Rowanism No. 07

"Mommy, wouldn't it be funny if Daddy ran off and never came back?"

Pet Peeve No. 10 - Headaches

I haven't posted in a while. Don't blame me, blame the headaches. They come and go, but mostly they come and stay.

I have one right now.

It starts slowly in the morning and gradually builds to a low, continuous roar. Not a migraine, just an annoying, uncomfortable pressure around the eyes. It's probably eyestrain from sitting at the computer for ten or eleven hours a day (including eight hours at the office). I feel that part of the blame must go to the bifocals. I despise bifocals.

But seriously, maybe worms are eating into my brain. My grandfather warned me they could.

Or a brain tumor. My mother is always warning me to watch out for brain tumors.

Now, more than ever, I just want to be in a cold, quiet, dark place.

Like a refrigerator. Or a winter's evening in the Outer Hebrides.

Cosmic UNconsciousness - Anaesthesia

I was the lucky recipient of a bit of out-patient surgery on Monday. While it was a routine operation (snip! snip!), it was deemed necessary that I take leave of my senses. My wife stayed with me while the IV was administered. The nurse asked if I could feel it taking effect, and I replied, "Oh yes, I can feel it."

Elizabeth handed me a picture of our daughter and said something like: "Say goodbye to Rowan." I kissed the photo like the love-struck puppy I am.

She informed me that my last words before going under were: "Everybody sing."

Fantasy DVD Box Set - Bradford Dillman

It's Christmas in August!

This evening I've had a song in my head that (like a pesky garden slug) I just can't seem to eradicate: Father Christmas by The Kinks. Let me rephrase that: I had the music to Father Christmas in my head; but over and over and over again, the lyrics were: Bradford Dillman, give me some money.

Seems like the perfect opportunity to explore the possibilities (in a perfect world) of a DVD box set for Brad Dillman. What four Dillman films deserve this distinction? I'm listening...

Cosmic Consciousness No. 13 - Audiobooks of the Damned

I love books... their feel and their smell. I adore ancient leatherbound editions with hubbed spines. I cherish archaic glyphs and runes hastily scribbled in the margins by mages and sages. I treasure my books signed by Arthur Machen and Rudyard Kipling. I collect books, because I don't know how not to collect books. I also enjoy starting several consecutive sentences with the first-person pronoun.

Unfortunately, as these ocular orbs of olde start to fade and wither on their stalks, extended readings become more difficult. And having a four-year-old makes finding the time to read quite the challenge.

I love audiobooks. I listen to them at the office, in the autocarriage or whilst taking in the moonlight on Sentinel Hill. Several websites offer free downloads of amateur readings of public domain works. I have always wanted to record an audiobook myself (harelip be damned), if only for my private use. Unfortunately, I have not been able to procure a LARGE PRINT edition of The Necronomicon.

Can anyone be of assistance? Hello, Dr. Armitage?

Or does anyone know of an existing audiobook edition? (I would assume it's in the public domain, heh heh.) Perhaps it doesn't even exist thus. Some words should not be read aloud except by a trained professional. But I'd give it a go. Yes, I certainly would.

Yog-Sothoth is the Gate.

Name Tags of the Damned No. 06

Spotted at Burger Doodle: BRIANICA (female)

It's an honest-to-god anagram for BRAINIAC !!!
This puts the whipped cream on my day.