FIRED ON MY DAY OFF AND ON MY BIRTHDAY

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Friday, December 31, 2021

WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS

 

We certainly bear more scars, emotionally and physically, now than we thought we would two years ago. 

Still, the good thing about scars is that we get them by surviving the wounds that made them.

 


We've lost things that is true, but we had them for a precious time and for that we should remember to cherish the everyday things we have today 

which may not last out the upcoming uncertain year: friends, sight, pets, a warm home, food in our pantry.

 


What did Tennyson have Ulysses say just before setting sail for his last voyage onto an unknown sea?

 

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

 

What wind could possibly fill our sails this new year? Tenacious Hope. Hope that there will be glimpses of beauty, compassion, and bravery in the months to come.

 


Perhaps they will not be there for us, but we can give them to those we meet along our voyage. 

We can be torch-bearers to souls who need that light more than we know, more than we need it.

 


Should you stumble in the darkness in the months ahead, may you feel a strong hand reach out to grasp yours, steadying your steps.

 


In my World-View, we do not know the future, but there is One who holds that future. 

May we Hear His Voice in our ears when need it the most.

 


Happy New Year, my friends ... Roland


Sunday, December 26, 2021

WHY DO ROAD TRIPS MAKE FOR ABSORBING READS?

 


Travel changes us. 

Often, a road trip teaches us something about ourselves we could learn in no other way.

In a good novel, your character learns something vital or grows wiser along the way.


From The Odyssey to Titanic to 1999's The Mummy to this year's DEATH ON THE NILE


Characters are brought face to face with themselves and others 

in jarring, dangerous ways that test their assumptions about life and what makes a life worthwhile.



Alternate History meets with Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, and star-fallen gods


Steampunk meets Alternate History again with 
Mark Twain.
11 year old Nikola Tesla
and vampire kingdoms warring 
with star-fallen aliens.

John Steinbeck declares in Travels With Charley 

that Americans descended from those who moved: those who left Europe, 

those who were forced to leave Africa, 

and those who came in search of a better life. 

It makes sense that we would be travelers.

 “Every American hungers to move,” he writes. 

But most of us can’t just pack up and leave, so here are 4 Road Trips novels:

2 Not So Innocent Sagas

and 2 Victorian Egyptian thrillers

for those of you who want to avoid 

the  travails of travel

and just enjoy others' misadventures!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NRKWZTZ


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MYSKT4W

Music to enjoy my Road Trips Steampunk fantasies

By



What are your favorite Road Trip 
books or Movies?

Mine?





Enjoy Steampunk?

Saturday, December 25, 2021

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 "Did the shepherds ever hum the song 

the angels sang that night?"  

- Father Darael

May whatever the future holds for us be the better for the knowledge of Who holds that future. 

Merry Christmas, Roland



Tuesday, December 21, 2021

DECEMBERING: Has CHRISTMAS Lost the Magic for You?

 

IT HAS BEEN A TOUGH TWO YEARS FOR SO MANY

IF YOU FIND IT HARD TO GLIMPSE THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT ...


LET THERE BE LIGHT

The reduced level of sunlight in fall and winter may cause winter-onset SAD .
 
This decrease in sunlight may disrupt your body's internal clock and lead to feelings of depression. 

A drop in serotonin, a brain chemical (neurotransmitter) that affects mood, might play a role in SAD .

Light up your room, apartment, or house. It will make a difference.


Before two hurricanes destroyed my old apartment complex, 

a few of us tenants would pool together our money to hire a horse-drawn carriage to ooh and ahh at our city's Christmas Lights.

It was safer than driving our cars and perhaps getting into a wreck by being distracted drivers.

After a tornado ripped our city apart this year there are no horse-drawn carriages ... but I have the memories to light my heart.


KEEP MOVING

Benefits Of Cold Weather Running

1 ) Extra calories burned, during and after. ...

2 ) Feel happier, train harder. ...

3 ) Get a sweat on. ...

4 ) Free up the fat stores. ...

5 ) Boost glucose uptake. ...

6 ) Get one up on Summer. ...

7 ) Create some headspace. ...

Morning runs: try doing your outdoor running in the morning.



ORPHANS IN THE STORM PARTIES

"No, I will not abandon you nor leave you as orphans in the storm."  John 14:18

Being alone during the holidays can exacerbate existing feelings of depression or even cause them, 

so if you’re facing the prospect of a lonely Christmas, gather up your single friends and anyone you know whose family is far away and have a party ... even if it is only by Skype.

A Skype Party is fun:

 No need to dress up, nor eat goodies made by those who mean well but can't cook to save their lives, and no one yucky trying to hustle you under the mistletoe!

You’ll be doing yourself and them a favor.


FIND THE SMILE HIDING UNDER THE SNOW

Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain.

Activate and relieve your stress response. 

A rollicking laugh fires up and then cools down your stress response, and it can increase and then decrease your heart rate and blood pressure. 

The result? A good, relaxed feeling.

Soothe tension. 

Laughter can also stimulate circulation and aid muscle relaxation, both of which can help reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress.

LONG TERM EFFECTS

Laughter isn't just a quick pick-me-up, though. It's also good for you over the long term. 

Laughter may:

 Improve your immune system. 

Negative thoughts manifest into chemical reactions that can affect your body by bringing more stress into your system and decreasing your immunity. 

By contrast, positive thoughts can actually release neuropeptides that help fight stress and potentially more-serious illnesses.

Relieve pain. 

Laughter may ease pain by causing the body to produce its own natural painkillers.

EASY FOR ME TO SAY?

When two hurricanes had me homeless for 7 months, Lifeshare graciously let me sleep on a cot in a corner of their T-Shirt storeroom.

I would joke to the blood techs coming in at 5 A.M. that at least I had no excuse for being late for work 

and when a 4 A.M. blood drive would show up to prepare for the day, they would find me in the freezing storeroom with my Bah, Humbug! Santa Hat on.

ALL THIS IS JUST FRIENDLY ADVISE, MIND YOU



Friday, December 17, 2021

NEVER IN PAPERBACK; NOW IN HARDBACK

 "If you have to face unbeatable odds, 

thank the cowards for the compliment, 

laugh at this farce of life, 

and charge straight into them, taking as many with you as you can." 

- Victor Standish

BOOK 4 of the VICTOR STANDISH SAGA


Alice Wentworth could not die with her love, Victor Standish, 

SO she means to avenge him though it cost her the life which means less than nothing to her now.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MYWXYLM?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860

BOOK 3 of VICTOR'S SAGA


Even that scamp, Victor Standish, could not contend with gods and monsters forever. 

In 1834, he makes his last stand (in affordable hardback.)


The UPDATED Book Zero in the 

SAGA OF VICTOR STANDISH 

now in affordable Hardback.


Just RELEASED IN HARDBACK!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NRBY5K3?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860

BOOK ONE of VICTOR'S SAGA


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NRHKBN6?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860

BOOK TWO of the VICTOR STANDISH SAGA

***

I'll be doing blood runs

this Christmas -

think of giving me a smile

by buying one of my books, would you?

Sunday, December 12, 2021

DANGLING IN THE DARK


The paths forced upon us by outside forces these past months 

have certainly been improbable, almost impossible to guess before they happened.


Entire towns no longer exist in Kentucky after Friday's swarm of tornadoes.


Uncertainty is the price for life. 
We long for it to be different, 
but reality simply is.


Integrity and compassion are 
the only compasses 
for our walk into the dark.


"No one can build you the bridge that you, 
and only you, must cross the river of life." 
- Carl Jung


In my world-view, laughter and friendship makes each step across that bridge easier 

and leads to a place where He who shaped us waits to give us a hug and to lead us to our next great adventure.


MAY THE DAYS OF YOUR CHRISTMAS SEASON 
BE HAPPY AND BRIGHT




Thursday, December 9, 2021

HOW ARE YOU THIS HOLIDAY SEASON?

 

These past months were enough to make a hard man humble ... 

or at least overwhelmed.

How have you managed to cope?

Keeping the child alive inside helps me.

What helps you?

Only $7.99 in paperback
$14.99 in hardcover
$17.46 in audio book

Victor Standish's Last Stand



Tuesday, December 7, 2021

IT'S ALL ABOUT A FEEL

 

 

Sam Cooke once told Herb Albert:

"Man, it’s all about a feel. 

There’s nothing else. 

People are just listening to a cold piece of wax, man, and it either makes it or it don’t."

Herb Albert and Jerry Moss started the A & M record label on a handshake.

Nothing was ever put in writing. All they had was honesty to bind them together.


Integrity never gets outdated. 

“We were putting out records for the right reasons — putting out records that we would have bought ourselves,” Alpert says.


The same is true for what we write:

It either rings true for us or it does not. 

We must stay the course. 

If no one discovers us, we have at least not labored in vain to craft a selling lie.

The same is true for the Magic of Christmas.

The pandemic, the political scene, the inflation, the flurry of dueling agendas ...

When all seems so dark ...

You must work to draw the 
magic of Christmas 
to you.

It is all about looking up.


Now in Hardcover:

During the 1st Christmas Eve
after WWII,

Darkness wars with Love
in the French Quarter.