tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74282050322562321552024-03-18T16:08:39.250-07:00Living DangerouslyThe Blog of Weston Ochse - Chaotic Good Paladin<br>
Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.comBlogger525125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-5263003457711758802020-07-23T15:24:00.000-07:002020-07-23T15:48:01.876-07:00BBQ Low Country Shrimp and Cheddar Jalapeno Grits with Peaches - Recipe<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">BBQ Low Country Shrimp and Cheddar Jalapeno Grits with Peaches<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Low Country cuisine usually is reserved for South Carolina and
Georgia coastal cuisines. The landscape was particular for its inhospitable
geography with clogged estuaries and deadly swamps, and if it wasn’t for the African
slaves brought from Western Africa, the land would still be untamed. With their
arrival in the region, swamps were turned into rice fields and every piece and
morsel of animal, amphibian, and fish were scienced until they became the delectable
details of a very particular American cuisine. Now, low country cuisine lives
on from the Gullah peoples and others in the region who broke ground and
created something great out of virtually nothing. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Hats off and forever props to them!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">My recipe came from an eating experience at Tautog’s
Restaurant in Virginia Beach. Unlike many of the establishments in VaBeach, this
place is slightly off the tourist map and is a major local hangout. Lucky for
me, I have been to VaBeach so many times that I get invited to many a dinner
when I’m there, usually at Tautogs. When I had their version of low country
shrimp and grits with BBQ sauce and peaches, I knew this was something I could
remake. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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And remake it I did with 1000% success on the first try.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve since made it about a dozen times tweaking it here and
there. Like most southern recipes, it’s not about physical measurement, but
about the eyeball and the taste test. I’ll provide the recipe, but use your own
judgement. This recipe is hard to mess up, but if you do mess it up, do it
spectacularly.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here’s my recipe.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">BBQ Low Country Shrimp and Cheddar Jalapeno Grits with Peaches<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Author:
Living Dangerously<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Duration:
50 minutes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Average
Cost PP: $7.00 US<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Serves:
4<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ingredients:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Olive
oil<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Salt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">12
Medium Shrimp (raw)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2 Cups
Bob’s Red Mill Grits <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1 cup
shredded cheddar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bunch
green onions<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">5
Ounces favorite BBQ Sauce (10 tbs)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2
fresh peaches (or can of peaches if not in season) Cut into slices.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2
pieces cooked and diced bacon, prosciutto, or Spanish Chorizo (Optional)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4 pickled
jalapeno slices and 3 tablespoons of juice (optional)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Directions:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Shell shrimp and devein. Place shells in two cups of water and
simmer for 30 minutes to create a stock. Do not add Old Bay seasoning, but do
add salt to taste.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Chop green onions, separating white pieces from green pieces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Once shrimp stock is cooked, remove shells, add water as needed
for directions and begin cooking grits. Stir several times a minute to ensure
that the grits will become creamy. Add butter if necessary, but the BBQ sauce
might make it unnecessary. Still, butter is a food group so do what you feel is
right. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On ridged grill pan or on grill, (I prefer a grill pan on the
stove so I can see everything at once) cook peaches until wilted and char marks
on both sides. Set aside. If using canned peaches, reserve some of the juice and add to the BBQ sauce.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Butterfly shrimp and begin cooking in pan with olive oil over low
heat. When half cooked, turn over and add peaches, white parts of onions, and BBQ
sauce. Continue cooking on low. The BBQ sauce should begin to caramelize.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When grits are almost done by directions, add cheddar cheese and
stir frequently. Add optional jalapeno juice now if desired. Ensure that there
is enough liquid for the grits to create the requisite delicate texture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Once grits are finished, serve into four bowls. Add 4 pieces of
shrimp per bowl along with an equal amount of peaches, and white parts of
cooked onions and BBQ sauce. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Serve each dish with a handful of chives (green parts of green
onions), a single pickled jalapeno on top, and optional diced pork products.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When eating, after photographing, Facebooking, Instagramming, and Tweeting,
dig fork through the middle to combine all ingredients for each taste. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’ve had this with and without the pork. I honestly like it without
the pork, only because chorizo and other products can so overwhelm the relative
delicate taste of the shrimp. The best flavor is when the shrimp is the king,
with everything else as an accompaniment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-44642201940259299592020-04-09T12:14:00.001-07:002020-07-23T15:24:55.801-07:00The Only Good Indians - Review<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lFABo_Htvk8/Xo9zQkQ551I/AAAAAAAAnIY/F_1VsTUMVz8nPgnrap7xaFgRd3lZwgyCQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/onlyindians.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="704" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lFABo_Htvk8/Xo9zQkQ551I/AAAAAAAAnIY/F_1VsTUMVz8nPgnrap7xaFgRd3lZwgyCQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/onlyindians.jpg" width="260" /></a>I started reading Stephen Graham Jones when I read Mongrels. I thought it a powerful piece of a family living on the precipice of a society to which they didn't really belong. I enjoyed the understatement and appreciated the coming-of-age narrative. That set me up for pretty much anything SGJ. More than anything, I think it's his voice which is as unique as his POV. </div>
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So, it was with a little glee that I was able to arrange for an advanced copy of <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Only-Good-Indians/Stephen-Graham-Jones/9781982136451" target="_blank">The Only Good Indians</a>. I had no idea what it was about. If you were to believe Paul Tremblay in his cover blurb the book is a masterpiece. When I saw that, I decided to reserve that opinion until I finished the book. Well, I finished the book and Paul is as right as he always is. </div>
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The Only Good Indians takes place in and along the BlackFeet Reservation in Montana. Four young American Indian men are chased by a ghost who is as implacable and cunning as any ghost in fiction. The reader isn't exactly sure who the protagonists and the antagonists are until they learn the backstory, and once learned, it's an interesting morality dance to see which side the reader comes out on.</div>
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Without giving any spoilers, ultimate survival hinges on a sixteen-year-old basketball phenom's ability to play res basketball in an epic game of 21 that will resonate through modern fiction for dozens of years.</div>
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The point of view is from those who live on an American Indian reservation. The narrative is so authentic, no Custer like me could have ever written it. Like Jordan Peele, Stephen Graham Jones shows us life through an uncomfortable but real morale lens, then dares us to inhabit it, and upon doing so, slams our heads back and forth into the harsh reality of it all. I've never been on a reservation, but I never doubted the authenticity. SGJ brought as much realness to the narrative as a scientist would to a textbook.</div>
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In the end, the book is about humanity. It's about love and friendship and regret and acceptance and the hardscrabble to accept or not accept a predetermined fate, all things that transcend race, religion, or economic circumstance. I read through <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Only-Good-Indians/Stephen-Graham-Jones/9781982136451" target="_blank">The Only Good Indians</a> in two days and in those two days I was ensconced in a way of life so unlike my own, but with people who I almost knew, that I regretted sliding past the last page.</div>
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But what I remembered throughout was that there's another part to the saying, The Only Good Indians are dead indians - said by too many white men over too long a span.</div>
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<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Only-Good-Indians/Stephen-Graham-Jones/9781982136451" target="_blank">Order </a>this book now so you can read it the moment it comes out.</div>
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Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-70106748029925877332019-10-01T18:34:00.001-07:002019-10-01T18:34:19.347-07:00Our Keto Reset - Day 8<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FKBAujx7LkM/XZP8in_WzUI/AAAAAAAAl68/OXOANJTsEvcm1iWwX1POFPd1RWdyioOdwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/20190930_194939.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FKBAujx7LkM/XZP8in_WzUI/AAAAAAAAl68/OXOANJTsEvcm1iWwX1POFPd1RWdyioOdwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/20190930_194939.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Day 8. Trout. Ketoing Blind. Everything Butter. And Wesley Chu</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The day started out great. Had to get ready for work and drop some info into my online college classroom and was able to do that before I left. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Today's menu:</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Breakfast:</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> 2 Hard Boiled Eggs</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Mid Morning: </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">None.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Lunch: </b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Me: 12 oz of Lono Life Thai Curry Bone Broth</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Yvonne: Something Fucking Glorious</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Afternoon: </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">2 oz Colby Jack Cheese</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Dinner: </b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Baby Carrots with Butter, </span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Brussels</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Spouts and Butter, and Idaho Trout </span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Sauteed</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> in Butter</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mn5J-A5fa-Y/XZP8ippYWxI/AAAAAAAAl64/xgm934yP18MXY_Aa9ujxIDgg1bBpXC89ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/20190930_195712.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mn5J-A5fa-Y/XZP8ippYWxI/AAAAAAAAl64/xgm934yP18MXY_Aa9ujxIDgg1bBpXC89ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/20190930_195712.jpg" width="320" /></a>Ordered some Swerve Sweetener, Zero Carb Bread, Psyllum Husk Powder, Almond Flour, and Keto Chow Electrolyte Drops.</div>
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More people commented on the hominy I had the other night, including friend and fellow author <a href="https://wesleychu.com/" target="_blank">Wesley Chu</a> (Buy his new book please). Here's how our conversation on FB went.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><i>Wesley Chu: Hmm... are those legumes?Oh Hominy...psst, those are very high in carbs.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>(This is where I try and get funny)</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><i>Weston Ochse: yep. 24 carbs divided by 6 people. Whaaaat? That's 4 carbs. OMG. And with net carbs we're down to 1 per person. Oh, shit I'ma gonna die. :)</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>(Wes doesn't think it's funny)</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><i>Wesley Chu: Weston Ochse what's your macros at?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>(Now, I'm confused. What the what?)</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><i>Weston Ochse: Wesley Chu uhhh. Uhhh. Now you got me.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>(Outraged Biblically)</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><i>Wesley Chu: Weston, are you ketoing blind? Get thee carb manager app and get your macros!</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>(Jumps in as a shill for the premium version of the Conometer app)</b></span></span><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><i><a href="http://www.johnhornorjacobs.com/" target="_blank">John Hornor Jacobs</a>: The app Cronometer we talked about Weston has that built in</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>(Hates math)</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><i>Weston Ochse: That's a lot of math.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>(Wise Man Speaks) </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><i>Wesley Chu Your macros are pretty important metrics to track. For example, i'm on a 16g carb limit, 71g protein, and 140g fat. Usually okay to go over on fat. When I do carb cheat, I'll rarely blow past 20.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><i>Weston Ochse: Good to know. I just looked up how to figure them out. I'll do that.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><i>Weston Ochse: Wesley Chu Okay. looks like they are 25 g carbs, 113g protein, and 189g fat. Those numbers are all higher than yours. Not sure that's good. But then you are in super model-athlete-ninja shape.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Lessons I learned today. </span></div>
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<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Dude, you need to drink hella more water.</span></span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Dude, you need to drink hella more water.</span></span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Dude, don't Keto blind.</span></span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Dude, carrots should not be eaten because they are hella carbs.</span></span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Dude, Buy Wes Chu's Book.</span></span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Dude, Buy John Hornor Jacobs' Book.</span></span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">And finally, Dude, you need to drink hella more water. </span></span></li>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Total Weight Loss:</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Weston: -5</span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Yvonne: -5</span> </div>
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Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-32136604679407572682019-09-30T15:46:00.004-07:002019-09-30T15:46:53.664-07:00Our Keto Reset - Day 7<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Day 7. Bacon. Keto Flu. Bloatitorium. </span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Dehydration</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">. Puking.</span></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The day started out great. We got up about 7 AM. In retrospect, we should have gotten up earlier and walked. I'll explain later. Then I cooked a pound of bacon. We each had five glorious pieces. We saved the bacon grease and the rest of the bacon, except the one piece we gave to the dogs. Yes. One piece. And they looked pissed. I could almost see them saying, 'No one has leftover bacon, dad.'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Today's menu:</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Breakfast:</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Bacon-Bacon-Bacon-Bacon-Bacon</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Mid Morning: </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">None.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Lunch: </b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Me: 2 1/3rd pound cheddar bacon burgers with tomato, </span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">onion</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> in a lettuce wrap and a scosh of ketchup.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Yvonne: 1 1/3rd pound of cheddar bacon burger with tomato, onion in a lettuce wrap and a scosh of curry ketchup</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Afternoon: </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Nothing</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Dinner: </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Me: Three egg and havarti omelet</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Yvonne: Leftovers from the Bottom round and mushrooms.</span></div>
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By 9 AM I was feeling like I'd just been rolled by a marching band and left in a ditch. I lost all of my energy. Totally gone and flatlined. I stayed on the couch until 11, when Yvonne had me run an errand with her. That sort of perked me up. I was able to get some writing done. Then I made lunch. I should NOT have had two burgers. The problem was that it was so messy that I ate it fast. We really didn't have the right kind of lettuce to make a wrap. We needed butter lettuce and we had romaine. Because I did eat it so fast, my stomach didn't register that I was full so I ate the other one and welcomed myself to the Bloatatorium. </div>
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Using a pick axe and rope, I managed to climb my way back upstairs, where I did more work on my novel in progress. A few folks commented about my use of hominy the previous day on Facebook and I had to explain to them about math. It was all good. </div>
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Mid-afternoon, Yvonne wanted to go for a walk. Sure. I strapped on my Suunto watch to keep track of distance, and HR, and V02 Max and other shit I don't know about. Then we hiked two miles and a half. Now, all day I'd probably had two glasses of ice tea and three or four sips of water. I read somewhere that on the Keto diet you really should drink 100 oz of water. Well, I didn't even have a fourth that much and got my HR up to 152 during part of the walk.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was me in my new hat</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">What happened? I came home and started puking up pieces of </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">cheddar bacon burgers with tomato, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">onion</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> in a lettuce wrap and a scosh of ketchup. I felt like I was three hours in at a Frat Party. I was overheated. Whenever I drank water it </span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">would</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> come right up. It took me about an hour to get right, during which I got to watch my football team go 0-4 and their second best linebacker get lost for the season. Oh joy.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Lessons I learned today. </span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0in;">
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Dude, you need to drink hella more water.</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Dude, you need to drink hella more water.</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Dude, give your damn dogs more than one piece of bacon.</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Dude, people don't have leftover bacon.</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Dude, eat slower so you know you are full.</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Dude, electrolytes are a thing.</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">And finally, Dude, you need to drink hella more water. </span></span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Total Weight Loss:</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Weston: -5</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></o:p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Yvonne: -5</span> </div>
</div>
Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-26209587253585437542019-09-29T17:00:00.002-07:002019-09-29T17:00:58.706-07:00Our Keto Reset - Day 6<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Day 6.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I felt great again today. Got up and walked 2 miles. Then I had to get some food into the oven. The plan was to have a big lunch. My parents were coming down from Tucson.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mHYZA1UDAYk/XZFFnggPy2I/AAAAAAAAl6E/rWAy3TveRvM6FbAni_4YHw9X73WtVwiiwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/70416936_10157634022197560_7142217175124672512_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mHYZA1UDAYk/XZFFnggPy2I/AAAAAAAAl6E/rWAy3TveRvM6FbAni_4YHw9X73WtVwiiwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/70416936_10157634022197560_7142217175124672512_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Today's menu:</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Breakfast:</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Nothing really</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Mid Morning: </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">None.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><b>Lunch: </b>Indian spiced lamb shanks with artichokes and hominy.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Afternoon: </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Nothing</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Dinner: </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Steaks and salad</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in;">
The lunch was a huge and involved meal. I'll give the recipe if anyone wants it. It really held us over for the remainder of the day. I know people said that the hominy has a lot of carbs, but if it's divided by 4 people and we still have leftovers, then it's less than 6 carbs per person. And remember, I'm not going for zero carbs. I trying for 20 - 50 carbs max.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in 0in 12pt;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Total Weight Loss:</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Weston: -4</span></div>
<o:p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></o:p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Yvonne: -4</span> </div>
</div>
Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-76734388803089077562019-09-28T09:17:00.000-07:002019-09-28T09:17:09.260-07:00Our Keto Reset - Day 5<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br />
Day 5.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<o:p></o:p>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">Felt absolutely great today. Got up at 6 AM.
Walked 1.1 miles. Not a lot, but it’s something.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">Today's menu:</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Breakfast:</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"> Scrambled
eggs with butter and heavy cream. So good. Two sausage patties each. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Mid Morning: </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">2 oz cheddar cheese<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Lunch: Chipoltle<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Me: Chicken Keto Bowl with Green Salsa<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Yvonne: Steak Keto Bowl with Green Sals<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Afternoon: </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Nothing</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Dinner: </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Bottom
Round Steak in Mushroom Gravy with Brussel Sprouts</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Dinner was an
interesting proposition. We had this 2 pound bottom round steak in our upright
freezer for two years. I found a recipe and used the instapot. Essentially, I cut
the round steak into bite size pieces and then cooked it with onions, mushrooms,
and cream of mushroom soup mix for 1.2 hours in the instapot. And guess what?
It came out soupy. So, I microwaved the brussel sprouts and put them in the mix,
added some arrowroot to make the soup into a gravy, and we ate it like a gravy
boat of beef and brussel spouts. Of course, had we not been on the Keto Diet,
we would have probably used some sort of pasta to carry the gravy, but we didn’t.
And good on us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> He</o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Also, for lunch,
it was interesting that all I had to tell the guy at Chiplotle was we were
having Keto Bowls. He knew exactly what the hack was. It's not on their menu. It's just a bowl without the beans or the chips. We were only able to eat half. It was damn good, but surprisingly expensive. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Total Weight Loss:</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Weston: -3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Yvonne: -3</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-71735619368378380212019-09-27T16:31:00.001-07:002019-09-27T16:31:17.555-07:00Our Keto Reset - Day 4<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br />
Day 4.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<o:p></o:p>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-56606VYaHhI/XY6bpdqoZiI/AAAAAAAAl54/6ItZpDF1jdAbDEuENmkA9TBp7yqVSSAVACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/keto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-56606VYaHhI/XY6bpdqoZiI/AAAAAAAAl54/6ItZpDF1jdAbDEuENmkA9TBp7yqVSSAVACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/keto.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">I'm back in the saddle again. Woke up to a better back.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Today's menu:</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Breakfast:</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"> Skipped (oops)</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Mid Morning: </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">2 oz cheddar cheese<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><b>Lunch: </b>Me. Leftover chicken from Day 1.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Yvonne. Mortadella Salad</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Afternoon: </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Nothing</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Dinner: </span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Adobo lime rubbed grilled salmon with </span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">zucchini</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> noodles and an avocado.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Total Weight Loss:</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Weston: -2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Yvonne: -3</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-20602924804398073022019-09-27T16:26:00.003-07:002019-09-27T16:26:58.580-07:00Our Keto Reset - Day 3<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br />
Day 3.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<o:p></o:p>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">The remnants of Hurricane Lorena are still hanging
around. The arthritis in my lower back was screaming today. No work. Little writing.
Just pain. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Today's menu:</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Breakfast:</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"> Scrambled
eggs with tarragon, onions, garlic, and truffle salt. Didn’t taste like eggs.
Yvonne didn’t like it. I need to make it up to her for lunch</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Mid Morning: </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">2 oz cheddar cheese<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Lunch: Applebees<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Me: 8 oz steak and garlicky green beans<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Yvonne: Quesadilla Burger without the Quesadilla and garlicky
green beans <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Afternoon: </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Nothing</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Dinner: </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">2 mozzarella
stuffed sausages and leftover garlicky green beans</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Today was tough. I
spent most of it on the couch. I have arthritis in my lowest back and sometimes
the weather whispers nasty rumors of pain to it.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Total Weight Loss:</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Weston: -2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Yvonne: -2</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-86994267018554594202019-09-25T10:15:00.005-07:002019-09-25T10:15:38.943-07:00Our Keto Reset - Day 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br />
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br />
Day 2.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<o:p></o:p>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">We would have gotten up and walked, but the
remnants of Hurricane Lorena hit us at midnight and we're spent the day in the middle of a
day long thunderstorm.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Today's menu:<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kYSniIhuS-Y/XYugWXhXIGI/AAAAAAAAl5Q/7GimqvSbsFgGGJb_kUNY7RZqAzDPhpaewCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/20190924_080721.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kYSniIhuS-Y/XYugWXhXIGI/AAAAAAAAl5Q/7GimqvSbsFgGGJb_kUNY7RZqAzDPhpaewCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/20190924_080721.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Breakfast</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span></div>
<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Breakfast:</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1 1/2
sausage patties with a slice of fig and melted cheddar cheese</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Mid Morning: </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">2 oz cheddar cheese</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><b>Lunch: </b>Me:
1 Inside Out Sandwich (mortadella, Genoa salami, ham, Munster cheese, banana
pepper, roasted red pepper, mayo, and lettuce. Yvonne: Dirty Leftover
Chicken </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Afternoon: </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">2 oz Cashews</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Dinner: </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1.5 Stuffed
Peppers Each</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Yvonne spent most
of the day in Tucson at an art class. I spent most of the day at work. When I
came home, I made the stuffed peppers from a recipe using cauliflower rice, so
I had to make that first. I think the stuffed peppers came out great. Super
tasty and filling. We have enough left over for another meal.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<o:p></o:p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BD5bbFAS2qc/XYugWFbQoWI/AAAAAAAAl5M/vpbWAUYonIU8MVIQxiKx4JGQKWlkF17nQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/20190924_200053.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BD5bbFAS2qc/XYugWFbQoWI/AAAAAAAAl5M/vpbWAUYonIU8MVIQxiKx4JGQKWlkF17nQCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/20190924_200053.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dinner</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Total Weight Loss:</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Weston: -2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Yvonne: -2</span><o:p> </o:p><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-63552746363941333002019-09-24T13:19:00.001-07:002019-09-24T13:19:14.826-07:00Our Keto Reset - Day 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="tr_bq">
Day 1.</div>
<br />
Nothing spectacular happened yesterday, but then this was just the first day. We didn't have any urges, probably because of the eating debauchery we had last weekend.<br />
<br />
We got up and walked a mile before I went to work.<br />
<br />
Today's menu:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<b>Breakfast:</b><br />Two Hard Boiled Eggs<br />2 oz Cheddar Cheese<br /><b>Mid Morning: </b><br />2 oz Cashews<br /><b>Lunch:</b><br />2 Inside Out Sandwiches (mortadella, Genoa salami, ham, Munster cheese, banana pepper, roasted red pepper, mayo, and lettuce)<br /><b>Afternoon:</b><br />2 oz Colby Jack Cheese<br /><b>Dinner:</b><br />Rotisserie Chicken<br />Cauliflower</blockquote>
As you can see, nothing fancy. We don't have the cookbooks we ordered yet, so we're playing it safe.<br />
<br />
Of note, I only ate half my breakfast and half of my lunch. I'm not used to eating in the mornings, but 5 smaller meals a day is better than two large ones so.We split the chicken down the middle for dinner and still had enough left over for each of us for tomorrow's lunch.<br />
<br />
The only time I was ever challenged was when I went to a matinee at the movie theater. There's literally nothing there I can eat or drink. I bought a water and it cost $4. Now, that's a crime.<br />
<br />
We both recorded our starting weights. We will not share what they were, but we will share ho much we lose or gain day to day.<br />
<br />
Weston: 0<br />
Yvonne: 0<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-82730541476945407512019-09-22T12:47:00.000-07:002019-09-22T12:47:01.279-07:00Our Keto Reset - Day Zero<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
In this era of save games and respawning, one wonders why we can't do it in real life. Why can't I respawn while my friends stand over my body to keep others from stealing my loot? Why can't I just save game when I'm thin and healthy, indulge for a while, then return to the save? One thing we know for sure is that those options don't exist in reality.<br />
<br />
One way I've been able to get healthy is by deploying. Sure, I've seen people return fatter from a tour in Afghanistan, but that takes effort. What with no alcohol and the opportunity to workout every day, one can't help but become more healthy. Well, I don't really want to deploy again anytime soon. My PTSD is finally under control thanks to a happy pill and the world's best therapist, so that option is out.<br />
<br />
What about the South Beach Diet, you ask?<br />
<br />
Or why not do the grapefruit fast all the Hollywood movie stars do to get in shape for their movies? Pro tip. Don't believe for a second they drink grapefruit juice and then <i>poof!</i> they're suddenly hard bodies. They have dietitians and private trainers who work them like dogs. Since I can't afford either of those that option is out to me as well.<br />
<br />
What we have seen is that we've had a lot of friends do Keto and succeed. They make the lifestyle change. They dedicate themselves and are healthier for it. So, Yvonne and I thought we'd like to do the same. She has some pounds that are so dedicated to staying with her, she can't even bribe them to go away. And between my stress, an injury, and some depression, I've gained too much weight to be healthy. So we're going to try Keto for health and body image.<br />
<br />
But we're only going to try it for 60 days (at least that's the goal).<br />
<br />
We want to use Keto and accompanying Ketosis to cleanse our body of the results of way too much refined sugar, grains, and other bad things. Then, at the end of 60 days, we'll look at how we want to proceed and move in that direction.<br />
<br />
At this point on Day Zero we don't really want pizzas, pasta, and bread to disappear from our life. The idea is after 60 days, find a way to moderate the intake of those horrible but delectable foods, while keeping the best of Keto around.<br />
<br />
I can see the purists looking askance at us. They have every right to. Everyone has to choose their own paths and this is ours. Is it the right one? We hope it is but we're not sure. Nothing in life is certain except death and taxes and that Disney is going to mess up the Star Wars franchise. But at least we'll try.<br />
<br />
What we're going to do is make daily posts. Yvonne and I are both influencers and taste makers and we have a lot of people who look to us for advice. I can tell you this, we're going to eat well. We're going to try some great Keto recipes. If this journey is going to be hard, we might as well eat well on the way.<br />
<br />
So here we go.<br />
<br />
Day Zero.<br />
<br />
Keto Reset Day 1 starts tomorrow.<br />
<br />
Wish us luck.<br />
<br /></div>
Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-33220850513090352372019-08-28T11:38:00.001-07:002019-08-28T12:19:54.064-07:00A Lush and Seething Hell by John Hornor Jacobs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I was fortunate enough to receive an advanced copy of this book witch contains a small novel and a rich novella. I was eager to read it and justifiably so. Here's my blurb for the book.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r3mZQ4lBCh8/XWbJNKNQyII/AAAAAAAAlt0/4y5rZCfHYaUKISYf6rf-3DMR94E6t0G_QCLcBGAs/s1600/51U0VvJ9%252BBL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="331" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r3mZQ4lBCh8/XWbJNKNQyII/AAAAAAAAlt0/4y5rZCfHYaUKISYf6rf-3DMR94E6t0G_QCLcBGAs/s320/51U0VvJ9%252BBL.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"John Horner Jacobs' fiction has always been subversively stylistic. He wields his lean muscular prose with an ease that has been gifted. Where his earlier fiction impresses with its reach, The Sea Dreams It Is The Sky explodes with cosmic understatement and it is the words between words where he succeeds the most. Reminiscent of the best of Jorge Luis Borges and Roberto Balano, Jacobs doubles-down with his own mythology and shares with us a world of hidden brigades, secret associations, and a lushness of spirit that carries our inquisitive main character far beyond the shores of safe belief. Then he gifts us with My Heart Struck Sorrow, a southern gothic musical haunting that becomes an almanac of the human spirit. His characters in each story are in search of something they don't know, but in the end find something they aren't sure of. I'd say this is Jacobs' best, but I know it's not true as long as he continues writing. As much as I am in love with what he has written, its what's yet to come that has me waiting and breathless." - Weston Ochse, Best-selling author of SEAL Team 666 and Burning Sky</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The book is available to the public on October 8th. I encourage you to pre-order it from your favorite bookstore. Try <a href="https://www.mystgalaxy.com/search/site/a%20lush%20and%20seething%20hell" target="_blank">Mysterious Galaxy</a> or search for it on <a href="https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=a+lush+and+seething+hell" target="_blank">IndiBound </a>(your link to independent booksellers).</div>
</div>
Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-8266665522771255302019-04-19T12:31:00.001-07:002019-04-19T12:31:48.850-07:00New Author Alert - James E. Mack<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
There's an author who needs some love. Cards on the table. I know the guy. He's written two books. Both take place in Scotland. Both are thrillers, but not necessarily military. Here's the thing. I love Scotland. If you've been then you know the deal. If you haven't this is a great chance to learn about the wonderful country.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The author is James Mack. I know a metric ton of information about him so let me share what he says about himself on his Amazon page so I don't speak out of turn.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span id="author_biography">James E Mack was born in Scotland but spent
much of his childhood abroad, gaining a love of nature, the outdoors and
wildlife. He became a Commando in the late 1980s and a member of a
Special Operations unit, with a 22-year career serving in many of the
world's troubled hot spots. </span></i></blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
James is the real deal.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
His first book is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072N8R8XK/" target="_blank"><b>Only the Dead</b></a>. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In the chaos of conflict, Sergeant Finn Douglas, a veteran Royal
Marine Commando, is forced to commit a terrible act to save the lives of
his men. Haunted by his actions and devastated by the loss of his
family to a terrorist attack, he turns his back on war and killing and
escapes to a wilderness off the coast of Scotland.</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UfDz2pguuBE/XLohI6YS3GI/AAAAAAAAk1s/EOx-ocy62Bk1gQQrz6saBcrcoUaNGilXwCLcBGAs/s1600/onlythedead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UfDz2pguuBE/XLohI6YS3GI/AAAAAAAAk1s/EOx-ocy62Bk1gQQrz6saBcrcoUaNGilXwCLcBGAs/s320/onlythedead.jpg" width="203" /></a>As a team of
Military Police are dispatched to track Finn down and bring him to
justice, it provides one of the men with the opportunity to redress an
old grudge against the Marines. </blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
And he will stop at nothing to see this through.</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
When
a gang of violent wildlife-poachers shatter his sanctuary, Finn has no
choice but to intervene in order to save the lives of the people and
animals that he has come to admire. But his actions soon provide the
Military Police with a lead, and incur the wrath of the poachers'
psychotic leader.</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In the mid-winter, mountain wilderness, the
manhunt becomes a race against time between the forces of law and order
and a vicious murderer determined to take his revenge.</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A novel similar to Only the Dead is Bearskin which takes place in Appalachia.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
His second book is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DK976FZ/" target="_blank"><b>Fear the Dark</b></a>. </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O16HZGV1wjw/XLohZ2QrOOI/AAAAAAAAk10/kTa5jTGAAwQV_NSU58NBuq2CeN97KfVLACLcBGAs/s1600/fearthedark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="293" data-original-width="184" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O16HZGV1wjw/XLohZ2QrOOI/AAAAAAAAk10/kTa5jTGAAwQV_NSU58NBuq2CeN97KfVLACLcBGAs/s1600/fearthedark.jpg" /></a><blockquote class="tr_bq">
Police Constable Tess Cameron loves her job in the coastal village of
St Cyrus. With her Sergeant due for retirement, Tess has her sights set
on making detective. Life is good. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
When she arrests a violent
stranger who refuses to reveal his identity, Tess suspects that all is
not as it seems. Digging further into the background of the mysterious
stranger, she finds that he is a disgraced former Special Forces soldier
with a chequered past.</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
When the worst storm of winter hits the
village and communications and electricity are cut, the severe weather
is blamed. Tess however, feels that something more sinister may be
responsible for their isolation.</blockquote>
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Because the stranger has friends.</blockquote>
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This has the feeling of a rural Attack on Precinct 13. I've been to the setting and James nailed it.</div>
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So there you have it. Two great books. Please give them a try. </div>
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Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-84957156870883582402019-01-25T14:05:00.001-08:002019-01-25T14:05:59.360-08:00I'm Coming to Patreon - Will You Join Me?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The
big news for 2019 is I'm going to create a Patreon page. It's going to
launch Feb 1. I was down on this for a long time, but that's before I
realized what Patreon was there for. I thought a Patreon was for me, but
I was totally wrong. Patreon is there for you. It's so that you can
interact with some of your favorite creators, get personal with them,
and receive great rewards for your Patreonage.</div>
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This is a preview of my Patreon <span style="font-style: italic;">About You </span>page.
Please take a look at it and note that my first ten Patreons will
receive a SEAL Team 666 Team Black patch and a special note from me.
Also note the rewards I'm going to be providing to my Patreons.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">Hi! I'm Weston Ochse (pronounced oaks). Welcome to my Patreon page.<br /><br />But wait, Who is this Weston Ochse?<br /><br />Good question.<br /><br />As
of this writing, I’ve had 30 professionally published books. My work
has appeared in DC and IDW comics. I’ve had nonfiction in Soldier of
Fortune magazine. My work has received movie interest, once from Wesley
Snipes, and currently from Dwayne Johnson. With over 120 professionally
published works of short fiction, I’ve written my own original works, as
well as worked in the universes of Predator, Hellboy, X-Files, Aliens,
and Clive Barker’s Midian. I was one of the original writers of V-Wars
which inspired the TV show soon to come from Netflix. I also write
poetry and have been published in both peered and non-peered literary
journals.<br /><br />I'm also a tastemaker. I turn you onto things you never
knew you wanted turned on to. I find things that are new and cool and
unusual and share them so you can try new and cool and unusual things.<br /><br />I'm
a born story teller. My ancestors traveled the now British Isles,
telling stories, singing songs, delivering poetry, and performing for
those who would provide patronage. Fast forward to the 21st Century, we
still have bards, but the venue has completely changed. No longer are we
performing in dusty castles with questionable food and wine. We perform
at small venues or from the comfort of our own homes. I am a modern
bard (you don’t want me to sing) and have been patronless for too long. I
seek patrons to inspire me, to make me want to work for them, to be a
part of my creative process. I’m seeking you.<br /><br />Why call this
Living Dangerously? Many of you also know I have a military background,
including two recent tours to Afghanistan. I’ve been to 57 countries, travel extensively for my writing, and often find myself in unusual
places. When I’m not writing, I like hiking, fly fishing, cooking, and
reading. I prefer single malt Speyside Scotch whiskeys, California
Chardonnay, and seafood. I used to be good at martial arts before I got
old, but I’m still one of the first to run into any fight to protect my
people. I live the life of a Chaotic Good Paladin. It’s just who I
am. I’d rather live dangerously than live safely--live boringly.
Wouldn’t you? Do you want to live dangerously with me?<br /><br />But enough
about me. Let’s talk about you. I want you to be my Patreon. I want to
write and perform for you. Here are some of the things I will be working
on, and according to which Tier you choose, you will have exclusive
access to these things:</span><br /> </div>
<ul>
<li style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">Short
Stories I want to write for you. Each month, I will give you some
topics and take your input and write a short story based on what you’ve
asked for. I mean, who does that?</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">I
will also write the occasional exclusive essay and post pictures of
what I am doing from day-to-day. You can share as well. In fact, we will
live dangerously together.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">A
book of poetry about my time in Afghanistan. I thought that I might
want to write a story or an essay, but neither those would capture the
essence of what I want to relate. I think only through the lens of verse can I best explain how it feels to be in such a place.
This will be exclusive to you until it’s formally published.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">Novellas
about the continuing adventures of Special Unit 77. They’ve already had
two adventures, and I will provide those to you over a period of time. Then I will begin working on the next one, then
the next, then the next. Fans of SEAL Team 666 will love Special Unit
77. Set in late 1960s San Francisco, Special Unit 77 protects the West
Coast of America from supernatural attack by foreign powers. This will
be exclusive to you until it’s formally published.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">A
serialized novel called The Lost City of Hateful Things. I started it
and set it aside, but I want to finish it. Only by having patrons can
this happen. This will make you a true patron because I will be
finishing it for you. What’s it about? A group of five injured soldiers
in the Walter Reed Army Hospital Wounded Warrior Clinic are bored out of
their minds. At the urging of one of their group, they decide to take a
busman’s holiday to find the lost city of Uqbar, mentioned in fiction
and non-fiction for hundreds of years. The city is also the centerpiece
of Argentinian author Jorge Louis Borges’ short story Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis
Tertius.They will find the city and it will be terrible, because they
will discover why it is also known as the City of Hateful Things. This
will be exclusive to you until it’s formally published.</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">And more. I will frequently give you surprises. Random acts of creativity for your patronage.</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-size: 18px;">
<br /><span style="font-size: 18px;">What
is exclusivity? It’s just as it sounds. I write these for you. Some of
these will be published once everything is finished. For the poetry,
novel and the novella, I will make some poems and the first few chapters
of each available to the general public only so they know what they are
missing. But for the rest of it, it’s all exclusive. This is what you
are paying for and this is what you get.<br /><br />I’ll also get personal and you can get personal back. I’ve been a patron of <a href="https://shoutout.wix.com/so/d6MXNuSXP/click?w=LS0tDQo2MWI5NTkzNy1iNmM5LTQ3ZWQtYTg1Ny02YWViZTMxNGI2NTANCmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnBhdHJlb24uY29tL2FtYW5kYXBhbG1lci9vdmVydmlldw0KLS0t">Fucking Amanda Palmer</a>
for a while and she gets personal. Will I get that personal? Will I
show you my tits? I could but it would be disappointing. So I might not
get as personal as she does, but I will spill my guts on occasion and
ask your for advice.<br /><br />Here’s something I read recently from someone wondering about how we think about our patrons and it stuck with me.</span><br /> </div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">“It
was frightening to be so personal with strangers, and others warned me
against it. But these were the people who had urged us to be entirely
true to ourselves. And I think perhaps some part of me wanted to test
the limits of this newfound support for authenticity. Was it limited to
the book project? Or did it extend to us as individuals? Each time I’d
write something intimate, I’d cringe as I hit the “post update” button.
Each time I’d expect someone to accuse me of “oversharing” or being
“unprofessional.” But the result of my openness was not the rejection or
criticism, I expected. The result was kindness, warmth, trust, and
empathy. And something beautiful was happening for backers who chose
emotional investment. They, like me, began to sense connection and
meaning that transcended the book. Long before we delivered anything,
several backers who had supported hundreds of campaigns said that ours
was their favorite." </span></span><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><em>-<a href="https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Personal-Update-from-the-David-Delamare-Art-Studio.html?soid=1101676671843&aid=GsUOen4qBYI">Wendy Ice</a>, Courtesy of Amanda Palmer</em></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 18px;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">This is what I am looking for.<br /><br />I want a connection.<br /><br />I want to connect with you.<br /><br />So, thank you for being my patron.<br /><br />I’m excited to create with you.<br /><br />I’m excited to create for you.</span></div>
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Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-79582445640909036232019-01-09T14:19:00.000-08:002019-01-09T14:19:16.512-08:00Oh Snap - Looks Like I Have A Shared Universe<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I've been doing this subconsciously for longer than I have been doing it consciously. After thirty books, including hardback novellas and short story collections, as well as more than 140 published short stories, I'm realizing that many of them live in the same universe and am beginning to impose an intentionality to them.<br />
<br />
Books like Grunt Life, Grunt Traitor and Grunt Hero, clearly can't be part of the shared universe because I basically fuck up the planet until there's only a few of us left.<br />
<br />
<br />
Similarly, I can't include Empire of Salt (Zombies) or the Vampire Outlaw books (SF). But there are a lot I can include.<br />
<br />
What made me do this?<br />
<br />
It really struck me last year when I was planning to write Dead Sky, which I just turned in last week to Solaris Boos. I knew I was going to have astral projection (Spoiler) in the book, so I hearkened all the way back to my first novel, Scarecrow Gods, which also included astral projection. By having the same astral rules, I made them shared universe.<br />
<br />
I'm also referencing characters, ideas, and units from other books. I've yet to have a character cross over, but I'm planning that now. A little late after 30 books, I know, but better late than never.<br />
<br />
Well, I do have a Special Unit 77 appearing in Dead Sky, so maybe that's a crossover.<br />
<br />
Then I saw a Patreon only post (I think--or was it a newsletter--cant find it--maybe a FB post, oh well) from Brian Keene that listed all the books and stories in his universe. Knowing how much Brian puts out (lol), it was an impressive list. So I figured I'd better up my game and do the same so my fans can get what they want. My list isn't going to be complete for awhile, because I'm in the seemingly forever process of recording all of my short stories and novellas into a data base, but I have to start somewhere. <br />
<br />
I'm not sure what to call it but for now I'll use the mega lame name of The Shared Universe of Weston Ochse.<br />
<br />
Here they are so far:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
Novels:</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Scarecrow Gods</li>
<li>Recalled to Life</li>
<li>The Golden Thread</li>
<li>SEAL Team 666</li>
<li>ST666: Age of Blood</li>
<li>ST666: Reign of Evil</li>
<li>Burning Sky</li>
<li>Dead Sky</li>
</ul>
Novellas:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Cold War Gothic (Special Unit 77)</li>
<li>The Bohemian Grove(Special Unit 77) </li>
</ul>
<br />
Novels in Progress:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Oberon</li>
<li>The Red Unicorn</li>
<li>The Devils Swing </li>
<li>The Murder King</li>
<li>Free Riders </li>
<li>Bone Chase</li>
</ul>
Well, that's it so far. I'm open for some input. What does everyone think? Did I miss anything?<br />
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Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-32103208829608097002018-12-27T12:13:00.001-08:002018-12-27T12:13:12.036-08:00Anyone Remember Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser or Fritz Leiber?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This is a joyously fun tale starring Hemmo and Doogie and hooker mermaids, talking Sturgeons, and sentient octopi, set in 1950s Astoria, Oregon.<br />
<br />
Reposting this from editor Eric Guignard. <br />
<br />
DAY 2 OF ANNOUNCING! Table of Contents for: POP THE CLUTCH: THRILLING TALES OF ROCKABILLY, MONSTERS, AND HOT ROD HORROR<br />
<br />
I’ll be posting all contributors here, one-a-day, to reveal the table
of contents for the latest anthology that I’ve created: Pop the Clutch:
Thrilling Tales of Rockabilly, Monsters, and Hot Rod Horror, to be
published by <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=1651409488497164&extragetparams=%7B%22__tn__%22%3A%22%2CdK-R-R%22%2C%22eid%22%3A%22ARAPilpTblAYm2iT7XpVrZpF06rSsQdMCNVbFEhMUX03a2olrC0mvL3iqskMGRa94tlh2Me-QpeG4rSC%22%2C%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/DarkMoonBooks2/?__tn__=K-R&eid=ARAPilpTblAYm2iT7XpVrZpF06rSsQdMCNVbFEhMUX03a2olrC0mvL3iqskMGRa94tlh2Me-QpeG4rSC&fref=mentions&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCHA7iYaytRifbEUoUSopuK-riZzKhT7vAH_g2sUZsF2kPydwMFweZ4-2vd7SJz8ZKr3vDR7UEXUp1sRtHVeJeSoqbTEXEtwaAMc-0Q-WHh07alBWorESiKLNpJE7MKPVBHfF6ObZ5xDGAjPgDfQLU04BLNvEJG5TtvfuDK1RusJJ4rduwtz8oSr-p6RomUrcl_W8x_oFK6-i9UXg">Dark Moon Books</a> in January 14, 2019!<br />
<br />
DAY 2 of 18: <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=593942624&extragetparams=%7B%22__tn__%22%3A%22%2CdK-R-R%22%2C%22eid%22%3A%22ARC83G6VxUoQ31fzM292uEGikR_6w5BDcaxGHBzjJDq1iR9WD0dZxstxzzY-e9I6gonMPMeykt0hDFm_%22%2C%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/badasswriter?__tn__=K-R&eid=ARC83G6VxUoQ31fzM292uEGikR_6w5BDcaxGHBzjJDq1iR9WD0dZxstxzzY-e9I6gonMPMeykt0hDFm_&fref=mentions&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCHA7iYaytRifbEUoUSopuK-riZzKhT7vAH_g2sUZsF2kPydwMFweZ4-2vd7SJz8ZKr3vDR7UEXUp1sRtHVeJeSoqbTEXEtwaAMc-0Q-WHh07alBWorESiKLNpJE7MKPVBHfF6ObZ5xDGAjPgDfQLU04BLNvEJG5TtvfuDK1RusJJ4rduwtz8oSr-p6RomUrcl_W8x_oFK6-i9UXg">Weston Ochse</a><br />
1. Seanan McGuire presents “The Golden Girls of Fall”<br /> 2. Weston Ochse presents “Sea Lords of the Columbia”<br />
<br />
<br />
EXCERPT:<br />
. . . Hemmo slapped his beer down and open-mouth-ogled his war buddy and best friend. “What do you mean the fish spoke to you?”<br />
Hemmo Saarsgaard was an acre tall compared to Doogie and as angular as a
pike. They each wore a white t-shirt underneath leather jackets. Blue
jeans and combat boots finished their ensemble. Doogie couldn’t help
note that they were still in uniform albeit not the same uniform they’d
worn in Korea. The difference was that back then they’d been part of
something—part of something special. Now they were just—they weren’t
part of anything. They were just drifting like every other war-aged man
in America back in the Land of the Big PX with no focus and no
prospects.<br />
Doogie pushed the ennui aside and stood a little straighter. “Just as I said. It spoke to me.”<br />
“I mean, did its lips move? Did it swim up to you and begin a
conversation? I mean, come on, Doogie, you can’t just lead with, Did I
tell you what the fish said?”<br />
“It didn’t swim up. I caught it. I just told you. And no, its lips didn’t move. It spoke to me in my head.”. . . <br />
—“ Sea Lords of the Columbia” by Weston Ochse<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
ABOUT: WESTON OCHSE<br />
WESTON OCHSE is the author of more than twenty books. His work has
appeared in various anthologies and magazines, including The Tampa
Review, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Soldier of Fortune, IDW, and DC Comics. His
work has also been a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award five times and
he’s been honored to have won the Bram Stoker Award for First Novel.
He’s recently worked on several franchises, including Aliens, Predator,
Hellboy, Clive Barker’s Midian, V-Wars, Joe Ledger, and X-Files. He
splits his time between Arizona and Oregon and absolutely loves the
outdoors. When he’s not writing, you can find him hiking, running, fly
fishing, or just fusting about.<br />
<br />
PREORDER NOW FOR THIS AND 17 OTHER TALES OF THRILLING FUN AND IMAGINATION!!<br />
Pop the Clutch: Thrilling Tales of Rockabilly, Monsters, and Hot Rod Horror<br />
Amazon: <a data-ft="{"tn":"-U"}" data-lynx-mode="async" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FPop-Clutch-Thrilling-Rockabilly-Monsters%2Fdp%2F1949491056%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR0qJpRq6Ci9rYJ1Ue3MAtUsutby68b1WlLwxH9Xco2jjsJzqzwOxyv5aLo&h=AT1YcWOSF_6l77ZKgE4mqv_eF6ftbs3N11FA7gS1gIzZwI5IaGHVOiqlmumQPDCZ8CcUWbjAmRWxnGT7F5zBPSzC_JlnBhpdTrp0_0HHGmrSkYzCwD4k4baeMdNKR-jNGkDMTudEQKwsHme34h-0inlw2qk-Y_8BKgv2DUZO9fmiO62vi0H8Rz3Dxskot-iDOBrFN8jzvZUnrNQJwx4EDY_eE4nznSyKGlG9ymiNeLLA_0uyUl-YO2ubE51sBeIhf-nhobsVPM-7S5f7DxmTH0qXFTuJZsoOvZHdyoCqUhT_-29nCsidcaI51Iri9taxIrEbkJPIv0fBACPf4JgsKNcxeW-IVwT3r-RAGwSjnSnqQTprRgkM4zc49nQPnLZFlnx4_wS046jssAJWDXBiCzCcgL1og72maU9O-Uvyeq36GqDIj6M4jm3CTQ5mtmuQIMLoGdzyhQ" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/Pop-Clutch-Thrilling-Ro…/…/1949491056</a><br />
Publisher’s Page: <a data-ft="{"tn":"-U"}" data-lynx-mode="async" data-lynx-uri="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.darkmoonbooks.com%2Fpop_the_clutch.html%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR254XfxxTtJm5EuNPTn417W_Kxz_vf2apRt7v5TgXXlF7aPn714CMycopI&h=AT3l89SdcmHQSJibmfOBgFRTXYCubT38uhzdzCZSOUAL6xLr_5t1xnXQxg4_tTtu7dK-rb4ZYMH63ZiNHRryo5rHBJX0KuJqkEUe4IUFSRKEzf4Yynh5W-ze7GSe5SDjn90NjtHrxTyedmvCJTSLENnOZjiLKApwbKPnHOAqdxsUCDY6f-EoctKVwhJDD_M7a_jqe4_55JZEDgHFo65Rjw_TvU8b0iG6ydSSzFq91Mk5fpABD8eqki0k1hAUT8tedNsrQSGfn72BQcHyOODbZlp0ajUrm8H6dp57YJOJS2JAhkY3IWHEJtjqWmRXho3EGVLpd24w0sq6IlrPB7gvoOnCgaR5s9IorpBG-4W8v5X-LPtE8tuBDU3I3ElXbIKj_HG2c8UkI_Uwu7m_nlLY3QEMVvqa1LmeXesXTyS0PjpdiwTrOlnnuQ0i6GHooDiujzK-yZ9nXZacjCy1" href="http://www.darkmoonbooks.com/pop_the_clutch.html?fbclid=IwAR254XfxxTtJm5EuNPTn417W_Kxz_vf2apRt7v5TgXXlF7aPn714CMycopI" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.darkmoonbooks.com/pop_the_clutch.html</a><br />
Releasing: January 14, 2019<br />
<br />
“A fitting tribute to the 1950s with this 18-story compendium of hot
rods, rock ’n’ roll, and creature features come to life.” —Publishers
Weekly<br />
<br />
<br />
</div>
Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-78354227782494599962018-12-26T16:28:00.003-08:002018-12-26T16:28:37.660-08:00Templeton Gate Reviews Burning Sky<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I was chuffed as they say in the UK about this review. I love these guys and constantly want to impress them because if I can do that, it means I've done something. Looks like I did. 5 stars. Wow.</div>
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Here's an excerpt:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<i>This is highly recommended. I'm willing to follow wherever Ochse leads, and I need to track down some of his earlier work. Yesterday I rated this 5 stars at Amazon and Goodreads, and also mentioned that the author might be surprised about other books I thought of while reading. One of them was still very much fresh in my mind, since I had read Joe Haldeman's Hugo and Nebula winner Forever Peace for the first time last week. What I'm referencing is only the part about the Jupiter Project and the speculation as to what might happen if it was completed. Another book I thought of is Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker, still one of the best books I've ever read. It is all about the vastness of the cosmos, the wide range of species that dwell on various planets of the far-flung galaxies, and the possible discovery of the ultimate creator of it all. I've typed several other sentences, edited them, then decided to delete them as too spoilery. I'll leave it as an exercise for other readers to figure out why those books came to mind. Is there an ultimate beginning point to the universe, or an ultimate end point, or is it a perpetual motion machine, destined to repeat forever? Is everything Boy Scout experiences part of the fugue? Will he ever escape it? I don't know yet, but I'm anxious to find out. If you're not into such musings, if you only want military action (there is plenty of that here) this might not be the book for you. If you're game for things beyond the material world, even as a mere thought experiment, there is much here to satisfy. It has prompted me to do more research into Zoroastrianism and other spiritual disciplines, which I hope to do before the announced sequel, Dead Sky, is released.</i></blockquote>
<br />
You can read the entire very lengthy review <a href="http://templetongate.net/burningsky.htm" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-16013478332904868982018-12-26T16:24:00.000-08:002018-12-26T16:24:06.829-08:00Radioactive Reviews Burning Sky<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I was very psyched to see that Radioactive Book Reviews decided to review Burning Sky. They are known to be a no shit hard-assed review site that can be trusted. </div>
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Here's an excerpt.</div>
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<i>Overall this book was good, but not my new favourite. I really think there’s a huge difference between what the book looks like on the outside, what the description describes it to be, and what it actually is. I think if you like books about army guys and girls killing things and battling their own problems as well as supernatural ones, you’re going to like this. If you like books that change their entire being in the middle, you’re going to like this. And if you like books that confuse you a little but in a good way, then this is the book for you. </i></blockquote>
To read the entire review, you can find it <a href="https://radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com/2018/09/25/burning-sky-by-weston-ochse-review/" target="_blank">here</a>. </div>
Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-24851980430240844532018-12-26T16:18:00.005-08:002018-12-26T16:18:59.011-08:00Burning Sky Makes Another Best of 2018 List<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Adman, Bonvivant, and Author, John Hornor Jacobs had his own best list for 2018. Among many illustrious books, he included Burning Sky. Here's what he had to say:<br />
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<i>I really enjoyed this book. I’ve said elsewhere that Weston’s short fiction moves with terrifying grace, but his novels have a muscular poetry to them. Burning Sky, his newest novel, moves with urgency and forcefulness with the precision of, well, a military combat team, which just so happens to be the center and beating heart of this fascinating novel. It starts already rolling hard and continues, with some twists and turns and an elegant mystery that sneaks up on you along the way, to a cataclysmically great ending. Ochse’s inclusion of Zoroastrianism (a word, I have learned, I have a terrible time spelling without digital help) is inspired and really caught me in its grasp – I realized how little I actually know about it – so it offers a rich and intricate world for readers to discover, delivered by Weston’s assured voice. Wes makes you care about this menagerie of hard-bit soldiers, drawing you in to feel like you’re part of the team, and then he does horrible things to them. And he fucks with your head while he’s at it. If you like brilliantly rendered military fiction, if you like cosmic horror with new and interesting takes on mythology (seriously, he opens the door a crack for you by the end, exposing the potential for so much more), it’s not a book to be missed. Thankfully, there are more stories coming in this series.</i></blockquote>
To see his entire list and make sure you have the right books on your TBR, follow this <a href="http://www.johnhornorjacobs.com/media-consumed-december-2018/" target="_blank">link</a>. </div>
Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-21013104779268098942018-12-26T16:12:00.002-08:002018-12-26T16:12:48.916-08:00New Burning Sky Review - Runalong The Shelves<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ov9wu-Xh9no/XCQYh2gQ3tI/AAAAAAAAjyo/KtTWdEbdaxof1JEaMxjMgXyhBUL2Hy9-wCLcBGAs/s1600/Wes2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ov9wu-Xh9no/XCQYh2gQ3tI/AAAAAAAAjyo/KtTWdEbdaxof1JEaMxjMgXyhBUL2Hy9-wCLcBGAs/s320/Wes2.jpg" width="240" /></a>I almost missed this. Thanks to Joe for letting me know about it.</div>
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Overall, this is a very positive review, but the reviewer brings up a great point. I'll get to that later. Here's an excerpt from the review over at <a href="https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/" target="_blank">Runalong The Shelves</a>.<br />
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<i>The character dynamic was appealing. This is a military team with two skilled and respected women operating alongside the men and the men themselves are a diverse group of backgrounds including former criminals and a gay man who again the team have no issues with. It feels a refreshingly 21st century set-up. Ultimately the TST enjoy what they do and while they all have their reasons for fighting and it is clear they complement and need each other on a very deep level.</i></blockquote>
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<i>My only reservation was the final reveal is a historical character who really set the ball rolling on the confrontation the team need to address. That character is shown in a less than positive light and as far as I’ve been able to see he had no ulterior motives and instead is a respected literary figure to Persian culture. Artistic licence must be expected in the genre but to base a story in Afghanistan and use a famous Muslim character as a potential antagonist (and to be fair their motives are still unclear, so this may be revealed in future stories as a red herring) I felt made this a little out of step with the rest of the book.</i></blockquote>
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So, this is an excellent point. Having just finished the second book, I'm going to include a disclaimer in the acknowledgements. Basically, I had to have a foil for the team. I had to have someone be the bad guys. I chose to make the ultimate bad guy someone who everyone sees as good, because that's just good plotting. To the reviewer's question about it being a red herring, I can convincingly say that it was not and that the next book, Dead Sky, will provide much more reasons for his presence and desire to do what he did. I know this is sort of cryptic, but I don't want to ruin the reading experience for you, but I did want to mention that the reviewers criticism here is valid.</div>
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Here is the <a href="https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/blog/2018/11/27/burning-sky-by-weston-ochse" target="_blank">full review.</a></div>
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Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-72765630989542208492018-12-26T15:58:00.000-08:002018-12-26T15:58:17.108-08:00Burning Sky Makes Another Best of 2018 List<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Thanks to David Agranoff, who besides being a major reviewer in the industry, but is also the founder of the PK Dick Podcast Dickheads. When he puts me on a list, I feel like I've done something right. He placed Burning Sky as number 3 in his top ten. If this was horse racing I would have been in the money.</div>
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Here's what Mr. Agranoff- had to say.<br />
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<i>Burning Sky is masterpiece that I am more impressed by the longer I think about it. Burning Sky is very much about PTSD, but Burning Sky takes that theme and goes beyond. This novel is about what drives war. It explores the deep trauma not just of the warriors but society. The book points to key moments covered by the news in the last few conflicts that lead to Trauma that we felt collectively. The theme is expressed so beautifully in some of this novel's most horrific moments.</i></div>
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To see the entire list, follow this link <a href="http://davidagranoff.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. </div>
Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-26248254549103434302018-12-26T15:53:00.000-08:002018-12-26T15:53:20.025-08:00Identity Motifs in The Goldfinch, The Catcher in the Rye, and Life As We Know It<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I recently wrote an article called<i> Identity Motifs in The Goldfinch, The Catcher in the Rye, and Life As We Know </i>It that was published over at Civilian Reader courtesy of y publicist over at Solaris Books. Growing up when I did, The Catcher in the Rye was hugely influential to me. Having recently read The Goldfinch, I couldn't help but derive some comparisons to Catcher, as well as my own search for identity in I Am A Cowboy In the Boat of Ra. <span style="background-color: white;">I thought I might post a teaser here so that you can see what it's about and if you want, follow the link to Civilian Reader.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></div>
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I was introduced to the idea of The Catcher in the Rye in 1979. I’d heard about this 1950s novel through my parents, both educators. I’d also heard about it through a Freshman English teacher at my High School. The reason I’d only heard about it and not seen it was because I was living in Tennessee and at the time it was a banned book. By banned, I don’t mean that there were any Fahrenheit 451 Fireman to come and burn them up — although I am sure there were those who wished that to be true. By banned I mean that the book was considered an unhealthy read and stores and libraries were urged not to provide them to young healthy minds. So it was with great delight that I was able to buy a copy of the book in 1981 at the local Walden Books store, who provided it from a box in the backroom and sold to me wrapped in brown paper so no one would see what I’d purchased.</div>
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Then I read it and was introduced to Holden Caulfield, who I would soon call a brother because of how he seemed to be me, or at least a shadow of me carried by the hot sun of Salinger’s early creativity. </div>
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<a href="https://civilianreader.com/2018/12/19/guest-post-identity-motifs-in-the-goldfinch-the-catcher-in-the-rye-and-life-as-we-know-it-by-weston-ochse/" target="_blank">READ MORE</a></div>
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Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-12850737621146572952018-12-26T15:44:00.004-08:002018-12-26T15:44:37.373-08:00Found Footage Fiction - Locus Magazine Article<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I recently had an article published in Locus Magazine's Author's Round Table about Found Footage Fiction. For those who don't know, Locus is the industry trade magazine for authors of the fantastic. I thought I might post a teaser here so that you can see what it's about and if you want, follow the link to Locus Magazine. The essay includes discussion of author's Adam Neville, Marissa Pessl, and Gemma Files.<br />
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FOUND FOOTAGE FICTION by Weston Ochse (c) 2018</div>
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Despite the earlier revolting <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cannibal Holocaust</strong></em> in 1980, <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Blair Witch Project</strong></em> firmly established found footage as a film genre in1999. The shaky-cam unreliable narrator film about three students who disappeared in a Pennsylvania forest opened the door for the immensely popular <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Paranormal Activity</strong></em> franchise. Seeing events unfold on a second internal screen somehow made them feel more real to the viewer. The horror we felt while watching was predicated on the idea that the camera can’t lie. But could the same technique work in fiction?</div>
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How do you pull off found footage in fiction? In a film, it’s a film within a film. Can you have a book within a book? Can you layer real and fictitious secrets then reveal them through the aperture of a page? Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges did it in his 1940 story “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius”. In the space of a short story, Borges creates varying layers of reality by providing real people and places and mixing them with fictional people and places, all based around a fictitious entry in the fictitious <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Anglo-American Cyclopaedia</em>. In this case, one thing is less fictitious than the other, all of which is discovered by the characters in the story, which unveils, as it should, a mystery. </div>
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This unveiling of mysteries using fact and varying degrees of fictitious detail are the hallmark of found footage fiction (F3).</div>
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<a href="https://locusmag.com/2018/12/weston-ochse-guest-post-found-footage-fiction/" target="_blank">Read More</a></div>
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Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-53820692361303837192018-12-19T11:00:00.002-08:002018-12-19T17:22:50.747-08:00Adventures in Kindling - My Year In Books 2018<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Turns out I read about forty books this year. A lot of the reason the number is so high was because I spent half the year in Afghanistan, so no TV to compete with my time. I can't write about all forty, but I did want to highlight some of them because talking about books is one of my favorite topics of all time. </div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c-RCKVVCQ3A/XBqC4gCkYvI/AAAAAAAAjpY/NDdJNoWvOtcgiESRYBcqUwDo-ARPExdWwCLcBGAs/s1600/y648.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="429" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c-RCKVVCQ3A/XBqC4gCkYvI/AAAAAAAAjpY/NDdJNoWvOtcgiESRYBcqUwDo-ARPExdWwCLcBGAs/s320/y648.jpg" width="209" /></a>My favorite of the year was <b>The Sea Dreams It Is The Sky</b> by John Hornor Jacobs. I fell immediately in love and posted about it <a href="http://weston-ochse.blogspot.com/2018/11/adventures-in-kindling-sea-dreams-it-is.html" target="_blank">here</a>. While TSDIITS is definitely my favorite read of the year, every other book on this list is a close second. TSDIITS provided me with the greatest enjoyment I think because it gave me everything I want out of Cosmic Horror. You see, I heart cosmic horror. I heart conspiracies larger than ourselves. So, when I began reading, I was hooked.</div>
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A young teacher named Isabel meets a gnarly old one-eyed poet simply
named Avendano. They've both fled their homeland in South America and
now make their home in Spain. The cafe and literati scenes reminded me
in all the best ways of Roberto Bolano's works, such as <i>The Savage Detectives</i>.
The way Jacobs slides us into the setting is so gentle I feel as if
I've been there all the time.Then Avendano, like a cosmic lure, propels
Isabel into such an otherworldy mystery that I actually found I couldn't
breath in many places.</div>
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I've read a ton of books this year and two stand out as incredible. Victor LaValle's <i>The Changeling </i>which
won the American Book Award, the World Fantasy Award, and the British
Fantasy Award, among others. The other is John Hornor Jacobs T<i>he Sea Dreams It Is The Sky</i>,
which hasn't won any awards so far. I'm thinking that will change. At
least it should. At the very least, I encourage you to read this lovely
dark cosmic novella and ask yourself, what is the price of home?</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nX2dm89X2Ho/XBqDGEAE4BI/AAAAAAAAjpc/8zlJiJBPePsBZ6qmGcOmSkC6eo6CiOpDgCLcBGAs/s1600/Changeling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="251" data-original-width="165" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nX2dm89X2Ho/XBqDGEAE4BI/AAAAAAAAjpc/8zlJiJBPePsBZ6qmGcOmSkC6eo6CiOpDgCLcBGAs/s320/Changeling.jpg" width="209" /></a><b>The Changeling</b> by Victor LaValle. As I mentioned above, I read and loved The Changeling. </div>
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From Google Books - "<i>When Apollo Kagwa was just a child, his father disappeared, leaving him with recurring nightmares and a box labelled 'Improbabilia'. Now a successful book dealer, Kagwa has a family of his own after meeting and falling in love with Emma, a librarian. The two marry and have a baby: so far so happy-ever-after.However, as the pair settle into their new lives as parents, exhaustion and anxiety start to take their toll. Emma's behaviour becomes increasingly erratic, until one day she commits an unthinkable act, setting Apollo on a wild and fantastical quest through a suddenly otherworldly New York, in search of a wife and child he no longer recognizes. An epic novel for our anxiety-ridden times, The Changeling is a tale of parenthood, love - in its most raw and brutal form - and, ultimately, humanity.</i>"</div>
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I think The Changeling could be called cosmic horror as well. There were several WTF moments where I couldn't breath. I actually exclaimed aloud at one point. If you haven't read this one, you're seriously missing leveling up in life.</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y8eJRZAvAoM/XBqEwUp6sCI/AAAAAAAAjps/6KAQ_uzNnXYAL05viRmgAHxTmSDollAOACLcBGAs/s1600/The%2BCroning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y8eJRZAvAoM/XBqEwUp6sCI/AAAAAAAAjps/6KAQ_uzNnXYAL05viRmgAHxTmSDollAOACLcBGAs/s320/The%2BCroning.jpg" width="212" /></a><b>The Croning</b> by Laird Barron is definitely cosmic horror. </div>
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From Google Books -"<i>Strange things exist on the periphery of our existence, haunting us from the darkness looming beyond our firelight. Black magic, weird cults and worse things loom in the shadows. The Children of Old Leech have been with us from time immemorial. And they love us... Donald Miller, geologist and academic, has walked along the edge of a chasm for most of his nearly eighty years, leading a charmed life between endearing absent-mindedness and sanity-shattering realization. Now, all things must converge. Donald will discover the dark secrets along the edges, unearthing savage truths about his wife Michelle, their adult twins, and all he knows and trusts. For Donald is about to stumble on the secret... ...of The Croning. From Laird Barron, Shirley Jackson Award-winning author of The Imago Sequence and Occultation, comes The Croning, a debut novel of cosmic horror."</i></div>
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Up until now, I'd only read Laird's short fiction and novellas. When I saw this novel and the description, I knew it was something I'd dig into. And I did. I absolutely loved the way Laird crafted and delivered the mystery and I love the way he took us through several decades of a man's life and brought us to an ending that had to be. So perfect.</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i_Bl2DbhPeo/XBqFroyKTmI/AAAAAAAAjp4/6UD1w0nxgdolLkkeJa6QyEpGZT5W859VACLcBGAs/s1600/bight%2Bocean.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="330" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i_Bl2DbhPeo/XBqFroyKTmI/AAAAAAAAjp4/6UD1w0nxgdolLkkeJa6QyEpGZT5W859VACLcBGAs/s320/bight%2Bocean.jpg" width="209" /></a><b>The Night Ocean </b>by Paul La Farge is a book I thought was cosmic horror but wasn't. What it is is a book within a book within a book. </div>
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From Google Books - <i>"Marina Willett, M.D., has a problem. Her husband, Charlie, has
become obsessed with H.P. Lovecraft, in particular with one episode in
the The Night Ocean
follows the lives of some extraordinary people: Lovecraft, the most
influential American horror writer of the 20th century, whose stories
continue to win new acolytes, even as his racist views provoke new
critics; Barlow, a seminal scholar of Mexican culture who killed himself
after being blackmailed for his homosexuality (and who collaborated
with Lovecraft on the beautiful story "The Night Ocean"); his student,
future Beat writer William S. Burroughs; and L.C. Spinks, a kindly
Canadian appliance salesman and science-fiction fan -- the only person
who knows the origins of The Erotonomicon, purported to be the intimate diary of Lovecraft himself. In the summer of 1934, the "old
gent" lived for two months with a gay teenage fan named Robert Barlow,
at Barlow's family home in central Florida. What were the two of them up
to? Were they friends--or something more? Just when Charlie thinks he's
solved the puzzle, a new scandal erupts, and he disappears. The police
say it's suicide. Marina is a psychiatrist, and she doesn't believe
them." </i></div>
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La Farge's narrative style and choices in this weren't something I would have done but I think they work wonderfully. What I'm saying is that in the end I found his choice to be much better than how I would have done it. I finished <i>The Night Ocean</i> and wanted to read it again. Something that doesn't often happen. Plus, I love found document fiction. La Farge is now on my list. </div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I1okKuXHLlY/XBqHeLNDzlI/AAAAAAAAjqE/_w4DWp3trPMdaoBBdRx8FMCONjl5xxliACLcBGAs/s1600/pariah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1360" data-original-width="850" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I1okKuXHLlY/XBqHeLNDzlI/AAAAAAAAjqE/_w4DWp3trPMdaoBBdRx8FMCONjl5xxliACLcBGAs/s320/pariah.jpg" width="200" /></a><b>The Twilight Pariah</b> by Jeffery Ford. Jeffery Ford was an author who I thought I'd read. It turns out that I hadn't, so I eagerly picked this one up. </div>
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From Amazon - <i>"All Maggie, Russell, and Henry wanted out of their last college vacation was to get drunk and play archaeologist in an old house in the woods</i><i> outside of town. When they excavate the mansion's outhouse they find way more than they bargained for: a sealed bottle filled with a red liquid, along with the bizarre skeleton of a horned child. Disturbing the skeleton throws each of their lives into a living hell. They feel followed wherever they go, their homes are ransacked by unknown intruders, and people they care about are brutally, horribly dismembered. The three friends awakened something, a creature that will stop at nothing to retrieve its child."</i></div>
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What appears to be a haunted house story is far more than that. This is a haunted cosmic horror story with characters that reminded me of those in Brett Easton Ellis's <i>Less Than Zero</i>. The research conducted in the book - the found fiction - is also one of my favorite things. Here I'm introduced to <i>Kind Nepenthe</i> for the first time and note that there's now a book with that title from Matthew V. Brockmeyer that is on my list of things to read. Thank you Jefferey Ford for not pulling punches with this one. I've already downloaded <i>The Shadow Year</i> and can't wait to dive in. </div>
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<b>The Hearts of Men</b> by Nickolas Butler is not a cosmic horror novel. It's not even a genre novel. It's a book I read right before I went to Afghanistan--literally buying it at the airport as I left. You can read the full post <a href="http://weston-ochse.blogspot.com/2018/01/preparing-myself-for-war-hearts-of-men.html" target="_blank">here </a>but I'm providing an excerpt.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ct0JZCWoVdM/XBqJDf8X1jI/AAAAAAAAjqQ/oI076A2Zkk0WjCFe_3N34MfZc8pieBhYQCLcBGAs/s1600/hearts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="331" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ct0JZCWoVdM/XBqJDf8X1jI/AAAAAAAAjqQ/oI076A2Zkk0WjCFe_3N34MfZc8pieBhYQCLcBGAs/s320/hearts.jpg" width="211" /></a>From Google Books - <i>"Camp Chippewa, 1962. Nelson Doughty, age thirteen, social outcast and overachiever, is the Bugler, sounding the reveille proudly each morning. Yet this particular summer marks the beginning of an uncertain and tenuous friendship with a popular boy named Jonathan. Over the years, Nelson, irrevocably scarred from the Vietnam War, becomes Scoutmaster of Camp Chippewa, while Jonathan marries, divorces, and turns his father’s business into a highly profitable company. And when something unthinkable happens at a camp get-together with Nelson as Scoutmaster and Jonathan’s teenage grandson and daughter-in-law as campers, the aftermath demonstrates the depths—and the limits—of Nelson’s selflessness and bravery.<br /><br /> "The Hearts of Men is a sweeping, panoramic novel about the slippery definitions of good and evil, family and fidelity, the challenges and rewards of lifelong friendships, the bounds of morality—and redemption.<br /><br />"The Hearts of Men is a grand novel, well-chosen for its purpose. It's a story about a changing time, when the idea of being a Boy Scout is becoming less and less significant. It's about ethics and what to do in bad situations. It sometimes painfully puts its characters in too real places that make you want to stop reading, but just as the characters are performing for you, out of respect, you have to stay through their performance. <br /><br />"It's a book about the complexity of always trying to do the right thing."</i><br />
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I cherished this book and it indeed prepared me for Afghanistan. I feel it in my chest. I feel it in my head. I was once a Boy Scout. I made it to Life. My father was an Eagle Scout and was a scoutmaster. Both of these things prepared us in our lives. A little reminder helped rekindle those memories and reminded my that being Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent were things to which we should all attain, despite those around us who would devalue these traits. <br />
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Finally, its about being your own man and accepting yourself for who you are.</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GqNWW7PF61o/XBqKVfqaYII/AAAAAAAAjqc/DyAPVmvtKjIVGZGsNyH6tZtgQM42eKk8gCLcBGAs/s1600/running%2Bclub.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GqNWW7PF61o/XBqKVfqaYII/AAAAAAAAjqc/DyAPVmvtKjIVGZGsNyH6tZtgQM42eKk8gCLcBGAs/s320/running%2Bclub.jpg" width="212" /></a><b>The End of the World Running Club </b>by Adrian J. Walker was a book I read in Afghanistan. I immediately face palmed because the title and the idea was so damn obvious. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it myself.</div>
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From Amazon - "<i>When the world ends and you find yourself stranded on the wrong side of the country, every second counts. No one knows this more than Edgar Hill: over five hundred miles of devastated wasteland stretch between him and his family. To get back to them, he must push himself to the very limit―or risk losing them forever. His best option is to run. But what if his best isn't good enough? End of the World Running Club is an otherworldly yet extremely human story of hope, love, and the endurance of both body and spirit."</i></div>
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I really bought into the desperation of the main character and as a person who runs, and sometimes doesn't, understands how hard it would have to be to do what he did. Superior effort by the author. Well done. </div>
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<b>All Our Wrong Todays</b> by Elan Mastai. My editor at Rebellion Books was the one who turned me onto this book and I'm glad he did. I'm not so much a fan of time travel books because of all the plot holes one can find, but Mastai plugged those holes. </div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xAWf8Dh9xpk/XBqL2lgCSFI/AAAAAAAAjqo/iSJE3w4xh4U4PEpwvJcs0IJnN2s9GOpTwCLcBGAs/s1600/allourwrong.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="265" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xAWf8Dh9xpk/XBqL2lgCSFI/AAAAAAAAjqo/iSJE3w4xh4U4PEpwvJcs0IJnN2s9GOpTwCLcBGAs/s320/allourwrong.jpg" width="211" /></a>From Amazon - "<i>It's 2016, and in Tom Barren's world, technology has solved all of humanity's problems—there's no war, no poverty, no under-ripe avocadoes. Unfortunately, Tom isn't happy. He's</i><i> lost the girl of his dreams. And what do you do when you're heartbroken and have a time machine? Something stupid. Finding himself stranded in a terrible alternate reality—which we immediately recognize as our 2016—Tom is desperate to fix his mistake and go home. Right up until the moment he discovers wonderfully unexpected versions of his family, his career, and the woman who may just be the love of his life. Now Tom faces an impossible choice. Go back to his perfect but loveless life. Or stay in our messy reality with a soulmate by his side. His search for the answer takes him across continents and timelines in a quest to figure out, finally, who he really is and what his future—our future—is supposed to be. Filled with humor and heart and packed with insight, intelligence, and mind-bending invention, All Our Wrong Todays is a powerful and moving story of life, loss, and love.</i>" </div>
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I also read this one in Afghanistan and I remember looking forward to getting off work so I could return to my hooch and read this. With plenty of surprises, Mastai didn't mess around. If there was an opportunity to fuck with his main character, he took it-- in fact he took them all. </div>
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<b>The Cabin At the End of the World</b> by Paul Tremblay is just another one of Paul's fabulous books. I love that he keeps hitting it out of the park and can trust that when I see one of his books that I will love it.</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--fi1iUm2cXA/XBqNVF9tBmI/AAAAAAAAjq0/hLKPsoXvqyMqAbpm_Q_bEZv6z9Qu4YFNACLcBGAs/s1600/cabin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="293" data-original-width="195" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--fi1iUm2cXA/XBqNVF9tBmI/AAAAAAAAjq0/hLKPsoXvqyMqAbpm_Q_bEZv6z9Qu4YFNACLcBGAs/s320/cabin.jpg" width="212" /></a>From Amazon - "<i>Seven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake. Their closest neighbors are more than two miles in either direction along a rutted dirt road. One afternoon, as Wen catches grasshoppers in the front yard, a stranger unexpectedly appears in the driveway. Leonard is the largest man Wen has ever seen but he is young, friendly, and he wins her over almost instantly. Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologizes and tells Wen, "None of what’s going to happen is your fault". Three more strangers then arrive at the cabin carrying unidentifiable, menacing objects. As Wen sprints inside to warn her parents, Leonard calls out: "Your dads won’t want to let us in, Wen. But they have to. We need your help to save the world." Thus begins an unbearably tense, gripping tale of paranoia, sacrifice, apocalypse, and survival that escalates to a shattering conclusion, one in which the fate of a loving family and quite possibly all of humanity are entwined."</i></div>
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I also read this in Afghanistan. When the description above used the words 'incredibly tense,' it meant it. Twice I remember calling Paul a <i>Fucker </i>for what he did. This is not an easy book to read because of it, but its a tremendous book that makes you question your own faith. </div>
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<b>Neverworld Wake</b> by Marisha Pessle is similar in plot device to The Cabin At the End of the World because the protagonists are forced to choose who dies. </div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kGY1PPHunFE/XBqQ2IG5VdI/AAAAAAAAjrY/-E2nAVC41HwZHZSvqnDXvVyEmftgjNQEgCLcBGAs/s1600/Neverworld-Wake-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="891" data-original-width="588" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kGY1PPHunFE/XBqQ2IG5VdI/AAAAAAAAjrY/-E2nAVC41HwZHZSvqnDXvVyEmftgjNQEgCLcBGAs/s320/Neverworld-Wake-1.jpg" width="211" /></a>From Amazon: "<i>Once upon a time, back at Darrow-Harker School, Beatrice Hartley and her
five best friends were the cool kids, the beautiful ones. Then the
shocking death of Jim--their creative genius and Beatrice's
boyfriend--changed everything. One year after graduation,
Beatrice is returning to Wincroft--the seaside estate where they spent
so many nights sharing secrets, crushes, plans to change the
world--hoping she'll get to the bottom of the dark questions gnawing at
her about Jim's death. But as the night plays out in a haze of
stilted jokes and unfathomable silence, Beatrice senses she's never
going to know what really happened. Then a mysterious man knocks
on the door. Blithely, he announces the impossible: time for them has
become stuck, snagged on a splinter that can only be removed if the
former friends make the harshest of decisions. Now Beatrice has one last shot at answers . . . and at life."</i></div>
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I almost didn't buy this because it's being sold as a YA book. Not that I don't read YA books, it's just that they are not my first choice. This despite me being a huge fan of Night Film, which I wrote about recently in an essay published by Locus Magazine in their Author's Roundtable called <a href="https://locusmag.com/2018/12/weston-ochse-guest-post-found-footage-fiction/" target="_blank">Found Footage Fiction</a>. I don't think this is a YA novel and probably a marketing technique to draw in other fans. Not that Marisha needs it. She's fabulous on her own. What I found most interesting during the middle of the book were the choices her protagonists made and how reliving a day over and over changed them. Then came act three. Just wonderful. I also read this while in Afghanistan.</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tzAdipsefc4/XBqQr6CWDcI/AAAAAAAAjrU/OIEuI0GpelEQVOzhKxQ7Ao6zTxGlfTmgwCLcBGAs/s1600/sighting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tzAdipsefc4/XBqQr6CWDcI/AAAAAAAAjrU/OIEuI0GpelEQVOzhKxQ7Ao6zTxGlfTmgwCLcBGAs/s320/sighting.jpg" width="212" /></a><b>The Sighting</b> by Christopher Coleman is the only self published book on this list. I enjoyed it because it's cosmic horror. Although there are some minor pacing issues and the main character is sort of a dick, I still appreciated the author's invention. A sign of the author's skill is that even though the main character is sort of a self-centered prick, I still cared for him and was stressed when bad things began happening to him. </div>
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From Amazon - <i>"One morning during his daily run to the beach, Danny Lynch witnesses the strangest and most incredible thing he's ever seen. A dark, man-like figure emerges from the ocean, stands for just a few moments on the beach, and then retreats back to the surf. Danny's perspective on the world changes, and as the only eyewitness to this event, his mission now is to convince anyone who will listen that what he saw was real. But with only a vague photo and a dubious story, that task is proving almost impossible. His only hope may be in finding a mysterious woman who was at the beach earlier that morning, and who may hold the terrifying secret that could cost Danny his life."</i></div>
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This is not a novel but a novella. Note that I'm currently reading the follow up to this called The Origin and am so far enjoying it.</div>
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So, there you have it, folks. I just wanted to share some of the highlights of my reading this year. Feel free to comment or hit me up with what you think I should be reading. And if you feel like it, try one of my books. I'm told they aren't bad. </div>
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(Adventures in Kindling <span style="font-size: xx-small;">TM</span> is Trademarked by Weston Ochse) </div>
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Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7428205032256232155.post-11971725221898378712018-12-12T10:20:00.003-08:002018-12-12T10:20:48.497-08:00Cheeseburger Cheeseburger - But Not On An Omelet<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Who doesn't like cheeseburgers?</div>
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They're everywhere.</div>
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My favorite might be the Sonic Drive In Double Cheeseburger because of how the bread melts into the cheese and the cheese melts into the burger creating a new element on the scale called Double Cheese Burgerium. </div>
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Saturday Night Live had a great Cheeseburger skit with John Belushi based on a real Chicago restaurant. There's a Florida-based restaurant chain called Cheeburger Cheeburger and I wonder if they might have based their name on the skit.</div>
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I even like Cheeseburger Pizza. Our local Vinny's Pizza has a remarkable Cheeseburger Pizza.</div>
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My favorite appetizer of all time were the Cheeseburger Egg Rolls at Applebees that in a stunning moment of mediocrity took off the menu. </div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TBU82nBBjI4/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TBU82nBBjI4?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div>
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This morning I went to Ihop. I don't usually go, but my wife has a fondness for them. Decades ago she worked the night shift Fridays and Saturdays at one and made enough money to get her out of debt. So this morning, I took her out to breakfast and she said, "Let's go to Ihop."</div>
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Sure, why not.</div>
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I admit, when I saw the Cheeseburger Omelet on the menu I knew it was sketchy. I was okay with the</div>
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pickles. I love pickles on pretty much everything. But the lines of ketchup and mustard had me concerned. As they should have. I think having mustard on eggs is akin to crossing the streams of the proton cannons in Ghostbusters.<br />
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What did Egon say?</div>
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<i>"Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light." </i></div>
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Yes. That's bad.</div>
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Super bad.</div>
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Like Cheeseburger Omelet Bad!<i></i></div>
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Not a fan.<i><br /></i></div>
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Weston Ochsehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407444259518715386noreply@blogger.com0