To answer the question, I am alive. Been a bit occupied this year and lived a lot. Started jujitsu training, got a kitten, built some bonfires, hiked, fell back into running and got engaged.

I’ll go back to being boring and writing a lot more shortly.

In the meantime, how about some tree ornaments?

The best thing about a kitten is the worst thing about a kitten: young cats have endless amounts of energy. Yes, it’s fun to play with a new tiny critter who blasts into each new day like it is his first, and approaches everything with the same wonder an early explorer standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon. They are cute. They are furry. They are soft. They are also evil at times.

And I have a theory about their moral flexibility.

Having observed a new kitten in its natural habitat the past few months, I have made a frightful discovery. Kittens sleep immediately after their owners leave for work. True, adult cats sleep a majority of the day, much of that their owner is at work, so in that respect the younger models resemble their more developed counterparts. The resemblances ends there.

See, the kitten sleeps literally only while their owner is at work. This means the harder and longer the owner labors outside of the home, the more time a kitten spends recharging. When the owner comes home, the kitten bolts awake,  hours ( or perhaps days ) from their peak energy level.

So what happens for the kitten living with someone who works at home on occasion? Well that may be why it takes some writers so long to write a book.

 

And will post some updates soon!

For Memorial Day Weekend, I co-hosted the first party ever held in the humble apartment. Perhaps the prior tenants held a bash or two, but in the nine plus years since their occupancy . . . well, that I can vouch for the absence of any such events. By party, I mean a social gathering of more than four people, none of whom are relatives.

This is one of the benefits of The Poet: she has a way of drawing the right people together in the same room. Unfortunately we both had so much fun, forgot to capture the event on film.

But the book trailer for The Last Track made its first public exhibition towards the end of the evening.

I think it went over well. We’ll see how everyone else takes to it in August . . .