Sepherim

Like the majority of people on Planet Earth, I belong to Facebook, including several groups. Some, like one of the writing groups where I’m a member, are fantastic resources. Others… well…

This was a verbatim comment, and its associated photo. I didn’t change the spelling. Hopefully you speak fluent typo and can understand.

Here is a picture of both 1 cherbim and 2 sepherim

Yeah. That’s what he said, albeit emphasis mine. There was even a follow up comment and equivalent photo identifying the “wings”. Not sure whether it was from the “cherbim” or the “sepherim”. The font of information didn’t say.

Now you know I believe in supernatural realities. I believe we all have a spiritual element to us that transcends our physical bodies. I believe in reincarnation, and I’m confident there are supernatural beings out there in the cosmos. They may or may not be forms science can ultimately identify, but they are NOT clouds. Not even pretty clouds.

I don’t typically mock people’s beliefs, whether or not I agree with them. I believe your beliefs only matter to me if they infringe on the rights of another living creature. Therefore if your beliefs dictate you slaughter people on the weekends for fun, I’m gonna have a problem with it. If your religion dictates you MUST wear white socks on the days that end in Y, by all means wear those socks. Or don’t. I won’t mind, either way.

With all that, however, I believe we need to employ a few brain cells. (I know, I know. Some of us have fewer than others, which means this may tax your capacity.) If there are seraphim and cherubim in the photo before, I need more than your say-so. I like a lot of the fascinating places and the inexplicable mysteries presented by the Ancient Aliens TV show, when I can stay awake through it. However, I don’t think aliens built the pyramids, or the sphinx, or any other ancient monuments. To my way of thinking, if you’ve crossed the galaxy in a spaceship, why would you stack a bunch of rocks into a pyramid? Unless it’s really BIG aliens and those were the kids’ toys left behind. I can see the alien mommy admonishing, “You didn’t pick them up when I told you to, so we left them behind. Let this be a lesson to you. We’ll get them when we go back in a couple of millennia, if they’re still there.” Except they never came back, so the kids’ toys are still in place.

Ahem.

Speaking of cranial non sequiturs, these are actual photos from the AP wire.  The caption read:

Men wear crowns and hold unloaded weapons at the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary, Wednesday Feb. 28, 2018 in Newfoundland, Pa. Worshippers clutching AR-15 rifles participated in a commitment ceremony at the Pennsylvania-based church. The event Wednesday morning led a nearby school to cancel classes for the day. The church’s leader, the Rev. Sean Moon, said in a prayer that God gave people the right to bear arms.

I’m not even sure how to process the irony of the line I highlighted in that paragraph. Because reasons.

There are other photos from the series, including people wearing crowns made of bullets. I guess if this congregation gets going, there will be some interesting fireworks. When someone from this group mentions shooting off at the mouth, maybe we should take them literally.

I won’t ask what happened to our nation. I might ask how it happened. Somebody spiked the water with the latest iteration of mad cow disease? Germ warfare by an enemy who figured out how to bottle “stupid”?

Sorry, this is just too mind-boggling to let it pass without a remark.

I know the East Coast is dealing with insane weather this weekend. It means my job is going to be a complicated mess, most likely fraught with semi-mandatory overtime for the next few days. I feel for all those getting slammed by Mother Nature. We’re enjoying our gorgeous weather now, but come July, I’ll be wishing I was there.

I interviewed to move to a different department, however, and crossing my fingers. Same pay but drastically better hours AND paid holidays off. I’d forgotten what that was like. I didn’t exactly dress for an interview, considering I didn’t know I had it until I was already at work yesterday morning. Yay, advance notice! But one of the interviewers already knew me and was instrumental in getting me hired originally. I’m not a superstar, but I AM reasonably well known and liked within the company, so I think I have a decent shot at the transfer.

Meanwhile, doing one last pass though for typos on the two paperbacks I’m publishing. Both should theoretically be out before April 1. But I said that about March 1, too, so who knows? I keep killing stupid little typos and formatting errors. I’m determined to kill ’em all to the best of my ability. I need an editor. Sadly, of my two original editors, one passed away and the other flaked out. Grrr… I don’t have the $650 to drop on a semi-pro, nor the $2000 wanted by the big boys. Granted, by the time I get the sixtieth print proof through, I may be approaching the $500 mark, yeesh.

Obligatory cover reveal for the novel, which is the second edition:

Dangerspouse, you may remember the dragonspiel as I was originally agonizing my way through it, a few pitiful words at a time. It’s still not going to win a Pulitzer Prize for literature, but I did some cleanup and hopefully it’s a little more cohesive now. Plus, God help me, I’m about 30K words into a sequel. The image is clickable if you’re masochistic enough to want to see the cover in larger format.

I’ve also got a non-fiction book I’m planning to release at the same time, and another, unrelated fiction I wrote on a dare that I’m working on in the meantime. It’s a romance. Yeah, I don’t DO romance. Hell, I don’t do romance in real life, much less books. But the conditions of the dare didn’t restrict me, so I’m doing romance on my own terms. Complete with conspiracy theories and moldy old books with secrets, stuff like that. It’s effectively done, except I’m now tearing through it with a rewrite and edit. I’m taking out a good 25% of the book altogether, but putting in all the stuff I should’ve included the first time around, so there. My target date to release that one is September. So if I’m lucky, December or January. Dragonspiel Part Deux I slated for next year.