Dare, or Dread, To Dream?

Sometimes, dreams are a great place to start a story. Oh, I don't mean in dream sequences within the book itself (I generally hate those!) but rather, within the dreams of the author themselves. Case in point, I had a particularly vivid dream the other night, one in which a voice over the telephone said something to me which (while awesomely creepy) made no sense to me, neither in the dream nor when I woke. Yet, the words (which I shan't share with you yet!) stayed with me for three straight days and I've begun to build an entire book outline off of that one sentence. One signle sentence and I'm off and running on a new book!

It's actually quite unusual for me (not the dream, I have lots of those) but the story outline: it's an urban fantasy/paranormal thriller type of thing. I've always tried to stick with fantasy, cuz that's what I mostly read, but I've been struggling with my fantasy works (a lot!) and I'm wondering if branching into a new arena like this might work better for me. In any event, I'm working along those lines and having some fun with this new concept. I'll let ya know how it all goes!

Later!

JAC

Shameless and Brilliant at once!

Who want's to read some really brilliant shit?

Well, me too, but you'll just have to settle for a clip of my own ramblings today, I'm afraid. In particular, I'm adding a quick piece of my first novel "The Screaming God" here. A small piece that I'm inordinately fond of for some reason. There's just something about rudely frustrating a lady  that pleases me to no end (just ask my wife, I'm an endless source of frustration for the poor woman!)

So why the clip? Well, once again I'm shamelessly asking all my family, friends, and readers (who, let's face it, are pretty much the same people at this point!) to "share" this post with all their family, friends, etc. in the hope that I'll someday become a famous author who can spend his days spinning more yarns like this one for your entertainment. So, if you wanna help a fat old man out . . .

Enjoy the clip!

JAC

I left, my newfound shadow trailing along behind me in silence. That did me just fine. The longer she kept her tongue still the happier I was gonna be. I made my way up through the Quarter, seeking out a particularly seedy dive I knew by the name of The Pig Bucket. Don’t ask how it got the name. Trust me on this one.

“Where are we going now?”

“We? Don’t know where you’re headed, but there’s a bottle of fine Irish whiskey in there with my name on it.” I gestured toward the door of The Pig as I stepped over one of its customers who’d managed to stagger into the street before collapsing in a puddle of his own vomit. She looked at the door and noticed –-for the first time-- the condition of the entire area we were in.

“Here?” Her words dripped scorn and disgust. “If this is all you can afford, maybe you should ask the Council for a raise!”

“Raises are always good, and if you’d care to recommend me for one, I’d be obliged. As far as The Pig goes, I drink here because I choose to, not because I have to. The whiskey’s not watered down, the musicians can carry a tune, the customers won’t slit your throat --if they know you-- and none of the whores will give you the itch! Well, almost none anyway,” I added, recalling Big Alice.

“I realize it’s not your type of tea-shop, but it does me fine. Tell ya what: you head on home now and have your servants pack your bags and I’ll meet you on the wharf in the morning. We sail at high tide, with or without Your Ambassador-ness!”

I left her standing there, jaw hanging open as I made my way into The Pig. She didn’t follow, so I assumed she’d taken my advice. To be quite honest, I really didn’t care. Within moments I’d settled into a friendly dice game, with a bottle in one hand and a nice, plump, bit of girl in the other. Soon enough, all thoughts of Chakar and the uptight wench I’d been saddled with had disappeared in a haze of whiskey and soft, willing, flesh.

Now, that is what being the Godslayer is all about!

JA Coppinger, all rights reserved

Murica! . . . and Monkeys

Some days I'm reminded of exactly why it is that I'm such a big fan of America (pronounced: MURICA!, for you feruners!) I guess that's no surprise, what with me being a soldier and all, but there are some things that we take for granted here, that other nations have to worry about on a daily basis. Take (for example) the extreme economic impact of the misunderstood, mammalian, misanthropic, monkey (no need for mammalian in that sentence, I just really dig alliteration!) Why am I concerned with monkeys? Well, apparently (in places what ain't MURICA!) they are capable of taking entire countries off the power grid. I shit you not: one monkey took out the power for an entire country! 

Monkey Triggers National Blackout in Kenya

The thing that truly got me on this article was this quote: "The statement did not say whether the monkey survived." Really? Do we need to ask this? I'm betting the locals had monkey-kabob for lunch that day. If not, that is a mutant zombie monkey and we should all be scared silly!

My novel "First Hold" is moving along well. I didn't sleep well last night, so I got up around 4:30 a.m. and put a few writing hours in before work. Maybe I'll do more tonight but it's Friday, so my lazy ass probably won't. (beer and food beckon!) Have a good one, all!

JAC

Apparently, I've got a little murder in me!

Ok, as those of you who know me can attest, I love me some coffee. I mean, my wife and kid have known for years that if I don't get my a.m. coffee, then someone is likely to die.I always thought it was the coffee (or lack thereof) that brought out the ugly side of my nature (shut up - I'm pretending to have a lighter side, so just play along!) According to Austrian scientists, I'm apparently just a naturally homicidal maniac . . . who knew???

Coffee drinkers are Psychopaths!

On other fronts, I'm working on my next novel (entitled "First Hold" for those of you who care) and I'm finally getting good progress on it. I'm down to the last few chapters of a damn long novel. It's currently at 210,000 words, which is about an 800 page novel (yikes!) so far and I'll probably top it around 250,000 words. Of course, then I'll edit it down some but since I'm such a brilliant writer (feel free to laugh or puke here, as desired!), I can't imagine it needing more than a 10,000 word cut.

Of course, I'm also taking time to write these clever posts in the hope that my friends and followers share them on all their social media sites . . HINT, HINT!!! (Yes, I'm looking right at you!) If my failures to date have taught me anything, it's that I can't do this alone. In other words, I'm shamelessly begging, and " . . . I ain't got the kinda manners keeps me from doing so!" (One brownie point for anyone what can give me the movie title that reference is from, in the comments!)

Enjoy the day!

JAC

Fat Man, Weepin'!

It's an amazing thing, how fragile an ego can be.

What does it take to turn a hardcore, military man, into a pouting little tool? Apparently, if that guy is me, it only takes some minor disappointment to set me "Sobbin' like a little bitch with a skinned knee" (props to Kevin Smith there, yo!) And, as we all know, "There ain't nothin' worse than watchin' a fat man weep!" (Yup, that's a Double Dogma quote swipe, for those of you counting!)

So, what is it I speak of that has had me behaving like such a weenie? Why, the dismal sales of my first two novels, of course! Listen, I know I posted all that cool sounding crap like: not caring about the sales . . . how I just wanted to write for the sake of writing . . . how I was thrilled that even one person read my books, etc, etc,, ad nauseum.

What a complete crock of shit!!

I REALLY wanted them damn things to take off like Wiley Coyote with an Acme Rocket strapped to his ass! Let's face it, in order to sit down and write novels, you have to believe that everything you do is absolute genius. You have to have an ego the size of a small continent to think that made up crap out of your own subconscious is so incredible that hordes of people will throw money at you like drunks at a stripper convention. You gotta put up a front of such immense confidence that it seems like an impenetrable force field between you and a the negativity the world throws at you.

I just didn't know that force field was made of plastic wrap! Seriously . . . wow. My ego crawled back into the deep recesses of self loathing, buried deep inside my Id, and covered itself with piles of scorn (ya' know, just to keep warm down there in the dark!)

So, translating that into English: I stopped writing cuz the world was mean to me!!

Well, I apparently have a remarkable ability to lie to myself, because I'm back at my writing and I'm back to trying to promote my books with a whole slew of new tools, including an all new website design, more blog posts, a regular newsletter, and other marketing type stuff to try and get more folks to read my masterpieces! Of course, this is all assuming that the scotch tape I've used to patch up those holes in my Seran Wrap deflector field holds and I don't wind up whimpering  in a locked room with the shades pulled down and muttering to myself . . .

Meh. What the hell, it's only an ego right? Apparently, mine grows back!!

Hope y'all come along for another ride.

JAC

America is not, nor has it ever been, a Christian nation.

I'm tired of hearing every politician spout it, and every self-aggrandizing, middle-aged, white Christian post about it on Facebook! Seriously folks, read just a little bit of history and see that the phrase: "America was founded on Judaeo-Christian principles and we are, at heart, a Christian Nation!" isn't even remotely true. Don't believe me? No problem, let's just ask the people who actually founded the nation about their personal thoughts on Christianity, shall we?

Thomas Jefferson (3rd President, wrote the Declaration of independence . . . maybe you heard of him?):

Thomas Jefferson was not a Christian. In point of fact, many of his writings clearly question the divinity of Jesus Christ and he held himself to be a Deist, when he allowed that he was member to any organized religion at all.

"The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. ... Reason and free enquiry are the only effectual agents against error."

-- Thomas Jefferson, in the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom

"Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the common law."

-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814

Benjamin Franklin (Statesman, founding gather, inventor of the stove . . .):

"Here is my Creed, I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable Service we render to him, is doing Good to his other Children. That the Soul of Man is immortal, and will be treated with Justice in another Life respecting its Conduct in this ... As for Jesus of Nazareth ... I think the system of Morals and Religion as he left them to us, the best the World ever saw ... but I have ... some Doubts to his Divinity . . ."

-- Benjamin Franklin, letter to Ezra Stiles 1790

"I wish it (Christianity) were more productive of good works ... I mean real good works ... not holy-day keeping, sermon-hearing ... or making long prayers, filled with flatteries and compliments despised by wise men, and much less capable of pleasing the Deity."

-- Benjamin Franklin, Works, Vol. VII, p. 75

John Adams (1st Vice President, 2nd President, kind of a famous Boston dude . . .):

“The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”

-- John Adams

“But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed?”

 -- John Adams, letter to FA Van der Kamp, December 27, 1816.

George Washington (1st President and all around America Bad-Ass!!):

"Every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience."

-- George Washington, letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia, May 1789

"I am persuaded, you will permit me to observe that the path of true piety is so plain as to require but little political direction. To this consideration we ought to ascribe the absence of any regulation, respecting religion, from the Magna-Charta of our country."

 -- George Washington, responding to a group of clergymen who complained that the Constitution lacked mention of Jesus Christ, in 1789, Papers, Presidential Series

"I have diligently perused every line that Washington ever gave to the public, and I do not find one expression in which he pledges, himself as a believer in Christianity. I think anyone who will candidly do as I have done, will come to the conclusion that he was a Deist and nothing more."

 -- The Reverend Bird Wilson, an Episcopal minister in Albany, New York, in an interview with Mr. Robert Dale Owen written on November 13, 1831

James Madison (4th President, Father of the U.S. Constitution, and married to the ice cream chick!):

"We hold it for a fundamental and undeniable truth 'that religion, or the duty which we owe our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence.' The religion, then, of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man: and that it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate."

 -- James Madison, A Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments

"Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity in exclusion of all other religions may establish, with the same ease, any particular sect of Christians in exclusion of all other sects? That the same authority which can force a citizen to contribute threepence only of his property for the support of any one establishment may force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever?"

 -- James Madison, A Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments

In point of fact, most of the "Founding Fathers" of this nation were Deist, not Christian at all. Deism believes in the existence of a divine being, without the trappings of any religion and, in particular, Deists are noted for their disbelief in the Judaeo-Christian concepts of worship. Deists prefer the concept of man's rational enlightenment, and peaceful co-existence, leading them towards a closer relation with the "Supreme Architect" of the Universe. So, for all of you who keep spouting about America, the Great Christian Nation . . . please just stop. Your mommy and daddy were not present at the creation of this nation and the beliefs they taught you in no way apply to this nation as a whole.

Oh, and just for fun - here are a few quotes from some other famous Americans you may have heard of:

Abraham Lincoln (16th President, Great Emancipator, and he was in those Bill & Ted films . . .):

"The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my profession." --Abraham Lincoln

His former law partner, William Herndon, said of him after his assassination: "[Mr. Lincoln] never mentioned the name of Jesus, except to scorn and detest the idea of a miraculous conception.  He did write a little work on infidelity in 1835-6, and never recanted.  He was an out-and-out infidel, and about that there is no mistake."   He also said that Lincoln "assimilated into his own being" the heretical book Age of Reason by Thomas Paine.

Thomas Payne (Author of "Common Sense" and "The Age of Reason" and if you've never read those, you're not entitled to take part in this here conversation!):

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."

--Thomas Paine

"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church,  nor by any Church that I know of.  My own mind is my own Church.  Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all."

--Thomas Paine

I'll throw my lot in with those voices any day . . .

Making Progress

So, I got some decent progress on my current novel done tonight, which pleases me. For some reason, I've been struggling with this book - I'm close to the end (down to the last 2-3 chapters) and I know exactly what's going to happen but I've been really panicked at the idea of trying to put those events down on paper (or, ya' know: digital paper as it were!) I think i'm just worried about not being able to effectively write out the scenes I have painted so vividly in my brain. This is some seriously epic battle type stuff going down, with a lot of intense emotions and if it's done right, it will be the kind of ending where folks will be like: "Damn! That was insane!"

At least, that's what it should be. Problem is, I'm not sure I have the skill to make it come across as cool as I imagine it. That, I guess, is the true curse of being a writer - you're never sure your talent can achieve the heights of your own ambition. (why do I insist on doing this gig, again???)

I did finally get some sleep after posting the other night (yay!) so getting back to this blog and letting my brain run a bit more freely seems to have helped in at least a small way. I'm writing again and sleeping ok, so let's hope my crazy takes a back seat for a little while, shall we?

Other than that, I'm just crazy busy at the day job. Teaching classes at a client's for the next month straight, so that's gonna be interesting. Good thing is, they're only 1/2 an hour down the road instead of the two hour commute I usually take to my office, so that's a win. I did get a phone call from The Boy last night, which is always awesome. He's all growed up and on his own, conquering the world and such but I do love hearing from him. Little Dumb-Ass still makes me laugh harder than anyone else I know.

Well, it's getting close to a normal person's bedtime here, so I'm off to see if I can pretend to be one for a change! :-)

Night, folks!

2:00 a.m. Confessions of a Wannabe!

Well, it's 2:30 a.m and I can't sleep . . .

Been thinking about my writing and trying to figure out why I've been avoiding it of late. Two self-published books into the (wishfully!) professional career and I haven't written more than a few thousand words in the last year.Whenever I sit down to write I find a million excuses to avoid it and that's been bothering me a great deal. Plus, I'm pretty sure it's part of why I've been having trouble sleeping lately, so I figure I'll try and work it out here, online, with you (you poor bastards!)

To start with, I know that I've been very disappointed with the lack of interest in my books. I know that I should just be happy that anyone's read them at all and --to be fair -- the folks who did, have all been very complimentary (even the ones who aren't related to me and required to be!) Despite that, the truth is that I had hoped (like every author out there, I suppose) that when my brilliant works of fiction hit the InterWebs, that they would take off for the stratosphere, announcing the arrival of my authorial brilliance to all and sundry! Alas, the reality is my books have languished in the dull mud of earthen reality, as most self published novels do. Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm not whining about it (at least I'm trying not to!) I just know that the lack of response has left me feeling . . . Untalented? Unmotivated? Uninspired? Unworthy? Not really sure, but I know it's an "Un" word of some sort.

Another thing that's been bugging me is my complete lack of interest in updating/maintaining my blog and website. I was thinking about that quite a bit as I lay staring up at the flat white paint of my bedroom ceiling, yet again. It struck me as odd . . . after all, I kept a blog for years before publishing my books and enjoyed it immensely, yet now that I have my own website, it's been next to impossible for me to work up the motivation to sit down and write a simple post. My thinking has taken me to this: perhaps it's because I've been treating this site as a business marketing tool instead of a place to let my brain run free, like I used to do. Hence, the sitting here and rambling at you in the wee hours of the morning!

At the end of the day, I'm not sure I can approach my writing in quite the same way I do my day job. Marketing, sales, making contacts, pushing product . . . these are thing I comfortably do in my day job (and I'm quite good at them, actually!) but I don't like handling my stories that way.Well, that sure as hell doesn't bode well for my career as a professional novelist, now does it?

Thing is though, writing has always been my escape from the realities of the daily business grind and I've needed that separation to keep my sanity. Mixing the two isn't working well for me so I'm shifting back to older ways of doing things. For starters, you may notice that the blog I had running on this site is gone, replaced by my old Blogger account, so I can go back to writing about the things I want to instead of what i think I need to! I will continue writing my books (hopefully, with a bit more frequency!) and I still plan to continue self-publishing some of them but I think I may also go back to the traditional publishing route and start contacting some agents, etc. In the end, I want to write my stories and get them out there for people to read. The "pro" novelist concept is a nice one but I am not the guy to do all the back-end business of that, while still maintaining a regular creative process. If that's ever going to happen, i'll have to get professionals to help me. if my work isn't good enough to grab their interest, well . . . then I'll just continue dropping my novels out into the frozen wastelands of cyberspace and hope that the few dozen people who stumble across them enjoy the stories.

Either way, I need to move past my personal insecurities and just get back to writing. My plan (we'll see how it goes!) is to start back at it by writing here - not about my books and how great they are, and why you should buy them (bleh!) but about the things going on in my brain and how I feel about the crazy that I call 'my life' on any given day. Typing it out here helps me come to terms with my own stresses and fears and lets my mind go back to focusing on the fun stuff of creating fantasy worlds and stories. Sadly, that means you, gentle reader, will have to suffer through my endless blathering once more . . . or, you'll just be smart and ignore my posts! Ya know, whichever works for you.

Either way, I hope I vented enough for tonight to let my brain relax, so i'm going back to bed and (hopefully!) some needed sleep. G'night, folks!

How Do You Stop Hate?

“We can’t tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change.” – President Barak Obama, 12/16/12

No matter your political, racial, or religious beliefs I don’t think there’s an American out there who doesn’t agree with this statement with all their heart. After the hate fueled tragedies and horrific violence that has plagued this nation for the last decade, no ration...al person can argue that change needs to happen and it needs to happen now. As a people, we can no longer allow ourselves to foster a society where the mindless deaths of others is the only outlet for the rage of our broken, and the infamy of mass destruction the only recourse for our unrecognized.

As I write this, twenty-eight families bury their hopes for the future alongside the shattered bodies of their children, wives, and mothers in Newtown Connecticut. The country is heartbroken, outraged, horrified, and confounded by a tragedy of such epic scope. We must do something to prevent such insanity from happening ever again. On that we all agree. The problem we face is in the “how” of the thing. How do we prevent the insane from attacking the innocent? How do we recognize, and treat, the mentally ill so they never approach this level of madness? How do we ensure that all innocent lives are protected so they have a chance to develop to their fullest potential? How do we keep tools of destruction from the hands of people who want to kill?

How do you stop hate?

Perhaps the answer lies in the question itself. All around me, I hear people discussing the need for change and each of us has our own answers:

We need tighter gun control . . . No, no, that’s ridiculous; we need more guns so everyone is armed to prevent these tragedies.

We need to bring prayer back to schools so children learn about God . . . Absolutely not! We need to stop allowing religions to brainwash our children to hate anyone who doesn’t believe what they do.
Outlaw homosexuality: it leads to immorality . . . Tolerance toward others is the way to fight hate like this, you moron!

 

It’s all just a power grab by the leftist media who use tragedies like this to scare us into line . . . Are you a complete idiot? Anyone can see it’s the Republican nut-jobs catering to their NRA cronies who cause this stuff!

You allow doctors to murder babies, why are you surprised when someone else does it, baby-killer . . . Fascist morons like you, who want to control even what people can do with their own bodies are the ones who cause this crap!

Are you seeing the problem? We can’t stop the hatred because all our answers are based in hate. We have allowed ourselves to become a nation of single issue orientation. Each of us focuses on our own set of political, racial, sexual, religious and moral views to the exclusion of all other ideas. Our personal beliefs are inherently right, so everyone else is –by definition- wrong. That is the true root of hate: the belief that other views, and the people who hold them, are inferior. We stand and shake our fists in the air, wildly declaiming the absolute righteousness of our views and proudly stating our willingness to die, even to kill, to defend those views and we sit in bafflement when our children act upon the lessons of hate that we so carefully taught them. Do we need to change our nation? Do you truly believe that? If you do, then I suggest you start by looking closely in a mirror.

We have developed a culture of acceptable rage and institutionalized hatred in modern America. From the highest elected officials in the land, down through our religious and civic leaders, right to the guy picking up your trash. In America, it’s not only alright to hate the people who disagree with you, it’s strongly encouraged. If you don’t believe that, all you need do is turn on your television. Our elected representatives scream lies and vitriol about their counterparts across the aisle, with no pretense of logic or respect, and we deem it “political process.” We follow those tirades up with countless hours of punditry, where supporters from both sides decry the idiocy, corruptness, and inherent vileness of those who disagree with them and we call it “news.” Preachers stand upon their pulpit and call for their followers to disenfranchise, devalue, and despise those who don’t share their beliefs and we call it “religion.” Neighbors rail about the people moving onto the block who lower property values because they have darker skin, or wear funny towels on their heads, and we call this “freedom of speech.” We teach our children to hate and want to crush their opponents on ball fields and we call it “competition.” If you’re Pro-Life, it’s acceptable to spit on pregnant teenagers and call them murderer. If you’re Pro-Choice, it’s alright to call anyone who opposes abortion an inbred moron. Jews can hate Arabs, who can hate Christians, who can hate Gays, who can hate Republicans, who can hate Democrats, and on and on in an endless cycle.

Hate, rage, and violence grow all around us because we embrace it in our daily lives. We nourish it at our breast and share it with our children, expounding on its virtues and demanding they support it in turn or suffer –-at best-- our derision. At worst, children who fail to take up their parents sacred hatreds are outcast, shunned, and hated in turn by their own. Hate exists all around us in the small things we do in our daily lives. When we flip the bird at the guy driving too slow in the fast lane, or when watch those sad families on reality TV so we can mock them and feel better about ourselves. Hate is there when we grouse about the lazy bastards on welfare, and in the scowl on our face when we see that Hispanic guy holding hands with that pretty white girl. It’s what we’re teaching our children when we tell them not to play with that kid who has too many syllables in his name and when we call the athlete who drops the ball on the TV a: “worthless piece of crap!” We bathe ourselves, and our families, in hatred and see our attitudes as strong willed and independent representations of the American Spirit.

We need to stop.

When I was a child, my father had a favorite quote from Voltaire: “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.” That has always seemed the American ideal to me. I always saw it as a defense for freedom of speech but now I begin to see it as a guide sign on the road out of this confusing jungle of anger and violence we’re struggling through. It is alright to disagree with others, even argue with them vehemently if your beliefs are strong enough. It is not alright to hate them for disagreeing with you. It is not acceptable to belittle, berate, and mock those who hold a differing viewpoint. As Americans, we are supposed to support the beliefs of others, even when they disagree with our own. We were built as a nation of people, first and foremost. An assembly of individuals who pledged to each other: “. . . our lives, our fortunes, and our Sacred Honor.” We must first hold to the belief that we are one people, one nation, one culture made up of many parts and that each part must be held in respect by all others.

We can argue about the myriad laws that need to be passed and the cultural morals that need to be revisited, and on and on, in order to prevent tragedies like Newtown, Columbine, and Colorado but no legislation will have an effect if we don’t change our underlying thought processes as a nation. We can’t change as a nation until we change within our local communities, we can’t change a community until we change the families that make it up, and the only way to change your family is by changing yourself. Practice tolerance, not necessarily of other people’s views, but always show tolerance toward other people. When someone says something you oppose, tell your child you disagree and tell them why. Don’t call them a brain-dead moron who is ruining our country and will burn in hell for their stupidity. Try looking for the positive side of opposing viewpoints; understand that most people are trying to accomplish good things even if you think they’re wrong in their approach. Do you oppose gay marriage? That’s fine, but you need to realize that the people who support it aren’t immoral fiends out to destroy our nation; they’re just people who think everyone has the right to be with the one they love. Are Pro-Life? That’s ok too, but you need to realize the people protesting abortions aren’t religious freaks trying to impose their morals on others; they’re people who are trying to save what they see as innocent lives.

I’m not trying to discuss what’s wrong or what’s right, we all get to decide that for ourselves. What I’m saying is that as long as we wallow in the cultural cesspool of hate and intolerance that we’ve built around ourselves, we can never have the change we so desperately need. We need to step out of that pool ourselves, then turn and offer a hand up to the folks still behind us. If, as a nation, we can support debate without anger, we can make progress. If we can tolerate difference without derision, we have a chance. If we can turn from our fascination with the tawdry, the infamous, and the deification of vehemence, then maybe we can eliminate these tragedies all together.

That, my dear countrymen, is something worth fighting for. If you can support these simple ideas, please pass this along to others. Together, we can change the world . . . that is what I believe.

James A. Coppinger
12/17/2012

and more

Jasper stepped back from the edge, pulling the faded leather duster from his shoulders and dropping it to the ground. He flexed his shoulder muscles and twisted his neck from side to side, grimacing slightly at the grinding and popping sounds the motion caused. His hands moved with practiced ease to the twin machetes he wore strapped tightly to each thigh and undid the stays that held them tight in their sheaths. That done, he reached to the small of his back with his left hand to unstrap the modified Beretta 9-mil he kept in a simple roto-belt holder. It wasn’t fancy, but it kept the weapon secure while he moved, and released with just a slight pressure on a thumb slide when he needed it quickly. It also kept a low relief so folks didn’t always notice he was packing, which had saved his life more times than he cared to remember. Slowly, Jasper cupped both hands in front of his mouth and breathed a long, slow, hot breath of power into them before quickly moving them down so that each hand cupped the pommel of a machete. The polished white stones beneath his cupped palms began to glow with a light so bright he could see the veins and muscles in his hands like they were lit up from within. From within the chasm came a distant sound like the crashing of stones, followed a few moments later by deep rooted trembling beneath the soles of his boots and Jasper gave a humorless smile. Seemed that his message had arrived and been received with just about the amount of happiness he’d expected. Now came the fun part.

Continuing on . . .

He’d be lying if he said the thought didn’t appeal to him on some level but in the end he just brushed the hair out of his eyes with one hand and leapt the thirty or so feet across the chasm with ease, landing without a sound on the rust colored shale. Below, the mists thickened and swirled, their thick whiteness taking on an angry orange tint about the edges, as if they sensed and resented his casual dismissal of their invitation to death. Good, he wanted them pissed off. Anger makes your enemies sloppy. Sloppy enemies are much easier to convert into uncaring corpses. Jasper crouched down on one knee, picking up a golf ball sized piece of milky white quartz that lay beside his left boot. He examined it closely for a moment, looking deeply at the crystalline weave of the stone’s molecular structure. It was shit of course, no one left good augurstone lying about, but it would do for his immediate need. He brought the stone close to his lips and breathed softly into it, pushing fey into the stone’s depths. The white quartz began to pulse softly with a pale yellow light and it warmed slightly in his hand. Jasper nodded in satisfaction as he stood, bouncing the glowing quartz in his palm. The augur wouldn’t hold for long, the weak stone would shatter quickly beneath the strain, but it would hold long enough for what he needed. He brought the stone close to his lips once more but this time he didn’t breathe; he spoke. He pushed his voice within the lattice of the augurstone energies, letting his message become part of the stone’s fabric. It would hold his words until the stone broke, then they would release, delivering his message just as he spoke the words now:


“I’m here. Come out of your hole and die, asshole.”

Not very poetic, he thought with a grin as he leaned forward and dropped the augur into the chasm, but it would do the job. When the stone hit bottom and shattered, those simple words would be all that was required to shake all hell free from its bonds.

He hoped.

and hmmmm . . . .

Life is like that, he thought. The overwhelming is buried in the minutiae of the ordinary. When things are too much for the simple human brain to comprehend, it focuses instead on the trivial and the silly. Why worry about the cold of the mist when the bone-snapping, brain-flattening, stop at the end of the fall was where the mind should be focusing? There it was though: the simplicity of the mind. What can’t be fathomed or controlled, can be ignored in favor of the comfortable ordinary. Was that what had happened between he and Kailey? Had he been so unable to see the miraculous that he’d tried to force her into a role she was incapable of living? Maybe. It wouldn’t matter soon though, the wind pressed once more at the small of his back, a lover’s caress urging his unwilling body forward. The breeze tickled against his neck, it’s formless voice whispering in his ear. Forward . . . forward . . .

Hmmm . . .

Jasper stood on the edge of a drop so deep that he couldn’t see the bottom. Winds, cold and brittle, pushed at his back, swirling the thick strands of his auburn hair in front of his eyes. He brushed weakly at the strands, squinting as he tried to see the bottom of the chasm before him but its finality was lost in darkness and early morning mist. Was it cold in there, he wondered? If he fell, would he have time to note the rise of goose flesh on his arms before he reached the inevitable jarring stop at the end of his free-fall journey?

Just a Post

Ola'!

What to type, what to type . . .

Well, let's start with being back at night school starting tonight and in a REAL classroom! (ooohh!!) I've being doing a shit-ton of online classes over the last year but this is my first college classroom experience in maaaaaannnnyyyyy years! Chemistry, however, requires a lab and a bit more instruction for my poor old brain than I feel comfortable with doing online. Just to top it off, I'm also carrying an even dozen credits online (for a total of 17 credits), which makes me a full time student+!!! Add in working 48 or so hours/week, Scouts, and the ARNG and that makes me one busy little beaver (albeit a bald, pudgy, beaver . . .eeeewwww!!!) Writing - not so much (ok, none at all) but that's cool, like I said: I'm not stressing over it I'll write when I can and not beat myself up over it anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bitching about the schedule, I rather like it. Funny thing: I really don't feel good about myself when I'm not busy. In a strange departure from the old me, I find that I prefer craziness to the sitting around and vegetating. I used to love crappy days, cuz I could just chill and read a book, or watch the tube, without anyone hassling me. Now, I get all kinds of pissed if I'm stuck in the house all day. I just get bored and frustrated. odd, huh?

Anyways, just some random babbling today. No big shakes going down.

I'm out!

Checkin' in!

Howdy, all!

Busybusybusy! Work is keeping me tied up a bit and at home I've been . . . well, just crashing basically. The cold (I HATE the cold!) keeps me from wanting to do anything outdoors. The fact that there's still a shit-ton (how much is that, btw?) of snow leftover from the holiday and more expected on the 'morrow does not help my demeanor either. Winter Blahs, I guess. Also getting frustrated that nothing I have planned seems to happen quickly enough for me . . . everything takes longer than it should for some reason. Even the simple task of getting back into school seems too slow. Some classes don't start until the 20th, and the online classes have started but the teacher takes a week+ to respond to every submittal. Patience is not now, nor has it ever been, my strong suit.

I did get me a few hundred words of writing done on "First" over the holidays (pathetic, I know!) Most of the vacation was spent at home "relaxing" (i.e. shoveling snow, fixing leaking roofs, etc.) but it was good. Had our Hobbit Day festivities and got to start and finish "Fable III" (video game) with The Boy. Very fun! I tried playing "Red Dead Redemption" and it was fun but I really suck at shooters (too much finesse and control required!) I'm better with swords and such so I can just mash the buttons really fast to kill stuff!

Running this morning sucked ass!!! I didn't realize how cold it was till I was already out there. It was only 15 degrees here with a windchill of -4 below. OUCH! I really need to move to someplace warm. I can get up at 5:00 a.m.and run my miles, do my push-ups/sit-ups, etc. without complaint . . . unless it's cold out. My ass does not want to get out from under toasty warm covers to go out on days like this. Everything just aches when you run in that kinda cold. I'll take 100+ temps any day, thank you! So I sweat like a pig and the air here in Jersey gets so humid you can swim through it, so who cares? At least nothing hurts and I'm not sweating and shivering all at once. Trying to talk The Wife into Texas: I really liked it in San Antonio.

Anyway, that's all for today. Just checkin' in!

Have Fun!

Hey folks,

I'm out for the holidays (yay!) Just wanted to stop in and wish anyone who wanders by a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year! Enjoy being with the ones you love . . . remember: they may not be around always so make the most of it this year!

I'm out til the New Year!

Murderous Elves

So, the weekend was good . . . went to see TRON on Saturday morning (good, but not great) and to the company holiday party Saturday night. Party was nice but truly, the best part was when we were leaving and The Wife (who was driving cuz I had a few drinks) became very pissed off and yelled at me when I tried to give her directions on how to get home: "I'm driving, not you! I know where I'm going so just shut up!" Cool. I just turned on the radio and sat back, watching the pretty lights go by. Now, I had driven to the party and it took us 35 minutes to get there. After 45 minutes of driving along god forsaken back roads The Wife was finally at the point where she had no clue at all where we were and asked at an intersection: "Which way should I go?" to which I replied: "Oh? Are you speaking to me? I just want to be sure cuz, ya' know: YOU'RE driving and know where your going, so I don't want to offend by answering rhetorical questions or anything." (Yup, I'm that big of a dick!) Oh, you should have seen her face go through nine shades of red and purple, but she'd been wrong and she knew it. She had to bite her tongue and apologize and ask me for help getting home. The sad part is, she had gone in the completely wrong direction and was actually on the entire wrong side of the state! Luckily, I knew exactly where we were and I was able to get us on a road for home in two quick turns. So, what was a 35 minute ride in took us two full hours getting back cuz The Wife was feeling all "empowered" and shit. There's a lesson to be learned there folks . . . I'll let you decide what it is. :-)

Yesterday I got to watch my Giants take the most humiliating defeat in the history of football . . . no more need be said on that sad subject. :-(

We started watching Christmas cartoons last night (we have them ALL on dvd!) and I was very entertained watching "Rudolph". A guy on the radio last week had been talking about the thing in that show that bugged him most: that when Rudolph leaves Yukon and Hermie on the Island of Misfit Toys that he leaves the door to the house open . One would think that leaving the door wide open on such a tiny house at the North Pole would wake up the other occupants (yea, I know it's just a cartoon but the illogic bothers me too, k?) So The Boy and I were looking for other logic flaws in the show (much to The Wife's annoyance) We found quite a few but I won't bore you with them, except for the one that made me laugh hysterically. The Boy caught it while I was down the hall using the "facilities"; he bust out laughing and calling for me to come back to the living room.

I don't know if this was intentional on the part of the creators, or just an oversight, but when The Boy showed it to me my evil sense of humor burst into high gear. You know how on the Island of Misfit Toys, there's a bird who can't fly, he only swims? Well, if you watch the closing credits carefully, you'll see that the elf on the back of Santa's sleigh is giving each toy an umbrella to parachute safely down to their  new homes. At one point, the bird comes out of Santa's bag and the elf starts to give him an umbrella, then looks from the bird, to the umbrella, then back again and gives this big smile before pushing the bird out without an umbrella. Dude, it's the bird that can't fly!! That evil little elf kills one of the toys Santa just rescued! That was funny as shit to me! (yup, I'm evil that way.) Forty years of watching that show and I never noticed that before . . . awesome!

I'm out!

Writing . . . Sort Of.

Been doing some work on "First" . . . sort of. I've been experimenting with MS Office's OneNote program. It's basically a large electronic notebook with an unlimited number of tabbed sections in it and an unlimited number of pages in each tab. (Think: five subject notebook X infinity!) You can free-form notes, thoughts, sketches, images, etc. on each page and even insert links to external files/programs. What I like best is its ability to link any text on a page to any other text/section/object on any other page, under any tab. I have a text file of notes (back story & character questions, etc.) that I wrote for myself a while back and I inserted it into OneNote. I also created tabs for maps, unfinished plot, calendars & time lines, etc. I'm able to link the notes to the locations on the maps or the dates in the calendar, or even to character profile pages so that a single click while I'm reading through it jumps me to the linked info . . . very nice! The only thing I'm having a little trouble with is linking to specific locations on and image (world map). I know it can be done, just haven't pinned it down yet. What a great idea though - the ability to jump from reference text to the world map, then click on that location on the map to jump to an enlarged map or another page that details the area! Much potential here, just not sure if it's potential for: A) Organizing my work so I can write more concisely or B) A massive time suck.

We shall see!

Work has been crazy busy. I'm rolling out & training folks on Windows 7 & Office 2010 (hence why I started playing with OneNote!) It's nice to be back to training again. with the shitty economy I've been limited by senior management to mostly support calls and troubleshooting this year. Things are looking up enough so they're letting loose of the monetary reins and letting me get back to what I'm supposed to be doing. Should make for a very busy year here though - I have a LOT of stuff on backlog that I need to get geared up for.

Family is good . . . should be a nice weekend ahead. The Boy has his Naval Ball (aka Senior Prom) and The Wife and I are heading to my company's Holiday Party (can't say "Christmas"!) for the first time in . . . hell, at least six years! It just always fell on dates where I had conflicts but this year we're clear so I'm looking forward to it. Other than that, it should be a quiet weekend around the homestead. Nice lead in to the holidays, right? Hope all is good with everyone else . . .

I'm out!

Crashing

. . .

Just not feeling it today. Wanna be home, relaxing, napping . . . the GOOD stuff! :-(

Weekend was very nice (hope y'all can say the same!) We did the decorating/trimming of the tree for Christmas and went to see the latest of the Harry Potter films. Movie was good, if a little slow at points (but I expected that, the book was verrryyy slow in the first half.) Overall, I was pleased with it. The Potter films have to cut a lot of info from the books out but I think they've done a good job of getting the story across with the time limitations of a feature film.

Ok, so here's a total geek item - I just heard about the new program slated for HBO this spring: "A Game of Thrones" based on the first book of George R.R. Martin "Song of Ice and Fire" series. Holy shit, batman! I LOVE these books and the trailers for the series look awesome (Dude: Sean Bean -aka Boromir- as Lord Eddard Stark!!) I'm getting me some HBO, folks . . . no way in hell I'm missing this show.

The meeting with The Boy's B&G Rep went well. I mostly sat on the side and listened while my son handled the interview (it is HIS life, after all!) and he did very well. The rep was highly impressed, particularly by his SAT scores (The Boy blew the doors off the damn thing!) and the way he handled himself in the interview. The Boy speaks well and is not the least bit rattled by authority figures or stress situations. He done good! :-)

No writing, just fixing up the house all weekend and teaching seminars today at work. Maybe some tonight, we'll see . . . like I said though, I just wanna go home and crash.

I'm out.

Just a Day . . .

And another day rolls along . . .

Not too bad a day, I guess. More along the "meh" side than anything. Getting prepped for a rollout of new software at work and already the people who will be receiving it (next week) are bitching that there are problems. Really? This is some serious software if it can fuck up your system before it's even installed! Oy. That's people though, they DO NOT like change. Except for me. Just one more instance where I'm out of step with the rest of the world (like we need more examples of that!) I love change. I really do; the idea of new challenges, new problems to solve, all new stuff to learn . . . excites me. I'm always one for leaping feet first into something I've never come across before (which explains the army thing, I guess!) hell even when I go to a restaurant I'm always looking for something on the menu I've never eaten before. This attitude always leads to conflict between The Wife and I (what doesn't?) She is of the firm opinion that what ain't broke should never be fixed. All things should stay within the safe, secure, reliable realms of the familiar and anything that forces us outside of said zone is unquestionably "bad". Seems to me most folks agree with her but I don't get it. Isn't life supposed to be an adventure? Not a whole lot of adventures show up at you door at a sensible hour, on a weekend, to ask if you would: "Perhaps care to come outside and play?" now do they? No risk = no possible gain is how I see it. Of course, the inverse correlative may also be true, wherein: No risk = no possible loss. Seems a depressing way to approach life though.

So, got a little bit of writing done on "First" (about 700 words or so) but I'm hoping to get some more done later tonight. We actually have a rep from the USNA coming to the house tonight to talk to my son about his application and the school in general. The boy is still very much interested in Annapolis, though he is really thrilled about the USMMA as well. if he gets an offer from the USNA he'll have one huge decision to make: both are outstanding schools and both offer him exactly the career path he wants. Really, he can't lose going either way.

Listening to Christmas music as I type this . . . only two more weeks till Christmas break! (WooHoo!) The Wife and I both took the week off this year because it will most likely be the last time The Boy will be home for the entire time (military schools and life are very time consuming!) As you can imagine, the thought of that is enough to set off the tear factory in The Wife (OK, so I get a little misty too. I'll miss the spud when he's gone but don't tell him I said so, k?) We're down to counting his time at home in months and that is a very odd thing indeed. We are a very close family and we spend a lot of time together, even though he's a teenager with a ton of friends, a license, and a car of his own. it's going to be a hard thing not having him around all the time. (Shit! Who's gonna laugh at my stupid jokes??? Certainly not The Wife, I promise you!) Ah well, in any event I am very much looking forward to the break. Christmas in my house is always much fun!

Thant's all I got for today, folks.

I'm out!