Writing, Running, and Rosa…

Yes, I know. I bet you weren't expecting to see her name in a headline again… well…

It's been a couple days since I last wrote and I can't say I won't wait another couple of days. You see, I've been very busy. Not busy in the traditional sense. I'm not running around like the headless chicken. No, I've been busy in other ways still.

For one thing, I've been writing. I'm back at work on Vampire Society and I'm nearly 100 pages and 35,000 words down. Mind you, over 60K has already been written, written by me back in 1998 and 1999, so my work now isn't in setting down new words but, rather, in fixing those that exist and putting my mind in a state where new words will flow. And I've made a lot of progress to that end. So, much of my time has been taken in thought and understanding.

Here, for example, is something I wrote down the other day when trying to come to some understanding as to how the Vampire Society (a society that excels only in consumption) could have risen: Our golden rule was plated.

At the same time this is going on, I've also returned to the gym. Crap, I'm fat. These last six months have been so happy, I no longer look like the bachelor who has missed a few meals… if even that was true. No, I look like I eat small cars for a snack. So, it's back to the gym for me. Every morning, for the past couple of weeks, I've awoken at 4:30am and hit the gym before going to work. I'm jogging two miles in addition to doing some weights. It's a slow start but it is a start, so…

Mind you, I'm not entirely happy. Vicky and I have been at each other's throats the past couple of days and it pains me to admit that the reason for this is Rosa, rearing her ugly phantom like some Scooby Doo villain!

Vicky's back has been hurting and I suggested that a good doctor would do more than simply prescribe her Advil, might actually treat her problem rather than give her pills. I told her I know this because I had 12 years around doctors and grew to know something about the better ones. Vicky thought I was talking about Rosa, though Rosa's not a doctor, and was hurt to think I was bringing her up when talking about Vicky's back. I wasn't - not at all.

But that wasn't the end of it. Next, was my turn. We were viewing this sample wedding video. Vicky's grandparent's aren't going to make it to the wedding, so we've decided to have it recorded for them, posterity, and the occasional party trick… and so we can look back and see ourselves thin (diet and exercise willing). So, we're viewing samples to see who we should hire. But this sample was so…. Acidicly trite! The showed pictures of each person from the time they were children to just before their wedding and I thought, We certainly won't be able to do that. I got angry and started making insulting comments about the couple and Vicky got mad. (In my own defense, though, she didn't know those people. Why not let me have a little fun at their expense?) So, I tried to explain to her how things with us are a bit different. We're not in our early 20's and I was married before. I can't put pictures in of those years! But she doesn't seem to get it and she doesn't seem to understand how difficult this is for me.

It's extremely frustrating, to say the least. She haunted by a specter she thinks is still lingering and I'm haunted by a 15-year long gaping hole in my past. So, she and I need to talk, seriously talk. The only problem with that is that Vicky doesn't talk. She's more pragmatic, thinking that problems can be fixed with a cleaner house or - - - okay, that's just my judgment, just how I see things. Maybe I'm still a bit pissed.

On top of that, I'm exhausted. What kind of idiot wakes up at 4:30am???

So, that's my past couple of days… how's about you?