Musings of Two Creative Minds

  Recently I had a rather loud and unexpected reminder from life, that I am physically not the same person I was 10 years ago. I'm not saying that old age is catching up to me, although it does give me the occasional reminders that many of us experience (like your body sounding like a bowl of Rice Krispies when you get up in the morning). No, the incident I'm talking about was a very loud and frightening reminder to me that I am disabled. Now when I say it was frightening, I am mainly talking about everyone else around me. In my case it came more as a shock and a nasty surprise. You see, I was seated and began leaning over to grab something that was off to my side and slightly behind me when the wooden chair (well it was actually a wooden bench we have in the dining area) I was on tipped over. And yes, I went down with it. LUCKILY, I had enough presence of mind to stretch out my hands and arms at shoulder height to break most of my fall. I didn't even wind up slamming into ...

Okay, I'll admit it's been more than say two weeks. Come to think of it, it's been more like almost four weeks. But in my defense, I'd point out that hey, this makes at least 1 post per month so far this year! That's right, this isn't March, or April or even October and given my track record last year, for me,  this  is soon. So there what do you think of that, Perry the Snootypuss...  SPECIAL ALERT!!! Okay, enough with the silliness. Wait, who am I kidding? Myself? Not bloody likely. I know me too well. In fact, I've known me since the day I was born. FYI, I've recently mastered Doofenshmirtz's voice and added it to my voice library. I have NO idea, when I'll ever use it, but hey... maybe one day I'll get invited by the creators of Phineas and Ferb to stand in for Dan Povenmire. You never know. (Oh, and just in case Dan or his partner Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, happen to be reading this, I can also do the voices of several other characte...

  The GIF above was basically me last night as we welcomed in the new year. I gave 2026 a warning that we would not tolerate any of the shenanigans we've experienced in 2025 and to behave itself and straighten up right off the bat. I guess we'll all have to wait and see if it listened to me or not.  But in fairness, it wasn't just the new year that I'm being firm with. I'm also kind of cracking down on myself. Over the last few weeks, I've really been looking at myself and what I have and have not gotten done over the last couple of years. Although, in fairness to myself, a LOT went on. Between trying to adjust to my continuing fight for SSDI, my mom suffering dementia and eventually passing away in 2024, then starting 2025 with me and Helen struggling with our apartment and having to get stuff moved out of it and into a storage unit because the landlord didn't like our place having a lot of boxes in the living room. Then of course, looking for and buying a ...

  HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE! Sorry it's taken most of the day, but the "Library of the Obscure" is now officially open over on #YouTube . And since it's Trick or Treat season, here's the trick... Click on the link below to get your treat: Have fun and stay safe everybody!

  It's finally coming... on HALLOWEEN Stay tuned everyone.

Hello again everyone. Hope you've all been doing well. As for me and Helen we've had a LOT on our plate lately to deal with. However, we're not abandoning our readers by any means.  We're still getting settled into our new home, which of course seems like a never-ending task, plus Helen is putting in for a number of jobs, especially in the realm of state, county, and city employment. And of course, I've been still contending with Social Security and trying to bring my now 2-year ongoing efforts to get approved for SSDI.  Oh, and did I mention Halloween is coming up? We're big fans and have plans which include FINALLY getting The Library of the Obscure YouTube channel fully up and running. I'm hoping to release a "Coming Soon" video (which I will feature here as well as elsewhere) very soon. Certainly, before Halloween, because I want to drop the first video either on the day before Halloween, or on that day. Haven't fully decided. We'll see...

Yeah... the title for this entry pretty much sums up my feelings today. Why? You ask... or maybe not, after all I'm not inside your heads. But if you are asking that question, well the answer is "THE DOOR"! Now I might be hearing some of you saying, "A door? What door?" Well, here's a little reminder... Yeah, THAT one. The one I've been going on about for months and even a couple of years. Sadly, it hasn't exactly been just a couple of years. After going over my entries for this blog it turns our that I've apparently been going on about this book since about... 2013.   Cue embarrassment... Damn it! Why is there never a nice big rock (preferably the size of a small mountain) to crawl under when you need it? Well, since said rock isn't about to make a helpful appearance anytime soon, I may as well give you the rest of the explanation. A severe, and I do mean SEVERE case of Writer's Block has been plaguing me when it comes to this book for q...

" 'Cause, nothing ever goes as planned It's a hell of a notion Even Pharaohs turn to sand Like a drop in the ocean..." This is a snippet from the Styx song "Nothing Ever Goes as Planned", from their Paradise Theater album (one of my favorites albums I'll admit). Anyway, what does a Styx song have to do with today's topic for this blog entry? EVERYTHING! When we were still house hunting and came across what would become our new home, One of the things that really attracted us was the basement. It was set up almost like an old 1980's arcade, complete with black lights, an arcade game, a projector, and a black light carpet. See image below It was so wild when we had the black lights on, we started joking about holding 80's parties down in it. But of course... (cue the Styx song) That's right! You guessed it. Things didn't quite go the way we had been hoping. While we were in contract and had a home inspection done, it was discovered that...

  Well... this is my first post from our new home (shown above) in Washington State. It's been quite the journey to get here, as well as settle in. It's a whole new experience for all of us, and yet kind of familiar at the same time. At least for Helen, her brother, and their mother. They've all lived under the same roof together before. I'm the newbie in this case, aside from growing up with my own family of course.  Luckily, we got a pretty good idea of how we'd all click based on the Verbo places we all stayed in on our previous visits to Washington, during our house hunting. Mind you, none of this would've ever been possible for just Helen and me. Between health issues for both of us, (and me having had to retire due to disability) affording much less managing an entire house would've been a Herculean task.  However, after my mom took ill and before she passed last October, Helen's mother brought up an idea Helen had suggested a couple of years ago, ...

*Author's Note: This short story first appeared on our other site The Vampyre Blogs - Private Edition (link: https://www.thevampyreblogs.com/ ). This site features mainly short stories involving Allan's long-lived 'Para-Earth' vampyre character Nathaniel Eoghan Steward, and his friends who know his secret. Nathan was serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, when he was 'changed' by a life-form from Para-Earth that has given him such a long life as well as many traditional vampire-like abilities, as well as limitations. However, this tale involves the history of Memorial Day from when it was first celebrated on, and seemed like an appropriate story to share with you all. So without further ado, I present  you with the tale of "The Soldier" :  May 1999 - Memorial Day, From the Journal of Brian Weston: The Soldier appeared again this year, just as he has over almost a hundred and fifty years.  The first reports of him showing up here in Pointer dat...

Hello everyone, and welcome to my first blog post for 2025. I know it's been a while since I last posted anything on this blog, but as the title of this entry says... life and reality has REALLY been demanding so much of my time and energies.  And since it's been so long since my last post, let me quickly recap where I left off... I had located the crystal ball my wife gave me for my birthday many years ago and was contemplating looking into it to see if a wheelchair might be in my future due to my continuing leg and back issues. Well, here's the real-life answer as to that question... So yeah... this has come to pass. Mind you, I am getting used to it. Plus, I'm not in the chair all that often. I mostly use it on long outings and excursions with family and friends. (Sadly, for me these days a long outing lasts more than 15 minutes on my feet for the most part before the pain and numbing of my hips/legs/and feet become intolerable). Still, I really like being able to be...

  FOR THOSE WHO ARE UNFAMILIAR WITH THIS SERIES, HERE'S A QUICK OVERVIEW... It all starts in New York City, 1947. Former police officer, Rafael Jones has returned from Europe where he oversaw a special international team who gathered evidence for the Nuremberg trials. Now he’s opened up for business as a private investigator and already has two cases lined up. But little does he know that these two cases are connected… in more ways than one . Rafael is about to discover there's another side to the city, and the world, that he never dreamed existed. For he soon finds himself facing the supernatural in the form of a cult run by vampires. Their leader is both surprising, and yet a historical figure who was described by his assassins as almost impossible to kill. Sensing there's something more to our hero, he decides to make Rafael his new 'brother' in blood, hoping to make him part of the plan to retake Russia as a new Tsar. However, Rafael has other plans. Altho...