TSR/XR/Percolation

The AC has awakened, maskless schoolchildren roaming the streets, pre-attendance playtime screams and barking dogs and barking Kirbys, the quiet of my pre-breakfast idyll being, as ever, shattered with the half-sun. But here I am.

Released Ep0008 of The Socialized Recluse yesterday, featuring my chat with Steve Niles on all things Universal Monsters, comics, and Gil. The response has been amazing - so thank you.

Speaking of, early morning tweet-gushing:

Very excited for what’s next, but: this is my first day off from podwork since June, the next first call taking place at the end of the month. Full-fledged prep for that will begin in about a week. in the meantime, want to push ahead with the other plates, back full-on writing to push forward on the T1D piece and shift a couple of smaller projects – Story0003 and something else that's still forming – from the "Percolating" Trello list to the "Working" one.

I will celebrate by going to get additional blood work done because I apparently have high calcium levels, which, I’ve found, is sort of the “Check Engine” light of the bloodstream. I either eat too much cheese or have cancer. 99.9999% it’s the former.

Dear XR, my precious: even though you are now discontinued, I will always love you and hold onto your cracked self with all I have until your dying day.

New TSR: Steve Niles

Horror comics maestro Steve Niles joins me on the latest episode of THE SOCIALIZED RECLUSE to geek out over the Universal Monsters films and, along the way, discuss writing, comics, Bernie Wrightson, marriage turning points, horror, comedy, the challenge of werewolves, typical workdays, and, most importantly, Gil. You can check out the full episode here, or via Apple Podcasts/your preferred podcast player.

Montaigne’s Tower / 30min-COVID

Moderate bemusement continues over that time I had COVID for half an hour yesterday.

Keep telling myself that it's time to work on a quick short story to publish and eke out a little victory – and let a few things for The Main Thing percolate – but The Main Thing keeps pulling me back in, morning after morning. Not necessarily a bad thing – but that doesn't mean that the persistence of getting nowhere isn't frustrating; then again, I have to tell myself to remember what Nick Cave said: "When something's not coming, it's coming."

But what I really want is Montaigne's tower. With a moat. And turrets. And guardian flying jorkies or morkies or something. (As a consolation prize, Montaigne's tower is currently my iPad wallpaper).

The day awaits.

The Story of Today’s COVID-Call

(13:39), The phone rings, not the Imperial Death March so I know it's not one of our elders.

Nurse: Your COVID test came back positive.

Me: Oh.

(Aside: Not surprising, really: my fully-vaxxed wife is back to teaching school in the only masked district in the county and I'm likewise vaxxed but idiots capable of breathing surround on all sides. Nonetheless, feel fine, all good. Running six miles a day. Same as every day.)

(Back to scene.)

Well, just keep doing what you're doing, you’re probably past quarantine stage anyhow so you don't need to be re-swabbed.

I wasn't swabbed. Ever.

Oh. But your test –

I wasn't swabbed.

Let met talk to Dr...

(Minutes, on hold.)

Dr: … yeah, you can't learn if you have COVID from a blood test. You're sure you weren't swabbed?

I know I wasn't swabbed.

Then... I need to figure out what's going on. Quite a way to start with a new doctor!

Yep.

How are you feeling?

Fine.

Ok, I'll call you back.

(Minutes):

Nurse: You're fine. There was some screwup with the lab.

So I'm fine.

You're fine.

Quite a Monday.

Quite a Monday.

(14:41.)

Booknotes

Trying out an experiment here of adding selected highlights from my readings as I make my way through each book. Starting with my current read, Stefan Zweig’s biography of Montaigne and my recent read, Megan Abbott’s THE TURNOUT, I’ll update each post (and add a tweet to the post’s thread) accordingly with passages from my manic read-bracketing (Zweig) and, sometimes, a quick review upon completion (Abbott). Want to make these reading posts a little more useful to me, a public record of things that fascinate within each reading…