Read entire article »

Body of missing hiker found – Crime & courts- msnbc.com:“BLAIRSVILLE, Ga. – A drifter charged with kidnapping a 24-year-old hiker led authorities to her body Monday in the mountains of northern Georgia, investigators said, hours after a judge denied him bond in her New Year’s Day disappearance.” I was playing around in MySpace last night and found Meredith’s page. It’s set to private so you can’t see anything, but I noticed that her last login was on New Year’s Eve and her status was “pissed off”. Obviously she went to Blood Mountain to blow off some steam. My own hiking time up there is to allow me to unwind and get back in touch with myself. Every time I go, I take a lunch with me to eat at the … Read entire article »

Man arrested in missing hiker case – Crime & courts- msnbc.com:“ATLANTA – Authorities said Saturday they believe a hiker who disappeared from the northern Georgia woods on New Year’s Day is dead, and they charged the man who was reportedly last seen with her with kidnapping.” I do have a few things to say on this matter.I have hiked the particular area where this poor girl disappeared on numerous occasions. Never have I once encountered anyone suspicious. Never have I encountered anything out of the ordinary. And never have I encountered any situations that gave me the least bit of a feeling of unease. In fact, everybody I’ve ever run into up there was as friendly as your best friend and always willing to help out another hiker, whatever their needs … Read entire article »

This is Hershey, our Chocolate Lab. She doesn’t live with us though, she lives with my wife’s parents. I was playing around with the camera while the in-laws were in town last week and managed to catch this one. Originally posted 2008-10-13 07:15:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter … Read entire article »

It’s been a very busy weekend. Friday morning, while I intended to skip out this week due to my CYOA obligation, I wrote my Fiction Friday story. I wasn’t feeling the prompt at all, but because of New2WritingGirl’s threat of certain death I decided it was in my best interest to give in and write something. What the hell, I needed the practice. Saturday I wrote my first ending, the ending to my own story, for the CYOA project and yesterday I wrote the other two. My second ending is my favorite. And of course, you’ll have to wait till it’s released to read it. I’m not giving anything away here. I fear retaliation from the Grand Poobah of the CYOA. I can’t see them, but I know they’re there: the snipers … Read entire article »

Sometimes I think I should have become a mechanic. Then again, no. No only no, but hell no. My main reason (and well justified, if I do say so): whatever happens to the car after you’ve worked on it, no matter that it had nothing to do with anything you did, it’s your fault. Ad to that the fact I view working on cars as a necessity (when things break on my daily drivers) and a little bit of a hobby (on my Trans Am), I absolutely hate working on other peoples’ cars. And you know what? Sometimes I don’t have the knowledge or tools necessary to get the job done. I have a big beef with mechanics. Long gone are the days of real, actual mechanics. Nowadays we have “technicians”. Don’t … Read entire article »