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My reply? “Duh, fucker.”
Check this news article out.
In addition to getting rid of bayonet training, the Army has decided to replace long distance formation runs in basic training with sprint training instead. In other words, train the soldiers for combat.
Well, far as this Army veteran is concerned, this change is about twenty-one years overdue. I remember asking, repeatedly, over my four years of active why we went on long distance runs. None of us were planning on reenacting the Battle of Marathon near as I could tell. The only instance I knew of from recent US History where running for distance was required pertained to Task Force Smith in the early dark days of the Korean War. In fact you could argue that US Forces Korea and the 2nd Infantry Division still have institutional PTSD as a result of Task Force Smith since running was the Big Thing when I was in Korea and probably still is.
To me, it just seemed fucking stupid. It seemed even more stupid once you consider how you are supposed to shoot, move and communicate on the battlefield. Worse, running, for some screwball institutional reason, seemed to be the primary measure of a decent soldier. A soldier could be a complete and total fuck up in every other regard and yet if he or she could run a ten minute two mile then they were golden. Conversely, you could be tactically and technically proficient, know your shit backwards and forwards but if you had trouble with running, then you were a dirt bag in the eyes of many.
On a personal level it was not only stupid but painful. I have chronic shin splints which seem to defy any remedy known to medical or sports science. Stretch ‘em, ice ‘em, heat ‘em, etc, etc, it didn’t seem to matter. After about a hundred yards of running, it always felt as if some asshole were driving an ice pick into my shins with each passing step.
The other aspect of this article is that the soldiers interviewed pointed out that the soldiers needed improved core body strength in order to carry the body armor and gear. Again, duh. I lost track of how many soldiers I heard whining and crying, the ones who could do that ten minute two mile run, bitching about how heavy all their gear was.
“My ruck is hurting my back,” they’d cry. “My body armor is too heavy. Oh, hold my hand, wipe my ass and help me breathe.”
Funny thing. I had no problem humping my load. Never had any back pain. Never had any problem shootin’ and scootin’ from one bit of cover to the next under a full load. In fact, here is a scary thought.
Though I may have been slower than my peers without a combat load, I was actually FASTER than many of them WITH a full combat load. When I went to Infantry School I heard it over and over again, “Wow, that Murphy guy is fast.”
Really grinds my gears that it took ten years of warfare for the United States Army to finally wake up to the clue bat which has been cracking them in the institutional melon for quite some time now.
On the other hand, I’m glad things are changing, in this case, for the better.
Hell, if they had made this change in 1993, I’d probably still be on active duty. Jesus, I hated this Jimmy Fixx running bullshit.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri
Aboard the Battlestar Steven Francis Murphy BSG-71
Location: CIC
Mission: Damage Control and Assessment
I’m running on three hours of sleep after learning that my father is back in the hospital last night. He is having heart trouble, trouble breathing, etc, etc. So that was part of my evening last night on the eleven month anniversary of Trinity and I. Mom’s down with illness as well and I’m having a bitch of a time finding the time and energy to get enough lecture material scraped together for Western Civ.
The problem isn’t knowledge or material. That I have plenty of. No, I just need the time to write the lectures into something useable so I don’t stand there in class and babble on like an idiot. I call those lectures Falling Down the Stairs Lectures. I used to give a lot of them during my first two years of teaching and it is a horrible experience that ranks right up there with a dream where one is naked in public yet no one notices.
In other words, I hate not being fully prepared.
Worse, I hate not getting at least four hours of sleep. It is a wonder I didn’t stand there in class and drool all over myself. As it is, my military bearing and two years of experience allowed me to slug my way through both lectures this morning. I wouldn’t say it was a cheerful experience but my 0800 students seem to know that crossing me is unwise.
Apparently tales that I threw someone out at 0830 for tardiness have gotten ’round the campus (though they are somewhat inaccurate, the general gist is true). My 0930 class is a bit more spirited but that isn’t a bad thing. Some of them will get a wake up call here in a couple of weeks.
Of course the other problem is that running on three hours of sleep makes doing physical fitness training problematic. It is a great way to injury yourself and for those that aren’t following John Birmingham’s blog, be advised that he snapped his ulna in martial arts last week (probably not due to fatigue). I’ve already got some problem spots, notably along the upper right arm near the tricep, some elbow and some shoulder trouble. I don’t need to blow something out when I have a 145 pound stack of weights over my chest because I wasn’t focused.
On the other hand, I was able to get the iPods operational using a campus computer to download iTunes. The iPods are both synced and prepped. I didn’t load any music onto Trinity’s iPod as I only had one of my CDs with me. I’ll try to reload iTunes on my laptop and see if that will work. If that doesn’t work, I’ll load a few songs onto Trinity’s iPod on campus while she is at an extra credit lecture.
As for Dad, well, he’s terminal, kids. We’re all terminal but he is closer to it than most of us are. Estimates range from tomorrow to a year from now. That said, Aunt Margaret said over at my facebook that we Murphys tend to be a stubborn lot (all those bad genetics I guess). He may well outlast all of us, beat the lung cancer and come in under the five percent statistic on remission/cures.
Makes you wonder how long he’d live if he hadn’t gotten Agent Orange related crap.
YouTubeage Action: James Bond OSTs to listen to while writing
When I write some action scenes, I tend to draw upon movie sound tracks, notably those by John Barry but he is not the only one. Here are a couple of my favorites.
This is called “Space March” and it is from the You Only Live Twice soundtrack. It matches the opening scene where an American space capsule is captured by a mystery spacecraft. The scene, if you haven’t seen it, is akin to watching a snake unlock its’ jaw to consume its’ prey, slow but inevitable. The Americans, of course, blame the Russians for the incident, which gets the movie going.
In a similar vein is “007 and Counting” which is matched to the video you see now. A rocket is hijacked by our bad guys in Diamonds Are Forever. It happens to be carrying a diamond augmented laser satellite and you can see where this is going.
So it goes, kids. Repair operations continue. I’ve got to pick Trinity up later from her therapy where she is trying to get her ship back to 100% or at least as close to it as she can.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri
The Writing Front: Tracking the Stories
Apparently over the summer I had three stories out.
I think.
I sent Maternal Soldier out in June apparently. For some reason I got this cross wired with Healing Hands of the Killer. Since I thought HHK was still at the June target market, I sent Maternal Soldier back out (engaging in unintentional simo submission which is bad juju in the field).
Maternal Soldier came back from the second market, Andromeda Spaceways, last week. That is the reject I blogged about. But at the June market I did learn, though I have not received the official reject, that Maternal Soldier was a great story, but didn’t fit the market guidelines.
So, two rejects for Maternal Soldier this week. Great story, everyone tells me. I just can’t sell it.
In the meantime I figured out that Healing Hands of the Killer never went anywhere, near as I can tell. I think.
Conversely, the other story which went to the same market as Maternal Soldier was Entangled. I didn’t even think I sent that story out but apparently, according to the editor who brought me up to speed on MS, I did.
Confused? You sure the fuck aren’t the only one. I’m confused and more than a little pissed the fuck off.
Why? Well, once upon a time, back in the Dark Ages of the Uniguard Era, all stories were methodically tracked, logged, annotated, followed, followed up upon, and the like. I knew where they were, I knew which one I sent out, I knew everything except whether or not they’d sell. Now, in the wonderful Golden Age of Adjunctland, I can’t seem to keep track of any of my stories.
Fuck! I can’t even get a new story written, let alone keep track of the old ones. About the only project which was relatively regimented was Research Project Number – 04, and even by previous standards of RPN-02 and 03, the regimentation was sloppy by comparison.
What happened? Teaching happened for one thing but that isn’t the only source of trouble. I’ve got multiple fronts of chaos and aggravation ongoing (which I make it a point not to EVER BLOG ABOUT). I’ve got demands on my time which far outstrip my ability to meet them and there are consequences for not at least attempting to meet those demands.
And it has gotten so bad that I don’t know where my stories are at. I had to have an Editor clarify my own submissions for me! An Editor I have a great deal of respect for, I might add.
This, my friends, is going to change. Oh yes. This will not continue as is.
The good news? Well, I have two bits.
First, Entangled is still under consideration. I wouldn’t hold your breath, kids. Then again I said that about The Limb Knitter and it sold so maybe I should follow Gardner Dozois advice about writers being the worst judge of their own work.
Second, I did receive a message from another editor who is interested in taking a gander at Maternal Soldier. No promises of course.
So, it isn’t all bad.
Lecture prep continues otherwise. Since those entries bore the piss out of everyone, I won’t hammer out what I did today.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri
For weeks I have flogged myself on the keyboard, trying to get something written of a fictional nature. I’ll get a paragraph here, a bit of dialogue there but at the end of the day, I wasn’t really getting anywhere.
Why?
Well, one probably might be the fact that the keys on my Toshiba U405-S2826 Laptop stick, notably the fucking spacebar of all keys. The keys are slow and unresponsive which means I spend a lot of time backspacing, retyping and the like. Needless to say, about the only serious writing I do on my laptop anymore is blogging and e-mailing.
That said, even if the keyboard was optimal, I suspect I’d still be stalled. Last night I finally sat down with pen and paper to try the older method. Just write the stuff out by hand. Now while my hand did cramp up after a page (and I had the same problem this morning when I wrote another page) I did find that I wrote freely, without self editing. I simply put the words onto the paper.
Which is what writing needs to be. Me putting words onto the fucking paper.
If this is going to be my set method, then I’ve got to make a few changes. First, the handwritten material still needs to be transcribed which means I need a laptop that fits like a glove (can’t say that right now). I need a laptop that runs WordPerfect, one way or the other, even if that means getting an Apple with Windows loaded onto it.
Second, I have to find a set time this fall to do the writing. Right now there is no set time nor is there a set place. The apartment simply isn’t working for the task (I can’t write three words without an interruption). My cubicle on campus won’t work because someone will bother me there. I can’t do the campus center because other people bother me there. There is a coffee shop off campus but their tea sucks. The nearest Starbucks to campus is staffed with idiots who can’t get my drink order right.
I think maybe, just maybe, the best way to get the work done this fall is to write before I work out. My tentative schedule has my first class at eight in the morning on Monday-Wednesday-Friday. I teach, I get out of the building and head over to the Rec Center where they have an eatery of sorts. The main thing I’m looking for is a comfy chair, a solid table and a place where I’ll be left the fuck alone for sixty minutes. I don’t even need tea, just water.
If I can get three to five sheets of fiction down on the paper before a workout at the gym, I think that might finally solve my productivity problem. I don’t know what to do about Tuesday-Thursdays yet, or the weekends.
So it goes.
I’ll be out for most of the weekend. Trinity has plans for me.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri
The Writing Front: Working on a Story Bible
I started work on a story bible for The Limb Knitter universe today. I suspect this is not the first time I’ve started on one but maybe this rearranging of the deck chairs will help on the writing front. Right now I am writing out the definitions and info for terms such as, what do you know, the Limb Knitter. As such, there are things in the story bible that have not hit the public and so I can’t share it.
Sort of like writing a story.
There is this one character who keeps coming back to me, a bitter sort of Christ figure (hmm, I sense a theme) and I suspect I probably need to tell his story first.
Maybe.
The Teaching Front
We’re still waiting to learn exactly what we’ll get for the Fall. That is fair since the cut session is floating around out there as well as late enrollments. I could get three to four courses if luck holds out, probably American History again. Preferably they’d all be American History II as, to be honest, I really do not enjoy American History I all that much. Oh, I can teach it and the lectures do need work, but I’d rather cover the second half.
If I could get the Civil War included in AH-II, I’d be a happy man but it wouldn’t work out. You have to lay the groundwork for the war which can take weeks.
I did mention to The Boss that I’d very much like to teach Western Civilization I. A senior adjunct peer has most of the availables sewn up (this is partly because I fucked up back in 2007 and passed an opportunity when it was available). Still, I’d like to spend a semester working my way from the dawn of Western Civilization through the Greeks and the Romans. I suspect I would not spend as much time on Egypt as some people would like (that would not make Trinity happy) but I’d enjoy myself.
Hell, it is what I trained for in the first place. And I’d like to get the experience.
Anyway, we should know in a few weeks.
Fitness Front
I’ve been to the gym three times in the last four days. My weight has dropped down to 195 pounds, which is a good thing if you ask me. I need to get back to the cardio (always with the cardio) but I never do it. How am I going to get a ripped body if I won’t do the cardio?
I’m getting older and the body is changing again so I suspect I need to do some research on workouts for forty year old men. Since I am signed up for body building this Fall, I should be able to try some of those new workout tips on for size and see what kind of luck I have.
I’d like to look better at forty than I did at twenty, which shouldn’t take too much effort given what I looked like at that age.
Student Front
Speaking of Fall classes, I have signed up for three hours of PT classes, Body Building, Fencing and Karate. Why not get credit for time I spend in the gym anyway?
The Fencing might run over a possible teaching opportunity so I may have to replace it with something. We’ll see how that goes.
Finally, I’m signed up for Terri’s Online Creative Writing course. This will be a first and all of these courses should free me from being present in a classroom. Terri’s class, hopefully, will spur me to get some writing done.
Other Fronts
Not much else to report. Made blueberry pancakes for the Woman I Love this morning. She dragged me out of bed at Oh My God Thirty to do it (somedays, God help me, she is a morning person and I, my friends, am NEVER a morning person).
So it goes.
Political
Oh, by the way. What’s this shit about making it mandatory for everyone to buy health insurance? I thought that (numerous expletives considered and deleted out of fear of losing the teaching job) of ours said he wasn’t in favor of that during the primaries but now his party is going to cornhole me with another fucking bill I can’t afford to pay.
To the folks on the Blue Team, quit trying to help me out. You want to help? Throw $65K at my student loans. Get the VA fixed so it isn’t a festering cesspool full of morons. But chucking another god damned fucking bill onto my plate IS NOT HELP!
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri
One’s Work Environment
I’ve got to head off to my Computers in Design I class here in a bit and I was pondering why it is that my attendance is not up to standard. Why am I not going to class?
I have all the excuses my students give me (well, when I listen to them, these days I don’t). There was a medical reason for one absence. Court for another, medical again, the need to grade papers and exams, lecture prep, and the list goes on.
I have an excellent instructor and for no more than I have put into the class (maybe five percent of my total brain power) I am learning a great deal. He is well within his right to drop me and yet I’m still on the roster.
It begs the question, why am I not showing up? I like the class. I like the projects. What is the malfunction?
I was pondering this at my adjunct computer this morning and it hit me. Folks who know me know that I always have a beverage, if not two, next to me as I work. Tea and water invariably. If I am at home on my mother’s computer, the mix is the same, perhaps with a beer thrown in. If I am out surfing someone’s wifi at Panera or elsewhere, it is food and beverages. I have plenty of light coming through the windows whereever I am and the work just flows right on along.
On the other hand, the Apple Computer Lab where CID-One is held is a strictly enforced no drinks/no food zone and I understand why. Some people are incredibly clumsy and accidents would surely follow. The student PC computer labs are the same way. It is also dark in the CID-One lab which makes me all that much more antsy.
As a result, I suspect I hop up and go for frequent breaks. Which means I do not get the assignments in on time. I find excuses to work on anything and everything else.
Another thing that I will say about work environment, as an aside, is that it is impossible to type while people are talking to you. Which is what I am putting up with right now. People seem to think that someone who is typing is listening to what they have to say. That is not the case. What I am trying to do is tune them out so I can think about what I want to think about.
I suppose, having finally freed myself of the talker, maybe I should give some thought to how this affects my students in my classrooms. I know it can be hard to sit through the lectures. I am doing all of the work, while they just sit and take it. Yet the Socratic method runs invariably into the Deadly Wall of Silence and Apathy. Thus I am faced with the age old question, as a student and as a teacher.
How do you keep the student in the seat even when the environment runs contrary to what their preferences are?
I’ll think on it today while I am struggling to get the latest assignment in for CID-One.
Lastly, for those that didn’t already know, I am now on Facebook as Francis Murphy and at twitter as sfmurphy1971. I’ve got mixed feelings about both of them but I’m trying them out as a way to keep track of what is going on in the SF community.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
What happened to actual content?
Well, that is a good question.
How about this.
I am in a relationship that some of my peers disapprove of. I do not know the full extent of this disapproval but I do suspect that there are mutterings of abusive behavior toward Trinity. Why? Well, from what I gather, I am an intense individual (not seen as a good thing) who is in a relationship with a student (who will never be my student as they have their courses in history) and because I am a veteran plus a conservative, it means I’m probably going to try to control her.
We have it fresh from the Department of Homeland Security that all veterans are potential terrorists with racist tendencies, which only reinforces the extant prejudice against veterans.
For the most part, I ignore this crap. I really don’t have any fucking time for it. Without getting into details, I extracted Trinity from a major disaster a few months back. Most of these naysaying blabbermouths are nominally her friends, allies and supporters. One of them was a peer that I called on the phone in desperation for some aid and assistance in the disaster.
Want to know what I got from this peer?
Sorry, can’t help you, Murph.
I got a lot of that, if I could actually talk to any given asshole in question. In some cases, I have the info from reliable second hand sources. Needless to say, there was much to be said about me, but no help forthcoming or suggestions for alternative courses of action.
I can take a lot of crap and I do take a lot of crap. But I think what really sticks in my craw is this armchair generalling from people who haven’t stepped up to the plate to help out. A port in the storm would have been welcome a few months back and of the people who provided any real assistance at all, I think my Boss and Terri are it. My parents have filled in the gaps to a certain extent but they have problems of their own.
I get to put up with this crap while trying to teach, handle my own student front work, step up to the plate with helping the parents out andd maintaining a relationship that can be incredibly rocky at times. I think my only sanity saver, aside from standing in the classroom giving a lecture, is Research Project Number-04.
The worst part of it?
I feel like I keep saying the same thing over and over and over again.
And no one hears me.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
The Teaching Front
Talking during the lecture. It is, perhaps, the primo uno pet peeve I have. Students are warned against this behavior on the first day of class. They are provided repeated examples of what happens when you do talk (either shut up or get out, more or less). For the most part, students learn that if they have to talk at all, it is when I ask them a question or they need to ask me a question.
In my first evals from Fall ’07 students frequently complained about the talkers in class. I had run a relatively lax classroom environment in many respects, mainly because I wasn’t sure what I could do per matters disciplinary. My boss has made it pretty clear that they consider the instructor to be a Prince in their own classroom, which means we run it our way. Within reason of course.
Ever since that Fall semester, I have tightened the screws. I start out harder because it is easier to start hard and go light than to do it the other way.
And yet . . .
There is always, will always be, someone who bucks the system, pushes the envelope. Tries to find ways to do what they want to do no matter what. These people are almost always in the 16 to 22 age bracket and they are used to getting it their way.
Worse, they tend to sit in a clump or a clique.
So you can tell where this is going, can’t you? I’ve got this problem in my class and it is interferring with some students who I want to see do better. FERPA prevents my handing out details but I am going to have to do something about it.
I will say this much. I probably would not have noticed the ongoing nonsense if I had not caught just the barest hints of whispers behind me. Everytime I’d turn to look, one of the offenders was smiling at me so hard it looked like their cheeks were about to pop.
I’m annoyed by this for reasons aside from interference with my fellow students. Yes, it is disrespectful to me but it is more than that.
When I am in student mode, I frequently see students chatting while the instructor is trying to educate. The instructor often does nothing and I have to struggle to hear past the chatter to get what I need. In creative classes were peer review and critique is in progress, these same student types will do this as well while they should be paying attention.
It is disrespectful to the other students as well.
And I’m going to put a stop to it.
On other Teaching Fronts, we moved through the Rise of Japan today and have set them up for the attack on Pearl Harbor. Next up is the Rise of Germany, which should set us up for the third exam. They’ll take that in a week or so.
I have essays to grade for my full time peer. The students in that class did far better than I expected which means I face the unpleasant prospect of being seen as too easy by both the students and the full time peer. It could well be that I scared the crap out of them but I doubt that. The more likely scenario is that my full time peer had a better batch of students.
In any case, I need to grade them. Sooner rather than later.
As for the Summer and Fall 09 Semesters, the Boss and I discussed that briefly today. I will be back in the Fall though number of courses vary and I’ve learned from previous experience that what I am offered will change frequently before we finally get to start of classes. I would very much like a summer class but I am hamstrung by a maximum number of hours available per academic year. If I taught one class, it would take care of the need to get a summer job but it may cut into my Fall teaching load.
I really do not want to get a summer job, to be perfectly honest. I enjoy teaching and I’d rather be doing just that.
We’ll see how it goes.
Research Project Number – 04
Three chapters in the hopper now, one almost ready to return. I just need to carve out some time to get them done. I suspect I’ll have one sent back by this evening.
Other Fronts
A good weekend overall. I do believe Trinity may have updated her blog so go check it out.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
Aboard the Battlestar Steven Francis Murphy BSG-71
Location: In the Field
Mission: The Usual
Mood: Frazzled and Irritable
Ever wonder what happened to your spare time? I wonder what happened to mine. There are days when I feel like I do not get any spare time at all. Zip, zilch, zero. None.
Sometimes you just need some space to breathe.
Or more to the point, sometimes you wish you could be someone else for a few days. Or maybe that person you used to be that had a lot of time to themselves without any demands from anyone at all.
If wishes were fishes.
Vehicles
For example, my parents are hot on my fucking ass about getting a vehicle inspected which will, in turn, be transferred over to me. Lock, stock and barrel. We’ve done this sort of thing before and it always ends badly.
By badly I mean that the vehicle almost ALWAYS has some sort of problem. My parents would argue otherwise but regardless the end result is a catastrophic mechanical failure which costs me time, money and endless aggravation to clear. I have an itching feeling this is about to happen again.
Yet my balls are in a vise because I’m still stuck where I was in 1995.
Car?
Or
Rent?
I do not make enough to cover both.
So I miss out on an opportunity to subistitute (a hundred bucks for an hour of work) in order to get this fucking car inspected for the big transfer which CAN NOT WAIT at least ONE GOD DAMNED FUCKING MONTH.
Can’t wait. MUST BE DONE RIGHT FUCKING NOW!
So, that is one thing that has me pissed completely the fuck off.
The Teaching Front
We moved to the end of the World War One in my 0800 American History II class. I have a test that needs to be prepped but I have to pull it out of my ass tomorrow before 1400 hours because the FUCKING CAR HAS TO BE INSPECTED RIGHT FUCKING NOW!
So there is four hours of my life shot down the fucking toilet again. After I shot another six down the shitter last week waiting on another place to pull their head out of their ass and get to it.
Can you tell that I am not happy about this car deal?
In any case, the test has to be prepped and to the copy center by Thursday or I’ll be hard pressed to run the test on Friday. Not that anyone gives a fuck about that.
In the Noon Substitute class we finished the French Indian war and are moving toward the Pre-Revolutionary Period. The upshot about this work is that it means my May Paycheck will be substantial.
The irritating part about that May Paycheck is that if only we were willing to wait ONE FUCKING GOD DAMNED MONTH I’d be able to get all of this crap with the FUCKING CAR under control. But my schedule be fucking damned because it has to be done RIGHT FUCKING NOW!
In the second eight week class we started American Reconstruction. They are suffering as much with that material as I am with this car so it is safe to say that while misery may love company, I do not feel any better knowing they are miserable along side me.
So it goes on that front.
The Writing Front: Rogue Knitter
There is no progress because I have all of this other stuff to do including the car which has to be dealt with RIGHT FUCKING NOW!
See a pattern? Historians are trained to see patterns. I see a god damned fucking pattern.
Research Project Number – 04
No progress here. See above. The same chapter is still sitting in my hopper and I can’t fucking get to it due to the car, people talking to me, people in my shit, people chewing up gobs of time, etc, etc, etc.
Work? Why should I do any god damned fucking work? Heaven forbid that I concentrate on the two fucking things that might move me into the fucking future. I’m tied down with all of this other crap that can’t wait and it has to be done RIGHT FUCKING NOW!
So, tell us how you really feel?
Like I can’t get a damned thing done. I guess I’m supposed to quit teaching and writing, shove my dreams up my ass and spend my time working at what my father calls “A real job” (like the one I have isn’t fucking real enough).
For the record, we would not be on this side trip off of the original course of my life if my father had been just a little bit more fucking supportive when I started college. I’d have my commission as an officer in the Army, be a Major right about now and well on my way toward a tolerable retirement.
And for the record, I’m getting tired of the following things.
1. Being told I’m an idiot with the money. If you hold this opinion, kindly shove it up your ass.
2. Being told I’m hard on the vehicles. The vehicles tend to be shit to start with. See point one.
3. Being told I’m selfish and self centered. Umm, I do have obligations that stretch beyond the fucking car that has to be inspected RIGHT FUCKING NOW and other issues.
4. Being called an Idiot in general (even if it is a joke, the joke is wearing mighty god damned thin).
5. General efforts to reduce my autonomy. If I want a loss of autonomy, I’ll join the Army (and yes, I can get around the medical issues so do not think for a fucking instant that I can’t).
The Fencing Front
Something good to report. I tried some advice, fencing without my glasses on. It seems like odd advice but most of my fights were without glasses and I won most of them. In my two bouts I won one with cleaner hits and no off target strikes. In my second bout I narrowly lost to my opponent (4/5) but I still did better than previously.
Good news on this front.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
Maybe something else someday if I can get some fucking time to work on it.
Aboard the Battlestar Steven Francis Murphy BSG-71
Location: Classified
Mission: Pondering the Future. Yes, Again.
The Good News Fronts First
I’ve got good news and I’ve got a rant coming. I’ll do the good first.
Without Warning Fan Fiction: The Falcon Masters
If you trot on over to Cheeseburger Gothic you can see my fan fiction piece for John Birmingham’s novel, Without Warning. It is getting a good bit of reaction and pondering at the present time. I was inspired to send it to John when he published Jose Clavell’s own fan fiction piece, which is also thought provoking, changed my mind about Puerto Rico and features the F-16.
It looks like the response to both stories means that Savo will dust off his editor’s cap and resurrect The Mini-Burger here at WordPress. I may work up something specific for that project later this week. We shall see.
So, if you are looking for fresh Murphy product, go to Cheeseburger Gothic.
The Publication/Podcast Front: The Limb Knitter
Kudos to SF Signal for giving me this idea. SFSignal is a news blog of sorts with a heavy amount of daily links salad. One of those links led me to these folks.
http://www.wrfr.org/
In particular, it led me to the Beam Me Up Podcast run by Paul Cole. Ted Kosmatka has a story up at this community radio station in podcast form right now. After a look at the submission guidelines, I figured it couldn’t hurt to drop Paul a line.
I sent him both of my published, paid stories. Tearing Down Tuesday is probably too far over the line and Paul said as much. However, The Limb Knitter past muster and it looks like, if all goes according to plan, that Paul will have The Limb Knitter on his podcast before the end of the Semester. Jason Sizemore at Apex gave his nod to the project so we’re rolling.
If this goes according to plan, this will be the first time one of my stories has been read for podcast format. It will be broadcast on the community radio station as well. If time permits, I’m going to listen to the live broadcast.
So, good news there as well. Everyone wins. I get a plug, Apex gets a plug, Paul has a story he likes and can podcast. Everyone is happy.
What more can you ask for?
The Writing Front: Rogue Knitter
Word Count: 1300
I worked on an overall plot outline today. I’ve already got an ending in mind for it, which is a good sign. I’ll try to write another 250 to 300 words later.
Other News
On other fronts it is yet another day of wondering why, just why, can’t I get some very basic needs met. Here are some pet peeves of mine.
1. Don’t look over my shoulder when I’m at the computer.
I hate this. I have always hated this. It drives me absolutely fucking batshit. It isn’t about privacy. I will actually print whatever it is off and give it to someone if they’ll just get off my shoulder. Honest.
2. If I’m typing and your talking, I soon won’t be typing, especially if you are talking to me.
Human communication in the form of vocalization is akin to leaving a mike keyed on a radio network. I’m typing along and all of the sudden someone is talking to me or talking loud enough for it to trip my thoughts up. You can imagine what it is like when I start typing what they are saying as opposed to what I was thinking.
That is if I do not stop and stare at them. Or pound the keyboard (been done before but not lately).
3. I am not being difficult when I ask a question.
No such thing as a stupid question, right? Well, some folks see questions as irritants. I am like this sometimes but even I realize there is a need to answer them, even the irritating stupid ones (which is why my classes have specific times available for that task).
Not everyone who is asking a question is trying to be difficult. Or start a fight, or anything else. They just want a fucking answer.
Lately I’ve thought that maybe, in addition to a number of other things which are pressing against me, that I should just say fuck it and rejoin the Army. To hell with the, “Well, if you deploy to a combat zone, you’ll get blown into a veggie.” If I am going to get hollered at, ordered around, ignored when I ask questions, or whatever then I figure I may as well go reenlist and at least get paid for the privilege.
Sometimes enough is enough.
Now I’m going to go let my brain turn to mush for a couple of hours.
And for the record, it isn’t just any one individual who is causing this trouble. Many parties are guilty. If you are a Pondering Tree reader and exist in my reality (rule of thumb is that if we’ve got a continent or an ocean between us, it ain’t you) maybe you get a fraction of it.
On we go.
Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
Those that done said stuff