We bomb at midnight... or whenever...

This morning's headlines keep reading - or, at least, I do - that we're bombing Iraq again to help save lives.

Now, you might find this cynical but look at the bright side. We're one of the few nations in history ever to save lives with high explosives, and we're certainly in the minority as far as thinking we can.

You can't solve every problem by throwing money at it, the Republicans have told us all these years but as it turns out you can solve them by throwing bombs... or dropping them. I say, let's solve more of our problems. Bad transmission? Drop a bomb on it! Melting glaciers? Drop a bomb! Heck, I think we should fix Congress right about now. Don't you?

(This rant brought to you by the Peoples Who Ain't Been Bombed Yet For the Bombing of the People not there anymore because we have...)

Busy at home at work at home together apart together…

I’m sitting at my desk on a muggy, summer afternoon, thinking about my marriage and what a strange place we’re in.

And I thought, What the hell! Let’s write about it!

We have so many friends and people in our families who live “traditional” lives… you know, the marriage, the house, the kids, the crap… I know Vicky likes it because she gets to enjoy it on a “visitor” basis but it’s downright annoying to me. I don’t know why but I’m not that keen on the traditional setup.

Vicky and I don’t have kids and I have grown comfortable like that. Not only is it okay, it’s just fine by me. I don’t think Vicky will ever be completely comfortable and that makes me sad but that’s not how things have worked out and I, personally, am happier going with the flow, accepting what is rather than wishing for what isn’t.

In a way…

You see, as much as many of those we know have gone the traditional route, Vicky and I have surprisingly… not.

We don’t have kids. We’re not really big joiners. We aren’t especially attracted to material objects.

The two of us found what we love long ago and recently – in the past year, at least – things have really begun to take off with what we love. In case I’m being too vague, I’m talking about our jobs.

Yep.

Vicky and I are workaholics.

We both love what we do. Vicky loves running her company’s paralegal team and teaching college courses, etc. etc. etc. I love writing books and recording audiobooks and creating new videos and hosting my podcasts, etc. etc. etc.

I don’t think either of us have ever been so fulfilled in what we do.

… and yet, I’m sitting here at my desk on a muggy, summer afternoon… and I’m considering all of these things… and what does not escape me is the fact that Vicky is about 10-15 miles across town right now, doing her thing.

This strikes me as so weird because there’s no one I love being with more than Vicky. I love taking adventures with her. I love laying in on a weekend morning with her and watching a race. I love going to Target with her to buy Q-tips. I don’t know why this is. I’m just smitten.

And, all the same, we’re spending our days apart. We spend many of our days apart. Because we love what we do.

And we love each other.

I suppose it’s not “traditional.” It may not even be healthy.

But I’m proud of her and she’s proud of me and though I hate when she’s away I love when she comes back. It may sound strange to say we love our lives spent working most of the time without kids and without each other that much… but we do.

And I probably wouldn’t trade it for the world.

The Monday Morning Show for July 21, 2014...

Considering the exciting world of playwriting? Stop...

Cookies: Sluts of the Snack World... the Trailertini...

So Dream Something, featuring my guest: Keith Bodayla...

So... you want to be a copywriter...

We're halfway through the year!

This is shaping up to be a crazy year, as you’ll see, and be sure to check out my website, my Facebook page, or just drop me a line for updates as they occur!

For now, here’s this…

 

You Just Missed…

A slew of new releases! It’s going to be a big year for book releases and here are just a few from this quarter:

Cookies: Sluts of the Snack World (Book1 in the “Fun To Grow On” series) (Fiction/humorous)

Now available for the Kindle and in audiobook format.

(Look for it in paperback coming soon!)

Last Ditch (Fiction/thriller)

Now available exclusively for the Kindle

(Look for the paperback coming soon!)

Dreaming With Open Eyes (Non-fiction/motivation)

Now available for the Kindle, in paperback, and in audiobook format.

But that’s not all! Have you caught my new podcast: The Monday Morning Show? Each week, I talk about the news of the day and the news in my head for 10-15 minutes. It’s provocative, entertaining, and I also respect your intelligence. Imagine!

You can download The Monday Morning Show from PodcastMachine at present and look for it soon on iTunes!

 

Coming Up…

As most of you know, July is the month I put aside for the sole purpose of claiming that I’m taking a vacation… (I’m working on it!)

I’m also working on a new series on my YouTube channel, which I call “So, you want to be a writer.” Join me each week as I take on tech writing, copy writing, playwriting, and novel writing… And I can assure you, each episode is assembled without a hint of sarcasm…

You can also look forward to a few new titles in the next few months. Such as:

Indian Paintbrush (Fiction/literary)

To a Dreamer (Non-fiction/motivation)

And, Puppies: Best in Stew (Book 2 in the “Fun To Grow On” series)

Each book will be available for ebooks, in paperback, and in audiobook formats.

But that’s not all…

 On The Horizon…

Look for The Wrong Magic (Fiction/fantasy) coming from WiDo Publishing around Christmastime. I’ve also signed a contract with Vagabondage Press to release my zombie horror novel, Wormfood Island, in 2015.

The fun has just begun.

Stay tuned!

Until next time, I wish you nothing but the best.

Ken La Salle

Follow my writing career at www.kenlasalle.com

On Twitter

On Facebook

And, on YouTube

It's a choice...

Just a few happy statistics. These are conservative estimates...
The seas will be dead within 30 years.
We will have killed all the coral reefs in 20 years.
We are living in the time of peak oil.
Global warming is now.
... This was all man-made. Our responsibility is to ameliorate the devastating consequences. Or, we can keep making things worse for your children...
It's a choice.

The Monday Morning Show...

My new podcast, called The Monday Morning Show, begins this Monday!

For a few words on how that came about, check out the most recent episode of my other podcast, So Dream Something...

The best 1st date of my life…

On this day, ten years ago, I had the best first date of my life.

I can tell you it was the best first date of my life because, ever since that day, I have wanted nothing more than to be with that woman.

The date lasted seven hours. Seven hours! We met at 4pm and did not go home until 11pm.

The date ended with the best “first date kiss” I had ever experienced. I don’t know if the kiss was made superior by her or me but I can still remember it. (Yes, I’m a romantic that way.) I can still remember how beautiful she was. And she just keeps getting more beautiful.

I know that’s a lot to ask of you, the reader, to believe that she just keeps getting more beautiful. But it’s true. Oh, sure. She’s not perfect. She has her moments when she’s human. But there’s so much more to her than that. She’s really funny and very kind. She’s smarter than I am sometimes – actually, she’s smarter than I am far too often. It’s really kind of annoying, actually…

It was the best first date of my life because I want it to be the last first date of my life.

The date I’m not really describing is my first date with Vicky. You can find a complete description in my book, A Grand Canyon. It wasn’t really Love at first sight but it was certainly Like plus a lot of Lust at first sight. When the love came, the like and lust stuck around as well.

Vicky is downstairs right now, coughing her lungs out.

You see, we were supposed to go out on our first date again tonight, reliving it in as much detail as manageable. But then, our dog Suki got sick. And then, Vicky got sick. And I guess our first date it not to be… again… We’ll just have to leave it in the history book.

But I suppose our disappointment is a sign as well. We both wanted to do this because we both have a connection with that night ten years ago.

As for myself, I’m just happy I’ve had these ten years. Vicky quite literally rocked my world.

Happy Anniversary, my love. Let’s do another ten.

Kristallnacht down the street

I saw something this morning while I was out on my jog, something that will take me some time to shake off.

You see, under a local overpass a small community of homeless people recently sprang up. They spring up just about every few months or so but they don’t leave voluntarily.

This morning, I saw why they leave. I saw two dump trucks and four police cars pull up. The police moved the homeless over to one side. And the garbage men took all of the belongings – the few belongings these homeless people had – and threw all of their things into the garbage trucks. The homeless weren’t arrested. They were just shoed away like dogs.

It brought to mind something from a long time ago. It brought to mind Kristallnacht.

Now, I understand that some people might get offended by this, by my comparing our local police to nazi thugs.

But what happened on Kristallnacht? On that night, so long ago, police came around and destroyed the property of a group of people they didn’t want to have around anymore.

That was exactly what happened this morning.

And it troubles me that we can do this and not feel at all ashamed or in any way bothered by what we do. We’ve given up on finding a solution to the problem of homelessness. We just shoe them away like dogs and throw away their stuff.

Leaving them to start again.

Leaving them worse off than before.

Leaving us… appeased. Out of sight. Out of mind.

We should hang our heads.

I’m probably going to talk about this next month, in my final episode of 5 Brief Minutes but, for now, I just had to say something.

Because it makes me sick.

In 5 Brief Minutes... Is Gun Ownership UnAmerican?...

Why have rules for life?...

As I continue to analyze the rules for life, I ask an appropriate staring question, "Why should we even have rules for life?"

You can read all about it by giving this link a click!

Something you usually only see on TV…

So, I was out on the river trail this morning for my morning jog when I saw something I could have sworn I would only see on TV.

Passing me on the trail, two beach cruiser bicycles came along my right side.

I could see the two riders very clearly in the cool, morning sunlight, a fat, bald, white guy and a beautiful woman with grey to white hair. The man wore beige trousers, a short-sleeved shirt, and a blue/green vest of some kind. The woman wore a long, white dress and a white hat with a wide brim. Neither wore helmets. Both looked incredibly out of place and terribly overdressed to be on the trail.

But then, as they pulled ahead, I realized nobody else was anywhere nearby. And I could watch them ride off through the dappling shade.

I stopped.

And I said, because this had to be said out loud. “Oh, my God. I just got passed by a Viagra commercial.”

Jackemoff Forest returns once again with "Republic Annie"...

So Dream Something gets a little fishy...

This month's episode of So Dream Something is a little fishy.
I talk to James Krause, co-founder of Rivers to Reef, about aquaculture and The American Dream.
I hope you enjoy it.

5 Brief Minutes on Income Disparity and why people keep trying to sell me shit...

Two for the sofa…

This was a week I saw coming a mile away.

You ever have one of those weeks? The kind that you’ve been predicting for some time, saying things like, “One of these days, we’re going to have to…” and then you do?

That was this week.

For months now, I’ve been saying to Vicky, “We’re going to have to start keeping Suki downstairs at night. She just can’t take the stairs the way she used to.” Suki is our Shiba Inu. She’s about 14. (This is the point where Vicky will correct me. I’m terrible with these things.) Where she used to be able to trot up and down our stairs several times each day, recently, she’s been slipping and sliding. Her back legs have been going out on her. She stumbles.

It’s just not pretty.

So, this was the week. Suki moved downstairs.

And though I hadn’t been mentioning this next bit to Vicky, I knew what would go right alongside that – right alongside Suki, I mean. Me. That’s what would go alongside of her. Me.

I had to move downstairs, too.

Because Suki did not like moving downstairs at all. Not one bit. She would begin crying and the only thing that put her at ease was another person with her. And Vicky needed the bed. Vicky works a real job.

So, downstairs I moved. Suki took her dog bed. I took the sofa.

And, let me tell you, my back is not built of solid steel, the way it once was. Nope. Now, when I sleep on the sofa, my back kind of conforms to its horrible curves. I wake up feeling like a dingbat font.

But this is what you do. You know? If we had kids, I’d be up with them. If we had an elderly parent living with us, I’d be… you know what, I don’t want to think about that. Anyway, Suki is like an elderly parent. And she needs me.

She’s stinky and she sheds. She’s standoffish and never listens. But she needs me.

This is what you do.

Jackemoff Forest? The strangest new web series from Ken La Salle begins... NOW!