October 23: Glowing Pumpkins, Nate Pritts, "Forever War"

My daughter now has her driver's license.  I will go pick her up from dance class in a few minutes, and I will let her drive home.  Then I will let her take my car to go to her boyfriend's house, tell her to be home by ten o'clock.

It's hard letting go.  There's another aspect of parental control that is simply slipping through my fingers.  I know that I will stand on my front porch and watch her disappear down the street.  I will be surrounded by Halloween decorations.  Glowing pumpkins and skulls.  Spiderwebs.  Strings of colored maple leafs.

My daughter and I have been putting up those same decorations since she was a little girl.

Saint Marty isn't ready to see his daughter drive away.

Forever War

by: Nate Pritts

In studying the anomaly
it was determined that holiday decorations
look sad out of season,
that there's no excuse for the mistakes
of my people.  Red paper hearts
on the front door into April,
a cauldron that doubles as a planter
in summer.  Always the starscape
to help keep me honest, to remind me
that distance is easy to cross.
The analytic belt I'm equipped with
reminds me of an indescribable autumn
from one hundred generations ago
though even last year
I was someone else.
I was faced with a choice.
Proceed with the same core
or blow it up to restart
& maybe go further.  Most of my programming
has survived into this new battle.
I can smell faint ocean
salt on the breeze & I have different
reactions for its presence or absence.
Now is the time to overcome problems.
I debate the finer points of being desperate,
of wanting things to remain
as they are, though they can't.
I'd rather not go into details
since specifics make me queasy,
like in pictures when people put their heads
too close together.  How can they stand
such forced intimacy?
I take off in search of my home planet.
My resolve is stronger than ever.

October 5: Happy Saint Marty's Day, Halloween Decorations, New Cartoon

Happy Saint Marty's Day!

I hope everyone took some time to really celebrate this day.  Ate some traditional tapioca pudding.  Drank some traditional hot chocolate spiked with Bailey's Irish Cream.  Sang some traditional carols--"We Wish You a Merry Marty's Day" or "It's the Most Martyful Time of the Year."  And, of course, opened some Saint Marty's Day presents.

I, myself, had a wonderful Saint Marty's Day, as evidenced by the pictures below:

Saint Marty and his daughter

Saint Marty and his son tasting some frosting

When I got home, my daughter and I put up our Halloween decorations.  Lights and skeletons and pumpkins and a scarecrow.  I think it's going to scare the crap out of my son when he sees it.  He kind of freaks out easily.

The only low point of the day was a discussion my wife and I had about our finances.  We're taking our daughter to the Wisconsin Dells for a dance convention next weekend.  We are, of course, robbing Peter to pay Paul.  Unfortunately, Peter doesn't have a whole lot of money.  I'm talking pennies.  It's going to be a lot of peanut butter and jelly for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Maybe Kalahari Resort napkins for souvenirs. 

Not a good way to end Saint Marty's Day.

Confessions of Saint Marty

October 10: Halloween Decorations, Christmas Carols, Desert Monk

I'm sitting at my computer, before all of the craziness of the day begins.  I'm the only person here right now.  In about fifteen minutes, people will start arriving.  I really enjoy these quiet moments before humanity invades.  I sit and, basically, meditate.  It's the only quiet time I have during the day.  I pray, read some devotions, prepare myself for the upcoming hours.  It's really the closest I get to doing anything sacred or holy during my work week.  If I'd been born a few hundred years ago, I think I could easily have been one of those desert monks who lived alone and prayed and meditated all day long.  My only problem would have been eating locusts with honey and wearing sackcloth.  Not a big fan of eating creatures with antenna; honey makes me sick; and I chafe very easily.  Other than that, I'd have made a great monk.

While I work at my desk during the morning, I listen to Christmas carols on my iPod, mainly to drown out or discourage any person who may want to communicate with me.  Christmas carols lift my spirits, no matter the time of year, and the iPod is a polite way of ignoring people.  For some reason, nobody gets offended if you have buds stuck in your ears and act as if you're oblivious to the world.  This may sound slightly misanthropic, but I just don't care.  I can be more productive by simply turning my back on the world.

Last night, my daughter and I decorated our front porch for Halloween.  I spent a good twenty minutes going through the light bulbs on a burned-out string, trying to find the defective culprit.  I was finally successful, but, by that time, my daughter had lost interest and gone back inside the house to watch Extreme Home Makeover.  However, the skulls and pumpkins are blazing, and our porch is suitably spookafied.  We'll see how long it takes my three-year-old son to tear down the jack-o-lanterns or rip the hat off the scarecrow.  I give him about ten minutes.

Well, the first of the human invaders just appeared.  My time of peace on earth is over.  It was great while it lasted.

Saint Marty has to start ignoring what's going on around him now.  Bring on Bing Crosby and Perry Como.

Desert monk home--Wonder if I could get cable?