wednesday, plus fever dreams

hello friends.

i know, 2 blogs in a row! what is going on here? well i've about 30 minutes before i have to get ready for work, and i thought i'd tell

you all about the dream i had the other night. i usually don't remember my dreams, and never are they as vivid as this one was. it gets a little risqué at the end, but nothing too naughty.

part one.

we're in my house, here in missouri. it is a

hot summer day. windows are open, warm breeze causing the curtains to drift away from their tethers. my wife is home, along with some or all of the children. we can hear them playing in some other part of the house. our youngest comes into the room, telling me there is a package outside the front door. [in the real, waking world, i am in fact expecting a package. outrageous!] i go to the front door and open it. i poke my head through the hole in the screen door where a screen used to be. there is no package in evidence.

my father is coming up the front walk. he is dressed like Steve McQueen from Bullit. the same outfit, shoulder holster and all. he beckons me outside. puts his arm around my shoulder and walks me through our lawn, away from the house. a giant hole has been dug in our front lawn, the size of a swimming pool. all of the excised dirt is in a tall pile next to the hole. what appear to be two homeless people are lying in the mud at th

e bottom of the hole. my father and i pay them no mind. he tells me that my mother-in-law is in league with Satan, and has been a devil-worshiper for most of her adult life. he tell me she used to stand outside of church on sunday and hand out leaflets. he tells me i am not to let on that i am privy to this information to anyone else. especially my wife, for she may be one also.

part two.

my wife and i are out to dinner in a restaurant that we've never been in before. the only available seats are at the bar, which is otherwise lined up with regulars. a rowdy bunch, they begin to buy us drinks. two ridiculously skinny Asian women enter, and whispers start up at the bar that one of

them is pregnant. the women get word of this rumor, and instantly think that my wife is the one responsible for spreading this gossip. my wife becomes enraged, for some reason only at me, gives me the finger, and goes into the ladies room with the two Asian women.

part three.

i have been entered into some sort of arena battle tournament. my wife and her friends are all placing bets on how i will perform. she tells me to get into the shower and get ready for the first

round of combat. while i am in the shower, Lucy Liu comes into the bathroom to wish me luck. she is accompanied by two other faceless ladies. she tells me she knows i will do great. and that she has placed a rather large bet on me. the other two ladies don't say anything. before they leave, she asks to see my privates. i don't want to. she demands it. the other ladies giggle. i give in, pulling back the curtain. satisfied, Lucy Liu and her friends leave me to finish my shower.

end of dream.

now i don't put much stock in what dreams mean, if there's a hidden message there, etc. like i said, i woke up with such a vivid memory of what was going through my mind while i slept, and it is all still there, two days later. i thought i would share it with you. hope you enjoyed it. if i start to remember all of my dreams, i'll be sure to share the more entertaining ones with you.

i hope all is well.

tuesday pre-factory

good morning friends. just a quick hello before i head into the factory for another eight hours of ink tech-ing (non-technical term).

nothing amazing to report so far this week. my folks are coming out this weekend to visit with us and the kids, see the new house, etc. after putting most of it off, i've a lot of walls to paint and curtain rods to install, floors to clean and cats to wrangle before they show up. considering taking friday off of work in order to get a bit extra done.

of course, i still find time to read (mostly at work, on lunch break). this week i''m reading "zero history" by William Gibson. if i needed to sum it up in two words, Fashion Espionage. i should finish it up by friday.

i downloaded the Marvel Chrome app, which lets me read Marvel Comics on my Chrome web browser. not sure if i want to pay for the service yet, but the option of getting to read back issues that i haven't been able to track down over the years is tempting.

in other big news, i am attempting to give up drinking soda. anyone who knows me well knows i have a strong addiction to certain carbonated beverages, and have struggled with them for many years now. we don't keep soda in the house, but it easily available at the factory, and getting one is as simple as putting .50 in the machine and pressing a button. so starting today i'm leaving the change at home and bringing my tea bags instead. let the teabagging begin (ha!).

don't forget, you can follow me on Twitter @real_j_doe. i usually have something to say regarding what i or others are doing. usually with a tinge of sarcasm.

thanks for tuning in and keeping up with me. feel free to post comments if you feel like it. i am apt to respond.

hello friends!

work is draining me. not necessarily in a bad way, but nonetheless. i've hardly had time to get any writing done, much less any blog-postery.

back on second shift after two weeks on first. i was spoiled for those two weeks. sure, getting up at five in the morning is not the something i will ever enjoy, but clocking out at two in the afternoon, with the rest of the day ahead of me? that i could get used to.

on my off hours, i've been working on the book of course. not nearly as much as i'd like, but some work is getting done. four new characters, one recurring. remember when i was on the fence regarding short story/epic novel status? this manuscript is starting to feel like epic novel again.

when not working or writing, i've been trying to get some sort of workspace put together. our house is still a bit out of order after the great move east (see here for details if you don't know or don't recall), and it is hard to get work done without a comfortable workspace. here's what we have to work with so far:

not much to look at, i know. apologies for the poor quality. i took it w/ phone, sans flash, in poor light. it is, after all a basement. that is just one corner of the basement, the other corners being taken up by our bedroom, the laundry room and what will be a reading room/rest area for the kids once the humid Missouri summers kick in.

you'll see off to the left there is the old comic book collection. recently ignored, but never forgotten, i'm looking forward to diving in and getting some reading done soon. nothing new, mind you; i'm so out of the loop continuity-wise that i will be completely lost.

speaking of reading, i've made my way through quite a few books since i started work at the factory. every day i eat lunch by myself, and spend a quiet twenty minutes nose-deep in someone else's words. recent additions to the "books i've read" list include, but are not limited to:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Moxyland by Lauren Beukes

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk (this may be the most disgusting book i've ever read)

Down There by Andrew Vachss

The White Plague by Frank Herbert (not Dune-related)

Nemesis by Isaac Asimov

Fable: The Balverine Order by Peter David

i manage to get about one book a week in during lunches and breaks. coming up next is Cages, by Dave McKean, but that is too big to ring to work, so I'm thinking about starting William Gibson's Zero History at the same time.

right, enough book talk. hell, enough talk all together. i hope everyone is well.