Kyle Michel Sullivan's Blog: https://www.myirishnovel.com/, page 133
January 17, 2019
I do not like Delta Airlines...
My flight this morning was supposed to leave at 6:40, an hour I hate but I made it okay. But we didn't leave till 8. Problems with the front landing gear. But that's still fine; I've got time to make my connection in Boston. Except when we landed, the front wheels freaked out and the plane had to stop and be towed into the terminal. Which took another half hour. Then I had to run from one terminal to the next and got to my flight for Bermuda just as they had finished boarding...and I still needed a seat assignment; they wouldn't give me one till I was at the gate.
The flight down from Boston was fine. I lucked out with an aisle seat even though the plane was packed. Customs was easy...and very 1970s. The whole terminal here is. I think they're building a new one. The cab driver was nice and told me all of the places I should go, and the hotel is just across an inlet from the airport, so I can see it from my balcony...and hear the planes landing and taking off.
My hotel is nice but on a weird little hill that wanders down to the ocean. This is my view. I have to climb up about the equivalent of four stories to get to the main lobby and dining areas...and they have very strict hours for dining. I arrived at 6:10 to get dinner and was told I'd have to wait till 6:30 for the kitchen to open. But I could have a drink...at $10 a glass.
I headed off to another place and had a really good curry and a Guinness at room temperature! Loved it. There's a bus stop just outside the hotel to take me into Hamilton when I'm done, tomorrow.
Tomorrow is just overseeing the delivery of the packing materials and setting up a work station. The owner of the library isn't here till late so I don't get to start packing till Saturday.
Which is fine by me...
The flight down from Boston was fine. I lucked out with an aisle seat even though the plane was packed. Customs was easy...and very 1970s. The whole terminal here is. I think they're building a new one. The cab driver was nice and told me all of the places I should go, and the hotel is just across an inlet from the airport, so I can see it from my balcony...and hear the planes landing and taking off.
My hotel is nice but on a weird little hill that wanders down to the ocean. This is my view. I have to climb up about the equivalent of four stories to get to the main lobby and dining areas...and they have very strict hours for dining. I arrived at 6:10 to get dinner and was told I'd have to wait till 6:30 for the kitchen to open. But I could have a drink...at $10 a glass.I headed off to another place and had a really good curry and a Guinness at room temperature! Loved it. There's a bus stop just outside the hotel to take me into Hamilton when I'm done, tomorrow.
Tomorrow is just overseeing the delivery of the packing materials and setting up a work station. The owner of the library isn't here till late so I don't get to start packing till Saturday.
Which is fine by me...
January 16, 2019
Off to Bermuda...
I'm not looking forward to this job in Bermuda. I like the books I'll be packing -- 17th - 19th Century Irish history and poetry -- but I've never been much for tiny islands and beaches. I got soured on them when we spent my sophomore year in Hawaii and I got second degree sunburn, twice.
There's also the question of whether or not the company I'm dealing with for the packing materials will bring me what I asked for and in usable shape. I've run into that in other countries, where the cartons aren't very well-built. And often their idea of scheduling is minimal, so I'm worried about whether or not these guys will pick up the shipment when I need them to so I can catch my flight home.
But...it's a job and needs to be done. And now I'll be able to say I've been. Woo-hoo.
What's really going to make this fun is the airplane trip. This is a low-cost package deal so first of all it's a 6:40 am flight out of Buffalo, and on top of that I don't get to choose my seats; they're assigned at the gate. So middle row it is. I'm taking a book and not even trying to break out my laptop.
There's also the issue of getting around -- Bermuda don't believe in sidewalks, from what I can tell, so not wandering around by foot. I'll have to find some kind of transportation from the hotel to the house I'm working in. And the food is hellaciously expensive. $22 for a burger and fries? With nothing else around to counter it?
Fortunately it'll only be till Monday.
There's also the question of whether or not the company I'm dealing with for the packing materials will bring me what I asked for and in usable shape. I've run into that in other countries, where the cartons aren't very well-built. And often their idea of scheduling is minimal, so I'm worried about whether or not these guys will pick up the shipment when I need them to so I can catch my flight home.
But...it's a job and needs to be done. And now I'll be able to say I've been. Woo-hoo.
What's really going to make this fun is the airplane trip. This is a low-cost package deal so first of all it's a 6:40 am flight out of Buffalo, and on top of that I don't get to choose my seats; they're assigned at the gate. So middle row it is. I'm taking a book and not even trying to break out my laptop.
There's also the issue of getting around -- Bermuda don't believe in sidewalks, from what I can tell, so not wandering around by foot. I'll have to find some kind of transportation from the hotel to the house I'm working in. And the food is hellaciously expensive. $22 for a burger and fries? With nothing else around to counter it?
Fortunately it'll only be till Monday.
January 15, 2019
I need to advertise more...
Apparently there was word going around that HTRASG, PM, RIHC6 and BC were out of print...which surprised me. I saw it in a Facebook group I belong to, so I let them know that wasn't the case and linked to my website...and sold several book in just the 24 hours since I posted it. Who knows how many sales I missed out on?
I'm not sure what kind of advertising I can do to counter this. I've noted on my Facebook pages and in GoodReads that I republished my first four books at a better price. I have a couple of separate pages for not only KMSCB but OT...and A65. I had pages for LD and BC, but they did nothing so ended them.
I used to get some traction from Tumblr, but they've gone all homophobic and freaky over adult content so that's pretty much dead. And Twitter is my political outlet, really. I guess I could start a second one for my books, but I've already got so many things going I don't know if I'd be able to keep up with it all.
So I guess I'll just keep plugging along. I don't want to take too much time from APoS. Right now I'm reading a couple of books that are surprisingly informative, mainly in little asides. Like one noting Springtown, a seriously bad pocket of poverty in Derry, was shut down in 1968. I thought it was still somewhat operational in 1970. I'll have to dig deeper into that because some characters are established as coming from there and I may need to change it.
Another was the astonishing number of children some women had in Derry -- 12 - 15 within a year of each other. And...the astonishing number of miscarriages and stillbirths. And those women are standing in photos with their adult children still upright and sturdy.
My aunt, who converted to Catholicism when she got married, had 7 kids, not counting a still birth and a miscarriage. Much of that's due to the Church's opposition to birth control, and antiquated attitude that is not only stupid but dangerous to the future of the planet.
You can always count on religion to do the wrong thing.
I'm not sure what kind of advertising I can do to counter this. I've noted on my Facebook pages and in GoodReads that I republished my first four books at a better price. I have a couple of separate pages for not only KMSCB but OT...and A65. I had pages for LD and BC, but they did nothing so ended them.
I used to get some traction from Tumblr, but they've gone all homophobic and freaky over adult content so that's pretty much dead. And Twitter is my political outlet, really. I guess I could start a second one for my books, but I've already got so many things going I don't know if I'd be able to keep up with it all.
So I guess I'll just keep plugging along. I don't want to take too much time from APoS. Right now I'm reading a couple of books that are surprisingly informative, mainly in little asides. Like one noting Springtown, a seriously bad pocket of poverty in Derry, was shut down in 1968. I thought it was still somewhat operational in 1970. I'll have to dig deeper into that because some characters are established as coming from there and I may need to change it.
Another was the astonishing number of children some women had in Derry -- 12 - 15 within a year of each other. And...the astonishing number of miscarriages and stillbirths. And those women are standing in photos with their adult children still upright and sturdy.
My aunt, who converted to Catholicism when she got married, had 7 kids, not counting a still birth and a miscarriage. Much of that's due to the Church's opposition to birth control, and antiquated attitude that is not only stupid but dangerous to the future of the planet.
You can always count on religion to do the wrong thing.
January 14, 2019
GoDaddy won't go away...
Another hour on the phone with GoDaddy trying to migrate my basic account to ultimate so it's better protected against incorrect viewings...and they tried to charge me another $35.00 to do it, even though I should have been able to do it on my own. I got angry and threatened to shut it all down and get a refund, so they backtracked and I got everything done for the price I paid, and it's good for 3 years.
Damn, that crap pisses me off. Sneaky-assed ways used to get more money out of you while doing all they can to keep you confused as to what they're doing. Like 3-card monte. Not fun. But we'll see how it goes, now, and if it's not working tomorrow, I'm shutting the fucker down. I have no patience with this.
On a lighter note, I got a book I'd ordered from a shop in Derry, Northern Ireland today instead of 4 weeks from now. Shocked me. And it's in good shape, too. It's mostly made up of posed photos of groups of kids and people at events or such, but it does have some images of the civil rights movement, including the family who squatted in Guildhall over demands for better housing. What's even better is it has photos of the Lough Swilly bus depot on Great James and of the barricades on Rossville and William Streets. So it was worth the money.
But I've run my credit cards up, again, and that's not cool. I want them paid down as much as possible so that by the end of the year I can get a card from my credit union at a decent interest rate. I only owe on two of them, but one has a rate of more than 12% and the other is nearly 18%. I hate that. I have another one that I use for business that I pay off every month, which would also happily charge me 18%.
Thursday I head for Bermuda to do a packing job...and damn, that place is pricey. Breakfast at my hotel would be $25 and a friggin' cheeseburger and fries is $23. If I want to dine, that starts at $45. And there's no public transport where I am. I'll have to grab a taxi to get to the house, at $15-20 per trip. I'd walk, but there aren't any sidewalks along that route. Ridiculous. I don't really like the idea of going to Bermuda, but it's to handle an interesting library of Irish history so...
What I AM looking forward to is a week in England, at Reading, packing a huge library of humor and satire. I'll have help for that so maybe I can pack in an extra day or two to wander London.
Ah, the life of a travelin' man...
Damn, that crap pisses me off. Sneaky-assed ways used to get more money out of you while doing all they can to keep you confused as to what they're doing. Like 3-card monte. Not fun. But we'll see how it goes, now, and if it's not working tomorrow, I'm shutting the fucker down. I have no patience with this.
On a lighter note, I got a book I'd ordered from a shop in Derry, Northern Ireland today instead of 4 weeks from now. Shocked me. And it's in good shape, too. It's mostly made up of posed photos of groups of kids and people at events or such, but it does have some images of the civil rights movement, including the family who squatted in Guildhall over demands for better housing. What's even better is it has photos of the Lough Swilly bus depot on Great James and of the barricades on Rossville and William Streets. So it was worth the money.
But I've run my credit cards up, again, and that's not cool. I want them paid down as much as possible so that by the end of the year I can get a card from my credit union at a decent interest rate. I only owe on two of them, but one has a rate of more than 12% and the other is nearly 18%. I hate that. I have another one that I use for business that I pay off every month, which would also happily charge me 18%.
Thursday I head for Bermuda to do a packing job...and damn, that place is pricey. Breakfast at my hotel would be $25 and a friggin' cheeseburger and fries is $23. If I want to dine, that starts at $45. And there's no public transport where I am. I'll have to grab a taxi to get to the house, at $15-20 per trip. I'd walk, but there aren't any sidewalks along that route. Ridiculous. I don't really like the idea of going to Bermuda, but it's to handle an interesting library of Irish history so...
What I AM looking forward to is a week in England, at Reading, packing a huge library of humor and satire. I'll have help for that so maybe I can pack in an extra day or two to wander London.
Ah, the life of a travelin' man...
January 13, 2019
APoS continues...
I'm currently working on the Battle of the Bogside in August 1969 and the Celebration Fleadh that followed a couple weeks later. It's where Brendan and Joanna finally truly connect, because she's Protestant but sneaks into the festival and is caught out so he has to protect her and get her home. It's an important point in the story...so I'm taking my time with it...
I've brought in new characters, as well, who may turn out to be important, later. I don't know yet. But this is also the point where the IRA was seen as cowardly in the face of what happened, and members broke off to form the Provisional IRA...and Real IRA and on and on. There was no real need for them, at this point, since British troops were seen as protecting Catholics from the Protestants. That didn't start shifting till much later.
It's funny, but with all this talk of a wall along the Mexican border intending to keep out the hoards of illegal immigrants storming up from Central America, it brings to mind how the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland is only about 310 miles long, not nearly 2000 miles. It was heavily guarded by Great Britain, a major military power, and supposedly shut down by non-stop ground and air patrols and guard stations and the like, but it remained as porous as if there were no troops along it, at all.
1240 miles of the US/Mexico border is the Rio Grande, from El Paso to Brownsville. You can't build a wall down the middle of a river, not even one as casual as this one is, so that means building it up off the immediate banks, since those can shift a lot in occasional flooding. Which means the US Government would not only have to seize land from private individuals to build upon, it would effectively be ceding all of the river and a fair portion of Texas back to Mexico. I cannot imagine that going over well in Austin.
The stupidity of the idea that you can even close a border keeps getting proven over and over -- Berlin, The Iron Curtain, the Maginot Line...even the Great Wall of China was not completely effective. It did keep semi-nomadic invaders out, but did not stop some large scale invasions, and even the nomadic people were able to breach the wall from time to time.
The stupidity of humanity is not to be underestimated...
I've brought in new characters, as well, who may turn out to be important, later. I don't know yet. But this is also the point where the IRA was seen as cowardly in the face of what happened, and members broke off to form the Provisional IRA...and Real IRA and on and on. There was no real need for them, at this point, since British troops were seen as protecting Catholics from the Protestants. That didn't start shifting till much later.
It's funny, but with all this talk of a wall along the Mexican border intending to keep out the hoards of illegal immigrants storming up from Central America, it brings to mind how the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland is only about 310 miles long, not nearly 2000 miles. It was heavily guarded by Great Britain, a major military power, and supposedly shut down by non-stop ground and air patrols and guard stations and the like, but it remained as porous as if there were no troops along it, at all.
1240 miles of the US/Mexico border is the Rio Grande, from El Paso to Brownsville. You can't build a wall down the middle of a river, not even one as casual as this one is, so that means building it up off the immediate banks, since those can shift a lot in occasional flooding. Which means the US Government would not only have to seize land from private individuals to build upon, it would effectively be ceding all of the river and a fair portion of Texas back to Mexico. I cannot imagine that going over well in Austin.
The stupidity of the idea that you can even close a border keeps getting proven over and over -- Berlin, The Iron Curtain, the Maginot Line...even the Great Wall of China was not completely effective. It did keep semi-nomadic invaders out, but did not stop some large scale invasions, and even the nomadic people were able to breach the wall from time to time.
The stupidity of humanity is not to be underestimated...
January 12, 2019
I know nothing...nothing...
Another long session with GoDaddy's tech support and still have to go back to it. I started out trying to change my avatar but couldn't work around its demand I do it through Gravatar, then I quickly learned my WordPress site was NOT set up exactly right, so we dug into that.
Now I've got it done except for one last action -- migrating it from a basic WP site to an ultimate one. That makes certain it's protected from kids and creeps who want to mess with it. I have to do that in a couple days.
Oh, but today's session wore me out...and I wasn't able to focus on anything for too long a time. So no writing done. No reading. Just a wasted day. Not good since I'm going to be traveling a lot over the next six weeks.
First, I'm heading to Bermuda for a packing job, on Thursday, and won't return till the following Monday. Another place I'd never have gone to on my own. I guess we'll see how it goes, with TSA and air traffic control being messed about by Czar Chicken Little's shut-down of the government and Republican leaders actually thinking it's no big deal for the 800,000 federal employees furloughed or working without pay.
After that is Miami for the Map Fair...which could be an issue. But then comes a job in Reading, UK, for a week...which should be okay since I'm flying out of Toronto for that. So even if the shutdown is still going on, I can make it. Just don't know if the border will be open for my return.
I'm stopping my commentary there, since I so despise Republicans, right now, rehashing this crap will only piss me off. I just pray that SOB in the White House gets indicted by Mueller and Mitch McConnell is removed as Senate Majority Leader, since he's a bottleneck to anything happening. There are people out there who think all of this is a good thing. Seriously. Though some are now actually saying, "He's hurting the wrong people" since it's begun to affect them. Fucking hypocrites.
I know America's always had selfish assholes whose racism is considered natural and their claims to Christianity unassailable. The only good thing about the last two years is, we can no longer avoid the reality that a large portion of the United States' population is racist, hateful, cruel and sadistic...as well as fucking cowardly. If we'd had people like that in control, we'd still have slavery and women would not be able to even have their own checking account, let alone vote.
God damn the GOP...every fucking one of them...
Now I've got it done except for one last action -- migrating it from a basic WP site to an ultimate one. That makes certain it's protected from kids and creeps who want to mess with it. I have to do that in a couple days.
Oh, but today's session wore me out...and I wasn't able to focus on anything for too long a time. So no writing done. No reading. Just a wasted day. Not good since I'm going to be traveling a lot over the next six weeks.
First, I'm heading to Bermuda for a packing job, on Thursday, and won't return till the following Monday. Another place I'd never have gone to on my own. I guess we'll see how it goes, with TSA and air traffic control being messed about by Czar Chicken Little's shut-down of the government and Republican leaders actually thinking it's no big deal for the 800,000 federal employees furloughed or working without pay.
After that is Miami for the Map Fair...which could be an issue. But then comes a job in Reading, UK, for a week...which should be okay since I'm flying out of Toronto for that. So even if the shutdown is still going on, I can make it. Just don't know if the border will be open for my return.
I'm stopping my commentary there, since I so despise Republicans, right now, rehashing this crap will only piss me off. I just pray that SOB in the White House gets indicted by Mueller and Mitch McConnell is removed as Senate Majority Leader, since he's a bottleneck to anything happening. There are people out there who think all of this is a good thing. Seriously. Though some are now actually saying, "He's hurting the wrong people" since it's begun to affect them. Fucking hypocrites.
I know America's always had selfish assholes whose racism is considered natural and their claims to Christianity unassailable. The only good thing about the last two years is, we can no longer avoid the reality that a large portion of the United States' population is racist, hateful, cruel and sadistic...as well as fucking cowardly. If we'd had people like that in control, we'd still have slavery and women would not be able to even have their own checking account, let alone vote.
God damn the GOP...every fucking one of them...
January 11, 2019
I've started a new blog...
Since Tumblr self-destructed, I've been slowly setting up an adult blog on WordPress, and today it finally came into being. JamTheCat is about working on my writing; angerandanarchy is about letting off steam in any way I want -- be it videos, photos, sketches, stories, snide commentaries, sexual bullshit, all sorts of things I don't want just anyone to be able to see. So I've finalized a popup that warns prospective viewers it's for adults only and they have to say they are over the age of 18 or go away.
I've already posted a couple of things on it, including links to where readers can buy Underground Guy. My plan is to use it not only as a place to explode before I explode but a sales tool for my adult novels. I got 5 of the buggers, now -- HTRASG, PM, RIHC6, BC, and now UG. LD and OT are more general while A65 is about as mainstream as it gets, for me.
I guess this makes me a niche author trying to broaden his base, but so far I've only had minimal success with that. I've already sold more copies of UG in the last 4 weeks than I have of A65 in the last 8 months. Who knows what will happen once I let APoS loose onto the world.
Don't get me wrong -- I'm not sorry about this. Writing dark as night books along with some sunshine and light helped me hone my ability as a writer enough to where I finally have the confidence to do APoS as it should be. I talk about having Tolstoy as my guide because he builds his worlds with lovely, deeply-felt characters and a feel for his society that is unsurpassed...but reality is I think I'm doing the Once and Future King route with APoS -- starting out relatively light and growing darker as Brendan ages and learns the truth of the world.
BUT...I do not want it bleak. I want honesty, not nihilism. I want truth, not statements. I want beauty and grace as well as hell on earth.
Not aiming for much, am I...
I've already posted a couple of things on it, including links to where readers can buy Underground Guy. My plan is to use it not only as a place to explode before I explode but a sales tool for my adult novels. I got 5 of the buggers, now -- HTRASG, PM, RIHC6, BC, and now UG. LD and OT are more general while A65 is about as mainstream as it gets, for me.
I guess this makes me a niche author trying to broaden his base, but so far I've only had minimal success with that. I've already sold more copies of UG in the last 4 weeks than I have of A65 in the last 8 months. Who knows what will happen once I let APoS loose onto the world.
Don't get me wrong -- I'm not sorry about this. Writing dark as night books along with some sunshine and light helped me hone my ability as a writer enough to where I finally have the confidence to do APoS as it should be. I talk about having Tolstoy as my guide because he builds his worlds with lovely, deeply-felt characters and a feel for his society that is unsurpassed...but reality is I think I'm doing the Once and Future King route with APoS -- starting out relatively light and growing darker as Brendan ages and learns the truth of the world.
BUT...I do not want it bleak. I want honesty, not nihilism. I want truth, not statements. I want beauty and grace as well as hell on earth.
Not aiming for much, am I...
January 10, 2019
Missing LA...
I was in Los Angeles -- Anaheim Hills and Torrance, really, for a couple days -- but had a chance to wander around to my usual spots -- Book Soup to buy some books, The Grove to get new ear buds for my iphone, Taschen Bookstore for a couple books, India Grill to meet friends for dinner...
I spent way too much money and got caught in LA's typical traffic a couple of times, but damn I miss it. Working out of Buffalo has its advantages -- no distractions to keep me from writing, being one -- but LA is home to me. It's my city. Always will be.
One big issue is, when I'm there I start thinking about writing scripts and making movies, again, which shifts my focus away from other writing I want to do. I worked around it by reading Adrian McKinty's last book, Police At The Station and They Don't Look Friendly, and bought a copy of James M. Cain's Double Indemnity to read on the flight back.
The flight to Buffalo turned out to be half full so I got a row to myself...read a little...and actually slept on a plane. One of the rare times. And after leaving LA, where it was upper 60s and clear, I landed in a snowstorm, had trouble unlocking my car's driver's door because it had frozen shut, and drove home on icy roads. I don't mind that, really. In fact, I like having 4 seasons. But Buffalo is not nor will it ever be home.
Nothing's been done on APoS except for the reading. I like McKinty's book; I'm getting some good ideas about the society of NI and he's got bleakness and cynicism down to an art. Plus the mystery worked out in a rather surprising way. He actually had a red herring I fell for, at the end, though the scenes setting it up did remind me too much of Three Days of the Condor (1975) and Diva (1981).
But as a sometime fellow thief of a writer I have to say -- if you're going to steal, steal from the best.
I spent way too much money and got caught in LA's typical traffic a couple of times, but damn I miss it. Working out of Buffalo has its advantages -- no distractions to keep me from writing, being one -- but LA is home to me. It's my city. Always will be.
One big issue is, when I'm there I start thinking about writing scripts and making movies, again, which shifts my focus away from other writing I want to do. I worked around it by reading Adrian McKinty's last book, Police At The Station and They Don't Look Friendly, and bought a copy of James M. Cain's Double Indemnity to read on the flight back.
The flight to Buffalo turned out to be half full so I got a row to myself...read a little...and actually slept on a plane. One of the rare times. And after leaving LA, where it was upper 60s and clear, I landed in a snowstorm, had trouble unlocking my car's driver's door because it had frozen shut, and drove home on icy roads. I don't mind that, really. In fact, I like having 4 seasons. But Buffalo is not nor will it ever be home.
Nothing's been done on APoS except for the reading. I like McKinty's book; I'm getting some good ideas about the society of NI and he's got bleakness and cynicism down to an art. Plus the mystery worked out in a rather surprising way. He actually had a red herring I fell for, at the end, though the scenes setting it up did remind me too much of Three Days of the Condor (1975) and Diva (1981).
But as a sometime fellow thief of a writer I have to say -- if you're going to steal, steal from the best.
January 5, 2019
Slowly...slowly...
Went digging through my books, today -- Derry Journal of the 1970s, Streets of Derry (1625-2001), Burrows Pointer Guide Map of Londonderry (1946, I think), Derry Through the Lens - Refocus, Northern Ireland - The Troubles, Derry - the Troubled Years, and No Go. Mainly photo-oriented books in an attempt to see if what I wrote is workable...and unable to say, yet.
I put in an order for another book put out by the Derry Journal, for the 1960s, but that won't be in for a while; it's coming from a bookshop I deal with in Derry and will be the cheapest postal method possible. I just hope they at least put it in a padded envelope.
I shifted to working on connecting the sections in part three, where Brendan returns to Derry. I'm missing 4 links -- him seeing his mother and youngest brother, again, for the first time in more than 8 years, as well as a sister and another brother. Then there's some moments when he has to face a form of tribunal with the Provisional IRA over what happened when he disappeared from Derry in late 1972. Not a lot and yet...
I won't get anything done, tomorrow. I'm off to LA on a non-stop flight that doesn't get in till 9:30pm, so no blogging, either. I'll be packing, finalizing my prepping for the job and getting to the airport early in case some of the TSA have called in sick and it takes longer to get through security. Same for returning; I changed my flight to a later one on Wednesday, going through Chicago (which I do not like to do) but that way if there's any issues I've got plenty of time to deal with them.
It is my fervent hope the GOP in the Senate will come to its senses and dump Mitch McConnell as Majority leader. He is the main bottleneck to solving the shutdown. I think if the bill that was passed prior to the shutdown was put up, again, it would pass with a veto-proof majority and Czar Snowflake would be kicked in the balls.
He needs to be...and often, he's such an asshole.
I put in an order for another book put out by the Derry Journal, for the 1960s, but that won't be in for a while; it's coming from a bookshop I deal with in Derry and will be the cheapest postal method possible. I just hope they at least put it in a padded envelope.
I shifted to working on connecting the sections in part three, where Brendan returns to Derry. I'm missing 4 links -- him seeing his mother and youngest brother, again, for the first time in more than 8 years, as well as a sister and another brother. Then there's some moments when he has to face a form of tribunal with the Provisional IRA over what happened when he disappeared from Derry in late 1972. Not a lot and yet...
I won't get anything done, tomorrow. I'm off to LA on a non-stop flight that doesn't get in till 9:30pm, so no blogging, either. I'll be packing, finalizing my prepping for the job and getting to the airport early in case some of the TSA have called in sick and it takes longer to get through security. Same for returning; I changed my flight to a later one on Wednesday, going through Chicago (which I do not like to do) but that way if there's any issues I've got plenty of time to deal with them.
It is my fervent hope the GOP in the Senate will come to its senses and dump Mitch McConnell as Majority leader. He is the main bottleneck to solving the shutdown. I think if the bill that was passed prior to the shutdown was put up, again, it would pass with a veto-proof majority and Czar Snowflake would be kicked in the balls.
He needs to be...and often, he's such an asshole.
January 4, 2019
I've read too many murder mysteries...
Well...Rain Dogs pretty much worked out like I figured. Dammit. I was hoping my suspicion of how a locked room murder happened would wind up being a deliberate red herring, but it wasn't. However, that was made up for by the finagling nonsense of the suspect after being found out and the final coda, which involved Finland deciding to join the EEC. That was clever.
Still, I like Adrian McKinty's writing style. Very dark, cynical and staccato...not like I write at all. Well...I don't do staccato. I mix in a lot of James Joycean run on sentences with Hemingway simplicity layered by a Tolstoy-esque depth of character...and I know, I know, I'm full of shit. But it's fun to think I do all that.
I did more work...this time on APoS's ending. I changed who dies, and by doing that shifted the dynamic of the story, a little. But it helps make sense of a small mystery -- how the RUC found out Brendan was back in Derry masquerading as someone else. Part of me thinks this is too neat...and I may yet change it, again...but it works for now.
I may finally have my WordPress blog ready to run, including protection and such. I have to wait till I'm back from LA and it's set up for Adults Only before I start posting my more in-your-face stuff, but I can leave Tumbler in the dust. I'll shut that down on January 31st.
Today I had fun prepping for a packing job in Bermuda. Man...they have a different way of working, down there. I'm trying to arrange for packing materials to be delivered to the library's site, and for two weeks I've been talking with a freight forwarder in Hamilton who say they can supply the boxes and paper and bubble wrap I need...but do you think I can find out what they actually do have?
I tell them I want newsprint to use to stuff the boxes. Yeah, we got that. Is it this size? Yeah, we got that. Packages. How many sheets are in a package? We have a couple of half packages. Okay...I'm looking for 1200 sheets of the paper in 30x20 inches. Do you have that many? We've ordered packing materials but they won't be here when you need them. NO PACKING MATERIALS? We have boxes and bubble, and we do have a roll of paper. How big is the roll? We'll send you a photo. And then they don't send the photo.
Bermuda is not a place I've ever wanted to go to...and this is only confirming my impression of it. Who knows? Maybe the shutdown of the government will drag on and I won't b e able to go if the TSA and Air Traffic Controllers walk off the job for not being paid, since Czar Snowflake is dumb-fuck enough to think he can do to them what he's done to contractors.
God damn the GOP for helping that bastard.
Still, I like Adrian McKinty's writing style. Very dark, cynical and staccato...not like I write at all. Well...I don't do staccato. I mix in a lot of James Joycean run on sentences with Hemingway simplicity layered by a Tolstoy-esque depth of character...and I know, I know, I'm full of shit. But it's fun to think I do all that.
I did more work...this time on APoS's ending. I changed who dies, and by doing that shifted the dynamic of the story, a little. But it helps make sense of a small mystery -- how the RUC found out Brendan was back in Derry masquerading as someone else. Part of me thinks this is too neat...and I may yet change it, again...but it works for now.
I may finally have my WordPress blog ready to run, including protection and such. I have to wait till I'm back from LA and it's set up for Adults Only before I start posting my more in-your-face stuff, but I can leave Tumbler in the dust. I'll shut that down on January 31st.
Today I had fun prepping for a packing job in Bermuda. Man...they have a different way of working, down there. I'm trying to arrange for packing materials to be delivered to the library's site, and for two weeks I've been talking with a freight forwarder in Hamilton who say they can supply the boxes and paper and bubble wrap I need...but do you think I can find out what they actually do have?
I tell them I want newsprint to use to stuff the boxes. Yeah, we got that. Is it this size? Yeah, we got that. Packages. How many sheets are in a package? We have a couple of half packages. Okay...I'm looking for 1200 sheets of the paper in 30x20 inches. Do you have that many? We've ordered packing materials but they won't be here when you need them. NO PACKING MATERIALS? We have boxes and bubble, and we do have a roll of paper. How big is the roll? We'll send you a photo. And then they don't send the photo.
Bermuda is not a place I've ever wanted to go to...and this is only confirming my impression of it. Who knows? Maybe the shutdown of the government will drag on and I won't b e able to go if the TSA and Air Traffic Controllers walk off the job for not being paid, since Czar Snowflake is dumb-fuck enough to think he can do to them what he's done to contractors.
God damn the GOP for helping that bastard.
