NEW YEAR'S EVE...feeling paranoid that my daughter has appendicitis and so i'm feeling anxious...ready to jump into the car with her and get to the hospital and convince the doctor that it's her appendix ready to burst and not a stomach virus...breathe in...breathe out... slowly...it's going to be okay willy bee...okay...okay...day something of sobriety...which means i've been able to read books again...nothing more relaxing then sitting by the wood stove, reading books and listening to sade smooth operator...wait a fucking second, that's not me listening to sade, it's the fucking guy downstairs!!!!!!!Now i'm all into running these days...the comedian lily tomlin said something like "for those that can't handle drink or drugs there's exercise" and winston churchill said something like "when you're running through hell, keep running"...got that right man...running from my fucking demons...speaking of which...here's a review...kind of...of Stephen King's new book "Doctor Sleep"...
Doctor Sleep is the sequel to "The Shining" which is one of my favourite books...ever! The shining is all about alcoholism and the demonic forces that they unleash...no matter what the "room 217" conspiracy theorists suggest...i mean, Doctor Sleep kicks off with 3 quotes from AA...anyway...when i was younger i used to think i was like Danny Torrance...i liked to think i could "see" things...ESP kinda shit...that i was different...a freak...but the funny part is that i'm more like his father now...i'm more like Jack Torrance and that fucking horrifies me!
Walking back from the library i saw a buddha statue on someone's window sill. It had its back to me, wanted nothing to do with me and when i saw myself through the reflection of the window i knew why...i made a conscious effort to stay in the shadows after that.
- Excerpt from "revenge of the freak" a book that probably only a few people will ever read when all is said and done.
Danny Torrance has what is called "the shining"...a precognitive ability to read people's minds and to dream future events.
We pick up on danny, dan torrance in Doctor Sleep when he's a 40 year old alcoholic, verging on homelessness, verging on suicide.
He's not feeling his superpowers and is haunted by his past and so he drinks to make it all go away.
Let's just say i could relate...40 year old alcoholic...verging on homelessness...verging on suicide or some jail time...i couldn't see anymore, my shining was gone...no more intuition other than a hunch that i had a to pee...my antennas were crossed and i couldn't hear what my entities were trying to tell me.
I woke up in the morning and listened to Thor's hammer slamming lightning bolts into my head.
I felt rain...heavy crater drops on my face. It would fall harder as the day wore on i thought.
I unzipped my purple sleeping bag...reached over to rummage through my Toronto Raptors duffle bag and got my rain gear out....
I climbed out of the ravine to the railway tracks at the top. Which way should i go today? Did it matter? I thought of those "choose your own adventure" books i read as a kid...your choice could mean death or the continuation of the story.
"No drugs or alcohol, so i can keep the signals clear." Andre rapped many moons ago...rapping it into my head under the moon somewhere above or below me now...
I carried my jogging shoes around my neck. A jogging shoe necklace, to remind me to keep running...keep running through hell.
"He had noticed an odd fact during his years of sobriety. When things in his life weren't going well he rarely thought of a drink. When they were going well, however, the old dry thirst had a way of coming back on him." - Dan Torrance
I had just been coming out of a week long depression when i read that...grey as the november skies on vancouver island...but i didn't think about drinking during that grey time...when i read that passage above i was just beginning to feel balanced again...i even got some good news...got a job...which i desperately needed...i was feeling good...feeling great and that's when the thought hit me...celebrate with a drink!...deserved it...pressure gone...stress relieved...time to unwind and let go...time to get high...i shut the thought down before it got me into action...but the next night i was supposed to go to tai chi but a voice in my head told me that after tai chi i would buy some colt 45 and smuggle it back home...drink it alone while my wife and daughter slept...i might not get too drunk, i might not get caught... but the cycle would begin again...so i didn't go to tai chi and i thank danny torrance for giving me the heads up, for sending that information into my consciousness.
"Is this how it ends, Danny? Is this what it was all for?" Danny's dead mom says to him in his head.
I found a copy of the shining at the used bookstore...yellow cover version...they wanted something stupid for it...so i stole it...
...i like to hang around the bars downtown...stand under a streetlight and watch people...stand under the streetlight and read...stand under a streetlight and sell pikachu tails...or belts designed to hold chapsticks...or pen necklaces...road kill trading cards...ohme made books...read a few poems out loud...tell a few jokes...people sometimes toss some change into my wig and i flash them a smile with the fake grillz on my teeth...grab a can of colt 45 if i get enough...
If you're a fan of the shining, of danny torrance or an alcoholic, you'll enjoy this book...but more objectively, i found the book lacking in suspense and horror for the most part...the evil doers in this book weren't that scary either...and danny's character has a tough time carrying the book on his own...i missed his dad and his mom...both of which were extremely interesting and complicated people...people have called this king book "mature"...a word that usually means "boring as fuck"...i'd give it a 3 out of 5...maybe a 2 if you're not a shining fan...skip it if you're not...read the first one instead...
Okay happy new year everyone and i sure as shit hope i don't start off the year in a hospital ward!