Magic, Balloons, Art and Writing

There is a chance that I may actually get my own book published soon! Yes, all you avid readers and fans of mine, I am going to be considered for a short story anthology!

Sofa Ink, a quarterly magazime and imprint of the Ink and Paper group has accepted my second story for publication in their magazine, and one of the editors sent me a note wondering if I were interested in publication. I need to send a bunch of stories his way, and chances are they will say "thanks, but no thanks" because that's the way it works. But, I know they like my stories. And that makes me feel great!

So, possible publication in my future. So nice! So happy! I am so hopeful.

Too bad I am a pessimist.

Oh, by the way, the book would be a collection of short stories that are all positive and have uplifting endings. 90% of my works is negative and depressing. how weird is that. It's like the stories you hear about a horror writer getting a contract for romance novels and all of a sudden that's all he writes . . . . That would be funny if my name became attatched to good feelings and happy endings, eh?

My daughter is in second grade and is reading at a first grade level. I guess I'm posting this today because I finally had to admit to myself that she needed extra help. Of course she's a smart little girl, second grade and doing late third grade to early fourth grade mathmatics . . . . she excells at physical and social activities. Her art and creativity is off the scales (shes also an excellent performer whether it be music, dance, or storytelling and acting) so I'm not too worried. I guess I just feel bad that I hadn't paid attention to her reading. It's probably more important than any other skill a child needs, and I neglected it.

Now, she hates reading, which is one of my favorite activities. She hates to practice it. She LOVES to write, and does very well at that, but I guess reading and writing are very different skills.

All children have their own strengths and weaknesses. It just seems to me that reading is a major weakness to have. I have spoken with her and set up a monthly reward system and promissed her and myself that I will work with her at least twenty minutes a day on it. Let's hope I can be man enough to live up to it!

Every year my wife hosts a huge Halloween party which we invite our entire family to, as well as everyone in my daughter's class and Tae Kwan Doe classes (oh yeah, and her soccer team) as well as many of my son's friends and all our friends. We usually have about forty to fifty people all night long (people come and go) so maybe a hundred people pass through our house.

She decorates the entiore house inside and out, and turns the side of our house into a haunted house for the kids to walk through, complete with strobe lights, fog machine, bubble machine and lots of scary decorations and suprises. We always have a piniata and plenty of food/candy for everyone.

All the kids in my daughter's class get excited for our party. The kids that can't come (because of family or other obligations) are always jealous and depressed about not coming. The adults all brag about it, and winning the best costume for kids and adults is an honor, and everyone tries their best.

my wife probably spends a hundred to two hundred dollars on everything, plus two weeks of her time preparing for it. Its a HUGE success every year.

I guess what I'm trying to say is . . . My wife ROCKS!!!

So, it's 2:30 in the morning and I can't sleep. Not the first time. I happen to be one of those insomniacs, you know the kind, sometimes I sleep well at night, sometimes early morning is best. Sometimes I can't get to sleep at all, sometimes I get to sleep fine but then wake up early and can't get back to sleep.
Sleeping pills? A joke. I mean, they work occasionally, but usually what ends up happening is I take a pill, don't sleep, then I am even more exhausted the next day because of the drugs and lack of sleep.
I get klutsy, cranky, depressed, unintelligable. All I want to do all day is lay down and take a nap, but I force myself to stay awake so I'll be extra tired that night and . . . of course . . . I can't sleep when it's time.

I am so aggravated.

With miles and miles of forest and jungle dissappearing everyday, the chances are growing slimmer by the minute that we will ever find a bigfoot (in other words, we are slowly proving with each acre cut down that these creatures do not exist).
I am really sadened by this, because ever since I was a little kid, I had always hoped that I would find a big foot, train him up and shave him down, and tell everyone he was my big, stupid brother who would kick their faces in if they ever bullied me again.
You see, for geeks like me growing up, big foot was our only chance. I know you know what I'm talking about. How many times did you leave food out on your back porch, or wander through the woods with a stick of beef jerky held in front of you like some sort ofmagical talisman, calling or hooting out to the big hairy creatures that, for some reason or another, always failed to make an appearance?
Yeah, me too.
Now, many people who beleive in sasquatches think they are distant relatives of the human race. So here's my idea . . .
Let's take some human DNA and find the genes that conrtrol hieght, muscle, and hairiness and enhance those genes in a clone of someone who was already incredoubly stupid. We harvest about 50 of these clones and selectivly breed them for Sasquatch type traits until we have created a master race of Yetis that we can set free in the mountains, forests, and jungles around the world for future generations of nerds and geeks to try and capture, shave down, and claim to be big brothers.
Not to mention we could keep a few for ourselves . . .

I have been studying dreams and translation of dreams for YEARS (since I was 12) and I have taught myself how to lucid dream (dreaming while being awake and aware you are dreaming) and even to psycho analize myself DURING the dream. I have conversations with myself in mirrors or ask other characters in my dreams what aspect of my personality or psyche they are, and usually get reasonable answers. I can fly, alter things, and switch scenery with sheer will power (for some reason it does take will, though it shouldn't. I Should be able to change thiongs with a thought, but always fell like it's a strain and I need to force things to change).

Many of my dreams are about haunted houses, the end of the world, terrorism, or forgetting my responsibilities. Sometime though, I do dream I am back in high school needing to finish a test or take one more class that I forgot fifteen years ago . . .

Sometimes people who know me call me and ask for dream translations. It doesn't make me too popular at parties though . . .

Lately I have been reading a ton of older novels trhat I have read when I was a child, but as an adult I am seeing them in a different light and, as a writer, they are truely inspiring.

I recently read Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. What a fantastic book, and nothing like you would expect from all these cheap hollywood knockoffs. It was a true mystery story, and full of twists and strange events. Yes, knowing that Hyde and Jekyll are the same person ahead of time does depreciate the value of reading the book a little, but man what a strange ride it is when you're expecting our american hollywoodized version and you get the real deal, completely different and unlike anything I have read before.

Gulliver's Travells was exactly the same. Very different from the movies and cartoons I saw as a child, which always seemed to emphasize Gulliver's journy with the little people (Lilliputians), and never mentioned the giants, talking horses, or the flying city.

I am now addicted to literature that is sometimes hundreds of years old, and I'm finding it so inspiring and such a different rush than trying to read all the new books on the shelf to try and "keep up" with the market of today.

Almost wish I could live in the market of yesterday.