Dumb Stuff

I've done some really dumb shit in my day. Looking back on life, I can hardly believe any boys survive childhood. Even the mildest of us do stupid freaking crap that ought to kill us off by the millions before we even hit puberty.

But it doesn't stop with the end of childhood. Oh, no.

Yesterday I was sick. Really, really sick. Could hardly sleep last night for the pain and constantly hacking up bloody phlegm. But come the alarm clock, what do I do? You got it. I got dressed and went to work.

Dumb. GodDAMN, that was dumb.

Now I am even sicker. So I am going to type this, take a shower, climb into bed and go to sleep. If I wake up this sick in the morning I will head to the doctor's office instead of work.

Go home, Bob. You're dumb.

Fresh Air for What Ails Ye

Wow. I have been really sick for more than a week. I've been going to work for a while every morning, but coming home to recuperate. My doctor (who has been caring for my health for more than two decades) gave me some powerful antibiotics and that knocked out the infection, for the most part. But I'm still recovering and I suspect it'll be a few days before I'm full speed.

I also plan to go to the mountains to go camping for a couple of days. I think the fresh air will be good for me and it can't hurt to get out of the house and out of Charlotte.

The Black Mountains. One area where I might go.

A piece of the Black Mountain Crest Trail, one of my favorite trails in North Carolina.

The summit of Cattail Peak, one of the very few mountains in the eastern USA to reach 6,600 feet above sea level.

Bed Rest and Zombies

I spent today sick and sleeping most of the time. I don't know what's wrong, but I've just been wiped out since I got back to work. Also feeling sick more often than not. I may go see my regular physician this week.

Nice to see the horror/comedy ZOMBIELAND was the #1 movie this week. My agent is taking my zombie novel THE LIVING END around to the publishers, so the timing is good.

For years I've wondered about the relative popularity of the zombie mythos. All kinds of ideas and impressions hit me, notably the racist/xenophobia aspects of it. But I think what gets a lot of people excited about the basic premise is the opportunity to be reactionaries. Here is a problem that you really can smash or burn or shoot. For the first time here's something that bullets can take care of.

And that's why it appeals to a lot of right wing mentality. I covered that before, back in December 2006 here.

Now...that doesn't explain why it appeals to everyone else. One of my good friends once pointed out that the zombie trope plucks so many strings on the fear guitar that it's a can't-miss scenario. Just about every fear you can think of can be contained within the zombie storyline. I think he was right. I think that's exactly what's going on in most of these books and films and comics that center themselves on the idea of the recently dead returning to a mindless sort of life to consume the living.

It's just pretty darned scary.

Even when you try to work in a laugh or two.

Sick Again

Sick again.

I've been almost constantly sick since the week before Christmas. Lungs are full of crud. Low fever.

Good grief.

The new truck is great, though. We love it.