The AH Coffee Shop and Reading Room 04: Come On In

[NotWise]

A few years ago, BB told a story here about a young soldier who died on BB's rounds, and who he watched leave in full field gear. I don't think I'll ever forget the story.

 

[Javahead]

It's difficult for soldiers to tell stories to civilians, mostly because civilians lack context.

...

So veterans often don't want to start telling things to civilians. It takes too much effort. They'd rather talk to people who already get the context.

Same/same for law enforcement people. My family is full of them - prison guards (mostly cousins, but my mother was a prison nurse for a while), a sprinkling of cops. I've been around them long enough I can get some of the context, but not all. At big family gatherings, they tend to cluster together and try to top each other's stories - and they tend to be hilarious, IF you get the context. But the humor is often very, very, dark.

Not having served in the military (I was still in high school when Vietnam wound down, and the military was drastically shrinking when I was enlistment age) I don't pretend to understand the their stories - I just don't have the context without long explanations.

 

[TxRad]

Good morning Gotham City, uh, I mean, Authors Hangout. Damn those weird dreams are getting weirder. A Batgirl and Catwoman double header. Be still my hard, uh, heart.

Fresh coffee might help like it always does.

Now for some breakfast. Choices? Cereal, Cinnamon raisin toast, or some kind of weird looking pastry in either peach or apricot flavor. Decisions, decisions.

If you are feeling strange, watch where you are putting your hands.

 

[Voboy]

Good morning Gotham City, uh, I mean, Authors Hangout. Damn those weird dreams are getting weirder. A Batgirl and Catwoman double header. Be still my hard, uh, heart.

Fresh coffee might help like it always does.

Now for some breakfast. Choices? Cereal, Cinnamon raisin toast, or some kind of weird looking pastry in either peach or apricot flavor. Decisions, decisions.

If you are feeling strange, watch where you are putting your hands.

English muffin and black coffee. Perfect.

 

[Handley_Page]

Good morning Gotham City, uh, I mean, Authors Hangout. Damn those weird dreams are getting weirder. A Batgirl and Catwoman double header. Be still my hard, uh, heart.


If you are feeling strange, watch where you are putting your hands.

Ah, Julie Newmar or Lee Meriwether. Well worth dreaming about, IMO.

 

[TxRad]

It is now evening so fresh coffee is needed.

Cinnamon raisin bread won out for breakfast. That and a lonely cupcake that was slowly dying on the kitchen counter.

Not much writing done today. Started out doing some research for a story and fell down a rabbit hole of YouTube videos. A definite love/hate relationship.

Lunch was lost somewhere during the middle of the day and now I'm at supper and have no ideas. There is still a chunk of watermelon, HM & HG left in the fridge. I ate half of it a few days ago and it was good but a little tough and chewy. Ifigure that was from the way I cooked it.

 

[Voboy]

Is there anything with greater pathos than a dusty pastry, forgotten on a shelf?

Cupcake. Doughnut. Croissant. Left alone on the rack, unclaimed. The effort of making them wasted.

 

[NotWise]

There is still a chunk of watermelon, HM & HG left in the fridge. I ate half of it a few days ago and it was good but a little tough and chewy. Ifigure that was from the way I cooked it.

Don't use the microwave .

I haven't had watermelon yet this summer. That seems like something to be fixed.

I'm drawing nearly a blank on writing. There's a Tiwa woman bathing in a crystal-clear pool hidden among the mountain's crags, and a young Geologist who's surprised to find her, but the story hasn't materialized.

I think "Watch Me!" left me a little tired. I'll get over it.

 

[NotWise]

Is there anything with greater pathos than a dusty pastry, forgotten on a shelf?

I've never associated pathos and pastry, but they're so alliterative.

 

[NotWise]

The house a couple doors down from us had a fire in the wee hours of the morning, so the fire department and sheriff's deputies were all over the neighborhood until after I got up at 6:00 AM. My wife was up and she let some of the women who lived there come in.

We have a self-activating toilet seat. It opens itself when you walk close to it. It turns on lights and sprays water to wet the sides of the bowl. If you sit on it then a few other things start up: heaters, fans, probably more. Among other things, it's a bidet.

One of the women went into the bathroom without being warned about the toilet, and I could hear her squeal all the way across the house. When she came out she said, "That thing scared the shit out of me!" I hoped it wasn't literal.

 

[TxRad]

The house a couple doors down from us had a fire in the wee hours of the morning, so the fire department and sheriff's deputies were all over the neighborhood until after I got up at 6:00 AM. My wife was up and she let some of the women who lived there come in.

We have a self-activating toilet seat. It opens itself when you walk close to it. It turns on lights and sprays water to wet the sides of the bowl. If you sit on it then a few other things start up: heaters, fans, probably more. Among other things, it's a bidet.

One of the women went into the bathroom without being warned about the toilet, and I could hear her squeal all the way across the house. When she came out she said, "That thing scared the shit out of me!" I hoped it wasn't literal.

I think that toilet would even scare me.

Automation has many good places but a throne isn't one of them in my opinion, for what it is worth.

Voboy, the cupcake wasn't dusty. It was just the one that got left over from the ladies munching out while they were here. It was hidden under the tag end of a loaf of bread. It did look lonely so I ate it.

 

[Javahead]

I think that toilet would even scare me.

Automation has many good places but a throne isn't one of them in my opinion, for what it is worth.

On a trip to Japan a few years back the customer’s office had one of those - with tons of buttons, labeled only in Japanese. I was afraid to touch anything. Though I did inadvertently find the yes-man button - it blew warm air up your ass.

 

[NotWise]

It did look lonely so I ate it.

I expect that's your natural reaction when it comes to women. I mean cupcakes! Right, I mean cupcakes.

 

[NotWise]

On a trip to Japan a few years back the customer’s office had one of those - with tons of buttons, labeled only in Japanese. I was afraid to touch anything. Though I did inadvertently find the yes-man button - it blew warm air up your ass.

It was probably an older model. My wife's has a remote with a GUI on the remote control. You can pick which orifice (if you have a choice) and what kind of warm fluid you want. And you can customize it for different users.

My wife wants the seat to be warmer than I do, but I haven't bothered to make my own settings. I have a different bathroom with a reg'lar sort of toilet, you know.

 

[Handley_Page]

Mine is a regular type, I'm pleased to report.
But I wonder quite WHY anyone would want an automatic bog bowl; Is someone trying to prevent the washing of hands ?

Time for coffee.

 

[TxRad]

Fresh coffee for the Saturday morning crew. Have at it guys and gals.

Breakfast will be waffles with butter and apple butter.

Then I haven't decided. More writing or a nap. I haven't been to bed yet.

Or I might stuff the trash in the back of the truck and haul it to the dump.

Decisions, decisions.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

Regarding the automatic toilet stuff: it reminded me of a funny story from a very long time ago. My sister was still pretty young (I'd say like 5 or 6) and was scared to go to the toilet in public places alone. So we were at a mall I believe, and my mom went with her because she had to go. Turned out it also had a bit of automation on it, albeit pretty primitive. Basically, once you were done a little arm with a sponge would come out of the back and the seat would rotate to be wiped off. Well... Not sure how but that got triggered while she was still sitting on it and she just yelled as she slowly turned away from my mother. My dad and I thought it was pretty funny when we were told the story after the fact, but she still doesn't fully trust public toilets even all these years later.

 

[TxRad]

It has been a dark and stormy afternoon so black coffee is avaiable for the evening crowd.

I got a nap and then hauled the trash off. All one bag and one box.

The internet has been up and down several times. That's unusual but then again this whole storm thing is unusual. It is coming from the north northeast. This very seldom happens even during the winter. Weird.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I’ll have a cup, if you don’t mind the company. A four-hour railing installation just took eight solid hours. I need a coffee. Or something.

 

[TxRad]

I’ll have a cup, if you don’t mind the company. A four-hour railing installation just took eight solid hours. I need a coffee. Or something.

I love company, especially on rainy afternoons.

Railing installations are a pain but they have to be done right. Ask Mike Holmes. He leaned on one and fell two stories. Want to guess what one of his pet peeves is?

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I love company, especially on rainy afternoons.

Railing installations are a pain but they have to be done right. Ask Mike Holmes. He leaned on one and fell two stories. Want to guess what one of his pet peeves is?

Multi-story buildings?

 

[Javahead]

80F for a high today. Just got back from a 5 mile hike with M’lady.
Sitting on the patio now sipping a cool beer and watching bees in the lavender, with a rack of lamb on the grill.

 

[MagicaPractica]

I hope everyone is well.

I'm keeping quite busy.

I finished cutting 1,500 words out of an already lean horror story in order to submit it to a call from a journal. Now, everything I have finished is on submission somewhere.

Tomorrow I'm going to start plotting a new novel to write during July. I really want to get it drafted in case the first novel gets picked up by the publisher it has been submitted to. (That's by no means a sure thing but I have some reason to hope.)

 

[NotWise]

Tomorrow I'm going to start plotting a new novel to write during July. I really want to get it drafted in case the first novel gets picked up by the publisher it has been submitted to. (That's by no means a sure thing but I have some reason to hope.)

Are you going to keep visiting us once you become a rich and famous author?

 

[TxRad]

Are you going to keep visiting us once you become a rich and famous author?

This is a very interesting question in a lot of ways. How many rich and famous authors come along every year? How many authors are published in the mainstream every year? How many of those make money? I know of at least four here at Lit that publish in the mainstream. There may be more. There probably are more. I know of a whole bunch more who are working toward that goal.

Lit is a good place to start and to hone one's craft, so to speak. So why wouldn't they continue to visit. Maybe not as often but....