tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49994382572894331862011-11-11T09:23:38.629-08:00Confessions of a Semi-Professional Gad-AboutK.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comBlogger1131100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-34183480610517199852010-05-06T02:00:00.000-07:002010-05-06T02:43:36.596-07:00

I haven't posted here since January, so I'm putting this blog in stasis. Most of my time is devoted to writing and I'm posting about that at A Moving Line, so if you'd like to find out what I'm doing, drop by over there.

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-81972160399800683882010-01-19T00:40:00.000-08:002010-01-19T03:48:20.609-08:00

It's 60 degrees Fahrenheit in Miami, at this moment.That's also the official temperature a bit further down the Overseas Highway, in Key West, where I used to flip-flop around outside. At this moment, here in Seattle, the temperature is 56.And it's only January 19th.It's been a particularly good winter here, at least as far as I'm concerned. Oh, it did get a bit cold for a week or two, and I saw

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-60059777360648395332009-12-21T05:32:00.000-08:002009-12-21T07:06:09.176-08:00

There's an interesting meme making the rounds just now.It calls for a list of every city in which you've spent at least one night (other than home) during 2009. You're supposed to mark each one with an asterisk in which you spent more than one non-consecutive night.Here's mine:Vancouver, BCLawrence, KsKansas City, MoAtlanta, GAColumbus, OHPortland, ORToo many nights away from home, and I hardly

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-87533217500726537252009-11-26T06:09:00.000-08:002009-11-26T06:12:34.538-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-11943375555855339282009-10-07T04:28:00.001-07:002009-10-07T08:03:18.809-07:00

Rachael and I took advantage of the great weather this past Sunday to play tourist, something we haven't had a lot of time to do since our arrival in Seattle almost two years ago (Halloween 2007).We headed east on Interstate 90, jumped off at exit 25 and visited Snoqualmie Falls. It was worth the trip. Sheer natural beauty.The Snoqualmie River flows over a 268-feet drop, one hundred feet higher

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-70523949198225849002009-09-30T01:59:00.000-07:002009-09-30T02:18:19.446-07:00

Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat considers political hyperbole today in These Are the Worst of Times?Reading it, I was reminded of what Inigo Montoya said to Vizzini the Dwarf in The Princess Bride: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-84208264368507590952009-09-08T02:04:00.000-07:002009-09-08T02:53:29.142-07:00

Talk about your whirlwind tours.My daughter's wedding was this past Saturday. You may recall that she lives in Ohio and so I had to take wing to get there. Oh, sure, I could have taken the bus or rented a car for a 5,000-mile round trip, but either would have meant days on the road and for financial reasons I couldn't leave until Thursday and had to be back Monday, so . . .The wedding was

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-12223149589104482552009-08-22T06:50:00.000-07:002009-08-22T07:19:12.362-07:00

On a more upbeat note ...Remember Bill Cosby's Special Class routine from his album, Wonderfulness? It's the one about being jealous of the kids in special class because they were always going on field trips. You know:We're going to the zoo today! And then we're going to the baseball game and then to Hong Kong and Tokyo, and we're going to a lot of places. Yep, yep, yep.I was thinking about

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-39960132746423012652009-08-22T01:00:00.000-07:002009-08-22T07:18:17.715-07:00

Ride the bus often enough on a more or less regular basis and you begin to recognize faces. See them often enough and you start to talk to them.At least I do.I call them Bus Buddies. I have three or four and it's become a pleasure to see them. They smile when they see me climb aboard, too, but one of my buddies wasn't smiling Thursday.I'll call him Diego. He's a lovely man with a courtly

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-72913236669188414922009-06-25T04:08:00.000-07:002009-08-23T03:03:11.056-07:00

The woman didn't look too out-of-the-ordinary when she climbed onto the King County Metro Transit bus at a stop in downtown Seattle. Middle height. Middle weight. Middle years.Not at all stark, raving bonkers.She was cradling something in her arms; a bit of gray fur jutted above her elbow."Is that a dead squirrel?" the driver asked."It was," the woman said. "But I brought it back to life."

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-63827190057594375312009-06-21T03:40:00.000-07:002009-06-21T04:11:52.915-07:00

It's been almost six weeks since I posted last, but it has been a busy time.On the writing front, my son and I have been hammering out a rewrite of our screenplay, Black Rock, which we hope to see filmed next summer (2010) in West Virginia. If all goes well, he will be directing it, too.We're both excited, the production company that optioned it are saying money is looking good, but we are ready

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-1198899765991132502009-05-13T06:03:00.000-07:002009-06-27T01:00:10.401-07:00

What ever happened to Dick and Jane?If you grew up in the United States and are over forty, as I am, you should remember them.Dick and Jane were brother and sister, main characters in a series of primary readers written by William S. Gray and used within the American public school system from the mid 1930s through the early 1970s to teach reading skills.The books relied on whole language theories

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-60973284056176348432009-04-24T01:25:00.000-07:002009-04-24T07:21:34.150-07:00

I am an eavesdropper; always have been.My earliest memories include listening to adult conversation, trying to piece together what it was they were talking about. I listen to nearby conversations in airports, at the doctor's office, in convenience stores and while riding the bus.I have even been known to listen to a single side of a conversation when I catch someone else on the telephone, and

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-50307473210481144562009-04-04T05:36:00.000-07:002009-04-04T06:18:51.671-07:00

Now we know what a human life is worth in Seattle.Three teen-age Seattle boys have pleaded guilty to the unprovoked beating of 53-year-old Edward McMichael last October 25th. McMichael died nine days later of injuries sustained in the beating.He was something of a local celebrity, a shy fellow known as The Tuba Man, who regularly provided impromptu tuba performances at local sporting events. And

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-19940273235397217842009-03-23T00:54:00.000-07:002009-03-23T01:54:05.231-07:00

A funny thing, the internet.Last week, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a fixture in this city for 146 years, printed its last newspaper. There were a ton of people who bemoaned the loss but I wasn't one of them.Not that I didn't care for the newspaper, usually referred to as the P-I. In fact, I much preferred it to its competition, The Seattle Times. It's just that for me and tens of thousands

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-73825698365882850832009-02-27T13:54:00.000-08:002009-02-27T13:57:37.890-08:00

Gay Degani’s flash, The London Eye, is the featured story today at Every Day Fiction and it is a perfect example of flash fiction.It is a horror story of the best type; no unkillable murderers, no boogeymen, no zombies or vampires. Just a man being driven insane by the monstrous guilt he carries within his mind.Check it out here. It’s special.

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-8318668729228253242009-02-20T07:01:00.001-08:002009-02-20T08:19:15.815-08:00

Have you been watching The United States of Tara?I don't watch much television, don't often recommend programs, but if you have access to Showtime, and you're not watching this show, you are missing something dark and delicious.Toni Collette stars as Tara Gregson, wife of Max, mother of Kate and Marshall and a gifted painter of murals. She also shares her body with Alice, T and Buck.Tara suffers

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-48937112483996414652009-02-20T01:04:00.000-08:002009-02-20T01:08:16.748-08:00

My poem, Late Night Considerations, is the featured piece at Every Day Poets today.It’s my fourth appearance and it has to do with a subject near to my heart and mind.LNC considers ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night. And don’t tell me you’ve never lay in bed at night, wide awake, heart skiddering, thinking, “What is that noise in the closet?”If you

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-16038315797271089312009-02-17T04:02:00.000-08:002009-02-20T01:07:35.874-08:00

My flash, Sidney, Down Under, is the featured story at Every Day Fiction today.It’s a tale of cats and cash and murder, and has nothing to do with Australia (the title, don’t you see?) and everything to do with positioning.Check it out, if you get a chance.

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-35416701118455128952009-02-11T07:47:00.000-08:002009-02-17T03:29:44.095-08:00

The cat attacked the television this morning.The cat's name is Sam. He's part of a set; Sally and Sammy, sister and brother from the same litter, Miss Chatterbox and Doofus.They are eight years old. We call her Miss Chatterbox because she back-talks to us all the time. If the litter box is not clean enough for her, she complains. If food is not forthcoming, she complains. If she hasn't been

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-80654114845908178382009-02-06T00:55:00.000-08:002009-02-06T01:27:58.489-08:00

When you are as large as I am (six feet, two inches and well over two hundred pounds) you get used to folks looking.There are days, though, that I feel like a normal-sized person, living in a land overrun by little people.I know there are other women out there who are my size; the clothing manufacturers don't make all those blouses and slacks and sweaters just for me. But I don't often see those

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-12898633142216635502009-02-04T06:19:00.000-08:002009-02-06T02:40:30.165-08:00

What a glorious day yesterday was; the sort that makes me glad we moved to Seattle.No wind, clear skies, lots of sunshine and mid-afternoon temperatures in the mid fifties. What more could someone who enjoys four seasons ask for in a winter day?It was Rachael's "Sunday", too, so we stopped by Easy Street for breakfast. Easy Street is a local landmark, often billed as the best little record

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-8355455021573252262009-01-26T06:08:00.000-08:002009-01-28T11:55:35.453-08:00

The Saturday just past, I was given the opportunity to once again discover that kindness toward strangers still exists in our increasingly paranoid world.I drove to Vancouver, British Columbia, for a book launch and signing. You may recall that one of my pieces of flash fiction, Hair of the Dog, is in print in The Best of Every Day Fiction 2008.Kevin Shamel, another Pacific Northwest writer with

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-12642725227360227772009-01-17T20:03:00.000-08:002009-01-17T23:17:55.471-08:00

Have you seen the Coast Guard video of the New York City plane crash?If you haven't, pop over to YouTube and watch it. It's not hard to find and it is amazing to watch.I have said this before, but I don't think it can be said too often. Human beings so often respond with grace in times of emergency. It gives me hope for the world to read, or in this case watch, evidence of that fact.Of course, it

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-24478222719588471302009-01-10T20:06:00.000-08:002009-01-10T20:34:53.926-08:00

My cell phone has given up the ghost.I decided to catch a mid-afternoon nap today. When I set the phone upon the bookcase next to the bed, it was working fine, bright and chipper, and when I woke up it had slipped away into the void.I feel disconnected; cast adrift. My cell is my life-line to the rest of the world, my answering machine, my alarm clock, my watch, my address book, my toy for

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-64572973540793616982009-01-05T16:12:00.000-08:002009-01-06T01:56:53.141-08:00

More strangeness.It was near freezing last night and it began to snow about seven p.m. Our neighborhood had three inches of wet, heavy stuff by ten p.m. and the roads were miserable.It tapered off around eleven p.m. and then the temperature began to rise and it began to rain. By nine this morning, it was forty degrees outside, the snow had been washed away and the sun was out.At the moment, I'm

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-84643605174857207712009-01-01T22:01:00.000-08:002009-01-02T07:35:56.342-08:00

I stopped making New Year's resolutions a long time ago. Too much pressure; too much disappointment if (and when) I didn't make good on them. But ...This year I have decided to set a couple of goals. What's the difference? I see resolutions as nebulous in nature. I will lose weight. I will stop smoking. I will stop telling awful jokes. All good ideas, even though I don't smoke, but no real way of

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-46375994625999450632008-12-25T01:21:00.000-08:002008-12-25T10:48:28.959-08:00

Thanks for dropping by Christmas morning.I usually don't do much, by way of decorations; my children and grandchild are two thousand miles away. But I thought I'd do it up big this year.They make the place a bummer to heat but the high ceilings turned out to be a blessing, after all. How else could I have gotten a twelve-foot tree in here?The ornaments are an exact match for the bubble lights,

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-67463920358200212112008-12-20T01:33:00.000-08:002008-12-20T08:08:24.044-08:00

I have remembered why I left Ohio for Florida.The skies opened Thursday morning and we were visited by another four to six inches of snow and overnight temperatures well below freezing. The city owns twenty-seven trucks with snow plows and almost 1,600 miles of roadway to tend. It's not difficult to do the math.Most streets turned into ice rinks and the neighborhood around Lincoln Park and the

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-43451005080745031662008-12-17T12:10:00.000-08:002009-01-03T13:01:29.514-08:00

My micro-flash, Anastasia, went on-line today at Lyn Perry's Residential Aliens. It's only two hundred words, so anything I might say about it could be longer than the story, so I'll just mention that I'm pleased with it and happy Lyn liked it, too. Thanks bunches, Lyn!

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-13631707834173357542008-12-14T03:12:00.000-08:002008-12-14T03:35:19.617-08:00

It snowed last night!For most folks, that may not be such a big deal, but it's the first significant snowfall I have encountered in almost six years.After four plus years in the Florida Keys, and an almost snowless winter in Seattle last year (at least where Rachael and I live and work), it was fun, sitting in the living room, watching the flakes fall. And a late walk through Lincoln Park was

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-90231581526741846522008-12-14T02:49:00.000-08:002008-12-15T01:31:32.488-08:00

If you're looking for something to read, A Bannockburn Night, my take on a Lake Superior legend, is on-line now at Static Movement.It's a ghost story, of a sort, and an experiment for me in character voice. It's told first person and the narrator is a retired boat captain, a fellow in his eighties who is down-to-the-ground genuine; the sort who may lack imagination, but makes up for it in

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-73458872469732274802008-12-09T07:24:00.000-08:002008-12-09T08:23:41.678-08:00

The established authors that I talk to and read about all say that getting published is a combination of talent, luck and persistence, with the latter being perhaps the most important.You've got to keep writing and you must keep submitting; like falling off a bicycle or being thrown from a horse, you have to get back up and back on. Got to send rejected stories right back out to other

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-87635506941883764862008-12-08T02:57:00.000-08:002008-12-08T11:30:30.882-08:00

I have my daughter’s birthday gift ready to mail. She’s going to be twenty-eight soon and I’m sending her a teddy bear; there’s a story behind that.When she was born, I bought her a cuddly bear, almost as big as she was, and she slept with it every night. When her first birthday came around, the natal bear was a bit tattered, so I bought her a replacement, and upon her second birthday another.

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-63793158026954420032008-12-05T07:25:00.000-08:002008-12-05T11:00:11.668-08:00

Here's a nice piece of good news. The 2008 Every Day Fiction anthology is out and I am in it.To be accurate, my story, Hair of the Dog, is one of the one hundred pieces of flash fiction selected from the three-hundred and sixty-five stories to appear in EDF during it's first year of operation.It's a lovely book filled with great stories. If you are interested in buying a copy, hardbound or

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-90302539095466830412008-12-02T04:43:00.000-08:002008-12-02T05:17:43.098-08:00

E-mail last night from Scott Andrews, editor at Beneath Ceaseless Skies.It was a rejection on Coward's Steel. I had had hopes for the story; The new on-line publication is a class act and I would be so chuffed (as my Brit friend Sarah likes to say) if I could be a part of it.So, I was disappointed, but Scott included the sort of "here's why I said no" message a writer, trying to establish a

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-31645978485693516952008-11-29T10:02:00.000-08:002008-11-29T14:11:49.117-08:00

I spent this week rewriting four stories that have been setting in the drawer for awhile; whittled them down from almost twenty thousand words, total, to just under sixteen thousand.Writing flash fiction has done wonders for my understanding of what needs to be in a story and what is just my loose tongue and fingers. Four thousand words, and not a single one of the stories suffered. They are

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-12322328446161629452008-11-27T06:50:00.000-08:002008-11-27T08:38:58.478-08:00

Time once again to stuff our faces and then sit in front of the television in a stupor.Is it coincidence that a turkey's call is "gobble, gobble"?I think not.

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-5029213457267402262008-11-23T22:16:00.000-08:002008-11-24T03:17:09.865-08:00

It was an eventful week; writing.I sent off six stories; one of them is an ultra-short, just one hundred and twenty-eight words, but the rest are longer pieces than I have been attempting. The longest, Coward's Steel, is almost five-thousand words. It's post-holocaust fantasy that went to Beneath Ceaseless Skies, a market I would love to crack.Getting them ready for submission, I was reminded of

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-43225489773063800482008-11-21T00:56:00.000-08:002008-11-21T01:31:39.789-08:00

My flash fiction, Oh, Woman of Easy Virtue, is the featured story today at Every Day Fiction. If you can, click on the link and check it out. I hope you like it; I had fun writing it.

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-83372589024702935932008-11-19T11:38:00.000-08:002008-11-19T18:20:19.839-08:00

My friend, Gay, who blogs at Words in Place, sent me a Bookworm award and asked me to pass it on to other blogging buddies. I don’t usually participate in this sort of thing, but I have to admit that I am a bookworm; and it sounded fun.Here is what I am supposed to do: open the closest book to you (not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment) to page 56.

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-46982250428013659452008-11-13T05:39:00.000-08:002008-11-13T10:49:38.542-08:00

If you've never done this, as an experiment, try it.Find an elevator system that gets lots of use. Wait for a car full of people, get in and then stand in the front of the car, with your back to the doors.Watch how nervous the other passengers get. Most of them won't even realize why they are upset, but I guarantee you will see the symptoms. Lots of eye movement. Shoulder and arm twitches. Foot

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-22898732020539478612008-11-11T05:54:00.000-08:002011-11-11T09:23:38.890-08:00

I bought a paper poppy from an old man last night. He was sitting outside the Safeway, alone, wearing a campaign jacket older than I am and an American Legion cap. The sign on the easel beside him read: Remember Veterans' Day on November 11. Buy a poppy. There was room on the bench beside him, so I sat for a time and we talked. He told me his name was Walter, said that he would be eighty-five

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-30650589580310523552008-11-11T04:47:00.000-08:002008-11-11T07:30:15.502-08:00

The folks at Every Day Poets have accepted another of my poems, Witches' Brew. It's an homage to Shakespeare, my take on the infamous witches' chant from MacBeth. You remember: Round about the cauldron go; in the poisoned entrails throw.Oonah, Nicholas and Constance, the EFP editing staff, said they thought Witches' Brew was amusing and playful. I like to think that Will would have approved. As a

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-48215647401603048362008-11-10T00:34:00.000-08:002008-11-10T02:13:06.423-08:00

If you can, stop in at Every Day Poets. My poem, Murphy's Flaw, is featured today; it tells the tale of Obadiah Murphy, a competitive drinker of gargantuan appetites and capacity. I think it's pretty funny, but then I wrote it.And I will apologize now to those of you who don't care for meter and rhyme. Stop back another day; the site offers great poetry for every taste.

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-85097732958650327952008-11-07T00:54:00.000-08:002008-11-07T01:04:02.038-08:00

I write because I am compelled to do so.I read for more reasons than I can list. To pass the time. For recreation. To take my mind away from a bad place. To educate myself.One of the most important reasons I read is to experience the frisson that occurs when I discover that someone thinks or feels the same way I do.I just read this: Some days, I feel like a hummingbird duct-taped to a fence.Amen!

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-61024222819880493082008-11-05T20:06:00.000-08:002008-11-07T01:06:24.547-08:00

My grandpa used to say that time moves along.My son called from Ohio today. We chatted about this and that, mostly about movies and writing, and then he mentioned how excited Dylan, my grandson, is about our new president elect."He went to the polls with me yesterday," my son said. "I let him push the button."He said they had campaigned for Obama, too."We like what he stands for, what he says,"

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-69106058352062287292008-11-01T03:41:00.000-07:002009-01-03T21:43:28.230-08:00

I just got the news that Hair of the Dog was selected as one of the top one hundred stories to appear in Every Day Fiction during its first year of operation.The anniversary was September first. A print anthology of the stories is in the works and should be available by Christmas.Some of my favorite EDF authors have stories in the collection, too.There's Remember from Erin M. Kinch and

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-32656027368591569312008-10-31T02:09:00.000-07:002008-10-31T02:42:56.676-07:00

Every Day Poets, the on-line sister publication to Every Day Fiction, launches tomorrow morning.According to Oonah V. Joslin, managing editor of Every Day Poets, she and her fellow editors, Constance Brewer and Nick Ozment, have "tried to offer a contrast of style and content, day to day.""What the poems have in common is that they are all well crafted; words charged with the full power of their

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-10082398535063039722008-10-31T01:07:00.000-07:002008-10-31T06:10:37.643-07:00

Lots more good stuff coming in November at Every Day Fiction.I am looking forward to reading stories from some of my favorite authors. We will be introduced to Krupper and Jons by Kevin Shamel on November 11; Oonah V. Joslin will work her magic November 14 with a Sleight of Hand; Sarah Hillary presents Me and the Mouser on November 17; Jens Rushing's Ars Draconia will launch on November 20;

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-42068892077949346152008-10-27T17:27:00.000-07:002008-10-27T18:02:24.533-07:00

Adam Bradley, editor of Morpheus Tales, a British print publication that features all sorts of speculation fiction and poetry, has accepted my flash fiction, To Each His Niche and Task, for publication in the magazine's July 2009 issue.It's my tenth fiction acceptance since June 2008; my second in a print publication.As my friend Sarah would say, I am fairly chuffed about this one. Ten

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-45392693243345551942008-10-27T11:11:00.000-07:002008-10-27T20:18:16.699-07:00

Today is the first anniversary of our arrival in Seattle. (We got here on a Saturday, but it's the date that's important. October 27).It was a seat-of-the-pants, leap-of-faith move; we showed up with a few thousand dollars in our pockets, everything we owned in an eight-by-ten trailer hitched to the SUV, hardly any income flow and no place to live.That wasn't how we planned it, of course. Rachael

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-10674830040303348152008-10-24T06:11:00.000-07:002008-10-27T18:03:34.627-07:00

Got an e-mail this morning from Terry Martin, Managing Editor at Murky Depths, the British quarterly print anthology. He said I hit his "weak spot" with Nosing with the Four-Stroke Kid, and he offered me a contract for publication.The story is scifi/horror flash that involves dirt bikes and weird pickup lines; I wrote it and it creeps me out. It's my tenth sale since June (nine pieces of fiction

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-41641465007285456322008-10-21T11:23:00.000-07:002008-10-26T07:27:15.315-07:00

I called a friend in Florida this morning. Helen and I are of an age, and we both like to rattle on, so we were on the phone for a couple of hours; God bless unlimited dialing and roll-over minutes!The conversation rambled, as I said, we both like to talk, but it kept coming around to the issue of age. At sixty-two, we are both starting to experience more than the normal aches and pains of life;

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-57399732359904900292008-10-16T00:51:00.000-07:002008-10-16T01:10:34.113-07:00

Another piece of my short fiction, In His Prime, was published today at Everyday Fiction. It is the fourth in as many months.It's a story that involves time travel, but that's not what it's really about. The idea came to me a couple of months ago, during a series of posts at one of the EDF forums. Someone wondered if there were any new takes on time travel, and I was goofing, jotting down silly

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-71794901189344271202008-10-10T20:20:00.000-07:002008-10-26T07:30:07.437-07:00

Good news today!Two pieces of my flash fiction, Hostel Intent and Hack, have been accepted for publication at Fear and Trembling, an online horror magazine; no word on publication dates yet.Hostel Intent is a tongue-in-cheek tale of a haunted college dormitory; it introduces Babbu Singh, assistant hostel proctor, and his boss, the Bhagwan Shatrunjay, a holy warrior and the twenty-fifth

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-31951424699862454172008-10-10T14:56:00.000-07:002008-10-12T13:06:56.749-07:00

A lot of really great words aren't used much anymore. One of them is malarkey. Malarkey is exaggerated or foolish talk, usually intended to deceive. As I grow older, it becomes easier to recognize malarkey and more and more difficult to put up with it. And even though the word isn't used much these days, there certain is a lot of it around; particularly during a presidential campaign.My

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-70110635411811170602008-10-03T02:53:00.001-07:002008-10-03T07:31:28.111-07:00

Last Friday, I mentioned the on-line writers’ critiquing group some of us are building at Every Day Fiction, and suggested that such a group, when it works well, is one of the most important tools a writer can use.This week I had that notion come back to me from an unexpected direction.My son and I wrote a screenplay last winter, it’s called Black Rock. He works for a film production company in

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-31001863980804962122008-09-30T11:45:00.000-07:002008-09-30T12:21:48.107-07:00

Lots of good stuff coming in October over at Every Day Fiction.Gallery Four, by Dave MacPherson, is set for October 4th. It's a sobering story we critiqued in the EDF Writers' Group. Kevin Shamel continues his run of great stories October 8th with Outlast the Stars. In addition to being a great writer, Kevin sells shamelessly funny tee-shirts at Shameless Humor.My take on a time-travel tale, In

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-47814770350670325162008-09-26T15:48:00.001-07:002008-10-03T03:30:45.959-07:00

One of the most valuable tools a writer can have is a good critiquing group.For a time, when we lived in the Florida Keys, I drove to Miami once a month to sit with other writers and critique each others work. Even after a change in my work schedule forced me to give up that pilgrimage, I maintained contact with two of the other writers in the group, and they continued to read my work-in-progress

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-40036089267412804962008-09-24T08:09:00.000-07:002008-10-10T20:40:44.170-07:00

Good news!My flash fiction story, Stand and Deliver, was accepted for the Fall issue of Boston Literary Magazine. Robin Stratton, the editor, said I "nailed the sense of a True American Hero".Here's the link, if you would like to check it out:Stand and Deliver

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-86824770141627498442008-09-19T05:14:00.000-07:002008-09-24T08:26:17.016-07:00

I have been tagged. My friend, Kevin, over at Shameless Stuff ask me to play the game, and so I will.Here are the rules:1. Link to the person who tagged you2. Post the rules on your blog3. Write 6 random things/unspectacular quirks about yourself4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them5. Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog6. Let the tagger know

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-78244147104764242492008-09-12T16:17:00.001-07:002008-09-19T03:50:48.401-07:00

Someone asked me, awhile back, if there was a single book that changed my life.There are a number of books that are on my short list of influential works -- Huckleberry Finn by Twain, Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut, The Caine Mutiny by Wouk, Catcher in the Rye by Salinger, The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway -- but if I had to pick just one, it would be Catch-22 by

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-60414936754337025222008-09-09T09:09:00.000-07:002008-09-09T12:37:34.842-07:00

I am not a patient person.Standing in line drives me up the wall, whether it is at the bank, on the interstate or at a restaurant. Someone I used to know, gone now from this world and much missed, once told me that she did not think I would wait an extra five minutes to have lunch with Jesus.One of my favorite cartoons, I have a photocopy of it in a folder somewhere, shows two vultures, sitting

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-24073537113503999102008-09-05T10:14:00.000-07:002008-09-19T03:50:30.137-07:00

I got put down, in a back-hand, over-the-shoulder sort of way, in the EDF daily comments the other day because I said I wasn't always sure where the story was in a piece of literary fiction.The words that were used were "insular" and "two-dimensional reading."I didn't bother to respond because there already was a donnybrook going on over what the author meant to say. I didn't bother to say that I

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-71073075233447283392008-09-02T13:18:00.000-07:002008-09-10T08:42:08.310-07:00

My grandson, Dylan, has a new dog. In e-mail yesterday, my son said:Wanted to share these photos of our new dog, Lilly. With Schatzie gone, we've tried to get back to normal as soon as possible and after a couple of days decided to start searching for a new family companion. We found Lilly on a website and picked her up today just before lunch. Dylan is so excited, he can barely contain

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-88263187154997081132008-09-01T00:55:00.000-07:002008-09-01T05:29:29.989-07:00

Another piece of my short fiction, I must to the Barber's Chair, was published today at Everyday Fiction. It is the third in as many months, sort of a literary hat trick.My stories tend to be heavy on satire or mayhem, so I am particularly pleased that the folks at EDF decided to publish Barber's Chair. It is a love story, with a fantasy twist, and it is light and upbeat. In fact, this is so out

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-66554993170385456452008-08-28T19:03:00.000-07:002008-09-02T14:08:54.922-07:00

He danced for those at minstrel shows and county fairsthroughout the southHe spoke through tears of 15 years how his dog and himtraveled aboutThe dog up and died, he up and diedAnd after 20 years he still grieves -- Mr. Bojangles by Jerry Jeff WalkerMy son called last night from Ohio. There were tears hiding at the edges of his voice, but they stayed there; he doesn't like for me to hear him cry.

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-15318741403249789122008-08-26T11:46:00.000-07:002008-10-08T08:54:18.539-07:00

The muse didn't just touch me this morning; she smacked me up along side of the head. And so I spent five hours, from six to eleven a.m., writing a piece of flash fiction.Folks have differing definitions of flash fiction, but the one that seems to be shared more and more is a complete story under one thousand words.A complete story presents all the necessary elements of fiction --

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-78854830348559804002008-08-25T02:18:00.000-07:002008-08-28T22:33:16.946-07:00

Another piece of my short fiction, Hair of the Dog, was published today at Everyday Fiction.It is, no pun intended, a shaggy dog joke; if it were a Monty Python sketch, Eric Idle would be waggling his eyebrows, doing some elbow-poking and spouting "Nudge, nudge; wink, wink. Know what I mean? Know what I mean?" I think all sorts of things are funny, but I have a weakness for this sort of humor;

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-24609359519854435922008-08-22T04:17:00.001-07:002008-08-22T07:19:49.198-07:00

I'm getting ready to send Veronica out for another round of potential assignations.For those few of you who do not know, Veronica is my novel—Lifting Up Veronica. I have been sending the manuscript off, from time to time, since June 2007, trying to find a publisher who will recognize it as the work of genius that it is.I have hopes, of course; if I didn’t I wouldn’t be wasting the postage, which

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-9023696569941867742008-08-22T02:48:00.000-07:002008-08-22T08:03:55.114-07:00

I don't want to sound like a Luddite, in fact, I love new technology, but there are times that I want to go back to the day when telephones weight twelve pounds, had a crank dial and you had to dial the operator to make a long-distance call.This week has been one of those times.I hate my cell phone. No, wait. It's AT&T that I hate. I have had the phone, a nice little Motorola that looks like the

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-32618958768738148112008-08-08T06:24:00.000-07:002008-08-22T15:25:00.652-07:00

Canton, Ohio, where I lived for most of the seventies, has made a national top ten list. It’s not anything to brag about, though.According to Forbes Magazine, Canton is one of America’s fastest-dying cities. It’s no surprise that the city is smack in the middle of what has come to be known as the Rust Belt. So are five of the other ten communities—Detroit and Flint, in Michigan, and Cleveland,

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-32566268577444269752008-08-01T10:26:00.000-07:002008-08-01T10:34:13.453-07:00

The Everyday Fiction table of contents for August was posted yesterday. My second story to be accepted by EDF is scheduled to appear on Monday, August 25. It's called Hair of the Dog; a piece of tongue-in-cheek satire that is kinda-sorta about childrens' television programming. I'll mention it again, when it gets closer, and provide a link.Everyday Fiction has also accepted two more pieces of

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-62997819579652396562008-07-30T06:03:00.000-07:002008-07-31T00:45:32.276-07:00

Craigslist is a network of online communities that feature all sorts of free classified advertisements. From time to time, I flick through the Seattle/Tacoma “gigs” listings; it is amazing what some people will ask other people to do, without any sort of compensation.Here are a few listings from the past week: SEEKING MODEL WITH SNAKE: I need the snake for a product shoot. I am willing to do

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-10631868150415819062008-07-29T05:49:00.001-07:002008-07-29T16:14:20.442-07:00

Are you in the market for an eye-catching conversation piece for your backyard?If you are [pardon the expression] flush at the moment and can spare eighty or ninety grand, the City of Seattle will sell you a free- standing, automated restroom, one of five that have been in use at locations around the downtown for the last four years.The city is offering the units for sale on eBay; so far no

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-53900218703165128432008-07-28T01:00:00.000-07:002008-07-28T02:00:33.492-07:00

I have maintained an Internet presence for more than a decade; my e-mail address is just my name, without any numbers or letters added at the end, and I didn't have to pay a penny for it.Over those years, I have floated in and out of chat rooms and bulletin boards, maintained a web site and started a blog, and not once in that time have I ever received e-mail, chat or post, aimed just at me, that

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-41613767270114641682008-07-22T22:20:00.000-07:002008-07-24T00:44:35.526-07:00

I shall steal a page from the blog that I want to tell you about, and keep this short.It is called Can't Backspace and it is written by a friend of mine; her name is Sylvia. I met her at Every Day Fiction; she has a way with revealing hidden emotion, in her stories, and her words are often poetic.She has a great blog, too. I won't spoil it for you, but what a great idea. If you are interested

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-49791818589831910402008-07-21T11:24:00.000-07:002008-07-21T11:27:15.720-07:00

Rachael works as a security officer at a book store; it's one of the big chains, but I won't mention names. She is not an employee of the store, but rather a company that provides security officers.She came home upset the other night because she had had a run-in with a loss-prevention specialist for the chain. Here's the weird thing; the problem wasn't that Rachael wasn't doing her job, she was

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-23983427567290821812008-07-19T01:03:00.000-07:002008-07-19T07:29:31.376-07:00

I saw The Dark Knight yesterday. I plan to see it again Monday morning on the IMAX screen at Pacific Science Center; I already have the tickets.Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker is everything that has been touted; more, I believe. Ledger steals the film every second he is on the screen and his Joker is a masterful application of smoke and mirrors beyond any I have ever seen.It is so

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-12050183464208633082008-07-18T07:37:00.000-07:002008-07-21T11:32:00.156-07:00

The Washington State Supreme Court ruled Thursday that catching a whiff of what smells like marijuana is not sufficient grounds to search all the passengers of an automobile during a traffic stop.That action overturns a twenty-nine-year-old precedent that allowed officers to search or arrest passengers after smelling marijuana in or around a car, and it stems from a two-year-old legal

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-90834718129138348862008-07-16T08:20:00.001-07:002008-07-16T10:12:00.550-07:00

It would appear that Mr. McGuire was wrong.He was that fellow, in The Graduate, who wanted to offer young Benjamin Braddock a single word of advice, claiming it was the wave of the future. That word was plastics.It's a word we all have heard with regulatrity, for decades now, every time we go to the grocery store. You know. "Paper or plastic?" Seattle's Mayor Nickels wants us to start paying

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-34849609780142888602008-07-11T03:17:00.000-07:002008-07-12T03:22:20.635-07:00

It was after peak hours and, of the handful of folks on the Metro Transit bus, I was the only one close enough the hear the muted conversation between the driver and the woman on the curb."I'm trying to get home," she said."Where's home?" the driver asked. She named a Seattle neighborhood."I go there," the driver said. "C'mon." She didn't move."Tomorrow is payday," she said. "I don't have the

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-88029298562676342402008-07-09T06:12:00.000-07:002008-07-10T07:36:16.076-07:00

Among my foibles is a predilection for black jack, the card game, not the anise-flavored candy, and over the top of the hill, down 35th Avenue and two turns away, next door to a Safeway and across the street from a chiropractic clinic, there is a casino.It calls to me, some days louder than others, but so far I have resisted the urge to splurge on a hand or two. I would like to believe that is

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-66820604785414490172008-07-08T20:10:00.000-07:002008-07-09T04:46:29.974-07:00

“Jimmy! Take a picture of that!”The Missus had a voice to set the world on edge; a grating sound day-old coffee might make, if it could. She and Jimmy had stopped at Eaton Street, in downtown Key West, in the midst of a stroll past the bars and boutiques along Duval Street.“Take a picture, Jimmy!” The Missus said. It was more command than request.She was an itty bitty woman, for such a voice,

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-53121843268179812802008-07-08T06:27:00.000-07:002008-07-08T06:39:39.620-07:00

I was up early this morning, out walking, and I came upon a single playing card, a casino brand, face down on the sidewalk. I picked it up, of course; it was the Queen of Spades.We happened to have a Cagliostro deck that Rachael found at a yard sale, years ago, and has lugged around, from place to place; so, I dug it out to do a bit of research. It’s a handsome set of cards, wrapped in silk and

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-58742326635190877642008-07-07T14:26:00.000-07:002008-07-07T14:51:30.171-07:00

I was posting with some folks on-line this morning about writing and the conversation turned to the topics of character development and author immersion.A couple of years ago, while we were living in the Florida Keys, I took a novel-writing class at Miami-Dade College, once-a-week evening sessions that were supposed to be convenient for working writers. I imagine they were, for the other

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-57107688850346673772008-07-05T06:32:00.000-07:002008-08-28T22:38:02.840-07:00

A piece of my short fiction, The Mixture, was published today in Everyday Fiction, an on-line magazine.EDF, as it is called, is ready to celebrate it's first anniversary, something of a milestone for on-line publications. It publishes flash fiction, complete stories under one thousand words long, and will deliver one to your electronic in-basket, as the names states, every day. I love the

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-77918177620533027632008-07-03T08:14:00.000-07:002008-07-11T18:40:54.034-07:00

I don’t know whether to cringe in terror or laugh out loud at this one.David Cronenberg, who has been making edgy movies since the sixties, some of them excellent (like last year’s Eastern Promises), some of them not-so-much (Scanners comes to mine), has decided to do an opera.That, in itself, is not such a big deal, but it is based on his 1986 remake of The Fly. You remember that one, right?

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-2606491280094825742008-07-02T03:34:00.000-07:002008-07-02T09:59:13.736-07:00

There was some excitement in West Seattle yesterday morning.Just after ten a.m., a fellow wearing a long, shaggy wig and a surgical mask, entered a Wells Fargo Bank branch on California Avenue, a couple of miles from our apartment. He waved a gun around, forced everyone to the floor and helped himself to the usual “undisclosed amount of cash”.A Jeep Cherokee was waiting out front, engine running

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-50297556163739584712008-06-30T07:28:00.000-07:002009-01-18T07:05:22.957-08:00

Kris Kristofferson wrote this:The scene was a small roadside café;The waitress was sweepin’ the floor.Two truck drivers drinkin’ their coffeeAnd two Okie kids by the door.“How much are them candies?” they asked her.“How much have you got?” she replied.“We’ve only a penny between us.”“Them’s two for a penny,” she lied.One truck driver called to the waitress,After the kids went outside.“Them

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-74739027896952482692008-06-27T22:42:00.001-07:002008-07-16T10:10:57.387-07:00

The mountains were out today.In Seattle, depending upon where you live, that means the Cascades to the east, the Olympics to the west and, presiding over it all, Mount Ranier, the slumbering behemoth to the south.For us, it’s the Olympics, rearing up along the horizon, across Puget Sound, hanging over the green lushness of the islands and lowlands to the west of us. On a clear day, like today,

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-60818735341542701762008-06-26T11:40:00.000-07:002008-06-26T12:10:31.187-07:00

Author, documentary film maker and futurist Kevin Kelly posts about the world as it is now and as it may become at www.kk.org. One of his blogs, reached through that URL, is Cool Tools, and there he recently listed books that changed his life. He said, “Books still have the power to change lives. Which ones have changed yours?” I don't mean merely great books, or memorable ones, or favorite

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-39552514770072096082008-06-25T07:31:00.001-07:002008-06-25T07:36:43.212-07:00

We went to see Get Smart yesterday; I loved it. It’s like a fungus. Just a little fuzzy at first, but then it grows on you. Of course, I walked into the theatre with mixed feelings. Get Smart was one of my favorite television programs, way back when. And in the first moments of the movie, my laughs were pure reflex. I wanted to like it, but it sounded like the producers had laid down the

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-91781305830868722672008-06-24T02:50:00.000-07:002008-06-24T12:20:36.716-07:00

I met a a fellow named Robert on the bus yesterday. He settled into the seat in front of me and, ten minutes into our conversation, mentioned that he is a bartender. That didn’t surprise me; he had an easy way of talking to a stranger, a nice smile and an opinion on almost everything. Most of them I could live with and some of them I liked. Had I read the recent newspaper stories about how

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-29099264220106401062008-06-23T02:41:00.000-07:002008-06-23T02:49:47.118-07:00

I haven’t been able to get to the keyboard for the last few days because I did something stupid when I was fifteen years old. I jumped from the back of a moving pickup truck. Sure, that was forty-odd years ago, and the truck wasn’t moving very fast, but somewhere between the truck and the ground, I wrapped myself around a metal pole and injured my back. So now, all these years later, all I

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-66128349380548388282008-06-23T02:02:00.000-07:002008-07-02T09:41:23.176-07:00

Al Sleet has offered his last weather forecast. George Carlin, comedian extraordinaire, creator and alter ego of the hippy-dippy weatherman; the man who gave us the Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television, died Sunday night in Santa Monica of heart failure. He was seventy-one. Carlin’s sharp tongue, four-letter words and sarcasm may not have suited everyone’s taste, but for those of us

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-12711572598564761312008-06-18T07:39:00.000-07:002008-06-19T00:25:09.091-07:00

Yesterday was the sort of day that makes all the rest of life worthwhile. It was Rachael’s birthday; I won’t say how old she is. It doesn’t matter to me that she can’t run up stairs anymore, two at a time, or that the eyeglasses she used to wear upon occasion are now permanent fixtures. But she is sensitive about such things, and so I try to keep my lip zipped. We took the bus to downtown

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-21167323306272713052008-06-17T04:07:00.000-07:002008-06-17T04:12:22.830-07:00

KJAQ is a local radio station, better known to listeners as JACK-FM, and it offers up pop music with an irreverent attitude. JACK calls Seattle the city that gave the world the 750-calorie cup of coffee—and convinced them to pay five dollars for it. Folks in Seattle do love their coffee, perhaps it has something to do with the weather, and over the past eight months, I have—God help me—picked

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999438257289433186.post-14520015875158473762008-06-13T04:11:00.000-07:002008-06-13T04:19:06.656-07:00

Today is that day that shows up 1.72 times per calendar year. Yep; Friday the thirteenth. One point seven two times; that’s a statistic, and if studied from a statistical point of view, there’s nothing spooky about Friday the thirteenth. It’s a predictable event brought about by the fact that the Gregorian calendar follows a leap-year pattern that repeats itself every 400 years. That’s

K.C. Ballhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10252103801230059784noreply@blogger.com