22

 22 years of this nonsense!

A New Computer

 We bought a new computer.  For the business.  I'm just test driving it.  Seeing how it types.  Seeing how quickly it moves around the world wide web.  

It moves quickly.  

Much more quickly than my old computer.  

The 2024 Read List, So Far

 Well, we're halfway through 2024....time flies when you're...something something.

Actually, it has been kinda fun.  Driving a lot of routes with the family business myself.  Lot more time to listen to books (and music, and podcasts).   Getting into the list for the year:

January

The Wishing Pool, and Other Stories  by Tananarive Due

A collection of short stories, which seems to be Due's true expert medium.  I've liked her novel work, but her earlier collection Ghost Summer was one of my favorite collections in years.  And I liked Wishing Pool even better.  Ranging across a handful of genres, there's not a stinker in the bunch.  Particularly effective, though were the dark speculative story "The Biographer" and the titular "Wishing pool" which hits home with Twilight Zone impact.  I also particularly enjoyed a pair of stories about Nayima, a survivor of plague that hits in the near future.  

This was a good read.

Practical Demonkeeping  by Christopher Moore

I read this almost entirely at the tire shop, when I had to get them replaced.  Moore's first novel, and one of his only that I hadn't read to this point.  Fun, though I had to look at publication date (1992), when it went so out of the way to make fun of a character communicating with someone communicating via modem....out of place in 2024, as Moore has maintained one of the most pleasing online presences among authors I follow.  Fun read.....

Ghosts of South Carolina by Tally Johnson

Snow Day read.  A gift from my buddy Dino.  Focuses more on the history and verifiable facts around stories being passed down in communities than on building suspense, which was a pleasant surprise, to be honest.  

Thunderbolts: Justice, like Lightning    by Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern, Mark Bagley

I don't normally include my comic reading in my book list, but out of all the Marvel superhero stuff of the last 60 years, this is probably my favorite.  Just your everyday story of villains masquerading as heroes, and then finding that they are suited to heroing.  Checks a couple boxes of stories that'll catch my interest....redemption arcs and people finding their niche.  There's probably no better writer for capturing the thematic essence of Marvel's stories through the years than Kurt Busiek.  I dig the epic collections in general, and this one in particular.

Bulfinch's Mythology  by Thomas Bulfinch

I'd been thumbing through this copy since September of 2023, when Mom was first put in the hospital for stroke treatment.  I finished it while snowed in at Mom's in a rare snow and ice event in January.

February

Head On by John Scalzi

The work listen.  A follow up to Scalzi's Lock In.  I was discussing Scalzi with a buddy who'd picked up a couple of his books, and I said that I dig Scalzi's SF concepts, and his humor often hits that same circle on the Venn Diagram Dartboard that Douglas Adams Did....sometimes the darts miss, especially in the dialog, which tends toward geek humor a little too strongly for my tastes sometimes.

This one wandered that way a bit, but I still enjoyed the story, and the concept of avatar bots beating the hell out of each other for points was enjoyable.....

Dark Tower VI: the Song of Susannah    by Stephen King

Part of the continuing project.  This was one of the books I was concerned about when I began my chronological read-through way back in 2017.   I don't dislike books 6 and 7 of the Tower, but I don't enjoy them, especially as much as I do the first 4 books.  Part of it comes in the length of time between volumes.  Each preceding volume has its own feel, as King's tendencies as a writer and concerns as a human being change over time.  Books 6 and 7 felt in 2004 like extensions of book 5, in many ways.  

I didn't hate it, but it's still not great.  There are character moments I enjoy:  Eddie taking the reins once he and Roland start tromping around 1977.  And I thought the interplay between Mia and Susannah was interesting, but could have used time in the oven.

King's insertion of himself into the story felt out of place in 2004....it's not as bad in 2024, and I think the inclusion of his journal adds something to the story itself.

The Breach  by Nick Cutter

The second of Cutter's I've read....and a sharp decline from The Troop.  I didn't enjoy this one.

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

The work listen, read by Andy Serkis, which ended up being a real treat.  While is performance was painted a bit by some of the performances in Jackson's movies (his Boromir and Gimli are lifted pretty much from Sean Bean's and John Rhys Davies' performances), he interpretations of the songs and lilts of some the accents brings much of the story to life.  I have a weird relationship with Tolkien....I love the story, and the attention to history, but the digressions in the story itself can tire me out.  Still, it's a hell of a good book.....

March

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest     by Ken Kesey

A re-read, though it may as well have been the first time.

I read this for a 20th Century Lit class the same semester I had ridiculous reading lists across 5 or 6 classes.  It was simply one of 22 or 23 books I'd read that semester.

Simply put, it's one of the best books I've read.  And the section with the boat "rental" might be some of the best writing I've wandered across in years.

A Serpent's Tooth by Craig Johnson

Johnson continues to turn a good phrase.  This one wanders a bit more into the weirdness of Abrosoka County than the last couple of books.  For a book that takes place out on the Great Plains of Wyoming, it's got cousins down in the Gothic South.  I didn't care much for the cliffhanger ending, but sometimes a soap opera has to rear its head....

The Senior Girls Bayonet Drill Team   by Joe Lansdale

Was tremendously pleased that Subterranean put this out on e-reader, as their limited edition priced itself out of my hands rather quickly.  Especially when short story collections can be such mixed bags, as a rule.  This one was fun.  I'm all about a Jedediah Mercer story, so the volume's opening tilt with the Wendigo was excellent.  I also enjoyed "Gorillas in the Yard" and "the Hoodoo Man and the Midnight Train."

The Dark Tower   by Stephen King

The story ends like it needs to.  He just rushed the ending a bit.

I'll never forget how mad my Dad was in 2004 when Eddie Dean died.  Dad saw a bit of himself in Eddie.

Catastrophe: Europe Goes to War, 1914    by Max Hastings

Good Read.  Takes Barbara Tuchman's Guns of August and wanders further into the war itself.  Looks a bit harder at its impact on the common man, in terms of both society and at those fighting the battles themselves in the trenches.  I liked this one.

April

Kayfabe: a Love Story     by Dave Reuter

My buddy Stephen Silver interviewed Reuter a while back about this released, and I picked it up for the Kindle.  It wavers back and forth between approaching the stories presented in the wrestling ring as real, to commenting on the medium's absurdities in others.  Maybe I'd have liked a bit more consistency on that front.  Still, the book made me laugh, so I recommend.

The Angel of Indian Lake   by Stephen Graham Jones

I don't champ at the bit often for new releases but I was really looking forward to this one.  The third of a trilogy following My Heart is a Chainsaw, which I kinda liked, and Don't Fear the Reaper which I loved, I was really excited to grab this one.  I guess I've been reading Jones's stuff for long enough now that I can stop thinking of him as a favorite new-to-me writer.  His horror is imaginative with a current of melancholy that few can match.  And his shit moves!

It's always gratifying, too, when something lives up to expectations and pays off.  I mentioned in a twitter comment that Don't Fear the Reaper moved with lunatic speed almost from the outset.    Angel of Indian Lake starts a little more tentatively, but kicks into a high gear that outstrips even that previous novel.  The last 150 pages of the book are a fever dream of forest fires, chainsaws, secluded cabins, bear attacks, cave-ins, underwater towns, crossbows, pervert murders and boat collisions. 

In the best possible way.  Probably my favorite thing I've read this year, so far.

The Road to the Dark Tower: Exploring Stephen King's Magnum Opus  by Bev Vincent

I thumbed through this after finishing the Tower.  I don't understand my own fascination with the Tower.  I guess I'm just glad that other people share the obsession enough to write something like this.  Vincent's book is a good one.  Good take on the metafictional aspects.  Also enjoyed Vincent's impression on the Crimson King, whose depiction in the last volume of the Tower was one of the more confounding aspects of that rushed conclusion....

Infinite Tuesday: an Autobiographical Riff    by Michael Nesmith

I won't lie.  There's part of me that calls the scant few minutes of the book devoted to The Monkees pure balls.  But then, The Monkees really were just 2 or 3 years of the man's life.

Interesting read, with a couple passages into religious thought that I've not read much into, prior to this (Nesmith and his mother were Christian Scientists).  

I ended up being more interested in the musical efforts Nesmith made outside of the Monkees.  I always thought he was a better singer or songwriter than critics gave him credit for.  This volume ended up making me wander through the First National Band and other efforts, which ended up adding a few more songs to the catchall soundtrack.....

A Rule Against Murder  by Louise Penny

I need to summer around a lake in Quebec.

Poor Things  by Alasdair Gray

Picked this copy up for Shyam when we heard that Yorgos Lanthimos was adapting it for the big screen.  Ordered it from England, since there weren't American printings yet.  Amused myself with images of a shopkeep having to fight off cats in stacks of a Dickensian book shop to find this volume, when a google search showed that the book was coming from a warehouse not far from the Taskmaster house in Chiswick, near the Heathrow airport.

The film, I can report, is largely faithful to the book.  I will say this, and Spoiler Warning:  the book's ending (as a poor fool of a man myself) a little cold.  It shouldn't, I suppose.  But then I tend not to shun whimsy, if it's well enough spun....

Quakeland: On the Road to America's Next Devastating Earthquake   by Kathryn Miles

Interesting look at how little we know, seismologically speaking.   The great bulk of quakes come from faults unknown until the point they shift.  Good look at the increase in seismic activity that comes from wastewater injection.

Also a strong look at how ill prepared we are in terms of infrastructure and response readiness.

Also a takeway:  in December of 1990, my school was one of many that participated in Earthquake drills and sat under our desks on the assigned day that a forecast earthquake was to take place.  Even at the age of 13, I felt like the prediction was bullshit, but this was always refuted with the "fact" that Iben Browning was correct on the other 3 he predicted.  

No.  He was not.  He was a pseudoscientific crackpot.

The Colorado Kid   Stephen King

For the first time in a while, in my continuing project, a new one.  I'd tried this one at its publication, but it didn't speak to me.

It's not bad, but it's half a story.  

May

The Imprending Crisis: America Before the Civil War, 1848-1861    by David M. Potter

Strong read.  Threads the needle between the Polk administration and the Mexican War to the first shots fired at Fort Sumter.  Details the political pressures, and various crises created and allayed in that time.  I liked this one.

Supersize Island  by J.J. Walsh

Quick read.  Funny.   Scratches a lot of the same itch that Christopher Moore and John Scalzi do.....

Dead Detective Mountain    by John Swartzwelder

Not quite as effective as a lot of Swartzwelder's Frank Burly novels, but I still got a chuckle or two.....

Sharp Objects    by Gillian Flynn

I'd never read any of Flynn's stuff, despite several recommendations.  I liked this one.  A little pulpier than I expected.  Camille is a fine flawed character, who causes as many problems in her investigation as she solves.   Props to the book for keeping one clue that I thought was a grotesque red herring, and was actually the key to the whole thing.....

McSweeney's 71:  Horror Stories   edited by Brian Evenson

Starts with a mission statement of introducing literary and horror fiction to each other....it's not a bad collection, but I was ultimately underwhelmed.  Much of what's here is too....clean?  Orderly?  Too interested in setting atmosphere, as often as not, but shying away from the dreadful.  Yeah, I get letting your imagination do the heavy lifting, but every now and then horror needs to punch you in the gob.

"The Noble Rot" was fun.  I kinda liked "The Pond God."  Gabino Iglesias's "Dont Go Into the Woods Alone" is probably the best of the bunch.

June

Business is About to Pick Up:  50 Years of Wrestling in 50 Unforgettable Calls by Jim Ross w/ Paul O'Brien

I could listen to Jim Ross talk about wrestling any day of the week.  And I have.  

Which might be part of the problem.   I'd heard a few of these stories on Ross's podcast with Conrad Thompson. 

Still, a fun read. 

The Demon of Unrest   by Erik Larson

I don't know which of Larson's books won me over to become appointment reading, but I can't think of anything of his I've read that I didn't enjoy.  A good coincidental followup to Potter's book spanning the years between the Mexican War and the Civil War....Larson's work follows the various camps of the nation in the months between Lincoln's election and the shots at Fort Sumter.  

Strong read.   

Cinderwich by Cherie Priest

Fun read.  Heavy on atmosphere.  Was just happening to deliver around Nickajack Lake, the story's setting, as I listened.

Sho gun     by James Clavell

Started reading at the conclusion of TNT's excellent adaptation, which concerns itself a lot less with the size of John Blackthorne's penis than Clavell's book does.

Faithful   by Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan

Maybe the biggest surprise in my re-read of King's work, and in this year.  I enjoyed the hell out of this one, despite having read it back in 2005.  Funny how King's and O'Nan's complaints about that Red Sox team in May and June of that season would match my and my friend Ray's complaints about the Cubs this year (though as I write on July 7, I'll be the loudest to say the Cubs have next to NO CHANCE of turning it around in 2024.....and the way things look right now, 2025 might be a long one, too).

A lot of fun.  And should be considered one of the books in canon of great books about Baseball.....

Batman   by Craig Shaw Gardner   (novelization of story by Sam Hamm)

Listened to this the same weekend, plus 35 years, that the Batman movie was released in 1989.  

Notable for its narrator Roddy McDowell, being either unaware of the tone of Tim Burton's flick, or being completely uninterested in portraying it in his narration.  His portrayal is almost that of a more straightlaced adaptation of the 60's television series.....

The Nineties: a Book   by Chuck Klosterman

Nice sociological look at an American Era, where we as a culture were casting about for some meaning as the Cold War ended, and Generation X began to take the reins of popular culture.  Interesting because the 90's were my teenage and college years, and I too was casting about for some meaning.  Good read.....

Lapvona   by Ottessa Moshfegh

After the passing of Cormac McCarthy, Moshfegh might be my favorite user of the English language.   Her books are uncomfortable....vaguely sad....uproariously funny....grotesque.

This was is a bit of a departure, while being completely true to that form.  A fairy tale constructed out of horror imagery.  It is funny and depressing often in the same paragraph.  

A movie made starring people with the birthday same as mine

 A movie made, starring people with the same birthday as mine.

Rihanna and Trevor Noah play estranged siblings, each gifted, but neither having spoken to the other in at least a decade.  Their father is assassinated.  The father was was a gifted crimefighter, who often wandered into the gray areas to get things done.  He is played, using archival footage, by Sidney Poitier.  

Rihanna has become a fixer for the biggest mob family on the East Coast.  That mob is led by Chelsea Peretti.

Trevor Noah is a gifted cop for the NYPD.  His captain, who can't handle Noah's mile-a-minute banter, is NBA legend Charles Barkley.

The assassin is French Stewart.  Playing himself.  Sick of playing comedic roles his career.  

The soundtrack features work by Rihanna, Chris Thile, Olivia Rodrigo and the late Kurt Cobain.....

Time, and How it Flies

 38 years ago, the space shuttle Challenger exploded off the coast of Florida.

It was a snow day, in my little town in Tennessee.  My mother, who was a teacher, took my me with my sister to my sister's regular babysitter.  I'm not sure if my Mom went to school anyway to get work done, or just wanted a house without kids in it.  But I was at the house of a lady named Eleanor, and I was 8 years old, and obsessed with the space program.  The obsession was even stronger, since we'd had classroom material about Christa McAuliffe, the teacher who was going into space.  

I'm 46 now (almost 47!) and not nearly as obsessed with the Space Program as once I was.  But it's one of those moments and days I'll always remember.  Sitting in the den of Eleanor's home, even after the younger kids had been put down for a nap, watching the news unfold over the course of the day....

That might have been my first dealing with media saturation.  Or fatigue.  I remember going home and being somewhat aggravated that it was still the only thing on the television, and lamenting thus to my mother, who suggested going to read a book.  This being, of course, the days when we had only 4 channels, and I think the Challenger disaster predates my family's getting a VCR by a year or two.  

Anyway.  

I'm writing.  Or trying to.....

Mmmmm.....beans.....

 That's a good deal.....

2023 Reading Roundup

Back in November, I'd said I wanted to blog more. Truth be told it's a low bar since I had, what, 7 posts last year?  

2023 began with a real punch in the gut, and a pretty big life change.  Still dealing with it I guess.  The quiet times were harder.  Sometimes I didn't have an attention span to read.  Then, Mom had a stroke in September, and working with that ate in to some of that spare time.  Still, got a little bit of reading done this year:

January

Light in August    by William Faulkner.

I've always listed Faulkner as a favorite, but I just hadn't read anything of his in four or five years.  Pulled this one off the shelf.  Originally read as part of Dr. Kerrick's American Lit (or perhaps his Southern Lit) class.  This one's brutal.  And oddly funny.  Calling something "the most human" of somebody's work isn't a great descriptor, but this one seems the largest and most complete examination of humanity, in Faulkner's world.  It's a favorite.  

Secret Windows: Essays and Fiction on the Craft of Writing    by Stephen King

A companion piece to On Writing which I read in late 2022, it was a Book of the Month Club selection way back when.  Part of the continuing project.  Mostly a collection of forewords with a couple of essays and articles thrown in.  On its own, it's not much special, but I do like it as a companion piece.....

Bullet Train  by Kitaro Isaka

The novel on which the Brad Pitt flick (which I liked rather a lot) is based.  More philosophical, and definitely less Looney Tunes than the film adaptation, I kinda liked it.

The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command   by Edwin Coddington

This came from the library of my late friend Kevin Britton.  Kevin passed a year ago (give or take a day) in a motorcycle accident.  He, our friend Eric and I had gotten together only a week prior at a Tennessee Smokies baseball game.  Late in the year, Eric gave me this....it came from Kevin's library.  It was fitting, because it seemed like Kevin and I would trade books once a year, and end up reading a couple more based on the recommendations of the other.

As for the book, it's dry, but fascinating.  A strong look at the political and pragmatic pressures on all bodies involved with directing the battle.....

February

K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches   by Tyler Kepner

I dug this one.  I learned a bit, which is impressive, considering that I think I know everything about baseball.....

Glitches and Stiches   by Nicole Givens Kurtz

A bit of Cybernoir.  A gift from my buddy Dino.  Cyberpunk, in general, isn't my cup of tea, but this one was grounded enough as a noir-ish police procedural that I blew through it in a couple days.  Big props to Kurtz for her depiction of Anxiety in the workplace.

True Grit  by Charles Portis

Another re-read.  It's turned into an annual re-read, for me.  I first read this back in the 80's....my Great Aunt Mae gave me a box of books that had been sitting in a closet at her house.  There were a lot of 60's and 70's TV and film adaptations, along with a handful of James Blish's Star Trek Readers, Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, and a copy of True Grit.  I read it, but in all honesty, it didn't leave a huge impression, except for a couple of images (Rooster Cogburn kicking the boys off the porch for taunting a mule; and the finger chopping scene, both of which matched up very well with the Coens' depiction in their film adaptation).  It's absolutely a helluva read.  Highly recommended.

Number One Walking    by Steve Martin and Harry Bliss

A Christmas gift from my mom, it's a graphic novelesque look at his career, mostly after Standup.....

March

Get Ready: A Champion's Guide to Preparing for the Moments That Matter  by Buzzy Cohen

Buzzy's book had popped up in a couple places, but I decided to listen to it after hearing him talk about it on the Jeopardy podcast.  Not a bad listen, and not as Jeopardy-centric as I'd thought going in.  Good primer in prepwork, especially valuable for those not used to it.  I like to think of it as a bit of a Type A Primer for Type B personalities.

The Grand Scheme of Things by Ian Strang

I've followed this guy on Twitter for a while, and he's a funny cat.  Picked up his book, which I enjoyed.  It was  bit long, but on the whole, I dug it.

The Stand  by Stephen King

I've been doing a chronological read-through of King's work, and I'd not wanted to double back, but for some reason, The Stand has a way of pulling me out of a funk.  Add to that, I'm not a great fan of the stuff that King first put out after his van accident, so I jumped into this one.  Thoughts this time around?  Franny sure gets the short end of the stick in the last 1/3 of the novel....she's largely the heart of the book, if not its conscience.  She's relegated to backup character by the time Stu and company wander out to Las Vegas.....

Wait for Signs  by Craig Johnson

A collection of short stories surrounding Walt Longmire.  Shyam made this one our route listen.

April

The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud

I think it's my favorite thing I've read this year.  A bit of True Grit meets The Martian Chronicles, run through Ballingrud's Weird Horror filter.  I give this one a high recommendation.

The Cruellest Month    by Louise Penny

Another series Shyam has gotten me into.  I don't know why I keep coming back to the Inspector Gameche books, but there's something affirmative in Gameche's kind nature.

Bone in the Throat    by Anthony Bourdain

It's not bad, but it can't seem to find a balance that it's comfortable with between humor and gravity.  In my head, I'd cast Brad Garrett as Tommy's Uncle, using his Jimmy John's commercial persona.  His final outcome was great.....

Hell's Angels: a Strange and Terrible Saga    by Hunter S. Thompson

I've had this on my shelf for 25 years, buying it during my initial HST phase.  I read 6 or 7 of Thompson's books in that wave, but not this one, for some reason.  Pulled it off the shelf and read it.  Not bad.  It's probably Thompson at his most journalistic, though he admits that he didn't know if it were researching or slowly getting absorbed during his travels. 

The Donut Legion   by Joe R. Lansdale

Without meaning it to, this became my doctor waiting room book.  Between visits for myself and my Mom, I read this in four different appointment sittings.  Good southern-fried romp from Joe.  Doesn't set the world on fire...well, except for one plot point.....

May

Dreamcatcher    by Stephen King

Part of the continuing project.   I didn't care for this one when it came out, and I cared for it less the second time around, in 2023.  

It's not bad, necessarily, so much as it feels like two or three novel ideas welded together.  Part of me always wondered if the genesis of the idea didn't come in the 70's or 80's, when a sort of constant background antagonist were the government agents employed at "The Shop."

I will note that this was written largely during his recuperation from that van accident.....

Shoeless Joe    by WP Kinsella

Another re-read.  I'd actually picked up a copy for my nephew, and I decided to re-read it so I could check for objectionable material that I might have forgotten (there isn't much, aside from some sadly casual racism).  The Field of Dreams adaptation is superior, but it does lose some of the Magic Quest feel that Ray's journey to pick up JD Salinger and Moonlight Graham takes.....

Found: an Anthology of Found Footage Horror Stories   edited by Andrew Cull & Gabino Iglesias

A Kindle read.  Read a story every few days for a couple months.  It's a bit of a mixed bag.  Too many "transcripts" as a plot device.  "Green Magnetic Tape" is pretty effective....and oddly, I liked Andrew Cull's intro to the collection very much.

Pigs  by Johanna Stoberock

An Audible listen.  Stoberock appeared on Jeopardy and mentioned her book.  An odd, dark fairy tale of a novel....Stoberock turns a good phrase.

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

A fun read....we listened to this one while going over the mountains to North Carolina for a delivery.

June

Ball Four    by Jim Bouton

Another one that I'd picked up for my nephew.  Another one re-reading to check for objectionable content....maybe there is some, but I read this when I was 12, so I'm pretty sure he can handle locker-room talk.  

There is no better book written from inside the game of baseball.

Bouton is candid about himself, serious and self-deprecating, in his chances in playing for the 1969 expansion Seattle Pilots, and later, the contending Houston Astros.

There aren't many times I'll recommend listening to the audiobook before I would reading the work itself, but this is one of them.  Bouton's rendition of his work is astounding, from getting tickled remembering stories from the season, to getting heartbroken recounting the death of his daughter in a traffic accident in one of the 10-year updates.

Harold by Steven Wright

Steven Wright's non-sequitur ode to daydreaming in school.

Harold is a third-grader, and this novel recounts his daydream one afternoon in the late 1960's.....the timeframe is wobbly, occasionally referencing things much later.  Our narrator addresses such anachronisms simply:  mind your own business.

Hilarious, and occasionally angry.  I was touched a couple of times.  In many ways, I was Harold.  In some, I still am.

She Rides Shotgun   by Jordan Harper

The route listen.   Well put together.

Lock-In   by John Scalzi

A romp.   I'm hit or miss on Scalzi, to be honest.  I love his SF, but occasionally the geek humor will start grating on me (Red Shirts is one that Everybody seems to love, but I've tried it a couple of times and not gotten through it).  This one was fun, though.  Interesting premise.  Decent enough mystery.  I kinda liked it.

July

Black House  by Stephen King & Peter Straub

Continuing the project.  I remember liking this one a lot at its initial publication, perhaps even more than The Talisman, which had long been a sentimental favorite, and which didn't hold up as well for me with the re-read.  Written with Straub while King recovered from his van accident, I'd forgotten just how much legwork this one does laying down some roads for the Dark Tower to travel in its final 3 books.  I'll say that it's a lot of fun, and I enjoyed it this time around, but you definitely feel Straub's hand on the pen a bit more strongly than you do with The Talisman.  Which isn't a bad thing.  Just an observation.

As the Crow Flies by Craig Johnson

The work listen.  Shyam introduced me to the Longmire books.  I like the way Johnson turns a phrase. This one follows up a couple of the stronger entries in the series, so far.  It's a step back in terms of pace, but damn does it get funny sometimes.  

Corrections in Ink by Keri Blakinger

I've followed Blakinger on the Twitter for a while.  Her advocacy for Prisoners has led me down a wormhole that's had me send boxes of books to various prison book projects around the country.  This is her story memoir of falling into drug abuse out of a promising skating career.  She goes to prison on drug charges, and works to climb her way out.  Her advocacy grew out of the fact that not everybody she came into contact with during her imprisonment has the ability, means and opportunity to do so.  I liked this book very much. 

Don't Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones

Stephen Graham Jones is probably my favorite writer I've run across in the past several years.  Mongrels and Only Good Indians are two of my favorite books from him, that I've run across.  This one is the second book in a planned trilogy.  The first:  My Heart is a Chainsaw, was fun, but didn't really hit the nail on the head for me.  I'm a horror fan, but for some reason, the slasher flicks and the last-girl mythlogy never really did a lot for me. Maybe it was my mood, or maybe Reaper hits the right gear, because this book hits the ground running at lunatic speed and never slows down.  I had as much fun with this book as I did with anything this year.  Lots of fun.

Breakfast of Champions   by Kurt Vonnegut

My initial Vonnegut rush came somewhere around 1997 or 1998.  I read Slaughterhouse Five for a class.   I found five or six of his then at the Goodwill, and blew through them in the space of a few months.  I have managed almost all of his work since then, but Breakfast was a straggler (along with Deadeye Dick) for his novels.  

While it's not my favorite (Slaughterhouse and Slapstick still top the list), it's still heavy with the surreal cynicism that I dig, but still imbued with a mild, self-deprecatingly dopey optimism that I appreciate, and find more familiar than I'm comfortable admitting.

August

The Beast You Are   by Paul Tremblay

A collection from Tremblay, who scratches that weird horror itch nicely.  And while it's kinda hit or miss (Most short story collections are), I still found myself appreciating Tremblay's poking fun at his own ambiguous horror history, and his willingness to stretch his legs a bit, and to color outside the lines.....

Demon Copperhead   by Barbara Kingsolver

Lent to me by my Mom.  I'd read 2 or 3 of Kingsolver's a few years back.  Both sides of my family have roots in Appalachia, in areas screwed over by mining and timber companies.  This one has a lot of that same background.  And it ended up having a lot of stops and starts for me, because there were several instances where Demon was somebody I knew, or could have known.  Was going through things that kids I went to school with went through.  There were a couple of things that tugged at me, bugged me as I read, that maybe shouldn't have (Tommy Acuff, oversensitive Southern guy here).  Little liberties with geography that muddle just how long it takes to travel in the area....a different view of Knoxville as an Urban Center (that wasn't incorrect, necessarily, but it took a few pages for me to reconcile).  Part of me stepped lightly around Demon have a magical talent (again, I had to remind myself that there are scores of folks who don't have talent recognizes or developed because means and opportunity weren't there.....

Secret Stories of Walt Disney World    by Jim Korkis

Jim Korkis was a pretty regular guest on a couple of podcasts I listen to.  He's probably written more about the Disney Parks than anybody.  He passed in late July.  I'd had this one floating around my e-library for a while.  It's written in bites, which was perfect, as I was spending a fair amount of time in and out of doctors' offices for mom in August....

Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas and the Start of a New Nation  by David Price

Man.  David Price loves him some John Smith.

I guess that's where the love comes in.  

Strong read, actually.  Flows well, with lots of good info and context for the rest of the world.  The small miracle that the colony survived at all, given the ineptitude of management in the venture, combined with the uneven relations with the Natives, over the course of several years, especially after Smith was shipped back to England with injuries.

That said...I think Price would trade a Kidney to go back in time to hug John Smith

Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King

Continuing Project.  It was the first real backtrack I had to make...somehow, in late 2022, I skipped over this one in my rush to get to On Writing, I think.  

The two novellas that make up about 2/3 of this volume are, in a word, beautiful.  

One of King's biggest strengths is is ability to remember and repaint the thrills, the wonders, the insecurities and vulnerabilities of childhood without too many of life's filters getting in the way in the ensuing decades.  Bobby Garfield's story of forging a friendship with the mysterious upstairs neighbor Ted Brautigan is a helluva dark romp through the summer of 1960.

The second novella, the titular story of the collection, might be one of King's best.  It's certainly, of all he's written in the past couple of decades, the one that's popped to my mind most.  It strikes me as highly autobiographical, for King.  And it reminds me a lot of my Dad.  It is the tale of a first year college student who navigates love, the 60s and a neverending game of Hearts in his dormitory.  I read this story, this time around, and thought about my Dad a lot, who went to college not long after the story's setting of 1966.

To underline that, when I pulled my copy off the shelf, I found an old boarding pass for a flight from Knoxville to Denver tucked under the dust jacket around the back cover.  It would have been my Dad's from a work trip.  

The final three stories....well, 2 stories and a Coda of sorts for the whole intertwined volume, all worked to please me very much.  This is King at his most Altmanesque.  I've always liked King's small town work, where people's live intertwine.  This one is a similar tapestry.

In this project, which began just after Dad died in 2017, I'm comparing a lot of my thoughts to those of a much younger dude.  I was literally just a kid when I read a lot of King's stuff.  There have been a handful of times that things just his differently.  But not like this one.  I read Hearts in Atlantis near its publication, which would have made me 22 or 23.  I'm 46 now, and have had another half my life lived.  The whole collection, but especially that second story, hits a whole helluva lot differently.  This may be my favorite re-discovery since I started the project.

September

James Madison by Garry Willis

James Madison was a fussbudget.  But, an idealistic fussbudget.

The book was dry as hell.  I can fight through a lot of dry stuff.  But this one took me a minute.

Everything's Eventual  by Stephen King

In this project, I've tried not to read two works too closely together, so as to preserve each book.  But, I actually started this one before Heart's in Atlantis, before realizing I'd missed that one.  Since I was a story and a half into it, I went ahead and just read this one.   I don't know if you'd call it underrated, but it kinda surprised me how solid it was.   My favorites this go around:  "The Man in the Black Suit," "All That You Love Will be Carried Away" and the surprisingly effective (and self-loathing) "Riding the Bullet."

A couple other things of note, and it's just kinda what I notice as I read through his work:  His mind keeps bringing a couple things forward:  The first is smoking....there's a lot of focus on characters quitting smoking, or relapsing, or wanting to relapse.  There are a couple instances of characters buying a pack of cigarettes, smoking one of them and then throwing the rest of the pack away.  There's also a bit of spousal drama:  fights, divorces, or just general bickering.  These two items, I wonder, if they go hand in hand with King's recuperation from his van accident...

Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino

Say what you will about QT, I do appreciate his enthusiasm.  Good essays about his early experiences with double bills in Los Angeles with his mom and stepdad, and with others later in life.  Had to mark a couple to watch Joe, which I found on Pluto, and The Getaway with Steve McQueen, which I found for a dollar at McKay's, only to get home to realize I'd already had a copy as part of a complilation with Bullitt and Papillon...

I listened to the audiobook of this one, and Quentin reads a couple chapters of it, which is fun for his machine gun enthusiastic delivery, but grating to the point of cringe when he emulates dialects.  I will say that the second section he reads is a note about family friend Floyd, who wrote the first screenplay Quentin read, and who instilled in him the desire to actually write a movie.

Lastly, he mentions having caught a few movies during his time living with his Grandmother, but some of what he did catch were at the now demolished South Clinton Drive-In, which I discovered after a search was just a couple miles from where I run my Friday Route.  It is now a housing development....

A Damn Near Perfect Game    by Joe Kelly with Rob Bradford

My mom suffered a stroke in early September, and she stayed in a rehab facility in Chattanooga for a few weeks as she recovered.  This is one of the ones I listened to as I drove back and forth.  

I like Joe Kelly the pitcher...I like how he attacks on the field.  I'm not sure how I feel about Kelly the person.  Sets himself up in opposition to the Commissioner's office, but marches pretty much in lockstep with much of the nonsense that the Commissioner has been spouting for years (Our Billion to Trillion Dollar Industry is in Danger of Dying!!!  The Game is Boring!!!  The Sky is Falling!!!!).  Neither Kelly nor the Commissioner can admit the the easiest way to make baseball accessible is, in part, to end the archaic media market/blackout rules.

The book is not without it's good thoughts, though.  Makes some good point about the culture of the game, both at the MLB level and the Youth level (in the latter, specifically that Travel Ball is a little bit of a scam, since so many parents are treating it as a lottery ticket).  I also enjoyed the section with ball players, managers and other personalities talking to Joe about why they love the game.

The Great Mortality by John Kelly

Cheerful reading with Mom in the Rehab hospital.  Kelly knows how to turn a good phrase, and even more importantly, preserve and share it when history provides a good turn of phrase itself.  Avignon have a scent like a mermaid with loose bowels is just the light turn of phrase I needed in late September.

 Fairy Films:  Wee Folk on the Big Screen  edited by Joshua Cutchin

Another that I read with Mom in hospital.  My buddy Dino picked this up for me during his travels.  Some essays are stronger than other, but I really enjoyed Simon Young's look at Disney through the years, and David Floyd's examination of Close Encounters.

October

Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch

Shyam picked this one to listen to.  It's enjoyable, but not as taut as the first book of his series....almost like the story got away from him a bit, and he had to hit the brakes hard to come to a close.  Not bad, but almost felt like it didn't go where Aaronovitch expected it to....

In the Form of a Question: The Joys and Rewards of a Curious Life   by Amy Schneider

Quick read.  Good read.  I actually enjoyed the FAQ popcorn format, as it underlines the ADD and focus issues she has dealt with.  Also touching were her talk of confidence issues and social anxiety.  Maybe a bit more frank than I'd been expecting, but that's on me, not her....

Killers of the Flower Moon: the Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

I've had this one on the shelf for a while, and wanted to read it before I saw the flick (which, as of January 2, 2024, I still have not watched....going to movies was a little tough for a couple months this year).  I really enjoyed this one, the way it flowed.  Very readable.  Definitely will sit with more of Grann's in the future.  

the Mammoth Book of Folk Horror   edited by Stephen Jones

The Kindle Read.  For what seemed like months.  I'd pick a story here and there.  Like a lot of these anthologies, hit or miss.  The high points:  "Jenny Greenteeth" by Alison Littlewood, "Gravedirt Mouth" by Maura McHugh, and "The Devil's Piss Pot" by Jan Edwards

MCU:  the Reign of Marvel Studios   by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales and Gavin Edwards

This one surprised me.  It's strong.  The business of collaborative creativity, and corporate creativity, is one of minor fascination of mine.  And, I'm a pretty big MCU fanboy.  Others may be experiencing superhero fatigue.  I just want them to feed me more.

It's a pretty even-handed overview, though it does follow the Feige lead in vilifying Edward Norton pretty quickly.  (There has always been a part of me that's wondered how the MCU might have looked if Feige & company had found away to play nice with Norton).

It's not a cheerleading work, though, putting egos like Robert Downey, Jr., on display, and the overall unfairness of some compensation packages.

I will always applaud any work that takes Ike Perlmutter to task, though.  Racist.  Sexist.  Elitist.   Dude nearly destroyed Marvel, and then ran point for turning comics into the speculative shit show that the 1990's were.  And going solely by the MCU, the shitshow that was Iron Man 2 and Thor: the Dark World can be laid largely at his feet.....

From a Buick 8    by Stephen King

I got it on sale on Audible and listened while I raked leaves, blew leaves and chopped leaves up into mulch at Mom's house.  Which was pretty much all I did in October.  I was thinking that this was a re-read, and then about halfway through the audiobook, it stopped being familiar.  I pulled my hard copy off the shelf, and sure enough, about 60% of the way through, I found my receipt from where I'd purchased it at the Books a Million in Murfreesboro, TN.

So, the novel is a bit of a mess, and you wonder if King's still trying to exorcise a demon, since a teenager's parent is killed after being run down by the town ne-er do well.

Still, I ended up liking it.  And I totally let myself get okeydoked for a minute at the end.....

November

Deadman's Road  by Joe R. Lansdale

Another one that I listened to while trying to clean up leaves at both my house and my mom's.  Ties together multiple stories that Lansdale wrote about the same character (though he does correct Reverend Mercer's name from another in their original publications....)

Very fun.  Nice B-Movie, weird horror vibe wrapped around western settings.  I dig it...

The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us   by Steve Brusatte

A follow-up to Bursatte's similar history of Dinosaurs, and it follows his own his own change in specialization in researching the mammal fossil record.  Follows mammals from surviving the asteroid strike that took the dinosaurs, to filling the niches once filled by those animals , to dominating ecosystems and eventually the planet.

An alternate title suggestion:  Jaws.  Also, Ears.  The development of such is what began to differentiate the precursors of mammals before placental birth and the name giving mammaries became a thing.

Coincidentally, Shyam and I finished The Fall of the House of Usher and Pym's statement about humanity being "a virus" popped into my head when Brusatte talked about the fall of Megafauna on the planet, and the decrease in competing fauna the Earth has experienced since Homo Sapiens took the wheel.

That all said, I find Brusatte to be an extremely approachable science writer, and takes a raconteur's approach to relating millions of years of history.  This was one of my favorite books I read this year.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke   by Eric LaRocca

Around Halloween, author Gabino Iglesias listed something like 100 horror recommendations.  I found this one cheap.  An epistolary novel, it fit my attention span for the fall, which was in Squirrel! mode most of the fall.  Two women's lives intertwine via e-mail.  And it goes downhill pretty quickly.

Heavy on alienation, a need for approval.  I don't think I've read a horror novel this soaked in melancholy since Stephen Graham Jones's Mongrels.  It's short, which is probably best, as I'm not sure the concept holds up in a much longer work.  This one gave me a lot of thought.  It made me sad.  It was great.

Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever  by Matt Singer

Maybe it's a little surprising, but I was never a big Siskel and Ebert viewer.  I mean, I saw it, from time to time, but it was very much at the mercy of whatever syndication schedule I was living near at the time.  I associate the show coming on Saturdays after cartooons, for a while, but I also distinctly remember it coming on the local ABC affiliate Sunday nights after the 11pm news.  Truth be told, it wasn't until college that I really started hunting down reviews and reviewers for flicks.  And even then, it ended up being in print.  Which is not to say I didn't see the show. 

Singer does a superlative job relating what the critic scene was like when Siskel and Ebert came into the scene, and how it changed, especially with their influence.  Gene Siskely left us too soon.  And I'd have been interested to see how the partnership would have held up in the years since we lost him.  I was very pleased with the details of Ebert's adaptation over the years....I liked the book a lot.

December

Dark Tower V: the Wolves of the Calla   by Stephen King

 Continuing project, blah blah blah.   I thought of the last 3 books of the Dark Tower series when I began my project.  I love the first four books of the series, and rather liked book 5.  But part of the appeal of the series was how different each volume felt.  Then, in a rush to finish the series, books 6 and 7 don't have a unique feeling....rather, they feel like continuations of book 5.  But, I digress.

Wolves is fun.  Definitely carries a nice Seven Samurai vibe, and I still dig bringing Father Callahan back as a character.  Definitely a fun read....

The Chalice War: Stone   by David B. Coe

My buddy Dino got me a copy of this.  I started it late in the summer, and then Mom had her health problems and my attention span for reading went to shit.  Then, I picked it up again in October, but misplaced my copy.  Eventually, it was found in the back seat of the car, where it had gotten left taking Mom to a medical appointment. 

I'm picky with my fantasy.  To the point that I might not actually like the genre, sometimes.  But, Coe's characterizations are solid, and the rules of the world are pragmatic.  It sucks you in, and when I finally sat down and gave it my full attention, I blew through it in a day and a half.  Good read.

A Christmas Carol   by Charles Dickens

Annual re-read.  Just a banger of a ghost story.  For some reason, I always like the trip through the ships at sea and the mining villages.

Surely You Can't be Serious: the True Story of Airplane  by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker

Fun read.  Airplane's a fine flick (though I like Kentucky Fried Movie and Top Secret both a little better).  Let's get some pictures, boys!

Democracy Awakening: Notes on the Story of America    by Heather Cox Richardson

I ran across Richardson first during the early days of the Pandemic.  Smart stuff.  Great writer who gives strong historical context to present-day goings on.  This one is a look at the rise of authoriatarian strongmen in our own history.  And what was done to combat it.  And while some history gets glossed over a little bit (LBJ hahahahaha, LBJ), it's still a solid look at authoritarianism working its roots into our culture over and over....

The Stupidest Angel   by Christopher Moore

A re-read.  As much as I enjoy the bulk of Moore's work, the early books set in Pine Cove are still favorites.  They're just goofy fun.  Prior to this, I'd read Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove and the Island of the Sequined Love Nun, but it was this one that led me to Lamb, which is probably my favorite Moore book: the only one that I'd recommend to any and everybody.  

Angel is fairly well self-contained, though, and don't require reading those books to appreciate this one....Moore fills you in on the particulars pretty well.  And there are a couple really good gags that made me laugh out loud even a second time through the book.....

The View From the Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood  by Nicholas Meyer

Not a bad read.  Enjoyed the stories of making Wrath of Khan and the Day After.  Looking up Time after Time and The Deceivers in the next little bit.i

XXI

 21 years ago,  in a galaxy far,  far away,  I started typing nonsense onto the interweb on this here site. 

I don't visit often,  anymore.   "Real Life" and all that. 

How's life these days?

Mom's improving after her stroke.   Her therapist is impressed with her recovery,  and thinks she's capable of a full recovery.   She's about to graduate from a walker to a cane.  We wandered to Chattanooga McKay's to trade in a box of books she's been sitting on since the spring.   She picked herself up a book and a couple seasons of a teevee show to watch....

The rest of Life is chugging along.   We're running into baby trout season,  so the Tyranny of Fishes is impending. 

Doing a NaNoWriMo project,  but my writing is rusty.   Word count ain't great but any words are better than 0.

Wandering towards my first Thanksgiving where I'm not looking at a 60 hour work week.   That's feeling pretty cool. 

Anyway.... I'm gonna try to write here a little more.   We'll keep on trucking.....

Braves...

 "That is why it breaks my heart, that game--not because in New York they could win because Boston lost; in that, there is a rough justice, and a reminder to the Yankees of how slight and fragile are the circumstances that exalt one group of human beings over another. It breaks my heart because it was meant to, because it was meant to foster in me again the illusion that there was something abiding, some pattern and some impulse that could come together to make a reality that would resist the corrosion; and because, after it had fostered again that most hungered-for illusion, the game was meant to stop, and betray precisely what it promised.

Of course, there are those who learn after the first few times. They grow out of sports. And there are others who were born with the wisdom to know that nothing lasts. These are the truly tough among us, the ones who can live without illusion, or without even the hope of illusion. I am not that grown-up or up-to-date. I am a simpler creature, tied to more primitive patterns and cycles. I need to think something lasts forever, and it might as well be that state of being that is a game; it might as well be that, in a green field, in the sun."

From A Great and Glorious Game: Baseball Writings of A. Bartlett
Giamatti, © 1998 by A. Bartlett Giamatti.

I am a Cubs fan,  but my parents' Braves Fandom left me a well-wisher, if only by proximity.   It was with a heavy heart that I looked at the score this morning....I could only make it to the sixth last night,  and I had a bad feeling about that.....

Thoughts

 I don't think anybody regularly checks this thing anymore.   I don't. 

Just sorting thoughts, really. 

To update,  for those curious:  about 9 months ago,  I got fired.   I was said to have made violent statements about an associate.   Specifically that I was going to put them against a wall and shoot them.   It was a lie,  but it was corroborated by another associate.   And after nearly 20 years of working like an idiot,  I was fired. 

I talked to a couple attorneys.  Three, actually.  Two didn't want the case and the third wanted a retainer I couldn't afford.   Basically,  Tennessee is a Right to Work state,  and you can get fired for any reason. 

I started working with my wife's family the next week.   I like my job.   The schedule is better.   The general quality of co workers is better.   My stress level is a lot lower. 

The pay is the only downside.   It's a significant cut in pay.   

I didn't realize it,  but I really enjoyed taking Shyam places.   And right now,  I can't afford it.   

It's all good...I mean,  we aren't wanting for anything.   Our house and vehicles are paid for.   Outside of a little debt for my medical issue last summer,  we're good. 

But little things like a trip to Disney or to see a couple baseball games are on the back burner for a while.   And to be honest,  I'm down about that.   

I'd made tentative plans to go find something part time,  to make a little extra money.   Try to afford a trip some place.   Pay that medical bill. 

Then, about a month ago,  mom had a stroke.   It could have been much worse than it was.   Cognitively she's still all there.   Her balance is boogered up though.   Needs a walker,  and somebody to drive her if she needs to go someplace.   So,  that's taking some time. 

Things will get better.   Her physical therapist tells us to be patient.   And I'm sure she's right.

Still,  I'm kinda down. 

I wish I weren't.   I feel guilty for feeling this way. 

6 Month Reading Roundup

I guess this is pretty much what the Blog has become, after 21 years.  I'd been making the effort to post every month or so there for a while, but I'm guessing I just wasn't up for it, early in the year.  Sudden job change, and all that.

The first couple months of this year, I feel like I didn't have much of an attention span.  I also wasn't driving 45 minutes or an hour every day, so my audiobook time was diminished.  

Things have picked up, and I'm doing a little better mentally, so I'm trucking along.  There have been a few more re-reads than in years past.  Just wanted to revisit a couple things, I guess.

A quick list of what I've been reading the first half of this year:

January

Light in August    by William Faulkner.

I've always listed Faulkner as a favorite, but I just hadn't read anything of his in four or five years.  Pulled this one off the shelf.  Originally read as part of Dr. Kerrick's American Lit (or perhaps his Southern Lit) class.  This one's brutal.  And oddly funny.  Calling something "the most human" of somebody's work isn't a great descriptor, but this one seems the largest and most complete examination of humanity, in Faulkner's world.  It's a favorite.  

Secret Windows: Essays and Fiction on the Craft of Writing    by Stephen King

A companion piece to On Writing which I read in late 2022, it was a Book of the Month Club selection way back when.  Part of the continuing project.  Mostly a collection of forewords with a couple of essays and articles thrown in.  On its own, it's not much special, but I do like it as a companion piece.....

Bullet Train  by Kitaro Isaka

The novel on which the Brad Pitt flick (which I liked rather a lot) is based.  More philosophical, and definitely less Looney Tunes than the film adaptation, I kinda liked it.

The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command   by Edwin Coddington

This came from the library of my late friend Kevin Britton.  Kevin passed a year ago (give or take a day) in a motorcycle accident.  He, our friend Eric and I had gotten together only a week prior at a Tennessee Smokies baseball game.  Late in the year, Eric gave me this....it came from Kevin's library.  It was fitting, because it seemed like Kevin and I would trade books once a year, and end up reading a couple more based on the recommendations of the other.

As for the book, it's dry, but fascinating.  A strong look at the political and pragmatic pressures on all bodies involved with directing the battle.....

February

K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches   by Tyler Kepner

I dug this one.  I learned a bit, which is impressive, considering that I think I know everything about baseball.....

Glitches and Stiches   by Nicole Givens Kurtz

A bit of Cybernoir.  A gift from my buddy Dino.  Cyberpunk, in general, isn't my cup of tea, but this one was grounded enough as a noir-ish police procedural that I blew through it in a couple days.  Big props to Kurtz for her depiction of Anxiety in the workplace.

True Grit  by Charles Portis

Another re-read.  It's turned into an annual re-read, for me.  I first read this back in the 80's....my Great Aunt Mae gave me a box of books that had been sitting in a closet at her house.  There were a lot of 60's and 70's TV and film adaptations, along with a handful of James Blish's Star Trek Readers, Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, and a copy of True Grit.  I read it, but in all honesty, it didn't leave a huge impression, except for a couple of images (Rooster Cogburn kicking the boys off the porch for taunting a mule; and the finger chopping scene, both of which matched up very well with the Coens' depiction in their film adaptation).  It's absolutely a helluva read.  Highly recommended.

Number One Walking    by Steve Martin and Harry Bliss

A Christmas gift from my mom, it's a graphic novelesque look at his career, mostly after Standup.....

March

Get Ready: A Champion's Guide to Preparing for the Moments That Matter  by Buzzy Cohen

Buzzy's book had popped up in a couple places, but I decided to listen to it after hearing him talk about it on the Jeopardy podcast.  Not a bad listen, and not as Jeopardy-centric as I'd thought going in.  Good primer in prepwork, especially valuable for those not used to it.  I like to think of it as a bit of a Type A Primer for Type B personalities.

The Grand Scheme of Things by Ian Strang

I've followed this guy on Twitter for a while, and he's a funny cat.  Picked up his book, which I enjoyed.  It was  bit long, but on the whole, I dug it.

The Stand  by Stephen King

I've been doing a chronological read-through of King's work, and I'd not wanted to double back, but for some reason, The Stand has a way of pulling me out of a funk.  Add to that, I'm not a great fan of the stuff that King first put out after his van accident, so I jumped into this one.  Thoughts this time around?  Franny sure gets the short end of the stick in the last 1/3 of the novel....she's largely the heart of the book, if not its conscience.  She's relegated to backup character by the time Stu and company wander out to Las Vegas.....

Wait for Signs  by Craig Johnson

A collection of short stories surrounding Walt Longmire.  Shyam made this one our route listen.

April

The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud

I think it's my favorite thing I've read this year.  A bit of True Grit meets The Martian Chronicles, run through Ballingrud's Weird Horror filter.  I give this one a high recommendation.

The Cruellest Month    by Louise Penny

Another series Shyam has gotten me into.  I don't know why I keep coming back to the Inspector Gameche books, but there's something affirmative in Gameche's kind nature.

Bone in the Throat    by Anthony Bourdain

It's not bad, but it can't seem to find a balance that it's comfortable with between humor and gravity.  In my head, I'd cast Brad Garrett as Tommy's Uncle, using his Jimmy John's commercial persona.  His final outcome was great.....

Hell's Angels: a Strange and Terrible Saga    by Hunter S. Thompson

I've had this on my shelf for 25 years, buying it during my initial HST phase.  I read 6 or 7 of Thompson's books in that wave, but not this one, for some reason.  Pulled it off the shelf and read it.  Not bad.  It's probably Thompson at his most journalistic, though he admits that he didn't know if it were researching or slowly getting absorbed during his travels. 

The Donut Legion   by Joe R. Lansdale

Without meaning it to, this became my doctor waiting room book.  Between visits for myself and my Mom, I read this in four different appointment sittings.  Good southern-fried romp from Joe.  Doesn't set the world on fire...well, except for one plot point.....

May

Dreamcatcher    by Stephen King

Part of the continuing project.   I didn't care for this one when it came out, and I cared for it less the second time around, in 2023.  

It's not bad, necessarily, so much as it feels like two or three novel ideas welded together.  Part of me always wondered if the genesis of the idea didn't come in the 70's or 80's, when a sort of constant background antagonist were the government agents employed at "The Shop."

I will note that this was written largely during his recuperation from that van accident.....

Shoeless Joe    by WP Kinsella

Another re-read.  I'd actually picked up a copy for my nephew, and I decided to re-read it so I could check for objectionable material that I might have forgotten (there isn't much, aside from some sadly casual racism).  The Field of Dreams adaptation is superior, but it does lose some of the Magic Quest feel that Ray's journey to pick up JD Salinger and Moonlight Graham takes.....

Found: an Anthology of Found Footage Horror Stories   edited by Andrew Cull & Gabino Iglesias

A Kindle read.  Read a story every few days for a couple months.  It's a bit of a mixed bag.  Too many "transcripts" as a plot device.  "Green Magnetic Tape" is pretty effective....and oddly, I liked Andrew Cull's intro to the collection very much.

Pigs  by Johanna Stoberock

An Audible listen.  Stoberock appeared on Jeopardy and mentioned her book.  An odd, dark fairy tale of a novel....Stoberock turns a good phrase.

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

A fun read....we listened to this one while going over the mountains to North Carolina for a delivery.

June

Ball Four    by Jim Bouton

Another one that I'd picked up for my nephew.  Another one re-reading to check for objectionable content....maybe there is some, but I read this when I was 12, so I'm pretty sure he can handle locker-room talk.  

There is no better book written from inside the game of baseball.

Bouton is candid about himself, serious and self-deprecating, in his chances in playing for the 1969 expansion Seattle Pilots, and later, the contending Houston Astros.

There aren't many times I'll recommend listening to the audiobook before I would reading the work itself, but this is one of them.  Bouton's rendition of his work is astounding, from getting tickled remembering stories from the season, to getting heartbroken recounting the death of his daughter in a traffic accident in one of the 10-year updates.

Harold by Steven Wright

Steven Wright's non-sequitur ode to daydreaming in school.

Harold is a third-grader, and this novel recounts his daydream one afternoon in the late 1960's.....the timeframe is wobbly, occasionally referencing things much later.  Our narrator addresses such anachronisms simply:  mind your own business.

Hilarious, and occasionally angry.  I was touched a couple of times.  In many ways, I was Harold.  In some, I still am.

She Rides Shotgun   by Jordan Harper

The route listen.   Well put together.

Lock-In   by John Scalzi

A romp.   

2022 Reading Roundup

Just a roundup of what I read in 2022:

January

Football for a Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL  by Jeff Pearlman

When Pearlman's passionate about his subject, he's a good read.  And he was passionate about tracking this down.  Good read....I wish the current USFL, in its first season, had even 1/8th of the color and energy portrayed in Pearlman's book.....

The Ends of the World    by Peter Brannen

A look through the various eras and extinction events suffered by the Planet....works as an excellent companion piece to Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction

Rose Madder    by Stephen King

The continuing project.  This was one of the ones I'd never read all the way through.  I think I started it and abandoned it somewhere just after its publication.  Actually, not a bad read at all, though I wish King hadn't leaned so hard into mental illness as the genesis of Norman's abusive behavior....almost as if it's an out or an excuse of some kind.....

All About Me!    by Mel Brooks.

Lots of people found new projects during Covid-19's early days....Mel decided to write a memoir about his 70+ year career.  On the whole, I ended up not getting as much out of his movie-making stories that I'd hoped, but his adventures in TV before the movies, and on Broadway after, are well worth the read.

Camera Man   by Dana Stevens

The best biography of Buster Keaton I've read.  (I've now read three, to date).

February

Ballpark:  Baseball in the American City    by Paul Goldberger

A nice walk through the history of the ballpark and the Major League.  Does get a little repetitive....even if those multipurpose stadiums of the 70's are banal, do you have to use that word so much?

Ronan Boyle Into the Strage Place     by Thomas Lennon

This one is probably the funniest of the three Ronan Boyle books.  With one particular interaction having me crack up at a stoplight.

Junkyard Dogs    by Craig Johnson

Quick read.  Johnson continues to turn a good phrase....

You've Got Red on You:  How Shaun of the Dead was Brought to Life  by Clark Collis

Decent read....good look at the making of the flick....

Based on a True Story: a Memoir     by Norm MacDonald

Damn, but I miss Norm.  A re-read.  Easily one of the funniest books I've read.

The Green Mile  by Stephen King

The one was better than I remembered.....

March

The Lincoln Highway    by Amor Towles

I got this one for Christmas.  I'd been hearing about Towles for a couple of books....I liked this one.  

The Drive-In 2: (Not Just One of Them Sequels)   by Joe R. Lansdale

Just some good old goofy Lansdale.  I'd like to sit back and shoot the shit with this guy, perhaps more than any other author I read.....

The Shark-Infested Custard   by Charles Willeford

Hilarious, and dark as hell

Ghost Story   by Peter Straub

I ended up not caring for this one.  Long.  Never really coming to a satisfying point. 

April

George Washington    by James MacGregor Burns and Susan Dunn

A little dry, but a good enough overview of his presidency

Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination   by Neil Gabler

Creativity as a business endeavour fascinates me.....

Desperation    by Stephen King

I liked this one better than when I first read it in 1996....still, it's quite a bit longer than it needs to be.....

Eat a Peach   by David Wong

Interesting....as much a musing on management as it is a memoir

May

American War     by Omar El Akkad

One of my two or three favorite books that I've read this year.  I might have liked it even more if we weren't living in a dystopian future already, and perhaps running headline into the scenario outlined in this book....

Hunter Houston and the Molten Menace   by Bobby Nash

A gift from a buddy.  A quick read.  Nash has a good ear for The South....

The Regulators   by Stephen King, writing as Richard Bachman

Another new one----I'd never made it all the way through this one.  On its own, it's not bad.  But it doesn't have the same feel as the original Bachman books, somehow.....

In Cold Blood   by Truman Capote

Decided to re-read after catching the Capote flick one afternoon.  A re-read.  Actually read it for the work itself, instead of for content, in that half-assed resentful way I tended to read assigned works back in the day....

Never a Bad Game: Fifty-Plus Years in the Southern League    by Mark McCarter

Picked up for 75 cents at a local used book store.  Bathroom reading, if you wanna know the truth.  Also?  This one smells of being hurriedly and half-interestedly put together.  There's a bit of wikipedia journalism going on with this one.....

Razzmatazz      by Christopher Moore

With two books, Moore's Noir series is edging toward my favorite bit of his work.  At the very least, it's made me laugh more consistently than the bulk of his work since Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove.  (And I say that liking the Pocket series a great deal....).  Funny, with lots of nice turns of phrase....

June

A Better Man  by Michael Ian Black

In a letter to his son, Black speaks on what being a man in the 21st century means.  This wasn't quite what I was expecting... though I was quite pleased by what I read.....

Blood, Sweat and Chrome: The Wild and True Story of the Making of Mad Max Fury Road   by Kyle Buchanan

A helluva good read.  Probably my favorite thing I've read this year.....

Sapiens: a Brief History of Humankind     by Yuval Noah Harari

My bedtime read for most of the spring...  

The Devil Crept In      by Ania Ahlborn

I wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did.  Solid concept.  but there were times the writing just felt wooden.....

The Dark Tower:  Wizard and Glass     by Stephen King

This one's in my top five favorite King works.  It was a pleasure to revisit.....

July

Once More Around the Park: A Baseball Reader   by Roger Angell

I'd had this on the shelf for a long time, and started thumbing through it when Angell passed.  Hundreds...thousands?....write about baseball, but few approach the poetic, nor have the pragmatic, philosophic eye for the game like Angell.

The Death of WCW by R.D. Reynolds and Brian Alvarez

Read this one around the 4th of July holiday, which was the second busiest week in my store's history.  Needed something light.  

John Adams by John Patrick Diggins

Another quick read.  Adams is as close as we got to a Philosopher King.  Always fascinating.

Transgressive Horror: Reflections on Scare Films that Broke the Rules edited by Christopher McGothlin

A Kickstarter collection of essays that my friend Alex had a piece in.  Not a bad read...surprisingly good take on Godzilla in there.....

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

This one had popped up as recommendation on a couple sites.  I ended up enjoying it quite a bit.....

August

Kindred by Octavia Butler

A re-read...hadn't read it since a SF class in College, and back then I read it too quickly to really enjoy it.  I liked it then, but really enjoyed it in 2022.  For me, who gets horror vibes from Fish out of Water scenarios anyway, thinks this is as good a horror read as it is SF.  

The Pallbearer's Club  by Paul Tremblay

What's better than one unreliable narrator?  TWO unreliable narrators!  This one's not bad.  Tremblay does good work in general....

Noir, edited by David B. Coe and John Zakour

Part of a Kickstarter....I liked "Basilisk Bluff" and "A Clear-Cut Reason" quite a bit.

Cold in July by Joe R. Lansdale

I've read a lot of Lansdale, but somehow this one had slipped through the cracks, which is a shame, because it's a Banger.  In part, I'd not read the book because I'd seen the film adaptation first, which wasn't a bad flick at all.  The book is a lot of fun...

Bag of Bones by Stephen King

I started this one while I was in the hospital this year.  My first time in the hospital.  I did have a very nice doctor who talked books with me....coincidentally, this one was one of our favorites. 

September

The Church of Baseball: the making of Bull Durham   by Ron Shelton

Bull Durham is a flick that I've always kinda enjoyed, but have only really started appreciating in the past few years.  Maturity may be part of it, though I'm loathe to try to label myself as "mature."

The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias

I actually read Shyam's copy.  I picked it up and couldn't put it down.  Claustrophobic.  Weird.  And with just enough hospital stuff that it felt....proximal?  I'll watch for more from this guy

Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of his Work, Life and Influences  by Bev Vincent.

I wish I'd done my homework a little more.  It's not bad, but it just felt too much like one of those $18 magazines they sell in magazine stands because they aren't publishing as many magazines as they used to.  

There's Just One Problem by Brian Gewirtz

Surprisingly good read.  Creativity and Entertainment as a corporate enterprise always fascinates me.  This is a strong look at one organization's creative process, at least over the past couple of decades....

Hell is Empty by Craig Johnson

Johnson turns a good phrase, but this might be the strongest of the Longmire books, as it doesn't lean on Johnson's gift of gab, and gives us an strong look into the double toughness of Walt Longmire....

the Last Days of the Dinosaurs by Riley Black

Decent entry point, I'd say, into the extinction event story Reads kinda cinematically, looking at the day of the asteroid strike on the Yucatan, the days, months, years and centuries. It's a deeply passionate subject for Black who's weathered some changes of her own in the last few years, some of them nearly as personally cataclysmic as the fate that befell the dinosaurs....

October

Holy Terror    by Cherie Priest

The Lunchtime read for a while this fall...a excellent look back at Priest's short fiction.  For my money, she doesn't get enough credit for her weird horror work...

Dandelion  by Alex Bledsoe

Nice, unsettling, spooky little story of Southern Deliverance.  Alex writes the South admirably, and this one is no different in that respect.  This one's strong.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King

Man, this one crackles.  Remember the fish out of water anxiety?  Yeah.  This one is a lot stronger than I remembered.

Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain  by Charles Leerhsen   

Quick read. Not bad. Bourdain was interesting to me in that "creativity as a corporate enterprise" kinda way. I came late to his works (I don't think I read anything book length until after his death).... his TV was always interesting, but Bourdain himself always struck me as a man with an angry undercurrent. When I heard about his suicide, I was saddened, but not terribly shocked.

As far as Leerhsen's writing, the book flows well, and I like his legwork and self-deprecating humor, but there are a small handful of times where he seems to have an axe to grind with an interview subject.... and in the case of girlfriend Asia Argento, irritation at the fact she wouldn't interview.....

Thomas Jefferson,  by Joyce Appleby

Good, but it made me want to go back and re-read American Sphinx

Creek Walking,  by Tally Johnson

Quick Vacation read.  A bit uneven, but there are a couple good stories in there: "Some Hunts End Better than Others" and "Ferryman, Don't Tarry"

Swan Song by Robert McCammon.

Damn, I ended up hating this thing, and grudge read the motherfucker to try to prove myself wrong.  I was not wrong.

November

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The commute listen. One Sunday early in November, Shyam and I went to a Fathom/TCM showing of the 1962 film version of Lee's novel. It's a favorite flick, and it made me realize that I hadn't gone through the book in a while.

I was first introduced to the book in Mrs. Lillard's American Lit class. In a stunning case of procrastination on my part, I waited until the night before our discussion and test on it to even start reading it. I blew through the whole book in a couple hours. And for the first time in my life, as soon as I finished, I went back to the front and started it all over again.

Good books about the South are rarer than you might think, as even Southern writers can lapse into ridicule, even when none is intended. Lee's is neither parody nor ridiculous. Choosing Scout as narrator is an inspired choice.

Illuminations by Alan Moore

I was really looking forward to this one, and I ended up not digging it much.  Long-winded.  A little too in love with the sound of his own voice.

December

The Babysitter Lives, by Stephen Graham Johnes

This one was a rollercoaster ride.  I've only come into his work in the past few years, but Stephen Graham Jones has moved up near the top of my favorite writers list....

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Annual re-read.  

A Heart that Works, by Rob Delaney

Heartbreaking.  I don't think a book has made me ugly cry like this in a while.  Maybe since childhood.

On Writing: a Memoir of the Craft    by Stephen King

One of the top three books on the creative process that I've ever read.

Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven

This one had come recommended....sold as a kind of Lord of the Flies in an amusement park.  It's got a pessimism about it that I don't always care for (but not one I necessarily say is wrong).  

Dynamite and Davey Boy: The Explosive Lives of the British Bulldogs by Steven Bell

There's a lot more legwork in this one than in most wresting bios, a niche genre rife with Google Journalism.  Bell did a lot of background here, and I applaud him.  The book itself is a little disjointed, and it's very much two bios in one.  A lot of people blame wrestling for destroying folks....but the gist I get is that Davey Boy and Tom Billington were very likely going to destroy themselves anyway.....

Maphead by Ken Jennings

I dig maps.  I always have.  I was glad to find a kinship with Jennings, who has a similar fascination.  Also, I was pleased that somebody else had the same reaction to the Atlas of the DC Universe that I did, way back in the day.....

Happy Birthday Blogamathing!

 Four months?

I know, I know.

But, I been busy.

See, my last published post came from July 22, during an insomnia stretch that was possibly related to a health problem that got discovered in August.

I took a vacation week in August, and I scheduled a doctor's appointment for a checkup, and to check on a little chest congestion.  Well, the day that my appointment was scheduled, I got a call that the office would be unable to accommodate my appointment due to a large number of staff out with Covid.

Later that day, I was asked if I would  like to take an appointment at the clinic owned by the same parent company in Cleveland (the town where I work).  I said sure.

I went, and when they took my blood pressure, it was through the roof.

"Are you being treated for high blood pressure?" they asked.  I replied in the negative, since every checkup prior to this had it in the acceptable range...the last couple of years it had crept up to the high end of that spectrum, and I was expecting to have to go onto meds at some point.  They checked the pressure again, and it was high enough that they had to send me to the hospital.  There at the clinic, they did an EKG.  The doctor announced then "You're in AFIB."

I got to ride in an ambulance.  Against my protests, I had to be ridden out on a gurney.

Let me say this:  I felt fine.  A little chest congestion that I thought had been related to seasonal allergies.  I'd had intermittent insomnia, which  I'd later learn might have been part of the problem.  Blood pressure not low enough to let me sleep...

But in the ambulance I rode to Tennova Hospital in Cleveland.

I can't remember if I called Shyam from the clinic or from the Emergency Room.  I know that it was from the ER that I called my Mom and my sister.

Things that I'd heard, but didn't understand until I experienced it first hand:  Emergency Rooms are a mess right now.  Understaffed.  Overworked.  I had to do the bulk of my exams in public, in front of God and everybody.  Embarrassing, but then, everybody is there for something, so modesty be damned.

After 6 hours in the hallway, I would make it to an exam room, which would be my home for the next 30 hours or so.  There, I slept little.  I was wired from here to Tulsa, Oklahoma.  I had to figure out how to pee while maintaining a modicum of decency (i.e. without doing it all over myself or my makeshift bed).  Let me mention that last parenthetical phrase....I was still on one of those deluxe hospital gurneys.  It would become an issue by the end of the second day....it's not much different than a sleeper sofa.  I had a metal bar underneath my ass that was making it more and more uncomfortable.

It was while I was in the exam room that they gave me full diagnosis: Atrial Fibrulation, and a weakened heart.  Their priority was to get my blood pressure manageable and stave off as many of the stroke factors as they could.  I was put on diuretics (which made the aforementioned peeing something of an issue).  I was put on blood thinners and blood pressure meds.

At the end of the second night, I was moved to a real hospital room.  Shyam had just left staying with me, and was talking to the head nurse, who informed her that I'd be in an actual room when she came back tomorrow.

It was actually just a couple minutes later that they showed up to move me, which was an adventure in and of itself.  The orderly who moved me wasn't able to take his normal route, as they were waxing the floors in the area he normally would travel.  As such, we had to go through a waiting area, which was floors with textured tiles.  Did I mention that my ass was sore?  Because it was.  So sore that traveling across the bumpy tile was unpleasant.  Against my orderly's wishes, I asked to walk, and explained why.  He was against it, but I didn't care.  I walked the last 60 feet to the elevators, and rode side saddle all the way to my room.  The nurses there started giving him a hard time, and I told them not to....I hope he didn't get into trouble because of me.

I would spend Wednesday night and Thursday night in room 431 of Tennova Medical Center in Cleveland.  You know, the one that overlooks the intersection of 25th St. and Keith Street?  Yeah...I could see the Big Lots!!!!

My numbers got progressively better.  My cardiologist (Dr. Marcus Alston) explained that we'd take the next while figuring out if the problem was structural (a defect), mechanical (a blockage), or electrical (a rhythm problem).

I got home with a new handful of medication to take and a shit-ton of doctors' appointments to make.  It wasn't at doctor's orders, but I've made a couple lifestyle and dietary changes since my hospital stay.  I've lost more than 40 pounds since August.  Mom's been pushing pretty hard since then to get me to join the Y to swim or do some other regular exercise.  It's something that I may do after the end of the year.  Work continues to be crazy....one minor gripe...the week after I got out of the hospital, my dumb ass ended up working a 6-day week.  There have been a lot of those this year.

-------

September saw the heart-catheterization.  That was my first medical procedure much more involved than a dental visit, or getting a cut sewn up.  That one ended up having to shave my groin just in case they had to go in there....as I would comment under anesthesia to Shyam "a lot of people saw my junk today...."

The heart cath went a lot more easily than I'd anticipated.  And the news was overwhelmingly good....my veins look to be in excellent shape....

That good news paved the road to a cardioversion, where they shock my heart to see if they can get it back into rhythm.

I'll write that part here soon.  Maybe February?  It;s happened, and spoiler: it worked.  But I'll write more on that later this week (not February, one hopes).....

Thoughts from the Ass End of the Night, Volume 3

 Once, insomnia posts were a staple of this here blogamathing.  I spent a lot of time in my 20's and 30's waking in the middle of the night, and deciding to type nonsense onto the computer.

I'm going through a spell right now.  I'm not sure the cause, though I have a suspicion I'll detail.  I'll just say this stretch, which started last Thursday night, is kinda gruesome and maybe tonight has me a little worried.

Last Thursday, I woke up around 1 to go to the bathroom, and couldn't fall back to sleep.  Went through alternating moments of it's too hot in the room, and then too cold.  Tried sleeping on the couch so as not to wake Shyam, and ended up falling asleep in a weird position, which left my neck and shoulder in a pretty good amount of pain that whole Friday.

The weekend came, and I was off.  I was able to squeeze in a couple 7 hour sleep nights. 

Then, Monday, I closed, which was followed up by an 8AM shift Tuesday.  I slept about 5 hours.  Which is about normal for one of those nights.  Wednesday, I also closed.  Tuesday, after the All-Star Game, I went to bed, and slept for about 2 hours, before waking again.  I was awake all the way until Shyam's alarm waking her.  Like I said, I closed, so I was able to sleep from about 7 to 11 and catch up somewhat.

Yesterday, Thursday, I was off.  I was woken at about 6 by thunderstorms.  There was a lot of lightning and wind, so I got up to make sure nothing major was coming our way.  After heading out for an oil change and a visit with my Mom, I came home and napped for about 45 minutes.  Tonight, we went to bed around 10.  Around 11:45, I got up to pee, and came back to bed.  I slept again until about 1:30, and I've been wide the fuck awake ever since.  Twice I've gotten up to go read in the living room, and got myself back to the point of nodding.  And as soon as I lie down, I'm wide awake.

As a minor note, in the few minutes it's taken me to punch these paragraphs out, I can feel myself getting sleepy.

I wish I knew what was wrong.

Summer's part of it.  It's not even necessarily the heat.  It's fucking swampy outside, all the time.  Unloading trucks at work lately have left us looking like we're playing basketball.  It's uncomfortable to sleep in, even with fans and AC going.  I also have a minor suspicion that our bedroom AC unit is about to give up the ghost.

Another part of it is the shifting schedule.  I don't have a set schedule.  Haven't for 19 years, at least.  I'm used to having to close a bit.

We lost another manager recently and somewhat unexpectedly.  As a result, we had to move our evening manager into that role, which left me grocery manager and me to close the store.  I've gone from closing one night a week to 2-4 times.  My body doesn't know when to sleep, and I'm having a hard time coping.

It's 5:47.  My alarm's supposed to go off in about an hour.  I can feel myself being sleepy.  I just don't know if I'll fall asleep when I lie down. 

If I didn't have a pair of new hires to do today, I'd consider calling in....

Add to that, my boss goes on vacation tomorrow, and I'm working 9 of the next 10 days.  I don't have anybody to spell me if I should call in.

I will admit to having a couple things on my mind.  

My friend Kevin Britton died at the beginning of this month in a motorcycle accident.  Eric and I had met up with him just the previous Sunday to take in a Smokies game.  Because of work, I wasn't able to attend a funeral service.  I didn't think it bugged me a the time, but it might be sticking with me.

My friend Micah's mom suffered a stroke a little while back, and he's had too much on his plate.  It bothered me how difficult it was to get her into a hospital room, and then, how difficult it's been to secure treatment.

We've been having trouble finding enough help at work.  That's not new.  That's been ongoing for months.  The past couple of months, though, it's been bothering me, as I've seen my hour count start to rise.

I don't get to see Shyam as often as I'd like.  And when we do see each other, one or both of us is too tired to do anything much fun.

I haven't gotten to see Thor: Love and Thunder yet.  That's aggravating.

I was supposed to be on vacation this week.  We had tried to plan a vacation with the family like last year's to Gulf Shores, but somebody had a claim in on this week.  About a month ago, that claim moved back a week.  I'd like to have gone somewhere with my family.  I've gotten to hang out with my nephew once this summer....and he's gonna be starting school again in a couple weeks.  

Meh.  Sorry to unburden myself....