Just Not My Day

I love it when I'm cruising along, finally feeling as though I have a grasp on what is going on and feeling like I'm finally able to exert a little control over my life. The problem is that when that happens it seems that life has a way of just spinning me on my head like I'm a toy top. That happened yesterday.

It just wasn't my day.

It wasn't terrible, just a series of events, one of which I had control over, others it would seem were completely out of my hands. The one I could control, well that was a speeding ticket. Somehow I finally found the trooper who just didn't feel like seeing someone going 10 over the limit on the interstate. Not a big deal, loss of money, that will suck when it's paid, and I couldn't find my current insurance card. At least he was cool about that and noted that since I had 50 of them stuffed in my holder I probably just misplaced it. That's the one I could control.

I had an assignment, a group project due date moved up two days because one group member has a final exam at the time we were supposed to do our presentation. Again, not really a big deal except I'm terrible about procrastination.

Then there was our group meeting, the one I was driving to when I got the speeding ticket. When I got there one industrious group member had already finished nearly everything to do with the presentation, at least as far as the dreaded PowerPoint was concerned. All I did while there was play around online and add one thing that could have been easily done by email. That would have saved me some money and trouble since it's a 40 minute drive there. Did I mention that speeding ticket? Yeah, that too.

The drive home wasn't so bad. I was listening to Escapepod, the majority of the storm had already moved through, but it was picking up just a little.

That's when the fun happened.

For whatever reason I still had the cruise control on, mistake, I know that, I've known that for years, my mind just wasn't firing right, but I felt the wheels spinning. It's a Corolla, you know the cheap little Toyota that gets thrown around in a storm like the ball in beer pong. I shut off the cruise, my speed dropped, I wasn't speeding actually, just cruising along at the speed limit, 70 for the sake of the story, but that pitch from the speed loss mixed with the already unstable car sent me into a spin as I was passing tractor trailer.

Oh, what fun! I recommend a 70 mph 360 for all. I really hope that's a ride at a theme park one day.

So the spin, I managed to keep from hitting the truck, but I'm facing the wrong way in the passing lane only to see 2 more vehicles, one that was initially behind me and one that was behind the truck. The car in the right lane went by, still tailgating the big rig, but I'm staring back at a car who is still zipping straight for me. In the fun of the spin I managed to move myself into the right lane, still going backwards mind you, and the vehicle in the left lane goes right on by. The joys of slow-motion mind, I actually thought that someone would slow and stop while I was in the middle of all this. Then, of course, I my mind went back to the task at hand, I got the car to spin around, facing forward now, as I hit the shoulder. The decline of the hill sent me skidding off the interstate as I pumped the brakes in a vain attempt to stop before hitting the fence roll.

Somehow the only thing that happened to my car was some scuffs to the fender. I was even able to back off the fence and get back onto the road rather easily. There was no blown tire, amazing, I know, and no pains to myself.

What about those cars who went by as I faced the wrong direction?

They just kept on going. Good folks those.

And as a finale to it all, well, it's rather anticlimactic actually, I received in the mail a notice from my insurance company. I didn't even have insurance while all of this was happening. The house has been torn apart today in search of the bill, but it's no where to be found. I guess I'm fortunate after all.

Just a series of events.

Just not my day.

The Ascension has Begun

It's finally here. Can you believe it? I'm having trouble with it and it's not even my project. October 27th. The official print release of J.C. Hutchins' thriller novel 7th Son: Descent is upon us. This has been something I have been looking forward to for quite some time.

Hutchins isn't the first podcast novelist, or internet pirate radio broadcaster as Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff puts it, to publish a novel. But by-golley it's the one I have been looking forward to the longest. Sure I love my Scott Sigler novels and content. Mur Lafferty, well she does look nice today I'm sure, is very entertaining and knowledgeable. Grammar Girl finally got her release today. (Coincidence? I think not). Christiana Ellis, James Melzer, Phil Rossi, and P.G. Holyfield's novel is soon to be released as well, the list goes on and on when it comes to novelist with enough creative ambition to go the extra mile when the system told them to go away.

These brilliant and creative minds by-passed the traditional method and did something no publisher thought possible.

They gave us their works for free. That's right.

FREE!

And what did we do to repay them for all their hard work? We ate it up. We followed their progress and supported them as best we could. We even bought their swag when it was available. Now their hard work is finally paying off and they don't have to depend on an archaic system to get their work devoured. They give it directly to us, no strings attached. We don't even have to buy it. They give it to us no matter what. All the blood, sweat, and tears, the hard work and time, it's finally starting to pay off for the pioneers of a creative digital market.

Stop by and check out their work. It's worth it.