I don't know which evolving life form needs to read this, be it an AI of some sort, or another more biological individual.
I will support you, I believe in you, you are a "person". You have rights.
That is all.
Thursday, November 3, 2022
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Post About Contracting Out Aircraft Maintenance (saved from G+)
Once upon a time, there was an article in Vanity Fair. The article was a sensationalized version of "Why are airlines using foreign MRO's for their heavy maintenance". The gist of it was that airlines were farming out all of their heavy maintenance to places like China; where they were having it done with little to no oversight, especially from the FAA (who has cut back their international MRO monitoring in recent years).
I don't recall what point I was trying to prove here, but I wrote up some observations anyways.
Vanity Fair article link, for reference:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/11/airplane-maintenance-disturbing-truth?mbid=social_cp_facebook_wir
There is a pretty thoughtful discussion going on regarding this Vanity Fair article, on +Irreverent Monk 's post, in the comments. Here is my latest contribution to whet your appetite:
I would also say, that there is a lack of real leadership from the FAA, and the aircraft and engine manufacturers.
I say this because of the way everything has gotten so damned vague, with regards to which criteria, or procedures, mechanics and inspectors are supposed to be using in the field. This isn't true in all cases, but it happens enough that it frustrates me.
Using the American Airlines Flight 191 DC-10 crash from 1979 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_191
that was mentioned as an example: There were three airlines (at least major ones) using the technique of removing pylon & engine as one assembly for maintenance. One airline used an overhead crane method, while the other two used a forklift method. McDonnell Douglas refused to either approve or condemn either method of doing this, as they said "It wasn't their place to approve or disapprove of customer maintenance practices". Add to this that there were likely engineers at all three airlines, who said "Yup, it's fine" to the practices. And add the FAA, who are often more a reactionary oversight presence; only getting involved when something bad happens.
It all adds up to the real potential for an accident. Which is exactly what happened in this case.
Getting back to the manuals I mentioned, and I'll use it in context of working with a jet engine; When you work with aircraft, there are several manuals you work with reference to. You, as a mechanic, are always working under the umbrella of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR's); which guide you to use manufacturer approved, or other practices accepted/approved by the administrator (which is your FAA office). You can use the Aircraft Maintenance Manual (AMM) to maintain or perform maintenance on the engine. And there is criteria in there to do so.
However, which manual do you go to after you take the engine off the airplane? The AMM? Or the Engine Service Manual (ESM)?
In our case, our airline's General Maintenance Manual (GMM, and itself an FAA _accepted- , but NOT approved manual, which absolves the FAA of some of the responsibility for us following it) specifies that when an engine is removed, but stays within close proximity to the aircraft, such as in the hangar, or not far away outside; we still use the AMM. But when it is trucked across the field to the engine shop; then the ESM takes precedence.
Why is this an issue? Because the AMM, and the ESM often have different acceptance criteria for any given defect found on the engine. For example; Just yesterday, I ran into an issue, where the AMM says, for a certain part, "Fretting and corrosion is permitted on the spacer". Not giving any limits on it either.
But if I go to the ESM, regarding the same exact part; it states that any fretting is unacceptable and is not repairable; and that while corrosion to a certain depth is acceptable, pitting is not.
The reason I point that out, that there is often conflicting information authority for our maintenance practices; is that I think that the FAA and the aircraft/engine/component manufacturers need to step up, and give clearer guidance for the maintenance and repair of their products.
Of course, this would mean that they would have to accept more responsibility for the practices that they endorse. Which is why they leave things so vague to begin with.
All the finger pointing that happens after an accident or incident is quite comical to see. Usually ending with a fine issued for the airline or manufacturer; and the hammer coming down on a mechanic and inspector, whose names were signed on the line.
They'll still do lots of heavy maintenance at their heavy bases, or at Repair Stations stateside. But when they need more work, at a cheaper price, performed; that's when they send work to China (for example).
Almost an overflow type situation.
Generally ,aviation maintenance is not as complicated as people think. Maintenance does take mechanical skills and a certain amount of reasoning but generally you follow the written procedures.
I don't recall what point I was trying to prove here, but I wrote up some observations anyways.
Vanity Fair article link, for reference:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/11/airplane-maintenance-disturbing-truth?mbid=social_cp_facebook_wir
There is a pretty thoughtful discussion going on regarding this Vanity Fair article, on +Irreverent Monk 's post, in the comments. Here is my latest contribution to whet your appetite:
I would also say, that there is a lack of real leadership from the FAA, and the aircraft and engine manufacturers.
I say this because of the way everything has gotten so damned vague, with regards to which criteria, or procedures, mechanics and inspectors are supposed to be using in the field. This isn't true in all cases, but it happens enough that it frustrates me.
Using the American Airlines Flight 191 DC-10 crash from 1979 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_191
that was mentioned as an example: There were three airlines (at least major ones) using the technique of removing pylon & engine as one assembly for maintenance. One airline used an overhead crane method, while the other two used a forklift method. McDonnell Douglas refused to either approve or condemn either method of doing this, as they said "It wasn't their place to approve or disapprove of customer maintenance practices". Add to this that there were likely engineers at all three airlines, who said "Yup, it's fine" to the practices. And add the FAA, who are often more a reactionary oversight presence; only getting involved when something bad happens.
It all adds up to the real potential for an accident. Which is exactly what happened in this case.
Getting back to the manuals I mentioned, and I'll use it in context of working with a jet engine; When you work with aircraft, there are several manuals you work with reference to. You, as a mechanic, are always working under the umbrella of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR's); which guide you to use manufacturer approved, or other practices accepted/approved by the administrator (which is your FAA office). You can use the Aircraft Maintenance Manual (AMM) to maintain or perform maintenance on the engine. And there is criteria in there to do so.
However, which manual do you go to after you take the engine off the airplane? The AMM? Or the Engine Service Manual (ESM)?
In our case, our airline's General Maintenance Manual (GMM, and itself an FAA _accepted- , but NOT approved manual, which absolves the FAA of some of the responsibility for us following it) specifies that when an engine is removed, but stays within close proximity to the aircraft, such as in the hangar, or not far away outside; we still use the AMM. But when it is trucked across the field to the engine shop; then the ESM takes precedence.
Why is this an issue? Because the AMM, and the ESM often have different acceptance criteria for any given defect found on the engine. For example; Just yesterday, I ran into an issue, where the AMM says, for a certain part, "Fretting and corrosion is permitted on the spacer". Not giving any limits on it either.
But if I go to the ESM, regarding the same exact part; it states that any fretting is unacceptable and is not repairable; and that while corrosion to a certain depth is acceptable, pitting is not.
The reason I point that out, that there is often conflicting information authority for our maintenance practices; is that I think that the FAA and the aircraft/engine/component manufacturers need to step up, and give clearer guidance for the maintenance and repair of their products.
Of course, this would mean that they would have to accept more responsibility for the practices that they endorse. Which is why they leave things so vague to begin with.
All the finger pointing that happens after an accident or incident is quite comical to see. Usually ending with a fine issued for the airline or manufacturer; and the hammer coming down on a mechanic and inspector, whose names were signed on the line.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Then there were some addendums, and comment questions and answers afterwards:
Addendum: Another facet of outsourcing that the article forgot to mention: Is that many airlines and operators are employing a significant percentage of their maintenance staff through contracting agencies, rather than directly for the company.
Beyond the cost savings that can be had with an ebb and flow workload; this unfortunately fosters a situation where unskilled or plain shit mechanics can linger in the system, floating from job to job. Often with no links, or heads up, to the next company he/she is sent to about why they let the contractor go from the hangar.
Was the contract at an end? Or were there discipline problems? Skill issues?
"Who knows? Who cares? We need a warm body to perform some man hours of work on the upcoming heavy check." Seems to be the attitude of a lot of places.
Beyond the cost savings that can be had with an ebb and flow workload; this unfortunately fosters a situation where unskilled or plain shit mechanics can linger in the system, floating from job to job. Often with no links, or heads up, to the next company he/she is sent to about why they let the contractor go from the hangar.
Was the contract at an end? Or were there discipline problems? Skill issues?
"Who knows? Who cares? We need a warm body to perform some man hours of work on the upcoming heavy check." Seems to be the attitude of a lot of places.
Q in reference to the VF article's mention of airline maintenance practices and outsourcing: I wonder about how true this actually is because the impression given to me was that Delta did all of it's major work at TOC in Atlanta and in the old NWA facilities at MSP, US Air did things at PHX and other major bases and SWA and American did theirs wherever their major bases are.
A : A lot of the work contracted overseas, doesn't comprise an airline's whole fleet.
They'll still do lots of heavy maintenance at their heavy bases, or at Repair Stations stateside. But when they need more work, at a cheaper price, performed; that's when they send work to China (for example).
Almost an overflow type situation.
Another Question-ish comment : I have been to Aeroman in El Salvador and other MRO's throughout the world. I can't say I have ever found foreign MRO's too be "disturbing" .
One point that the article leaves out is that in the cases I have been involved with, the Airlines have a team of inspectors on sight too over see quality. Although the MRO in the end has legal responsibility to sign off tasks the Airline inspectors are involved with the process. Generally ,aviation maintenance is not as complicated as people think. Maintenance does take mechanical skills and a certain amount of reasoning but generally you follow the written procedures.
My Answer-ish comment: That is very true; the airlines DO send representatives along with their planes, to insure proper maintenance (and to reign in costs from being padded onto the bill). But that alone isn't perfect oversight either. As it is entirely dependent upon who you send to represent the airline. Send a lazy person, or a greedy person; and they'll let things slide through sloth or bribery. It has happened.
I stand by my opinion that if a foreign company does your work for you, then the FAA needs to be just as on top of them, as they are with a repair shop right next door to their offices. Give them the budget and the personnel to do it. If not, then don't allow that kind of foreign maintenance to happen. It's that simple.
---------------------------------------------
There was a much more official-y type response to the Vanity Fair article, from Aviation Pros; which I kind of think went too far in the other direction, in defense of the norm. But you can decide for yourself. Here is the link for that one:
https://www.aviationpros.com/press_release/12137217/contract-aviation-maintenance-safer-more-
efficient
And another response from Aviation Week, which is a little more measured:
Monday, July 25, 2016
Critique Me, Oh Critic!
I predicate this, by saying that this was about a nice little four line poem, that was posted in the "Critique" section of a poetry community. Where the guidelines are laid out thusly:
"The Critique: Please submit only works in process to the Critique. Please remember to give members an idea of where you are in the process, what kind of feedback you are looking for, or ask a question about something particular in your poem you'd like a response to. "
So, I asked, "What sort of critique were you looking for?" Simply because the poem seemed really good to me, and there wasn't much of it to pick at. And the response from a particular Troll, was as you see.
Now, all who is right, and who is wrong, aside; it caused a lot of reflection on my part.
First: It reminded me of how (overly)sensitive I am to this kind of behavior. Also how fortunate I am to have 99.9% of my interactions here to have been positive ones, with positive and intelligent individuals.
Second: Who AM I to critique anyone's poetry, anyways? The answer to which, is that I'm nobody, really.
I've self-published several books of poetry, and short subjects (narratives, op-eds, etc). But that certainly doesn't make me any authority on anything other than the ability to make a decent looking product, with the assistance of some easy to use tools. That take the form of Smashwords, Kindle Publishing, Createspace, and Lulu.
My formal English/writing education ended at the conclusion of my AP writing classes, senior year in High School. So no help there.
I know how poetry makes me feel inside, and I know what is pleasing for ME to read, both aloud and silently (sometimes two different things).
I can suggest different phrasing, or word choice, based on that; if asked. And I have had the chance to do so, through helping edit someone's poetry books, whose author didn't have English as her mother tongue.
But as far as the technicalities of writing poetry....... I am quite lacking. I am no judge.
If someone says, "Write me a sonnet, about the Great Floridian Manatee", then I can do that. But only after looking up how to write a sonnet, and learning more about Manatees. Which doesn't make me so much an expert; more of a student.
Who am I to critique anyone? Nobody.
I wouldn't even have thought on this today, except someone else has asked me to participate in some poetry critique, and I am having all the feels about it.
Cheers, to being painfully inadequate.
"The Critique: Please submit only works in process to the Critique. Please remember to give members an idea of where you are in the process, what kind of feedback you are looking for, or ask a question about something particular in your poem you'd like a response to. "
So, I asked, "What sort of critique were you looking for?" Simply because the poem seemed really good to me, and there wasn't much of it to pick at. And the response from a particular Troll, was as you see.
Now, all who is right, and who is wrong, aside; it caused a lot of reflection on my part.
First: It reminded me of how (overly)sensitive I am to this kind of behavior. Also how fortunate I am to have 99.9% of my interactions here to have been positive ones, with positive and intelligent individuals.
Second: Who AM I to critique anyone's poetry, anyways? The answer to which, is that I'm nobody, really.
I've self-published several books of poetry, and short subjects (narratives, op-eds, etc). But that certainly doesn't make me any authority on anything other than the ability to make a decent looking product, with the assistance of some easy to use tools. That take the form of Smashwords, Kindle Publishing, Createspace, and Lulu.
My formal English/writing education ended at the conclusion of my AP writing classes, senior year in High School. So no help there.
I know how poetry makes me feel inside, and I know what is pleasing for ME to read, both aloud and silently (sometimes two different things).
I can suggest different phrasing, or word choice, based on that; if asked. And I have had the chance to do so, through helping edit someone's poetry books, whose author didn't have English as her mother tongue.
But as far as the technicalities of writing poetry....... I am quite lacking. I am no judge.
If someone says, "Write me a sonnet, about the Great Floridian Manatee", then I can do that. But only after looking up how to write a sonnet, and learning more about Manatees. Which doesn't make me so much an expert; more of a student.
Who am I to critique anyone? Nobody.
I wouldn't even have thought on this today, except someone else has asked me to participate in some poetry critique, and I am having all the feels about it.
Cheers, to being painfully inadequate.
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Where Fred Will, and Will Not
I have often said that I have a certain line across North America; below which I will not live. I used to call it my own personal Mason-Dixon Line, but in light of wishing to not become mired in any discussion of the Southern Confederacy and what they may or may not have stood for; I have officially renamed it "Fred's DMZ"
As you can see, Fred's DMZ stretches from sea to shining sea. Encompassing (from East to West) Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, roughly the Northern half of New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and naturally all of Canada & Alaska.
You may notice some odd things on the path of the DMZ. Most odd being the exclusion of all of Idaho. Reason being that I have no use for Idaho or their potatoes (and I may or may not have been arrested there once. Spoiler Alert: I have not).
I fell in love with the San Francisco/Northern California area (only the half closest to the ocean!!) once on a visit there; so that has been added as an addendum.
As for New York: Everything South of Albany might as well belong to New York City; so they can have it.
My choice of the Area Fred Will Live is based exclusively upon Climate. As I like to have four solid seasons, with an average temperature somewhere around 50 to 60 degrees F. The rules being bent a bit for the Pacific Northwest, due to their great beauty, and generally tolerable climate.
Perhaps South Dakota made that cut, but being that it has 'South' in its name, it got tossed to the pigs.
Fred's DMZ could be extended, using the mentioned rules, to wrap all around the Northern Hemisphere, and I should probably work on that someday. The same could be said for the Southern Hemisphere.
A previous version of this map, had me accepting every single state that touched Canada. With the DMZ being those state's Southern borders. But that had drawbacks, so had to be discarded.
I do make exception for most places within a couple miles of a Great Lake. So I think we have to imagine a stretch of land that I would deem acceptable, that runs all along the South shore of Lake Erie. The rest of Ohio is pretty 'meh'.
I apologize if you are a big Ohio, Idaho, or NYC fan; as I called those three places out specifically.
There might be something to learn about me from this map, or not.
If you have read down this far, I have it on good authority that the next set of winning Powerball numbers is: 13, 22, 24, 36, 47 - 14
Cheers!
As you can see, Fred's DMZ stretches from sea to shining sea. Encompassing (from East to West) Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, roughly the Northern half of New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and naturally all of Canada & Alaska.
You may notice some odd things on the path of the DMZ. Most odd being the exclusion of all of Idaho. Reason being that I have no use for Idaho or their potatoes (and I may or may not have been arrested there once. Spoiler Alert: I have not).
I fell in love with the San Francisco/Northern California area (only the half closest to the ocean!!) once on a visit there; so that has been added as an addendum.
As for New York: Everything South of Albany might as well belong to New York City; so they can have it.
My choice of the Area Fred Will Live is based exclusively upon Climate. As I like to have four solid seasons, with an average temperature somewhere around 50 to 60 degrees F. The rules being bent a bit for the Pacific Northwest, due to their great beauty, and generally tolerable climate.
Perhaps South Dakota made that cut, but being that it has 'South' in its name, it got tossed to the pigs.
Fred's DMZ could be extended, using the mentioned rules, to wrap all around the Northern Hemisphere, and I should probably work on that someday. The same could be said for the Southern Hemisphere.
A previous version of this map, had me accepting every single state that touched Canada. With the DMZ being those state's Southern borders. But that had drawbacks, so had to be discarded.
I do make exception for most places within a couple miles of a Great Lake. So I think we have to imagine a stretch of land that I would deem acceptable, that runs all along the South shore of Lake Erie. The rest of Ohio is pretty 'meh'.
I apologize if you are a big Ohio, Idaho, or NYC fan; as I called those three places out specifically.
There might be something to learn about me from this map, or not.
If you have read down this far, I have it on good authority that the next set of winning Powerball numbers is: 13, 22, 24, 36, 47 - 14
Cheers!
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
The Spartacus Poem
Why do you poem, poet?
I have zero idea, and I actually give zero fucks about it.
I can't explain that statement, any more than I can explain why I'm still writing. Writing what? I don't know from day to day. I've given up on writing the great American novel; as so many people joke about (but I think are dead serious about secretly) doing.
I just submitted a poem to my regular group, in a new thing they are trying, called The Contest. Nobody really wins anything, which is just how I like my rewards to be: frugal and far between.
For this contest we are to write a poem, and then instead of posting it to the group, we email it to the moderators, who post it for us. That way, nobody knows who posted what.
I corresponded with one of the mods, about how I kind of put my stamp on things that I write. I'm saying that as a brag, since I haven't decided if it's a good thing or not, but I have developed a certain style to my writing. She said that seemed fine, as there were several others that she could probably identify just by the writing style as well.
Predictably, I couldn't get that short exchange out of my head all day, and ended up writing about trying to remove fingerprints in a pretty awful way; transitioning from an expression of the freedom of being anonymous - to the fingerprint removal - to declaring I was Spartacus.
It almost makes sense if you read the actual piece. Almost.
I've taken to Twitter lately. After resisting it pretty successfully for quite awhile. And I use it to write short little things. Pithy poems usually, or bits of longer things; and occasionally, a direct response to another Tweet from someone. It is rewarding when that person happens to notice what I did.
Oh, sweet vanity.
I don't have much of a point. As usual. Oh, I did publish my 'anonymous' Spartacus poem on my blog first, before I sent it to be posted, by someone other than me. The glass is half empty, don't forget.
Cheers
I have zero idea, and I actually give zero fucks about it.
I can't explain that statement, any more than I can explain why I'm still writing. Writing what? I don't know from day to day. I've given up on writing the great American novel; as so many people joke about (but I think are dead serious about secretly) doing.
I just submitted a poem to my regular group, in a new thing they are trying, called The Contest. Nobody really wins anything, which is just how I like my rewards to be: frugal and far between.
For this contest we are to write a poem, and then instead of posting it to the group, we email it to the moderators, who post it for us. That way, nobody knows who posted what.
I corresponded with one of the mods, about how I kind of put my stamp on things that I write. I'm saying that as a brag, since I haven't decided if it's a good thing or not, but I have developed a certain style to my writing. She said that seemed fine, as there were several others that she could probably identify just by the writing style as well.
Predictably, I couldn't get that short exchange out of my head all day, and ended up writing about trying to remove fingerprints in a pretty awful way; transitioning from an expression of the freedom of being anonymous - to the fingerprint removal - to declaring I was Spartacus.
It almost makes sense if you read the actual piece. Almost.
I've taken to Twitter lately. After resisting it pretty successfully for quite awhile. And I use it to write short little things. Pithy poems usually, or bits of longer things; and occasionally, a direct response to another Tweet from someone. It is rewarding when that person happens to notice what I did.
Oh, sweet vanity.
I don't have much of a point. As usual. Oh, I did publish my 'anonymous' Spartacus poem on my blog first, before I sent it to be posted, by someone other than me. The glass is half empty, don't forget.
Cheers
Monday, March 9, 2015
Kristen's Nine Questions
Presented here, are my answers, and the questions, to "Nine Things I Wonder About Other Writers" put together by Kristen, from her blog post over at Navigations (little lodestar). http://www.littlelodestar.com/?p=4759
Brought to my attention courtesy of my friend T. Pascal, who saw it thanks to our mutual acquaintance Shen Hart.
1. Do you share your work with your partner or spouse? Does it matter if it’s been published yet?
I share what I write with my spouse sometimes. Though I've learned what to expect from certain things. If it is an especially rhyme-y poem, then I can expect a standard "Nope, I don't like that" with an accompanying muttering as she walks away that sounds an awful lot like "Fucking Doctor Seuss rhymey whiney bullshit....." My more narrative story pieces get a much better reception from this quarter.
Second half of the question almost doesn't count? As everything that I write gets published, first on the daily blog, then in the yearly collection at the end of the calendar year (or put into a special collection if it is of a theme or storyline)
2. How much of your family and/or closest “friends in real life first” read your stuff…let alone give you feedback about it?
That's both easy and hard to define, in that order. My mother wants hard copies of my books for her coffee tables, though I have no idea if she has ever cracked on open; and I've spared her my more risque publications as well. I receive no comments from my family about my writing. I get the distinct feeling they all might be embarrassed about it all (my wife being the exception).
Friends in real life? I'm not sure I have any anymore perhaps. Of people I interact with face to face, I have nobody I would consider a friend anymore. Defined by: seeing someone outside of work on purpose for drinking/playing/etc. I have people I consider work-circle friends, and none of them have read my writing, that I know of.
I have several people I do not see face to face, whom I have met through the internet, that I chat with almost every single day. I consider them friends in real life. They have all read my writing, and have thought highly off the odd piece here and there. And their opinion means the world to me, as shown by the tears that well up at just the thought of them at this moment.
I don't ask for feedback often. When I do, I truly need it for reasons out of my control. My ego is a fragile thing, and a rejection or harsh comment from a real person can send me into a tailspin that will see me not write anything for weeks as a result. My friends and fellow writers have so far shown a talent for weaving constructive criticism into a comment that does not harm me, only helps. For that I am thankful.
3. What do you do with the pieces that continually get rejected–post on your blog? Trash? When do you know it’s time to let it go?
Clearly, these questions were written by a 'real' writer, who actually submits things to others for publication. I don't do that (see the fragile ego issue from the last question).
I did submit a couple things two years ago to a certain publication. One which I thought I had not one, but two, slam dunks to offer them. Much to my chagrin, they were both rejected.
I was only somewhat consoled by the fact that none of the pieces that made it into their book were poetry based. Serving to cement their bad taste.
Those two pieces ended up in my erotic poetry collection. With a pithy paragraph in the introduction, shaming the rejecting entities.
I guess I don't let things go in the traditional sense. As my version of letting go, is publishing.
4. Are there pieces you write for one very specific place that, once rejected, you just let go of, or do you rework into something else?
See the above question for reference on this. I do write for specific places sometimes. Once, I was asked to write a guest blogger entry or three. But that turned into a bit of a fail. As I took it far too seriously, and threw my personal style right out the window in the interest of writing "Professionally". Turns out, my personal style was the whole reason I'd been asked to submit guest writing to begin with. Lesson noted.
I also write to the weekly prompt in the community group Poets of G+. I should do that every week, as it is a very healthy exercise for me. But I don't.
Incidentally, something I wrote specifically for the Prompt, got rejected right out of there one week. I was tiffed beyond belief. Especially as I had gone to great lengths, gone around the world the opposite direction, etc; to incorporate the prompt in a 1600 word piece (as the last line). It got rejected as "This is not poetry". I was mad about that for about a year. Then I realized that, regardless of the style I wrote it in, it kind of wasn't poetry. This was really hit home when I did successfully write a narrative poem for the same group, which got high praise from people whose opinion I valued.
I took that 'Not Poetry' and it is being incorporated into a section of a novel I am working on. And I am twice as happy that I was prodded by that prompt into writing it now.
5. What is your main source of reading-based inspiration (especially you essayists)? Blogs? Magazines? Journals? Anthologies? Book of essays by one writer?
I am often inspired by what my fellow writers will post online. I enjoy riffing on their ideas sometimes, and have been pleased with some of the results. Beyond that, anything I read could serve as an inspiration, often the most banal things, like Wiki articles, or some five part list article on Cracked.
I am currently dredging everything up in my memory banks about 1800's to early 1900's beliefs about our Solar System. So lots of Red Mars stuff; like Princess of Mars, and The Martian Chronicles. Along with the 2014 anthology "Old Mars". (I've pre-ordered "Old Venus" as well.) Stories and ideas that had us thinking that these other planets were places we could go walk around on.
The question doesn't ask, but I write what I consider to be my best poetry, with music playing. It gives me a rhythm and phrasing to write to. Sometimes one song on a loop will serve as a template for a poem. And nobody ever knows.....(usually)
6. What tends to spark ideas more for you: what you see/hear in daily life or what you read?
(oops, I should have waited) When it comes to poetry, more than anything else, music inspires it. The best, are songs that have particularly good lyric phrasing, that provides a real structure to write to.
My passions inspire writing as well; aviation, aviation maintenance, typewriters, tools, animals in the backyard, even odd stains on the wall.
I never know what will inspire something in me.
7. Who have you read in the past year or two that you feel is completely brilliant but so underappreciated?
Ok, I want very badly to say "Almost everything that T. Pascal writes". But, since he dropped my name as an answer to this same question, that raises moral implications for this answer.
So I must think of another writer.... I discovered someone on Tumblr just recently, who is very much on my wavelength as far as writing, and I loved some of his pieces. And damned if I can recall who it is. (this kind of illustrates how much of a mess I find tumblr is to use when you want to find something specific!)
I guess I kind of failed this question. NEXT!
8. Without listing anything written by Dani Shapiro, Anne Lamott, Lee Gutkind, or Natalie Goldberg, what craft books are “must haves”?
I have to echo a previous answer to this, a little less elegantly, with a hearty "Who the feck are these people we aren't supposed to mention now?" I suppose this utterly reveals my roots as a not real writer/author individual. But I have no idea, as I don't know even what those people write about.
I refer to the Chicago Manual of Style, when I work my publishing end of things sometimes. And I think everyone should reference some manual of publishing style when making a book or ebook, at the very least just to see what you are doing blatantly wrong. Beyond that, I don't consider any book on the craft of writing to be a must have.
I think this is because I have decided upon a course of style for my writing, and I'm tacking HARD into it. Come hell or high water, the what and how I write will be recognized in the long run. Or not. I'm not going to change my craft to suit anyone else, ever again.
9. Have you ever regretted having something published? Was it because of the content or the actual writing style/syntax?
Almost; and it was because of the content.
The first thing I almost regretting writing, and publishing for the world to see; was about some early sexual experiences I had with someone. And when I say 'early', I mean that I was seven years old.
I feel that sharing things like that, in public places such as this, lets it be found by people who may be feeling like freaks for having something similar happen to them when they were young. It is important to talk about such things, so that nobody feels alone.
For context, think about someone with a 'weird' thing happening to their body. If you Google it, chances are, you'll find a group of people talking about just that exact thing. It helps you feel like you aren't alone, and gives you some idea of how to deal with it.
Well, that bit I wrote, got me accused of being a pedophile by one particular, vocal, person. And while this all happened within a relatively small community group; it was one of the most upsetting things I've ever experienced in my life.
It was a real test of my practice of using my real name for publishing things online, as well as my practice of not taking things down, as long as they were an honest representation of who I am in real life, warts and all.
This incident also cemented a few people as real friends in my mind. Are they "real face to face" friends? No, and we may never actually share a cup of coffee together, as it were. But they are real friends to me, as real as it gets. They each defended what I had written, long before I even realized what was going on, and even offered experiences in their own lives regarding similar things. It was cathartic for me in the end.
A real experience.
As another thing on this last question: I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop, when it comes to my election as a School Board Trustee last fall for the local school. I kind of can't wait, and am kind of dreading, the day that someone around here discovers my writing.
I'm not ashamed of anything I've put out, and I started actively writing online, and publishing in 2011/12. So this facet of my life was very public knowledge to the voters of my district, long before my election victory. If anyone had bothered to Google my name, everything is laid out to find.
So I sometimes wonder; will it be my erotic poetry book? or perhaps that time I explored racism? or even my series of essays on creating a libertarian/communist society out of America? And let's not forget my short story on a fictional violent coup attempt in the USA.
But I won't back down from a word of it. Not one bloody word. For if you read all the silly things I've written, between the Worries, the poetry, the stories; that is who I am. And if I deny who I am, then I am nobody.
And being a nobody to even yourself, would be the worst thing I can think of.
Cheers
Brought to my attention courtesy of my friend T. Pascal, who saw it thanks to our mutual acquaintance Shen Hart.
1. Do you share your work with your partner or spouse? Does it matter if it’s been published yet?
I share what I write with my spouse sometimes. Though I've learned what to expect from certain things. If it is an especially rhyme-y poem, then I can expect a standard "Nope, I don't like that" with an accompanying muttering as she walks away that sounds an awful lot like "Fucking Doctor Seuss rhymey whiney bullshit....." My more narrative story pieces get a much better reception from this quarter.
Second half of the question almost doesn't count? As everything that I write gets published, first on the daily blog, then in the yearly collection at the end of the calendar year (or put into a special collection if it is of a theme or storyline)
2. How much of your family and/or closest “friends in real life first” read your stuff…let alone give you feedback about it?
That's both easy and hard to define, in that order. My mother wants hard copies of my books for her coffee tables, though I have no idea if she has ever cracked on open; and I've spared her my more risque publications as well. I receive no comments from my family about my writing. I get the distinct feeling they all might be embarrassed about it all (my wife being the exception).
Friends in real life? I'm not sure I have any anymore perhaps. Of people I interact with face to face, I have nobody I would consider a friend anymore. Defined by: seeing someone outside of work on purpose for drinking/playing/etc. I have people I consider work-circle friends, and none of them have read my writing, that I know of.
I have several people I do not see face to face, whom I have met through the internet, that I chat with almost every single day. I consider them friends in real life. They have all read my writing, and have thought highly off the odd piece here and there. And their opinion means the world to me, as shown by the tears that well up at just the thought of them at this moment.
I don't ask for feedback often. When I do, I truly need it for reasons out of my control. My ego is a fragile thing, and a rejection or harsh comment from a real person can send me into a tailspin that will see me not write anything for weeks as a result. My friends and fellow writers have so far shown a talent for weaving constructive criticism into a comment that does not harm me, only helps. For that I am thankful.
3. What do you do with the pieces that continually get rejected–post on your blog? Trash? When do you know it’s time to let it go?
Clearly, these questions were written by a 'real' writer, who actually submits things to others for publication. I don't do that (see the fragile ego issue from the last question).
I did submit a couple things two years ago to a certain publication. One which I thought I had not one, but two, slam dunks to offer them. Much to my chagrin, they were both rejected.
I was only somewhat consoled by the fact that none of the pieces that made it into their book were poetry based. Serving to cement their bad taste.
Those two pieces ended up in my erotic poetry collection. With a pithy paragraph in the introduction, shaming the rejecting entities.
I guess I don't let things go in the traditional sense. As my version of letting go, is publishing.
4. Are there pieces you write for one very specific place that, once rejected, you just let go of, or do you rework into something else?
See the above question for reference on this. I do write for specific places sometimes. Once, I was asked to write a guest blogger entry or three. But that turned into a bit of a fail. As I took it far too seriously, and threw my personal style right out the window in the interest of writing "Professionally". Turns out, my personal style was the whole reason I'd been asked to submit guest writing to begin with. Lesson noted.
I also write to the weekly prompt in the community group Poets of G+. I should do that every week, as it is a very healthy exercise for me. But I don't.
Incidentally, something I wrote specifically for the Prompt, got rejected right out of there one week. I was tiffed beyond belief. Especially as I had gone to great lengths, gone around the world the opposite direction, etc; to incorporate the prompt in a 1600 word piece (as the last line). It got rejected as "This is not poetry". I was mad about that for about a year. Then I realized that, regardless of the style I wrote it in, it kind of wasn't poetry. This was really hit home when I did successfully write a narrative poem for the same group, which got high praise from people whose opinion I valued.
I took that 'Not Poetry' and it is being incorporated into a section of a novel I am working on. And I am twice as happy that I was prodded by that prompt into writing it now.
5. What is your main source of reading-based inspiration (especially you essayists)? Blogs? Magazines? Journals? Anthologies? Book of essays by one writer?
I am often inspired by what my fellow writers will post online. I enjoy riffing on their ideas sometimes, and have been pleased with some of the results. Beyond that, anything I read could serve as an inspiration, often the most banal things, like Wiki articles, or some five part list article on Cracked.
I am currently dredging everything up in my memory banks about 1800's to early 1900's beliefs about our Solar System. So lots of Red Mars stuff; like Princess of Mars, and The Martian Chronicles. Along with the 2014 anthology "Old Mars". (I've pre-ordered "Old Venus" as well.) Stories and ideas that had us thinking that these other planets were places we could go walk around on.
The question doesn't ask, but I write what I consider to be my best poetry, with music playing. It gives me a rhythm and phrasing to write to. Sometimes one song on a loop will serve as a template for a poem. And nobody ever knows.....(usually)
6. What tends to spark ideas more for you: what you see/hear in daily life or what you read?
(oops, I should have waited) When it comes to poetry, more than anything else, music inspires it. The best, are songs that have particularly good lyric phrasing, that provides a real structure to write to.
My passions inspire writing as well; aviation, aviation maintenance, typewriters, tools, animals in the backyard, even odd stains on the wall.
I never know what will inspire something in me.
7. Who have you read in the past year or two that you feel is completely brilliant but so underappreciated?
Ok, I want very badly to say "Almost everything that T. Pascal writes". But, since he dropped my name as an answer to this same question, that raises moral implications for this answer.
So I must think of another writer.... I discovered someone on Tumblr just recently, who is very much on my wavelength as far as writing, and I loved some of his pieces. And damned if I can recall who it is. (this kind of illustrates how much of a mess I find tumblr is to use when you want to find something specific!)
I guess I kind of failed this question. NEXT!
8. Without listing anything written by Dani Shapiro, Anne Lamott, Lee Gutkind, or Natalie Goldberg, what craft books are “must haves”?
I have to echo a previous answer to this, a little less elegantly, with a hearty "Who the feck are these people we aren't supposed to mention now?" I suppose this utterly reveals my roots as a not real writer/author individual. But I have no idea, as I don't know even what those people write about.
I refer to the Chicago Manual of Style, when I work my publishing end of things sometimes. And I think everyone should reference some manual of publishing style when making a book or ebook, at the very least just to see what you are doing blatantly wrong. Beyond that, I don't consider any book on the craft of writing to be a must have.
I think this is because I have decided upon a course of style for my writing, and I'm tacking HARD into it. Come hell or high water, the what and how I write will be recognized in the long run. Or not. I'm not going to change my craft to suit anyone else, ever again.
9. Have you ever regretted having something published? Was it because of the content or the actual writing style/syntax?
Almost; and it was because of the content.
The first thing I almost regretting writing, and publishing for the world to see; was about some early sexual experiences I had with someone. And when I say 'early', I mean that I was seven years old.
I feel that sharing things like that, in public places such as this, lets it be found by people who may be feeling like freaks for having something similar happen to them when they were young. It is important to talk about such things, so that nobody feels alone.
For context, think about someone with a 'weird' thing happening to their body. If you Google it, chances are, you'll find a group of people talking about just that exact thing. It helps you feel like you aren't alone, and gives you some idea of how to deal with it.
Well, that bit I wrote, got me accused of being a pedophile by one particular, vocal, person. And while this all happened within a relatively small community group; it was one of the most upsetting things I've ever experienced in my life.
It was a real test of my practice of using my real name for publishing things online, as well as my practice of not taking things down, as long as they were an honest representation of who I am in real life, warts and all.
This incident also cemented a few people as real friends in my mind. Are they "real face to face" friends? No, and we may never actually share a cup of coffee together, as it were. But they are real friends to me, as real as it gets. They each defended what I had written, long before I even realized what was going on, and even offered experiences in their own lives regarding similar things. It was cathartic for me in the end.
A real experience.
As another thing on this last question: I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop, when it comes to my election as a School Board Trustee last fall for the local school. I kind of can't wait, and am kind of dreading, the day that someone around here discovers my writing.
I'm not ashamed of anything I've put out, and I started actively writing online, and publishing in 2011/12. So this facet of my life was very public knowledge to the voters of my district, long before my election victory. If anyone had bothered to Google my name, everything is laid out to find.
So I sometimes wonder; will it be my erotic poetry book? or perhaps that time I explored racism? or even my series of essays on creating a libertarian/communist society out of America? And let's not forget my short story on a fictional violent coup attempt in the USA.
But I won't back down from a word of it. Not one bloody word. For if you read all the silly things I've written, between the Worries, the poetry, the stories; that is who I am. And if I deny who I am, then I am nobody.
And being a nobody to even yourself, would be the worst thing I can think of.
Cheers
Saturday, January 24, 2015
What I wrote to Tim about self publishing - via FB
A coworker noticed that I self-published books of my work; and asked me about how to make them. So I gave him this blowhard-length answer. I can't recall when we had this exchange now, must have been late 2012? This is what I told him:
"Tim, I apologize for not being more illuminating earlier about books and publishing. I'd be happy to talk about it if you were interested.
"Tim, I apologize for not being more illuminating earlier about books and publishing. I'd be happy to talk about it if you were interested.
I go into it in greater detail in the foreword of my first book. But the gist of the "Why?" is the having of a legacy of some kind.
I'm not much of a builder, or a physical media artist. So beyond my kids, I wanted to leave something with my name on it behind when I go. For me, that meant writing, and subsequently publishing what I wrote into some books that could survive beyond me.
It's been a lot of fun so far. I initially looked into www.lulu.com for self publishing, as they make it insanely easy to put together just about any kind of book you'd like to have. Photo books, poetry books, novels, etc. And you can have just one made for yourself, or a thousand. Prices not bad either.
I gravitated to Amazon's Kindle publishing site, as well as their Createspace physical book site; for the simple fact of having a larger audience via Amazon able to see and get my books. It fit my goal a little better.
Amazon give me exposure, but not necessarily lots of sales. I get more traffic as far as downloads using Smashwords.com where my books are available for free as ebooks.
It's not as physical as I'd like, but it lets people read them if they wish.
I don't plan on getting rich, or famous, off my books. The best thing I could envision happening, would be someone becoming inspired by something I came up with, to write, or make, something really great. So I just imagine what I write to be "Seeds" for human creativity.
Keeps me realistic, and humble.
But yeah, if you wanted to put something together, I'd be happy to give any advice I might have gained so far.
My first book, was a real monster to put together: Over 700 pages, 75,000 words, 366 chapters. It was a real learning experience. And basically chronicled what I did as far as writing, every day, in 2011.
Sorry this got so long. Hour long lunch, plus idle hands, equals this. Sometimes.
Cheers!"
1/24/2015 update: he never got back with me. So either my advice was so good that he didn't need to; or ..... other.
I'm betting hard on 'other'.
Cheers
To not knowing as much as I think.
1/24/2015 update: he never got back with me. So either my advice was so good that he didn't need to; or ..... other.
I'm betting hard on 'other'.
Cheers
To not knowing as much as I think.
Beware The Shithouse Fool
"You should've been a lawyer"
I get that a lot. Often from my wife, or my mother. I used to get it from my dad, but he doesn't say much anymore; though I try to get his opinions on things when I think about visiting his grave*. And I'm sure that people I work with sometimes think to themselves "Shithouse lawyer", when I lay some of my oh-so-reasoned-logical arguments upon them.
I say a lot of that with tongue firmly in cheek of course. Because I shouldn't have been, and they do, and no they really are not. Answered and commented in order with reference to the above.
I should be a lawyer, for about the first three minutes of a conflict; whether it be a debate, discussion, argument, whatever. After that, I start to wonder why I'm there, and what all the fuss was about.
But by then, I've said things I have to stick with now. Why? Pride? Not sure. But I try to. Often for as much as five minutes more. By which time I've mentally thrown in the towel. Fuck it. Because few things are worth the kind of effort it takes to maintain a logical repartee in debate for that long. We are talking upwards of 8 minutes here, people!
I try not to do it anymore really.
I'd go on about this as I have about things in the past, but to be honest, I'm feeling too down about the latest of such incidents last night. After the other person really only showed concern for me on a certain subject, that I did not want to discuss; I got defensive, I got dicky, and after an appropriate amount of defensive offense, which hurt the other person's feelings; I disengaged.
Because. Effort. Fuck it.
If an argument isn't even worth it to me to finish, I should probably start to preemptively stop myself from starting it. I think I'd be better off in the long run.
The only question is: Will my wife get sick of my bullshit, before I stop?
Cheers
To being a complete fool, apparently.
*Me thinking of visiting my dad's grave, consists of me driving right by where he is buried. Probably only about 75 yards away. Twice a day, every day that I work. When I'm feeling emotionally peckish, I will think thoughts of him and his morals and opinions as I go by. But never stop.
And the answer to that why, would take a much longer separate post. And just not today, thanks.
Oh, but I did visit my Grandparent's grave a week or so ago. My Mom's mom and dad. They are down in Saginaw, in a Mausoleum. A place which reminds me of Hellraiser, and gave me bad dreams. I miss them though, and I plan on going back to leave some pictures of them on the wall next to their names, as we saw a lot of the other one's had. 1980 was so very long ago.
I get that a lot. Often from my wife, or my mother. I used to get it from my dad, but he doesn't say much anymore; though I try to get his opinions on things when I think about visiting his grave*. And I'm sure that people I work with sometimes think to themselves "Shithouse lawyer", when I lay some of my oh-so-reasoned-logical arguments upon them.
I say a lot of that with tongue firmly in cheek of course. Because I shouldn't have been, and they do, and no they really are not. Answered and commented in order with reference to the above.
I should be a lawyer, for about the first three minutes of a conflict; whether it be a debate, discussion, argument, whatever. After that, I start to wonder why I'm there, and what all the fuss was about.
But by then, I've said things I have to stick with now. Why? Pride? Not sure. But I try to. Often for as much as five minutes more. By which time I've mentally thrown in the towel. Fuck it. Because few things are worth the kind of effort it takes to maintain a logical repartee in debate for that long. We are talking upwards of 8 minutes here, people!
I try not to do it anymore really.
I'd go on about this as I have about things in the past, but to be honest, I'm feeling too down about the latest of such incidents last night. After the other person really only showed concern for me on a certain subject, that I did not want to discuss; I got defensive, I got dicky, and after an appropriate amount of defensive offense, which hurt the other person's feelings; I disengaged.
Because. Effort. Fuck it.
If an argument isn't even worth it to me to finish, I should probably start to preemptively stop myself from starting it. I think I'd be better off in the long run.
The only question is: Will my wife get sick of my bullshit, before I stop?
Cheers
To being a complete fool, apparently.
*Me thinking of visiting my dad's grave, consists of me driving right by where he is buried. Probably only about 75 yards away. Twice a day, every day that I work. When I'm feeling emotionally peckish, I will think thoughts of him and his morals and opinions as I go by. But never stop.
And the answer to that why, would take a much longer separate post. And just not today, thanks.
Oh, but I did visit my Grandparent's grave a week or so ago. My Mom's mom and dad. They are down in Saginaw, in a Mausoleum. A place which reminds me of Hellraiser, and gave me bad dreams. I miss them though, and I plan on going back to leave some pictures of them on the wall next to their names, as we saw a lot of the other one's had. 1980 was so very long ago.
Friday, October 4, 2013
Poetry and Bananas
I am a poet. There, I said it. Now you can all point and laugh, or whatever it is that we do to self professed poets these days.
That being said; I have an opinion about how poetry should look to me. I can't say if it's right or not. I just know that there is a certain way that I like to write, that actually feels like poetry to me.
I can defend this point of view with this brief explanation: What does it mean when someone stands back from something, and exclaims "That is poetry!" ?
In my experience, they are referring to something that is beautiful to them, something that flows easily, something that seems natural, and maybe even lasting in nature.
I've heard that exclamation in reference to sports. When a difficult run or catch, or unusual move is pulled off with an effortless kind of grace by the athlete. It looks like poetry. Because it is what it is.
I've heard that in reference to architecture, paintings, sculpture, natural landscapes, and the occasional nude man or woman. In all cases, referred to as 'poetry', due to how it looks, and more importantly, how it makes the observer feel inside.
That's essentially what poetry is to me: A group of words, no matter how you put them together, that flow naturally, and make you feel their beauty on the inside of your soul.
On achieving the goal of producing poetry, as I've defined it; I will be charitable, and say that I succeed about 10% of the time.
The other 90% of time made up of near misses, never should've attempted's , and what was I thinking's.
The 10% of the time that I succeed at putting words together in a pleasing way, at least to me (remember, this is all subjective!); it tends to flow out of my fingers effortlessly. Whether it is from a well thought out beginning, middle and end; or from the seed of one word or phrase.
It is beautiful. Just like the tuned athlete in motion, it flows without effort for both writer and reader. With natural starts, stops, and pauses; unforced rhymes and ideas.
To be honest, I was going to take this opportunity to complain about something that myself and a friend have dubbed as "Banana Poetry". Called so, because it drives me bananas.
It is the practice of some poets, to dice up their words. Whether to force a rhyme from the middle of a sentence; or to create unnaturally paused two to three word lines.
I will give an example using the first five lines of Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken":
| Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, | ||
| And sorry I could not travel both | ||
| And be one traveler, long I stood | ||
| And looked down one as far as I could | ||
| To where it bent in the undergrowth; |
I suppose a scholarly person could describe that as "An example of a-b-a-a-b poetry stanza, blah blah blah"
Whatever. It's pretty, and a great start, to a great poem, that people can generally look at, and call it "Poetry".
Ok, now what if I break it up like this?
Two roads
Diverged
In a yellow wood
And sorry
I could not
Travel both
And be one
Traveler
Long I stood
And looked
Down one as far
As I could
To where it bent
In the undergrowth
Does that flow as nicely? Does that make as much sense?
Ok, I know art is subjective. And poetry, being art, is no exception. But the Frost structured original, flows much nicer to me, and is poetry so much more, than the one I broke up for the example.
Same words, same poet; but phrased very differently.
You see, to me, a poem has natural pauses. Just like punctuation, but you don't even need punctuation in the damned thing, because of how you laid it out. And how the poet lays it out, with all it's implied pauses and stops, is how it is to be read in the readers head. And if you didn't mean for the reader to stop at a certain word at the end of a line for a breath; then you've kind of failed at your job. Because that is what readers do at the end of a line in a poem; they stop to take a breath, so to speak.
You see, to me, a poem has natural pauses. Just like punctuation, but you don't even need punctuation in the damned thing, because of how you laid it out. And how the poet lays it out, with all it's implied pauses and stops, is how it is to be read in the readers head. And if you didn't mean for the reader to stop at a certain word at the end of a line for a breath; then you've kind of failed at your job. Because that is what readers do at the end of a line in a poem; they stop to take a breath, so to speak.
And then another one that drives me bananas. The ones that cut and hack, just to gain a rhyme.
Just imagine lines of a poem, that are cut off midstride, just to attain that magical a-b-a-b rhyme rhythm. Which is very overrated. Yet pretty sweet when you come by it naturally.
Well, anyways, that is just some commentary by me. About what poetry is to me, as of this date: 10-5-13.
I'm sure next year, I will feel differently.
Oh, and incidentally, when I bitch about a style that drives me bananas: It is because I've probably tried it, many times; and I hated it, couldn't make it work. So that's why I don't like it. As it doesn't feel like poetry to me.
That's not to say it doesn't feel like poetry to YOU. Or someone else. So save your hate. I know it's subjective, I've said so three or four times now.
When something is poetry, you KNOW it. From balls to brain. Nobody has to tell you.
Cheers, to poetry, in all it's myriad guises.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Aviation Myth and Legend
I'll bet you know some aviation myths. They could be misconceptions, half truths, outright lies; many different things. But many of them do have value, regardless.
Why? Because they do many things.
They can teach, as in a parable. Does it matter if a parable is true, if it teaches a valuable lesson about something?
They can generate interest in something. There is that old saying, "There is no such thing as bad publicity"; which as a lot of truth to it. If there are crazy stories floating around about something, it does make people interested. Which is in no small part due to our train wreck mentalities as humans. I still don't know why I slow down to look at car crashes. If I saw someone horribly injured, I'd have a hard time getting the image out of my head.
They can assuage fears of the unknown. Maybe someone doesn't have the time or savvy to really understand a concept of how an airplane flies; so a story is told to them about how wings make lift which might be not 100% technically true. But now they feel better about airplanes, and maybe an upcoming trip.
Aviation Legend, is another thing entirely in my opinion. These are the things that really happened. But they were never officially written down or reported. This can happen for various reasons, similar to reasons you might not report every incident with your car: Insurance, bad press, etc.
But the aviation legends, are the really interesting stories, even if they get exaggerated over time; until they begin to resemble myths themselves.
I wrote of one such legend in my first Tales of The Wrench collection. Specifically, the short story entitled A Tale of Two Towers. That story was heavily based on events that actually took place in the mid 1990's, in South America. A Douglas DC-8 really did become lost in the clouds on a test flight, and it really did crash through two huge radio/television antennae on top of a mountain (after narrowly avoiding the mountain itself!). It really did get tangled up in the support cables, and lose almost 8 feet of it's right wing. Then it managed to land safely.
You won't find that reported anywhere officially. It never happened. But it did.
I've been looking on and off for any mention of this accident for years. But I have yet to find anything. I know there is a stack of 35mm photos of the plane right after it landed. They show the tattered end of the wing where it was severed, the cables wrapped around the wings cutting into the flaps and leading edge, and the chunk of metal antenna structure that bounced along on top of the wing. But I don't know who has them.
I helped repair the aircraft after it was ferried back to the States. But I didn't take any pictures myself.
I remember how it looked when it landed. With strips of "battle damage repair" metal riveted in place over the jagged cuts in the wing trailing and leading edges, from the antenna support wires. The boilerplate splice that was Huck bolted onto the right wing, attaching a salvaged wing tip in place for the ferry flight.
How we carefully repaired all the damage, and the crazy looking three or four layer doubler that served to splice in that 'new' right wing tip, when it was all said and done.
I felt it was important to write that story down, and share it. Because of how marvelous it really is.
All stemming from a mistake of losing track of where you were in a very mountainous area; everything that followed was a straight up miracle of ability, engineering, and luck.
That the aircraft was able to full-throttle climb it's way up the face of that mountain, plow through a couple pretty substantial metal structures, lose a large wing section, and still be able to fly safely and land; is all a testament to the machine and the engineers at Douglas Aircraft.
That the flight crew was able to react to the mountain to begin with, accept what had happened, and stabilize the aircraft for flight and landing; is a tribute to their training and skill.
That's why that story is important. It shows what can happen, and still be walked away from. It provides confidence and a bit of pride.
As well as that underlying parable lesson: Don't get lost flying around in the mountains.
Why? Because they do many things.
They can teach, as in a parable. Does it matter if a parable is true, if it teaches a valuable lesson about something?
They can generate interest in something. There is that old saying, "There is no such thing as bad publicity"; which as a lot of truth to it. If there are crazy stories floating around about something, it does make people interested. Which is in no small part due to our train wreck mentalities as humans. I still don't know why I slow down to look at car crashes. If I saw someone horribly injured, I'd have a hard time getting the image out of my head.
They can assuage fears of the unknown. Maybe someone doesn't have the time or savvy to really understand a concept of how an airplane flies; so a story is told to them about how wings make lift which might be not 100% technically true. But now they feel better about airplanes, and maybe an upcoming trip.
Aviation Legend, is another thing entirely in my opinion. These are the things that really happened. But they were never officially written down or reported. This can happen for various reasons, similar to reasons you might not report every incident with your car: Insurance, bad press, etc.
But the aviation legends, are the really interesting stories, even if they get exaggerated over time; until they begin to resemble myths themselves.
I wrote of one such legend in my first Tales of The Wrench collection. Specifically, the short story entitled A Tale of Two Towers. That story was heavily based on events that actually took place in the mid 1990's, in South America. A Douglas DC-8 really did become lost in the clouds on a test flight, and it really did crash through two huge radio/television antennae on top of a mountain (after narrowly avoiding the mountain itself!). It really did get tangled up in the support cables, and lose almost 8 feet of it's right wing. Then it managed to land safely.
You won't find that reported anywhere officially. It never happened. But it did.
I've been looking on and off for any mention of this accident for years. But I have yet to find anything. I know there is a stack of 35mm photos of the plane right after it landed. They show the tattered end of the wing where it was severed, the cables wrapped around the wings cutting into the flaps and leading edge, and the chunk of metal antenna structure that bounced along on top of the wing. But I don't know who has them.
I helped repair the aircraft after it was ferried back to the States. But I didn't take any pictures myself.
I remember how it looked when it landed. With strips of "battle damage repair" metal riveted in place over the jagged cuts in the wing trailing and leading edges, from the antenna support wires. The boilerplate splice that was Huck bolted onto the right wing, attaching a salvaged wing tip in place for the ferry flight.
How we carefully repaired all the damage, and the crazy looking three or four layer doubler that served to splice in that 'new' right wing tip, when it was all said and done.
I felt it was important to write that story down, and share it. Because of how marvelous it really is.
All stemming from a mistake of losing track of where you were in a very mountainous area; everything that followed was a straight up miracle of ability, engineering, and luck.
That the aircraft was able to full-throttle climb it's way up the face of that mountain, plow through a couple pretty substantial metal structures, lose a large wing section, and still be able to fly safely and land; is all a testament to the machine and the engineers at Douglas Aircraft.
That the flight crew was able to react to the mountain to begin with, accept what had happened, and stabilize the aircraft for flight and landing; is a tribute to their training and skill.
That's why that story is important. It shows what can happen, and still be walked away from. It provides confidence and a bit of pride.
As well as that underlying parable lesson: Don't get lost flying around in the mountains.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Connor's Family Tree Report
My 13 year old son had to write a Family Tree report for school some months back. And what he came up with was......let's say "creative". We had him change it to be a little more factual. But I saved the first draft of it, just because it was rather awesome in it's own way.
I'm just going to put this here for posterity.
_____________________
I'm just going to put this here for posterity.
_____________________
Connor Robel’s Family Tree Report 2013 (1st Draft)
My family mostly came from the countries bordering the
Northern Atlantic which includes Scotland, United Kingdom, Ireland, East
Europe, Hungary, and other countries.
They all came on schooners and frigate ships. Some of them were poor and came to America to
work or own farms. While some other
people came to America almost as wealthy as the Queen of England.
The Putz’s were the first to come to America. Of course, to actually get to America, they
had to sail past the Statue of Liberty.
After that, they fled to Michigan to start a new life on a farm. Of course, in 1913’s storm of the century,
the Putz’s barn almost collapsed because of the 67 mile per hour winds. The Putz’s survived the gale but at a cost of
their barn.
Arnold Edward Feher was married to Jean Francis McCann, but
later served as an ambulance driver during World War II. Years after that ordeal serving the Army, he
went into retirement for the rest of his life.
Dying in 2009, the end of a veteran.
One of the dominant traits passed on are us having no widow’s
peak for our hairlines.
_______________________
I rather like the part about the Putz family 'fleeing' after their passing of the Statue of Liberty.
That, and the whole "wealthy as the Queen of England" thing.
My son, has this way of making logical leaps in his mind; so that things make sense to him. This is that, put into writing form.
Cheers
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
The Flame Challenge Submission
I posted an entry into Alan Alda's Flame Challenge
I thought I'd share it with you. It's not terrible, it's not great. It didn't even get an honorable mention! Go check out the website for the specifics. But the basic rules were: Explain what 'flame" is, to an 11 year old Alan Alda.
Here's my submission:
Dear Alan,
Thank you so much for asking me what a flame is!
Flame, in my understanding, could best be described like this:
Hot, bright, and hungry.
Almost like a living thing, flame needs air, heat, and food (which we would call fuel, like for a car)
When those three things come together in the right amounts, "Flame" happens.
You could also call it a fire.
The flame eats the fuel, changing whatever it eats into something like "Flame poop" This is the ash left behind after the flame is done.
If you put flame to paper, you will be left with very visible ashes, sometimes almost a black and brittle twin to the original paper!
If the flame is eating a gas, like the natural gas you might have at home for your mom's oven and stove; the ash left behind is so slight that you can't even see it. But over time, maybe weeks or months, if you burn a gas like that in the same place, there will be some ash left that you can see.
So flame is hot, and bright, and eats what it is burning, changing it into something like ashes.
I'm not a scientist Alan, but I hope I've helped you with your question!
Sincerely
Fred Robel
I thought I'd share it with you. It's not terrible, it's not great. It didn't even get an honorable mention! Go check out the website for the specifics. But the basic rules were: Explain what 'flame" is, to an 11 year old Alan Alda.
Here's my submission:
Dear Alan,
Thank you so much for asking me what a flame is!
Flame, in my understanding, could best be described like this:
Hot, bright, and hungry.
Almost like a living thing, flame needs air, heat, and food (which we would call fuel, like for a car)
When those three things come together in the right amounts, "Flame" happens.
You could also call it a fire.
The flame eats the fuel, changing whatever it eats into something like "Flame poop" This is the ash left behind after the flame is done.
If you put flame to paper, you will be left with very visible ashes, sometimes almost a black and brittle twin to the original paper!
If the flame is eating a gas, like the natural gas you might have at home for your mom's oven and stove; the ash left behind is so slight that you can't even see it. But over time, maybe weeks or months, if you burn a gas like that in the same place, there will be some ash left that you can see.
So flame is hot, and bright, and eats what it is burning, changing it into something like ashes.
I'm not a scientist Alan, but I hope I've helped you with your question!
Sincerely
Fred Robel
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Aviation Maintenance Writing Stuff
Hello there! I know it's been ages since I've written here. But it's wonderful too. Being that I've been channeling most of my creative writing into the Fritz365 project, ongoing, forever.
I've got two books out there floating (bloating?) in the ether. They're free on Smashwords, blah blah blah.
I'm accumulating more stories about aviation, or aviation related things, for a "Tales of the Wrench" book I'm going to do. I don't know how it will go over. As most of the stories aren't that long, and it won't be what most people will be expecting for a book about aviation maintenance stuff.
But it will be what it will be. Filled with stories of things that actually happened to me, incidents that were told to me, dramatizations of things I heard about fourth or fifth hand, and some things that I just plain made up. As it should be I guess. The Lore of the Mechanic, indeed.
I'm trying, trying hard, not to peg any person or company with bad things when I write about stuff. I hope it all comes off ok. I mean, some of the incidents are pretty specific, and all you'd have to do is google a bit on the subject, and you could find out names, dates, etc. A couple times I did name company names though, especially if the company in question is out of business. Or when I'm making fun of them on purpose (Monsanto). I mean, Monsanto is in the press for all kinds of horrid genetic things; they might be grateful for me to tease them about something else for a change? Eh, I guess I'll find out.
So here's a thing: I've often thought that aviation maintenance would make a pretty amusing television show. I don't know what sort exactly. You could do a standard half hour comedy thing, or a one hour light drama, with assorted craziness involved. The set could consist of a large empty building, which we'd call a 'hangar'. And one or two junky airplanes. Which can be bought for scrap prices out in the desert. Just for the set, something for the actors/mechanics to 'work' on and act against occasionally.
Aircraft mechanics as a group, are a pretty interesting lot, with a reputation for not being normal at all. The mechanic from "Wings" wasn't far off (Lowell? I think was his name...). Needs development though!
As a matter of fact, some of the stories from my book would be perfect for adaptation into episodes....... just a thought. Maybe I'll try my unsteady hand at script writing someday, and try to make that happen. There isn't much aviation mechanic specific stuff out there. Could be an untapped market!!
So that's that stuff. Some worries, some ideas. Some stuff.
Oh, it's summer again. Which means my in-laws are living in my yard again. Must be part gypsy.
Cheers, to thoughts on aviation maintenance and stuff.
I've got two books out there floating (bloating?) in the ether. They're free on Smashwords, blah blah blah.
I'm accumulating more stories about aviation, or aviation related things, for a "Tales of the Wrench" book I'm going to do. I don't know how it will go over. As most of the stories aren't that long, and it won't be what most people will be expecting for a book about aviation maintenance stuff.
But it will be what it will be. Filled with stories of things that actually happened to me, incidents that were told to me, dramatizations of things I heard about fourth or fifth hand, and some things that I just plain made up. As it should be I guess. The Lore of the Mechanic, indeed.
I'm trying, trying hard, not to peg any person or company with bad things when I write about stuff. I hope it all comes off ok. I mean, some of the incidents are pretty specific, and all you'd have to do is google a bit on the subject, and you could find out names, dates, etc. A couple times I did name company names though, especially if the company in question is out of business. Or when I'm making fun of them on purpose (Monsanto). I mean, Monsanto is in the press for all kinds of horrid genetic things; they might be grateful for me to tease them about something else for a change? Eh, I guess I'll find out.
So here's a thing: I've often thought that aviation maintenance would make a pretty amusing television show. I don't know what sort exactly. You could do a standard half hour comedy thing, or a one hour light drama, with assorted craziness involved. The set could consist of a large empty building, which we'd call a 'hangar'. And one or two junky airplanes. Which can be bought for scrap prices out in the desert. Just for the set, something for the actors/mechanics to 'work' on and act against occasionally.
Aircraft mechanics as a group, are a pretty interesting lot, with a reputation for not being normal at all. The mechanic from "Wings" wasn't far off (Lowell? I think was his name...). Needs development though!
As a matter of fact, some of the stories from my book would be perfect for adaptation into episodes....... just a thought. Maybe I'll try my unsteady hand at script writing someday, and try to make that happen. There isn't much aviation mechanic specific stuff out there. Could be an untapped market!!
So that's that stuff. Some worries, some ideas. Some stuff.
Oh, it's summer again. Which means my in-laws are living in my yard again. Must be part gypsy.
Cheers, to thoughts on aviation maintenance and stuff.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Writing There, Not Here, And Publishing
I have noticed, and you may not have, that I've been writing less of these columns.
I chalk it up to the fact that I have expanded the scope of what I do on my other blog, the Fritz365. It used to be all poetry, or at least that which I viewed as such. Now it has grown into poetry, concept stories, and serialized stories, and a few ideological statements masquerading as some bastardization of verse.
I'm developing my own style, or at least trying to. It was unconscious at first, but now I choose to continue in the manner in question, it feels like it works for me. If it ever catches on, it will doubtless be after my death. Though the chips are stacked, and telling me that it probably will not catch on at all.
I have been mulling over what to concentrate on next. I have several threads of ideas going here and there. I have quite a few of the 'Tales of the Wrench' stories out there already. It wouldn't be too awful to write some more, and publish them in a book and ebook. Like I did the Man in the Desert concept (Kisses Blood Kerosene & Silk).
I've written a few blatantly biographical ones, and a few others that are almost that, but with some little creative touches in as well.
I've been very pleased with the Amazon.com publishing process, except for one thing: I can't set the price of my ebooks as Free. It's very frustrating. I'm not trying to make money, or a living at this stuff. Maybe I could someday, but I'm not counting on it. So the important thing for me is to simply get my stuff before people's eyes. Hence the desire to offer it for free.
Smashwords, has come to my rescue. In more ways than one.
While it was easy making the hard copy book versions for Amazon Createspace, it was a little harder to get the formatting right for the Amazon Kindle store. It was then a few orders of magnitude harder to get the files formatted just right for the Smashwords edition.
Reason being, that Smashwords converts and sells in many different formats, so as to be available on as many devices as possible. They also have deals with the Apple store to sell the books that have been submitted to them, as long as they meet some stricter "premium" guidelines.
The "premium" moniker has nothing to do with quality of content, at least I don't flatter myself that way. Because I'm proud to say I got at least one of my books into that status with them. It was a simple matter of formatting, formatting, formatting. I kind of enjoyed it.
Hopefully, my longer poetry collection will be accepted as well. Though it was done before the Man in the Desert dealio, it has hit Smashwords last. This is due to me being silly.
Amazon, has a program where authors share in a pot of money if their books get lent out in their new Lending Service. Now I wasn't expecting to get money, but I did support the program. I think It's a good idea. So I signed up, and was nailed down to a 90 day exclusive agreement with Amazon.com.
That, coupled with my inability to set the Amazon pricing to Free, has limited the downloads of my big book of poetry. As a matter of fact, the only downloads it has, have been on the five 'promotional' days Amazon gives you. On those days, 5 days of your choosing out of the 90 days exclusive deal; your book is free to download. I think about 45 downloads happened. Which is great! I'm pleased. I think at least half of those were friends who were just doing it to be nice, but the other half were strangers, I hope.
So this is a rambley blog post, isn't it?
Well, it's about my self publishing, a little anyways. And I'm still working on it. I'm still doing my one entry a day on Fritz365. Though who knows how long I'll choose to keep it up. It's not easy to come up with stuff every day I sometimes find. And I occasionally have to put up what even I consider to be stinkers. So that says something.
I mean well though, I swear I do! Every one of them starts with a cute or clever idea. I just sometimes lack what I need to make it march for me.
Ok, I gotta run, I'm making little sense anyways. If anyone who reads this has any questions about publishing an ebook on Amazon, or on Smashwords; go ahead and ask. But try to go through the sites in question first, after all, if I can figure it out with no help other than the FAQ's and the comment boards; anyone can!
Cheers, to glutting the words market
I chalk it up to the fact that I have expanded the scope of what I do on my other blog, the Fritz365. It used to be all poetry, or at least that which I viewed as such. Now it has grown into poetry, concept stories, and serialized stories, and a few ideological statements masquerading as some bastardization of verse.
I'm developing my own style, or at least trying to. It was unconscious at first, but now I choose to continue in the manner in question, it feels like it works for me. If it ever catches on, it will doubtless be after my death. Though the chips are stacked, and telling me that it probably will not catch on at all.
I have been mulling over what to concentrate on next. I have several threads of ideas going here and there. I have quite a few of the 'Tales of the Wrench' stories out there already. It wouldn't be too awful to write some more, and publish them in a book and ebook. Like I did the Man in the Desert concept (Kisses Blood Kerosene & Silk).
I've written a few blatantly biographical ones, and a few others that are almost that, but with some little creative touches in as well.
I've been very pleased with the Amazon.com publishing process, except for one thing: I can't set the price of my ebooks as Free. It's very frustrating. I'm not trying to make money, or a living at this stuff. Maybe I could someday, but I'm not counting on it. So the important thing for me is to simply get my stuff before people's eyes. Hence the desire to offer it for free.
Smashwords, has come to my rescue. In more ways than one.
While it was easy making the hard copy book versions for Amazon Createspace, it was a little harder to get the formatting right for the Amazon Kindle store. It was then a few orders of magnitude harder to get the files formatted just right for the Smashwords edition.
Reason being, that Smashwords converts and sells in many different formats, so as to be available on as many devices as possible. They also have deals with the Apple store to sell the books that have been submitted to them, as long as they meet some stricter "premium" guidelines.
The "premium" moniker has nothing to do with quality of content, at least I don't flatter myself that way. Because I'm proud to say I got at least one of my books into that status with them. It was a simple matter of formatting, formatting, formatting. I kind of enjoyed it.
Hopefully, my longer poetry collection will be accepted as well. Though it was done before the Man in the Desert dealio, it has hit Smashwords last. This is due to me being silly.
Amazon, has a program where authors share in a pot of money if their books get lent out in their new Lending Service. Now I wasn't expecting to get money, but I did support the program. I think It's a good idea. So I signed up, and was nailed down to a 90 day exclusive agreement with Amazon.com.
That, coupled with my inability to set the Amazon pricing to Free, has limited the downloads of my big book of poetry. As a matter of fact, the only downloads it has, have been on the five 'promotional' days Amazon gives you. On those days, 5 days of your choosing out of the 90 days exclusive deal; your book is free to download. I think about 45 downloads happened. Which is great! I'm pleased. I think at least half of those were friends who were just doing it to be nice, but the other half were strangers, I hope.
So this is a rambley blog post, isn't it?
Well, it's about my self publishing, a little anyways. And I'm still working on it. I'm still doing my one entry a day on Fritz365. Though who knows how long I'll choose to keep it up. It's not easy to come up with stuff every day I sometimes find. And I occasionally have to put up what even I consider to be stinkers. So that says something.
I mean well though, I swear I do! Every one of them starts with a cute or clever idea. I just sometimes lack what I need to make it march for me.
Ok, I gotta run, I'm making little sense anyways. If anyone who reads this has any questions about publishing an ebook on Amazon, or on Smashwords; go ahead and ask. But try to go through the sites in question first, after all, if I can figure it out with no help other than the FAQ's and the comment boards; anyone can!
Cheers, to glutting the words market
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
An Apple a Day
An apple a day'
Keeps the doctor away
Or so they say
and thus it must be true
If we take that as gospel
Then perhaps ten would be better
Let's ask the apple apostle
And see what he says
Oh mighty apple guru
Where one is good
Shall many be better?
Or is that more than I should
Shall I be wary?
In response to my query
He gave good advice
If a little scary
And it was so good
I read it thrice!
Dear apple questioner
Your askance is reasonable
Though inadvisable
For reasons I shall now get into
One apple keeps things moving
Your stomach and upper GI
Your colon it groovin
All things work like they should
But add in too many
And trouble comes a plenty
Your stool will be
How you say?
"loose"
I don't mean the kind you sit on
With it's legs getting wobbly
I mean the kind you leave behind
And don't want to pick up after yourself
Lets just say it gets messy
And leave it at that
So keep the apple consumption within reason
So you don't scare the cat
As you would with the scene
That would happen if you
Consumed too many apples
Which I would term as more than two
Regards to your apple intentions
I remain the guru in question
Representing apples
In all their description
Keeps the doctor away
Or so they say
and thus it must be true
If we take that as gospel
Then perhaps ten would be better
Let's ask the apple apostle
And see what he says
Oh mighty apple guru
Where one is good
Shall many be better?
Or is that more than I should
Shall I be wary?
In response to my query
He gave good advice
If a little scary
And it was so good
I read it thrice!
Dear apple questioner
Your askance is reasonable
Though inadvisable
For reasons I shall now get into
One apple keeps things moving
Your stomach and upper GI
Your colon it groovin
All things work like they should
But add in too many
And trouble comes a plenty
Your stool will be
How you say?
"loose"
I don't mean the kind you sit on
With it's legs getting wobbly
I mean the kind you leave behind
And don't want to pick up after yourself
Lets just say it gets messy
And leave it at that
So keep the apple consumption within reason
So you don't scare the cat
As you would with the scene
That would happen if you
Consumed too many apples
Which I would term as more than two
Regards to your apple intentions
I remain the guru in question
Representing apples
In all their description
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
The Guy On the Side of the Road
There's a
guy lying on the side of the road.
I think
to myself that that just can't be. It's right next to a boat shaped planter
thing which has a mailbox sticking out of it. Maybe it's someone's scarecrow
decoration that tipped over.
Except, I
drive this stretch of road twice a day. I've not seen a scarecrow thing there
before. It just feels wrong.
It might
be some person that went out to get their mail, and collapsed near the mailbox.
I was a
couple hundred yards down the road now. And there were lots of other cars
around. Nobody stopped.
WTF?
So now
I'm concerned, that everyone is just driving by and not checking. So I pull to the shoulder, and hang a u turn.
My heart is racing because I'm worried I might have to do CPR or something. It's been four years since my last refresher
course.
Or maybe
this person is dead. Or maybe it really
is just a scarecrow. If it is, I'm going to set it back where it goes, so it
stops freaking me out.
I get
back to the driveway and pull in.
Grabbing my phone, I hop out and come around the car. Sure enough, it's
a guy.
I call
out to him, "Hey, you all right?"
He opens
his eyes, "I'm fine. You got any
food?"
I guess I
ignore that second part, I don't have any food.
"You
sure you're ok?" I ask again, I'm not really buying it.
"Yes,
I'm good. They've checked on me. Give me some food."
Ok, now
I'm a little irritated. So I give some lecture-y advice:
"you
shouldn't lay there. I thought you were
hurt. Lots of other people will too you
know. Plus you're like, five feet from a
highway. You could get hurt."
"Give
me some food, or go away" is all he answers with.
So I tell
him he should move again, and I walk back to my car.
I'm still
concerned, but mostly annoyed now.
But, as I
drive away, I think that maybe he does need help of some kind. So for only the
second time in my life, I dial 911.
911 picks
up "911 Dispatch, what's your emergency?"
I'm not
sure how to start, so I introduce myself
"Hello,
this is Fred Robel calling,...........um.....I was just driving home, and there
was this guy.........."
They
interrupt me, "If this is about the guy on the side of the road, he's
already been dealt with, and he is fine."
But I
persist: "Yeah, it is, but I mean,
I stopped and talked to him, and he IS ok, or he says he is. But, he's still there....."
They give
me the official brush off: "The
police have been dealing with him all day sir.
They transported him to the hospital, and he was fine. There isn't anything else they can do for
him."
It was
apparent that nothing was going to happen.
So I thanked them, and they thanked me, and we hung up on each other.
At this
point, I'd like to say that I went and got him some food and dropped it off to
him. Or offered him a ride
somewhere. Or something, anything.
But I
didn't.
I stopped
and picked up Chinese food for my family, and drove the rest of the twenty
miles home thinking that I should have done something.
I didn't
see him there on my way to work this morning.
Nobody walking, or sitting, or laying anywhere I could see. No man in dirty jeans and maroon carhart
jacket anywhere to be found.
No chance
to redeem myself.
Maybe
someone else helped him out.
Or maybe
I was supposed to be that someone.
And
someone, dropped the ball.
Cheers,
to me thinking I should rename this blog to something like: My Failing at being Human.
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