Monthly Archives: November 2020

I Found this Illuminating, Maybe You Will, Too!!

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On Balladeer’s Blog post from 1 day ago, I found a very interesting comment, that I wanted to re-post here.

“Here is a good summary of the issues:

The massive turn out alone is a red flag.
But as for doing better…
The late night spikes that were enough to close all the Trump leads are a red flag.
The statistically impossible breakdown of the ratios of these vote dumps is a red flag.
The ratios of these dumps being far better than the percentages in the bluest of blue cities, even though the historical data does not match, red flag.
The ratios of these vote dumps favoring Biden more in these few battlegrounds than the ratio for the rest of the country (even the bluest of the blue) red flag.
Biden outperforming Obama among these few urban vote dumps, even though Trump picked up points in every demographic group in the rest of the country, red flag.
The poll observers being removed. Red flag.
The counters cheering as GOP observers are removed, red flag.
The fact that the dem observers outnumber the GOP observers 3 to 1, red flag (and basis of the first lawsuit filed)
The electioneering at the polls (on video), red flag.
The willful violation of the court order requiring the separation of ballots by type, red flag.
USPS whistleblower reporting to the Inspector General that today they were ordered to backdate ballots to yesterday, red flag.
The video of 2 AM deliveries of what appear to be boxes of ballots with no chain of custody or other observers right before the late night miracle spikes, red flag.”

You can read the entire post here.

Yay! I Won!!

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I was super happy to wake-up at 4am this morning, check my email and discover that my new erotic short story, “Score,”  was one of the winners of the Volonte short story contest!

So I am going to be one of the new writers writing for their monthly eNewsletter. (And I believe there will also be audio stories, too.) I will keep you posted, gang. They are out of Sweden, but all of this will be in English. I’m super excited.

Also, in my email this morning, was a new song from the upcoming album Litanies, by Nick Cave and Nicholas Lens. This new piece is titled “Litany of Godly Love” and it is really beautiful. I just love it.

The album seems to be a sort of opera-type thing, or something like that. So I don’t really know yet what these litanies mean or how they are connected, but so far they have dropped two, and both are beautiful but this new one today kind of took my breath away.

And I saw that Nick Cave sent out a new Red Hand File today, too, but I haven’t had a chance to read it yet. However, you can read it here if you so choose!!

Well, the big election news yesterday was from intelligence expert, Steve Pieczenik, and the “ballot watermarks.” But it wasn’t so much what he had to say, but how quickly his interviews were getting blocked by Google and YouTube.

Again — If you don’t use duckduckgo, or a similar private search tool to search for your news, you are missing a lot of what is actually going on in America.

Okay, well I have been learning a lot about human nature the last several days, and also about me and who I really am and how I want to live my life and who I still want to be in the world. I can’t go into details because it involves people who prefer not to be discussed on my blog. But my life is changing. And I’m okay with it.

Sort of a new era for me, finally. More and more, it’s as if the person I’ve been for the last 50 years is dissolving to the background, and the person I was in my childhood — that sort of pure essence of my consciousness — is in tight focus and is who I relate to now as “myself.” Sort of my true Self, before all the garbage set in.

It’s not that I’m going to forget all that I accomplished as an adult, but I find I am connecting emotionally and spiritually now with who I was when I was born and was coming into my own thoughts, my own perspective of life and the outside world.

I feel like I am in a really, really good place now. It only took 60 years.

Okay!

As hard as it is to believe, we have yet another stunning day ahead of us today! Three days running now, of sun and warm weather in November. However, the one downside is that it’s Saturday so all those road-construction workers have the day off and will not be hanging out outside my house today…

With that, I am gonna scoot and get the day underway here! I hope you have a good Saturday, wherever you are in the world, with or without the lockdown. I leave you with my celebratory breakfast-listening music from this morning: “It’s Only Rock & Roll” (1974) by the Rolling Stones, from their mega-hit album of the same name. Listen, enjoy, celebrate!! And thanks for visiting. I love you guys. See ya.

The Best Way to Live Life!

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Yes, I mean, of course — don’t watch the news!

Yesterday (and this morning) I have simply steered clear of the news.  I know darn well that if there is something I really, really need to know about, it will get my attention.

Otherwise, I decided to just enjoy my really lovely day yesterday.

The weather was simply awesome. And promises to be the same today. I took a really beautiful walk to the post office — and mailed out my many promotional postcards for the online reading of Tell My Bones, coming up in 17 days. Something that has been in the works for nearly 14 months, is now only 17 days away. I honestly can’t believe it.

However, it is true. And I got a copy of the rehearsal schedules for the actors yesterday. A thing like that makes it feel more and more real, gang.

And I truly hope you  are planning to watch it – whether on the night of the premiere (RSVP here), or during the days following. I really want you to see it!! Plus, I promised I would love you forever if you watched it, so you might want to weigh that very carefully… (Because on the day when I accept my Pulitzer Prize for Tell My Bones, you can say to your friends: “That girl there, getting that Pulitzer — she promised to love me forever.” It will feel really nice.)

Okay, this morning, on Instagram, there was a really cute video by Cave Things of the tee shirts you can buy that are designed by Nick Cave. If you are a member of Instagram, you can watch the video here. It’s about 15 seconds long.

Other than that, right now on Instagram, I try really, really hard to only look at photos and videos of alpacas, birds, intensely unusual insects, goats, baby sheep, baby cows, and panoramic nature shots. Otherwise, there is just too much intensity out there right now, and I need to hugely filter all of it. I can handle reality in very, very small doses only. And those small doses of reality are accompanied by an intake of CBD oil — my new best friend. So, all is well.

My friend Kevin is indeed back from Montana. However, the Village of Crazeysburg has decided to tear up the road and do construction at the corner of Basin Street and Frazier Alley, which is the exact corner where my barn is located. So Kevin cannot get his vintage 1965 VW camper van out of my barn yet. But I have been able to talk to him on the phone, and he might even stop over just to say hello. Which would be so nice. (He lives 20 miles away, so it’s not like he can just stroll over.)

And in the meantime, my whole street is blocked off and I get to look at quite a number of very attractive young road-construction workers! So it could be worse.

Well, I did not get anything new done on “Novitiate” yesterday, however I did read over that erotic short story, “Score,” that is a finalist in the Volonte short story contest. I had not read it since I’d written it, back in August. So it was that feeling, like — who wrote this? I don’t remember this.

My usual intense, crazy erotic story. However, this one is actually short — under 2000 words. It will eventually be published (in English) by Volonte, so I will keep you posted.  (They are out of Sweden, but this is all part of the English-language website.)

So I am managing to stay really happy, gang. Just focusing on the personal things, trying to keep the larger scope of the world out of my field of vision for right now. Because I know that, at any moment, everything could explode. Including the virus, which is starting to reach Code Red again in nearby counties.

So just taking it one moment at a time here. I know that a lot of my readers are in lockdown again. I hope that you are finding ways to pass the time and that you aren’t struggling in some sort of awful way.

Here, over the last couple of months, things have skirted the edge of being really dire, but then eased up again. But I do know how it feels to run out of food, run out of money, worry about keeping my house and my car. However, through the grace of others, everything improved at the final moment here, but I do know how it feels. Even in a county that has been blessed by very low numbers of the virus, we have also dealt with the financial blows of the pandemic.

However, today is shaping up to be another really good day. I hope it is feeling likewise for you, wherever you are in the world. Thanks for visiting.  Take care of yourselves!! I leave you with the song that was singing in my head the moment my eyes sprang open this morning at 4:17am — “Good Good Day,” (2001) by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. I’ve posted it here before, but here it is again! From off of their 2005 collection, B-Sides & Rarities. Enjoy, gang. I love you guys. Have a nice Friday. See ya.

“Good Good Day”

See the little cloud up in the sky
It’s a good good day today
See the little cloud pass on by
It’s a good good day today
Mary comes now, let Mary be
Can you see her down on the street?
Mary’s laughing ’cause Mary sees
That she’s a-wearin’ that dress for me

There can be times
Yeah… When all things come together
Yeah… Under a clear sky and you can believe
Yeah… You hold your breath for this moment
Yeah… But do not breathe for this day I know
Is a good day, yes I know
It’s a good day, yeah I know
Today…
Hear her feet skipping up the stairs
It’s a good good day today
She is the answer to all of my prayers
It’s a good good day today
Mary comes now, she don’t knock
‘Cause she’s runnin’ on her own little clock
Mary’s laughing ’cause Mary knows
That this day was made for us
And any fool knows… yeah
And any fool sees
That the future… yeah
Is a-down on its knees
But let ’em all cry, let ’em weep
Let those tears roll down their cheeks

‘Cause I can believe in the one
That is standing in front of me
Oh this day, don’t you know
Is a good day, yes I know
It’s a good day, I told you so
Today…
See her breasts how they rise and fall
It’s a good good day today
And she knows I’ve used that line before
It’s a good good day today
Mary’s laughing, she don’t mind
‘Cause she knows she’s one of a kind
Mary’s happy just to be
Standing next to me
And any fool knows
Yeah…
That the wind always blows
Something to someone
Yeah…
Once in a while, so let it rain, let it fall
Let the wind howl through your door
‘Cause right now for this moment
I’ll forever be
Standing next to her
On this day, which I know
Is a good day, yeah I know
Oh, it’s a good day, I told you so
Today…

© 2001 Nick Cave

A Beautiful Morning

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Even while the last several days have been really harrowing in my personal life — not even counting the Internet going out! — I am super happy to announce that my erotic short story, “Score,” that I wrote back in August, was announced as a finalist this morning in the Volonte erotic short story contest.

It was just the little boost of joy I needed to hear.

“Score” is a gay male erotic short story, which is not my usual genre, so it made me doubly-happy.

And the gay male characters in the story are video gamers in their early twenties, which is not part of my general stomping ground anymore, so that made me triply-happy.

So. That news made it a lot easier to leap out of bed with a little bounce today.

I will steer clear of the unsettled election stuff on this blog if at all possible, but rest assured it has almost my complete attention. Although today, I am going to try to redirect my concentration back to working on “Novitiate,” ( the new erotic short story in progress).

(However, I will direct you to Balladeer’s Blog post from post-election morning, for some very interesting facts & comments. You will find the numbers illuminating. Truly. You will. And if you get actual news coverage (meaning if you don’t live in the United States of America) and you see all the stories about voter fraud, and mysterious weirdness with thousands of absentee mail-in ballots appearing and/or disappearing, and places like Wisconsin having 110,000 more votes cast than actual registered voters… And you see that record numbers of Latinos, African-Americans, Jews, and white women abandoned the Democratic Party and voted Republican. And also that  Republicans swept the House of Representatives and the Senate and State Governorships, you will likely think: Hmmm. I wonder why a Republican didn’t sweep the Presidency, as well?)

Indeed.

So. [No! That was not me posting about politics on my own blog; I was posting about the politics on Balladeer’s blog…]

ALL RIGHTY!!

Today is shaping up to be a very good day. At least weather-wise. I’m going to make a trip to the post office to mail out my promotional postcards announcing the staged reading of Tell My Bones.

Please don’t forget to RSVP for the premiere of the reading. It is FREE!

Visit this link and register: tellmybones.eventbrite.com

And I will love you forever!

Again, this is a staged reading, not an actual performance of the play, but the talent on board is incredible, gang. please don’t miss it!

Okay, I’m gonna scoot. Got laundry going on here right now and I also want more coffee. What could be better on this sunny Thursday morning?  I hope all is well in your part of the world today.

I leave you with nothing today, because I haven’t really been listening to very much — my personal life really had my complete attention and it completely exhausted me.  (This had nothing to do with politics, btw.) So I’ll just say thanks for visiting! And I love you guys. See ya!

 

Life Goes On

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Indeed, it does.

I have to say, it was a very interesting feeling, having no Internet access in my house for the first time in a really long time. Just that reminder about how much of my life is now online. But also how quiet it is when there is no Internet.

It is a somber day here in the US, of course.

All I will say is that these last 4 years –even while I didn’t vote for Trump in 2016 — were the best years of my life here in America. I could easily afford a home. I could afford my taxes. I could afford to lease a nice car. Absolutely everyone I knew had access to good jobs. Everyone’s income flowed.

And the other thing I’m going to say is that Nixon was impeached over far less criminal behavior than the allegations looming in Senate Investigative reports over Hillary, Biden, and Obama. But the people vote for them anyway.

I’ll also say that it was a frightening  feeling, to wake up this morning in an allegedly free country and not have access to any actual news. And my Internet has been completely restored, so it’s not that the devices I own can’t receive news, it’s that for the first time in my lifetime here in the US, I could not access any real news on a decidedly important morning.

Scary shit.

Let’s just hope that whichever powers end up being in charge, they won’t renew their antagonism towards pornographers.

I hope you are all having a good day, wherever you are in the world. Thanks for visiting. I love you guys. See ya.

“American Girl”

Well, she was an American girl
Raised on promises
She couldn’t help thinkin’ that there
Was a little more to life somewhere else
After all, it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to
And if she had to die tryin’
She had one little promise she was gonna keepOh yeah, all right
Take it easy, baby
Make it last all night (Make it last all night)
She was an American girl

Well, it was kind of cold that night
She stood alone on her balcony (Ooh)
Yeah, she could hear the cars roll by
Out on 441 like waves crashin’ on the beach
And for one desperate moment there
He crept back in her memory
God, it’s so painful when something that is so close
Is still so far out of reach

Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy, baby
Make it last all night (Make it last all night)
She was an American girl (Ooh)

© 1976 Tom Petty

A Cold Rainy November Day in Crazeysburg!!

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Tonight, it’s going to get really cold — colder than it’s been so far — so I’m guessing the petunias are not going to survive much longer. Although it’s been truly amazing how well they’ve been doing so far.

The morning glories died out with that first frost we had several weeks ago. So the petunias are really just so hardy.

I spoke with Valerie for a while yesterday and she said that her petunias are still blooming, too. (In Brooklyn — 500 miles away from here.) So maybe it’s just the way petunias are.

Plus, as she and I were talking, all the many little trick-or-treaters were out and about, heading to the town hall to get their candy (yes — the very same town hall that Nick Cave steadfastly refused to hold a Conversation in last year, even though at least fourteen people would have showed up!!) (And because I not only staked my reputation on how great the show would be, and all 14 Crazeysburgers were so  severely disappointed by his no-show that they will not speak to me anymore, plus I had even ordered a really nice Fazoli grand piano from Italy to have in the town hall for him and I had to put $238,000 on my credit card — anyway, because of that, I am forced to post this photo of Nick Cave here on the blog):

Of course, I am just kidding about all of that.

And not only am I just kidding, but I also digress.

So.

While Valerie and I were talking on the phone, and while all the many, many trick-or-treaters and their moms and dads were heading to the town hall to get their candy, they were forced to wade through an unbelievably enormous amount of dead leaves that have accumulated on my front side walk, and I felt really guilty because of my “No-Raking” policy (which is also an “I’m too lazy to rake” policy)…

And so Valerie convinced me that I should get a leaf blower/vacuum/mulcher like she has!

She guarantees they are easy to handle, they are now electric, and often even cordless. And lightweight.

Worx Trivac 2-Speed Blower Vac Mulcher with Bag - 9506451 | HSN

I had no idea about this because in the old days, they were super noisy and ran on gasoline. But Valerie has convinced me that all that has changed and so I will stop into the Home Depot next week and see what’s in stock. They are super affordable now, too. (For instance, I can buy 3,553 leaf blowers for what I spent on that Fazoli grand piano…)

Oh my god. Okay! The coolest thing happened to me yesterday.

It was a gorgeous day here. A little cool but just so sunny and just so perfect for the last Saturday in October. And I decided to go to Subway (a fast food sandwich place — we have a Subway and a Dairy Queen here in Crazeysburg) to buy my lunch/dinner. Because they have vegetarian options there that are actually good and sometimes I just get so tired of eating the same darn healthy organic non-GMO things over and over and over and over…

And so I walked past the house where the cute teenage blond boy who has the motorcycle lives. And two men were in the driveway working under the hood of a white pickup truck. And one of the men was an older, nearly exact-replica of the teenage boy… I don’t know if it’s his dad or maybe an uncle or what, because the blonde-haired mom  came out the front door and called for the second man to come into the house for something. So maybe the woman and the second man are married — I don’t know.

But on my way back from Subway’s, only the blonde man was in the driveway working on the truck, and as I walked passed, he made the horn give a quick little honk.

I was secretly and quietly thrilled! (I am ridiculously shy around men when I find them attractive.) But it was clear that I existed and that he had hormones.

Oh man, gang. It was too cool. However, I will not let my imagination wander because one thing about this area is that everybody is married.

Okay.

I will tell you a secret about how I achieve my stellar success as a writer: I usually do not write when Mercury is retrograde. I find it to be a very difficult mental atmosphere to write anything new in, or to even edit anything in because I never like what I come up with and I constantly change my mind.

Mercury goes direct again tomorrow and I am  already feeling the creative change inside me, so I might get back to work on “Novitiate” today!! (The new erotic short story that will round-out Volume 4 of The Muse Revisited, which I will be sending over to Black Lotus Books when it is complete.) So I feel really good about that.

It just feels like a nice November Sunday, all the way around. Plus, today is the day we turned our clocks back an hour, so we get a nice long lazy rainy day here today.

I did sort of celebrate Halloween last evening, by watching the blaxploitation movie from 1972, Blacula, while doing yoga by candlelight.

I love Blacula and own it on video, but it’s actually free to stream in HD on Amazon Prime so I did that instead.  The movie is just so very 1972, gang.  It’s very sexy and fun and even a little creepy/scary. So that was my Halloween.

Other than that, I was really saddened to hear that the UK is also going back into lockdown this coming week.  Just unbelievable, this fucking virus.

Here in Crazeysburg, we are still holding at zero active cases. Schools and churches and stores have been open for several months now, although masks and social distancing are practiced. However, we are in the great wide open here and very few people actually live here (1300 people).

Okay. I’m going to get going here. I hope you have a nice Sunday, wherever you are in the world. Thanks for visiting, gang. I leave you with my breakfast-listening music from this morning – yes, I’m back to The Monkees. Their huge hit: “Daydream Believer” from The Birds, The Bees, and The Monkees (1968).  It made for a nice, cheery little breakfast at 5:11am. So listen and enjoy!! I love you guys. See ya.