I'm Back ...

 

Well, after a five-month hiatus from the blog, I’ve decided to return.

What’s happened to Hopper since the ides of July?

Actually, if you set aside the toxic environment our culture’s been bathing in, marinated in that whole Covid thing, I’ve made some pretty good progress. Progress toward what, exactly? you might be asking. And my answer would be: certitude.

As a Hopper, I tend to bounce from one thing to the next, always searching, always seeking, always on the make for something to seize my attention and declare itself the Be All and End All Unto Me. Sometimes it happens, most times it don’t. When it do happen, it never sustains itself. If you know anything at all about that Myers-Briggs thing, me telling you that your host is an INFP should explain it all to you.

But after nearly half a year’s musing, ruminating, and thought-experimenting, I’ve come upon certitude.

I will reveal it bit by bit in my writings here.

*** Thus ends the deep part of today’s message. ***

From a more mundane viewpoint, I’ve still accomplished much in the past five months. Two examples:

Physically, I’ve never been better. A good thing in these pale horse times. I’ve ridden the keto diet since June 15 and lost 21 pounds in two months. Then I slipped back to something like 80 percent adherence and gained back 5 of those. So, all in all, I’m around a net minus 16 since the earth sat on the other side of the sun. My doctor is quite pleased. I’ve also curled a lot of weights and trod a lot of miles, though the cold and rain has slowed me down significantly of late (I lift in my unheated garage). Still off the booze, mostly for cardiac reasons, though I have to say abstaining from my faithful (too faithful?) evening Foster’s oil can has kept my spirits upbeat in these downright downbeat times.

I’ve taken a deep – and I mean deeeep, that’s right, five e’s – dive into World War II literature. Originally bitten by the bug summer 2012 during a breather from my fascination with the Civil War, then put away a book a year on the topic. But since July 26th I’ve worked through seven World War II books – just over 3,000 pages – and have taken extensive notes. I’ve listened to nearly 30 hours of lectures during my summer and fall walks. I’ve taped and watched all the WW2 documentaries on the History channels. I even researched my grandfather’s service in the Philippines.

Why? Well, faithful readers may recall my interest in historical fiction at the beginning of the year. Then, mid-March, all hell broke loose. My topic of interest back then is not too politically correct right now, far, far from it, so after completing an outline and having just cracked my knuckles in preparation of typing the first paragraph into the old word processor, I got cold feet and shelved it. Then, after completing my fourth World War II book, early in October, I was seized mercilessly with a nice, neat, novel twist that I could not shake. Ergo, I now have fourteen pages of notes, character names, plot graphs, first chapter lines, and a whole miscellany of ideas ready to go. I think January 1 would be a wonderful day to start that work.

Well, that’s about it for today. On deck, I have two book reviews, plus I’ll get into how the whole Hopper family is handling the Covid event to greater or lesser success.