User Friendly 2.0

The original of this post is starting to slide further and further down the blog posting list. Since I haven't found a way to "sticky" a post to keep it on the top, I thought I'd do a version 2. 

Amazon Listings

Birth of an Assassin

Here There Be Pirates

Working on Terra

One of Those Days

Short Stories

Welcome to the Bar at the End of Everything

One of Those Days - Published on Amazon

Working on Terra - Published on Amazon


To Kill a War Leader

1-Meet Valsh

2-Journey to Orta'ahn

3-To Be an Orc

4-Ambush

5-Into the Jungle

6-Proving My Mettle

7-Ready? Fight!

8-Letting the Killer Out

9-Dining With a Madman

10-Back In My Element

The Affairs of Dragons

1-The Offer

2-Mikey

3-Communion

4-Time Spent on a Hill

5-A Visit in the Woods


Retribution

1-Downtime

2-Terran Beer

3-Back to Orta'ahn

4-Infiltration and Rescue

6-The Box

Mikey

1-Meet Mikey

2-Hephaestus

I will update this until it falls down the list a ways and then I'll make another updated version.  Thanks to everyone who reads my brain drippings.

-Wayne

There's a Giggling Idiot in the Room

I just added John Wick 3 to my collection this weekend.  I saw it in the theater at release, and it was worth the price of admission.  The only thing was during the scene in the knife room I kept hearing this maniacal little giggle from behind me. This was odd because I always sit in the back row of the theater. It's stadium seating and they're really good seats.  It wasn't until I was on my way home that I realized it was Tole who'd been giggling.  Is that weird? Hearing your main character reacting to the real world?

Oh well, as long as he doesn't start telling me who needs killing right?

In other news, I saw the ortho doc today and the good news is that I have a very healthy looking shoulder joint.  Lots of space between very well defined and shaped bones.  Bad news is that means my shoulder pain isn't skeletal.  Now I wait for my insurance to give their blessing for the MRI to examine the rotator cuff.  All because I just had to scratch the back of the opposite shoulder.

I'll give me when I have more.

As for writing, it seems that every time I try I end up editing.  There is more story coming but good lord is it taking its sweet time.

Meantime, thanks to all who picked up Birth of an Assassin.  Hope you liked it.

Old & Broken - The Saga Continues

A while back I put up a post about being Old and Broken.  Turns out that severe, random muscle cramps and getting lightheaded when standing can be tied to anemia. It also just so happens that you can give yourself anemia from donating blood.  Who knew? I'm O neg with some funky missing component that makes my blood easier to use.

Consequently, my blood usually gets earmarked for babies and small children, and the donation center uses that fact to lay on the guilt if I miss a donation. I like babies, so I was going every time I was eligible and was giving the double unit of red cells every time. This caused me to not only use up my current iron stores but also to deplete what my doctor called my long-term iron stores.

I haven't donated now in almost a year and with supplements in my daily routine, my iron levels are back where they belong. Leg cramps and getting lightheaded are also pretty much gone.  Yay me...or so I thought.

A couple of months ago I was stretching, and my left shoulder popped. I didn’t think anything about it; because, I'm damned near fifty, and my joints pop all of the time. Then the pain started. Long story short, my doc has punted and referred me to an orthopedic specialist. I just can’t wait to see what joy this will bring. He also said that while I'm there he's going to add in having them check the hip that's been bothering me for over a year. I foresee pain, both physical and financial, in my future.

Folks tell me all of the time that I'm not old. I always remind them that the human body is like a car. It's not the years. It's the mileage, and the type of miles matter. Most of mine have been done, metaphorically, at 90 miles an hour down an unpaved country road. I should not be surprised that shit is wearing out.

***sigh***

-Wayne

Never Forget

I know I said that I wouldn't do any political posts on my blog going forward, but to me this doesn't qualify as political.

Eighteen years ago I was at work at the accounting firm I worked for then. My youngest had just had her first birthday in August. Life was just going along as it always had.  Then someone came into the hall outside my office and said that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. We all went to the conference room to watch the new of this horrible accident.  

Just about the time we had all gathered to watch the live feed the second plane hit, and it became obvious that these weren't accidents. I can still feel the shock followed by the anger that I felt at that moment. No one did much billable work that day as we all watched the news from that conference room.  The work just didn't seem important.

As the days passed and the aftermath of those attacks unfolded, I remember feeling the pride in my country and fellow Americans in how we came together and rallied behind the first responders who were dealing with the mess and the military as they prepared to respond.

Never forget means exactly that to me.

Today, when I look back, I still feel the anger over the attacks. I also feel a sense of sadness in how we have once again divided and battle with each other over the stupidest shit. It frustrates and saddens me that it will likely take something of that magnitude happening again to remind us that we are all in this together and that there are those who would see everything this amazing country has accomplished wiped from the face of the Earth. 

-Wayne

Second Effort - Birth of an Assassin

So I spent the last couple of weeks editing and trying to decide on a cover for the next story I planned to send to Amazon. I'm finally happy with the cover and reasonably happy with the story, so today I hit the submit button.

Like the first one, it's Kindle only. Here's the link and a view of the cover.  It does contain a couple of previous stories, but I'm not going to take the blog versions down just yet. 

If you pick it up, I hope you enjoy it. Cover and link below.

-Wayne

Birth of an Assassin

And I Still Have All of My Fingers

I spent the holiday weekend assembling and installing an engine in my old truck.  I have to give a HUGE thank you to my buddy Travis for all of his help.  He and I have been doing work like this together since high school. Still enjoy the hell out of doing it. The engine is now the nicest looking part of the truck, but hey the old monster is 35 years old. Hell, The "new" engine is 25. 

It's running mostly straight out of the exhaust manifolds in the video below, but it IS running. We towed it into the shop on Saturday and I drove it out on Monday.  Still needs a little work, but I'm smiling.

-Wayne