I sneezed.
So I have been sniffling with an inflamed throat, and headache. I don't think it is swine flu or bird flew, but who knows? I'm not going to the doctor either, because if it is swine flu and he catches it from me then who will I consult if I get the Elbo virus?
Hmmm wait a minute, that's the Ebola virus. Silly me, my elbow can't get a virus can it? Can it?
The worst thing about a cold, I'm sure that's all I have, is sitting around waiting until you to feel better so you can then go
[first published Dec. 2007]
When AIDS first appeared, here in Mississippi peoples attitudes were, like every social trend, it won't come here for another twenty years. Unfortunately for a lost generation, they were dead wrong. People started dying in 85. By 1990 the numbers were actually alarming.
In 82 & 83, the HIV virus hadn't even been isolated yet. It acted like a virus but science had never dealt with a retro-virus before. CDC nor anyone else in the medical community knew enough abou
I'm trying to give up swearing. It's not that hard - it's not like I was a big fan of the profanity, anyway - but I figure that it'd cut down on my chances of saying something that could get me fired once I'm actually teaching. As such, I've been throwing around some rather colorful euphemisms, lately. They tend to make bystanders do double-takes (which, I'll admit, is true for a lot of the weird stuff that I do). Here are some stand-outs:
"Matt Lauer!" and "Mothra Faulkner!" were both mentione
Cajun style seafood platter- this is a Cajun style seafood platter. The difference? Mostly in the spicing, the breading and the portions. The old joke is "serves 1 cajun or 3 ordinary people".
Raw oysters it takes some courage to eat the first one but you'll finish the plate! Serves with cocktail sauce, horseradish and lemon.
Dixie beer. What else can I say?
Here is the old Dixie beer brewery on Tulane Avenue in New Orleans.
On your trip to the Gulf Coast here are some local delicacies you will want to try.
A "boat" of Crawfish- consists of crawfish, corn on the cob, onions and red potatoes boiled in a mixture of cajun spices.
Gumbo- is a soup that has shrimp, crab meat, fish and it is often served over rice. There is a great deal of variation in the recipe so it is a little different at every place that serves it. You can have a big bowl as a meal or a cup as an appetizer.
Red Beans & rice- this is an
1996
I have seen the fire
Destroying everything in it path
In its blazing wrath
I have seen the fire
Bringing terror as its might
As it consumes the night
I have seen the fire
Slaying friends and lovers
Strangers and brothers
I have seen the fire.
Out of control consumning souls
Hell on earth a mass funeral pyre
I have been burned by the fire
With scars that don't show
The loss it still burns and stings
Friends and lovers I can not replace
I am haunted by their familiar faces
I don't know where it came from or who started it but many young men in our area like to wear low hanging jeans that expose a lot more than is traditional.
This afternoon I was changing the oil in my truck and I saw a local kid walking by. He had been playing basketball up the hill and was wearing very low hanging shorts and had his shirt draped over his shoulder. He was walking like he was the coolest thing since James Dean and then disaster struck: his shorts fell down around his ankles expos
Some eighties muzak I remember...
the Fixx- Saved by Zero
the Cars- All Mixed Up
The Cars- Moving in Stereo
Rolling Stones- Miss You
Eric Clapton- Cocaine
Supertramp- the Logical Song
Supertramp- Goodbye Stranger
The Police- Roxanne
The Police- Don't Stand So Close to Me
The Babies- Midnight Rendevous
Blondie- Call Me
Pink Floyd- Comfortable Numb
Cyndi Lauper- Girls Just Want to have Fun
Eurythmics- Here Comes the Rain Again
With me the Muses show up at 3 in the morning: drunk, mean and abusive.
They slap me around for a while, tease me and leave me with just enough of a taste to really want it. Then, like like the whores that they are, they take off to torment other starving authors.
Damn you Greek byaches! Why do you toy with me so? Why do you give me shreds of lots of stories but never a complete one? Why are you so hot and always leave before we finish? Grrr!
I would roll over, go back to sleep and say forge
12/5/2007
One Enchanted Evening...
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It was a magical night in September, hot but not oppressive. The Gulf breezes were not the only charm that Biloxi offered. The ancient majestic oaks and palms swayed in unison to the surf. Alive, green and red with oleander and crocosmia blooming brilliantly along the shore.
We drove down on a Friday evening, just the two of us. We arrived at the Biloxi Hilton an
I decided to board my cat during my Thank giving trip to Texas at the vet but I waited too late. My usual vet was full. I had to shop around to find him a space. He doesn't travel well and gets horrible gas when he's anxious.
I was down to the wire and desperate. I begged my usual Vet for a referral list. Tuesday I went down the list. Animal Medical Center? No vacancy. Sullivan's Animal Hospital? No Vacancy. Cat Hospital? No vacancy.
OK it's closing in on 4:00 and I'm getting desperate. No w
12/27/2006
I've got this little problem. It's called Traumatic Glaucoma. Granted anything that can make you go blind is pretty traumatic in itself but this refurs to a specific type of glaucoma that occurs sometimes many years after blunt force type injury to the eyes.
Like getting punched in the eyes.
My teen years were particulary difficult. I was outted at the age of 13 the summer before 7th grade started in a redneck town in Mississippi. By my count I've had twenty something concussions,
A friend and fellow author that I have a great deal of respect and admiration for is having a crisis of confidence. I will not name him but I too have suffered from this type of criticism. Some people can not tell a plot element from an endorsement.
When a murder occurs in a story, is the author endorsing murder?
When drug use happens in a story, is the author glorifying it?
Silly questions?
As authors, I believe that the interesting stories are told on the edge. Somewhere on the border of
I just finished reading the Pecman's amazing story Jagged Angel and holy cow, what a ride!
This story is a disturbing mixture of romance, psycological thriller and coming of age story. I found myself thinking that it would make an excellent movie but it would probably cause riots and heart attacks. It was a great story to read around Halloween because it scared the living bejesus out of me.
This story has everything: romance, sadism, emotional manipulation, fear, emotion- and just when you thi
So there I was sitting quietly minding my own business when the phone squawked.
It didn't ring, it squawked like a duck with the flu. Which flu? How the hell do I know? There are so many hideous diseases getting around and I'm only a poor hypochondriac, not a doctor.
Speaking of the doctor, I showed him my leg last Tuesday. He said he wasn't impressed.
"No, no," I told him, "look there," and I pointed at the scaly red mark just below my knee.
"Is it skin cancer?"
"Tell me," asked the doct
So the restaurant has been crazy the last few weeks...of course when is it not crazy. In a way, I'm glad people still have disposable income in these tough times and that they still come to my restaurant to spend this disposable income.
But why the fuck do these people with these disposable incomes think they are so much better than the rest of us and insist on treating us like donkey shit eaters. Fine, we don't make as much money as they do, and we don't drive the same kind of cars or walk
So, how's it going? Naw, that's stupid. After all, I haven't done anything in this Blog for forever and that's the weakest opening ever.
Over the last few days, I've been re-reading all these entries and I've come up with better sentences on all of them. So I must come up with something better than, how's it going? I had thought about explaining why I haven't posted anything in forever, but that seems like a cope out and probably no one cares. I also thought about doing some chit and som
Hey,
First of the all, wow, I have not updated in a month. I so seriously can't believe that I just finished my freshman year. My freshman year at college is so awesome and I have awesome memories. Now, I am at home. Boy, I am so glad to be back at home, sleep late and don't have to worry about papers, projects, homeworks, tests and finals. My finals went well and I nailed them all. I am glad to be back at home, being with Tara a lot. I am looking foward to Paul's visit from Chicago in few we
Pecman posed a (perhaps rhetorical) question in the News and Views Forum on the loss of two young people through suicide.
I have no argument with Pecman's post, but I did not want to make the following statement in the News and Views Forum because it might be taken that I was chastising Pecman, which I certainly am not. What I do have to say is somewhat a personal statement, but one I would like to share with you from the relative safety of posting it as an opinion in my blog. Of course you may
It's good news.
Centrelink, the government agency that handles Aussie welfare rang me today and told me that my claim for the age pension has been granted.
A very nice sympathetic woman told me that I would enjoy a full pension rate until July 1st when my "marriage like" relationship would be recognised and they would then pay me less. (How nice.)
The lovely lady inspired me with confidence in the system as she informed me that my special senior's card would be posted soon and I would be
I passed student-teaching with an A, and I'll be getting my degree on Saturday.
My students wrote me goodbye letters on my last day. Some of my favorite lines include...
"Mr. EC the he has a cool hat." [sic]
"The best thing Mr. EC did was freestyle rap with [X] in the computer lab, then drop his pencil on the floor like it was a mic."
"I thought Mr. EC was really weird at first." [i find this one funny because I thought I was really weird the whole time.]
"Mr. EC needs to keep being a strai
I don't get the local newspaper anymore, I stopped its delivery 14 years ago, (1995). The milkman used to deliver the milk, from his horse-drawn milk-van, but he stopped ages ago. The horse would move down the street and stop at the customer's houses without any direction from the milkman.
The bread used to be delivered daily when I was a kid, and a big truck used to stop outside our house on Thursdays, selling fruit and vegetables. I can even remember the ice man delivering blocks of ice for t
A long time ago I read a book called 'Empty World' by John Christopher. It begins with a global pandemic that first kills off all the adults, and later, most of the children. It's the story of how a very small group of survivors gets on. When I first read it I was the age of the book's hero: a teenager. Now that we are about to suffer a real pandemic I find myself in positively the wrong age group. Bollocks!
Much like the public information films about nuclear war that suggested we should l
