Time Trudges Forward

I've not posted, (or written) all that much these past few weeks. Family tragedy put the mind into a tailspin and I'm still trying to gain a semblance of 'normal' again. It's so hard to focus.

We put my grandfather in the ground today. He was nearing 92. He had live a full life and was quite possibly the last of his generation to pass beyond the veil. I couldn't imagine being alive long enough to watch everyone around me die. I'm so very sad for the lose of this man who has been such an important part of my life since I came into the world. I'm also happy that he is finally at peace. The past 10 years had not been easy for him. It began with the death of his wife, an experience I will forever dread, one which haunts the dark places of my mind. Soon thereafter he lost his oldest grandson. The cliche thing to say is, "no father should outlive his son", and tragic as that is, there is something genuinely horrific of the loss of a grandson. My grandfather did not spoil us rotten, but he did put his heart and soul into the times we spent with him. He loved us all as if we were his kids. In a way, we were his kids. 

He lost so many more but those first two hurt the most. 

Work gave me 5 days bereavement.  I didn't think I needed 5 days bereavement. But now, 8 hours after the funeral, I am glad to have the time away from the obligations of a full time job. Despite the pile of work I'm sure to come back to, I'm going to need this time to find my focus again.

I was able to put virtual pen to metaphorical paper today. I forced myself to write and I wrote quite a bit. I think the 'short story' spin off is going to be more of a novella.  This is a win-win for everyone. You get much more content then anticipated and I get to charge more than I would for a short story.

I finished reading Neuromancer for the 2nd time. It was first published in 1984. I am convinced that if you were to take the book and throw it in a blender, you would get The Matrix franchise. Taking the setting at it's most simplistic level (minus the stuff that happens in space), and the characters, strictly on their surface image, you have The Matrix. Case is Neo, the hacker surfing the world of cyberspace appropriately called 'the matrix'. Molly is Trinity, from the tight black leathers and badass attitude. Armitage, again, taking him at face value and abandoning all the character development found in Neuromancer, is Morpheus; cool, calm, leader-guy. I could even make an argument that the Rastafarian pilots, the "Zionists", were used to become the inspiration of "Tank" and Dozer" the operator and...er...his brother who was like the muscle or something... Now that I think of it, what the hell did Dozer do anyway?!?!  

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy The Matrix movies, (yes, even Reloaded and Revolutions), but come on. Those movies have about as much character development as a Star Wars movie character. The characters were all stolen from William Gibson and watered down in order to relate to the simple masses at the box office.

Alright. That's all I've got. I'm not even going to proof this. I'll have more, (and perhaps even better) content, has the week stumbles on.  

CGMc