2015 — Week Twenty-Six

22–28 June

So, halfway into the week before I start writing — fortunately, this week my writing consisted not merely of this journal, but of a complete short story that quite literally landed in my lap. A mere 500 words or so, but I believe it will stand the test of time. We shall see. I’ll publish it in The Artillerists, and Other Short Stories, which I hope to release later this year. It fits, being yet another war story.

Done better so far at meditation — 3x so far, although my practice probably leaves something to be desired. I do it laying down instead of sitting, but will continue to experiment with all that. Got a lifetime to get it right, I suppose.

Back on HabitRPG, doing better at staying hydrated. Bought tickets to Elle’s wedding, cleaned out 2 boxes of junk, finished the majority of my fitness report writing at work. Took Corporal Polgar out to lunch to celebrate her getting out of the Corps — she has pink hair now, which she’s been wanting for a while now. Good for her!

Tried to get the polyphasic sleep cycle going on Wednesday — failed! Trying again today… Paid my HOA bills. Wrote a fragment of another true story:

Their leaders tell them that the enemy has the watches, but they have the time. This is true — their culture was old when the Persians and Macedonians came; some say that Cyrus the Great died at their forebearers’ hands in these mountain passes — Alexander the Great gave up on subduing those same tribesmen 200 years later, and marched south toward easier conquests. They were older still when the British came, and the Soviets, and time has not softened their race, nor made them less deadly, less patient, less willing to bide their time to take their revenge.

This mission, from which none of them expects to return, was itself delayed — it was never supposed to have been their mission, really, but the original set of martyrs had experienced the unexpected malfunction of an explosive vest, which put an effectual end to their training, hastening them on to Paradise and necessitating more months of recruitment, of slow travel up from the border with Pakistan, of training in the mountains.

Now it is night, and quiet, and they make their silent way up to the fenceline, the guard towers that flank their approach unmanned, not that it matters — the ground dips here in such a way that they are completely concealed had anyone been standing on duty in the towers. But the towers are empty, and the night is still, and warm, and quiet. It will not stay that way.

Doing better at staying hydrated — paid up all my credit cards, got my flight to Hawaii confirmed, cleared a few more boxes of junk out of my storage, framed a few pictures. Got the Gypsy Danger all cleaned up, beds made, ready for her next (and probably last) AirBNB guest. Meditated, napped a bit, played some video games.

So, that was the week that was. Not terribly exciting — but it gets better!