It's Been a Long Time

I don't know if any of you still follow this blog, or even give rat's ass about anything I have to say.  But I have had a disturbingly lot going on in the 7 months, including but not limited to, the loss of my crappy job, the loss of my house, severe depression, anger, fear and sadness. 

Blogging does help me deal with depression, and while thought about it a dozen times, I couldn't bring myself to write about it.  Indeed, thoughts of self destruction took precedence.  I had it planned, even managed to get rid of the wife for a few days to do it.  My plan was simple.  A sharp knife across the throat would have take care of it.

So.  Why didn't I do it?

I was watching tv, my inability to cope with my life had me try to find escape wherever I could.  I descended into the tv and video games.  Much to my wife's disgust.  Anyways, while I was watching, I saw a commercial for mantherapy.org.au  and I learnt a few things.  I'm in the second most at risk age group in Australia.  My circumstances are the common reasons within that demographic.

I spoke to people by phone, and got my shit straightened out, more or less, because I'm still here.

Still breathing; and yeah, still smoking. It helps me cope.

So I'm up late tonight, smoking too much and watching Die Welle (The Wave).  The Wave is based,  loosely, on a genuine experiment by a high school teacher about fascism.  He used his class as a test group.  This German film is scarier, and more disturbing than the original which ran as an after school special on tv when I was a kid.  Its worth watching.

So, what's upcoming in Torggil's World?

I'm starting a new job in a few weeks.  Followers of this blog will know I've done it before.  I'm going back to taxi driving.  This time in Townsville.

More than just the town the Powerpuff team rescues on that show, It's actually a real city, in tropical north Queensland.  So I may change the name of the Blog to Torggil's Nights, or something. I'm going to try to do something on it every week. 

When the Eddard game starts back up, I hope to post more adventures as well. 

Also, the Australian Federal Election is coming up.  I know I have a take or two on that.

So hang ten everyone.  As soon as this move is over, I'll be back.  Regularly, I hope.

Announcement

Well, I've gotta work in Cairns for the enxt three weeks which means I'll be blogging sporadically to say the least. 

I have more "Adventures of Eddard" (the game continues and I'm falling behind, but the next three weeks I may be able to catch up because I don't see how I'll be able to play at all, and I'm taking the tablet to Cairns so I can at least blog) and I'll be continuing my music themes post with at least one more- unusual themes.  I should be able to get in an Eddard post today.  With a bit of luck.

It's all Happening!

Just a quick note.  Because, no, I haven't forgotten about you.

I have a couple of new posts in the works including:

Finally!  A use for Reality TV

Torggil Luck Strikes Again

And

A Driving History: Part 14 (I think)

As an award winning Blog (Thanks again Ermie) I have a standard to maintain, I do not want to let you down.

But when the shit hits the fan, sometimes its hard to concentrate until the stink goes away.

Tomorrow night the stories begin.  If you're lucky, I'll even give you a WTF is happening that keeps pulling me away from you.

Welcome

A big welcome to my new followers- who have magically appeared on my followers list over the last week.  I hope you enjoy everything you read.

A big thank you, too, to my current followers for putting up with my sporadic posts over the last few weeks.

I will have more posts, more often, then what has been posted lately.  I have been run off my feet, and side tracked by a host of time demanding issues.  Hospital visits, hospital stays surgeries, dumb shit at work, car issues, the list is virtually endless.

However, the situation is stabilizing now, so we should be good to go.

Thank you for your patience.

Notes: Mark Of Death and Other Stories

I have a couple of notes regarding the writing of Mark of Death, Old Medicine and a couple other stories.

Mark of Death is the first story I have written about a time and place, a near future world gone strange.  A disaster has befallen society, and the value of productive land had fallen because there has been a world wide crop blight, cause unknown.

Civil governments all over the world have failed with the food sources.  Things got violent for a while, especially in the larger cities.  Control of oil and and processing of that became the source of power, and the people gravitated to that.  Food from meat, fish, and processed algae were critical to survival.  Oil critical to growth.

Sometime along here, magic regained its power.  Superstitions became real.

The setting is sort of like Mad Max meets HP Lovecraft or perhaps the Magic of the Hyborian Age.

Mark of Death obviously describes an assassin's encounter with something evil, not long after the failure of society to react to the changes.

Old Medicine, to be posted in parts, beginning tomorrow, describes a scene a few years after the consolidation and formation of the Empire. 

The Empire is a feudal government system, with the strongest gang leaders awarded noble status by the Emperor.  For example, Blacke would not only become a great general for the crown, but she would also become Baroness of Southern Alberta.

Mark of Death is one of several stories I wrote about this time and place, better to realise this setting. Other stories included Old Medicine, A Druid in Stanley Park, The Grandfather of the Buffalo, A Grand Return, and A Knight on Highway 3

All of the stories mention some of the governing characters, including the Emperor and Blacke- especially Blacke- but rarely do the setting's power characters actually appear in  them.  The reason was that the novel I somehow never quite got around to writing was going to have a lot to do with them.

All of these other stories, with the exception of Old Medicine, plus about a hundred pages of handwritten notes were destroyed in the fire 3 years ago.

All of this means that I will have to rewrite them.  That's the easy part.  Harder will be to replace the handwritten notes.

Old Medicine I considered to be the pinnacle of those stories, however, and that manuscript survives.  It is approximately 5000 words and will be posted as part of the A to Z, in three parts- making each an unwieldy 1600 words (a violation of the keep the posts brief protocol- sorry to the A to Z management), but because it features two historically important characters (my first attempt to present fictional situations to characters that actually lived) that have come out of my love of history and my knowledge of Canadian History in particular.

Without giving any more away, Old Medicine will begin tomorrow (the letter O) and continue with the letter R and conclude with the letter S.

Criticism will be welcomed.

April A to Z Challenge Update

It starts tomorrow.  The rules are pretty simple.  Starting April 1, I have to blog with titles starting with the appropriate letter of the alphabet.  I have to to do one a day, every day for the month, excepting the last 4 Sundays.

I have set up a direct link to the a to z challenge website through the logo on the right, for any of you who wish to see the posts of others.  I encourage all of you to check out the links and some of the other great people out there.

I will try to keep my posts reasonably short, but I do hope you will be enjoy the results of this effort as much as I hope to enjoy providing them for you.

Buried in amongst the topics will be:

Apples to Apples: a comparison of national politics from 3 different countries, in brief
Driving History: Black Betty the 04 Commodore
Words from a Ghost: Poetry

There should be more fantasy fiction snippets as well.

This is going to be a challenge.  I am looking forward to it. 

It all starts tomorrow.

A Driving History: Notes

You should know, because my Driving History saga is one of the most popular reads on my blog, that my Driving History only has 5 more vehicles.  They are, in order:

Interlude: The Dodge Magnum Rental- I forgot that this car comes before the supercharged Commodore.  I only drove it for 3 weeks on a trip back to Canada, and its one of the best stories.

2004 supercharged Commodore:  I Still own this car.

1995 VS Commodore SS Wagon: the purchase of an idiot

1995 Audi 80- Death of a car- the only Australian car I had that doesn't have a photo- I'll pull one from the net.

1989 Honda Prelude: I still own this car

That said.  It is likely that I'll be replacing the prelude this year or next,  she seems to be on her way out.  Maybe I'll ask my readers to take a vote.

It is a real shame that I don't have more vehicles to offer.

On a side note, I've had over 500 hits on my blog.  Thank you very much for being apart of things so far. 

April A to Z starts in about 10 days, and I hope you are looking forward to reading my works as much as I'm looking foward to the challenge.

On Writing

I said about a week ago that my blog would have some short fiction on it.  Yesterday, I posted a poem.  Tomorrow, I want to post a piece of short fiction for you.  Something that I hope you will enjoy as well as that may be of use in developing my writing skills.  It may well be a short fantasy piece.

So tonight, as Robert Benchley once said:

Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing.

April A to Z Challenge

I have dome something silly.  I have made a commitment to be a part of the April A to Z Challenge.  This means that in April, excepting the last 4 Sundays, I'll be posting every day.

Each post will be begin with the appropriate letter.  Sunday April 1st will begin with the letter A, Monday the 2nd B, and so on.

I am only one blog of many.  When I signed up for the challenge there were nearly 800 sites involved.  I encourage any of my readers to check out a few of the others, as posted on this link:

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/2012-to-z-challenge-sign-up-list.html

Given the sheer number of blogs, I know there'll be something on there that you might be sorry you didn't read.

I plan to include in April, poetry as written by me, fiction samples, editorials and anedotes.

Its going to be a busy month.  Its also going to be fun.

The Blazer story will continue, likely tomorrow, and I'd like to thank all you who have followed by blog to date, as I have reached 300 page views.

The blogging experience is new to me, and I am enoying it.

I encourage comments and questions.  Please leave one if something strikes you.