[A small snail on the boardwalk at Huff Park.]

I was on vacation for the past two weeks, and much to my surprise, the more vacation time I had, the more my energy level diminished. I suppose that is just another symptom of burnout and depression, or maybe it is simply because I am 56 and not getting any younger.

Reading

Currently working my way through Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation because I look so cool when reading it in a cafe. But before that I read Travis Baldree’s Bookshops and Bonedust, a prequel of sorts to his wonderful Legends and Lattes. Bookshops and Bonedust was decent, but not as good as Legends.

Writing

Back in 2018, for NaNoWriMo, I wrote a book called Neighbors: A Malediction, which was a lightly-fictionalized version of my encounters with an obnoxious neighbor over several years. I completed the first draft, as much as a first draft is ever completed during NaNoWriMo (really more of a zero-th draft). Since then the work has been sitting in my Google drive, gathering dust.

Earlier this week on a whim I collated all of the chapters into a single Word document, did a quick round of formatting, and had the draft printed and spiral-bound at Kinko’s. At a little over 54,000 words, and printed on 8 1/2 x 11 paper, with 1.5 line spacing, it comes in at 120 pages.

Even if I don’t do anything with the manuscript, it sure feels good to see it in printed form.

Weekly Writing Prompt

Subject: Cyborgs, Precursors
Setting: Bar
Genre: Magic Realism

Listening

Midnight Star, “Freak-A-Zoid”, from their 1983 album No Parking on the Dance Floor. I was a freshman in high school when I first heard this song. I wish I appreciated it as much back then as I do now.

Interesting Links

• “Cops’ favorite AI tool automatically deletes evidence of when AI was used” (Ashley Belanger, ArsTechinca) – As if cops needed any help avoiding accountability. They were doing just fine before they started using an AI tool deliberately designed to protect cops from the consequences of their actions.
• “A New Far-Right American Party?” (John Feffer, Portside) – The Democratic Party is America’s right-wing party. The Republicans are the American Nazi Party. Musk’s “America Party” will also be a Nazi party, as Musk himself is a Nazi, as are all people who support him in any of his political ventures. The only moral way to interact with Nazis is with a guillotine.