Oldest Guy in the Office

No, this is not a whine about being old. Really.

The post by alternatefish referring to not yet having a job reminded me of how it felt, when I started working, to be the young kid in the office, lo! those many decades ago. I kept thinking of myself that way - as the youngest kid in the office - even as the years passed and intellectually I knew it was no longer true. That was my self-image.

Then, suddenly, at some point it struck me that I was one of the oldest people in whatever company I was then working for. Very soon, I was almost surely the oldest person in the company. I'm fairly sure that's the case at my current employer, Quark.

No profound insights in this post. (Aww! You've all come to expect them!) (Okay, so you haven't.) Obviously, this is a common experience. But it seems powerful and unique to me right now. What am I rambling on about? Cognitive dissonance, I guess. It hits one in various ways in connection with aging. That fellow in the mirror is just some fat, bald, old guy with sagging jowls instead of the kid who's supposed to be there. Who kidnapped that kid and substituted his grandfather, damn it? Again, this is obviously a common experience, but lately I've been thinking about how odd it feels, almost otherworldly or detached from reality.

328 Weeks

From next Tuesday is my planned/hoped-for retirement date.

Putting it in weeks makes it sound not all that far away. 328? Heck, that's nothing!

NOT A MILLION MILES!!

At Amazon.uk, an online reviewer said this about Daniel's and my alternate history novel, Dawn Crescent:

THIS PLOT IS NOT A MILLION MILES FROM WHAT HAS ACTUALLY OCCURRED!!

Well, er, that would be because it's alternate history.

Slightly off the Mark

After a good writing session, I was feeling up and building castles in the air, as usual. This is the one! This is the book! It's going to happen at last! I can feel it! Etc.

Leonore reminded me of the early years, when I was pouring out my first novel and oodles of short stories and was constantly enthusiastic about it all. Back then, I was sure I would make it and become a full-time writer before I turned 30.

Oops! As Maxwell Smart used to say, "Missed it by thaaat much."

I Still Feel Like a Kid

Can't help obsessing about age. These guys aren't helping.

That's the site for the exhumation (excarvation?) of a car that was buried exactly 50 years ago. That's also when I arrived in this country, a skinny immigrant kid, shivering in the cold, speaking no English*. It used to seem like it was just yesterday, but now those bastards in Oklahoma have converted it into ancient history. The nerve!

* In the interests of nitpickery, it was summer, I was pudgy, and English is my native language. But that doesn't fit the standard stereotype at all.

Recursive Blogging

This is getting strange.

My post about the search terms people used to get to vampire stuff on my Web site has resulted in people getting to that blog post via similar terms. So in searching for, say, vampire sex they got a blog post about people searching for vampire sex.

The post about the Web site and blog hits from Turkey has resulted in blog hits from people doing searches involving the word Turkey. There have also been a couple of cases of hits from Turkey where the exit click was to the Turkish site which has the translation of my unemployment essay - what started that thread in the first place.

It seems inevitable that this post will result in hits on the blog by people searching for information about looking for stuff on blogs.

Or something like that.

David's Definitions for August 2007

Patrimony

This can refer specifically to an inheritance, such as what's left to you in a will, or more generally to your heritage, such as the customs and laws handed down to you from previous generations. It derives from the Latin word pater, father, and originally meant what you inherited from your father. Thanks to the Romans, a lot of our words derive from pater. Some are obvious, such as paternal and patriarch. A less obvious one is patriot. The Romans referred to a man's country as his patria, his fatherland. Thus, a patriot is one who is devoted to his fatherland.


Hmm. Getting a bit political, this time.


I've decided to start putting these on my Web site, all in one page so far, here. I'll add this most recent one after the August issue of Community News comes out.

Anyone Read Turkish?

This blog has been getting hits from various places in Turkey. Some of them come from my Web site, and the hits there are coming from a discussion forum in Turkey, where a long post ends with my Web site's URL. I'd love to know what it's all about.

The Turkish post in question is here.

Maybe someone from Turkey who ended up here because of that post will enlighten me.

Oh, Vampires! Oh, Oh, Oh!

Because I've published two vampire novels (and there were supposed to be two more, sob!), and because I have an essay about vampires on my Web site, I get a fair number of hits via search engines (overwhelmingly Google, by the way) where the queries have the word "vampire" in them.

I tend to keep track of what search terms bring people to my site, and I've noticed a pattern in those vampire hits. I decided to take the time to filter out the hits from May that had "vampire" in the query. A few of them seem to be from people who think vampires are real and who also think that Google, which knows everything, will give you the real skinny on real vampires. Most of them, though, seem to fall into a very specific category. It's hard to detect. You'll have to apply all of your analytical skills. Hint: look for a certain word that appears along with "vampire" in most of the queries.

So here are the search strings that brought people to my site during the month of May 2007.

(Oh, and to the person whose search string was Vampire novels suck, I just want to say, "Yeah? You too, man!")


sexuality of the vampire
vampire sexuality
vampires have sex
how do you have vampire sex
vampire convert
vampire rules
what do vampires represent
what are the vampire rules
vampires and sex
vampires sexual
vampires sex
Vampire appeal
vampires and sexuality
vampire novels
vampires rule
Erotic Vampire Story
erotic vampire tales
vampire sex appeal
vampires sex
vampire sexual
sexuality vampire
vampire and sexuality
vampires sex
vampire zombie short stories
modern vampires
Vampire Rules
vampire novels
erotic vampire stories
erotic vampire stories
vampires sex
vampires having sex
vampires and sex
vampire erotica short stories
modern day female vampires
modern day female vampires
vampire sex novels
vampire sexuality
vampire sexual bloodlust
vampires sexuality
vampire sexuality
VAMPIRES HAVING SEX
vampire sexual
vampires having sex
do vampires have sex
vampires having sex
Vampire Novels
modern vampires
VAMPIRE SExuality
vampire rules
are vampires having sex
vampires and sexuality
vampire sexual beings
Vampire Sex Novels
Modern vampires
do vampires have sex
writing a vampire story
writing a vampire story
vampires and sex
modern vampires
modern vampires
modern vampires
vampires having sex
rules about vampires
Short Erotic Vampire Stories
vampire sexual
vampire rules
things vampires are afraid of
things vampires are afraid of
vampire romantic fiction
vampire romantic fiction
vampires sex
vampire sexuality
allure vampire
vampires having sex
vampire sexuality
vampires sex
VAMPIRES SEX
sexual vampires
vampire rules
vampire sexual
vampire sex
vampires sex
vampire sexuality
vampire sex fiction
vampire rules
vampires and sex
Vampires having sex
sexuality and vampires
Writing a Vampire Story
vampire sex
sex and vampires
sex and vampires
rules of a vampire
the modern vampire
modern vampire essays
vampire novellas
the modern vampire
the modern vampire
the appeal of vampires
a girl vampire controlling a human girl to have sex
Vampire novels suck
vampire and sex
vampire sexual
Vampire Rules
vampire sex
Modern Vampire
things vampires are afraid of
erotic vampire stories
vampire sex
vampire attraction symbol
rules for a vampire
what are the appeals of vampires?
vampire sex
Vampire and sex
vampire sexuality
vampires sex
sexual vampire
vampire novels
Vampires and sex
vampires sex
vampires having sex
vampire sexuality
Vampire Rules
vampire sexual
Vampire Sex
vampire rules
vampire sex images
vampires sex
vampire sexual
vampire rules
vampire sexuality
vampires and sex
vampires and sex
vampires love essay
modern vampires
can a vampire have sex
vampire sex
Vampires modern
vampires can they have sex?
vampire novel
can vampires have sex
vampires and sex
vampires rules
vampire and sex
sex of vampire. com
sex of vampire. com
modern vampire
vampire sexual
vampire sexual
modern vampire
vampire rules
Vampire's having sex
vampire sexuality
vampire
vampire sexual
vampires having sex
Vampire sexuality
modern vampire
vampires sex
Vampire: their hearts beat
sexuality of vampires
vampires sex
vampire allure
Sex vampires
vampire sex
vampires sex
vampires sex
vampire sexual
vampires having sex
sex and vampires
vampires and sex
vampire-sexuality
vampire-sexuality
vampires sex
vampires sex
vampire sex
vampire rules
vampires sex
vampire sex
vampire sexuality
vampires and sex
vampires having sex
romantic vampire novels
sex vampires
Vampire rules
Sex vampires
modern vampire novels
beautiful male vampire
appeal of vampires
appeal of vampires
vampire rules
VAMPIRE NOVEL
rules of the vampire
vampire sexuality
sex and vampires
sex with vampires
vampire sexuality
sex vampires
vampire sexual
vampire sexuality
vampire sex
vampire appeal
the allure of the vampire
vampires - sexuality
vampire sexual
vampire encounters sex
vampire sexuality
the vampire rules
modern vampire
vampires having sex
vampire sex novels
vampire have sex
vampires having sex
vampire rules
vampires having sex
vampire rules
vampire sex
vampire rules
vampire novels
vampire novels
vampire novels
vampires - sex
vampire et sex
vampire sex seduce
vampire sexuality
allure of vampire

Wings of the Heart

That's the title of a horror short story by yours truly, which will be published in World Audience Magazine #6. Brief description of the story: Great quantities of blood.

World Audience is a fairly new quarterly print magazine that has a wide range of fiction and non-fiction, poetry, and plays. It's a non-paying market for now, although the editor and founder, Mike Strozier, is hoping to change that eventually. He's always open to submissions. He's also a small publisher.

Their Web site: http://www.worldaudience.org/

Anti-anti-war

This one has been around for a while, but for those who haven't seen it, here's a photo of a dimwit who was demonstrating against a group of anti-war demonstrators. He wrote his own caption.



That's supposed to distract attention from the lack of posts describing my writing progress. They're lacking because progress is lacking. In my defense, we were away a lot - driving to Kansas City and then to Minneapolis, staying a few days in Minneapolis, then driving back to Denver, and only a few days later flying to New York to take the city by storm (it seems not to have noticed).

Right now, I'm doing some major Web site maintenance for a friend and student of Leonore's, something I had volunteered to do before we left on the first trip.

Then I'll get back to writing.

A Worldwide Phenomenon

Kinda cool. According to sitemeter, the counter I use for this blog, this map shows where the last 500 visitors are located: