Yeah, I can't think of a song lyric to put here. Go listen to Paul Butterfield.

 I've been dicking around playing The Witcher 2 all evening and let time slip up on me. It's twenty till midnight and my head's still empty. I doubt I'll knock out the word count before I run out of time, but what the hell.

 Though I've owned all three Witcher games for a couple years I've never put much time into them. I got the first two for less than ten bucks on a GOG sale and snagged the third one for about twenty bucks. They're pretty decent games but they're so damn deep, so much to get into. They're sort of like the Dragon Age or Mass Effect games in that way. Fun but I feel like I have to block out a couple of days just to get started on them.

 For whatever reason, I've had a helluva time of getting on Steam. It keeps saying there have been too many failed attempts to log in, but there shouldn't be anyone but me. After it not working all evening, it's working now. Go figure. I can only guess it has something with us getting the fiber optic.

 Also, we got fiber optic. I don't know if I've gone into this, but they finally got it all hooked up the week before last. We were supposed to get it before the end of last year but that was before COVID sat on everyone's faces and farted. Anyhow, we have it now and we're up to the same speed I had in New Orleans. So nice to rejoin the 21st century at least in one way.

 Speaking of which, I saw the Therapist today. It's been a fairly chill couple of months since the last time I saw her and, frankly, nothing's been weighing too heavy on my mind. So that means it was a "let Matt rant about politics" type of session. Specifically, raging about the shit Jackson has been dealing with since the Big Freeze. Her son lives there and for four weeks he'd have to go somewhere every morning to take a shower. And it's still not really fixed.

 Of course, the state government would rather spend its time banning trans kids from high school, though that's not a problem anywhere, or try to keep people from voting. As it is, state law has it if someone catches a charge on a number of minor felonies like bad checks or shoplifting, they lose the right to vote. Ten percent of the population can't vote because of that and, of course, most of them are Black.

 I really don't understand why Roger Whitaker's taken a hard Trump turn as of late. He's always been solidly right-wing, but he's gone wacky lately. He backed Trump's claim of a stolen election and now he's on the anti-voting team. His numbers must look like hell. Tate Reeves makes more sense. I really think he's gearing up for a presidential run in 2024 or 2028 and he's obviously decided being an obnoxious dick is the way to go. I don't know why, it's done Ted Cruz no good.

 I've topped five hundred words and it's five past midnight. I reckon that's close enough for jazz. I do want to mention my harmonicas. My harmonica collection is growing, I have two more coming Thursday, and at least two more down the line. All are different keys or different tunings, mostly in G or C. It's getting a little silly, honestly. I'm trying different brands beyond the Hohner Marine Bands or Blues Harps, like Easttop or Fender Blues.

 For what it's worth, I highly recommend the Easttop. It's cheaper than Hohners or Lee Oskars yet still a well-made harmonica. The Fender Blues is pretty solid, as well, though the Easttop gets the nod. I've got a pretty good set if I wanted to play out, so, something to consider there.

 But harmonicas are cool, so it's okay.

Like a bird without a nest. Like a stranger in the night.

 EDIT: I completely forgot to add links to this week's News. I'm particularly fond of Monday's piece, since I got to write about UFO's instead of the epidemic. The Tumblr site was pretty quiet, so here we go.

Monday

Wednesday

Friday


Two days and two days into the coronavirus novel epidemic. A lot of states are "reopening", though Mississippi isn't, and we're all going to find out just how bad an idea that was or wasn't. Georgia and Texas have both seen spikes in cases, the very thing that caused our governor Tate Reeves to slow his roll.

 Well, life is an adventure, is it not? Maybe all those AstroTurf "protest" groups complaining they can't get haircuts or go to their favorite restaurants will take their gun nuttery and cheap Nazi cosplay somewhere else. People are wondering why gun-toting neckbeards screaming at cops don't get the same reaction as, say, Native tribes protesting unnecessary and dangerous oil pipelines across tribal lands. Simple. The "let us work" protesters aren't shaking any boats or upsetting the Natural Order.

 Ah, but I don't want to write about COVID-19. I've been writing about little else for the past six weeks. I'm making money writing about COVID-19 nowadays. We've become extremely stupid as a culture over this thing and refuse to act like adults. The same people who claim they're ready to take down a tyrannical government or the dissolution of society are losing their minds at having to be around their family for a couple of weeks.

 So stop writing about it, Matt, move on. After all, you'll have to come up with something interesting about all this hoo-hah all next week. I think I got too much sun on my afternoon constitutional with Otis and B.C. It's in the 80s and fairly warm. I've got me one of those "too much sun" headaches, I think. Probably need to look into getting some sunscreen if Otis intends to keep this up, and I've no doubt he will.

 Another problem is this isn't coming as easy this evening. I have been staying up too late playing XCOM the last couple of nights, as well as a couple other games. I picked up Robin Hood - The Legend of Sherwood on sale at Good Old Games for a sneeze yonks ago, and finally got around to playing it this week. It's pretty decent. Plays like Desperadoes or Shadow Tactics, strategy oriented but not turn based. Plus, I've always been keen on the Robin Hood legend. One of those days I should write about that, but today's not the day.

 Nothing is firing properly today. Maybe I should take a break, take a nap, and come back at it. Nah. Let's just get it done and if the Muse comes later, it's not like I'm getting paid for all this. I will say, just to get it down, that I've had an epiphany about my writing in the last couple of days. It's been driving my batty that I can't get any fiction going past world-building. I don't understand what other freelancers who don't do "straight journalism" are making their salt. I don't do Me Talk Pretty One Day-style gripping emotional journeys and neither do I want to. More power to 'em, but I'll probably never write that dark book of the soul about, say, my father.

 So instead of focusing on what I can't do, I decided to study on what I did do well. Two things came up. One, I'm good at making boring things that rarely change day after day interesting to read about. This is what saved my ass as a sports writer when I'm not really into sports, and the current iteration of Actual Paying Work is definitely that. The other thing I'm good at is explaining things to the common mind. That's where I was good as a music critic and when it works, that's what makes The News worth reading. I definitely need to find a better way to market the latter, because when I show it's out there, people do read it. They may not respond or react back, but what the hell.

 So, that's what I do and that's what I've always done. It's not that I need to embrace it, because I've never run from it and I do think there's a place for it. Whether there's a place for me to make money at it, well, we're still figuring that out. I'm not going to totally give up on my Weird Western or bank heist IN SPACE, but I won't sweat 'em anymore. Hopefully.

 Anyhow, that's the word count and then some, and I really am dragging. Maybe something will spring forth later or maybe I'll just take a nap and/or play more video games. Life in the fast line, indeed.

Thursday, January 30, 2020

 Man, the Sleep took a-hold of me this morning and instead of trying to fight it off, I let it run wild. I didn't have anything I had to do today besides go to the gym, and I don't really like doing that any way. I need to go, don't get me wrong, and I recognize that, but you will never get me to enjoy it.

Saturday, December 7, 2018

 It's been a good day. Had some free time, so I communed with the front yard to come back inside and to write something. About two hours later, I communed with the front yard again to come back inside and write something else. It's been lots of fun. I will put a jump with links to both, however you choose. In any event, this is going to be extremely short and sweet.

 Actually, I think that's it. This is an example of what I'm going to do when I change the new way of doing things. Not sure what to call it yet. Something catchy or something straightforward? For now, let's take a nod from Umberto Eco and call it The Project. Hopefully I won't attract anyone who thinks I should sacrificed or hounded to death or whatever gets done to the protagonists of Foucault's Pendulum.

 Anyhow, I'm crashing and it's early yet. I wonder if I will play something. I was getting back into Neverwinter Nights 2, but I've come upon a part where I keep getting stomped in the dirt. I must be doing something wrong. Maybe I'll get into one of those games I bought on the last Steam sale, Rebel Cops or American Fugitive. I returned Phantom Doctrine since it's in next month's Humble Bundle. I'd bought it on sale, but ten bucks is ten bucks. I've been getting a Pathfinder jones, and I see a big plot point dead ahead. Might as well sack up and see what happens.

 I've been reading Punktown. It's good but a slower lead that I prefer. The plot needs to be thick but it's slowing the story down. A future detective noir space colonies thing with maybe a hint of Lovecraft coming. Finding terrifying things that don't belong because of poking around the universe in a space ship that probably couldn't exist anyway is a concept not played to as much in my liking in modern literature. Still and all, a fun book, but maybe too much a chaw right now.

 I guess I'll take a nap. Click below if you really need to. Otherwise, there ya go.