7/16/2019: Got up about 5:30 AM and started a document of
annotations for AGODP. Got through about the first page (beginnings are always
heavy lifting, as far as annotations go).
Started making a document of “Annotations on A Grave on
Deacon’s Peak”. Worked all morning and finished Chapter One, in 5 pages. Made a
few more notes and blocked out topics for Chapter Two. My researches led me to
some surprising revelations, which makes me think my brain is smarter than I
am. At 2:30 PM I’m waiting for John.
And he came knocking at the door just as I finished that
sentence. We yakked for about an hour about the book and about more of his
philosophical quest and had a great session. In the evening while I was looking
at YouTube I found a great stretch of music including Tolkien poems set to
music by Clamavi De Profundis, and for a while I was swept back to my original
experience of reading Tolkien, unvarnished by the imaginational trimmings of
others, when it was just me and the text and the emotions evoked by the bare,
primitive, heart-shaking words. I felt again that stab of joy, rising out of
the deeps of time, now my own deeps, and saw my past bright and clear and fresh
as from a far-off view.
Filled with memories of 50 years ago, when we watched the
moon landing, and of going out to look at the moon (as if I could see
something) and thinking there were people up there. I was five days away from
being 6 years old.
7/17/2019: Got my computer to pop open, so I watched “The
House with a Clock in Its Walls”; not bad, but not great. Just a tweak or two
from being really enjoyable. I don’t know, something in the editing, I think.
Let me dream about my own movie, who could play, who direct, and so on.
In September 2015, I came up with the idea of “Dead Ready
by 2019” and here it is. Other things I was thinking about at the time were
joining the Church and writing “An American Fantasy”, and here they are,
accomplished. How about that?
7/18/2019: Kenny’s 51st birthday. Facebooked
him thrice and said three decades of the rosary for him at 7 PM. Spent the
morning annotating Chapter Two of AGODP.
7/19/2019: Bible and prayers. Spent much of the morning
writing “Thoughts on the Future”. Took garbage out a little after 7 AM and saw
a raccoon. At 9 AM, breakfast. At 10 AM, went to check the porch. Nothing, but
was able to save a toad from the kiddie pool. Didn’t do a lot today. Watched
about 6 or 7 Comedians in Cars Drinking Coffee.
7/20/2019: Was able to get computer open, so started to
watch “An Awfully Big Adventure” but it was quiet and slower than I remembered,
so I bailed about 1/3 of the way through. Wrote my reminiscence on the moon
landing on FB, and at about 5 PM wrote to John.
My memories of the moon landing are rather staticky; I
remember seeing it in black-and-white, seem to recall that viewing was wedged
in between shows Pop and Mom REALLY wanted to watch (but they were aware of the
historical significance), and of going outside (day or night?) and looking up
at the moon over the trees in the Coors' yard. I wonder if I thought I would
see anything. I do remember thinking (probably I had heard it from someone)
that for thousands of years people had wondered about the moon and now that
there were humans up there. It would have been just a few days before my 6th
birthday.
· He:
“I have an extremely low-resolution memory of the moon landing happening that I
suspect is really a memory of your memory, as it were. I hate to say it, but I
guess having grown up with man on the moon as a fact, the technical triumph
notwithstanding, I’ve always had a kind of "so what" attitude about
it secretly. Just an earth-bound misfit, I.”
Went out to look at the moon, but it hasn’t risen to
sight here just yet.
7/21/2019: It occurs to me that people more or less avoid
you a week before your birthday so they can hoard up their attention and good
cheer until it's needed on the actual day. While the birthday boy himself often
acts more sociable and cheerful as if to remind others that he still exists and
is the kind of jolly fellow whose birthday elicits celebration.
For some reason thinking a lot about "Over the
Garden Wall". About AGODP done in that style.
The irony of course is that someday, that future day I
look forward to, to the detriment of the present time, will never come because
I'll be dead and I'll have wasted the actual day I'm living in hoping for a day
to come.
7/22/2019: Got up at about 6 AM after a night of getting
up and down. Dreamed of a rich hoard of comics and toys gotten out of the old
Bazaar of dreams, bought cheaply and covered with dust, that when cleaned
turned out to have tons of comics, Marx figures, figures of sharks and lions
(including an Omi), and even (I think) Kingdom Hearts stuff. Opened the door
and windows to catch the early morning air for once, then (having completed the
Bible) started with the Catechism, which I intend to read aloud straight
through, a couple of sections each day
7/23/2019: The usual times and actions. Much writing in
the morning, though, on Barek&Dunwolf, introducing ol' John Craft! My
e-mail to John, who has been feeling poorly:
I hate the floaty
feeling. It makes me think I need to do something but seems to disconnect me so
that I feel I can't do anything. I want to say please, please take care of
yourself, but it's not as if you wouldn't if I didn't say anything! But you
know what I mean. I love you so much and value your existence.
As for me, I certainly have to hang on at least till
Thursday; not only for my birthday but also because Mr. Jerome finally gave me
the definitish word today that the 25th will be the release day! He said the
book is at the printers e'en now. So we have that.
Still working on Barek & Dunwolf (working title:
'Shutting the Door') and hope to have it done soon. Gandalf voice: "By
your birthday at the latest!" And by your he means my.
I always wanted to give Bob the birthday date of whenever
the book was published, like Tolkien gave Bilbo September 22. Now that seems a
little selfish. Well, it will be easy to remember, anyway.
Okay, a little list. If I get $100 for my birthday, like
I did last year, what is the best use to get the most books for my bucks?
The Enchanted World: Gods and Goddesses $13.40
The Enchanted World: The Lore of Love $5.79
The Well-Tempered Critic $14.44
Father Christmas's Fake Beard $8.00
River's Edge (Blaylock) $19.00
Over the Garden Wall $14.00
A Celtic Temperament $14.00
Old Thunder $9.00
This adds up to $97.63; that includes the shipping, which
I've added. That would close out The Enchanted World, my Robertson Davies
books, and Terry Pratchett. And catch up my Blaylock and put Over the Garden
Wall to bed at last. [Don't remember if I got everything just then, but I do have it all now.]
7/24/2019: Woke up about 5:30 AM again. Got dressed and
out of the house by 6:45 AM. As I walked down the driveway a red cardinal
feather came drifting down by my side; a rare occurrence that you actually see a
feather fall. Put it in my pocket. Morning cloudy and cool for summer (low
70's). Brought the paper up and there was the raccoon, eating cat food and
paying me no heed, with a trap cage not four feet from him. Went in.
Started reading "A Case of Conscience" again.
Taking recycling out I saw a dragonfly with black and golden wings, perching on
the fence. The morning air and wind is just glorious, bouyant, with just a hint
of fall.
Today is being so beautiful, it almost wakens the old
pessimist in me and makes me suspicious. Didn't have to turn on the AC until
almost 2 PM. Reading Blish again after so many years is delightful; the
Lithians bear comparison to the Vulcans in many ways as races supposedly based
on Reason. Zings and twinges in my veins and muscles of course and numbness in
my hands, but really nothing that hasn't been going on all year. What I really
need to get on is my writing, but even that seems to be just a matter of
scribbling; it lies plain before me. One small nagging thought is should I make
the cake tomorrow (my actual birthday) or wait for the weekend (when there
might be a family gathering), and how to determine it? The future, in many
ways, seems wide open.
Finished reading A Case of Conscience at exactly 8
PM; ready to go in and clean up.
Came back and took up ‘Barek & Dunwolf (Shutting the
Door)’ and wrote up to page 23. In a nice short march of the end. 10:30 PM
right now.
7/25/2019: Woke up very early, about 4 AM I guess, and
the first thing I did after devotions was sit right down and finished the first
draft of Shutting the Door, at 6:11 AM. It clocked out at 30 pages. Sent a copy
to John and banked a copy. Looked and saw that AGODP was finally being offered
on Amazon, and excitedly announced it on FB. Got ready and left for church a
little after 7 AM. Today, besides my birthday and the day of publication, is
the Feast of St. James, our church's patron saint. After an intimate Mass, I
went out, grabbed a donut hole on offer, then ducked into the Parish Office to
see about my Baptismal certificate. As I walked home saw Yen had called, so I
called him back and we talked as I walked home. I got home at 9 AM and had to
pause talking to make Kam breakfast, then called and we talked a while more
until Kaye had to use the phone. Many happy birthdays on FB by then, including
promises to buy the book. Took a noonish nap, found I had missed calls from
Kaitlyn and Isabel because I hadn't turned my ringtone back up, then John
called, and opined the fact that he was stuck at home watching Alfred,
otherwise he'd have visited today. I told him I knew needs must, and that we
could get together over the weekend. I called Susan and we decided I should go
ahead and bake the cake, so I went in and did that. Then Andy called and said
not to make supper, he was bringing Chicken Express! Yay! I went in at 4 PM and
iced the cake. A little after 6 PM Andy came and called me to supper and we had
a nice meal (chicken strips, biscuits, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn nuggets,
hushpuppies, and dipping sauce) such as we hadn't had in years. They gave me a
birthday card with $50 in it. We were so full we're saving cake for later
tonight. Started reading "Black Easter"; it must be over a decade
since I last went through these books, probably closer to 2 decades.
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