A Week of Best Laid Plans Going A-Gley: Rejections, PO Visits, An Honorable Mention

 I meant to go to this morning's liturgy, only I woke feeling nauseous and then slept late. That is pretty much the story of this week.

 Monday ended with a lot of pain, the surgery seems mostly past, but some side effects remain. I can walk a little faster, except for the limp on my right. Tuesday continued with the pain being apparent. Wednesday, I got out to the writer's group and Walmart; afterward all I wanted to do was sleep. Yesterday, I was up early and my back locked up.

All I have done is work on my research project. I did not have any energy for anything creative.

The PO visited yesterday. The new one and the old one. This is the second time they came as a pair. The old one id his usual glare and glower, stayed silent, and left the same old impression of someone needing antacids. Of course, they came when I had been trying to sleep and was neither awake or asleep. I do not understand being questioned about the monitoring software; it runs in the background and I ignore it. The new guy confused me when he asked about the upcoming polygraph; that is in January. Either he forgot that or just did not know. I feel that I let them down: there has never been any contact with minors, and this year since I rarely leave the apartment, I am not sure how it is expected for me to have some. He asked about an email to Paul S without knowing that I am free to contact felons, so long as we are not engaged in criminal activities. As usual, it was like a visit from aliens. It seems the government expects some sort of maniacal behavior breaking through rather than I am living the life I want to live. They have assumed much about me, have neither questioned their assumptions, and their assumptions are not relevant to how I live my life. The government thinks their court order must chafe me when it is irrelevant. I guess no one understands that the supervised order does not me restricts my life. Oh well, everybody needs to make a buck. It keeps people with no discernible job skills employed.

But getting my nap interrupted did annoy me. 

More importantly, I received an email that I got an Honorable Mention in the William Faulkner Literary Competition for my short story, The First Day of Feeling Free! I cannot attend the award ceremony; I worry about my bowels between here and the convenience store, let alone a trip to Mississippi. It has been a good year for publishing my stuff.

And against that, rejections were received.

Thank you for sending us "After Making Landfall" for consideration. We appreciate the opportunity to read your work and regret that it does not fit the needs of TriQuarterly. We wish you success in placing it for publication.

Sincerely,

The Editors of TriQuarterly

Thriller Magazine rejected “One Dead Blonde” 

Now, I need do something about getting ready for the group session.

sch