A Splintered Mind

Originally published at Absentminded Author, v2 .

Originally published at Absentminded Author, v2 . iPad sketch in Bamboo Paper.

Originally published at Absentminded Author, v2 . I've noticed I'm not getting much writing done lately. Instead, I'm moving things on eBay, filling out job applications, being sick. It's been a party. I'm surviving by hocking collectibles on eBay. It's not making big bucks, but I'm paying the bills. Mostly. And at least I'm keeping the minivan filled with gas. Of course, "filled" is relative. It's actually more like "at least I'm keeping the engine from sputtering to a stop," but if you pretend that 10% is 100%, then that tank is brimming over the edge with gusto. Aside from being down for obvious reasons , and it being the beginning of Winter Depression for me, I did have a bit of a setback the other day. I took my blood pressure and discovered it was 183 over 118. I hear that's bad. My dad was so surprised when he heard the numbers that he jumped a bit off the couch. So I've been working on reducing str...

Nothing messes up routine like moving, and when I threw in the end of a long-standing relationship on top of it, my routine was in tatters and my ADHD was out of control . So much of my life was in disarray. But don't worry. At least I got an exchange. One of the most important goals for me in setting up a new home was to eliminate old items from my previous marriage. Unless I had a strong emotional connection to that errant towel or kitchen utensil, I didn't want it around. It wasn't that they were tainted and evil; I just wanted to start fresh. Starting fresh can be expensive. For the first six weeks, the girls didn't use the shower in the bathroom attached to their room because we couldn't afford shower curtains for it. We shared the guest bathroom's shower. One night last month I finally had some money set aside for furnishings. I took them to Bed, Bath & Beyond to pick out their shower curtain. They bickered over the same three curtains for ...

Originally published at Absentminded Author, v2 . Let's pretend it's Monday…again. Time for a creative writing exercise. Take a look at the picture and write a paragraph or two. No theme. No limits. It can even be pulled from your own memories. Let your imagination go wild for a moment. Today I'm going to write about a real story that happened to me the other day. Since moving to my new apartment, I've been walking around wondering where I'd stuff a dead body. In the garage? Under the stairs? Beneath a pile of wood chips at the end of the parking lot? Each place seemed too mundane and uninspiring. I needed a creative location that would help me push away the doldrums and get deep into the nitty gritty. I needed a place that would avoid detection and misdirect the police. Late September the perfect place came to me after they closed the pool off for the winter. There it was; right in plain site. But how much time would it buy? Weeks passed as I pondered ...

Originally published at Absentminded Author, v2 . S ince this is a creative exercise, let's pretend it's actually Monday. Then let's pretend this isn't a picture of Earth. Describe the picture in a paragraph or two. There we were, fifty years strong and finally making headway in terraforming Mars. Even Grandma's Black-eyed Susans could take hold in the brittle Martian soil and spring forth with life without help, though Grandpa said those things could grow anywhere. Then the idiots on Earth decided to "dial down" the sun to stave off Climate Change. Nobody at the UN would listen to our cries for reason. No, they had a consensus. And so they nuked the sun. Grandpa says that if the sun doesn't recover soon, all that will be left on Mars will be Grandma's Black-eyed Susans to mark our passing. But he said not to worry. The UN knew just what to do to fix things. They had a consensus. ~Dˢ (Photo taken with Hipstamatic on an iPhone4) S...

Originally published at Absentminded Author, v2 . Oops. I'm sure my domain resolving to a Google error page was not quite what I set out to do. I just need an electronic monkey wrench and some virtual dynamite to get it all worked out. ~Dˢ Sent from my iBrain Update: FIXED!!