I’m waiting for today’s Facebook posts where son and daughter-in-law express astonishment that granddaughter is 10 today (yes, she was born on a Friday the 13th). I won’t dwell on this, but she is a little pistol and we shall see what the next few years bring. From early on, she has a love of putting things together and her ability to create from Legos is slightly amazing. She has an artsy side too and because of being literally raised in the dance studio, she is now into four types of dance. Hard to know which directions she will ultimately take.

Anyway, switching gears to the opposite end of the spectrum, a dear friend called Tuesday to catch up as we hadn’t talked for quite some time. Her 72d was yesterday and she is dealing with the stubborn insistence of her father that despite an almost revolving door of hospital and rehab stays, he’s convinced he can go home and live independently. Another situation of a guy who has always been active and vibrant and over this past decade, minor things have become not so minor. We covered the usual ground of limited options and the hope everything can be handled in the best way. She has long had my book, “Room at the End”, and was hoping, as we all do, that the hard choices wouldn’t have to be made.

Another dear friend, recently turned 80, is dealing with some unexpected health downturns, but those really should be somewhat temporary although potentially taking the next 8-10 months for resolution. Not surprisingly, how to handle that is proving tricky and our circle is standing by to see what we can do to help.

So here’s to the coming ten years that will no doubt zip by faster than we are prepared for.

One of the cable shows we watch occasionally is, “A Fishing Story”. I don’t recall the exact background of the host, but in having a couple of different careers, to include time as a Marine, he fondly speaks of learning to fish from his great-grandmother. He said for him, almost everyone has a “fishing story”. Most of the episodes we’ve seen are about other veterans, but we happened to have it on this morning and the guest was a member of REO Speedwagon, a band the host has always enjoyed. In the second segment of the show, he asked how the move into the famous band occurred. The guy and a friend had been in a college band together and they went separate ways; the guy on the show playing bars, small events, and such. His friend did get into the big band and one day called. “You’re moving to California,” he said, “You’re in REO Speedwagon now.”

The simple fact is if your last name is Sinatra and you want to sing or Coppola and you want to be in the movie business, you do still need talent, but you don’t have to fight for entrance into the industry. For everyone else, somewhere along the way, an incredible element of luck is involved. The director or producer that sees something with an actor in a minor role, the teen who reads a little known book and says to his best-selling author father,  “Hey Dad, this book is really terrific, you should read it”, or however the right moment in time strikes. For most in the arts though, actually making a living will be extremely difficult and the more likely scenario is either a lifetime of a passionate avocation or a cobbled together two-or three part time jobs/multiple careers. Wait staff who get the extras work, the musician who does the bar circuit, the author who does content writing while working away at the book/play/screenplay. Many who begin with great dreams eventually come to understand this and manage to adjust their definition of success and enjoy their craft of choosing. If not, it can be bitter disappointment.

Okay, some of you already know I decided to use a different publisher for “Shades of Remorse”. At the time I did so, it was primarily because of a marketing package they were including. The trailer they developed is nice, although I’m not sure I’m seeing any effect from it. https://youtu.be/wXUthErPzh0

The essence of my displeasure is the delays in publication. The interior design took longer than I am accustomed to, plus there were some alleged software glitches that caused further delay. Then physical production of the book – which does look nice – took me past the holiday market I wanted. Then the Kindle version took another absurd amount of time and was only made available Monday. That put start-to-finish time from when I sent the file in from Sept 6th to February 10th. They were pleasant enough people to deal with and the cover came back quickly which is part of why I didn’t anticipate these other delays. In truth, over the years I have used seven other publishers. The one I really liked suffered the common situation of successful small businesses. They were acquired by a very large business with the usual line of, “You can operate much as you always have; just as part of us.” Right, that lasted for about two years, then they were completely absorbed by the large entity.

Anyway, the e-book is out and I will have to see if maybe the publisher also did the format for Barnes and Nobles. That doesn’t usually happen and I don’t really expect it as Kindle definitely has the major market share. Ah well, another lesson learned.

It is a known expression and with some of the recent headlines about Big Pharma, lifestyles, etc., this is not about politics, but more about life choices.

Those who follow the blog know I often talk about being overweight and finding foods that are carb friendly. I am not diabetic, although my sister and nephew are. The lower carb issue is for basic weight. In essence I have been a yo-yo dieter since age seventeen which means a lot of years. Back in the day it was a constant struggle with 5 pounds and that amount steadily increased as I aged. Being in the Army was tough because that was an unrelenting thing and yes, after I retired, I slipped up until the struggle was with an extra 10 pounds. Then, for reasons that aren’t important, I really went out of control about 18 years ago. I came back down some, but still need to lose another 30 pounds.

What does that have to do with the above subject? High blood pressure does run on my paternal side and my doctor put me on medication years ago. She added a second one and later a statin for cholesterol. We have these constant one-way discussions about how if I would lose the weight and cut out more foods that I like, we could reduce the meds. Yes, I know that, and yes, I do still work at it. I have an exercise program of six days a week and I have given up greatly on a number of foods I enjoy. The simple fact is I don’t want to go to the kind of diet that I know will work. I did enough of that. Will I someday say, “Yeah, okay, I’ll  do it again”? Maybe. I certainly won’t do so because of lecturing. On the other hand, I am not big on lots of medications, but these are a conscious trade-off for me.

Okay, having now realized the long gap between posts, it’s the usual story, plus a little. I had hoped this year after the holidays, things might be a little slower and I might have resolved a couple of issues that demand so much of my time. Apparently not.

I did have good reason to think this; I merely miscalculated being able to accomplish tasks that are linked to resolution of the issues. Since these tasks are out of my control, that means – news flash! – I have to wait on other people. Sigh! In other words, I may or may not get my resolutions so will try again next week to set things into motion. One item has been resolved, but that was an extra “pop up” anyway. Another I thought was resolved has come a little unraveled and might perhaps be back under control after a meeting next week. Ah well, this is why I have a category in my topics of, “When Real Life Interferes”.

I do have an author presentation this evening which is the first one in a long time. I  enjoy these and I am going to contact the nearest County library branch to see about maybe doing one there. While libraries won’t carry my physical books, I will see if the local folks have a choice about e-books. If controlled at County level, I don’t think I’ll have much of a chance, but I won’t know if I don’t ask.

Anyway, the topic this evening is, “Mechanics of Murder”. I’ve discussed this in previous posts about how to decide which victims will be killed off and how. I may have mentioned when I began “Shades of Remorse”, I hadn’t planned a large body count. Turns out I had to kill off six more than the original two. This is the kind of thing that can happen as they story develops. However, only one of the extras was sort of a good guy.