Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Epiphanies, epiphanots, epiphanettes

An epiphanot is an epiphany that's wrong. An epiphanette is what some people call an ah ha moment, except that it's a small one that won't have a major impact on your life. Or maybe it will, who knows. I've had a bunch of 'nots and 'nettes lately, but for the most part they're boring.

Epiphanette no. 1. Do not trust a woman who says she is depressive but laughs a lot.

About me. I'm 62, look younger. I'm single. Divorced twice. No children. I live in the US, east side, near Washington. I came from France in my early teens with my parents. They went back, I didn't.

I am a writer, a good one, trying to publish the fabled third book. I've done a bit of everything, worked for the Washington Post for several year, the World Bank for even more years, edited an in-line skating magazine and worked on the Time-Life How To series. You remember those--build your own house, wire your garage, add a closet for the old lady. Now I work from home. I run a small mail-order business. I write. I write songs. Mostly sad shitty ones. Since I have just had my heart broken by epiphanette no. 1, the songs right now are even sadder and possibly shittier.

Up until recently I played in a local band called Idylwood but that broke up last week. No more performing the sad shitty songs, at least for a while.

So epiphanette no. 2, never trust a part-time musician with a bad voice and high ambitions. No, no, not me. I actually have a pretty good voice. I am talking about Idylwood's co-founder who recently bailed and took the drummer and bass player with him leaving behind a very pretty female lead singer and... me.

What I plan to do with this blog is publish a book, page by page. It's a novel, a pretty good one, written some years ago when I got my head out of the bottle. Before every installment, and sometimes after, there will be some random thoughts, memories, needless bitching and occasionally whining. The name of the book is Wasted Miracles. Let me know what you think.


Wasted Miracles
Chapter 1

Prologue


It would be a good voyage. The Isadora’s captain, a tall graying man who looked like a captain and took full advantage of it, had a knack for knowing such things. His ship was five days out of Glasgow and he’d spent the better part of that time inspecting the passengers. Two meetings with his officers had confirmed there were no troublesome drunks aboard, no professional card sharks, no scam artists. At least, as far as anyone could tell.
The captain’s name was Roderick Stuart, never Rod, never Stu, and he detested everything about life on solid ground. Pathways, roads, paved surfaces, the very smell of soil, diminished him. His wife was a shrew, his two daughters seemed headed for a gloryless existence with dullard husbands and ugly, freckled children. Mr. Winfrey, the smug and sallow tenant they kept (at the insistence of his wife who felt safer with a man in the house when the Captain was at sea), was a local teacher whose presence often drove the Captain from his own living room. Now he was back where he belonged, aboard his real home, a place he could and did rule like the benevolent and smiling dictator of an unthreatened realm. Everything was in order and he basked in the familiar.
He loved his ship. He had recently celebrated his twentieth anniversary with the Royal Scottish Line--the company had given him an exquisite Vuiton watch with matching studs and cufflinks--and this would be his seventh world tour with the Isadora. He looked forward to the six weeks at sea; his last shore leave had been disastrous and from the moment he’d entered the ill-fitting house he and his wife maintained just outside Inverness, his only thought was how to cut his stay short.
From where he stood on the deck, he could see virtually the entire ship by merely turning his head. The sea was calm; the Isadora’s engines were a soft background hum. He could hear the faint booming of skeet shooters, the cawing of gulls, and the splashing of sweet saltwater against the massive bow. He looked forward to dressing for dinner, still anticipated with pleasure the time spent with that night’s properly awed guests at the captain’s table. He thought it marvelous that a man could spend a lifetime abovedeck of such a magnificent vessel and be paid handsomely for it. He was not a deeply religious man but the years at sea had granted him a certain spirituality, and rare was the day he did not give thanks for the life he was so fortunate to lead.
In a moment, the woman whom he had promoted to Director of Activities would come to his cabin. She was his mistress, he loved her deeply, believed she loved him as well, and she would have married him had he not already been another woman’s mate. They would spend an hour in bed together and after that share a small snifter of Grand Marnier. This they would do three times a week for the entire length of the voyage.
Life was good. He was blessed and he knew it.
***




16 comments:

  1. This is torture! I have NEVER been able to read a book one page at a time. Ahhh, well... compassion is the order of the day for someone dumped by e-mail. Love ya man.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, April. Actually, it's a couple of pages at a time and I will endeavour to do it daily. Thanks for hanging in there!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi! I know this is kind of off topic but I was wondering
    which blog platform are you using for this site?
    I'm getting tired of Wordpress because I've had problems with hackers
    and I'm looking at alternatives for another platform. I would be awesome if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.

    Also visit my web site ... Shabby Chic Moebel Karlsruhe

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello to all, the contents existing at this website are
    actually amazing for people experience, well,
    keep up the nice work fellows.

    Here is my page stopping smoking right away

    ReplyDelete
  5. bookmarked!!, I love your blog!

    Also visit my web page :: FDA approved diet and appetite suppressors in Miami

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thankfulness to my father who told me concerning this web site, this weblog
    is really awesome.

    Stop by my website - phil cardella arrested

    ReplyDelete
  7. When I originally commented I clicked the "Notify me when new comments are added" checkbox and
    now each time a comment is added I get four emails with the same comment.
    Is there any way you can remove people from that service?
    Bless you!

    my web blog :: phil cardella
    My website - phil cardellas mugshot

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, superb blog structure! How lengthy have you ever
    been running a blog for? you made blogging glance easy.
    The whole look of your site is excellent, let alone the content material!



    my homepage; noticias primero

    ReplyDelete
  9. What's Taking place i'm new to this, I stumbled upon
    this I've discovered It positively helpful and it has helped me out loads. I'm hoping to give a contribution & aid other users like
    its aided me. Good job.

    Feel free to surf to my page ... www.xxxvideofix.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for ones marvelous posting! I seriously enjoyed reading it, you could be a great author.
    I will ensure that I bookmark your blog and will eventually come back later in life.
    I want to encourage you to continue your great
    writing, have a nice day!

    Here is my blog post ... Cfnmfever.Net

    ReplyDelete
  11. You are so interesting! I do not believe I've truly read something like that before. So nice to find another person with a few unique thoughts on this issue. Seriously.. many thanks for starting this up. This site is something that is required on the web, someone with some originality!

    my blog :: party girls

    ReplyDelete
  12. I just like the valuable information you supply in your articles.
    I will bookmark your weblog and test once more here frequently.

    I'm quite certain I'll learn many new stuff proper here!

    Good luck for the following!

    Feel free to visit my webpage ... Http://Hotgirlsexcam.Com/Videos/Gorgous-Teen-And-Her-Webcam-2986/

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi there mates, its fantastic article concerning teachingand completely explained, keep it
    up all the time.

    my webpage - www.babesflick.com

    ReplyDelete
  14. It's appropriate time to make some plans for the future and it is time to be happy. I have read this post and if I could I desire to suggest you some interesting things or suggestions. Maybe you can write next articles referring to this article. I want to read more things about it!

    Have a look at my webpage :: xvideos

    ReplyDelete
  15. I drop a leave a response each time I especially enjoy
    a article on a site or if I have something to contribute to the conversation.
    It is caused by the passion displayed in the post I browsed.
    And on this post "Epiphanies, epiphanots, epiphanettes".

    I was actually excited enough to post a thought :-P I do have 2 questions for you if you usually
    do not mind. Is it only me or do a few of the responses look like they are written by brain dead people?
    :-P And, if you are posting at additional social sites,
    I would like to follow anything new you have to post.
    Could you list every one of your shared sites like your twitter feed,
    Facebook page or linkedin profile?

    Here is my webpage - xvideos :: http://www.darryllabicheac.com/ ::

    ReplyDelete
  16. Renodapt S 360 mg Tablet is a potent immunosuppressive agent. This medicine is used to prevent organ rejection in patients receiving an allogeneic renal transplant. It is used with other medicines to prevent your body from rejecting an organ (such as a kidney, heart, or liver) after a transplant. Take this medicine in the dose and duration as per the doctor's prescription. mandatory to take advice from a doctor.

    ReplyDelete