Kevin's Watch

Hmm. Thinking (or hoping) that some good will come out of that tragedy isn't cynical at all, IMO.

Thanks for the wishes, everyone. I am resigning myself to kissing life as I know it goodbye--but in a good way.

Jenn, so sorry to hear about your friend.

Thanks again for the support. I was pleased to see that John is now using one of the pics of him and I from the pics I sent as his new profile picture. Too funny. So eighties it is almost scary. John looks like he just stepped out of a John Cusack or Molly Ringwald movie.

Kaydene, don't believe everything you read. I actually paid the typesetter at the publishing house a couple grand to sneak in that line with my name in it.

I had a pretty good day today. I ran into an old customer of mine from the auto shop. She was in to have her computer fixed by tech services. We were talking and then I got called away to do some print jobs and so forth and I guess she was ranting to Derek about how lucky OD is to have me and that I am a beautiful soul full of honest compassion and generosity. I sure got her fooled. Actually, she came to me just after her husband of almost fifty years had passed away after a long bout with cancer. She had to have the car towed because she didn't even know how to drive it and she wanted to sell it. Marvin, my ex coworker, was actually working with her and she got a bit overwhelmed and ended up standing there with silent tears rolling down her face so I stepped in with kleenex and a hug and we went outside and talked for a while. Nice older Russian lady. I may even have written about her on KW when it first happened. Anyway, tonight she was telling me all about how she has been learning all this new stuff especially how to stand on her own two feet because he took care of EVERYTHING. I told her I was very proud of her for all she had accomplished so far. She's even going back to school for her master's degree. Pretty awesome for a woman in her late sixties. She's inspirational and she sure made my day. She actually told me that our talk that day and on the phone in later days helped her get over her devastation and find her strength to move on with her life. I had no idea. She told me that I helped her decide to become independent rather than go the traditional route of choosing another husband from the slew of widowers that came calling the moment she got home from her husbands funeral. Actually she said something close to, "You know of Russian community and they are pushing the men at me and I think of you and say no, take time for self. After a month they stop and move on to other widow and I feel good about this. I am still loving him and not ready for new man in this life now." Keep it in mind folks, one tiny act of compassion can change another person's life for the better in ways you may never realize.

My own life has been so up and down this past year with financials and the job market and so forth and it seems like every time I get to a point where I am just like, WTF, the universe hands me a kudos card or a get out of jail card that makes me realize how lucky I really am in so many many ways.

Cameraman Jenn wrote: Kaydene, don't believe everything you read. I actually paid the typesetter at the publishing house a couple grand to sneak in that line with my name in it.

A red letter day. I paid off my car loan. Though Chase got in one final kiss. A $10 fee to send me my title - via USPS 1st class mail. I got to celebrate by going out of town for a couple of days for meetings. I've just got to the hotel fifteen minutes ago. Now, I'm bored.

Congrats, Damelon! You're bored? On the internet? Say it ain't so!

Great story, CMJ! First time I've heard it.

(I liked Molly Ringwald in the 80's! Okay, I liked a lot of things back in the 80's, but so what...)

Kaydene...I suspect CMJ is the most famous KW member around, due to her username being the only one specifically mentioned in the FR dedication. Just think: there could be Russian, Japanese or Portuguese readers of TCTC now who all know CMJ. Her name will be known to precocious kids picking up TCTC for the first time; to bored SF/Fantasy book club members who decide to take on Donaldson at last. Even luddites who've never logged onto a computer or gone online, but who like reading books about lepers, will see CMJ's name staring back at them. Millenia from now, when archaelogists by random chance unearth a copy of FR, they too will come face to face with the dedication page. Whole academic careers could be spent investigating the relationship between SRD and the "notorious" Cameraman Jenn.

Think on that...and be dismayed! (((Echo)))

I was NOT the only one mentioned. Seareach and Romeo were as well and I paid for my illicit print expo so I guess it paid off... damn... I have to pay you the grand for the promo now too. Crap... self promotion is so damn expensive these days.

On the other hand, MM, karma sent Anna to me for a reason. Not sure what it was or is but what are the odds, I work a place for six months, then work a totally unrelated place which has several locations in the city and a multi million count of population and she shows up at my new work spot again in a different capacity. As much as she is convinced she should be learning something from me, a thing she has already professed to doing i think there is something I am supposed to learn from her. There is great inspiration but I think I am missing something. I'll figure it out eventually.

Karma, synchronicity...whatever you wanna call it...it's all good. Anna sure makes me feel like I'm not doing enough with my life.

You're correct that other people were mentioned, but not by their Watch username. You were notoriously singled out.

Just for the record, it's an acknowledgments page...not the dedication. The book is dedicated to his son.

It always amused me that the acknowledgement of Kevins Watch basically points out that we're a bunch of pedantic nitpickers.

That's us alright.

--A

CovenantJr wrote:It always amused me that the acknowledgement of Kevins Watch basically points out that we're a bunch of pedantic nitpickers.

Oh, I dunno about pedantic, per se...

haha. Sorry, the "acknowledgment page". It's still f'ing cool.

I paid my way in. Sea and Romeo actually earned their mention. Huge difference.

I got NOTHING done today that I planned on. I am a lazy beeyach. 100% pathetic. So totally sad. Ugh.

I'm officially an enemy to all training conferences that consist of writing lists against your will of trite adjectives in groups of people who happen to sit closeby. Sometime, I'm going to use the word "Fickle" or "Cock-eyed" in the list where "creative" and "dependable" usually go.



Sigh.

Kaydene wrote:haha. Sorry, the "acknowledgment page". It's still f'ing cool.

Sorry Kaydene, that comment I made wasn't directed specifically at you. Everyone's been calling it that for yonks.

Cameraman Jenn wrote:I paid my way in. Sea and Romeo actually earned their mention. Huge difference.

Give it a rest, Jenn!

Cameraman Jenn wrote:I paid my way in. Sea and Romeo actually earned their mention. Huge difference.

Does that mean any one of us could pay our way in with the next book?

Between the publicity generated by your Nom shirts and the profits you make, maybe you can make that work?

How are they selling? I know you've sold at least one...

lorin wrote:50 % of my co-workers are Haitian. Such confusion and such loss. People can't reach their families, many family members are dead.

Haiti is a country already so damaged by poverty and corruption, how will they survive this? There is no infrastructure to begin with. It will not be long until everything collapses, leading to riots and panic. The cynical side of me says that the foreign aid and probable intervention may put them in a better place than they have been in for a hundred years.

Well, it's good to see the world responding swiftly. No, it'll never be swift enough if you have a loved one trapped in a collapsed building: everyone knows it's a race against the clock. I heard that the first 72 hours after a disaster are the most critical for finding and treating the injured. After that, dehydration and infection overwhelm the human body. But with so much wreckage lying around and blocking roads, the search-and-rescue efforts there must be painfully slow and difficult.

As I said at the Hangar, I have nothing but praise for the American response to the disaster. These are the times when the resources of the US forces shine brightest. Canada, England, France, Spain and other countries are sending help, too, of course, but the sheer hardware and manpower the US possesses is greatly valued. I heard that the USNS Comfort, which is basically a floating hospital, is on its way to Haiti. That will be a much-needed aid, with hospitals in the country in ruins. The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is also on its way, as well as half a dozen ships - I heard they will be there to keep the waters off Port-au-Prince safe and navigable. Also, I heard that the US military has secured the damaged airport in the city so that it can receive round-the-clock heavy equipment and emergency supplies.