Updating Thursday

Productivity ebbs and flows.
Some days I'm a madman with words.
Other days I find myself lost in a haze.

Emotions ebb and flow.
Some days I am as far down as the ocean floor.
Other days I'm floating on a warm breeze.

Dreams ebb and flow.
Some days I fail to see beyond this moment.
Other days I'm sitting next to you.

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January, 28th 2016 - JLH

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http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BYA3IGS

The Last Playground

He used to run away to the park
Alone on the swing set
Just how he wanted
Swinging his childhood blues away

He now wants to return to that park
Sit on the same swing
Push himself higher and higher
Until he never comes down again

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(JLH - January 21, 2016)

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http://freakboyzone.blogspot.com/2015/01/shards.html

You (a moment of sentimentality)

We will probably never meet

but I appreciate you

and our interactions

and the way you stand up for me

when others try to knock me down

and the way you make me laugh

and the way you make me think

and the way you make me feel

when I thought all of my feelings were dead

Freak Out,

JLH

P.S. Click WHATEVER to read something different.

The Day Twitter Censored Me (or so I thought)

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BLOGGER'S NOTE (January 15, 2016):
Thanks to a Twitter friend, who is obviously a digital Sherlock Holmes, there is a reason for what happened to me.
That reason is...
"Apparently if a tweet starts with DM it becomes a DM to the word after.
me is an account."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


On the evening of January 13, 2016, I was tweeting right along when I thought of this potentially humorous tweet...



For those who don't speak Twitter, DM stands for Direct Message.

 ...that would do two things.

1.) It would poke fun of our over-sexualized society.

2.) It would make a point that smart is sexy.

I tried to tweet this tweet three times and each time the tweet failed to appear on my TL.  I initially thought something was wrong with the Wi-Fi, but nope, I was able to tweet other, apparently less offensive tweets.  Plus, from previous experience, if the Wi-Fi had crashed, the three attempted tweets would have been saved in my draft folder, which did not occur.

So, I typed up my seemingly scandalous tweet and took a screenshot of it.  Surprisingly, I was able to tweet the photo of my alleged Twitter no-no.

This experience seriously annoyed me.  I've read tweets that are filled with much more explicit language and meaning than my stupid IQ joke tweet.  Plus, one always hears about the aggressive bullying and terrorist recruiting on Twitter, but somehow my ultimately innocuous tweet wasn't allowed, except in photographic form.  Confusing.

Maybe I just don't have an enormous enough IQ to understand.

Freak Out,
JLH

P.S.  Here is a link and a screenshot (in case I am completely banned after this blogpost) of my last tweet of that day, which exemplifies the contradictory nature of what is and isn't allowed on Twitter, because in my opinion, it is more graphic and potentially offensive than my censored tweet...


     https://twitter.com/john_l_harmon/status/687435260997537792?refsrc=email&s=11


VSS stands for Very Short Story.  Carbonara is a pasta dish.

DARK EXCURSIONS: the photo-poems

The following photo-poems were written in 2014-2015, and are inspired by each set of my e-book serial and the entire book of DARK EXCURSIONS.

I've been meaning to collect them all in one place and I guess now is the right time.  

Enjoy...

(click CROP to read a sample chapter of Dark Excursions: first set)

(click ANAPOLA to read a sample chapter of Dark Excursions: second set)

(click CHERYL to read a sample chapter of Dark Excursions: third set)

(click DINKEL to read excerpts from Dark Excursions: fourth set)

(click GAZEBO to watch the trailer for Dark Excursions: the complete set)

Thank you for your time and for reading my words.

Freak Out, 

JLH

P.S.  click BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS to read the whipping history of Dark Excursions.

The Final Post of 2 0 1 5

I could rehash my so-called "accomplishments" of 2015, but my birthday vlog covers that area. (Click BROKEN RECORD if you want a repeat experience)

I thought about making a list of some of my favorite books, films, and such that I newly experienced in 2015, but that felt too much like a popularity contest.  (Though I will say that "Emoticons" by The Wombats was my jam!)

I decided to touch upon something I learned about myself this year.  It is something I've always known, but maybe never voiced to others, and barely myself. 

I realized, or maybe have just come to accept, that my writing has to originate from an organic place.  What brought this to the surface was my idea of writing a collection of short stories of various genres suggested by other people.  

It dawned on me that this was ultimately about trying to force myself to write, and that is not the way I've ever written.  My book/e-books, blog short stories, and other unposted/unpublished fiction started by accident. Something random, often a word or two unconnected to writing, triggered a chain reaction in my mind that possessed me until I finished.  Some have said my resolution of writing at least one blogpost a week is forcing myself, but I feel it is different beast.  

I guess I could say I write on absolute feeling.  If I am feeling a project, then I'm like a madman with my writing.  On the other hand, if I'm not feeling it, well, I try to write, but ultimately the project gets put on the back burner.  More power to the writer who writes something every single day, because that is not who I am.

My apologies to anyone looking forward to my collection of suggested short stories, and to the ones who suggested the genres.  The First Genre and all the others have officially been put on that back burner for the foreseeable future.  I don't see it as giving up, but more as a wait and see situation.  It is rare, but a few past projects have been saved from burning into obscurity, so only time will tell.

That is all for this year.  

As for 2016...

No expectations.  No promises.

Interpret that however you see fit.


And thank you for reading my inane ramblings this year.  I sincerely appreciate it.

Freak Out, 

JLH

P.S.  My favorite tale from the freakboy zone of 2015 is...

http://freakboyzone.blogspot.com/2015/11/its-my-podcast-episode-one.html

...because it brilliantly captures my mental mechanics, in my wholly biased opinion.

Offline, but not forgotten (Well, hopefully)

It wasn't my intention to stay offline for four full days...again.

Maybe I had planned to skip Thursday because my favorite Wi-Fi hotspot was only going to be open for two hours, and Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever was on.  Though if TLC were still with us, I would have been at the library for the full two hours.

Possibly Friday was going to be an offline day anyway because of all the hotspots being closed and it was far too cold to sit outside, even in a car.  Oh, and it was Christmas, which means food, family and Doctor Who.

If it hadn't snowed overnight and into Saturday, causing the morning to suck, I might have ventured to a particular deli hotspot for a couple of hours.  I was exhausted and didn't want to go anywhere, so my sis and I spent the afternoon watching Brokeback Mountain.
 
I seriously thought about going to my deli hotspot on Sunday afternoon, but I chose to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens again..  The geek is strong in this one, and I enjoyed it even more the second time around.

I must confess that I experience a certain amount of pleasing mental silence when I stay offline for a day or two or four.  I could have waited another day, or even until 2016, but I decided it was time.  Time to touch base with online friends/family who probably think I've vanished in some Nebraskan version of the Bermuda Triangle or been snatched away by He Who Walks Behind The Rows.
 
Freak Out,
JLH

P.S.  For more oh-so-riveting info on my previous four days offline, please click...
http://freakboyzone.blogspot.com/2014/11/4-days.html
...and...
http://freakboyzone.blogspot.com/2014/12/4-daysa-mini-journal.html