The Next Big Thing (Skip Style)

                Hello once again, I know I’ve already placed a blog this week so consider this one icing on the cake.  And, if you don’t like what I write here I highly suggest you go to Taerb.blogspot.com and leave a scathing, well worded and hateful message for my buddy Tom who asked me to be a part of this “Next Big Thing” blog chain letter. Also, I am supposed to try and recruit up to five writers who have blogs to also participate, so, if you are a writer who has a blog and have not participated in this endeavor… feel free to copy and paste and credit me.

                Now, on with the show!

What is the working title of your book? Bastard… and this title is strictly working.  There is a one-hundred and seventeen percent chance I may or may not change it.

                Where did the idea come from for the book? A real life, first hand event which I’ve written into the story, well except for the part about the Marine Biologist who meets a Merman Magician and the two of them discover the cure for every disease on the planet, but then lose the cure-all-formula in a drunken celebration in a Tijuana, Mexico whore house.

                What genre does your book fall under? That’s tough, I suppose it’s a coming of age, murder mystery, horror-comedy.

                Which actors would you choose to play characters from your book in a movie rendition? Scrags… hmm, I suppose Sam Elliot. Chuck… Damien Lewis.  Wolfgang… John Goodman… Peggy the Toothless Whore… Barbara Streisand. Susan…Kaley Cuoco. Kevin Gavin… Jim Parsons. Mary Gavin… Sally Fields.  As for the rest of the cast… I’ve already given this question too much thought.

                Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? No clue right now, I’m in the middle of writing the first draft and I don’t know how long this story is going to be.

                How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? Read the answer to the last question.

                What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? No clue… Um, I suppose Dead Zone meets Green Eggs and Ham meets Are you there God, It’s me Margaret.

                Who or what inspired you to write this book? A real life event… duh. I think I already answered this question. As for the person(s) who’ve urged me to write… my Family, friends, perfect strangers, some hot chicks in the barnyard, oh, and this really cool guy who offered to polish my car for six dollars and twenty-three cents.

                What else about your book might pique the readers’ interest? Some really cool things happen to the characters in the story. Oh,  and some people who’ve pissed me off in real life are killed, maimed, murdered, fall in love, lose hope, become cynical, find salvation and meet the Flintstones.

                (Ok, so there may be some sarcasm written in this blog, but ya know, I know You, yes, you, the one sitting there reading this right now, will completely understand. If you don’t get the sarcasm… I’m sorry, but that just means this is going to be one hell of a book!)

                Have a great week. 

Season of Death

                Hello once again and Welcome Back! Sorry I’ve been away, I truly don’t have much of an excuse except for work. And we all know how work can rear its ugly head in our lives at the most inopportune moment and force us to do things for money we would rather watch people on tv or dvd’s do. I’ve been so busy in fact that I was unable to promote the latest book one of my stories is in but I did manage to pimp it out on Facebook and Twitter, so I suppose I really didn’t need to make another announcement here since most of you are my good pals and friends on both of those social networking sites.

                Autumn is here once again, one of my favorite times of year and with crisp air filling my lungs every morning which sends waves of energy thru out my system, I can think of no other time of the year where I feel so comfortable outside. Well, maybe Winter. With all of the changes going on with nature, and in each of our individuals lives it is a wonder to me how anyone can keep track of what is going on in not just their lives but the lives of their family and friends. Of course, once again, with the advent of social networking we don’t have to worry too much about the ins and outs of others lives, we just pull out our smart-phones, laptops, and computer tablets we have access to information so quickly it is almost impossible to not know what is going on in the lives of people we know and love and some that we loathe and hate.

                Where is all this going? Well my dear reader I’ll tell you. Autumn, to me and most folks in the world is the signal for the earth to start to go into a time of rest, and the start of the restoration process through the death of what has been with us through spring and summer. This process has become extremely apparent to me these past few months but it has always been important to me.

                You see, while most of you were setting up Halloween decorations, making costumes for parties, purchasing a metric-fuck-ton of confections and watching the latest horror flicks in movie houses across the globe I wasn’t. And while you all were preparing for Thanksgiving feasts, or planning your journeys to friends and loved ones so you could reconnect after months or even years apart, I wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining I’m just stating simple fact. I wasn’t able to participate in the so called normal events of a normal life in these here united States. Why? Because in my world those two events get overshadowed by another event which demands my attention over four months of the year, and so I end up missing out on the pleasantries and niceties of two really cool holidays.

                This year is no different. I’ relish the moments I get to spend outside seeing Mother Nature spew her last dying gasps of glory before she slips into her white and gray slumber. This fact has made itself extremely apparent to me this season of dying.

                For you see, it has been a season of death for me and I have not really talked too much about it… to anyone. Now, if you are reading this blog and have read any of my past three blogs then you will know my personal life has suffered some pretty big hits recently in the form of my wife’s strokes. But what I haven’t spoken about are the four deaths of individuals who’ve I’ve known for the better part of my life.

                One man passed away from an extremely aggressive brain tumor which he wasn’t notified of until five months before his death. Now, this man was a vibrant and happy gentleman who’d never met a stranger and lived every day as if it were a gift. In the almost fifteen years I knew him, I saw him at least three times a month and only once did I see him upset. (The reason for him being upset is not for me to divulge. But I can say he was perfectly within his rights to be angry.) He also did what he loved for a living and refused to settle for mediocrity. His name was Chuck and he was a dear friend.

                Another man passed away and he was a steady fixture in my adopted city. He suffered the ups and downs of life like the rest of us but he seemed to takes the hits just a bit harder than most people would. His life was one giant roller coaster ride but unfortunately the last few years for him have been one long, unending trough which he just couldn’t seem to dig himself out of. I usually ran into him about once a week. He died alone. His name was Peter.

                The third was one of my groomsmen. He was always willing to help anyone who’d ask for help no matter what time of day or night or what the cost may be, whether that cost was monetary or time. He was there. He died surrounded by his family both blood related and the children of his neighborhood he took under his wing and tutelage. At his memorial, in a crowded church in Suffolk, the minister opened the floor and the microphone to the attendees, the flow of memories passed from one to another went on for over forty-five minutes. I abstained from sharing, simply because I don’t like to share my personal memories I cherish with others in large gatherings. This man’s name was Gary.

                Lastly, a family member passed away. My uncle, a man I have not seen for many years but I remember from my childhood. Those memories bring a smile to my face. He seemed larger than life and filled with laughter. His children, my cousins, whom I spent most of my time with, helped build some fond memories from my youth in the form of indoor water fights, cookouts and illegal fireworks. Although time and distance have placed us apart, I will never forget him for as long as I live. His name was Art.

                These four men and the memories I have of them burn through my mind like the vibrant colors of fall. I will cherish each memory I have of them and I am sure in my later years I will think fondly of them during the autumn.

                And so this is my Season of Death. 

Viva la Revolution!

Remember Remember the Sixth of November…

            I know, I know, the saying goes “Remember, remember the Fifth of November…” et. Al… But, in light of Tuesday’s events we may have to change the saying for this year. And, in case you’ve been living under a rock these past ten months or if you are not an American, on Tuesday we, Americans that is, get to elect a new leader of our country. Now, this leader can be the same one we’ve had for the past four years or it could the new guy. Either way, to me at least, it doesn’t matter.

            We get to vote for person A or person B, or in some cases you can vote against person A or against person B. It is your choice but this only means there are only two camps a citizen can choose from. But I don’t fit into either one of those camps, nor do a lot of my friends, and we are definitely not the majority in this country. Most of the people I call friends are free thinkers, creators and producers. They don’t fall into any category, they may have at one point in their lives but today, they don’t. They are neither left wing nor right wing. Sure some of them, like myself, have beliefs from one or even both sides yet we are not conflicted on these opinions because they are based on our own personal beliefs.

            Beliefs… funny concept really. I mean think about what you personally believe in… on any topic. And think to yourself, Hmm, I wonder if I would change my belief is I were handed evidence that what I believe on this topic is wrong. Would I change my belief or would I ignore the evidence and stick to my original thought? And if you change your mind due to the evidence, some may call you a flip-flopper, or a traitor, or an idiot or intelligent, educated and thoughtful. Whichever the case, I would applaud you for learning something and moving on to a more enlightened path.

            I mean, after all, isn’t that one of the purposes of life? To learn knowledge, absorb information and to try and make the world a better place tomorrow then it was today? To give our posterity a chance at a better future? Aren’t these reasons instilled in us by our parents, teachers and fore-fathers?

            I used to think of myself as a republican, you see what I did there? I said republican, not Republican, I used a small “r”. Which should tell you something, if you think “Oh my gawd! He’s one of those! Someone get me a torch so I can kill this fascist ass!” Then you would be wrong. The small “r” means I’m for limited government control over a citizen’s life and liberty. And, a government whose primary purpose is foreign affairs, and maintaining peace and free trade with other countries through diplomatic discussion and fairness for all parties concerned. A government who has no military industrial complex whose sole purpose of existence is to seek out conflict so they can justify their livelihood. (Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a peace-nik, I do believe in such things as a just-war. I mean there have been on numerous occasions where war has been good for a country. i.e. Revolutionary War, War of 1812, WWI, WWII, Civil War)

            But, I believe war for wars sake is wrong and can only promote a depletion in citizens faith in their leaders. Don’t believe me? Ask a Viet Nam vet or even a Hippie from the late 1960’s or 1970’s. That is if you can find a hippie who hasn’t sold out their beliefs in the 1980’s for the almighty dollar and for the iPhone in the 2000’s.

            I don’t believe in segmenting any citizen, we in America are Americans, not some hyphenated American. We all have the right to be happy and deserve to love and marry the person we want, regardless of gender. (That said, I am on the fence about interspecies marriage.) If you belief two people who love each other shouldn’t get married because of the sanctity of marriage or because some bible verse, I respect your opinion, but I will never agree with it.

            I’ve left out, on purpose, a statement in the Declaration of Independence, that statement or actually, fraction of statement is, “…pursuit of happiness.” Why? Because this part of the declaration has given me much pause lately. Pause because when I was younger I truly believed this meant an individual was guaranteed the right to seek out what made them happy and try to maintain that happiness for the rest of their life. Like a quest so to speak. But now, as an almost middle aged man who is fifteen years past his self imposed expiration date, I don’t think it means what I thought it did. Now, l believe it means We the People of the united States have a right, as a majority to seek out what will make us as a country happy. To work at maintaining the quest for happiness for us, as a country and not as an individual, to ensure the laws of the land don’t show preferentiality to any one person or group of people. Maybe I’m dreaming again, or maybe I’m old enough to realize the myopic view of my youth was skewed by my own selfishness.

            Looking back at some of these statements I see I’m sort of leaning left in my life, but mostly what I’ve written about is limited government power, which swings the pendulum back to the right and landing on center. I can push that pendulum even further right by saying I’m all for guns. I like mine and I hope you like yours. That is, if you have one, if you don’t, hey, it’s your personal choice to not have one and far be it for me to tell you differently. Just grant me the same respect is all I ask.

            As for abortion… I don’t necessarily agree with it as birth control, but I can’t say it should be outlawed. Why? Because, who am I to tell a person what they can or can’t do with their body? I’m no one. Not only that, if I had the power to tell someone yes or no on this or any topic, then someone else has that right over me. And I know I don’t want anyone telling me what to do with my life and my body. Also, I don’t know nor do I want to know all the pressures someone is going through that would put them in a situation to make that decision. So why have it outlawed? It makes no sense to me.

            Ok, I see this blog is getting really long and I could write another thousand words on other political topics but I am going to save you from my endless diatribe and babbling. On Tuesday, if you are a registered voter, I highly recommend you go out and vote, I don’t care who you vote for or even why. It is your vote and you have an opportunity to participate in the course of our country. I know I will be participating.

            Have a great week.

PS. The Who said it best;

We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgment of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
And I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again

Change it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fall that's all
But the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they all flown in the last war

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
And I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no! 

I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
For I know that the hypnotized never lie

Do ya?


There's nothing in the street
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now the parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss