John Miller with Ramsey in the middle
The Mayan calendar ends in 2012, or so I’ve been told. I have been thinking about the future a lot and I have a few thoughts I’m almost sort of fairly sure of. Firstly human life on earth will probably survive 2012––the actual year and possibly even the movie of the same name. If the world does end in 2012, I’ve gotten one hell of a deal on my mortgage as I will have only paid five of the thirty years worth of payments they are expecting me to make. If the world does end, it’ll be a shock to a lot of people, but not for long. Most of us will be in denial way after we find the world dead, and denial is one of my favorite states of being.
Lately I’ve been thinking that maybe I would have been better served to have become a sheet metal bender, or a very sexy model and sometimes prostitute, or a super hero with some really neat power like mentally cashing checks across state lines. Being a writer is just so hard. Truth is, this week I’ve got nothing at all to write about. I mean my son did strike out to go back to school after the holiday and his car broke down and I had to drive a million miles and deal with his car and bring him back until I can get his car fixed on Monday, and I’m thinking being a parent never stops being hard, expensive and tiring. And what with Thanksgiving and Black Friday with a Walmart worker being crushed in the melee and the end of the world coming up in five years I think I’ll slide this week and stop this before this gets really ugly.
Plus I’m making venison sausage this weekend.
It’s the end of the world? That explains a lot…like why I paid $140 for a Turducken, and it tasted like a $5 chicken, stuffed inside a $15 duck, stuffed inside a $20 turkey….which totals to $40 worth of meat.
$100 down the tube and it left my guests walking out saying “Your stuffing was good though.”
Then I take my wife and family skiing at Alyeska and dislocate my shoulder on my second run, now I get to watch my them ski all day tomorrow while I try not to move my left arm.
Oh well, since the world is ending , I’m with you John…screw it.
It’s becoming a depressing world and hard to write anything upbeat, especially a blog. The holidays with family are great, but I’m hard pressed to find anything delightful to write about this installment.
“. . . and the end of the world coming up in five years.”
Hey John, that’s great news! That gives me time to write at least 4 more books.
In the midst of hideous news coming out of Mumbai, and Walmart, and the neverending siege of woes all over the planet, I tried and found some things to be grateful about on Thanksgiving, and beyond:
* My daughter is healthy and happy and productive (plus, she loves to cook. She made a Turducken from scratch last Christmas!).
* My parents are both living and in good health, into their 80’s.
* I have a patient and loving spouse, and a best friend who would walk with me to the end of the galaxy, if needed.
Not that I’ll be writing about any of these good things any time soon in my fiction, but they keep me from feeling that the world is crashing down about my head. Which is what we need, when stories like psycho-shoppers and Westerner-hunting terrorists fill the tube.
What will be the new term coined for the WalMart tragedy, by the way? Bargain rage? Black Friday rage?
If it’s 2012, I hope it’s before the election. I don’t think I can take another election year like this one.
OK, a little sleep and now I am out of my funk and the blur of pain has subsided, a little. Thanks Joe and Kathryn for looking at the bright side.
Even though I can’t use my left arm for a while, I can still cuddle my wife with my right (we needed to shift sides of the bed anyway). And although the turducken turned out to be sucken’ there’s always the Christmas Goose to look forward to. And like Joe says, I’ve got a bunch more books to write and who knows…maybe some will even sell before ’12.
God bless all, have a wonderful weekend.
And Cheer up John, if the end is 4 years away, we have a chance to do something good till them.
Uh…I mean “Good till Then”… blur of pain and one handed typing
Hell, Basil, this is almost cheered up for me. I’m looking forward to the future whatever the hell it holds.
On the news last night, they interviewed a Canadian who’d just arrived from Mumbai into Vancouver. He was alive because when they knocked on his door, he was too tired to answer.
Strange world. I don’t suppose it can go on forever, not the way we treat each other.
On the brighter side: nice blogsite. I read all the excerpts, and they were very impressive. I linked to your site from Mary Jane Maffini, who I just happened to see on Mystery Ink on Book TV.
Glad to meet you on the blog, Joylene! Welcome!
p.s. I read about that guy who didn’t answer his door, too. Not only must he have been tired, but I think it was one of those times that one’s inner voice says, “Don’t answer the door.” How many times have we paid attention to our inner voices (or not), with such dramatic consequences?
I agree, Kathryn. We need to trust our instincts. I’m betting he is grateful he did.
I sincerely doubt the world will actually end in 2012! But it might!
It’s becoming a depressing world and hard to write anything upbeat, especially a blog. The holidays with family are great, but I’m hard pressed to find anything delightful to write about this installment.