Situation Normal. Atmosphere Breathable. Brainstem Injected. Dialogue Engaged.
stg-roadrunner-gfx
Thursday, September 01, 2005

Shit Turtles & Hacksaws

Here's another archived journal entry from August 2002. Reflecting back upon that year, I can see that I was an upstanding young citizen who made prudent decisions geared toward furthering his bright future prospects in commerce and industry. I fixed the worst examples of awkward, clumsy syntax in this entry, but I left the gleeful tone of giddy retardation intact.

New content will be posted soon! I'm halfway through a dead letter from Sid Vicious to a punk rock girl. My railroad story is progressing slowly. Planning a story seems to be a lot more difficult than spitting one out on a whim. Thanks for bothering to check in. I appreciate it.


There lies a property on unincorporated land at the edge of Schaumburg. Its backyard fence is also part of the outfield fence for the local minor league baseball stadium, home of the Flyers. In this backyard there's a stable and a horse, a trampoline, an above-ground pool full of muck, 10 or 11 broken-down cars against the back fence, and a large firepit.

Before the stadium was built, about 3 or 4 years ago, I got drunk on the 4th of July at this fine household. Leo, Bill, and I decided to get up to some mischeif. Armed with 4 or 5 M80's, we strolled over to the local Metra train station, about a block away through some backyards. After blowing up some potted plants, we wandered over to the port-a-potty. It was on high ground in the parking lot, which was perfect for our intentions.

If you look at where the walls meet on a port-a-potty, you'll notice that the front right corner is rounded, whereas the other 3 corners are right angles. That's because there's a tube running from the septic tank up to the roof to vent foul odors, improving ventilation. On most port-a-pottys, there's no grill or screen at the top of this tube.

Leo lit an M80, and at 6' 5 or so, he had no difficulty dunking it right into the exhaust tube. We all ran. After a muffled thud, a green tide washed out in every direction from underneath the shithole. Amateur lincoln logs went atumble down into the parking lot, taking parking spaces and not paying for them. The sludgier wastes moved like melting turtles, causing erosion that split the green rivers into tributaries.

By god that smelled awful.

The parking spaces are all numbered, and there's rows of wooden boxes with little numbered slots in them at either end of the lot. People shove dollars and quarters into the slots to pay for their spots. Leo and I went there after dark with some saws, boltcutters, and screwdrivers. The plan was to either break into one or take a whole box home. Hey, I was drunk. Don't look at me like that. Please?

After a lot of effort, sweat, and grunting, we sawed one off the shitty metal pole it stood upon. As we were hauling it away to pry it open for spare change, headlights shone upon us. I saw the bar atop the hood, and I knew it was cops. "Cops!" I dropped everything and so did Leo, and we ran. Leo knew the neighborhood well, so he went through all the shortcuts and got home quickly. I, on the other hand, was stuck in open space and I panicked. I hid behind a small pine bush along somebody's front walk. The police circled me many times, and I heard their dogs barking angrily. They couldn't find me. I got bit by a few spiders in that bush. After two hours, when all was quiet, I went back to Leo's. He was glad I didn't get nabbed.

There were about forty animals inside that house. Raccoons, fish, rabbits, weasels, birds, dogs, cats, gerbils, snakes, frogs, and a few others. When the house burned down last year from an electrical fire, most of them died. When rescuers brought the cats out, the cats kept running back in. There was nothing anybody could do about it. Leo and his family still live in that shell of a house to this day.
4:58 PM - Bottle Rocket Fire Alarm

7 Comments:

September 02, 2005 3:41 AM, Blogger Latigo Flint said...

S. King - On Writing.

If you haven't read it, do. He gives us gold.

We shan't be great, so few are--S. King tells us everything we need to know to be good.

 
September 02, 2005 9:09 AM, Blogger Bottle Rocket Fire Alarm said...

Thanks, J.

Latigo, funny you should mention it. I've been reading it this week. (my 3rd time through it)

He detests plotting, preferring to start with a situation. Then he just writes. (or digs up the story, as he puts it.)

That's how I've been doing it for a few months, so I was gratified to learn his methods are similar.

Which means that I've wasted my time trying to think too far ahead into my longer story - I just need to put pen to paper and see where it leads.

 
September 02, 2005 9:54 AM, Blogger Kerouaced said...

You have had some interesting Viking adventures. I like the archives too...

 
September 02, 2005 1:40 PM, Blogger Kerouaced said...

How's the novella coming along?

 
September 02, 2005 4:20 PM, Blogger Angel said...

I like the archiving too. This is probably going to sound so girly of me but I like starting in the beginning and seeing how much you have changed and grown in the past years.

Really neat that you let us in on your life like that, and your stories were good even then.

Plus the archives keep me happy. I hate going to a blog and seeing the same title for 3 weeks.

 
September 02, 2005 6:31 PM, Blogger Blake said...

Most people come to a blog and rarely read anything past the first page of entries. Hopefully they come back. I like seeing the kind of writer you've become. Its like working out for a sport, writing.

And I agree, the best book I've read on writing is Stephen King's.

Blake

 
September 04, 2005 6:30 PM, Blogger clothosfate said...

Really funny that people would be talking about the marvelous Mr. King on your comments, when I really just stopped in to let you know that I finally wrote that post on the DaRk ToWer series. I hope you find time to read it and enjoy it... by the way I can never just stop in without reading your latest post at least, damn funny... hilarious in a juvinile way but who ever accused you of being serious.

 

Post a Comment

left-arrow Home

stg-shark
Kaleidoscopic Narcotic
Hiatus
Bear Trap Beatdown Part Four
Bear Trap Beatdown Part Three
Bear Trap Beatdown Part Two
Bear Trap Beatdown Part One
A Malady Calamity
Bright Lights Zero
Cornerpiece
Untitled & Fireplace Cool
August 2002
September 2002
October 2002
November 2002
December 2002
January 2003
February 2003
March 2003
April 2003
May 2003
September 2003
October 2003
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
February 2004
August 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
February 2008
May 2008
August 2008
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
December 2009
February 2010
March 2010
April 2010
May 2010
August 2010
August 2011
September 2011
February 2012
June 2012
July 2012
August 2012
October 2012
November 2012
May 2013
August 2013
September 2013
December 2013
May 2014
October 2014
November 2014
December 2016