Tarheel Writer - Bricks and Musings 2009

Bricks & Musings 2009
General Writer Spouting off

There is always something to comment about and nothing is off the table. Sometimes, I just gotta get up on my little soapbox and pour my heart out. It is always interesting to look back at what I've written in the past. Feel free to comment. jevic@tarheelwriter.com
Thanks!

The Tarheel Writer - On the Web since 24 February 2003. Celebrating 21 Years on the Internet!
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Saturday, 19 December 2009, 12:35AM, snow and 32 degrees
It's a white Christmas here at the writer's house. Three inches and counting. Looks great.
Snow at the Writer's House

    Fantastic even, but it's a royal pain in the ass. I was supposed to go Christmas shopping tomorrow and now it looks like I'll be shoveling snow. Great!
    Eli had a brief introduction to the snow. I thought he'd freak, having never seen it before. But, being a curious kitty cat, he was more interested in what was under the bushes instead of the snow. I had to drag him back inside. He didn't like that one bit. Afer some serious cuddling and petting (not to mention quite a few kitty treats) he was ok.
    I wanted to take a minute and talk about Rick Beck. He has become quite a good friend! He even sent me a copy of his latest book and guess what, he mentions The Tarheel Writer! Yeppers! Right there on his dedication page he says: "A great place to be: tarheelwriter.com"
Taz and Kodak by Rick Beck

    I am so humbled. Just so you know, Rick has been writing before this site ever went live (way back in 03). His story, "In Skater's Time" was one of the first stories I recommended! He wrote that story in 2002. So Rick has been around for a while. Having him mention the site in his latest book is ... a great big deal to me ... and I thank him profusely!

Sunday, 1 November 2009, 12:35AM, rain and 57 degrees
    Did you remember to turn your clock back? LOL! Yes, it's the end of Daylight Savings Time. Spring forward ... fall back. Turn yer clock back an hour. Then enjoy an extra hour of sleep or, stay up an extra hour.
    I want to say thank you to all the people who emailed me about Eli. You all assured me that he would be fine and guess what ... you were right! The day after his, ah, surgery, he was just fine. In fact, today he was bouncing off the walls all day long. It made we wish I still had some pain medication to give him. LOL!
    Thanks to my new friend Michael, I now have a new VAST assortment of stories to read. Some sites I had heard of before and some were brand new. I'm going to be working on adding these new sites to my site shortly. Thanks again to Michael!!

Wednesday, 28 October 2009, 12:35AM, rain shower and 54 degrees

    Eli went to the vet today. He got fixed. Not that he was broken. He got neutered. In other words, his balls got cut off. He's a eunuch! And I've had a most difficult day. (Not to mention that Eli has had an even worse day) Having your balls cut off is unthinkable. Delivering someone to a person who is going to do just that, with your permission, recommendation and financially backed request, is ... well ... that's what I've been struggling with. Now Eli's home and he looks up at me with his big green eyes and I just grab him up and hug him and say over and over, I'm so sorry. Don't get me wrong, I know it's the right thing to do and all. Thank you Bob Barker! But still, the thought of it ...
    Jeff came up and brought Eli home from the vet. He was obviously still under the influences of whatever they gave him to put him "under." He was stumbling around and falling over. It was pitiful and absolutely hilarious at the same time. When 9 o'clock rolled around, I gave him his pain medication, as instructed by the vet. Thirty minutes later he was upside down draped over my lap completely zonked out. And the guilt returned with a vengence.
    We'll see how he does in the coming days, but I'm told that he will bounce back from this rather quickly. I, on the other hand, will probably feel guilty about the whole thing for a long time. The bill from the vet was sobering. They certainly are proud of slashing balls off. God, I feel so bad.

Thursday, 22 October 2009, 11:47PM, mostly cloudy and 54 degrees
    Eli's Bad Day. It started with Eli falling into the toilet this morning. I wasn't there to witness it, but I did hear the big splash, saw the water on the bathroom floor and watched as Eli licked the water off. Then it was off to the vet. They drew blood to check for feline leukemia ... three tries and he got his leg shaved. He didn't like that at all! Then the vet felt him up. I think he enjoyed that. Then he got two shots. Once again, he didn't like that at all. When we got home, I had to leave to take a package to UPS. When I was pulling the door closed I heard a horrid screeching. Eli had his paw in the door. Eli was not having a very good day. After that, things got better as he was treated to a saucer of milk, some chunk tuna and lots of loving.
    The results of the vet visit: Eli weighs 6.6 pounds and is approximately 6 months old. The vet also said that it is very rare for a totally black cat to come through his doors. He says they usually have some white on them somewhere, but Eli is totally black. He has an appointment next Tuesday to get, ah, well, ah, he's gonna get his nuts sliced off. It's a horrid thought, but I'd rather do that than to put up with his spraying. So it's gonna be done.

Monday, 19 October 2009, 8:47PM, clear and 46 degrees
    I am a proud PAPA! Yes, on September 8th, Eli came to live with me. He wandered into the backyard of a friend of mine. She took him in and through a mutual friend, I came to adopt Eli. He was probably no more than a few months old when he came to live with me. My friend's family was calling him "Little Black Kitty" but I knew he needed a real name. She told me that for the five days he stayed with them, he slept with her son Eli, so I figured he should be named after his first buddy ... hence the name Eli. He's a totally black kitty cat with a very loving personality. My friend Alison, explained that black cats could not be put into the adoption program this time of year because of what horrible things mean people do to black cats. So Eli has come to live with me. He's my new little buddy who loves to give me wet willies at 7am.
Eli and Eli

    That's Eli with Eli.

Friday, 7 August 2009, 1:19AM, clear and 66 degrees
    Jeff is moving back to Charlotte. I'm not exactly happy about that, but it's something that needs to happen. Jeff has lived with me and helped take care of mom for five plus years. His moving is necessary for insurance and other benefits that come with a full time job. No longer will I be able to curl up with him at bedtime. No longer will I be able to enjoy his company watching our favorite TV shows at night. No longer will I be able to enjoy a cup of coffee with him in the morning. I can only hope that we will be able to spend a few days a month together. He will be sorely missed.
    There are a whole lot of "behind the scenes" reasons that this has to happen. Suffice it to say that I am very sad that this has to happen. Choices in the matter are very limited, so we will have to endure the consequences. This is a very stressful time in our lives and I can only hope that it will work out. After spending 14 years with Jeff, I can only hope that our love for each other will see us through this.

Wednesday, 8 July 8 2009, 1:13AM, mostly cloudy and 66 degrees
    A lot of time and effort is going into revamping my suggested reading pages, but I am being rewarding over and over again. It's like visiting with family members that I haven't seen in a long time. Each story holds so much meaning. Not only the actual story, but the time in my life when I discovered each story. It's been a walk down memory lane.
    I just walked outside to (smoke a cigarette) look at the moon. I can't explain why, but full moons always make be quite randy ... more horney than a three peckered billy goat! Forget Viagra, gimme a full moon! LOL!

Saturday, 4 July 4 2009, 12:48AM, clear and 66 degrees
    Farrah Fawcett, Karl Malden and Michael Jackson. They say it always happens in three's. But they didn't expect Billy Mayes. Billy said, "But wait, there's more!" Love him or hate him ... he was one of the greatest pitchmen ever.
12 April 2021 - Side Note - Was just reading this and it hit me! "But wait, there's more" is what John Holmes said in one of his movies as he was jacking off in the face of someone ... yeah, "But wait, there's more"
    I've been bustin' my balls on the Suggested Reading FanFiction Complete page. Every story has been researched verifying the link, checking for the number of chapters, the date when the story was completed and making sure the summary was correct. It was a monumental task as there are currently 91 stories on the list. I checked each story for a pic to go along with it. Those I found are posted. The other categories are next for a great big make over.
    Revamping the site has actually been fun. You'll notice the pictures on the right hand side of the heading for each page. I tried to find pictures that represent each page of the site. I hope I've done a good job. In thinking about the picture for this page, I wanted something that represented what this page is all about ... a reflection on day to day life. I think the young man looking out over the sea is a good representation of my contemplation of life.
    Work has been really good recently. June was the highest billing month in the last 4 years. And July promises to be just as good. Now I can get caught up on some bills and hopefully get the new laptop I've been looking at.
    A quick trip to the boat last week was ill timed as the heat index was near 115 degrees. We rigged up some tarps to shade the deck and that worked really well until the thunderstorm with 60 mile per hour winds showed up. At least the rain cooled things off.
    It's so fukkin' hot this time of year in the Southeast that's it's almost impossible to take a trip on the boat and be comfortable. Anchoring out with no AC with temps reaching well over a hundred is out of the question. Hehe, when we get to the boat, the first thing we do is turn on the AC. Then we go to our favorite air conditioned bar and get "over served" while waiting for the boat to cool down.
    On Saturday, July 4th, we make our annual trip to Charlie's house on Lake Wylie, SC to eat way too much food (and get "over served"). Then it's off on the boat to watch the fireworks. The drive home is a pain in the arse, but the entire trip is well worth it. Thanks to my brother for watching after mom while Jeff and I go play!

Tuesday, 3 March 2009, 11:20PM, clear and 24 degrees
    The sixth anniversary of this site came and went without much fanfare. While looking over the site stats, I saw that over fourteen hundred new visitors stumbled across this site last month. That's pretty cool. I also see that most people go to the suggested reading pages of the site. That's cool too. If you are one of those people and you happen to be reading this, I hope that you find my suggestions and summaries useful. I don't recommend stories lightly ... only the ones that I really liked.
    As the sixth anniversary came and went quietly, so did another birthday. Sigh.
    On a more positive note, I did get away to the Florida Keys for a week. My flight actually took off on time and arrived ahead of schedule, much to the dismay of the person picking me up, who prides himself on arriving at just the right time. On the way back home we stopped by to check on the sailboat. I'll have to back up a bit here ... several weeks ago I went down to south Georgia to move the boat from the dock to the yard to have some work done on the dripless shaft seal (it wasn't so dripless anymore, LOL). It was the first time I had been at the helm by my self. To say my blood pressure was up a bit is putting it mildly. My first words to Charlie were "Hey, I didn't wreck your boat!" Yeah, I actually did good. Moving the boat around docks is not my forte. Navigating on the open ocean or on the Intercoastal Waterway are. So I silently congratulated myself on a flawless maneuver.
    The snow we had two days ago reminded me of the blizzard of 1993. It also came in March. It also happened to come while I was hiking the Appalachian Trail. So all that white stuff brought back a lot of very cold memories ... good memories ... but very cold as in frozen boots cold.
    Now we get to endure that awkard time between winter and spring when the weather is always screwed up. I tip my hat to Al Gore. The man has it right.

Saturday, 24 January 24 2009, 11:40PM, cloudy and 39 degrees
    Jeff and I just watched "Prayers for Bobby" on Lifetime TV. While the production value of the movie, even with Sigourney Weaver, left something to be desired, the overall message of the film can not be denied ... a young gay man killed himself because certain members of his family would not accept him as being gay.
    Why our promising gay boys and girls are turning to suicide as the answer to their problems should be a major wakeup call to everybody. They are turning to suicide because they have no other choice. Everything they were taught growing up, everything they hear from their parents, everything they hear from their peers ... puts so much pressure on them that they fold from it all and seek the easiest way out.
    Being gay today is a whole lot easier that it was in my day ... the 70's ... but it is not without the stigma. To be gay is an admission of being less, of not living up to the expectations of family and peers, to be something that friends and family will look down on ... look down on with disgust.
    On the other hand ... I believe that "all men are created equal" and that each and every person "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."
    I've read the statistics, I've read the Nifty stories, I've read the emails from those going through it first hand. I've heard about it, I've lived it myself ... BUT, yeah, BUT, suicide is NOT the answer. It may seem like it's the best answer, but it certainly is not. There is so much potential in all of us that giving up is not the answer. There are so many alternatives!
    If you find yourself on the knife edge of giving up, don't. Trust in people you don't even know. Trust in the love that strangers give freely and willingly. There is a reason to live ... a reason to not give up ... for someone is out there that believes in you. Please, please ... don't give up.

Sunday, 12 January 12 2009, 12:14AM, clear and 31 degrees
    Boston Legal ... yeah, I'm pissed they cancelled my favorite show. I was stunned to learn they were cancelling the show. The writing was, as the Brits say, spot on. They broached every political hot topic there is and I happily agreed with the outcome of them all. Denny is the perfect Cheney gun wielding Republican and Alan is the perfect Al Gore Democrat ... and they're best friends ... sleepover? OMG! What a great show! Pop! Pop!
    They did the same thing to another of my favorite shows ... Northern Exposure. Ed was so cute. And he's actually a blond! Hehe ... he certainly acted like one.
    So all you TV execs out there ... fuck you. You don't know good programming when it slaps you in the face ... like those fish restaurant commercials. May stinky rotten fish fill the space under your beds.

Tuesday, 6 January 2009, 11:50AM, with a light drizzle and 46 degrees
    I just got back from my annual trip to the Florida Keys and thoroughly enjoyed myself. We fished everyday and actually caught a lot of fish. Damn Florida fishery people upped the annual fishing license fee from $32 to $47.50. By the time we bought bait and fuel, we figured that we spent enough to eat out just about every night, but, hey, you don't get that kind of entertainment in a restaurant. Right?