Yahoo! 360° - Welcome to my friends from the Fab 40's and beyond

Welcome to my friends from the Fab 40's and beyond Full Post View | List View

This is my place to put down my thoughts, my feelings, or just to obsess about life. Bear with me...

Entry for July 03, 2008: ANNOUNCEMENT: I'm officially retired, as of last Monday (June 30th)!!!!!!! Yes, the fools made (three hundred of us) an offer I couldn't refuse, and I didn't. Six months severance, plus enough time added to my retirement (3 1/2 years) to bring me up to where I'd be at 62. I'm so happy! Of course, I've been busier than ever since Monday, but that's only because I had put so many things aside. Also, I've been working on my friend Clyde's bathroom, bringing it up to snuff for handicapped access for him. I don't know if he'll ever walk again, but for now he has a bathroom where he can take a shower in his chair and use the handicap-equipped toilet, and grab bars where he needs them. It came out nice, actually.

I plan to blog here more often, and also to write more. We'll see. I've fallen off a lot lately, but that's mostly been because of work-related stress cancelling out any original thoughts I may have had. I checked my blood pressure in Wal-Mart today, and it was 117/79! Yes, retirement is good.

More later. I have a whole lot of posts to read, and then I'll try to get get back into writing. I want to paint again. I want to remodel my house. I want to ... well, I have a LOT of projects I want to do. Wish me luck!

Thursday July 3, 2008 - 11:03pm (EDT) Permanent Link | 3 Comments
Ah! Saturday!: This is how Pauline looked as of a couple of weeks ago. The engine is now in, the firewall has been painted, and more of that yellow paint is gone, replaced by primer. The interior walls are also painted a metallic gun-metal gray.

I had hoped to work on the truck, but it's supposed to rain this afternoon. Regardless, I wanted to post on here this morning while I had time. It's been a hectic, frustrating week at work. I got my annual performance evaluation on the 27th. Not good. My boss is on a tear this last month, and has been ripping people left and right. That's okay ~ I can work harder to make him happy. The thing that bothered me was the manner in which it was done. I was basically 'ambushed'... brought in and told to sit, while two of my peers and my Asst. Manager looked on. I was given the eval to look over, asked a number of specific questions about why I was rated low in certain areas, but not given any tangible answers. So I signed it and left, but I was stunned. In 18 years, this is the first poor evaluation I've had, and it all seems to have stemmed from the last few weeks.

Anyway, went to H.R. and asked if I could submit my comments later. They said yes, so I wrote a two-page rebuttal, mostly questioning the intimidation and humiliation I experienced that day, and handed it in to my Asst. Mgr. I have friends in H.R. They tell me they haven't received a copy yet (it's been 3 days) but are going to contact my manager next week and do an investigation, since I'm not the only one who has been subject to this form of performance review.

So the stress levels have been a bit high lately. Not writing much, but trying to keep busy, working on the truck. I notice my tinitus has been much worse this week, so I'm sure stress is a factor. God, I hate that ringing in my ears!

I'll have to go read everybody else's blogs, and satisfy myself that you're all doing okay. I hope so. Take care, my friends. See you soon!

Saturday April 5, 2008 - 09:25am (EDT) Permanent Link | 3 Comments
Running Away: This is my 10-minute attempt at poetry. The thought was true, but I think I need more time!

It doesn't seem like the right thing to do;

It seems like the only thing to do.

Last long glances over his shoulder only make for angst, unbidden.

Time to be strong, he thinks.

Taking his little sister's hand in his own,

he slips through the door into the night.

Pulling her over the doorstep, he hears the sudden silence,

Terrifying.

"C'mon," he whispers. "Be brave."

Feeling her resistance fuels his own.

Her voice is too loud; too high, too full of uncertainty.

She's scared, and not alone.

"Don't!" he warns, but he knows they've been heard.

Light splits the window shades, pinning them.

His mother's voice is questioning, his father's grim.

"It's okay, mother. They're at it again."

Heads held down, they troop back inside.

Tears fall and little lips quiver,

And truth is faced once again.

Stumbling words, until he raises his eyes; a man in tiny jeans...

"We don't like it when you drink, Mommy."

Today the in-laws came over, as they do EVERY holiday. Surprisingly, very little drama! I think they must all be on their meds. Resident Evil did get her feelings hurt when Evil Incarnate caught her taking a bite of the candy bar E-I had just given their dad. It was a little rude. R-E said she was only curious, but she's taken Bill's food before when she discovered she likes it better than her own, and he doesn't say anything. R-E stormed off to the bathroom, but decided after 5 minutes that it was either too cramped, or maybe someone else wanted to use it.

Kristin was tweaked, because R-E had asked her to make the check out for her horse's shots to HER, when she knew Bill had paid for them. E-I got involved, and there was some heated discussion, but it was kept in the kitchen. (The guys were watching an NBA game in the living room.) We just turned up the volume a notch!

Anyway, they left after only FIVE hours. I may be funny, but I think that's too long to take over someone's house, even if it is Easter. After the first feeding frenzy, they just roam around, using my computer upstairs, looking in all the rooms, asking if we have such-and-such a movie, etc.. It's not like we don't see them once or twice a month!

Okay, rant over. Hope everyone had a nice Easter. I thought of all of you, and wondered what Nina and her family do. Guess I'd better read her blog! Take care, all.

~Bruce

Sunday March 23, 2008 - 09:56pm (EDT) Permanent Link | 4 Comments
of prompts and work and teeth and knees and stuff: The prompt this time was "unprepared." This is what I came up with in 15 minutes. Gosh, that seems an awful short time!

The contest was dauting in the extreme. Was he ready? Pushing back any

residual doubts, he shoved off as soon as the buzzer sounded. Immediately,

the sound of the wind in his ears became a roar. Or was that the cheering of

the crowd? Permitting himself only an instant of consideration, he let the

question be. This was his time; his only time to beat this thing. There would

be no second chances, he knew. His age and his agility may not have been

at their optimum of his lifetime, but they would be no better from this point

forward. He had to do it now, or risk knowing that he had failed. He would

have to live with that for the remainder of his days, and he didn't think he

could do that.

He was all too aware that this was a young man's sport. It had been written

up in all the publications, this factor of age versus ability to recover. But he

had trained, religiously. For hours on end, for days without regard for daylight

or the darkness, he had trained as best he could for this one. If it could be

done, he knew, he must do it, and he must do it now. His life was nothing in

the overall picture, and if he died attempting this so unsuccessfully, so be it.

It was a religion, for him.

The roar increased, and he worried that his speed might be too much. No;

it might not be enough. He debated endlessly in the space of a scant few

seconds, but in the end it wouldn't matter; it was set. Taking off down the

first soaring peak, he flexed his legs to gain his balance, and felt himself in

a stomach-dropping plummet. Too fast! He set his jaw and gritted his teeth,

aware that if he hit the surface, he would be smacked with the force of a

heavyweight prize-fighter. Or worse; his head could be torn from his body.

The foam felt like shards of glass on his skin as his board skimmed down

the face of this monster, and he felt his feet losing their grip on the pebbly

surface of his board. The angle was too much, and leaning backward only

made his feet slide along the plane faster. Now he was too far back; his

balance was off, and his body seemed to catch the air like a sail.

As he left the board, he could hear the announcer from the beach. The words

were far away and indistinguishible, but in the swirling vortex that was the

face of the tsunami, they boomed like cannons, accompanied by a

universal holding of breath.

As the ocean swallowed him whole, he had only one regret: not having

another lifetime to prepare.

Between working on "Pauline" ... yes, there will be updated pics to come ... and writing these prompts, I hardly seem to get to bed anymore, and it's time to get up! Speaking of which, I got called in to work the other day at 2:10 AM. Someone had tried to break

into one of the houses the hospital owns. There is still a family living there, and they were freaked. The wanted their broken window boarded up, so I had to go in and do it, by spotlight from Security's truck. Fun. If that wasn't enough, I got a call at 11:35 that night, concerning some missing flooring. I had people coming in to replace some flooring in the Port Orange facility's Emergency Room, and when they got there, the flooring, vinyl welding material, and glue was gone!

Turned out that some of our own people had moved it to the warehouse in Daytona a few days before, in preparation for an inspection that didn't happen. Good grief! Guess our communication wasn't all it was supposed to be, there.

Some other news I haven't gotten to tell here: my PT released me from therapy for my knee, and the surgeon has almost written me off, pending the last little bit of swelling going away. It still hurts, a little, but that's more arthritis than anything else. I know, because my other knee hurts some, too! Also, I had a broken tooth right next to my two front teeth ... think Alfalfa of the Little Rascals ..., but after an absolutely painless root canal (fast, too: 35 minutes, start to finish!), I have a temporary crown. I get the permanent one next week. I'm smiling again!

Next time, friends! Take care, all.

~Bruce

Saturday March 22, 2008 - 10:37pm (EDT) Permanent Link | 2 Comments
Up on two wheels...sort of, in a way...: I'm painfully aware that I haven't been active on here in quite a while, and Lydia's and Chris's queries about my whereabouts have reminded me of this, yet again. I've been active on the website that started up after this year's NaNo, for a couple of reasons. One, it's a forum, and more interactive. It's addictive, in it's own way: you post, someone answers you, and you post again. There are 20 of us, and every time someone has either a moment of glory or a meltdown, you find yourself responding in some way ... usually with sympathy and a few words of encouragement. It's also very time-consuming.

The second, and main reason, is the daily prompts. Someone, usually whoever gets on first, posts a word or phrase, and whoever wants to, responds with a short post; be it a poem, a 55-word exercise, prose, a short story ... whatever. It's been great for me, as far as expanding my horizons, as I've attempted all of these. I've also, more importantly, developed a few characters and storylines that bear expanding, when I get time. Very much like I did with Fat Ricky and the Jar of Butterflies.

We also are doing a monthly challenge, both in poetry (this month's challenge is to mix prose with haiku ~ I didn't take it up) and in short story writing (my story's doing very well right now ~ *blush*) This has been really really fun, and keeps me coming back ... and so, away from here, due to a shortage of time.

So I've decided: if nothing else, I'll copy/paste some of my prompt writings here, and that will encourage me to spend the time 'socializing' with you on here, since I miss that. I really do. I only hope I can keep up with the postings of ALL my favorite writers, both here and on Literary Dreams. If I don't comment, it doesn't mean I don't care. It probably means I didn't get to read your posting yet, or I didn't have time to reply. I DO want to catch up to what's going on in California, Tennessee, and Chicago, and Virginia as well (Samantha, I know you get over here once in a while. I get your hugs! LOL)

Here's one: It Lingers

The smell was the worst thing. Long after the beast was slain, he could smell

it on his clothes. On his longsword. On his body. No amount of washing in the

clean water of the river could vanquish it, as he had vanquished the beast

itself. Nor did the miles he walked since then diminish the ripe odor of it's hide.

He supposed that it had, in fact, won, in that regard.

No matter. The valley was rid of the thing. No more would the villagers have to

take cover when it was about; no more would they count the children, anxious

over some missing one. The part about telling the parents was the worst. He

had been there; once the teller, and finally, the receiver of the bad news. It

ate his soul.

He shrugged, trying to forget. Blue eyes and tousled blonde hair; not easily

forgotten. Easy laughter, neither. No, never forgotten. He closed his eyes,

trying to will the pain from his mind, and failing. No amount of grieving would

help that effort; no amount of anger, directed at the murderous beast from

the valley floor. He had slain it, and yet it lingered. The smell of its rent flesh

only survived to remind him of the horror of his only child's end. His life had

been forever changed.

"Haragon," his wife said, resting her hand on his shoulder as he sad in

contemplation. "It's true. You've done it."

The satisfaction in her voice angered him suddenly, for it was never done. He

knew that. He felt no such satisfaction, for he knew that where one dwelled,

there must be others. His rage boiled over.

"Go!" he wailed, tears filling his eyes. "It's never done! Never!"

His grief overwhelmed him once again, and he slumped into himself.

That was 15 minutes of condensed writing from tonight, and it isn't that good, but it was fun. It's also nothing I ever thought of, so it's forcing me to stretch. Tomorrow there will be another prompt, and maybe I'll come up with something I can develop. Though I have my Tuesday evening City Island Writer's meeting, I'll try to share it with you, if time permits.

I hope everyone is well.

~Bruce

Monday March 17, 2008 - 10:46pm (EDT) Permanent Link | 3 Comments