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National Splurge Day 2025
Nothing makes a Hump πͺ Day more bearable than a bit of retail therapy. So, live a little and treat yourself to something nice on National Splurge Day.
π° Splurge ποΈ
Too many people spend money they haven’t earned to buy things they don’t want to impress people they don’t like. ~Will Rogers
Yeah, don’t do that. That’s not the point of Splurge Day.
Get yourself something you’ve been wanting simply because you’ve been wanting it.
I don’t give a flying fig about the Joneses, nor do I feel any need to keep up with them.
I only get things I want because I want them, not because somebody is expected to get jealous of me having them.
I can’t even comprehend that point of view.
Seems like it would make for a charmingly shallow character in one of my books, but I can’t even imagine inhabiting that thought pattern.
π° Frugal Splurging ποΈ
DealNews Explains How to Save on National Splurge Day
As previously stated in other posts (particularly those in the vicinity of a library book sale), I can go hog-friggin’-wild at a used bookstore or library clearance sale.
That’s my kind of splurging.
Actually, I splurged this past weekend because I needed another pair of shorts and some tank tops.
So, there’s me getting ahead of the official day, but I’m not going anywhere today.
That’s my other favorite kind of splurging.
Not going anywhere is luxuriously glorious to me.
Being a cozy homebody is my own style of opulence.
Something else I splurged on this past Saturday was in watching the parade for the US Army’s 250th birthday. Here it is, if you missed it.
LIVE: U.S. Army 250th Anniversary Parade for America | NEWSMAX2
Now, if you’re one of these miserable killjoys who decided to protest it or simply whine about it, gimme a friggin’ break.
How often do 250th anniversaries come around?
The answer is: once.
For the Army’s 250th birthday, you throw a parade. That’s what you do.
Jesus, get over yourselves…
βπ» Splurging On Words π
You know a book is good when dropping it causes an echo. ~Me
The best books bend the legs of the tables you put them on.
Complete Shakespeare? Total backbreaker, but every word is gold.
War and Peace? I’ll let you know when I get to start reading it. I’ve been busy.
A Song of Ice and Fire? So far, so good. If only George would finish the fuckin’ thing so I could get an all-in-one edition and a forktruck to carry it around with.
The collected works of Tom Clancy? Serious thud factor. I like the stories and I respect the weight.
So, The Sentinels series? It’s going to be giant if only because it can be. The world needs more tomes.
I don’t need to justify it. That’s the great thing about self-publishing.
No corporate wankers trying to chisel it down to a minimum viable product.
I’m not trying to write sugar cubes. I want this thing to have some weight both physically and literarily.
I’ve been a bit stuck lately because my day job is chewing up valuable brain cycles.
As always, I’m struggling to maintain the elusive work/life balance.
As usual, I’m failing miserably.
But, back to the writing.
Another factor of the series is the idea of doing a tangential anthology of short stories with each novel that explore some of the events of the book from the perspective of ancillary characters.
I’ve mentioned that this was inspired by the heedless chaos of an action movie or show.
High speed chases that lead to torn off doors, multi-car pileups, smashed storefronts and people running for their lives is visually interesting in a show, but what if you’re the guy whose hotdog cart got shredded like a piΓ±ata? Sucks to be you, right?
That guy probably deserves a story.
In the video below, they recount a two-part comic set in which Gladiator, Praetor of the Shi’ar Empire, comes to Earth in search of Skrulls.
However, Skrulls can alter their appearance to look and behave like whomever they choose, so Gladiator decides that the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Captain America and Spider-Man are all Skrulls and he goes fully bad Superman on them all.
One of the most iconic scenes is when he punches Ben so hard he rips through several blocks of downtown traffic.
In a comic book, it’s visually interesting.
As someone who has been stuck in inch-and-stop Manhattan traffic, this is utterly horrifying.
In the other video, you see the gag where Ben throws the old lady’s car at Dr. Doom.
In a superhero movie, this is simply a humorous bit to make it genre-light.
In real life, if a rock dude threw your station wagon at an armored dictator, you’d be shit out of luck.
To me, all of these examples of people minding their own business and getting caught up in the madness are fodder for my Collateral Impact anthologies.
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That’s how stories are made. If people want short hits, this is how they can get them.
We’ll see what the market salutes.
That’s all for today. See you back on Saturday for π₯π₯ͺπΉπ