Tales from the Septic Tank of Life

Well, it's been 10 days since my last post. In that time, I've gone to the ACUP conference in San Francisco. I got back last Thursday night. Boy, was I tired. But, the experience was a good one, and I loved San Francisco. All I have to say about the town is this - who decided to build a city on such steep hills? You see the streets in the movies, but there's something totally different when you're walking up a 45 degree (or better) incline. I'm considering moving there and starting my own brake repair business. That, or becoming a trolley car operator. I rode one to the Fisherman's Wharf on Wednesday night with Dennis Maze and bought some cheap t-shirts for the kids. I saw Alcatraz in the distance, also.

Anyway, it was good to get home and sleep in my own bed. I wrote a couple short stories in San Francisco and will be rewriting on them in the future. Hope everyone is doing fine, and, if you came across my blog and want to contact me, my e-mail is rtrexler@siu.edu.

more later,
Roger

Damned if I know....

I was looking at the last post and realized it's been nearly two weeks since I last posted. Not much has happened since the trip to Canada. I've been working, watching the kids in the evenings and on weekends so my ingrate of a soon-to-be ex-wife can work. I don't want to descend into a diatribe about how I still love her (and am ashamed of myself for still loving her), but it drives me nuts. She called me the other day - yesterday, as a matter of fact - just to talk to me. She made it sound like she wanted to be certain I was going to pick up the kids up after school, but she DAMNED WELL knew I was. I suppose she was having a moment of regret, and that's fine....but don't mask it as something else. You've lied enough to me over the course of our relationship. We're over. We're done. You made it so. Aren't you proud of yourself? Isn't you momma proud, too?

Sorry, I should delete that....but I probably won't.

Anyway, my trip to Canada got me inspired to start work on a new novel. The book is called LONELY HEARTS and features a very unique serial killer. It features my detective Frank Powell. I'm about 45 pages into it so far, writing at lunchtime and in between entertaining the kids.

I've gotta go watch the kids. More later, Roger

Chronicles of Sarnia, part 2

All right, it's 7:05 p.m. and I'm now sitting safely at home typing on my Mac G5. The past long weekend, which began with a drive to Chicago on Wednesday night, is a blur in my memory now. The fact that I was detained at the border for an hour over a "commercial quantity" of books (145 books - for which I was taxed $153.50 in good ol' U.S. greenbacks) is the only real bummer of the trip. Don't take more than 10 copies of any one book or recording into Canada, my friends....the taxman lives up there, too, and he's a bastard!

Anyway, we crossed into Canada in a town called Sarnia (hence the title of this post) and we only got lost once (which was my fault). The drive from Chicago to Toronto took 12 hours there, and 12 hours back, detention and getting lost evened out the to and fro trip. We stayed in the Bond Place Hotel on Thursday night, and the rest of the weekend in the Marriott that the con was being held in. I got to meet some pretty cool people, including several small movie producers and an agent. Hopefully, something will pan out from those new contacts in "the biz". The con was the usual conbination of panels, booksellers and boozing, and I took part in all of it. Hence, I'm now tired as hell! But, the trip was worth it. I was scared to death about crossing back into the states since I'd been told the U.S. customs would be worse than the Canada side, but there was really nothing to worry about. The customs officer asked us a few questions - where we'd been, where we'd stayed, how long we'd been there, etc. Once we answered those, he handed us our identification back and said "welcome back to America". I left Chicago at 7:30 this morning (thanks to Larry Santoro for letting me crash at his place) and drove straight through with one nature and fuel breaks.

I made it home in plenty of time to go get my kids from school. Darrien, my son, loves the pirate ship I bought him for his birthday (today) and is playing with it as I speak.

Tomorrow, I go back to the bump and grind of earning a living, but the memories I made in Canada will be with me the rest of my days.

The Chronicles of Sarnia

Well, as I type this, it's 12:15 a.m. on April 2. I'm sitting at Larry Santoro's house. Larry is the author of JUST NORTH OF NOWHERE, a novel we debuted at the World Horror Convention this past weekend. I'd never been to Canada and, while being detained at the border for an hour totally sucked, I found Canada to be a place I'd want to visit again. It was beautiful up there, and the cultural and asthetic differences between Canada and the USA were both subtle and stunning.

I'm tired right now, but I promise to leave a longer blog later this week.

Tomorrow, I return to southern Illinois. My son, Darrien, turns five years old tomorrow, and that's something I wouldn't miss for the world.

later, Roger