A Study in Orange and Black

A study in Orange and Black

Chaos

Fire and steel molten

red malevolence poured

from vessel to vessel,

Chaos.

A river of steel flowing growing

smaller, pounded, beaten, flattened,

drenched, cooled,

Chaos.

A whistle blaring, a train’s

coming laden with ore splattering

its contents down the side,

Chaos.

Sparks fly like static electricity

dancing in the air, sizzling

aimlessly, alight near a flowerless plant

growing in the orange rust colored ground,

Chaos.

On that same plant, a butterfly

A spectacle beholding,

a Monarch, or maybe…

Chaos?

Them's fighting words...

Fred Green: "Here's something you see everyday; as I was running today I saw two birds, fighting, or whatever they were doing in the air, and heading my way. One of them dropped right down on the ground just under my coming footfall.
I had to jump up and over the fighting bird! I hadn't jumped that high since I jumped over a car that almost ran over me."



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Tail of two kitties;

Fred Green: "Tail of two kitties; Yesterday morning my cats were nowhere to be found. For a moment I thought that I could have slept to at least 8am., my alarm goes off at 7. The night before the fireworks were nonstop and a few went on past midnight. I guess they decided to shelter in place for the night.
This morning is a different story. The both jumped into my bed about 6:30 and bothered the heck out of me until I got up, just to feed them. They are now filled and happy and out of my sight, until they want something."



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It's over...until next year, Happy and bang, 4th!

Fred Green: "It has quieted down a lot. Even though Jerry has just been chilling Tom just came out from behind the couch."



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Fred Green Happy 4th of July!

Fred Green: "I'm wondering if veggie dogs and veggie burgers taste just as good when cooked on a grill. I guess I should just try."



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Light up the night...

Fred Green: "there are fireworks raging outside right now. Tom my scaredy cat is hiding behind the sofa, the noise is really affecting him. Jerry, on the other hand, the noise is not bothering him one bit. He is sitting on the sofa right now sound asleep."



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The trees are alive with...

(1) Fred Green: "I did something different, well, sort of, yesterday. I went to a place, not to far from me called, Adventure Park, In Bloomfield Hills, anyway, this park has zip lines and other things to do in the trees,
Something I haven't done in quite a few years. The only difference, this place is smaller than the one in Mexico and it has more things to die from. It seemed like there were more stairs and bridges to cross than zip lines and for me that's where the struggle came into play
Today, I found those muscles that I have been missing for the last few months and I will start lifting weights, tomorrow, to compensate. Crossing those bridges required a lot of strength, at least for me. Heck there were kids, nine or ten years old who were up there following in step with the grow-ups.
And there were kids who were up there that took 15 minutes or so to cross the same bridge I crossed in 3 minutes. But, I digress...
Yes, my arms and deltoids and shoulders are aching a little But, I shall overcome. The workouts continue! "



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Phone call for...

Fred Green: "For the last few weeks no one has left any messages on my home phone. I didn't mind because all I have been getting were calls from surveys, pollsters, and of course bill collectors.
My lawn mower is in the repair shop and I got a call yesterday but they didn't leave a message. So I checked online to see my calls and I see that I have calls as far back as 2013 on the list. It took me about 20 minutes to go through all of them to see which ones to keep and which ones to delete. I gotta quit drinking!"



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Ahhhhh, Retirement

(1) Fred Green: " Today is July 1, 2016, another milestone, of sorts; this day, the official day, in 2006, I retired from Ford Motor Company, as I lay in a hospital bed at Henry Ford Hospital, my own private room, after 33.6 years on the job.
It’s not that I really wanted to retire, but Ford Motor Co. gave me an offer that I couldn’t refuse. A buyout. I just had to make up my mind by May of that year. It was hard at first because there were only going to give 12 spots for buyouts. There were 43 people in my unit. It seemed like people were trying to kill the person before them to get on that list.
However, I probably wouldn’t have retired or taken the buyout if it weren’t for prostate cancer. That made it easier for me to make up my mind. Considering that, all of a sudden the Union decided that they would offer the buyout to everyone in our unit and everyone took it.
There were many other things helped me make that decision. I was tired of driving an hour to work in the morning and 2 hours to get home in the evening. Deep in the back of my mind, I wanted to stay, though.
Anyway, it’s been ten years. Do I regret any of the past ten years? OH Heck no! What helped me get my peace of mind, I traveled. I went to London, Hawaii, And Mexico.
I went on two road trips, across the good old USA, one for 28 days and met a bunch of Internet friends. In those ten years, I bowled in over 30 bowling tournaments around the country and won quite a few times. Well, not outright wins, but I won some big jackpots and in one tournament, in Reno, I won over $1500! I had to file that on my taxes, though.
On the other hand I do miss working or doing something. In the beginning, I watched all the judge shows, you know, Judge Judy, Judge Mathis, and Judge Joe Brown, et al. all day long and into the night. I couldn’t do much but lie down and rest because of my surgery.
To top that off I had my knee repaired, 14 days later. I can say now, though, every day feels like Saturday, of course, except Sunday and holidays, and the occasional birthday. I have totally forgotten what a weekend is. For that matter, what the heck is a Holiday? That’s because my next holiday is…tomorrow! "



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Fred Green; My Tenth Anniversary

Fred Green: "Today is June 30, 2016 and it marks the tenth anniversary of my surgery. I am now 10 years cancer free, at least I hope so. Even though I saw my doctor and urologist last year – nine year free, my last PSA number was 0.0002, which is a non-existence number (for a PSA).
It’s kind of scary, considering that I have to continually check and monitor my PSA numbers to make sure they got it all out. I guess the concern I had was to the fact that I saw my Doctor in May of last year.
My guess is that since I had my prostate removed that he no longer had to check my “prostate” anymore. One of the things I have learned over the past ten years, WE, people, especially men, have to educate ourselves.
And by educating ourselves to ask the questions that “we” have to ask our doctors. Because doctors are not going to ask you anything besides, where does it hurt? I had noticed over the years that my PSA number was under that “magic” number, 4.00. This usually means that if you are over that number you may have a problem with your prostate.
Well, my number was 3.4 and my doctor never took notice to it because it was not at the 4.0 level yet. So, I really never knew I had a problem until I went to the urologist for an unrelated problem and he looked at my PSA number and said I had a problem that he wanted to look into further.
The reason it bothered him was because, in 1995 I had a baseline number of 0.95. And in 2005 I had a PSA number of 3.4. To laymen and my doctor, the number meant I was okay. To the Urologist, the number meant something was wrong. That was because the number had risen to fast in those 10 years.
In November of 2005 I had a biopsy and they notified me December 26 that I had cancer. The fast growing kind which is more prevalent in African-Americans. In six months, I had gone from 12% involved to, after my prostate was removed, it was dissected, and it was reveled to me that my prostate was over 40% involved. That’s what my urologist told me.
Now, I have learned to ask those questions, even though I won’t see my doctor until July 30th. But, I will see the urologist on July 7th. I will then get a PSA test then and will know for sure when I see my doctor again.
Ten years, cancer free. Today, to celebrate, I went out and ran 3 miles (actually, I do that just about every day anyway). I have done about 151 miles since the beginning of this year, and I still feel good. And they say old age isn’t fun!"



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I'm hungry...

Facebook: "My cat, Tom, has lost his F'ing mind! This morning, about 6:43am, my alarm goes off at 7, I woke up to him sitting close to my face just staring at me with his usual crazy cat look.
Seconds later he started to punch me in the face (actually just dabbing his paw at me). He kept punching me so I turned over onto my left side. He then jumped over me and was again sitting close to me, punching me.
I pushed him off the bed and he went and knocked the trash can over, went into the bathroom and I heard the trashcan there being knocked over.
A few seconds later he went to the hall closet and tried to open it, he is not that smart though, I have a wedge holding it shut. When I yelled for him to stop he went back into the bathroom and proceeded to try and open the doors under the sink. I could hear them banging, he could open, an inch or so, but couldn't get them opened and the doors slammed shut.
So, I had to get up and he, and his brother got fed. i should have gotten back into the bed though. Thank goodness for naps!"



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It was cold...

Facebook: "It was cold last night here in Michigan. So cold, I had to put on my PJ's! And...add an extra blanket to help keep me warmer. Now that I think about it, I should have just turned the fan off and closed the bedroom window."



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Fred Green

Fred Green: "Geez, I don't have any cookies, donuts or sweet stuff so crackers are just going to have to do."



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what's the dumbest thing you have ever done?

Facebook: "What’s the dumbest thing I have ever done, I thought? That is not how it started out, but I ended up thinking about it anyway. Last night as I was lying in my bed, well after midnight, with the fan blowing as hard as its blades could turn, I started to think about the birds and the bees.
Well, actually birds, more like the hummingbird I saw the other day. I was thinking that I should go out and get a hummingbird feeder. That may or may not bring more hummingbirds to my backyard, but it was worth trying. Anyway, as I thought about it, I was thinking, bees might be attracted to the feeder, too.
Bees…would it also attract all other flying insects? Anyway, that got me thinking about bees. Way back in time, when I was about 10 years old or so, I remember staying at my grandparents’ home out in the farmlands of Maryland.
My brothers, my cousin and I decided to mess with bees, now that I think about it, it was hornets. We spotted a hornet’s nest above a window that was my grandmother’s bedroom. We decided to knock it down.
I remember getting a broom and the window was opened and I swatted and knocked the nest down. The hornets got mad, real mad and started to swarm. I threw the broom out the window trying to knock them out of the sky, that didn’t work at all.
Since that was my grandmother’s room, I didn’t want them to get into the house. But, I had nothing to keep them from coming in. So, being a 10, or so, years old kid, I did the next best thing. I used my hands to keep them stinging fools out of the room. Naturally, I got stung on my hand. Someone, who just happened to think about it, shut the window, problem solved.
Of course that is probably one of those dumb things kids do when you are having dumb fun. I probably can think of many more, which I will. My brothers and I were way beyond mischievous back in the day, still kind of shows today."



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Fred Green - great craft beers

"I have been drinking great craft beers and beers from local breweries for the last 10 months or so. Beers I have truly enjoyed. For the last couple of years, every summer, I have been drinking Bud Light Lime, but only for the summer. I bought a case yesterday and have realized what a truly terrible beer Bud Light Lime is."


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Fred Green

Fred Green: "I thought I was brighter than this. Last night I was writing on my laptop. I noticed that I had about 2 hours or 48% of power left. So, I turned the thing off plugged it up and went to bed.
I just started writing and noticed that I only had 21% power left. I looked at the plug, plugged into the wall and noticed that the plug was for my blood pressure cuff. I really gotta quit drinking before I go to bed. Geez..."



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Pancakes!

Facebook: "Darn it...it has happened again, one too many times. I was the grocery store yesterday and I still forgot to pick up a loaf of bread and a tomato. Oh well, no burger (veggie) and fries today. Pancakes it is...!!"



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Hummingbirds

Fred Green: "Here's something you don't see everyday; While staring out into space this morning, actually at my apple tree, I noticed a humming bird! I have never seen a hummingbird ever, as an adult, in any area I have lived. I am not sure I saw then as a kid, but my memory tells me that on my Grandparents farm I saw tons of hummingbirds. It buzzed for a couple of minutes then took off at the speed of light (or close to the speed of light, it was that close) to the next tree. Made my day."



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Fred Green

Fred Green: "Whenever my cat's meow at me I say, I know. In actuality I don't know."



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National Kissing Day!

Facebook: "Geez, I missed it again. Today is National Kissing day! How could I have missed...Oh wait, now I remember. Hey, Kiss someone close to you!"



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Big Sale!

"There was a sale today at Walgreens, evidently if you buy a box of Magnum condoms, you get the cashiers number for free!"



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Now that's Human...

the Human body is 80% water, so we are basically just cucumbers with anxiety.

Feed me!!

Fred Green: "I am either going to have to stay awake 24/7/365 or go to sleep earlier. But, I don’t think either one is going to happen. I usually get in the bed about midnight or around 12:30ish, and I get up about 7am. This is not always the case, I mean, usually, anywhere from 7 to maybe 8ish.
This all brings me to my Crazy cat Tom. Every morning, when he feels that I am on the verge of waking, for any reason, he has to let me know that I have to get up and feed him. And, believe me, he usually doesn’t stop F&%$ing with me until I do get up.
Take this morning, for some odd reason I woke up about 5:06 am. I noticed that the full moon was blasting into my bedroom right into my eyes and yes, it was bright enough to wake me and the birds had started their morning songs. I also notice Tom sitting on the window ledge looking at whatever was moving outside.
As I stirred, he notices me moving and jumps down from his perch and jumps up onto the bed. The first thing he does it rubs his head, if I am lying on my side, on my chest. When I tell him to leave me alone he starts to claw at the covers, trying to remove them so I can get up…to feed him.
After a few moments, he usually stops lays at the edge of the side of the bed and gets a couple of minutes of rest before his next onslaught. I just want to know, if I am lying on my side I have to be no more than six inch wide. Why, when he jumps over me, he take about six or seven steps to get over me, heck, he only has four feet.
Between 5 am and 7 am, I get about 30 or 40 minutes of sleep. Tom will keep doing the jumping over me, when I turn over on my left side and then over onto my right side. When the alarm goes off and I have not gotten out of the bed Tom start to bat me on my lips. I’m guessing that means he’s hungry. Sometimes he misses and drives his claws right into my beard. That usually does the trick and I get up.
The day is saved and my children, I mean cats, won’t starve, at least until tomorrow morning."



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cat for sale

Facebook: "I have a cat for sale…okay free, if you want him. Earlier today, I heard Tom, my talkative, way too talkative cat, huffing and sniffing at the door wall. I got up from my comfortable couch to check him out. My guess was that he caught a whiff of that darn outside cat, I don’t know if it is a male or female.
Anyway, at the door, his tail was puffed up and he started to whine. I decided to close the door and end this conversation. It was like he didn’t care, I darn near smashed his head in the door, but he moved out of the way just in time. He continued to whine so I picked him up to, kind of, comfort him. He just gave me a weird look so I put him down.
As I walked away he reached and grabbed my ankle…putting all of his claws into my flesh. I just looked at him for a couple of seconds and gently took his paw off of my ankle.
Tom will be 11 years old this coming October…40 something in cat years. I am going to have to watch him a tiny bit more because I think he is crazy, as I type this with him sitting in my lap."



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Fred Green, to walk or run...what was the question?

Fred Green: "While on my daily walk/run, I couldn't run. I notice that if I miss a day or two it's hard from to run that next day. So, as I was walking I went over what I did this weekend, and for the love of me, I really didn't remember what I did! I had to go all the way home and check my calendar to find out. I thought I had Kayaked on Friday, but it was really on Saturday and I kayaked on Sunday. I guess I should quit drinking on the weekends."



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Facebook

Facebook: "Talk about nuts; going to a picnic today...I mentioned that I was bringing veggie dogs and buns, and of course, junk and stuff like that. Anyway, someone mentioned they were bringing real hots dogs. Someone then broke into the conversation with a reply...They don't eat hotdogs or burgers. I was thinking and wanted to reply -- WHO CARES! Bring what you want to eat! GEEZ!"



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I just got back from the grocery store and I just realized; I messed up again...Instead of getting junk food, chips and some donuts, for breakfast, I ended up getting apples and some bananas...I gotta quit drinking. 

The Runner

Fred Green: "Talk about an OMG moment...On my daily walk (I walk 1.5 miles and run 1.5 miles) I heard someone yelling, from behind me, "On your right!" Heard when someone is trying to pass you. Coming from behind me was this older guy, I would say he was in his mid- 70s or later. He passed me and kept going. Talk about being Jealous... LOL..."



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Fred Green - I have two giant blue shopping bag purchased from...

Fred Green - I have two giant blue shopping bag purchased from Ikea many years ago. I usually use them when I go grocery shopping so I won't have a collection of plastic bags. Of course that's not the case. I have over 200 or so plastic bags hanging in the wash room. WHY? you may be asking...Because I keep forgetting to take the darn Ikea bag into the store with me, every time! I am really going to have to stop drinking!"



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Fred Green

I just saw the 25 most hated mammals on earth. The number 1
most hated are humans! I kinda figured that in the first place.

(1) Fred Green

(1) Fred Green: "I think I am getting soft in my older years; I was cutting the grass, today, and there was a big frog in my way. So, I picked it up and tossed it to the side, into the bushes. At that second, I thought, I tossed him a little to hard, not like I wind up and threw him, but I hear him hit the ground and he gave out a little, Oppfff. I had to apologies to the little critter. Now I am going to have to wait for them to get out of the way. (not really, I'll toss em, but not as hard. :-) )"



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(9) Fred Green

(9) Fred Green: "Talk about a change of the weather. Yesterday it was over 90 degrees. This morning I woke up it was about 57 degrees.
Anyway, yesterday I had to fold up my blankets and forgo my Pjs. So, I had to sleep under a nice thin sheet. Well, last night I turned the air conditioner on about 10: 55, considering that it was scheduled to go off at 11 pm. I did this so that it would be cool in the house when I woke up this morning, not knowing it would be as cool as it got this morning.
Around 6am, this morning, I felt cold, I really felt the chill. I also had the window open and the ceiling fan blowing on high.
I also noticed a lump under the sheet next to me. I lifted the sheet and was greeted by that knucklehead cat of mine, Tom. Sometime during the early morning, he had managed to get up under the sheet and snuggled up next to me to steal some heat from me.
I fell back asleep and he was still there when my alarm went off at 7am. He then proceed to slap me in the face, his call to feed him. I am going to have to close my door, now…maybe."



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Here's something you don't see every day: the most expensive material on this planet is antimatter at 27 trillion dollars a gram!!!

Fred Green

Fred Green: "Its 90 degrees or about...The one thing I like about this weather, my cats don't want to sit on my lap or for that matter have anything to do with me. I'm fine with that. My only complaint, why does that little tiny cat take up a whole couch? I wanna lay down too!"



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(1) Facebook

(1) Facebook: "Geez...I'm all out of coffee. I guess I am going to have to make a run to Costco and get one of those boxes, of 100 K-cups and five pounds of coffee, too! What am I going to do..."



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What I hate about not working out, (for a week, now), I eat more junk food, IE. Potato chips and cookies and ice cream... Stuff like that.

Aliens or not?

I just realized why Aliens haven't visited earth...Earth is a prison planet! They got rid of the criminals of the galaxy and put them here!

Fred Green

Fred Green: "Here's something you don't see everyday: I was driving on the freeway today, on my way home from the dentist, and I noticed a Tesla up ahead. I caught up with it and noticed the driver was laying back and didn't have his hands on the wheel. Way to go Tesla. But I wasn't fazed. I took my hands off the wheel and drove for about a hundred feet before I head to grab hold of the wheel again."



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Fred Green

Fred Green: "I was watching a little film, in regard to, The top 10 cities that will disappear by 2100. Nine of the ten by natural means, meaning, earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, rising seas and so on. You kind of figure that all of the east and west coast would take the hit, but they added Detroit?!! Saying that it will disappear because of population loss, crime,(being the murder capital 4 years running), loss of homes, economics decline, and a slew of other man-made disasters? You mean to say that Detroit will disappear? Considering that it's on a "small" surge of a recovery right now? Man made things can be overcome. Natural may or may not. Let's Make Detroit Great Again!! ;-)"



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Fred Green

Fred Green: "Here's something you don't see every day: While crossing the street a car passed by. In the front seats were two women smoking cigarettes, windows closed. In the back seat where 3 children, one of them had to be less than 12 months. I thought there was a law for that."



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My Writing Life -- New Beginnings

I wrote on Facebook, about four days ago, that I had submitted my screenplay to Amazon studios to be evaluated and hopefully accepted and possibly get paid. Being this was my first screenplay, based on a short story I wrote many years ago, (I have a second script finished but I need to work on it also), I figured it was about time to get this career of mine jump started, once more.

Being that this was the first time I had ever written a script of any kind, I knew it wasn’t the best, but I gave myself an “A” for the effort of at least trying something different. I had gotten a book on screenwriting, but only read about a third and what I mean by a third, I truly skimmed through the book and tried to only read the highlights.

I then went and purchased the screenwriting program, Final Draft, (which, for some reason won’t work on Windows 10 and a new version runs about $160!). I took my story and tried to re-create it, as the program showed me how, step by step.  My Seventy-five word story was finished as a fifty-nine page script. However, the script sat on my desk (and in my hard drive) for at least eight or so years, collecting dust.

A few years back my brother was in town and I let him read the script and of course he liked it, (everyone who as read any of my stories always tell me they like or love my stories, of course they don’t count, to a point), and he wanted to take it back with him, to California, and show it to one of his producer friends. He later called me and told how those “friends” like it, too. Of course I have never heard anything about my script again, no matter how many times I asked. (Twice).

Anyway, today, I received an email from Amazon Studios, in regard, to my submission. It was rejected. It stated that they had determined that my script did not meet the needs of their development slate at that time. 

Where have I heard that statement before? About twenty years or so ago I sent this same story to a Sci-Fi magazine. It was returned to me, rejected. I know that the reader read the entire story because my manuscript reeked of cigarette smoke on every page. Their rejection letter indicated, almost word for word, the statement above. So, I made a bunch of corrections, re-wrote a lot of the story and re-submitted it.

A week or so later I got another letter from that editor saying that they didn’t ask for me to send it back to her. Ouch! That put a damper on that story for many years.

Looking back over the many years, I have been trying to edit my own works, apparently to no real success. I’ve had the knack of editing other’s works but have been terrible at editing my own. I majored in Journalism. Creative writing came later in my life.

Anyway, Amazon Studios finished their note with; if you make significant revisions to your work, you are welcome to re-submit it in the future. Whatever that means. Well, I do know what it mean…I just have to keep working on it until I get it right or enough money to send to my stories to an editor/proofreader.

In the meantime, I have dusted off all of the books I purchased many years ago on how to screen write. The one I have to pay attention to, “Screenwriting for Dummies”. I know I have a couple more book, locked or lost downstairs in my fortress of books, I just have to make the effort to get up from this comfortable sofa and put on my shoes and go down there to that scary place and get more books. Just kidding… or was I?

Anyway, it looks like I have a lot more reading to do and I mean slow reading. (I can speed read, but I usually read fast only when I am reading a novel.)  And, of course, save a ton of money so I can get my stories read. Does anyone know of anyone who wants to be a beta reader?  I want to, need to get this done before this year is out.

My only problem, right now, everyone I have asked, for help, tells me yes, but never come through. So, I have to read, read and do more reading, to get through this on my own. I will get it done…I have so much to do…I would like to say I have so little time, but that’s just a myth. I will work with one thing at a time and that time is now. 

nos4nus38 | Fred's Place

nos4nus38 | Fred's Place:



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THE POLE

Excerpt from The Pole:

“Hey, guys!” Pete yelled from the latrine. Bobby and another barrack mate, Coop, poked their heads into the doorway.

“Listen up, guys. How about us meeting up at the Bunker at 2345.” Pete said, as he huddled over the bowl of a toilet, a nasty looking toothbrush in his hand. He turned back to what he was doing and continued to scrub the toilet with the toothbrush, now under the rim, as he talked.

“Eh, Coop, you go and round up the rest of the squad. Let them know that we’ll be meeting at the Bunker, at whatever time I said.” Pete said without looking up.

“2345.” Bobby interjected.

“Okay.” Coop said, and then promptly left the room.

Bobby went into the latrine and stood over Pete. For a long minute, Bobby stared into the ceiling.

“You know, Pete, if you weren’t such a disruptive influence–”

“Bobby-boy, don’t start with me!” Pete said, now scrubbing harder at the base of the toilet.

“Hey, those are the sergeant’s words. I think, you know, you shouldn’t go up against the sergeant.”

Pete stopped what he was doing and looked up at Bobby, sneering as he did so.

“You could be on latrine duty for the rest of your tour.” Bobby said.

“You got a toothbrush I can borrow?” Pete said, throwing the green stained bristled toothbrush at the trashcan. It bounced off one wall then off the adjoining wall and went into the can.

“Nothing but net!” Pete said, now standing up. “…and the crowd goes wild!”

“Look, we have got to talk!” Bobby said. Bobby took his tee shirt off and hooked it up under his belt. Pete stared at Bobby, deeply, darkly.

“If command finds out about this private war of yours the squad is going to go down in flames. You don’t want to see that do you?”

“You, my good man, DON’T HAVE TO GO IF YOU DON’T WANT TOO!” Pete screamed. “Neither does the rest of the squad.” Pete said, lowering his voice. “You’re right. This is my war. Come if you want to or don’t. I really could care less.” Pete sat down on the john.

“Could you get that brush for me?”

Bobby backed toward the door. When he reached it, he turned and went into the barracks. A moment later, he returned with his travel kit. He unzipped it and removed a pink toothbrush holder.

“Pink?” Pete said.

“Hey, my mother got it for me when I left earth, okay!” Bobby handed Pete his toothbrush and Pete returned to the meticulous job he had done so often.

“We’ll talk about it at the Bunker, okay?”

“Yeah, anything you say, Pete.” Bobby said as he walked over to a sink and removed a pink soap holder from his bag. He took out a bar of soap, turned the hot water tap on and started to wash his hands.

Now on Sale

"The Pole" My NEW Short story, Now Available on Amazon.com Kindle Edition $2.99 Check it out @http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LBK3HG2

Feelings...I mean Poetry

I love to eat!

Eating is such a useless, futile habit.

We are a country of obese devouring

rabid, over-consuming, digesting, so and so’s.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to eat!

Today I had a tuna-tub, a giant cookie, a large

soda, and a five ounce bag of chips. What a

feast. I’m still hungry.

When I was younger I ate to live, never for

taste. I felt better, food tasted better,

I looked better. Hold on while I take a bite

of this tuna-sub.  A mouthful of chips.

There. Satisfied!

New Year ’s Day is twenty-one days away, and I

plan to start a brand new resolution. Lose

weight, or burst.

Sorry

I hear your words -- Not!

Respect is what you think you got.

You only manage to confuse the issues.

My head and mind are above you.

I’m not in the clouds where you stay.

Your feelings are cutting through my heart.

I realize that we must part.

‘Cuz, respect is what you think you got -- Not!

Now, think of what is said and done.

That knife of a tongue you wield so clear,

listen to what you say my dear,

And sorry ain't one of those I hear.

I don't want your sympathy,

I can cry without it,

You and your sorry just don't cut it,

Something you think you got, Respect -- Not!

TEN THINGS ABOUT ME, OKAY A FEW MORE THAT 10…

I'm stuck, again, with writing one of my stories, well, actually an outline. I got a new idea for a new story and have been trying to outline for the last couple of days. I got a little bit done today, but I am still stuck. I thought that if I had a large cup of coffee and a HOT brownie I could put more words down on paper – computer screen. Well, that didn’t really work but I did come up with something else I could write about – me, sort of.

A few things you may not know about, well, since most people, online, know nothing about me anyway, I found 10 things, or more, that I am willing to post. Ten things, (or more if can think of them.)

1. I am a big sports fan. I love sports, well just Baseball, football and college basketball and football, golf, and tennis.
2. I am very active. I still play softball, bowl, golf, ride my bike just about every day, walk 5 miles every other day, and run on the odd days, I go camping, I love to kayak and I am in a ski club, a very active club.
3. I am an extrovert, introvert. Meaning I love giving parties (17 years of Super Bowl parties). However, I also enjoy being here, alone, at home, by myself either writing, or watching sports on the boob tube.
4. I meditate.
5. I am a vegetarian. I haven’t had red meat in 35 years. I was a pescatarian for 10 of those years (when I was married)
6. I am a cat person. I have two cats, one who is sitting in my lap as I type this list. At one time, with my first wife, we had nine cats!
7. I am a dreamer. Have been since I was in my teens.  Most of my stories, that I outlined, as of today, 52 outlines, I dreamt about way back then. I had a dream the other night and, hence the new outline I am stuck on, today.
8. I love to talk. It’s hard for me to end a conversation.
9. I would rather pick up the phone and call my friends and family. (They never call, though).
10. I love to laugh. I watch more funny things on the boob tube than anything else.
11. I’m have a need to know, so I watch the news more often than not.
12. I’m retired.    
13. I have a 129 IQ… Okay, I took that test 40 some odd years ago, but hey, it still works for me.
14. I love word games. My mother was a scrabble master and it rubbed off on me.
15. I’m a cancer survivor.
16. I am now a writer and Author!

Now that I think about I have many, many more things about me, but I am also a very private person – naw, not really.

Now available on Kindle

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K7KLBWO

For ten years, Russell McElroy has been down on his luck, after a meeting with a couple of college football players who sent him to the hospital for a couple of months. Russell then decided to travel the country and seek his fortune. He meets a wanderer named Marty Jackson and they spend those years traveling and living outdoors. 
One day, in the remote countryside, a fireball falls from the sky and lands close by. Inside the meteor, they find a Golden Box, but unbeknownst to Russell it is a portal to a prison planet. He is then drawn into the portal. However, in order for him to escape, he must learn magic or die trying. 

Now on Sale!

My First Sci-Fi novel is now on sale @ http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K706RPK  -pick it up today!! #novel #writers #writer #gottawrite #scifi

Marketing for the 21st century

I just realized something, just this very minute, out of the blue; I joined Facebook, Twitter, and a couple other Social Networks to interact, network and see if I can use these platforms to sell my books. The 21^st century way to market most thing, especially books.

Considering that is so very hard to get an agent or pitch your works, novels, screenplays to a publishing company. Many, many years ago while attending a college course on marketing, I was told; “you can’t get a book published without an agent and you can’t get an agent if you are not published. I see as of today, it still rings true.

Hence, joining social media groups. But, what I have noticed the most and disturbing thing…if you get thousands and thousands of followers in the same venue, writers, your chances of networking is great. HOWEVER, I am finding out, of those thousands of followers, they don’t want to buy your book; they want you to buy their books!

So, the vicious circle continues in the writing world for us novices, us amateur, us beginning, us retired wanna be authors.  The writing world is crowded, indeed, and there has got to be a better way. I have received quite a few suggestions and as funny as that is, I have tried all of them before they were suggestions, go figure.

So much more to do so little time. I will continue to write and hope for the best.

Mother's Day is May 11th

Mother's day is May 11th. My first book of poems, My Mother's Garden is now available on Amazon.com Kindle Edition for $2.99 -- also released in print, now on sale for $9.00. http://tinyurl.com/m3t2bvw

While you are there you can pick up my second book of poems, The Path to my Reflections: My Life in Poems - The art of life, love and happiness in paperback for $11.69. http://tinyurl.com/kdl7t7y

Get your copies today!

The Bucket List...or things that I will probably do anyway.

I’ve noticed that just about everyone, now a days, is putting together a bucket list. I was first aware of this “list” when I first saw that movie “Bucket List” way back in 2007. The more I think about it, it never occurred to me to find things to do before I die.

I’m sure there are millions of things to do, but being the age that I am now, I think I have done just about all the things I wanted to do in my life. Yes, of course there are a few more things that I could probably put on this so-called list.

Heck, I figure that my daughter-in-law, who is thirty something can do it why not me. There a few things that I really don’t care about any more like air travel, for instance, unless I am the pilot. Been there, done that. Besides, I am truly afraid of flying. I did most that when I was younger, but times have changed, I think for the worst as far as air travel is concerned.

But, I guess I could throw in a few places I would still love to go to. I mean I’ve gone white water rafting a few times, canoed rivers, backpacked and hiked trails, driven across the country several times and I do want to do that again. My list may be weird but it’s what I want to do before I die, my Bucket List.

1.      Publish my first novel

2.      publish my first short story

3.      publish my second short story.

4.      Have my first fictional autobiography, DAP traditionally published

5.      Finish my third novel, ROB

6.      Finish my fourth novel, Gate 4

7.      Finish my fifth novel, C-Med

8.      Finish my sixth novel, White Lake

9.      Finish my seventh novel, Pole

10.  Finish those 45 sci-fi stories I outlined 20 years ago

The list above I want to finish before I do the other things on my list.

11.  Meet every woman I have known through the internet…wait, I did that already, but heck I’ll have to do that again.

12.  Learn how to make beer

13.  Learn how to fly a plane

14.  Learn how to pilot a sail boat

15.  Learn Spanish, for real! I had it in High school, collage, a Spanish speaking friend and I still can’t speak Spanish.

16.  Take the train to Montreal

17.  Learn how to ball room dance

18.  Learn how to play the piano – I took lessons once, so long ago

19.  See a Full solar eclipse

20.  Bowl a 300 – I rolled a 299

21.  Hit a home run in softball, over the fence -- I’ve had an inside the park home run, but…

22.  Go to a Detroit Tigers game in every city they play

23.  See Mount Rushmore

24.  See the Northern Lights

25.  Learn to snowboard

26.  Run the Warrior Dash

27.  Run a half marathon

28.  Heck, run a 5k

29.  RV across the USA

30.  Drive to Alaska – a long time dream

31.  Finally, do at least one orbit of the Earth in someone’s rocket ship.

The Starving writer continues...

I am putting the finishing the final touches to my short story. This is just a draft of what the cover will look like. I should be ready to publish by the end of this week! One of these days I will be able to eat steak and lobster, caviar again!

Let's get ready to...Publish!

Finally, the cover for my first novel is finished! Getting ready to publish. Now, I have to read and edit my story one more time!

KARMA is a...

Karma

I tend not to talk about other people, even though they may have done something stupid or hurtful. I do think about it at great lengths, though. And I really never thought about the word Karma, I always called it, “what goes around comes around.” But, in my lifetime I have never really see cause or effect on that thought.

            During those times, many, many years ago I never wished something like karma or something bad to any person on my bad side. But, way too many times I have heard it from other people. And the more I think about it I can’t see that anything “bad” has happened to me because of something that I did to someone else, in my past, per se. To which, I really try my hardest not to do bad thing to other people, regardless.

            I look back on my life and have come to the conclusion that I have lived the ‘status quo’ for most of my life. But I am, and have been very cautious a great many times in my life, because I have enjoyed doing many adventurous things, not crazy things, though.

            Is it karma, though?  For most of my life I figured that I could truly never have a relationship because of how I was raised, even though I came from a large family but, my mother and father fought like Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali throughout my early life. I never wanted to ever argue with anyone, especially women, like my parents did.

            So, I spent most of my 20s only having so called, ‘one night stands’. In my late 20s I got married but, that lasted a mere 10 years. I have now been divorced (single) for just about 24 years. So, I went back to those ‘one night stands’ for those 23 and a half years, fearing a relationship.

             Now, as I look back, I can see that a few of those women may have gotten hurt because they wanted more and I felt that I couldn’t give more so I moved on. But, did karma get me in the end? Maybe…In June of 2006 I had my prostate removed and now my sex life is kaput. So, I feel, a relationship is out of the question.

            Why do I say this? In that short time I have only met one woman who understood what I was going through and she stood by me. But a relationship with her was out of the question, mainly because of her lifestyle. She had a bad, a very bad case of the MEs!

            So, when I tried to have, find someone to have a relationship with and told them my problem I was left holding the rose. So, I decided to enjoy life, the life of being single. I kind of feel better about it, but I do miss a few things, maybe a relationship. Karma! I guess you could say that was introduced into my life, but thank goodness it didn’t become a bitch, as they say about Karma.

            But, I digress, just a tiny bit. What brought up Karma…I was talking to an old friend, who worked with me years ago. We retired from our job and he went and moved to a southern state.

            Anyway, a person, who worked with both of us, came into question. My story; in 1990, in one of the buildings I worked in, there were two people on days and 14 on the night shift, I worked the day shift. Sometimes, if I worked overtime and had to stay late I would punch in the shift coming in and they would punch me out.

            One of the guys had called me, I can’t remember his name or what we were talking about, but it came up that he was coming in and I mentioned to him to punch me out and I would punch everyone in. He said that he wouldn’t but he still wanted me to punch him in. I told him I wouldn’t punch him in and he flew off the hammer.

            Anyway, I found out that this guy, who use to be a friend (or just a co-worker that I had known for years) hated me with fervor. In 2000 my mother passed away. I was told by a co-worker, that this person told them, ‘he didn’t care and he wished that it was me who died’.           

            To this day I cannot figure out what set this person off towards hating with that kind of ache. Around 1995 I heard that he had cancer and died that year. Karma? Maybe…     

            I guess that’s got me thinking about Karma today. maybe it was karma that intervened into my life or it was just some zealous doctor that was trying out a new technique that removes one’s prostate without being overtly invasive. Or Karma?

Resolutions, again? I hope not.

            I know that everyone has kind of heard it before, and I just read something that kind of baffles me, to a small degree; "resolutions are for quitters". That is just plain and simple hogwash, BS, silly and a few other words I can’t think right now. Resolutions take a lot of effort and resolve to accomplish and you have to start somewhere.

            But, on the other hand, I really don’t do resolutions in the first place. I mean I can make stuff up as I go along but I gotta stick to it to make it work. I am not going to do things like, say, go to the gym and stick with it or save more money. Either you are going to do it or you are not. And I usually forget by the end of the month anyway.

            I would have made something up yesterday but, I had to take my son to the Airport. He and his wife are going on an Asian tour. A dream trip for me, one day, one day. Anyway, yesterday, after the airport, and it was snowing heavily and I live about 50 miles away from the airport, I had to make it back to catch the Red Wings play their winter classic game. Then the Rose Bowl came on right after that. A really Busy day for me.

            Well, the Michigan State Spartans finally won the Rose Bowl after 20 some odd years. GO GREEN!! Other than that it has been snow for the last 48 hours and it’s still snow, now. I say let snow…considering that my snow thrower it on the fritz.

But, I still decided to make a something similar to a resolution, in fact a few affirmations that I think will help throughout this year and I am going to stick with them, through thick and thin.

1.      WRITE. The biggest of them all, write and keep writing. I just finished one of my novels this past December and I finished editing it and I just have to read it a couple more times to make sure it’s right for publication. Or I will find an editor that won’t strip my skin off  if I can’t pay what they want. That motivated me when I finished. It’s part of a series of novels, five novels, that I would love to finish, heck, this year, if I can. But the goal it to WRITE THEM. Write, write, and write!

2.      READ. This goal is a twofold type of thing. In order to write I have to READ more. In the long ago past I was reading a book a week, sometimes two books a week, but I was reading nonetheless. And it helped, back then, with my writing. Now I must do it again. I purchased a Nexus 7 tablet this past November, just to have a modicum of entertainment.  And I put my Kindle account onto it. I had it on my cell phone, but even with my glasses the words were just too small to read. And to make me ever so happy, I found a site that finds free eBooks to read! Lucky me. Read, read, and read!!

3.      I know one shouldn’t use the word ‘try’ because if you try it just gets harder to accomplish. In the words of the master Yoda, and I’m paraphrasing here, “don’t try, either you do or you do not. There is no Try.” Anyway, I am going to try and write at least one post in my blog page at least twice a week. Not try, but Do!

4.      Complete the three short stories I have, kind of, finished. Or at least finish editing them.

5.      Find a publisher (maybe and agent) to publish my tomes

6.      Learn how to market my books. I have self-published two books and they languish in purgatory waiting from me to have them sold. Total sales, 40 and I have given away a few that I could have sold. But, that is another goal for this year.

I might really have to do something dramatic and drastic. Of course that is what got me thinking, I saw that someone else had tried it and I really shouldn’t, maybe? Why don’t I finish my screenplays and put it up for auction on eBay? Starting price; $10,000. Then I can see what happens. Hey it’s a start, and I gotta start somewhere. If, and I mean, IF, that works out, I will have to finished my other screenplays. Those will be the next to up for auction.

            There you go, resolutions or actions that I have to do, again, this year. I know one thing, I gotta stop talking about it and do IT! I am at the pinnacle of my life and I have to make do and not fail. That is in no way quitting, it’s starting again, because I don’t do resolutions.