--YOU DON'T REALLY CARE FOR MUSIC, DO YA?

…I read at The Hugo House on Thursday.  I wasn’t a featured reader or anything, but you could sign up (first 10 got to read after the highlighted guests).
I still get a little nervous.  Wish I didn’t.  But I did well, or so I think.  I try to read every chance I get.

…I finished the finals edits to my novel, “The Break-in Artists” and sent it off to the four agents that requested it at the writer’s conference in July.  Hopefully they won’t have completely forgotten who I am, but it has been a while.

I don’t know what to do next.  If I start writing short stuff, I’ll probably stay in that realm for a long time.  Once you get through writing a novel, you’re almost ready and willing to tackle another.  I’ve run 8 marathons and it’s similar in many respects.  As soon as you know you can actually live through one to completion, you start to scope out another almost instantaneously.

 …I don’t understand why so many people post their political positions on Facebook.  Some of the posts are very…very…what’s the word?  I don’t know.  Maybe “polarizing”?  They criticize a certain party for being way too extreme on a particular issue, but the way they attack that party makes them seem just as bad.

…I think I’m getting fat.  Do you ever worry about that?  I haven’t run or exercised in several months.  I don’t want to be fat or have one of those paunches a lot of men have.  So I guess I should get off my ass and lace up some shoes.

 …There are topless pictures of Kate Middleton out there.  That seems wrong, doesn’t it?  Can’t a person sunbathe topless if they want to?  You probably can’t do that if you’re royalty or famous or a politician.  If you do, well, you’re sort of asking for it.

 …Speaking of nakedness, yesterday police arrested a man on I-5 who was completely naked.  He said his clothes “just kept falling off.”  As if to make matters worse, he punched the officer.

…Here are some things I like:

"We watch movies and TV about heroic acts by soldiers or cops, but maybe that sort of heroism isn’t very relevant to modern reality." Bob Dokes

"Maybe real courage is being willing to get up and face another day, and do honest work to the best of our ability despite knowing that, in all likelihood, we won’t get the recognition or financial reward we deserve."- John F. Groom

 "Nothing lowers the level of conversation more than raising the voice." Stanley Horowitz

 "For me it is sufficient to have a corner by my hearth, a book and a friend, and a nap undisturbed by creditors or grief." Fernandez de Andrada

"Everything eternal happens in a spare room at 3am."  Ron Akon

"For me it is sufficient to have a corner by my hearth, a book and a friend, and a nap undisturbed by creditors or grief." Fernandez de Andrada

 "Everything eternal happens in a spare room at 3am."

 "Don't feel sorry for yourself. Only assholes do that.” Haruki Murakami