2015: a Very Good Year.

Maus O78, (Wiki.)

Louis Shalako

2015 was a pretty good year for achieving some personal goals.

In January we were just learning how to use our new computer.

(And in October, still paying for it.)

In May we dumped the old Neon and got another good, used piece of crap to drive.

We accomplished one big goal when we got two new front teeth, and fixing up a half dozen cavities went along with that. That was a biggie, as I had some concerns. 

Okay, I was scared shitless but I owed it to myself. Funny things is, we got through it and it’s over.

That was kind of a growth experience.

Bad teeth affect your self-esteem more than one might realize. This is something you don’t want to take for granted.

We’ve been bitching and whining and pissing and moaning about housing for a couple of years now. We’re moving as of December 1. It’s a nice place and we can keep on going to local food banks if that’s what it takes. I don’t give a shit what the bourgeoisie thinks.

By the time the year is out, we’ll have our fifth novel of the year in the can. As to whether we’re going to submit that or publish it ourselves, we’re still undecided.

We sure wouldn’t want to fuck up our lives, or lose our pensions, shit like that.

At this point, we still have time to make an appointment at the optometrists and get some bifocals. I’m tired of going to the grocery store and trying to get crazy old ladies to read the labels on things, which as you know are written in very fine print. On the Ontario Disability Support Program, we can get eyeglasses (paid for) every two years and it’s been a while since I was in there last. She’s not a bad looking lady as I recall, admittedly a bit blurry…

I’m almost hesitant to put this out into the universe, but if I had a half a brain in my head, (and I’m pretty sure I do), there’s still three months left in the year to get a girlfriend*, (although I’m still saving my pennies for that one.) We don’t want to ask for too much, ladies and gentlemen.

After a couple of years of not speaking to each other, my brother and I are now friends again. 

It’s nice to see the nephews once in a while. Andrew is fifteen and Adam is thirteen.

I will be a part of their lives.

< brushes tears away >

Okay, that meant a lot to me.

My big goal for the next three months is to avoid pain and try like hell not to get sucked down by major depression.

Other than that, I plan on drinking as much beer as possible and having a hell of a lot of fun with the last twenty or thirty years of my life—assuming that nothing goes wrong.

Which it usually does, sooner or later.

But that’s getting a bit ahead of ourselves, of which I have at least five who have manifested themselves in no uncertain terms.

Let us enjoy this moment, no matter who we are or how many of us there may be.

END

P.S. If you’re on Facebook or whatever, I’m a sucker for liking your page, so don’t be afraid to ask.

We are people personages…or something like that.

We will not apologize. We're just going to keep on doing it. 

*UPDATE: Sorry, ladies and gentlemen. That should have read "...a lot more girlfriends..."

Personal and Professional Goals.

  

Louis Shalako

 

So far this year we’ve accomplished more than one personal and professional goal.

When you're a writer, all of this is sort of bound all up together in one big ball of wax. We live our work around here.

We’ve published three short novels in the 60,000 to 70,000-word class. We’ve optimized and learned how to use our new computer.

We ditched the old Neon and got another half-decent used car.

We are well on the way to getting our teeth fixed.

It’s not even the end of June yet.

What that means, ladies and gentlemen, is that we can now set a few more goals, because there are still six months left in 2015.

We've been kicking ass all over the place; figuratively speaking because I'm not that violent. We're only slightly evil, ladies and gentlemen.

I’m not a big fan of wasting time.

For one thing, I’ve lived here for three and a half years. I still have sheets for curtains. I’ve never hung a picture in this place.

One of my goals is to find a home. That might not happen this year, but it won’t happen ever if I don’t take the time and work at it a little bit.

I obviously have time to write one or two more novels. I obviously have time to write a score, possibly a hundred short stories, as well as the usual dozens and scores and myriads of blog posts.

I would like to get a webcam. I wouldn’t mind a professional microphone. I wouldn’t mind a half-decent 35 mm digital camera with a couple of lenses, flash, remote, tripod, etc. Video would be nice.

I could really use a winter coat and a better diet overall, in the long term, and every day.

I would like to afford a six-pack every day, and I would like to pay off my credit card, and I would like to do one or two things besides, such as go camping or even go to a frickin’ motel with a pool in some other town and just see what it’s like to watch TV and have nothing better to do than drink beer, stuff quarters into the vibrator bed and if the phone rings don’t answer it.

I would like to swim five hundred metres without touching bottom. Last year I got up to a little over three hundred.

But that was then and this is now.

I want to ride my bike more.

I wouldn’t mind having sex again before I die.

Other than that, I don’t much care for awards and accolades.

I would prefer to maintain my hard-won obscurity. My cat was killed by a car a few years ago, but then I've never owned a dog in my life. I wouldn't mind doing that, too. But first, a new place to live.

I might even be willing to fall in love again.

One more time, ladies and gentlemen.

Bear in mind, all of this has to be paid for, and then I still want to give away a billion dollars before I die.

That last one is a bit of a toughie, and we are really going to need your help. If you really believed in love and life and happy endings, the best thing you can do to help is to grab a free book.

That really would make my heart sing.

Thank you for reading.

END