Tony McFadden's Blog, page 6

What Can We Say About 2020?

As little as possible, right?

It’s fair to say it was a year. It felt like at least seven. It was a year that started in January, and god willing, will end at the end of December.

Fingers crossed.

It was a year that back-burnered murder hornets. They will probably fire their agent. 2021 would have been a much better year, probably September / October time frame for a murder hornet invasion. Definitely not just before the launch of a pandemic. (Global pandemic is redundant. Please don’t...

Mulligan

2020 is the first year I havent released at least one book in a decade. Matts War, my first, came out in September, 2010. My most recent, The Murder of Jeremy Brookes , came out over a year ago, April, 2019.

But 2020 can take a flying fuck at the moon.

Bushfires (actual start date, December 2019) through to February 2020. A couple weeks of holy crap rain and floods (good news, the fires went out!), then pandemic for EVERYONE.

YOU get a pandemic. and YOU get a pandemic. EVRYBODY gets a...

It Continues

I need to preface this post (and consider it an update to the previous post) that there isn’t actual torture involved. At least not in the mind of the person conducting the torture.

My son, the literal dungeon master, is well trained for this sort of thing. He plans the sessions based on our current physical capabilities and makes sure we aren’t doing permanent physical damage to ourselves.

For example, I have an ulnar collateral ligament injury on my left arm. A 5mm tear that hurts like ...

Torture

It’s been a little while, hasn’t it?

Things have conspired against my writing, like the world and the shit state it’s currently in. But it looks like that’s nearing some kind of conclusion (remarkable how low expectations are set when you’ve got COVID-19 *and* a narcissistic man-child with psychopathic tendencies running the country once thought to be the leader of the free world).

Things actually started brightening up when we finished installing the gym my son bought and started the wee...

The Defining Moment of our Times

I have to take a step back at least twice a day and remind myself that this is global. We (myself, wife, two kids and border collie) live outside of Sydney in a fairly quiet (and lately much quieter) suburb. We have always been a close-knit family, due in large part, I guess, because we spent the better part of a decade and a half traipsing around South East Asia / East Asia with my work. We rarely go out to restaurants, preferring take out or home cooked.

So self-isolating in and of itself...

COVID-19, 20…21?

Ive been trying to game this out. The immense scope of this pandemic is sometimes hard to fathom. By definition its global. But the scope. Damn. Its everywhere.

And the growth, globally, isnt showing any sign of slowing.

Weve seen the photos in Italy and China and, now, New York, of refrigerated trucks for corpse storage. Thats unfathomable to me. And the developed countries, while stressed, will get through it by hook or by crook, McGyver-ing up some 2 for 1 or 4 for one vents and a bunch...

So, This Working From Home Thing…

Two weeks into the WFH scheme (the company I work for made it a strong suggestion two weeks ago and mandatory this past week) and a few things are becoming apparent. Other than the fact we are all going to be well over our goal weights when this is over.

Some of my observations surprised even myself.

First, I miss going to the office. Sort of. I dont miss the commute. I do miss the camaraderie. I keep in regular contact sideways and upward in my immediate management structure and have daily...

Level Up

What an achievement! We passed the 1000 mark of COVID-19 cases a day early.

Yay for us.

Idiots.

And this on a day when we find out a cruise ship allowed 2700 passengers to disembark in Sydney after they found over 300 with flu symptoms. Seven were found (after the 2700 dispersed into the Australian wind) to have tested positive.

And the day after a herd of howling monkeys hit Bondi, in defiance of the recent keep your distance rules, packing it to the rafters.

Listen.

The virus doesnt care...

Working From Home $ale

I dont want this to come across like a money grab, exploiting the covid-19 pandemic for personal gain.

And it really isnt, because Ill get a paltry $0.35 (or less) per book sold.

But I recognise that there may be a couple of months of stuck at homedness sweeping across the world and I want everyone, regardless their financial situation, to have something of mine to read.

And yes, clearly, Im hooking my stars to a miniscule RNA clump trying to rid Earth of anyone over the age of 30.

Something...

I’m Frustrated and Annoyed

Thats not news. Im always frustrated and annoyed. Its the reason I get up in the morning.

But Im at least 50% more frustrated and 65% more annoyed over the past couple of weeks.

We are, as you may have noticed, living through a pandemic. And by *we* I mean every fucking one of us, even those numpties insisting its a hoax, or overblown by the lefty media or whatevers.

Some so-called leaders with a healthy dose of magic thinking believe well be all right (as long as we remain Australian, so if...