So I'm halfway done with inputting changes and still arguing with myself over the commas...and I decide I've taken too many out. A lot of them did need to be removed but some help clarify the sentence a bit better and need to be there and I think, initially, I was deleting for the sake of deleting. Now that I'm into the rhythm of the piece, again, I want those dealing with non-restrictive clauses to return...even if they're only slightly non-restrictive...if that makes sense.
Aw, the hell with it. English is a living breathing language that's not the same from one moment to the next. What works today won't work tomorrow and what was right last year isn't right this year so just go with what feels right and not worry about the grammar Nazis...which I wouldn't except I sort of am one, sometimes. But only in blatant misuse -- like you're for your or their for there and vise versa. That does drive me nuts.
For some reason I'm thinking I'd like to release The Alice '65 on March 24th, which is a Saturday and makes no sense. But...it feels right. So we'll see how it develops. That gives me just over a month to get everything in order. I did clean up and adjust the image I'm going to use for the online postings of the e-book..
What's fun is, I also cleared some unneeded files off my desktop and while doing so came across an old story I'd begun about the first time I felt a crush on a man. It was during a campout for scouts, something I hated doing. We were in Cypress Cove, which was about to be covered up by Cypress Lake, and I was about 12 or 13 and knowing I was different from the other boys. In what way, I had no idea, yet.
We were camped at a spot where two streams came together and the other boys liked to go swimming in a pool just down from there. I can't swim so I stayed in the rapids and enjoyed the beauty of the area. Towering cypress trees offering cool shade. Soft hills covered in scrub and mesquite. Water flowing lovely over white rocks. I hated how it was going to be destroyed, so I wasn't in the best of moods.
Then I saw our assistant scout master come down from the camp, ready for a swim. He was an airman with a wife and a second kid on the way and looked a lot like this porn model -- Pavel Novotny. I liked him and liked being around him, but it wasn't until that day that I began to understand why. He was wearing a red Speedo...and seeing him burst into the sunlight jolted me. I honestly forgot to breathe, for a moment. Then he stood on a rock to look around in the sun, seeming like a god viewing his domain, and I burst out with something like, "Jesus, Mr. Francis, you're beautiful."
He looked at me funny then came down off the rock and joined the other boys down in the pool...and I felt like I'd said something wrong. Sure enough, at the next meeting I was disinvited from the troop. Not that I cared; like I said, I didn't like scouting and knew I'd never go higher than 2nd Class thanks to the swimming badge being a necessity to advance, but it was still an embarrassment.
My folks didn't understand what had happened and no one in the troop would explain. I just told them I didn't want to keep going and they accepted it because it meant less expense. Then shortly after, we moved to El Paso for a year.
And it was in that vile hellhole that I started to see just how different I was from other boys.
Aw, the hell with it. English is a living breathing language that's not the same from one moment to the next. What works today won't work tomorrow and what was right last year isn't right this year so just go with what feels right and not worry about the grammar Nazis...which I wouldn't except I sort of am one, sometimes. But only in blatant misuse -- like you're for your or their for there and vise versa. That does drive me nuts.
For some reason I'm thinking I'd like to release The Alice '65 on March 24th, which is a Saturday and makes no sense. But...it feels right. So we'll see how it develops. That gives me just over a month to get everything in order. I did clean up and adjust the image I'm going to use for the online postings of the e-book..
What's fun is, I also cleared some unneeded files off my desktop and while doing so came across an old story I'd begun about the first time I felt a crush on a man. It was during a campout for scouts, something I hated doing. We were in Cypress Cove, which was about to be covered up by Cypress Lake, and I was about 12 or 13 and knowing I was different from the other boys. In what way, I had no idea, yet.
We were camped at a spot where two streams came together and the other boys liked to go swimming in a pool just down from there. I can't swim so I stayed in the rapids and enjoyed the beauty of the area. Towering cypress trees offering cool shade. Soft hills covered in scrub and mesquite. Water flowing lovely over white rocks. I hated how it was going to be destroyed, so I wasn't in the best of moods.
He looked at me funny then came down off the rock and joined the other boys down in the pool...and I felt like I'd said something wrong. Sure enough, at the next meeting I was disinvited from the troop. Not that I cared; like I said, I didn't like scouting and knew I'd never go higher than 2nd Class thanks to the swimming badge being a necessity to advance, but it was still an embarrassment.
My folks didn't understand what had happened and no one in the troop would explain. I just told them I didn't want to keep going and they accepted it because it meant less expense. Then shortly after, we moved to El Paso for a year.
And it was in that vile hellhole that I started to see just how different I was from other boys.
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