Whoops, I Forgot!

Oh, a certain Cup of Coffey made the big time! She took a picture of author Hollis Gillespie and it is on Hollis's site!

That's All For The Week, Folks

Eh, that's it for now. It's no Bad Lieutenant's Wife, but hey.

Have a good one.

There's Snow In Them Thar Hills!

So there we are, driving around Downtown Reno, on our way to Circus Circus. We did the loop, got the pictures of the mural, the River Walk and just past there, Junior points out this parking garage.

Note, the new condo building going up in the background. These are little shoe boxes of apartments and The Missus speculated that they are going to be "assisted living" units. I said that I couldn't imagine them being this close to the casinos.

There are different antique and classic cars on each level...

We moved the car and parked it right here, on the 1939 Mercedes Convertible Level.

Well, I don't have any pictures of Circus Circus. I heard somewhere that casinos don't like cameras. Of course that doesn't seem to be true, as we saw people using cameras once they got there and sadly, I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the Chinese bicycle acrobats (one of the highlights of the trip). Unfortunately, they were the only act going on the family part of the casino.

I had in my mind that I was going to play thirty-five dollars and win another night's stay, but I have losing so much, that I didn't gamble. Enough with that cheese, time for my David Byrne impression...

Take me to the water, drop me in the river

Push me in the water, drop me in the river

Washing me down, washing me down

The last two pictures of the river for now. I have one more River Walk pic left for another day. So driving up there on Interstate 80 was a real bear. I decided to take Interstate 50 on the way back and that way, Procrastinator Junior could see Lake Tahoe as well.

You can't tell from these pictures that it was raining, but it was.

Is Lake Tahoe the biggest lake in the Western states? It certainly is the biggest lake in California or Nevada. Note the fog and rain in the picture below.

So, somewhere between Wagner and Cow Creek, the snow decided it wasn't going to melt. Lo and behold, snow on May 24Th.

Procrastinator Junior doesn't remember his last experience with snow, as he was barely two when it occurred and his one winter trip to Yosemite last year, yielded none of the fresh white stuff (the first time that it hasn't snowed at that time of the year, in ages).

Note that the flakes reflect the flash back at the camera and it gives them an aura. Also note these pictures are blurry, the result of having to set the camera on "night" exposure.

Hey, Tim Gallagher, there's Big Foot in the picture below!

Reno's Renaissance?

Reno calls itself "the biggest little city in the world?" To wit, wha? At any rate, the city itself seems not so big and like most cities of old, it was built around the river and it expanded gradually outward. Yes, it's no Vegas, but no city is. Besides, it's better than Carson City (which seems like the smallest capital of the western states) or Sparks.

Architecturally speaking, you have a mix of: Victorians from when the city's earliest days, brick hotels from the 20's and 30's, ugly government buildings and hotels from the 50's and 60's, closed casinos from the 60's and 70's, and a nice mix of modern condos...though not enough of them. There is no uniform revival as there was in Vegas, the funds aren't available now that the California Native American casinos have snatched up both the compulsive and casual gambling dollars.

As I explained to The Missus, if you haven't already booked a hotel in Reno and it is snowing heavily or raining, you are going to stop at California Native American casinos first. It's the safer drive, which is kind of shame because Reno has potential that may never be fully realized.

The picture below is pretty much symbolic of the city...

You think "oooh, 'Magic Underground?" The possiblities make the mind swim...

Then you go around the corner and you get this building. An escapee from either "Logan's Run," one of the "Planet of The Apes" movies or a Glen Larson production like "Buck Rodgers" or the original "Battle Star Galactica."

Take you hands off of me, you damn, dirty magician!

Cleanse your eyes with the condo building below, that is adjacent to Reno's River Walk.

Then there these mobiles all over Downtown. I've seen one just like this in Marin, made with oil drums.

What's this?



It's a fish.
No, it's a bicycle rack!
No, it's a fish!
No, you're wrong, it's a bike rack!
You are both wrong, it's a desert topping and a floor wax!

Let's move on to Reno's River Walk, shall we? If they built three more things just like this, they might have something special.

And who funded this endeavour? Why, Doctor Strangelove, of course. No, he only looks like Sellars in his famous role...

A sculpture...

The fountain. Ducks, eagles, falcons and fish abound.

The fountain empties here...

Going down the drain, just like my readership ; )

Reno Goes Vertigo

I've hung out in Reno, Nevada, just one time before and I really enjoyed myself.

The people were real mellow, but note that that was way back in '93 and the economy, plus drugs, have changed a lot of America for the worst since then. Still somehow, Reno seems to have kept both its cool and its mellow. While it isn't the hippest city in the world, there is an absence of pretension that is very refreshing and you won't find that in other city in the west from San Jose to Seattle. Even the areas that had bars on their windows, just had them here and there. Almost as if it wasn't necessarily to keep the riff-raff from getting in, but the hardcore gamblers from getting out.

This mural is just past the main group of casinos in the downtown area. We did a loop of that area and decided to swing back to Circus Circus after seeing a nice, but dingy neighborhood, where this painted wall caught my eye. Note that the absence of graffiti, something young a**h*les here, can't respect, as they will tag anything and everything.

I wanted to link the images together, but my camera isn't sophisticated enough for me to do that. So while they are in order, some of the images on the pictures repeat themselves.

In An Effort To Staunch The Ever Dwindling Readership

In a recent Gallop poll, blog readers were asked, "Which would you rather do, read Write Procrastinator or have your teeth pulled?" Of course I'm not going to publish the results here, but needless to say, too many of you needlessly added "with or without anesthesia?" for my comfort.

So this morning Coaster Punchman wrote "unfortunately none of those photos does anything for me! But I'll still stop in anyway."















Well hell, Coaster! I'll work with you. This one is for you and Beth. Everybody have a great Memorial Day/Remembrance Day Weekend.

P.S. I understand someone with the initials K.S. kicked ass and took names last night.

"Don't Mess With..."

I tell you, I try to plug other people's work and nobody that isn't named "Bubs" or "John," will comment. I try to plug my own work and only Dale reads it...and my poor writing has him missing a crucial plot point.

Well, I know how to get the old comment ball rolling, more irreverent fluff, like the inane comments I leave on your blog...only it's on my blog-



Um...


...Where was I? Oh, yeah. So I have mild dyslexia and I have to read somethings twice to get the gist of them. Take a new movie poster that I saw about a month ago. "Don't Mess With Zohan." Of course, the first thing I read was "Don't Mess With Lohan."

What's the difference between the two other than their respective genders? Well, I'm glad you asked that (even though you didn't but humor me because then I can't get the bit going). You see, both are considered dangerous in their chosen professions. Zohan is a former Mossad agent that wants to be a hair dresser and Lindsay? A cold war experiment that the Soviet Union secretly unleashed on us, right before the end of the Cold War.

You see, Zohan gets sideways...

Um, so does Lindsay. Zohan just wants to do your hair and Lindsay? She just wants to do...your clothes. What? You thought she wanted you? No, she just wants to swipe a fur coat or two off ya.

Now, according to the poster below-

What will Lindsay blow?...

...no, wrong usage of the word as far as she is concerned. Blow, not blow. Go get...

...if you're going to work on that. Now Zohan has deadly fists and feet...

...and Lindsay?

No silly, I'm talking about her getting behind the wheel! Honestly...

Katie Has Updated Her Web Page

My Best Online Friend Forever has made her splashy web, page even splashier. Pop on over and get emotionally pantsed.

Plus, she'll be reading at the Pilcrow Lit Festival in Chicago on Thursday, May 22nd and if you are in Midwest, you have no excuse not to attend.

None.

Don't even try it, just go and stop being all defensive about it.

Alicia Is Directing A Play

Harvest Home, a.k.a. Things You'll Learn To Love About Me, a.k.a. Alicia, is directing a stage production of "Peter Pan!"

Hopefully she has cast a good Pan, because when someone doesn't? I root for Hook all the way.

The Suspense Mounts As The Action Comes To An End!

Katie "Scoop" Schwartz has entered the third and final chamber of Astonishing Adventures Magazines. Yes, past the Cerebus, the Minotaur and his deadly shape-shifting maze. Past the an editor that is said to be half-woman, half dragon and that has been known to consume all of those who dare not to use spellcheck when submitting their stories.

Even past the spike-collarded Spider Monkeys of São Paulo that practice savate, to interview the Editor in Chief, Tim Gallagher. Forget about those sissyies at CNN and their Middle East nonsense! Don't bring up that Amampour wuss, Katie faces the real danger to bring you the excitement behind Astonishing Adventures Magazine!

Coaster's Cat

Coaster's Cat Grover...

...is the second coming of this guy.

Even More Action And The Temple of Boom!

First on today's double bill? Katie Schwartz enters the Second Chamber of Astonishing Adventures Magazine Offices and interviews editor Katherine Tomlinson; a woman as beautiful and deadly as she edits.

Next? Johnny Dollars continues Splotchy's meme and not everything seems to be of this world-

Stepping down the ramp to the tarmac, the humid air smacked me in the face look a hat dish towel. My loud Hawaiian shirt, brown Bermudas and straw hat assisted my pasty skin in screaming ”tourist” to any who might notice me. I was just heading toward the doors to the baggage terminal when I heard the faint whistling from the air above.

Shielding my eyes from the white intensity of the Florida sun, I could just pick out five black specks high in the sky coming from the direction of Elgin Air Force base.

The flight-paths for the specks were all wrong for any aircraft or missile the base might possibly have in their inventory. Damn it, I haven’t even had a chance to get a decent drink yet.

“Henry Lemon” is the cover name for the Agency and the Agency has their fingers into everything the NSA, FBI, CIA, and every other alphabet can’t handle. “Opportunities and riches abound here!” is standard for code for “enemy incursion.”

“I know that I can trust you to keep this in confidence, but if you somehow have changed since the time we saved each others lives? Know that there is far more money to be made than what is in this envelope.” This means we have alien invaders again taking over the brains of human beings – again.

“Now, get down here as soon as you can. I need a good and loyal man, that I know will have my back” is pretty self-evident and just means to get my ass moving.

“Rosebud,” No sooner had I whispered the codeword than my cybernetic implants activated and my forearms opened to reveal the mini-rail guns held within. A quadriplegic since a landmine have me apart in Afghanistan, the Agency had rebuilt me with all kinds of sweet boys-toys.

The specks have covered a lot of territory by now and I could see they were five men wearing Thaitana rocket packs and were bristling with all sort of weapons modules. I hate Thaitana MindSlugs and their human hosts. You can’t get the little bastards out without twenty hours of microsurgery and a hell of a lot of prayer.

These poor soldiers just became expendable.

Twisting around, my first burst of fire rupture the wing fuel tanks in the plane I just arrived it. The resulting fireball incinerates two of the rocket men, but it also kills the flight crew and a dozen passengers. Their families will get wonderful letters explaining that they were killed defending their country.

Danger, chills, excitement, and all this for the price of popcorn!

Um...

...What?


It don't pay bills
Vanity kills
You love you (huh!)

Action! Action! I've Got Action!

Coming to Write Procrastinator, the double feature film bill that you've been waiting for!

First, Quin keeps Splotchy and Bubs's meme going, as the story virus spreads! Watch as she channels the late Messr. Thompson himself! Featuring Bubs as "Hunter S." and Lindsay Lohan as "Oscar Zeta Acosta!"

Next on the exciting double bill! Katie "Scoop" Schwartz interviews Astonishing Adventures Magazine Editor John "Don The Mad Monkey, Mon" Carlucci!

There will be blood! There will be moldy peanuts! There will be interviews and no subject will be spared!

Will Katie make past Cerebus, the Minotaur and The Maze, to get the interview? Will Quin escape the shadow cabal of evil Pan Am lawyers? Only you can click and find the answers!

I give them both two solid thumbs up! There you have your pull quote, now put the grapefruit knife down!

-Richard Roeper

Splotchy Has Another Story Meme

Cool, just like JJ's Friday Flash Fiction of old, Splotchy has another viral story meme. Bubs caught it and he's dishing it out to the rest of the Internet.

Splotchy wrote...

I had been shuffling around the house for a few hours and already felt tired. The doorbell rang. I opened the front door and saw a figure striding away from the house, quickly and purposefully. I looked down and saw a bulky envelope. I picked it up. The handwriting was smudged and cramped, and I could only make out a few words.

Bubs wrote...

I looked up and down the street but didn’t see any delivery truck, or any car for that matter. No FedEx, no UPS , no creepy-looking porno'd-out conversion van with a half-assed delivery service sign taped to its side. Nothing. It's like delivery man just disappeared. I stepped back inside, re-set the deadbolts and took a closer look at the envelope.

Mentally I ran through the checklist of letter bomb warning signs. The handwriting on the envelope, smudged and cramped as it was, was laid out in a tiny, obsessively neat block lettering. It practically screamed recently-de-institutionalized loner with time on his hands. No ticking or whirring sounds, that’s good. No odd smells, no leaks or stains on the package. Check. Weight seemed evenly distributed, that’s good too. I decided to open it.

Inside I found a plane ticket to Pensacola, a business card for a lawyer in Niceville, five crisp $100 bills and a four page handwritten note. Well. This was different. I poured a cup of coffee, threw some meat to the dogs to stop em barking, and sat down to read.

I wrote...

Now I knew that Niceville is the home of Mullet Festival and by that, I mean the fish and not the god awful hairstyle. Also, Elgin Air Force base was just a hop, skip and a jump from there, but beyond that? I’ve never been in that part of woods nor do I believe that I knew anybody down there.

The four page letter was a missive from my friend from the first Gulf War, Henry Lemon. The lay out of the four pages was odd; the first page said “this money is just a small example of the money to be had.”

The second page said “opportunities and riches abound here!”

The third said “I know that I can trust you to keep this in confidence, but if you somehow have changed since the time we saved each others lives? Know that there is far more money to be made than what is in this envelope.

The fourth page said “now, get down here as soon as you can. I need a good and loyal man, that I know will have my back.”

And now I'm tagging:

Quin
Is That So Wrong
Johnny Dollars

Of Course Today...

...is an important day, but I'll get to that eventually.

Here is my problem. For someone who wants to make a living writing words, I'm not exactly proficent when I type about those who I love. Needless to say, there is someone who brightens each and every day that I live. There is someone who makes my life worth living and has a heart not as big as the World, but Jupiter itself. A person who by virtue of her goodness and love, makes me and everyone around her, better people.

So let me say Happy Birthday, Honey!

Tanya's Back And Creepy's On A Roll

Tanya's back, with Beth/Pagan Sphinx's meme! Go check it out before she goes on hiatus again.

I've added my favorite atheist and fisherman, Creepy to the blog roll. Yes, my blog roll is longer than yours, only because of the descriptions so you don't need to take a little blue pill for that particular inadequacy.

Happy Birthday To The Sun King

Standin' at the shore
A hurricane calls my name
Beyond all I dream
The electric ocean

Oh yeah
Ah-ah
Oh yeah

The spirit is free
Where the wild things roam
Next to the sea
The Electric Ocean

Ocean of love (ocean of love)
I'm thinkin' of (I'm thinkin' of)
The place to be (the place to be)
The Electric Sea

It's Ian Astbury's birthday, but being The Cult fan that you are, you already knew that, right?