All Play and No Work…

There is a ski lodge high on Mount Hood that you may have seen before.  It’s Timberline Lodge; and while its story as a WPA project is worth a read, and its interior a marvel in American craftsmanship, you probably know it best from its short screen time as the framing shot for the fictional Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.  Now allow me to be upfront about this; Timberline Lodge is not the Overlook Hotel.  The hotel was a set piece, and the interior of the Timberline looks nothing like the faded glory of the Overlook.  However, there’s information about the movie proudly displayed in the hotel and the Lodge hosts the annual “Overlook Film Festival”; a bit of a perverse thrill in telling its guests that they are sleeping in closest thing to the Overlook.  (According to the Lodge’s website, room #217 — the original room in Stephen King’s book — is the most requested room.)

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Back to Work

It has been a while, hasn’t it?  Oh sure, there was that other site, and that took time.  And yes, there was a novel draft, which was finished literally as I returned to the states; somewhere above the Pacific.  That felt good, let me tell you.  So much so, that I immediately cashed in on the whole first class thing1thanks tiny Oregon shoe company and asked the flight attendant for two whiskeys on the rocks.  She brought me two of these fall-themed apple-infused Jack Daniel’s cocktails that actually were delicious.  So I asked for two more, and when auntie looked at me strange, I smiled and told her, “Hey, I just finished my book and I’m moving back to the States.”  Since we were still in the future, the looming nightmare of Trump was still visible and she took pity on me and brought me three and some ramen.

So passed draft three; with a toast as I hurdled towards the day before at 500km/h.

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