Like Peter Pan or Superman

(title taken from iTunes shuffle feature, and having landed on "Save Me" by Aimee Mann - it has nothing to do with the post itself)

We put up our Xmas... I mean "Holiday" decorations today. As much as I love to play the Grinch, it's pretty cool to have the place look all festive. Earlier we had Xmas music on the computer, and overall it's been a pretty good day. It's definitely December, for all the good and ill that comes along with it. (heh. "ill". Yeah, I can feel a slight tightening of my throat, and there's a dull headache throbbing, and the irritability from yesterday is still lingering...so. We'll see. So far other sicknesses have flirted with me, but nothing serious has happened.)

Anyway. I was working on The Project earlier today, and was talking with Harper about it, and realized that I still have quite a bit of work ahead of me. She asked me if it could be done by Xmas, and I think that it's possible. Probable, even, but it's just... I don't know. A lot to do. But, at the same time, I'm really not complaining. Because I am enjoying doing the work.
I KNOW!!!

Um. I had something else I wanted to blog about, but now I've lost my train of thought, so I guess this will have to suffice. Not sure how much good I did in the battle against Internet Dullness, but we all do what we can.

rdmpt2

Another random post. But shorter.

[-] I thought (wished?) that the previous entry would have gotten more feedback. Oh well.

[-] 10 years ago, the sentence, "I blogged about my flickr account, and then googled some info for wikipedia." would have made no sense. (Not that it makes a lot of sense now, but at least we know what all those things are.)

[-] It rained all day today, and usually rain makes me happy, but all it did today was make me irritable.

[-] So I wonder what words will be in our vocabulary ten years hence that we don't commonly use now.

[-] I didn't do any work on The Project yesterday, opting instead to read some of Monster Planet. (50 pages left!)
This weekend, though.

[-] I'm trying (with minor levels of success so far) to cut back on my Pepsi intake.

[-] I never did get around to finishing Thy Master's Bidding. [sigh]

[-] Ignorance. Bliss? I think sometimes, yeah. There are certain realities in this world that I wish I did NOT know about.
...although, you know, not knowing doesn't make it go away. Of course, my knowing about them doesn't make them go away, either. All it does is make me more uncomfortable knowing that such things happen. Hrm.

[-] I don't really have a good way of wrapping this post up.

[-] I guess this is the end of (Inter)National Blog Posting Month. Here's hoping that the internet isn't completely boring tomorrow as a result!

m;ykct

(That's "random", typed on the keyboard turned upside-down, for anyone who wanted a small peak into the mind of P@)

Yup. It's time for another blog entry that hits multiple frequencies. Dogs, cover your ears!

[-] Since last Thursday was Hall...er, Thanksgiving, I was unable to watch The Shield. (Episode 5.09, "Smoked", for those of you keeping track) But! Since we always repeat last week's episode the following week, today I was able to watch 2! Huzzah!!

During one scene (I think during "Smoked") I found myself literally sitting on the edge of my chair, and my heart was pounding so fast that I became aware of it. Man. The freaking Shield owns me. What am I going to do in 2 weeks when the season 5 finale gets to me and then we go back to season 1?!? I don't want to think about it.

[-] I have another Project that I really should do some work on. The Project, of course, is still my main focus, but this other one... I've done bits and pieces of stuff for it in the past, but never gotten it off the ground. I keep telling myself, "Once the new year rolls around..." but, seriously, why wait?

[-] CNN Headline News should not exist. It truly does not serve a purpose. Well, I mean, annoyance. But can't we get that from plenty of other things in this life? Yes. Yes we can.

[-]


























[-] I am in need of a haircut soon. It's been about 3 months since my last one, and the P@fro is getting unwieldy again.

[-] Harper is awesome. She can always make me laugh, no matter how crappy I may be feeling. Her latest thing is, after she says something funny (or surreal, or just... Harper) and I am giggling, to ask, "Was it something I said?"
The girl really could have a future in comedy.

[-] There's a guy at work who is ...hard to explain. It's almost as if... you know how in nearly every sitcom there's a character that has a one-track mind of sex? They're like the letch who always finds sexual innuendo in whatever situation maybe going on. Like The Todd from Scrubs, or (and I'm dating myself here) Dan from Night Court or Sam from Cheers.
Well, this guy is like them. Only... not funny?
Anyway, I've decided that I shouldn't put up with his sexual "jokes" and innuendos and derogatory misogynistic comments anymore. (He has extreme issues with any woman that is "overweight".)
But. Um. I don't know how to stop it. I mean, Bill has been ...Bill, for 8 years now. (Well, I mean, he's been Bill for longer than that, but he's been at the station for that long, and we've all just kind of accepted that he is who he is.) But really. It's gross. And ...Eh. I don't know. I think what I'm going to (hopefully) do is simply stop talking to him about anything nonwork related, and leave the room anytime that he brings up any sort of stories about his dating-website escapades, or whathaveyou.

[-] Our Pilgrim Mii ranked in the 9th level! (Out of 10, with 10 being the best) Dude! That's awesome!!

[-] 49 degrees outside when I get in to work... and the air conditioner is on. Sometimes I do. not. understand. people.

[-] And it's not just Bill. I am going to attempt to remove myself from any misogynistic beliefs that raise their ugly heads at work (or elsewhere). It's incredibly disturbing how prevalent they are, though. But the whole smiling politely and nodding (or laughing, even!) is bothering me now.

[-] Once the finale of Heroes airs next week, I'm done with that show. I've been wanting to quit it for a while, and last week was really really bad, but there's just one more episode to go, and stopping now would be almost dumb. (Hey, maybe I'd be able to be a character on the show!)

[-] Hmm. I'm getting hungry.

[-] Brains are mysterious awesome things.

[-] The average person (American?) complains 70 times a day, according to some survey...according to the morning djs on a radio station from a few weeks back. (I'm just sayin that I have no idea where this 'fact' comes from. I don't doubt that many people (Americans?) do complain that many times a day. I just can't confirm who compiled this information.)

[-] Tomorrow is the last day of NaNoThingY. Two questions. 1) Should I keep blogging once December rolls around? 2) What should I blog about tomorrow?

[-] It's almost 6pm. I think I'm going to go work on The Project now.

Blog fatigue

I'm So Tired. [/BeatlesWednesday]

Earlier today I had a semi-awesome blog idea in my head where I would be comparing my day to the events in A Day in the Life.
However, when I sat down to blog, I realized that the only parts that would really work were the "Woke up, got out of bed/dragged a comb across my head" and "found my coat and grabbed my hat/made the bus in seconds flat" parts, and I didn't want to do it anymore.

Oh well. Maybe some other time.

In three days it will be December. 2007... pretty much gone. Weird.

I haven't worked on The Project today, and probably will not, as I am so tired, and also, I did get a lot of (prep) work done on it yesterday. So when I get back to it tomorrow, I should be able to get another 1/4th done up to the 56% mark. Or...no. Wait. That fourth will be halfway ready to be 56%. ...I don't even want to try to figure out that math. [crazy] The point is that more work will be done tomorrow.

I'm unique! Just like everyone else!

I meant to blog this yesterday, but then dinner and Chuck and Heroes and sleep got in the way. So now I'm blogging it right before leaving for work. Hope I don't get rushed and forget something!


Anyway. This post is all about The Project.

I got a lot of work done on one particular part of it yesterday. In fact, that section, I can say that 1/4th of it is now 56% done. (Yeah, that translates into 14% for that area all together when you take it out of 'P@ M@h speak', but "fourteen percent" sounds a lot less satisfying than "1/4th of 56".)

I plan on working on it some more today as well. As I was completing (56% of that fourth) that task, it felt so good. I get so giddy everytime that I get a little closer to finishing it up.

It's kinda killing me being all secretive about it (although, yeah, part of me enjoys being cryptic), BUT - here's the thing. I've googled up the name of the project - twice. Once was a few months ago (!!!!) when I first really started on it. At that time, there were only 3 hits. And while the sites shared the name of the project, they weren't the same idea.
Yesterday, I googled it again, and this time there were 6. Hrm.
Also, 1 of them came dangerously close to duplicating what The Project is about. ...while still being pretty different.

All that being said, I really do think that if I complete The Project - correction, when I complete The Project - that if I put a lot of time and effort into finding the right avenues, that it could potentially be... big. Like, money could be made off of it. Possibly.
And that's part of the reason I'm being all vague when speaking about The Project, and not even mentioning the name of it. I would hate for my original idea to be stolen (yeah, it's extremely unlikely that that would happen from people reading my blog, but just because you're paranoid...) after all the hard work I've put into it.
On the other hand, even if The Project just ends up being something that never goes beyond the home of the Spish, it's still very rewarding for me.

And ...now I have to go to work.

Of Mice

Our mouse is dying! Oh noes!

I don't know what we'll do if it completely dies on us. (Yes, I said "if", not "when", since I'm trying to stay positive here) Currently, anytime it loses power, we (read: Steph) just reach under the computer table, unplug it, and plug it back in. This seems to remedy the problem for another 40 minutes or so.

When payday rolls around I guess we'll buy a new mouse. In the meantime, I'm going to practice my psychic computer connection.

11 years ago today was when Stephanie and I first met (in person).

To celebrate, I'm taking the day off of NaNoBloPo.

Good night, everyone!

Amy and I got into an argument about the 21 grams urban legend. (The supposed truth that when a person dies, their body becomes 21 grams lighter, due to the soul leaving the body)

She believed it, and I got extremely upset by this. I tried reasoning with her, but the harder I pushed it, the more she countered with (anecdotal) evidence backing her position.

I told her that Wikipedia refuted the claim (she said that Wikipedia was not a reliable source, which, fair enough) and that I knew of at least 4 books that also put the lie to rest.

Eventually, we were going to both have a five minute presentation on tv, debating our sides.

First, though, Harper & I were going to watch the 1972 movie, Five Bears Walked Down the Road Until They Got Chased by a Werewolf in a Space Shuttle.
Which, was exactly what happened in that movie.

There were five grizzly bears walking down an abandoned road. A space shuttle landed behind them, and it was piloted by a werewolf. The bears began to run, and that's when I woke up.

Tomorrow the world!

Heh.

I finished reading 13 Bullets today. Quite fun. The vampires that David Wellington created are how vampires should be - scary as freaking hell.
There's a sequel (99 Coffins) due out at the end of the year. (And a third book, Vampire Zero due out...sometime later in '08, I guess.)
But I still need to read the 3rd zombie book - Monster Planet. Hopefully we'll go to the library tomorrow and pick it up (hence the title of this blog entry).

I could read it on his website, but I guess I'm old fashioned in that I prefer to read my novels in my hands. But it's nice to know that the option exists if I can't wait...

Also done today - not a whole lot. I worked a little on The Project, and Steph prepared turkey enchiladas for dinner, which were very yummy. I thought about my demon story some, and considered just summing up what is supposed to happen in a couple of sentences (and I may still do that) just so that I can move on to the myriad of other stories swimming in my head.
Maybe I should just start telling the ideas rather than trying to write the stories themselves. [eyerollshrug]

I guess the internet is on vacation today.

I understand the feeling.

On the bright side - I did work on The Project! Not a lot, and I feel somewhat stuck on a particular part, but progress is progress. Baby steps, P@. It's gonna get completed eventually. Oh yes.

Not a lot else to talk about right now. Winter is here, finally. Two days ago we had a nice 17 degree drop in temperature, and now that the sun is going down, it's going to be cold in here again. The heater is on, but our poorly insulated house means that we still need to have blankets wrapped around us for a good portion of the day (and night). [and yeah, that is a slight exaggeration, but there is some truth to it]

Hope everyone is having (or had) a good day, however you celebrated [or didn't, as the case may be].

Paperback Writer

A billion years ago, Annika tagged me with the "List 5 of your writing strengths" meme.

Despite having had all this time to think about it, I haven't had much success in coming up with that many.

When Stephanie (whom I consider a great writer) provided her answers to this meme, she called the meme, "very difficult". Annika herself referred to it as "horrible, awful, [and] bad". Even the person who tagged Annika points out that coming up with "5 reasons I suck" would be easier. Which raises a really good question about this meme. Why is it that writers have a hard time singing their own praises? I mean, yeah, everyone is their own worst critic, so seeing one's [writing] flaws is easier, but if the meme had asked, "Name 5 good qualities you have", while that might have proven difficult as well, I bet that each of us would have been able to do it.

As it stands, I don't know if I know of five 'strengths' I have as a writer. Let alone more than five. (The meme asks for you to name five of your strengths, which means that, hypothetically, you should have more than 5 to choose from.) In a perfect world (ha!), I would answer this meme and have to stop myself from going on and on. Right?

Eh. Anyway. I did come up with some ideas (although, really, the coming up with flaws is a LOT easier. Also, I'm not sure that all of these are truly 'strengths', as the cynicism seemed to seep into everything I could come up with...) so let's get it started, and if I get 5, then, wahoo! If not, well, no big loss there either, I suppose.

1) Original Ideas
I can honestly say that coming up with story ideas is something that I excel at. {Whether the stories are any good, or ever get written, or have characters you care about, or dialogue that doesn't make you cringe is beside the point.} I'm constantly thinking of scenes or concepts or 'pitches'. And it may be a stretch, but I'd like to think that they are ...at least somewhat unique. It's hard for me to accurately judge that assessment, though, because in my mind, all (most?) of my ideas are derivative and predictable. However, the reason I think that is because I know where the story is going to go [um. Except when I don't]. I mean, since the story is in my head, when I put it on paper, I generally think, "Oh, man, I've heard this before!"

But. The point is that generating ideas is one of my strengths, and I'm sticking with that.

2) Ha Ha!
When I want to be, I can be really funny.
Sure, comedy is subjective, and I may only be amusing myself [to death], but, being able to laugh is a great ability to have, so it's going on the list.

3) Crappy vocabulary
Wait! Hear me out. This may sound like a weakness, not a strength, and it probably is, but since the negatives are so much easier to think of, I figure a good way of compiling the list is to start looking at them as positives instead.
So, yeah. The fact that I have a 6th grade vocabulary means that a) I can write for USA Today and 2) that none of my writing is going to have any huge words that you don't recognize. Toss out that dictionary! My writing ain't gonna increase your word knowledge none!

4) Compelling!
I believe that my writing is (or can be) very compelling. Page turner type of stuff. It draws you in and keeps you wanting to read until the very end. I'm like a master of suspense. Or, maybe not a 'master', but I'm pretty adept at it.

I must be, if you've read this far. ;)

this and that

I can't seem to think of a coherent topic for today, so instead just a few random thoughts.

...

On the drive home today, we took Tropicana Ave. instead of the normal Flamingo or Desert Inn Road. Which was a gigantic mistake. The traffic jam was truly horrible. But one thing I noticed and thought was noteworthy was the fact that at Tropicana and Arville the buildings more or less went, "Massage Parlor", "Adult Book Shop", "Southwest Gas", "Sex Toy Shop".... I kind of felt bad for the employees of Southwest Gas. I mean, they're just these folks who work for a major utility company, and they are constantly surrounded by porn.
And, sure ,that might sound appealing, but dude. It's where you work. And there is nothing else around there.

Also thought during that time? I really hate Las Vegas.

...

You know how when, for example, you learn a new word, and then you start seeing that word everywhere? Or you are looking for a new car, and suddenly that type (and sometimes color) of car appear all over the place?
Well, that has recently started happening to me with the phrase, "Are you kidding me?". The past two or three days it has been everywhere.

...

David Wellington's website has all of his novels on there for free to read! Not only has he written Monster Island, Monster Nation, and Monster Planet, but he's also written a vampire novel: 13 Bullets, and a werewolf novel, Frostbite. All of which are, as I said, available to be read online at davidwellington.net. Dude is right up my alley.


....

Supposedly, after 3 weeks of doing something, it becomes a habit. Today marks the 21st day in a row that I have blogged (um, I think. I'm pretty sure I blogged the day before November started...), so if that is true I should be used to blogging daily. Will it continue? Who knows?

.....

Hazardous meme to start:
Whenever you are stuck in traffic and one of those douchebags has the thumpy bass speakers set really loud [and seriously - why are those things always set to the exact level to make my head pound? And/or wake up a sleeping child?] - start honking. Just lay on your horn while their "music" is playing. Encourage everyone else near you to also honk.
Fight annoyance with annoyance!

The drawbacks to this particular idea:
1) It's a good way to maybe get shot.
2) The douchebags might just turn their music up.
3) The noise level in the city is really high enough as it is.

.....

Remember when Fear Factor was on tv?

....

I haven 't worked on The Project in ... I don't know how long. I just keep putting it off and putting it off. I mention this mostly as a way of chiding myself into getting back to work on it.

Modern Civilization is dead! Long live Modern Civilization!

(I also considered using "Fossil fuels are dead! Long live fossil fuels!", which may have been funnier, and a better choice. We'll never know, though.)

So peak oil is pretty much a given at this point. I mean, even the mainstream media (whatever that means) is picking up on it, and people [read: Americans] who have been living in caves the past however long are starting to realize [mostly due to increasing gas prices, which lead to increasing food prices as well as increasing energy bills] that the amount of oil we have readily available is, surprisingly, not going to last forever.

On the news (yeah, I know, look at the source) there was a report about Iran & Saudi Arabi threatening to withhold their oil supplies to OPEC, if the US did anything stupid like invade them. This would result in driving prices up to 200 dollars [US] per barrel. Which would double [or more] the price of gasoline currently, in a relatively short amount of time.

....Iv'e lost my train of thought, unfortunately.

Here's what this post was supposed to be about, bottom lined:
The Age of (cheap) Oil is coming to an end, whether we want it to or not.
This is going to revolutionize our way of living in a LOT of ways.
Some people (my past self included) believe that this will end up crashing civilization. I no longer really believe that civ. will completely crash. I can't explain very well *what* I believe, but ... I don't know. There's a lot of unknowns right now (aren't there always?) so predicting things is kinda pointless.
But here's the thing - we still want to get out of Las Vegas. Selling the house seems to be the best way of getting enough money quickly to obtain that goal. I guess the above mentioned news story made me wonder if the system will remain stable long enough for us to get the house sold at all. (Because, as I'm sure many of you have noticed, along with peak oil, the housing market has more or less gone in the dump. Even Las Vegas, which is generally pretty insulated from most economic woes has begun to have a huge slowdown in house sales. Hell, our neighbors two houses down have had their home for sale for six or seven months now.)

I don't know.

The whole thing will be moot in 5 years anyway, when the Mayan calender comes to an end. Nobody knows exactly what will happen on that day - perhaps nothing - but my money is on Zombie Apocalypse.

Big ol' ball of meh

Sometimes that's what the internet is. And I'm just contributing nicely.

Anyway.


So, I've finished the 2nd installment in the zombie novels by David Wellington. It's neat how each story is complete on it's own, but also gives a bigger piece of the overall puzzle. Although book 2 had more typos than 1 did (I didn't notice any in the first book, and #2 had at least 4 that I caught. "He'd have to come up withy something new."
withy?? [sigh])
Also, I think that some of the timeline may have been screwed up a bit in #2, but dude. It's his universe. Plus, creating three full length novels that are so ...page-turny, and compelling and unique with their take on the zombie mythologies.... I think I can let these things slide.

Now I need the final book. (And what, prey tell, am I going to do after I finish that? Other than send the universe the continuous wish that someone transform these books into kick ass movies...)

Not a lot else to talk about right now, sadly. I spent most of my day finishing the book, and I don't know about you, but when I get all absorbed in a good story, it's difficult for me to think of much else.

Must be a Wiikend

Here's what I've done today:

Woke up at 2:30 in the morning. Put on a shirt and pants, and took the garbage can to the curb. Went back to sleep.

Woke up again around 7 am. Got up and played Super Mario Bros 3 on the Wii.

When the family got up - around 9? - I went to the grocery store to buy milk, lunch supplies [tuna, bread, chips] and also donuts for breakfast.

Finished Super Mario Bros 3. YAY!! Now, next time I start it up, I'll have 15 P-wings to go through the world with. Ya-hoo!

Went outside with Irina and Harper to dig in the backyard, and swing, and just enjoy the sunshine and outdoors.

had lunch.

Played a little bit of Tomb Raider: Anniversary. Lara Croft freaking breaks when she misses a jump. It's really disturbing. (and a little funny.)

Read more of Monster Nation. Had Steph look up to see if Monster Planet is available at the library. (It is!) I also seem to have misplaced my bookmark. Grr.

After lunch we all went out to various locations around town, picking up materials needed for home improvements. Namely, we went to Target, Paddock Pools & Heating, PetSmart (for cat litter), and dinner at Fazoli's.

Once home again, I completed Super Mario Sunshine. WOO HOO!! I beat two Mario games in one day! To be fair, on SMS I had been on the last level for a long time, and simply hadn't played it for several months. But still, two times Mario took on Bowser, and two times, the King of Koopas went down like the punk that he is!

So, the day was basically - playing on the Wii, shopping, playing outside, reading.
I did not do any work on The Project (sigh), and did not do any writing (sigh). There's always tomorrow. And this week at work is a short week, so hopefully I'll make some progress on those things soon.
Although I do still have Super Mario World to complete...

I AM
61%
JAZZTake the Transformers Quiz

Jazz

Jazz picked his sports car form because it’s the epitome of style. If there’s one thing he digs about Earth, it’s human culture.

Like Jazz, you are good by nature. But beware because mischievous thoughts sometimes tempt you. You show no aptitude to become the commander of the Autobots. In addition, you enjoy technology and are aware of the latest trends, but you stick with what works for you.

True!

In other news, despite the fact that I have not yet finished my demon story [or any other writing from the past 15 years or so!], I have a *new* story brewing in my mind. (This one inspired big time by Monster Island. As I said earlier today, "I likes me the zombies.")
Don't worry, though. There will be conclusion to the short story started a few days back.

In other other news, we're still having highs in the 70s around here. It's supposed to finally cool down on Thanksgiving Day - a 20 degree drop is expected - but I'm not really looking forward to that. I kinda like the fact that I can comfortably walk around in short sleeves near the middle of November. Oh well. All good things must etc, etc.

If I go crazy, will you still call me Superman?

So, I'm definitely sick, but I'm not sick. Besides the sore throat (which isn't all that bad. More of a nuisance than any real pain at this point), the only symptom I have from this illness is a complete lack of energy.

I seriously feel like there's a case of kryptonite around. I want to curl up and just stop moving and sleep for a week or so. Hey, if I did that, I'd wake up in time for Thanksgiving. Awesome plan!

But the downside to this illness is that since I'm not incapable of working ("I'll suffer through it."), I haven't yet taken advantage of using sick time and not going to work. That's because I have this bizarre work ethic where I put work ahead of my health. I just feel that if I am not there to do my job, that it won't get done properly. Which is a false belief, but many times logic and I don't see eye to eye.

On the bright side, though, I've got a really great book that's been keeping me company the past two or three days. Monster Island by David Wellington is a remarkable zombie novel that I highly recommend. I only have about 40 pages left to read, so I'm itching to get back to it. The best part? It's part one of a trilogy - and I have the second installment (Monster Nation) waiting for me, too.
What I'll do after I finish that I'm not sure - since I don't think the third book has come out yet. :/ (I would check online, but I'm nervous about stumbling upon spoilers. The story is *very* good, and I would hate to ruin it for myself.)

I guess I better post .... Something

See how I snuck a Beatles song in there? I'm a sly one.

Abbey Road is an amazing album, but definitely one that you should not listen to on "Shuffle". Musical whiplash!

Not a real long (or interesting!) post this time. I've been holding off this illness (cold? flu? boogie-woogie fever?) for a few weeks now, but right now I think the battle may be lost. My throat is scratchy and I'm hot and uncomfortable. Dislike!

I had a different post idea (complete with a different song title to go with) planned, but I'll save it for next week, I guess.

Thy Master's Bidding, part 2

(If you haven't already, you may want to read part 1.)

I didn't scream. Bocal-Sha did startle me (how often do you hear a voice coming from your tool shed, anyway? Let alone a demonic one?) but I wasn't frightened enough to let out a yell. I'd been delving into the dark arts for over a month at that point, so perhaps I was a little jaded. It was just noteworthy that my first true interaction with a being not of this world, and I didn't react in the stereotypical way.

I took a step forward to get a look at the creature. I was more curious than anything at that point. Wouldn't you be? In hindsight, I suppose fear should have been my initial response. Or skepticism, even. But my drive to know more about this beast ...and, okay, I'll admit it, the thought of the power that it could provide me, far outweighed any logical emotions a normal person might have experienced.

As I stepped further into the shed, a small part of me did realize I was completely vulnerable to the demon. If it had wanted to kill me, maim me, devour my flesh - then would've been the perfect time. But it didn't.

Because it wasn't there.

I took another step into the enclosure, and was now entirely inside the small building. I could see the weed whacker, power cords, gardening tools, the lawn mower, plenty of dust, and some cobwebs. But no demonic force. I looked up, looked down, turned around behind me. Was I imagining things? The voice had certainly sounded real enough. Maybe the head injury coupled with my desire to have wanted the spell to work was...

"Bocal-Sha is here, Master." The voice was most definitely real, and was most definitely inside the shed with me. But I couldn't see the demon.

"I... can't see you." I said, and was surprised at how rusty my voice sounded, as though I hadn't spoken for weeks.

A sudden powerful sensation of shame and disappointment enveloped me then. This was the first time that Bocal-Sha's emotions hit me (but not the last), and it was so unexpected and overwhelming that I was knocked to my knees. Evidently, I would learn, when the creature felt something strongly, I, too, would share the emotional state. Although 'share' isn't quite the right word for it. Bocal-Sha's empathy-waves were the equivalent of being emotionally mugged. Whatever I felt become secondary, almost non-existent, while Bocal-Sha's senses were all-encompassing.
"Bocal-Sha is in a weakened state, Master. Bocal-Sha can not reveal. Does Master desire Bocal-Sha reveal?"

The shame that Bocal-Sha felt was subsiding, or I was getting accustomed to it. Either way, I found that I was able to stand again. But all of this newness was difficult to take in. I needed some time to process everything that was going on.
"I...no, I understand if I can't see you," I said to the demon. "Are you able to leave this building?" According to many of the books and websites I had read, demons were subject to numerous restrictions on their powers or abilities depending on how they were summoned.

"Yes, Master. Shall Bocal-Sha leave?"

"Just stay near me."

"Always, Master."

*****

I'm sure if anyone had been watching me mow the lawn, they would have been quite puzzled. A teenage boy pushing a lawn mower, apparently talking to himself the whole time, occasionally laughing hysterically for no reason, twice stopping in order to have an uncontrollable session of crying for five minutes. They would have assumed me insane.
However, that 45 minute conversation allowed me to gather valuable information from Bocal-Sha.

The demon (it was neither male nor female, as demons are evidently sexless beings. When I attempted to determine Bocal-Sha's gender, it simply resulted in a shared bout of confusion.) was not the Devil, but most certainly knew of a Devil. As far as I could surmise, the Devil was an excessively powerful and ruthless demon who rarely personally interacted with humans, or demons. The Devil - whose real name was something unpronounceable - generally took a portion of all other demons souls and power on a regular basis.

Demons use Human souls as a sort of currency/food/energy source, apparently. By offering mine up, Bocal-Sha would be able to give the Devil his due (ha!) and be set for a good amount of time. When I asked what would become of me by no longer having my soul, Bocal-Sha chuckled. "Perhaps a career in politics?"

During our conversation, I learned about the empathy-waves, and how it is simply how Bocal-Sha is, and that it is not exactly controllable. The demon did promise to try and keep the feelings in check. Bocal-Sha also told me that the empathy-waves would not be as powerful to other people. Additionally, it was able to control it's voice so that it would not be heard by other people, unless it wanted to be heard.

Which brought us to the visibility problem. Bocal-Sha told me that if I performed some magic on behalf of it, that it's strength could be improved enough that it would be able to make itself visible to me. The spell was complex, the demon said, but if I wanted, it would be willing to help me through it. There was also a small sacrifice that I would be required to make - just some small animals - Bocal-Sha told me, and once the demon was visible, it would be able to help with further spells, and also able to grant certain powers to me.

I liked the sound of that.

And by "tomorrow", I obviously meant "the day after"

Today at work was the busiest day I've had in a long time, including the time when my supervisor was out on injury leave.
And now, it's 7 at night, and Irina is running around needing supervision, and to be honest, I've lost my steam on the story. For now. I swear, though, that I will finish that story.

What's interesting is when the idea first originated, I had a pretty clear storyline in mind. Now that I've hit the halfway point (or maybe just the end of Act I [of III]), I have about 4 different directions that the story could conceivably go.


And all of them are appealing, in different ways.

This is nothing new, of course. I end up thinking of various 'paths not taken' in nearly every story I write. ...And then, typically, wind up taking none of them. [rolleyes]

I think, though, that I'll finish the story the way that I had originally intended. Maybe the other tales will grow as separate stories some day....