Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Odds and Ends

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While out in Sandy Eggo recently, I started watching pro football again, well, to be honest I watched some college ball as well. After a long week of work it was relaxing to sit, vegetate,  and watch some football. I used to play some thousands of years ago, we actually still had a couple of the old leather helmets around, friend of mine wore one as a freshman. He grew up to be a Master Chief Petty Officer, so you can imagine the pounding his head must have taken in that old helmet.

Speaking of pro football and the Navy, son-in-law Big Time had the opportunity to do another flyover during the pregame festivities. This time over Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, new home of the Oakland Los Angeles Las Vegas Raiders. The stadium has one of those new-fangled "can be opened or closed" roofs (rooves in the U.K. from what I gather). From the opening photo I would guess the roof was closed. Why you'd do a flyover over a closed roof stadium boggles my mind, no doubt it's shown on the big screen inside the stadium, but still and all, Big Time got to do it. His previous flyover experience was at a Dodgers game. I guess when you're stationed at Lemoore you get to cover the west coast games.

Yes, one of those Super Hornets above was being piloted by my youngest son-in-law, which I find cool and impressive. There are worse ways to spend your time.

Anyhoo, the lad is doing well at his chosen profession (he puts on Commander in the spring) and is probably glad he didn't get out to join the airlines. Which would have happened just before the Wu Flu became a thing, that timing would have sucked! He's well on his way to joining Tuttle and Your Humble Scribe in the world of the military retired.

Speaking of airlines, Your Humble Scribe got to ride the B737 MAX 8/9 (bloody safety brochure applies to both models apparently) and was initially kind of freaked out by that. Me picturing all sorts of ...

Actually no, I didn't freak out. I just found it interesting that that model aircraft was back in service. I always operate under the assumption that when my number is up, it's up. Whether I'm sitting on the sofa at home or flying in an airliner at 32,000 feet, when it's your time, it's your time. Of course, on an airliner it means that a bunch of people all hit their time at once. Odd way to think, I know, but it's the way I think. YMMV.

Lately I have begun to question everything. Sometimes it's just me being contrary, sometimes it's me wondering just what the Hell some people were thinking when something was written down/promulgated/sold as absolute truth. Which leads to the paradox -

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Yeah, why?

Or why not, now my head hurts.


I'm looking at the rest of this year, blog-wise, and am up in the air as to what the management types like to call "the way forward." (The peasantry likes to refer to this as a "plan," but I guess "way forward" is more correct corporate-speech-wise. A language I love to hate.)

Do I coast into the New Year, knowing that I'll be taking a lot of time off (well-deserved and otherwise) and want to spend time doing things other than blogging? Or do I resurrect some of the unfinished fiction, one colonial, the other being what a friend referred to as "civil war porn," or do I start something new?

Truth be told, I don't know. I need to finish the WWII novel, I checked, in a month of not touching it, it did not become self-aware and start editing itself, more's the pity. Do I start something new? (The Eastern Front beckons, as does the Pacific. Probably because I'm reading a very good biography of Chester Nimitz at the moment, with Bill Halsey's biography waiting in the on deck circle.)

I could just continue this current string of musings, ramblings, and disjointed accounts of "what's going on with me," or I could just chuck it and walk away until January. The latter, while tempting, probably won't happen. Mostly because I enjoy blogging and also because we have this string of "every day with a post" going. I didn't used to be so anal, especially back in the day of maybe 200 hits a day, now that we're consistently topping a thousand a day, my ego would suffer were that to drop. (Not really, but I am kinda OCD about the blog.)

As to the colonial era novel mentioned above, I ran out of steam on that one, also it seemed (to me) that most of the readership really didn't care for it, not being enamored of that time period as much as others. I know, some of you really liked it, and I feel bad for halting production on it, but we shall have to see what the future holds. I want to get back to it, but not if people don't read it.

The aforementioned "civil war porn" also has rather run out of steam. It was a way for me to blow off steam but too many readers took it far too seriously for my tastes. We might live in scary times (not really, you want scary times, live in Europe during the early '40s, or Africa in damned near any century, we have it easy compared to some) but I like to escape from that shite when I'm "off duty," so to speak.


At any rate, this is Thanksgiving week, for which I'll be heading into the land of limited cell and non-existent WiFi for much of the week. I'll be spending time with my Mom and kid brother, The Missus Herself as well, of course, and won't have much time for writing.

If you don't see me in these spaces in the next cuppla, it's because I'm off to the north, or I've decided to lay low, or I'm just too lazy to write. I do, after all, have the entire week off. So I've got that going for me.

If I forget, may all of you find something to be thankful for.

Ciao!



46 comments:

  1. Sarge. I find I am questioning everything’s as well at this point. Circumstances being what they are, It seems like a natural outgrowth.

    As to writing: write what you want, of course. If anything does not bring one joy in writing - especially as this is essentially a free service (as are most of us bloggers) - itis not worth spending the time on it. We all have projects that are useful in the moment but ultimately end just because they are not really our passion or for some reason they just do not “work”.

    Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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  2. CDO is the same as OCD but with the letters in proper alphabetical sequence. OG

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  3. Knew a guy once who was a Navy jet jock. He got out to fly for the airlines. His school start date was around 9/15/01. You can guess how that worked out.

    I prefer the colonial wars stuff. FWIW.

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    1. Damn, talk about bad timing!

      As to your last, I knew that. I really liked where the story was going, no doubt I will get around to finishing it some day. (Hopefully sooner rather than later.)

      Delete
    2. (Don McCollor)...Much earlier is the account of a peacetime Army soldier lolling in his barracks at Pearl Harber on a quiet Sunday morning with his discharge papers dated December 8, 1941...

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    3. The thing about the colonial wars stuff is that it is sited in places I’ve lived, or near to. The flora may have changed ( old growth forest to farmland to new forest) and there’s I-91 making the run up the river easier, but it’s still the same land.

      The future’s another country and almost every story, from your 2030s coup to Dune, 8,000 years in the future, makes me wonder if our particular species of primates is ever going to stop slinging HE poo at each other.

      The Good Lord gave us free will and the thing that we seem to excel the mist at is killing each other.

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    4. CM - One of the reasons I wanted to do the story is because it's my homeland. From Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York, down the Connecticut River (the town I grew up in is on the Connecticut), it's all familiar to me. As you note, the old forest is gone, but there are still places deep in the hills where you can almost feel the presence of those who used to live on this land.

      As to your last, a sad fact of our existence.

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  4. That civil war thread was interesting but actual news kinda gave overload if that made sense. But I guess I have a "fra-jil-leee" psyche as Darren McGavin said. Do what your Muse tells you Sarge, your blog...your rules, we readers are along for the ride. Have a safe journey and enjoy family time. Hasta La Vista Babeeee!

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    1. Spot on, I too was getting overloaded by the story and the news. Too much, perhaps I too share that Italian malady.

      Thanks Nylon12!

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  5. Wishing you a safe and Happy Thanksgiving, and a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year if you do not reappear before then!

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  6. While I am no longer a fan of pro sports - too politicized and too many entitled thuggish players that are no longer role models plus league management that also do things I deem inappropriate - cool that Big Time got to do the fly over. A former colleague got to fly his Blackhawk over an Army-Navy game a while back, said it was a great experience.
    Get some rest, Sarge - it will help you figure out which way forward works best for you.
    Happy Thanksgiving to you and the Missus, your progeny, and everyone else reading.

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    1. Rest is always good, I need it!

      Thanks Tom, to you and yours as well.

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  7. Blogging can become a real chore.
    More so if the Muse goes on hiatus.
    So many of the bloggers who were around when I started an gone now, and I miss the banter.
    We fed off one another.

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    1. I know a lot of bloggers, good ones too, who have fallen by the wayside. You're right, it can be a chore!

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  8. I see this as a conversation among friends. I'm not a customer (entitled to what I want, when I want it, take my money). In that light, I'm here to see what you are up to, and visit with the other OAFS clan and see what they are thinking and doing. It's a big group of OG's and SF's. Folks I feel at home with. So you do what you want, I'll keep checking in... and watching the Phantom Phlyer phind out how really small 12x24 is when he gets everything shoehorned in it, and latch on to Beans' "crack the whip" style commentary / thought process, the surprise Chicken of the Sea poast.... And add another hash mark when Lush misses a week (my walls are almost covered now). Merry Thanksgiving, and good hunting.

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    1. Lush??? I know I've heard that name. Probably belonged to a unicorn, fictional Ya know.
      Just kidding, y'all. Hope everyone has a relaxed and enjoyable Thanksgiving counting our many blessings.

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    2. STxAR - Which is the thing I like most about blogging, conversations among friends.

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    3. Flugelman - I may have to challenge her with that, start calling her the unicorn of the blogging world.

      To you and yours as well.

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    4. New Chant callsign - Rainbow Unicorn

      If that doesn't get a rise - Rainbow Unicorn Fart

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  9. Sarge,
    Like the others, I feel no entitlement to free ice cream; I certainly have enjoyed it and would endorse the thought of taking a breather and letting Muse take you where she will. While I have enjoyed ALL of your offerings, I am most looking forward to holding the actual dead-tree (preferably) WWII writings in front of me.
    As for other theaters, again go where Muse leads; though I'll recommend Spruance and even Fletcher over Halsey.
    Boat Guy

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    1. The reason the Halsey book is on deck is that the biography I'm reading now, and the one on Halsey, were written by the same guy. The two books were gifted to me by a friend.

      Spruance and Fletcher were critical to victory in the Pacific.

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    2. Buncha crusty old men at the start of the War. They only got crustier.

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  10. Crusty Old TV Tech here. Been lurking for years, and I had to chime in on this post, since I really enjoy your stories. I have especially enjoyed the colonial era storyline, having been stationed at Da Griff in the Mohawk Vally in my misspent youth in ye olde AFCC. I for one would enjoy returning to that story if the Muse allows (and no, I do not mean the one that founded an airline!)

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    1. My gut tells me that that is going to happen. I can't leave those lads out in the wilderness without finishing their tale.

      (AFCC, I once belonged to them for a few months, before my unit at Offutt was switched from AFCC to SAC. A change which made things better.)

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  11. I will probably find enough random musings to help fill in over that time. Assuming I am awake and not completely engulfed in a tryptophan coma from Thursday through Sunday.

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  12. As your Muse directs. I've never found that bothering her was at all productive (and as I typed that, She popped into my mind, smiled, and said "and you wonder we're all female? Humph. The guys are aLl busy charging around, never a thought in their heads.
    They'd really be dangerous if they thought!" and Pop! she was gone.) Safe and happy travels, family, and feasts in the coming weeks, and beyond.

    I may have discovered why there are those Maseratis at the Subaru body shop. It's also a Maserati Certified Body Shop. Because Morrie's (the local auto dealership chain that sells Subaru (and almost every other auto these days, we became customers in 1985(!) when Mazda and Subaru and ... were exotics) is supposedly owned by a Maserati collector.

    That's a long time to keep a customer. Time flies by when you're in a good relationship, I suppose.

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    1. I always figured that Muses were female because the ladies seem better organized.

      Oh yes, time does fly when one is in a good relationship, no matter what endeavor that may be in.

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    2. Plus, who wants to be visited by an old Greek guy in his underwear, unkempt, smelling of Uzo, at 3am in the morning? Much better if it's a Greek lady in her underwear, unkempt, smelling of Uzo...

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    3. Okay, there goes what little sleep I do get at night ...

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  13. Sarge, please let the muse have her lead. She'll be back. In the meantime, rest and relaxation, R&R as they used to say. Oh no! That now means "remove and replace", I forgot. A few quality sips now and then and something for courage - that'll do ya. (Maybe you might try the Bacardi 8 year old.)
    The civil war episodes were timed perfectly and helped us all get through "that awkward time" (actually groaning under shit-y leadership). Maybe they've run their course and served their purpose.
    Have a marvelous, thankful holiday this week, looking forward to a wondrous Christ-filled Christmas time. It will be here sooner than we think.

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    1. Right back atcha LtFuzz, keep Christ in Christmas! (It ain't about the shopping, not even the pretty lights.)

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  14. Well, for reality's sake, the problem was, with the 737-MAX, idiot foreign pilots who shouldn't have been flying an airliner to begin with. The issues were known and the solution was "do this, no problem." Which requires training and time at the helm and not becoming a pilot because your cousin happens to be the Transportation minister of Poopholia.

    Yes, bad code, but there are a lot of Airbuses flying around with bad code too. Still, not the Boeing of days gone by. Dammit. And their Starliner sucks donkey... valves. Yeah, donkey valves. (not going to go on a SpaceX otaku fanboi skree as to why NASA and Nelson (not the good one with the genie, the bad one from Florida) sucks donkey valves and should just get out of SpaceX's way and buy a ride. Seriously, build a moon-landing Starship capable of 150 tons to lunar surface or 100 peoples and 50 tons or any combo between, launch said Starship, to meet up to a tiny outpost station (launched by SpaceX Falcon Heavy) to pick up 2 people launched by the NASA committee-designed legacy POS called SLS with the Orion capsule from 25 years ago. At the cost of 30-60 billion per launch cycle. Or let SpaceX do it with just their Starships and each launch will cost, what, 10 million (which includes 3-6 refueling launches to LEO to top off the lunar Starship) and why so cheap is because you're just paying for expendables because everything is renewable. Dumbasses.)

    Other than that, fly, be free, do what you will. Else your Muse's brother, a fat, sweaty Greek guy in a wife-beater and untidy whiteys, reeking of Uzo and rustina and old fish will come visit you. You don't want that.

    And check the lineup. I dropped a gift off for you. Hehehehehehe...

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    1. Bearing in mind that "Gift" is also the German word for poison.

      😏

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  15. Among that for which to be thankful, your site's contents must be included. Price is right, company is nice, thoughts are generally positive, inspiring, informative, thought provoking, or some combination thereof.

    The fiction is OUTSTANDING, from whatever era your muse is exploring. Remind her that a story can be just a small, short, simple story, maybe no more than a few paragraphs or maybe even a single paragraph. Or, it can go on for several episodes. Or. continue steadily until eventually reaching novella or novel length. Few will complain (much) if your muse does some time travel and delivers seemingly random bits of stories rather than progressing from start to finish of a single story line.

    Lex's wonderful "Rhythms" appeared sporadically between June 2005 and April 2007, taking nearly two years for his muse to reveal all 54 installments. Sometimes at intervals of only a few days, others nearly a month. He let the story move at its own pace, not on a calendar. Of course, Hizzoner did other stuff, family foremost (I hope) and whatever paying gigs he had in the cubicle farm or wrestling with 2,000 pounds of twisted steel and sex appeal. Besides that, he entertained, enlightened and infuriated us with a torrent of other posts, often several a day, other times going sinker for a few days. Occasionally terrifying his unmet admirers with depressing thoughts of blogging no more. We were grateful for what he gave us, just as I and others are grateful for what you give us.

    Happy Thanksgiving to all, and Christmas [or other seasonal celebratory events of your choice).

    Maybe LUSH will give us a post someday- even "Which is more fun- Mom or Warrior?"

    Thanks also to the rest of the writing crew- they are loved too.
    John Blackshoe

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    1. Thanks JB, we shall see what the future holds.

      I do like the short bursts idea. In machine guns it keeps the barrel from burning out, ditto for authors may be the case.

      And we so miss Our Lex.

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  16. Please have a great Thanksgiving with your family. As I look around for old/missing friends to invite to the table, I find I have much to be grateful for.
    I was taught from a very early age to question everything (it's almost a part of our religion) and I've found over the years that my faith comes out much stronger at the far end. I also learned in my tender years to question it quietly.
    I'm also trying to interweave a story of a Danziger Jewish import/export/salesman and a young boy who marries his sister (they were each adopted into the same family) and a - - 'nuf said, and have found that my muse usually gives me a swift kick just as I'm falling into a deep sleep - annoying bitch!
    Have a big Bird!

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  17. Enjoy your time with Mom and family, bring a sweater, it is getting a touch chilly up north of little Rhode, just saying...

    I am not only Thankful for fiction which is entertaining AND educational to read, but also for the many writers and responders that hang around here. Give the Muse a rest...and see what she pops up with...and, now I need mind bleach to erase the wife beater with belly hanging out oozing Uzo out the pores big brother of Muse...hehehe...

    I will be here when ya get back/feel inspired/aggravated/ticked-off/or just interested in what those boys left in the wilderness are up to...

    Happy Thanksgiving!!

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    1. It is a bit brisk up yonder.

      Happy Thanksgiving Suz!

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