Castles, Hospitals, Railway stations, and V616 Mon -- One of These Things is NOT like the Others

This has nothing to do with Carrie Fisher.
It's the timeline for my first real novel.
It's almost six feet long.
It will end up being three novels, a series.
 NO. A mother fucking SAGA!

A thought struck me. Just now. While I was playing Zombie Mart.

Today is the first day of 2017! Thank the fucking gods. Get me the hell outta De-troit.

I don't actually live in Detroit. That last witticism sounded funnier in my head. Detroit is a perfectly nice place and I hear it's on the mend as a city. NPR told me that.

So I'm trying to stay off Facebook for at least two weeks, until January 10. Not checking in to Facebook is proving... difficult. I chose this course of action last Tuesday, December 27, 2016. The day that stole Carrie Fisher from us. She died at 60 years old. General Leia Organa is gone and after so many other great talents lost this year (and the election of He-Who-Doesn't-Deserve-Mention-On-MY-Blog as president of the United States), the death of the women who helped create my first personal hero just messed me up.

When I was a shy, intelligent child in the 1970s, a time when there was not many strong female characters, especially in sci fi and fantasy, her pride and bravery in the face of danger was amazing. She was Princess Leia then, of course.

But I don't want to fall maudlin, really I don't. This explanation is why I'm not checking into or posting to Facebook right now. It's because I swore off Facebook for two weeks, no more bad news for me. I wanted to swear off the internet for two weeks, but I can't do a lot of my projects, creative, worthwhile projects, without the internet. I'm trying not to listen to the radio either. I was giving the explanation of why I'm dropping the following idea here in my blog instead of on Facebook. Here, with my precious idea. Where perhaps ONE person will see it, instead of at least ten people on my friends list, and possibly more, and they would tell me how amazing my idea is.

No one said it was easy having principles and goals. Now I need a break from the intensity of explaining my explanation. No one said being a writer was easy. They did say it would be worth it and it is.

Goddamnit, I hate that damn music on Zombie Mart. Don't follow that link. Seriously, don't do it. You'll be sor-ry! That game is a time suck of black hole proportions. <That link you can follow. It's educational!

Sometimes the cleverness is simply irresistible. I mean -- unavoidable. It's irresistible AND unavoidable. Like me! 'Cause it's my cleverness, you see how that works?

Now I want to log in to Facebook and brag about my cleverness and post a link to this blog entry. Braggin' and bloggin', that's how I'm attempting to occupy my 2017 New Year's Day. And here I thought I'd just be organizing my coin collection.

I'm totally serious about that last bit. I have a coin collection, of a very amateur sort. I bought some new organizational preservation-type holders for my rarer coins and for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Because Corpus Callosum knows how to party!

Perhaps my blog persona ought to be named Tangential. Back to the original reason I came to post today.

Directional colour lines in a hospital corridor.

This is a hospital corridor. Perhaps you are familiar with this type of directional assistance, colour lines on the floor to help you find your way. Hospital corridors usually have little to distinguish one from another and if you're directionally challenged like SOME people I could mention (it's me) navigating these halls, especially when taxed with anxiety over a loved one or just over the fact that you have to get a test done -- it's easy to get lost.

Some hospitals have the lines on the floor to make it easier for the staff to give directions and for the person inquiring to follow those directions.

Speaking of finding your way...

 

Dear gods, what the actual blue fuck?
Don't get me wrong. I love purple.
A good eighty percent of my wardrobe
 is purple. But I mean really...

This is Guy's & St. Thomas Hospital in London. I don't know who Guy is, or why he's important enough to have his name in a hospital listed before a saint's name, but there it is. I wonder which St. Thomas it was. Hm, it seems it was St. Thomas Becket.  Do you know him? He had an argument with King Henry II. It didn't end well. But that's what happens when you fuck with the founder of English Common Law and the man strong enough in heart and mind to be married to Eleanor of Aquataine.

What happens is you get hospitals named after you. But I digress.

So I imagine conversations going something like this: 
Staffer -"Take the next left and stop when you see the purple dots."

Inquirer - "How will I know when I've reached the purple dots?"

Staffer - "Oh, you'll know."

It's funnier if you read it in a British accent.

This is what happens when I'm not allowed to post my passing thoughts on Facebook. They turn in to rambling nonsensical blog posts. This blog post could use some directional colour lines to help guide a reader to the fucking point.

This post is an example of why I get along so well with Jeremy and Chris from Cinema Sins. Nah, I don't actually know them. I'm not even sure those are their names. But I feel like I know them, or at least Jeremy, because he sometimes talks like me and I can relate to that. I want this t-shirt. If I had my own YouTube channel, I would be shouting out to them all the damn time.

Victoria Train Station in London, England

I want my own YouTube channel. I don't have a proper camera though and I think I really ought to have a proper camera. I would call it "I Like It Like That" and I would just talk about all the stuff I like. But it would be funny, because I'm hilarious. Many drunk people have told me so.

You might also have seen directional colour lines in train stations, another place I've gotten lost in. It's not really too hard for me to get lost. Cover my eyes and turn me around three times and I have no idea where I am. Constantly getting lost used to cause me great anxiety but now I decide to have interesting times getting myself found again. Also having a smart phone with GPS is a godsend.

ATTENTION! MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE! WE HAVE FINALLY ARRIVED AT THE POINT OF THIS ENTRY! TAKE YOUR SEATS!

Pictured above: Actual European castle.

Some of my castles, the castles in the stories I will write -- they're currently being written, I just haven't gotten around to thorough descriptions of castles -- will have lines of colour in the corridors, to help you find your way. Mosaics on the floor, or different colours of stone on the walls. It will be gorgeous! Different mosaics on certain walls in each section, to help distinguish them. I'll have to find different ways for the different series. Don't want to be repetitive.

Like when I realized I've worked in too many instances of people cutting off their hair to symbolize something big has just happened. I wanted to use it in almost every novel. Oh the scenes would be different, very different. But the idea was becoming cliche before I even had a chance to introduce it.

Damn, I'm clever.

This castle does not appear large enough to get lost in. YET.

I need to start using my Wordpress blog. The cleverness of me cannot be restricted to just one blog. I think I'll use this one for the rambling, profanity laden posts and I'll use the other one to explore the other creative side of myself. I have several. They argue sometimes. So if I have two blogs then if they get on my nerves I can send them each to their own blogs and get them out of my hair. Head. Whatever.

I think it is now too late to take a walk.