The Daily (W)Rite October Wk 4

The Daily (W)Rite (wk4)

 

Thursday, October 23, 2o14

 

I 've been sick this last two weeks. I had a really bad case of that "thing" you get if you have ever had the chicken pox! In the last ten years, the drug companies have been trying to scare me into getting a shot for the "thing." "Get the shot for the 'thing,' old people 'cause if you don't you'll be really sorry." Well, $200 for the shot for the "thing" was  too much, and my Marine Corps pride wasn't gonna take any crap from the fear mongering pharmaceutical companies. Hell, I've been through a war, so bring it on! And about two weeks ago I got the "thing" and it truly did make me feel very sorry for NOT doing what I was told to do and getting that "thing" shot! The meds are very strong. Not sure what all of it is: steroids, pain pills (60 of those, thank God!), antibiotics and something that makes the prescription bottle warn the user to: "use sunscreen and protective clothing to prevent sunburns." I'm guessing it must be vampire blood, you know, like on True Blood? Anyway, the meds are kicking my ass almost as much as the "thing."  I'm sure I'm getting better, but it's taking a long time. I'm extremely tired and depressed most days. Don't want to do anything, no writing or even going out. I really, really wish I had gotten that shot ten years ago.

Friday, October 24, 2o14 (2:o2 am)

The world is crazy. I'm crazy. I don't trust anyone who thinks they and they alone are sane. We had a surprise Art Walk last Tuesday. David and I were really up for going to it. And we did even though I was feeling pharmaceutically vegetablelized (if there is such a word)! We go, as we always do, to the big art gallery, the one where our sheik art loving

community goes to drink cheap Chablis out of clear plastic cups and nibble at  cheese and crackers and talk and basically make sure everybody else knows that they are there . . . and there is my past obsession, dressed like an Okie version of a  French  runway model, and I try to get away before she sees me--"Oh, Woodie, look who it IS!" David screams across the room. What to do? Neither of us wants see the other let alone talk to each other. But I come over and she gives me a big, fake smile of "happy to see you," and an artificial hug . . . and I say nothing and walk out on the street to take some pictures.

We go down, David and me, to this new gallery that just opened their doors. I start taking pics of the paintings and other things . . . "Excuse me?" she says, "Are you with a paper?" "No, I just take--" "Oh, well you can't take pictures in here, we want to keep the integrity of the artist's work intact, you know?" Truth be told, I had know idea what the fuck this little curator from hell meant, but I put my camera down to my side and walked out of her crummy little gallery!

Between the medication, seeing my ex-obsession and the bitchy curator . . . I lost it. All of it was just too much. I think I sat on a bench and cried a bit. Sometimes I'm just too fragile for this world. Fuck! To fragile to live in Norman Town? But where else could I possibly live?

Saturday, October 26, 2o14 (12:32 AM)

I turned off the TV. Nothing on worth watching right now. I wanna just spend the "witching hour" writing a bit here.

Halloween is on it's way. Been getting into the spirit of it by doing a

Halloween Count Down on my Facebook account. A few of the pics I've turned ghoulish are rather PG. But most are a little, hmmm, how should I say it, Halloween nasty! Wooohahahahahahaa! I can't help it! Halloween is my favorite time of year. Love the monsters, those things that go bump in the night. I take all my own pictures and work on them online. A lot of them are "selfies" that I've taken over the years. I spent a good four hours working on the pic on the left. Takes a lot of time and I don't always get what I want using one site. This one took three sites!
Anyway, I'm looking forward to Friday night. But I'm not sure if there will be much going on. Seems like Norman Town will be doing most of its celebrating my favorite holiday tomorrow . . . AFTERNOON! Yea, that's right. Tomorrow is mostly for really little kids. The Corner merchants like handing out candy and stuff to the real young ones and the parents like to get the kids home before dark. I can't blame them much about being safety conscious . . . not these days. Anyway, I just wanted to write a little. Maybe later on in the day I'll write some more.
 

The Daily (W)Rite October Wk 3

The Daily (W)Rite (wk3)

Thursday

David and I try to walk at least thirty minutes a day, five days a week. We started walking

the Sutton Wilderness Park. Really nice. Lots of winding trails through a thick forest (if it counts as a forest) and around a pretty good sized lake. We talk a lot as we walk just trying to keep our minds off the fact that we're exercising so we don't see a lot of the wild life. But this one day we ran across this Great Blue Herron and got a few nice shots of it. Okay, I'm not much on the "outdoors" but the walks have been fun and good for me to just get out of the house awhile and walk.

To change it up a bit we started going to other places to walk. Lots of parks in Norman town. Some of them so hidden away in the suburban areas that you have to look for them. Eastwood Park is just a

beautiful little park between Main Street and Boyd. Sometimes when it gets a bit too warm outside we go inside to the Sooner Fashion Mall or natural history museum which I prefer over the whole "mother nature" thing. But don't tell David that!

10:21 PM
You see, I've never thought about getting older as being a bad thing. Probably because after I finally got out of the Marine Corps at the age of twenty-three and then started college with students eighteen years old . . . I was already old by their standards. At OU Drama School any play that had a real old guy in it, forty and up, I automatically got it because I was so much older the rest of the students. So, I knew all about being old before I was old. (smile). My griping about being old is more about my not taking care of myself, my body, my mind when I was young. You know, drunk all the time, chain smoking cigarettes, too many drugs. I mean, people kept telling me I should slow it down or I would regret it. But I didn't heed them. Maybe I thought nothing bad could ever happen to me. Lots of guys who've been through a war like Vietnam have thought, "Shit, I got through that, I can get past anything! Even dying!" Or maybe I just never thought I'd get passed thirty, forty . . . HELL! Sixty-six? Yeah, I'm sixty-six. Because I did all those bad things to myself for so long, walking a mile is like running a hundred. I'm worn out at the end of the day. Well, I can't bitch too much 'cause I had my fun. And now? Well, I'm gonna have just as much fun, just as much as I can without all the cigarettes, beer and drugs. Okay, I still drink a hell of a lot of coffee which is a poor man's substitute for uppers, and I do chew nicotine gum at about the same rate of speed as I did cigarettes, but my life is better than it ever was. It's never too late to live, and though I may be moving a little slower, with a few more aches and pains, I'm still alive.

Friday, October 18, 2o14
Man. I am having the hardest time going to sleep! My body is just aching,

particularly the back. Can't sit down, can't lay down . . . Hell, can't stand or walk around the apartment with out the back screaming at me. Well, as I said before, I've always done a lot of bad things to my body . . . guess it's my body's chance to get even. Suppose to get up at nine AM this morning and go with David to gawk at the OU Game Day people. Don't think I'm going to make it out of bed by nine. Hell, I may not even make INTO bed!

We did go to the movie, The Judge, today. Really fun for us. We are both very theatre oriented and after the herd of "action" movies we saw this summer it was really nice to see a movie where there's a lot of dialogue and actors who could handle that dialogue well . . . I'm sorry, but can't sit in one place too long. Think I need to stop typing, try to get some rest. But I don't think sleeping is in my near future. Damn back!

 

 

  

The Daily (W)Rite October Wk 2

 

The Daily (W)Rite (Wk 2)

 

Monday,

And yes. As usual I haven't written anything for a while now. I'm not sure the reason. Perhaps I'm just lazy. Maybe I haven't felt well, or it is possible my mind just hasn't focused on anything. Whatever my very good reason (or my very good excuse) for not writing at least a little bit each day, I am determined to try and get something down on one of my blogs.

 

Well, today it really feels like autumn for the first time this year. Or do I mean it feels like fall? Not sure which word is the right word for the season. I've heard tell that it's all up to the writer which term to use. And according to the online dictionary, autumn is European and fall is American and both terms were originally . . . harvest. So, I think I'll use harvest from now on. Why? Well, you now me. I always try to stand out.

 

Oh, yeah, and Halloween is just around the corner! It is my favorite holiday. What? Are you looking at me as you read this with an incredulous look on your face? How could anyone have Halloween as their favorite holiday? What about Christmas, the Fourth of July, Arbor Day? Well, I like all those holidays, of course, but Halloween has always been the most exciting time of year for me.

As far back as I can remember I have had a fascination with horror! Hmmm, do I see that look again? No worries, okay? I have just loved the concept of monsters, other worldly happenings and things that go bump in the night. It started back when I was 6-7 years old watching horror movies on Friday night when my mother and dad would leave me alone so they could go drinking at the local bar (or actually, bars). No big thing. Today we frown on the "home alone" idea. But back in those days it wasn't a big concern. Anyway, the first horror film I remember seeing was the 1931 version of Dracula, and man, I'm telling you it scared the crapola out of me! And I've loved horror ever since. AND Halloween with all the costumes and the creepy harvest weather . . . well, I can't get enough of it.

There's been a lot going on in the world. An extremely hostile, frightening world out there. ISIS, Ebola, cops with a license to kill anyone who's black. And the economy? Don't get me started on that. But yeah, the world is all screwed these days. It's all very depressing. But is it any less violent, scary than any other period in time? Is it more challenging to the community than WWII, or the Depression, our revolutionary war? Probably not. But that doesn't make it less scary. We have a damn right to be scared shitless about all this stuff! But it also demands that we do what our parents (grandparents) did when they faced the monsters of their time. We got to work to defeat the nasties the world throws at us! You know, I'm thinking the reason I like Halloween and all that scary stuff so much is that it's really NOT as scary as real life. REAL life has REAL monsters in it.

Tuesday,
So here's the problem. I stayed up until six this morning working on my neglected blogs. I reallu enjoyed it. I've been so lethargic for the last year. It felt nice to kick myself into creative gear three and do a lot of work last night. My poetry . . . . .

11:30 PM
Okay, I got a call from David to go out for a walk so I had to stop writing this afternoon as I was beginning a sentence. Sorry. So, to continue . . .  My poetry is coming along pretty good. I spent
a lot of time going over some old poems and rewriting. Focusing a lot on the structure these days. Many of the old poems that I thought were complete . . . were not. Rewriting has been good for me. It helps by get my creative juices flowing for a BIG project I have planned. More about that later. Goodnight.