Floodly Thoughts

It's now been four years since virtually everything I owned was destroyed in a once-in-500-years flood. It's strange that I still think to pull a book or an album that's been decomposing in a haz-mat garbage site for years despite all of that old stuff growing more and more vestigial to my life in general -- especially now that I'm 3,000 miles away from most of what little of that stuff survived in the first place.

I've bought almost no replacement copies of much of anything beyond reference volumes and manuals for my work -- I was thrilled to find that writing mentor Bill Idelson's original book -- the still unfortunately titled WRITING FOR DOUGH -- was surprisingly easy to find and, while he's no longer with us, he transformed the notes and thoughts he honed over the years from holding small writers' workshops in his home into a book, BILL IDELSON'S WRITING CLASS.

[I just started reading it this week -- I'm a little more than half-done with the first homwork assignment, but I have no idea how Billy is going to patiently listen to what I wrote, firmly tell me it stinks and then isolate and improve the sketch's fundamental flaws with just a few words. I may or may not post the pages once they're done, or Sunday rolls around and my deadline's up.]

Granted, both both books were purchased more for business than pleasure, but I was quite pleased with myself that I could buy them and not be tortured by my subconscious that night with nightmares about being trapped under an avalanche of books and other stuff. Instead of that dream -- once a staple of my sleep schedule before the flood erased my library -- I now enjoy dreams about trying to find teriyaki takeout joints, hunting elk on the Serengeti as a jungle cat, and punching random people in the face on crowded streets. Clearly, my inner self is trying to get a message through to me, but I just can't figure it out.

Four years and a week ago, I would not have guessed that I would be where I am now professionally, psychologically, physically, geographically, even spiritually -- but then, I wouldn't have had a clue where or even if I would be today.