F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction (New Weird) Author

Christmas

December Is Here!

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Snowshoes
Snowshoes (Photo credit: Singularduality)

December is here!

I have three favorite times—or months—of the year. July, October, and December.

Why?

I think, to me, they (except for October, which is all about Hallowe’en) signify (note itals) being in the “middle” of two seasons, summer and winter, though, technically, less than half of December is in “winter.” But, when I was growing up in upstate New York, believe me, with first snow beginning to fall in October, and continuing on through into May, there was nothing “autumnal” nor “fall-like” about December! Of course, my birthday is in December, and—for the “Kid Year”—nothing beats “Kid Year” activities like Christmas, so I’m sure both of those affected my love for December (and I’ve always loved snow and all-things wintry)! At least once, our family actually went out caroling with others in the dark, frigid coldness of an Adirondack winter, not to mention all the other fun stuff we did, like snowshoeing, skiing, snowmobiling, or just (for me) hiking through the “back 40” of our and our neighbor’s heavily wooded properties, much like I described in ERO (well, except for the “weird shit”), in thick snow boots, wool pants, and everything else you typically wore back in the 60s and 70s. I love how the cold winds bite, the trees crack, the snow falls. The sound my boots (or snowshoes) make in the snow. How, with tons of fallen snow, all “the dirty” takes on that fresh, sparkling, “clean” look. The creation of ghostly vapors from my warm breath breathed out into frigid air….

I love the contrast in the seasons. Love how, in winter, the season becomes more…”pensive.” Inward directed. At least that’s what happens to me.

And, now, there’s snow falling all over this blog! I love it!

Can you hear the jingle bells?

I thought you could.

Happy December, everyone!

It’s A Wonderful Life

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It is a wonderful life.

Let’s not waste it.

Let’s not destroy it.

Let us all realize the impact we each have on each and everyone else.

The impact we have on things.

Let’s create the life we all say we want.

A life of peace, respect, love, and doing what we want to do. Enjoy doing. A life where we all are free to express ourselves in positive, constructive ways that do not infringe upon others. Respects others and their differences.

It is a wonderful life…but only if we make it so.

A Christmas Story

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Merry Christmas to one and all!

And to those who celebrate any other holiday within this timeframe, I wish you all the very best and all the same well wishes!

But…what does Christmas mean to me?

A Red Ryder-carbine-action-two-hundred-shot-range-model-air-rifle-with-a-compass-in-its-stock-and-a-thing-which-tells-time.

I have no issue with the religious celebrating Christmas as they do…I just do not share your religion.

But.

I still enjoy the season just the same!

I’m not of the traditional religion. Nor non-traditional. I’m just not…”religious.” To me Christmas means peace. And joy. Among other things, it also means being with family. Enjoying their company, and their company enjoying your company. It’s the spirit (yes, “spirit“) of giving—and receiving. It’s reliving Christmases of old…experiencing Christmases of new. It’s enjoying many people enjoying (or trying to!) the season, and therefore life itself. Its people enjoying their own versions of Christmas, both religious and not. It’s one huge time of year where most people try to make a concerted effort to be a little…nicer.

Lovely, glorious, beautiful Christmas, upon which the entire kid year revolved.

Okay, tackling you to get at the last Xbox 360 with Kinect or Kindle, or cutting you off for that parking spot as they spill their piping hot Starbucks into their laps, notwithstanding.

And I’ll take one day a year over zero any time (but I know the number’s quite higher)…with the optimistic hope that such behavior will carry over a bit more into their daily lives. I enjoy the spirit of everyone trying to be a better Human and hope that people will stop killing each other and politicians will start acting like the adults they’re rumored to be.

But, that’s not all.

It means watching my favorite Christmas movies! Eating my favorite Christmas food! Writing Christmas cards and letters! Christmas trees and all the trimmings! Colorful lights! Festive music! Admittedly, I look forward to seeing what others give to me (and, heck, yeah, it’s fun)—and look forward to how they feel about what I give them (this is just as much fun)! It’s the metaphysical “feel” of the season I try to experience in my own, personal, metaphysical way. I love the snow and hope for the proverbial “White Christmas” (as a kid, that’s what we had every year, no exceptions—upstate New York).

So, maybe I did a good enough job explaining what Christmas is to me, maybe I didn’t. But it’s my version, and allows for other versions to coexist. Christmas may have started for one reason (religious) or another (secular), but as is the case with other things in life, it has taken on more in its journey through the ages. It means many things to many people, but it all seems to join at various versions of family, peace, love, and understanding. Let’s all try to be so accommodating.

And a Red Ryder-carbine-action-two-hundred-shot-range-model-air-rifle-with-a-compass-in-its-stock-and-a-thing-which-tells-time.

Perhaps not.  But I love that movie–A Christmas Story. It’s one of my favorites, as well as It’s a Wonderful Life. So, go on, rent them. Watch them.

Just don’t shoot your eye out in the process.

Synchronicities

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Adirondack Chair
Adirondack Chair (Photo credit: milletre)

The other day, while working on my newest manuscript (mss), I came upon some cool synchronicities. You will note on that webpage, I write up one that dealt with France. It just so happens, in my mss I actually am “in France,” but that’s not what I’m getting at.

What had happened was that I had been writing about a character, whose last name was “Morgan.” That name came up in a TV show. No big shakes, right?

But earlier that day, I had been looking at “an item ” (can’t say, cause it revolves around Christmas gifts), one of which was an Adirondack chair.  Also on TV that night, a character gave an example to something citing an “Adirondack chair.” To the character, to the show, and quite so to me, all of that reference was “out of character. I found that quite interesting.

Now, there was another instance that same day (three in a row), but I couldn’t get around to writing it down, and had since lost it. But no matter. It was good enough that I just identified the instances, became aware of them. All things are related, in some way, and I like it when things like this happen. It reminds me that not all is as it seems…that there is more than just what we see.

I hope I remember what that third thing was. I almost had it, just now—actually felt it—but it slipped away….

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Tis the Season—Gift Ideas

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A Christmas Story

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, but now comes “the Home Stretch,” for what I term “the Holiday Season,” which starts with Hallowe’en.

Now, I know everyone has their own view on Christmas and the other holidays celebrated this next month, and I certainly have zero issues with any of it.  I think it’s great we can all celebrate any holiday, in our own individual ways, and have a great time doing it. We need to celebrate and enjoy every so often. There’s a lot going on in the world, both good and bad, but, IMHO, Humanity needs to celebrate and consider the good and fortunate we have in our lives. I understand not everyone can, nor can at the same time most can. Some cannot at all, and to them, my heart genuinely goes out to them. If we lose the ability to see the good in life, and only focus on the bad, then we all lose. For those who cannot see the good, sometimes, I think, just knowing it exists out there can be of some benefit, consciously or unconsciously. I think, deep down, inside all of us, even when we go through rough times, we know “this, too, shall pass,” and that when it does, we’ll be back into the good life has to offer.

So, however and whenever we celebrate, I cannot think of one person I know who does not buy a gift or two for those they love or care about. It’s what Humans do—we like to give. We like to make those we care about happy. Giving gifts is just one way of doing this, but sometimes it’s hard to come up with something well-thought-out. So, since I’m in this with the rest of you, I’ve decided to list some items to hopefully help out, get some of the creative thoughts flowing. If you have some great ideas, please, stop by and list them! It’s fun!

Here are my suggestions, in no particular order and whether or not I actually own them.  Enjoy!

  1. Twilight Zone DVDs/Blu-Rays
  2. The Night Gallery DVDs/Blu-Rays
  3. X-Files DVDs/Blu-Rays
  4. The Lone Gunmen DVDs/Blu-Rays
  5. Kolchak: The Night Stalker DVDs/Blu-Rays
  6. The Grievers (novel—see my review and demand of it; loved it!)
  7. Dracula (classic novel—I’m rereading it for the 4th time!)
  8. Help make a movie—Class Clown Pictures donation
  9. Volbeat’s Beyond Heaven Above Hell (love the poignant “Fallen” track)
  10. iPad mini (I call it the “miPad”)
  11. A stand-up writing desk (can’t find the one I wanted to link to, but you get the idea)
  12. Create a Creative Memories book, calendar, photo album, etc.
  13. An iced tea maker (though I use an older version, use this tons…)
  14. Gift certificate for a cool, atmosphere/romantic restaurant
  15. A Leatherman mulit-tool (these are so danged useful!)
  16. Real NYS or Vermont maple syrup. There is no other kind.
  17. A theracane (oooh, these are incredible!)
  18. Foreign Language DVDs (I loved learning foreign languages, hope to do so again, soon)
  19. An Adirondack Paddle tie-tack
  20. A Christmas Story DVD (if you’ve never seen this, you gotta watch it!)