Richard Raley's Blog, page 19
July 25, 2021
July 2021 Quick Notes
1. Feeling better finally. Took a long while, but...feeling better. Pretty much Link in BOTW at this point, have to hang out in AC land or I start getting super hot really quick, but better than where I was at a couple weeks ago.
2. I'm sticking with War to End All Wars and doing a readthrough/edit on what I have so far, then going to pump the 69 (nice!) pages into the laptop over the next week.
3. Really like what I have so far. Took me a bit to get back into fighting shape but I've got this one's number now. Plenty more to figure out for the back half, but we're grooving!
Just read through what might be the best KH/Welf interaction ever...just so very tense. This isn't some childish shallow argument, this is two people who have known each other for years now really digging deep at the other, and me having written the characters for so long now having a great feel for who they are. Plus, I like to think after a decade of writing in the minor leagues I finally kinda know what I'm doing at this point, maybe, sorta...
4. So I've had some serious left hand pain for the better part of five years. Basically since just after I finished FM6. It isn't the main reason for why things got so fucked up with my output (surgery/health/grandpa/etc), but it didn't help. Finally bit the bullet and got a steroid shot in the problematic joint at the start of the month. Good news is now I have much better movement and can type for longer than a couple hours of a day without any pain. Bad news is I still can't grasp, twist, or hold a gaming controller for an hour without wanting to die. So even if I HAD a PS5, I couldn't play with it! I have a feeling we're heading towards X-Rays/Ultrasounds/MRIs to figure out what's going on in there...
Oh, I'm left handed, have I mentioned that before?
Pencil lead edge-chop masters unite!
5. You know, before these Olympics started, I thought: sure, I'll watch some this time! Why not? Covid still has all the good movies backed up until later in the year, I could use some once-every-four-years sports in my life. Have I actually watched any of it? NOPE!!!
6. THAT FUCKING DUNE TRAILER!!! SQUEEEEEEE!!!
7. Actually finally starting the newest Stormlight book by Sanderson finally. Probably take me a month to read it since based on what's come before it's likely 5000 pages long. And I thought PIT OF NO RETURN was a big baby!
8. Apparently they fucked with He-Man over at Netflix and the Nerd World is ON FIRE. Again. Haven't watched it yet, since that was just a little bit before I was born and not really a fan and...maybe when part 2 comes out. More of a Transformers and GI JOE kid and...I mean, Michael Bay been diddling my childhood for a decade at this point. Actually Transformers: The Movie scared me for life when I was like 3, so...can't even blame Mr. Explosion Man.
Also had a Power Rangers phase I probably shouldn't talk about or admit to...but Green Ranger was so cool, guys! A kids show with a 5 part mini-series? Whaaaa? And did you see his fucking flute?!?!
But in a post The Last Jedi world, after we saw the fallout from that, I'm kind of shocked anyone thought it was a good idea to attempt the same game plan with He-Man. So I get why He-Man fans are so upset. Luke Skywalker guzzling green alien titty milk still gives me nightmares. And the way the media/critics/bloggers sit on high and just label upset fans as haters and man-children and everything else you can use to belittle a person's opinion, that's still neither fair nor a good look. Again, the same game plan we saw in The Last Jedi mess! How are you repeating the same mistakes? This does not end well for anyone!!!
I do feel bad for Kevin Smith, even if he was the architect of his own demise. Used to listen to Hollywood Babble-On weekly at one point, and him talking about the Indie movie scene just as I was getting into the Indie book scene helped me not feel quite so crazy for spurning a traditional agent--->publisher route. For his sake, I hope Part 2 does right the ship and Netflix just made a mistake splitting up the story.
Could not be AS bad as the Anti-SJW crowd is making out. They're pretty much just as annoying if not more so as their foils at this point. So...assholes all around because everyone has one! Balanced, as all things should be!
Luckily I'm writing my own characters I personally created, so when I kill off a beloved character none of you will complain on YouTube or send me mean emails about how much of an asshole I am, right?!?!
9. Been watching a ton of movies instead of TV recently, mostly in the John-Wick-Like vein. The best one was probably WRATH OF MAN, Guy Ritchie's newest. Great ride beginning to end, check it out. Liked it even more than NOBODY, which seems to be getting more buzz. With NOBODY everyone feels protected. With WRATH OF MAN...anyone can and will die, so it's super tense. Also has a HEAT like element added to the John Wick revenge story and some timeline manipulation going on. If you haven't seen THE GENTLEMEN, which was the movie Ritchie released before WRATH, check that out too, it's even better.
Of course I still haven't watched John Wick 3...so...should probably do that soon!
10. LOKI was much better than the two previous Marvel shows, but the action scenes were REALLY bad. I mean, action scenes almost always bore me nowadays, but those were pitiful. I dug that there was a lot of talking and world-building and character moments. The finale was three people with conflicting desires chatting about how the universe should end instead of two people throwing CGI fireballs at each other, so I liked that. Final Boss was great and I can't wait to see his Super Saiyan version.
Loki, however...had almost no agency in the entire show. He was simply along for the ride and watching as everyone else made choices around him. In episode 3, I kept waiting for him to turn everything around and be like, a ha, tricked you! But...I'm still waiting. Could have been a choice the creators made and we'll see him step up in Season 2 and I hope that's what happens, because this isn't some newbie character that deserves to be a sidekick with training wheels.
But I have hope for the MCEU again, so that's great! Down with the sophomore slump, on to the Multiverse Wars!
11. Delta variant sucks, get your shots! Even King Henry believes in science, people! And he knows blood tentacle monsters rule the world not no wimpy Bill Gates!
12. I'm thinking of putting together a King Henry Quiz for you guys and gals, up to the challenge?
July 22, 2021
War to End All Wars Mini Tease #3
Miranda might not blush as often as she used to, but when she did she still blushed like a champion. “No one else would. I was bored…”
“Did he grab your butt?”
“Valentine!”
July 16, 2021
So That Sucked Serious Blood Tentacle
*sigh*
My AC died July 5th, obliterated by post July 4th firework residue, firmly etching that holiday as the worst of all holidays, not even close, no not even you New Year's Eve Dodge the Redneck and Gangbanger Bullets Extravaganza, sit the fuck down! Used to love it--swimming, family, grandpa's burgers, tag football games that only ended when someone dislocated a shoulder...but now? Hate it. Loud, noisy, scares the cats, turns the valley into an asthmatic's worst nightmare even more than it usually is, and oh yeah, KILLS MY FUCKING AC.
DURING THE WORST HEATWAVE FRESNO HAS SEEN IN A FUCKING DECADE.
Maybe two.
TWO FUCKING DECADES.
When Britney Spears only sang about being a slave, but wasn't an actual fucking slave, that's how long ago!
*sigh*
I survived miserably for five nights. Not well, every moment a struggle, but...I kept going. Saturday it was 110 degrees out and my body with its tiny bariatric stomach and lovely Scot-Irish What's the Sun? Genes had enough, I developed the first signs of serious OH SHIT heat exhaustion. I don't know if my neighbors deciding to have a live mariachi band in a residential neighborhood until 3AM contributed or not, but I'm guessing it didn't help.
Covered in wet rags and cold packs after two hours I finally cooled down and slumped into a restless sleep.
Sunday morning I could barely walk and decided to not fuck around anymore and went to the ER.
They were barely helpful, but...I got eight hours of free cool during the peak of the heatwave (115) they gave me obvious-but-fine-I'll-do-them tips and an IV, as well as warning signs on what to watch out for. Spent the rest of the day in a Taco Bell, went home for a small miserable sleep in a house that wouldn't cool down past 90, and repeated at my uncle's place the next day.
Despite all this...Tuesday morning at about 2AM it got even worse in a terrifying escalation of symptoms, so...back to the ER.
*sigh*
New doctor. They were...insultingly unhelpful. I quote "your organs aren't failing yet, so there's nothing we can really do for you."
OH, I'M FUCKING SORRY ABOUT THAT, MY BAD!
I've only got uncontrollable body shaking and I'm so dizzy I can barely walk and hey, if I wasn't dizzy every muscle below my knee and elbow is cramping and spastic, and I'm so fucking smooth-brained it took me a whole minute to spell out my own name to the nurse, but no biggie! Also I seem to have forgotten how to sweat, sure that's not important or on that list of shit you told me to watch out for. How rude of me, I should have waited until my kidneys were giving out!
"Get some sleep and wet some towels to throw over you".
Oh yeah, why didn't I fucking think of that?
*sigh*
So I moved in with the uncle for three days to borrow his couch and luckily I somehow didn't get worse. Thursday the new AC got put up and I'm finally back home. I've slept about 12 hours a night since that last ER visit and I'm just to the point where the dizzy and cramping seems to have gone away, still can't go outside for longer than five minutes, even at 90 degrees.
I've also lost ten pounds in the last week...which is VERY not how my surgeons expected this shit to go at this point.
Obviously no writing has been done, this is the first time I've touched a computer ever through all that. I'll probably need a week more of rest, then we'll see where we go from there.
I was just starting to think that maybe, just maybe I could get one of these books out to you guys before December rolled around, but it would probably take a miracle at this point. So we're looking at February at the earliest. If I don't self combust. Which...is probably 50/50 at this point!
Part of me wants to change things up and switch over to the Vicky novel and put some time into that, readthrough, fix some problems, and reenter into the world of elemental politics, pretty dresses, and art collections. But I also might just type the 69 (nice!) pages I have into the computer and keep going with THE BEST STUDENT ADVISOR EVER. None of them have died yet, have they?!?! Sure, one of them is raising up animals from the dead as pets, but you try to stop her!
Not necessarily boxing myself in to whatever you lot say, but...any desire on which you'd rather read first, Vicky Present Time Line One Month Before FM7 or Last School Story MEGA EDITION?
Anyway...I'm going back to napping...
And maybe I'll have some sugar free popsicles...
June 29, 2021
July-ish 2021 PURE INFERNO Quick Notes
1. Just a tad hot out here in California, well...the whole country really. And the Artic circle apparently, which I'm sure is JUST FINE.
2. Wrote a very acceptable amount this month, feel like I'm really making significant progress for the first time in forever. [Cue Frozen music]. Like...I'm going to finish this book. And the Vicky book not so long after it. Which is how things are supposed to work when you're an author, but after the last few years in this quagmire of misery this is the first month I've felt like victory wasn't just possible, but it's going to fucking happen. You almost start questioning yourself...did I really do this at least once maybe even twice a year? Yeah, Richard, you did.
I mean...every novel I've ever finished has felt like a miracle at one point or another, but...so very nice to be back where I am and to feel like I'm reclaiming this career I sacrificed so much for.
3. Still months of writing and editing for WAR TO END ALL WARS but...I can feel it now, it's not an idea, it's reality. Also, I'm...me, I guess. I'm sharp. I'm thinking through all the angles. I'm starting to remember bits and pieces of the series and how to connect them all. I feel funny again and want to make people laugh and smile and feel all the wonderful emotions we humans are possible of. And maybe a few of the horrible ones as well...
4. Had a massive epiphany concerning FM7. Seismic. It changes nothing, but changes everything. Heh. More on this later. Still thinking it through. But...well...I guess I'll just tease you and say it cleans up some problems I had with the back half of the series.
5. No delays and nothing has to be rewritten though, so don't freak out.
6. July is stuffed with doctors sadly, so not sure if I can keep this pace up without getting distracted by REAL LIFE. One year post surgery on July 31st so...they want their blood work and appointments and procedures and ARGH!!!
7. Lost 160 pounds almost. 60 pre surgery, 100 post. Walking a mile five days a week now. Tried a bunch of different stuff but that seems to be the best for me. Let my legs take the brunt and save my wrists and elbows for writing! Need another round of new shirts probably. 3XLs are looking quite huge these days. Food wise can pretty much eat anything I'd want at this point outside of sugary treats. Still allergic to dairy and pork and nuts because of the stupid EOE throat thing, but...just had a whole black bean burrito for breakfast. Yummy! Without cheese... 😱 Stupid EOE!!!
8. Was also the one year anniversary of my grandfather's death last week. Tough. Especially on my Mom. Whole thing has been, but that week was bad. You think you have it handled, and maybe you mostly do, but grief still hits you in ways you don't expect. A favorite saying slipping from your mouth or a stranger at the store wearing a shirt that looks too close to one you've seen hundreds of times before...
9. Anyone else watching the Euros? Yesterday was CRAZY.
10. Rereading Sanderson's Stormlight book 3 finally, so I can get back into that series. Still have Abercrombie, Malazan, Hobb, and plenty more to catch up on!
11. Stay cool!!! Stay safe!!! Stay foul!!!
June 23, 2021
War to End All Wars Mini Tease #2
A whole weekend to myself.
Just me and my old playground.
Consider the King Returned, Bitches!
Where the Elf women at?!?!
June 18, 2021
War to End All Wars Mini Tease #1
"How, uh...how long you been standing there, Boom?"
"Oh, just something about choking and chains..."
June 14, 2021
Jury Duty Done
Lucked out this time!
Doctor appointments here and there for the next couple months as we're coming up on the one year post surgery date in July, but plenty of time to steal more pages of progress, I hope...
Is fucking hot...
Like record breaking hot this weekend, so...
...
.
.
.
Guess I got some more good ol' pen and paper in my immediate future!
Also: we do not believe in normal periods in this household!
June 9, 2021
Watching, Playing, Reading Pre Summer Fiery Inferno 2021 Edition
Spoilers, probably?
==WATCHING==
Invincible: WATCH IT NOW!!! The only part better than watching Invincible is going on YouTube and watching everyone freak the fuck out in reaction videos to Invincible. It's up there with the first season of The Boys as my favorite superhero show ever. Six season and a movie, please! One of the few experiences that was so good I don't even want to read the original comic, just give me more of this so I can be surprised again and again!
The Mitchells vs the Machines: A great, enjoyable CGI animated movie from Netflix, how is this possible? Well, it's by the same Sony animation group that did Spiderverse, that helps, and it shows. The animation alone has so much style and interesting background detail stuff going on that you could probably be entertained watching it on mute, but the story is sweet, heartwarming, and if you have children you should probably watch it with them and then hug/cry/repress emotions with them afterwards.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: You're a fucking mess, Marvel. Get your shit together!
There's a lot going on here, I think. For one, I think it's obvious that the herculean task of building everything towards Infinity War and Endgame has emotionally sapped the entire studio of its creative juices. Especially if you look at the whole MCU up to this point as "book 1" or "story 1", it really feels like we're in sophomore slump territory where they are struggling to get to the next big thing.
And of course: pandemic!
But...my hope for these DisneyPlus shows was that they would be on the same shared universe interconnectedness that we saw with season 2 of the Mandalorian. Actually, I'd want more, but that should have been the minimum threshold in this day and age. Instead we aren't even reaching the same level as Season 1 of the Mando. We're barely over Agents of SHIELD or Netflix Daredevil interconnectedness in that it's kind of following up and we see SOME characters but not the ones we really want and...
Even if we ignore expectations and just focus on what is actually there, what's there is a ton of scared writing. Lazy writing too. Or...fast writing at least. They're handwaving A LOT. Ankle is in the water but they never jump in for a swim. US Agent could've been been really complex, but...he's redeemed now everyone, just like that! And hey, he's not crazy from the super soldier serum any more, we only needed that to happen for a few episodes anyway!
Ignoring the fact that killing the terrorist guy was actually not completely unjustified and the idea that the United States Senate (have you ever listened to any of these people in real life!?!?!?!) would even scolded him for that or especially gone so far as to strip him of the shield was laughable. Oh and we're probably supposed to support Karli and ignore all the murder? Sure got a speech about it. Are the Flag Smashers wrong? Or right? What are they even really trying to accomplish? No, no, don't think about that, don't look into that, don't build a plot around that, have cake and eat too, whatever we need for the next scene! We call it...Schrodinger's Freedom Terrorist!
You can make a villain that's complicated AND evil, Marvel. You did it with Thanos and Zemo...who's in this very series dancing the night away! So why are you freaking out about it now? Or that horse crap they pulled the end of WandaVision. They'll never know what you sacrificed for them, Wanda! I know Wanda mentally abused about a thousand innocent people and maybe we might want to deal with that, since, ya know...its conflicted and dirty and fun. Don't fucking handwave. Steer into the storm!
I rant because I know they can do better and have done better. Get over the slump. X Men. Fantastic Four. Crazy Nimrod Sentinel Shit? Galactus that's not a fucking space cloud?
Please?
More complaints too, but I fail to recall all of them at the moment. Oh, the Sharon Carter thing, or that we're supposed to believe Steve Rogers just left her to rot for years. Fuck that!
Attack on Titan Final Season Part 1: It's Attack on Titan time and that means I'm in an anime binge mood! Hey, Marvel, this, this right here. This is what it looks like when you fucking go for it. I hope all my foreshadowing and plans in the King Henry Tapes come out as well as what's been pulled off with Attack on Titan. It really is a masterpiece of onion layers. Bleeding, skull crushing, everyone is dying onion layers.
I have read ahead in the manga I am aware they rushed...just a tad...with some things, but here's hoping when we get Part 2 in the anime they tinker a bit?
If you ever watch one anime, this is one of the handful you should pick from.
Haikyuu!!! Season 4: I don't know why I care about a Japanese high school boys volleyball team, but I really do...
ReZero S1 Rewatch and S2: Great, but...I'd forgotten how much crying there was...do still love a good death loop though!
Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1: Distilled Shonen that I binged yet never loved. Kind of like they went for a solid bronze medal, nothing more, nothing less, and accomplished just that. Hey, it's a medal. It's snazzy. But I seen those handstands done better...
Justice League Snyder Cut: Actually watchable. Somehow. The fact the execs managed to fuck this whole thing up even more than Lucasfilm did with the Star Wars sequels is an amazing feat of maleficence.
Other HBO Max Junk Movies: You're allowed to release good movies, Warner Bros, really. You can do it! (In the Heights isn't out yet as I write this). Judas and the Messiah was about the only one I've liked so far. Please let Dune be good, please please please!
Jupiter's Legacy: Glad it got cancelled before I watched more than two episodes because I was really not looking forward to watching any more of it.
Mare of Eastown: Just a great, condensed, seven episode mini-series and I'm sure Kate Winslet will get tons of award nods. Jean Smart was fantastic as well. Depressing, I suppose. I don't know, anxiety and horror and awkward humor freaks me out a lot more than any of the depressing stuff does. It'll probably get a second season they weren't planning on that goes totally batshit crazy...
LOKI Episode 1: That's more fucking like it, Marvel!!!!!
==PLAYING==
I've actually not been gaming much. Been suffering from a lot of joint pain related to the weight loss as my joints and ligaments acclimate to the new normal, so I've been saving my wrists and elbows for writing and especially staying away from console controllers (tiny PS4 controller is absolutely the worse). Also when I'm writing I have less time for other pursuits and as you'll see in the next section when I write I'd rather be reading anyway, so...no pressy pressy the butty buttons!
Ori and the Blind Forest: Finally played this on the Switch and it was magical and beautiful and the perfect amount of difficult with every death and triumph feeling earned and satisfying. Though I will say the water temple escape made me start screaming curse words at my TV. Still, very much worth the journey and I already bought Ori and the Will of the Wisps and should get to it eventually I hope.
Crash Bandicoot 4: Fuck you depth perception! Why is it that out of all the characters in this game that Crash somehow controls the worse? Or maybe I suck, I mean I probably suck, platformers have never been my thing and its not like I ever beat the original Crash games as a kid anyway.
Civilization 6: The final update to my surprise, kind of ruined the game for me. Man at Arms and the way the AI rushes that tech already for industrial zones has just made for a generally miserable Deity experience. Not that Deity isn't half bullshit anyway, but it feels a lot worse.
Football Manager 2021: Less of a game and more of a lifestyle choice at this point. It's just kind of always on in the laptop background...not interrupting my writing though and don't seem to be addicted to it now, so...that's an improvement! And it's so low impact it doesn't hurt my wrists or fingers at all, so it's the one game I can relax with without worrying about tiring out.
Hearts of Iron 4: So there was a huge Paradox sale on Steam and I grabbed a few dlcs I haven't bothered with over the last couple years and HOI4 is first up. Feels very much the same, just with boats and spies to play with that might or might not actually do anything. I never feel like there's replay value with HOI4 and still it feels like only the major players are worth bothering with. Also a lot of the "skill" is just knowing the most effective Focus Tree path and build order. Plus, the best HOI4 experience still remains a mod and not the official game, so...not sure how long I'm going to be at this one before moving down the next on my list.
==READING==
Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe: Quite the crime novel and history on the Troubles. Engaging and thought provoking from beginning to end.
Clanlands by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish: I have vast amounts of Scottish DNA and was a Ron Moore fan from DS9 and BSG and had obviously heard of the Outlander books, but when Starz started the TV series I jumped on board. Yes, I just admitted I'm a man that reads and watches Outlander (though I need to catch up on season 5 and I'm not looking forward to it knowing what will happen to Claire from the books...) No, I do not own a kilt, no I do not have abs of any sort...
Anyway, this specifically is just a Scotland travel novel chaotically told by two actors and probably double that many ghost writers and double that many editors. Unless you're a huge fan I wouldn't bother, might not even bother anyway, quite a bit of it is just shilling various commercial endeavors.
Premonition by Michael Lewis: I read everything by Lewis. This is up there with his best. The CDC probably comes off the worst. Also, if you're a 30-40 something actress in Hollywood right now and you haven't told your agent you want to play Charity Dean, you are throwing away the role of a lifetime. Not saying there weren't biases in the book, but...what a character that woman is!
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir: Liked the Martian more...this was one of those odd cases where I felt like the choice the author made with the main character to try to show growth actually completely did the opposite. I realize I'm probably the extreme minority opinion here and I don't want to spoil what is one of the most popular books of the year, but...I suppose I will say that we didn't get to see what I thought of as the interesting stuff at the end of the novel.
I mean, we're VERY different writers so not surprising. Weir likes survival, science, and math problems, what I want is interpersonal communication and political strife. And curse words!
He also like....makes money at this and I...don't...
The Assassins of Thasalon by Lois McMaster Bujold: I've mentioned Bujold's semi-retirement project and she's now kind of unretired and released a full novel in the series. On the shorter side, but still, more Penric! Still very much recommend these!
And next, oh fuck me, I have so many authors I need to catch up on!!! Much less trying new ones!
Should probably keep writing my own stuff too...
June 1, 2021
Fresno Strikes Back!!!
106 degrees today and the AC died last night trying to shake the house down to the ground. No writing until it's fixed 😱
Dark rooms, lots of fans, and cold showers...
Outside of that...have been using pen and paper lately per the updates above. Making progress. Have one last Class 2015 kid to introduce, or rather reintroduce, a certain hydromancer you're already aware of that King Henry has saved for dessert.
Still not sure how much I'm going to cut all this up...it's just massive as is...very funny in parts, but massive.
Point is: progress even in the summer! Until the Bitch-Queen Fate destroyed my AC...
Probably revenge for what I did to poor, innocent, Best Most Loving Neighbor Ever Countess Sariel in GLASSBREAKER GOES HOME.
May 13, 2021
"War to End All Wars" Sneak Peek #2
Been a few months and you've all been very good. Early days and subject to change and all that!
Copyrighted by me, Richard Raley, all rights reserved, do not copy and paste but instead link back here please, etc.
Divjot coughed one last time, took a deep breath, then turned her eyes up to get a full blast of Preston Landry in all his perfect boy scout glory. No nervous peek here. Twenty-year-old handsome hunk of pure man meeting her awkward, unworthy fourteen-year-old gaze and those so white teeth, and those lips and that blocky chin with just a hint of stubble and the way the floromancer’s coat highlighted his bulging shoulder muscles…
Squeeeeee!
Pretty sure anima wasn’t involved, but if you told me anima was involved, I’d have believed it. Cuz every girl in Class 2015 seemed spellbound. Instantaneously. Even Sigfrid paused her devouring frenzy to burp. Which for her was like second base. “You okay?” Pocket asked Divjot.
She opened her mouth and something that was probably noise came out of it.
There was also some drool…
“I know he’s teasing you plenty right now, but you’re in good hands with this guy,” Pocket told her.
More noise and lots more drool.
Perfect moment to strike, ain’t it? “That ain’t cool, Pocket, you can’t hit on Raj’s sister like that. In fact I promised Raj we wouldn’t do this.”
Jesus somehow spontaneously teleported back over to us from wherever the fuck he’d been. “Raj’s sister? Can’t be Raj’s sister, El Rey. Much too guapa.”
Divjot’s face went a strawberry caramel so pure she turned into a fucking Ben and Jerry’s flavor.
“I see it now,” Jesus changed his mind immediately. “Pocket, control yourself! Stop hitting on Raj’s sister! Once she saw your pequenoit would be over anyway!”
Pocket actually lost his cool long enough to growl, “How was the dog?”
“Not so stuck up as far as purebreds go,” Jesus gave his expert opinion on all things canine, “but I’ve never met an animal that’s more worried about his culo disappearing.”
