What A Relief!

Wow, even though I know I will need to tweak the pages I wrote yesterday, it feels incredible to have finally finished that novel!

I already alerted the publisher that I will be sending over the manuscript soon, but first I will have to read through it again from start to finish, and make sure it all holds together by the end.

And I’ll also be sending it over to Wayne. And I will be eager to hear his response, since he is always honest with me. And has basically read everything I’ve ever written.

Wayne, reading basically everything I’ve ever written.

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And not only did I spend about 7 hours on the novel yesterday, I spent an additional TWO HOURS on the phone with Sandra.

Things in that part of my world are going to get really busy soon, and that is a double-relief — regarding finally having finished the novel. I am really going to need the brain-space to be able to focus.

(I will talk more about that incredible project when I can, gang.)

Meanwhile, she has a quick theater piece that she’ll be doing at the end of October, but I didn’t get enough notice, so I can’t get to NYC to see it. So I’m a little disappointed.

But I have decided that next week, I’m going to talk to my supervisor at the Agency again and, even though I really hate to do it, I’m going to ask to be removed from one of my accounts because it takes too much time and energy for me. I just don’t have the stamina for it. I have to be able to focus on the writing now, too.

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I don’t really have much to say today, gang. I’m sort of wiped out from yesterday — but in a good way. I’m wiped out but I feel such a sense of relief.

And pretty soon here, I have to leave for town and get my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man ready for our adventure at the clubhouse!! (I’m hoping that his private nurse had him shave yesterday, because he really hates shaving and he really needed a shave when I was over there on Wednesday. We shall soon see!)

But it’s a perfect fall day here today and I feel pretty confident that we’re going to have a really great adventure!

The glorious clubhouse!!

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I want to mention here — if you’re a long-time reader of this lofty blog, you might remember this episode in my life during the vax crisis a few years ago, when I was the night manager at the old train station-turned bar/coffee shop.

I met a young woman there who had recently had a miscarriage after her mom had forced her to get the c*vid vax. And then after that, her menstrual cycle was totally screwed up and she could not get pregnant again. She was devastated and when she went to her doctor to tell him (rather emotionally) that the vax had killed her baby and totally fucked up her body, he wound up committing her to a psych ward for 72 hours (!!). (They literally carted her away against her will.)

By the time she and I met, she was in a really bad place, emotionally. But when she told me what had happened to her, I got her on an intensive natural supplement protocol to detox her body from the vax right away.

Within 2 months, her menstrual cycle got back to normal and she was thrilled. Just really, really happy.

And yesterday, I’m very happy to say, she gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl. Yay.

(I think this guy is smiling with me right now, from wherever he is.)

Jack Red Eagle, Lakota Sioux Medicine Man

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And I think that’s it.

And in the back of my brain, I’m waiting to see which project I will undertake next — aside from my work with Sandra, that is. I have 2 memoirs in progress, 3 additional novels in progress, and a memoir that I haven’t even started yet, but that I’ve been making notes on for over a year already.

So we shall see.

Enjoy your Friday, gang, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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I leave you with this!

Strange as it may seem, but in its own way, it fueled the final pages of The Curse of Our Profound Disorder.

Michael Jackson, “In Our Small Way”, 1972. From his wonderful album, Got To Be There. Enjoy, gang.

“In Our Small Way”

Maybe you and I can’t do great things
We may not change the world in one day
But we still can change some things today
In our small way

Empty words are not enough
Where there’s hurt, we’ll be a crutch
When there’s thirst, we’ll fill each other’s cup
Because we care, we love
Enough to share (Enough to share)

[Chorus]
Maybe you and I can’t do great things (Do great things)
We may not change the world in one day
But we still can change some things today (Today)
In our small way

In despair, we’ll be the hope (Be the hope)
And the prayer that frees the soul (Frees the soul)
We’ll be there to share each lonely road (Lonely road)
Because we love, I know (I know)
We care enough, yeah (We care enough)

[Chorus]
Maybe you and I can’t do great things (Do great things)
We may not change the world in one day
But we still can change some things today (Today)
In our small way

[Bridge]
Just a little time is all it takes (Just a little time is all it takes)
What a difference just a smile can make, you’ll see (We’ve got)
Love is all we need (We’ve got love, yeah)

[Chorus]
Maybe you and I can’t do great things
We may not change the world in one day
(But we still) But we still can change some things today
In our small way
(La-la-la la-la-la-la-la) Ooh
(La-la-la-la la-la-la la-la) Ooh
(La-la)
(La-la la-la la-la-la-la-la)
(La-la-la-la la-la-la la-la)

c – 1972 Elliot Willensky, Christine Yarian, Beatrice Verdi

Aiming for another triumph today!

Okay, so I have the day off today, but I have chores and stuff to do around this crazy cat-filled house, so I’m trying not to get frustrated.

As always, I really, really, really just want to focus on the novel. I made such great progress on Tuesday.

I am so close to writing “The End”, gang. So we shall see.

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First off!

I found the best pair of glasses at the eye place yesterday! I just love them. They are those kind that seem almost rimless — like you’re not even wearing glasses.

They will be ready on October 14th! Finally, I will be able to stop trying to see things through a pair of cracked lenses. Yay.

Unfortunately, I had to choose between getting a blue-light-blocking filter, or an anti-glare filter. And since I have a really intense stigmatism, I had to get the anti-glare, or driving at night would become absolutely hopeless. So I will have to keep the blue-light-blocking readers, too.

But on we go.

Yes! I was able to find these EXACT glasses! Can’t wait! Now I just need a new hair stylist, to help me capture that “natural” look!.

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Speaking of fashion!!

Maybe, just maybe, the actual Johnny Smoke DEPP was at the Dior Womenswear Spring/Summer 26 show in Paris yesterday! (He wasn’t smoking, so, you know, it’s hard to be certain.)

However…

There were tons of photos on Instagram, yesterday, and I chose this one:

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And the official trailer for the TV-streamer adaptation of Nick Cave’s wonderful novel, The Death of Bunny Munro, dropped yesterday, too!

The actors don’t look anything like how I pictured the characters to look in my head, but it still looks like it might just follow the novel pretty closely. I guess we’ll see! (Well, I don’t actually know if we’ll be able to see it in the US, but I hope so!!)

“After his wife’s death, a sex-addicted door-to-door salesman and self-professed lothario Bunny Munro (Matt Smith) takes his young son on a chaotic sales tour around Brighton and beyond, where he is forced to confront what kind of man—and father—he really is.” (1 min):

And just to refresh your memory–

My copy of the novel!! I read it in 2 days! (Only putting it down the first night when my eyes gave out.) What a fun book this was. (Well, I mean, you have to preface that “fun” comment by who’s making it…) Anyway.

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My shift yesterday with my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man was really great, gang.

I don’t want to get my hopes up or anything. It wasn’t like he was suddenly altogether fine. But he was focused and had more clarity than he’s had in a while. We talked about all kinds of cool things yesterday and he was able to keep up with all of it.

Tomorrow, we will return here for lunch!

The beautiful clubhouse at the golf course, that has those fantastic views!

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Other than that, though, gang, I kinda have to scoot!

I really want to make some progress in the novel today — which also includes tweaking what I wrote on Tuesday. (Plus, I have a phone chat with Sandra today and you never know what those chats will do to my writing schedule!!)

I’ll close with this, since today is the 8th anniversary of Tom Petty’s passing:

For about 2 hours this morning — from the moment I woke at 4:45AM, until breakfast was all over — I played “Southern Accents” live. (Not the version I posted yesterday. The version that’s on “The LIVE Anthology”. It is breathtaking.)

Well, I miss him, gang. What more can I say?

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Enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you, guys. See ya!

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Let’s leave with this!

A beautiful song, written after his divorce from Jane, his heroin addiction, his detox, then his marriage to Dana and the start of his new life.

Also from “The LIVE Anthology,” a really great version of “Square One” (originally from his solo album, Highway Companion, 2006).

Enjoy, gang.

“Square One”

Had to find some higher ground
Had some fear to get around
You can’t say what you don’t know
Later on won’t work no more
Last time through, I hid my tracks
So well I could not get back
Yeah, my way was hard to find
Can’t sell your soul for peace of mind

Square one, my slate is clear
Rest your head on me my dear
It took a world of trouble, it took a world of tears
It took a long time to get back here

Try so hard to stand alone
Struggle to see past my nose
Always had more dogs than bones
I could never wear those clothes
It’s a dark victory
You won and you also lost
Told her you were satisfied
But it never came across

Square one, my slate is clear
Rest your head on me my dear
It took a world of trouble, it took a world of tears
It took a long time to get back here

Square one, my slate is clear
Rest your head on me my dear
It took a world of trouble, it took a world of tears
It took a long time to get back here
Square one, my slate is clear
Rest your head on me my dear
It took a world of trouble, it took a world of tears
It took a long time to get back here

c- 2006 Tom Petty

Triumphant!

Yay. Yesterday was a really productive day, gang.

It took a while for the words to start coming, but I ended the day with 5 new pages in Chapter 14. And, as I mentioned in yesterday morning’s post, the chapter took a whole new turn that I hadn’t been expecting.

And I can now see the end of the novel. Meaning, I now know how it ends. I’m guessing 10-15 more pages, but we’ll see!

Getting there!! Finally!!

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These two new books arrived yesterday! (Like I didn’t have enough reading to do!!)

The Complete Works of Josephus. Well, I’m not planning on sitting down and reading that anytime soon (1150 pages). I just wanted to have it in print. Instead of in short digital files here and there in folders on my desktop. Between Josephus and Eusebius — these are the earliest mentions of the historical Jesus, with Josephus being the first source. But Josephus’s works also contain an amazing amount of detailed history from Jesus’s time (and James’s and John the Baptist’s), since Josephus lived in, essentially, the same era of Jerusalem, the Galilee and Rome as they did.

The Lost Mary: Rediscovering the Mother of Jesus is the new book by James Tabor!! I am into Chapter 2 already. It promises to be a really thorough document about what we can actually know about Jesus’ mother, the historical Mary. (Meaning — everything the theologians purposely left out of the New Testament about her, in order to better position Jesus Christ as being Divine.)

James Tabor’s short promo for the new book (5 mins):

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In other exciting news!! And sort of related!!

Today is the day that I go here after my shift —

— and FINALLY get new glasses.

I have needed new glasses forever. Something like 2 years already. And it’s going to help a lot with all this reading I’m trying to do.

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Here’s this!!

From Instagram. A very rare find, indeed!!

A photo of Keith Richards with a guitar and a cigarette!!

I don’t think it completes my set of 17 hundred trillion photos of Keith with a guitar and a cigarette, but I bet it’s getting close!!

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And someone posted this back on Nick’s birthday last week, but I just saw it yesterday.

He looks a little, well, “stressed” but I don’t think I’ve actually ever seen this photo before.

Nick Cave, some time, some place.

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Regarding the tone of everything going on out there right now — Truthers are predicting we have finally entered Red October, with the 10 days of darkness and EBS coming post haste.

I guess we shall see, gang. But it all still seems pretty exciting to me. Meaning, underneath all the noise.

And Mike King has an interesting update about the National Guard.

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Okay, I think that’s it for now.

I want to take a quick look at the novel before I scurry out the door and head to my shift with my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man!

And then, tomorrow– another day off before my October schedule sort of becomes the schedule from Hell…

Have a wonder-filled Wednesday, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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With the 8th anniversary of Tom Petty’s death coming tomorrow, I leave you with this.

A really great version of “Southern Accents” from the “Pack Up the Plantation LIVE 1985” movie.

“Southern Accents” , from the album of the same name (1985), is a song Tom wrote primarily about the death of his mother. Such a beautiful song, but this live version is just spectacular.

Enjoy, gang.

“Southern Accents”

There’s a southern accent, where I come from
The young ‘uns call it country
The Yankees call it dumb

I got my own way of talkin’
But everything is done, with a southern accent
Where I come from

Now that drunk tank in Atlanta’s
Just a motel room to me
Think I might go work Orlando
If them orange groves don’t freeze

I got my own way of workin’
But everything is run, with a southern accent
Where I come from

For just a minute there I was dreaming
For just a minute it was all so real
For just a minute she was standing there, with me

There’s a dream I keep having
Where my mama comes to me
Then kneels down over by the window
And says a prayer for me

I got my own way of prayin’
But every one’s begun
With a southern accent
Where I come from

I got my own way of livin’
But everything gets done
With a southern accent
Where I come from

c – 1985 Tom Petty