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City Boy, Country Man
2008-06-03 23:20:00
?So, how was your trip?? I?ve been hearing that a lot since I returned from my business trip to Nashville, Tennessee . I?d like to think that my co-workers missed my company and were glad to see me back; but, judging from the amount of work on my desk, and from the deluge of telephone calls for administrative support I?ve answered, it appears that I was missed for other reasons. My trip went well, but it was no vacation, and it is great to be home. Of course, no business trip would be complete without some sight seeing. The hotel and convention center where we stayed is less than one half mile from The Grand Ole Opry . The original site for the Opry was Ryman Auditorium, also located in Nashville. Sometime in the 1970?s the Opry moved to its current location and the show is as popular as ever. My point here is not to talk about the history of the radio program, or the many legendary performers who graced the stages of both the present day Opry House or the Ryman Auditorium. I?d like t...
More About: Country , Willie Nelson , Johnny Cash

Much Later, My Love
2008-05-15 20:01:00
I heard a song the other day which reminded me of when I was a teenager. It?s important to know the title of this tune and the band that played it; and, what?s also interesting is that it made me recall a series of incidents which I find mystifying to this day. As I sat in the driveway of my home listening to that song the car radio, I flashed back to my days as a sixteen year old working in the town library after school. One of the librarians I worked with was a friendly woman with two children whom she talked about often. She lived in nearby town; but, not close enough where I?d know anyone from her neighborhood. I did meet her daughter, though, a pretty girl about my age, who often visited her mom at the library accompanied by her friends. I never said more than ?hello? to the girl, and only once or twice I was in the same room with her as she would often enter the library and go directly to her mom?s office. I left the job after I graduated high school and lost contact with the ...
More About: Love

That's for Life
2008-05-06 23:39:00
On December 20, 2006, I woke up at around five o?clock in the morning, one hour before I typically arise, and did something I never do that early in the day. I checked my e-mail. My inbox contained a message from a woman whom I only knew casually through my best friend and former partner in the police department. Her name is Denise, and my friend Stephen hired her to work in the shop he owned. I helped out at his store fixing his computers and doing some counter work with the customers. Denise and I often talked and joked when we were there together, but our relationship was strictly professional as we were both married and had families. Besides, she was Stephen?s friend from childhood. I was curious to see a message from Denise, but not shocked. I did give her the address, not one that I use for personal e-mails, but a Yahoo! e-mail address I give to people I am ?iffy? about. The subject line caught my attention, though.?Urgent! Please read!?It wasn?t spam, and I didn?t think she w...
More About: Life

But for the Grace of an Old, Army Jeep
2008-04-24 23:40:00
A few Sundays ago I had the opportunity to take our new car out for a spin. As I accelerated down one of the main highways just outside of town, I felt good, happy actually, and I hadn?t felt that way in a while. With a cup of steamy 7-11 Coffee in my hand and some jazz playing on the car stereo, I hastened past a crude, cardboard sign which simply read ?Car Show.? An arrow drawn in magic marker led the way. I thought to myself that this would be a good place to take the kids later on in the morning. My wife wasn?t feeling well and I felt that the little ones shouldn't hang around the house and waste the day. Then, I caught a peek at some of the cars pulling in the lot where the event was to take place. Funky notes from the tune ?Sponge? by Randy Brecker got my foot tapping and I sped on past the ancient, re-born vehicles filing into the car show?s venue which was a church parking lot. My new Malibu ran smoothly, quiet, and I savored my artificial world crafted by General Motors an...
More About: Jeep , Grace , Army , Pope

Service With a Sneer
2008-04-17 00:26:00
Maybe I love where I live too much to move; but, I am tired of the crassness, the rudeness, of the people in the area where I reside. Much of my travels have brought me up and down the eastern seaboard, as far north as New Hampshire, and as far south as Florida. The furthest east I?ve pushed has been to Pennsylvania into the Poconos. Outside the New York, metropolitan area, a strange transformation takes place: people become polite. On Tuesday, I had a long day planned. Several errands needed to be attended to at the bank, the supermarket, the orthodontist (my daughter had her braces taken off) and then my wife and I took our kids to pick up the new car we bought. In the past two and a half years, I have not taken two days off in a row; so I used a vacation day to handle these matters. In my early day fogginess, I put my kids on their respective school buses and then set about my day. My plan was to pick up my daughter from school at about ten thirty a.m. and bring her to her appoi...
More About: Mexican , Service , Italian , Donalds

Sheltered Harbor
2008-04-04 21:46:00
My home town of is located on the south shore of Long Island, New York . The Merrick Indians named the area "Copiague" which literally means ?sheltered harbor." Early settlers adopted the name for their village and the today Copiague is a hamlet within the town of Babylon. South of Merrick Road, which severs Deauville Estates (where I was raised) from the rest of the town, is the Great South Bay. The homes down there sit along canals which lead to this majestic body of water, which afforded a living to generations of hardy baymen who harvested it?s depths for clams, crabs, eels, and other sea life. The dwindling bounty culled from the bay still feeds Long Island and New York City; but, that lifestyle is dying. So too are folks like me who?s life is inexorably tied to the waters around Long Island There is a saying: ?You know you?re from Long Island when you?ve gone clamming at least once in your life.? That is certainly true for me. Many of my friends owned clam boats. These are long...
More About: Harbor

Writing Excercise: Creating Now for Later
2008-03-18 20:11:00
There is a method I use to help inspire me when I have writer’s block. It’s simple to do and it is undisciplined: I simply write anything. An example of this is a piece I jotted down recently using the theme of unoriginality. My idea is that just about everything written has been said before and even expressed in the same manner by others. My only fault in writing this was that my subject was not narrow enough for the brevity of the paper.To tighten the focal point of my exposition would have worked better. A precise argument is always the most effective; yet, my point was not to create something publishable, but to cobble together an article which I might cannibalize later. To get my artistic juices flowing, I took an idea, rough on the surface, and ran with it. I am not proud of this composition; and, I am not anxious to publish it here. But, I think the purpose it serves is to demonstrate the decree I have been living by as a writer for most of my life; and, that is that a wr...
More About: Writing , Creating

"Six Word Memoir" Meme
2008-03-13 15:21:00
I?ve been tagged with the dreaded ?Six Word Meme ? by a Rotus, the author of two really terrific blogs: ?Rotus? and ?I?ll Never Forget the Day I Read a Book!? How it works is the person tagged writes a six word memoir about themselves and post it to you blog. Then, link to the person who tagged you, and tag five more people. However, in keeping with my own theme of intrigue, I?ll hold off on tagging others as is my traditional method of responding to memes so I can use the tag on an occasion where I see the meme fitting. Those who have been tagged by me in the past know what I am talking about. Here?s my six word memoir:?I have become a marvelous writer.? (This statement is strictly tongue-in-cheek!)Pretty bold, huh?I?ve graciously included Rotus?s links in my ?Friends of Mr. Grudge? section, and I ask all of you to visit these two fun blogs. Thank you Rotus for the tag, and I am happy to have you as one my new ?Friends of Mr. Grudge.?Copyright ©2007-2008 Mr. Grudge All Rights Reserved
More About: Memoir

Writing Home: Using One's Home Town for Setting
2008-03-06 00:21:00
Creating fiction requires many essentials. One needs characters, a plot, setting, time period, and other factors which narrow the concept down to a point where the author may begin to write. Setting is key; and, as it often is with literature, characters are based on the writer?s persona, and very often, the characters live in where the writer does. How many authors can you name whose works place their protagonist in the very town where they grew up or where they currently live? I?ll give you one: Nelson DeMille has written books set on Long Island where he currently resides, and in New York City where he was born. This is a practice which I have only recently embraced. My first novel, ?The Tin Age,? is set in suburbia, and the main character, Martin Spratt, is a county police officer. I imagined the county based on the one where I reside and added many of the qualities which made this setting attractive to me: Hamlets full of quiet, tree lined streets, wooded areas on the outskirts...
More About: Writing , Home , Town

Writing Against Type: Challenge Your Writing Style
2008-03-03 23:43:00
Actors often fear being typecast in certain roles. For example, no one will ever watch a movie featuring James Gandolfini again and not picture him as Tony Soprano. This can help or hurt him, and more times than not, actors dread the results of being typecast, which means they cannot ?grow? as an actor.Consider the same consequences for your writing. A comment made to me recently concerned a very talented writer and his notion that he had been ?hiding behind his blog? and ignoring his larger projects, meaning his novels. Speaking for myself, I am guilty of this behavior as well. My recent attempts to revitalize my writing have worked, and I am taking steps not to ?typecast? myself into a role of sharing nothing but personal anecdotes about my life on my blog. This should be the challenge which you as a writer put to yourself: to produce a poem, short story, biography, or even a play which you never attempted before.The end result of that written venture does not have to be the remar...
More About: Writing , Style , Type , Challenge

A ?Now? Fangled Story
2008-02-29 16:01:00
When starting a work of fiction, a writer must understand that when it is completed, it is going to be a different piece of work than when initially begun. Writers mature a bit more as story tellers and practitioners of their craft with each project undertaken. When editing a first draft of a manuscript, authors may notice changes in the voice, tone, and timbre of their tale as it progresses. The characters may even speak differently. A large part of the editing and rewriting process involves searching for errors and improving the sentence structure, etc. However, authors sometimes make the mistake of not looking for anachronisms. My first novel took me five years to write and about two years to edit. Since I wrote this tale about a man traveling into his past, I didn't have to worry much about items being out of date. It took four months to write the first draft of my latest work. Yet, I have been re-writing and editing it for the past two years. Society and technology haven't be...
More About: Story

A Re-Statement of Purpose
2008-02-27 17:32:00
What I wish to do here is find that voice in my head which told me stories when I was bored. I need to share, and to find acceptance, and gain stature with my words. That is the goal for numerous with blogs out there. Many are much more inventive than I can ever hope to be. Today, I wonder where I have landed. I feel as though I?ve reached a milestone; but the paradox for me is exactly where on the map does this place me as I did not know where I would go when I created this blog?I can suppose that I may have touched a few folks with my writing. My responses from readers have been overwhelmingly positive. This makes me wonder when my dreadful post is coming. There is no way I am that good, I ponder. This notion gnaws at me, controls my lively fingers as they tap away at my keyboard while I fashion another essay or story for posting in this space. I?ll simply do what I am able to, the best I can muster, and hope that I am hearing the correct outcome; that I never determine that I hav...
More About: Purpose , Statement

Introducing: The Midnight Wanderers
2008-02-25 19:16:00
The recreation of my blog back in September of 2007 was important to me in more ways that I imagined. This forum, the writing experience in this space, has improved my life. I?ve been able to express myself with more clarity using the written word than I ever have before. My past efforts have focused more on my novels and short stories. Here, I have authored essays, articles, and stories based on my personal life which helped me to edify my soul, if you will.There have been blessings, as well. In this giant world full of folks with different lifestyles and ideas, I have formed bonds with many who live in all parts of the globe. Some of these relationships have been fleeting, others more enduring, and some more important to me in terms of partnership than others. I value all of my readers, friends, and acquaintances here in the blogging cosmos. Yet, there is one blogger with whom I?ve forged a writing venture with and he has created an entity which I am honored to belong to. This is ...
More About: Blog , Writers , Wanderers , Midnight

What Not To Mention
2008-02-20 23:35:00
As this blog becomes more and more popular, it illustrates a paradox between my alter ego, Mr. Grudge, and the real me. Here, I write articles, stories, and personal essays, and no one seems to get too rankled by the content of any subject I broach. Contrast that with my social life, and the differences are glaring.You may be surprised to learn that I have the unerring ability to stick my foot in my mouth in any social situation. It?s not my fault as I am being chastised by unseen forces in the universe which are out to get me. When my wife and I are with people we are meeting for the first time, or with family, or even close friends, predictably, I'll say something which should have been left off the table, if you will. It?s not that I want to hurt anyone?s feelings; it?s because I?m a bit of a social oaf. Don?t get me wrong, I enjoy meeting others and having a good laugh with friends, but my mouth often operates before my brain has a chance to put itself into gear. As a result, I...

An Apology for the Dead
2008-02-19 17:33:00
As a rookie cop working in Harlem in the early 1990?s, I was introduced to death at a rate which illustrated the horrors life on a grand scale. Prior to being assigned there to work, my relatively sheltered existence only saw death through the rosy prism of a half-opened coffin and heavily applied post-mortem cosmetics. The deceased I encountered were relatives, neighbors, and even a best friend; all of them expired quietly and ?naturally? and looked peaceful in their repose. On the job, and not just in Harlem but everywhere I worked as a police officer, death has an unkind visage. Only those who experience the malodorous wretchedness of a lifeless body which has been exposed for a while can appreciate how vile it is. The mere memory of such a putrid stench causes anti-peristalsis. The stink never leaves the olfactory nerves. It?s a haunting odor, destined to return after one?s own death. A sergeant of mine was ridiculed once for praying over a dead body at crime scene. The family o...
More About: Dead , Apology

You?re as Young as You Aren?t
2008-02-15 19:44:00
In spite of all of the gleeful optimism about youth and feeling young, no one accounts for emotions changing with age. The way one thinks is often directly hard wired to the body whether we accept that or not. Now in my forties (gulp) I no longer hop out of bed and begin my day with a reasonable amount of energy. I find myself opting for a quiet evening alone with my family rather than a jubilant night out partying with my wife and our friends. My body aches the next day after doing a lot of yard work, and that is after taking huge steps over the last year to get healthy and thin again. My point? You can?t stop aging and time.You?re never as young as you think you are. I sailed through my twenties like a person who never had to look at his watch. My thirties brought huge change in my life as I became a family man. One marriage and two children later, I am a guy who was at the pointed end of a remark made by a co-worker the other day who observed: ?Wow, you?re going gray.? That?s it....
More About: Young

The Birthday Boy and the Moon Man
2008-02-13 22:01:00
We all know the date and time when the first men landed on the moon, and the name of the first astronaut to set foot there; but very few outside of my family are aware that this event happened on my birthday. That?s not a matter for historians to consider; but to me, it is a big deal. In fact, the moon has had a special place in my heart ever since I was six years old and watched the grainy, black and white footage of Neil Armstrong hopping off a ladder on the side of the lunar module. That day wasn't a typical birthday scene with my family seated around the dining room table waiting for me to blow out the candles on my birthday cake. I remember having one of those conical, cardboard hats on with a rubber band chinstrap digging into my skin. Yet, there was a distraction in the form of a television broadcast repeating this momentous event for the world to see. The landing was a technological miracle, if you will, and knockout punch to the Russians who led the U.S.A. in the space rac...
More About: Moon , Birthday , Long Island , The Moon

GO! Smell the Flowers! Flower Smeller Award!
2008-02-11 02:39:00
When Mr. Grudge was created back in October of 2006, the original concept was that of a baseball blog. For almost a year, Mr. Grudge was a lonely place, visited by almost fifty people on the eleven month period of time. This was the case in spite of the fact that the Editor of a baseball magazine, Gotham Baseball, generously published some of my blog posts on their website. In desperation, I closed Mr. Grudge in June of 2006, and let it sit until September of that year.When I decided to return to the blogging world I reinvented Mr. Grudge into what it is today; and that is a writer?s blog. You see, baseball is a passion, but writing is my life. The results are conclusive, and I am humbled by the response from you, my wonderful readers. In fact, receiving comments on my posts hasn?t been the only gratifying aspect of my return to blogging, the recognition I receive from other established writers and bloggers is humbling. I?ve been honored so many times by so many terrific writers tha...
More About: Flowers , Blog , Flower , Award , Smell

This One is Called "Marie"
2008-02-07 22:07:00
Each event in our lives is treated like a single occurrence. We all conceptualize them differently as look deep within each vignette for meaning. I have an example of what I am trying to say. This was a powerful episode in my life; one I will never forget. However, in all of the pain and anguish I experienced then, there were poetic and heartfelt moments which make the suffering bearable. Some background information is necessary here. My mother was a fighter. Not in the physical sense. She had to endure pain for most of her adult existence. She battled problems with her back which necessitated at least two surgeries which I can remember; one of them was to fuse her spine. Her numerous ailments over the years loomed ominous and were treated individually by specialist after specialist until the name Systemic Lupus took over and she was treated correctly. Then there was cancer. She braved chemotherapy and three enormous operations to save her life over the span of ten years. One of her...
More About: Marie

Wife, Mother, and Angel: Part II
2008-02-04 19:41:00
My fear, after learning that my wife saved a little boy from choking to death, was that if circumstances were different and the boy died, we could have been sued. Also, my experiences as a police officer were often that things weren?t always as they seemed. She could have rolled onto the scene of a homicide attempt and been a victim herself. Granted, I usually assume the worst; but in this case, I was glad she stopped for that poor family and applied her skills. There?s a happy eleven your old kid running around today who may or may not be aware of my wife's extraordinary efforts to save his life.That one event would have been enough for anyone. Simply save one person from death and you?re a hero. But, my wife recently found herself in another situation where she felt compelled to act. This past summer, in September, she was coming home from work along her usual route where the Northern State Parkway ends and merges with Route 347. This is a very dangerous and busy junction at any ...
More About: Wife , Angel , Mother , Part

Wife, Mother, and Angel: Part I
2008-01-30 23:01:00
A while back I was watching a talk show featuring a popular male host whom anyone would recognize if you saw him walking down the street. I frown upon mentioning celebrities in this space; but suffice it to say that the program itself wasn?t important, yet the topic was. A prominent ?psychic? was his guest and audience members were encouraged to ask her questions. A young woman, perhaps in her twenties described an experience she had at a toll booth where her car had a broke down and she needed assistance and the toll booth collector wasn?t very helpful. She went on to describe how she was startled by an attractive young man in an expensive sports car who came up to her from behind and told her where a gas station was. She turned to the toll collector, and when she looked back at the Good Samaritan, in her words ?he was gone.? She deepened the mystery by saying that the toll booth guy said that he never saw the man. The psychic claimed that she was visited by an ?angel.? The woman r...
More About: Wife , Angel , Mother , Part

Tales from the Notebook: Hello Neighbor
2008-01-28 00:15:00
Dear Readers, It's time from another Mr. Grudge classic dug from the pages of one of his his old notebooks. This short story "Hello Neighbor" dates all the way back to 1992. I hope you all enjoy this one. Thanks for stopping by. Hello NeighborThis is a tale of woe. It began as after my wife and I moved into an apartment after we got married. We rented the top floor of a two family house with our landlordsliving downstairs. They were quiet folks never bothered us. The street we lived on was a dead end and had very little in the way of traffic. It seemed to be the type of area where we could lead our own lives in private and be left alone.That was not to be the case, though. Our neighbor across the street, a short, bald man in his sixties who lived with his mother and his ailing wife, gradually began to rattle our existence. At least mine, anyway.During my everyday comings and goings he would stop whatever he was doing; raking, washing his car, painti...
More About: Notebook , Tales

Yesterday's Son
2008-01-20 22:30:00
The other evening when I returned home from work, I entered our kitchen to greet my wife and kids. My son remained in our den, consumed by a video game. It?s a rare treat for him to use the Game Cube as we severely limit playing time. I peered at him from the open serve-through and joked, pretending that I am his grandfather and he is my grandson. ?Hey, where?s your dad? I?ve got a few things to say to him.? I said in a gravelly, old man?s tone.He barely twitched, still engrossed by ?Lego Star Wars?. ?Um Dad? You?re my dad,? he said with his characteristic aplomb. He?s used to my teasing, pretending to be an alien, speaking in a made up language, and just plain acting silly. All of that in an effort to make my kids laugh.Not satisfied with his response, I goaded him some more. ?Hey you, in the den; you meet any cute girls lately?? That was enough to make him lose his focus. For any eight-year-old boy is still in the ?girls are stupid? phase, merely talking about girls is enough to c...

Just Like a Person
2008-01-15 05:45:00
My kids asked us for a dog again this past Sunday morning. The only objection I have to getting one is that no one will be around to care for the poor thing while we?re out all day. My wife isn?t a big fan of dogs, or cats for that matter; and that is another factor to consider. My family had two dogs when I was growing up, and my dad has a chubby, little beagle. Yet, this morning when my son and daughter pleaded their case for a puppy for the umpteenth time while my wife and I read the Sunday paper together, I remembered another dog I encountered a long time ago.Back in the summer of 1991, before we had our first child, my wife and I were visiting friends in their new home. It was early Saturday afternoon and we were seated in the living room at the front of their home. Our friends, Debbie and Dave, had a large bay window, which overlooked their front lawn and offered a view of their quiet, suburban street. I was seated on a sofa facing the window, next to me was my wife, and they ...
More About: Person

Meme: Questions, Questions, Questions...Some Answers
2008-01-12 08:15:00
My buddy JD over at "The Uneasy Supplicant" tagged me with this meme, a "confessional" where I answer a series of questions about what Ii like and where I was, and what I am doing, etc. It was fun to answer, and after reading my response, I think you still won't know a whole lot about me. Anyway, here's JD's meme:1.Name one person who made you laugh last night?A friend of ours at the restaurant we dined in last night.2. What were you doing at 0800?At 8:00 am I was home putting my son on the school bus and at 8:00pm I was out to dinner with my wife and other couples.3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?I was reading JD?s blog ?The Uneasy Supplicant.?4. What happened to you in 2006?I took my family to Disney World in June, then shortly afterwards in August my mother died after a long battle with Systemic Lupus and colon cancer and my friend Steven died that December.5. What was the last thing you said out loud??Good night? to my wife.6. How many beverages did you have today?I dra...
More About: Meme , Questions , Answers

Young, Dumb, and Full of Bud
2008-01-03 20:12:00
After a small discovery I made on my home computer the other night, I now seriously doubt the future of our society. It seems that young people today are indeed...stupid. My neighbor across the street is a hard working man who was laid off from three companies in three years and recently started working again. His wife is chronically ill with a debilitating disease for which there is no cure, and they are both working hard at their jobs to make enough money to raise their three children. Life is difficult; but, my buddy maintains that ?Things can only get better.?Introduce the oldest of their children, a teenager of seventeen who is also his father?s namesake. Just before the New Year, my friend came to me and told me that his computer was ?having problems.? My neighbor is the type of guy who?d drop anything he was doing and help me if he thought I needed it. In fact, he recently replaced a bathroom door for me because there is no way in Hell that I?d be able to do it myself. I was ...
More About: Space , Dumb , Young , Full

First Name, Last name, Shouldn't be a Pain
2008-01-02 19:08:00
Martin Spratt, Jonathan ?Jack? Chase, and Roger Price are three names you?ve never heard of; but, they are folks who are near and dear to me. These three men are each protagonists in my unpublished novels. For me they are as alive as my family members are. It is as if they always lived and, and because they exist in my stories, they shall never persih even if nobody reads about them.They were all born through my inspiration; each taking on a separate identity in spite of the fact that they all have some of my personality traits within them. Unlike my own children who already wonder aloud about where they will attend college, who they will marry, and what they will do when they grow up, I was sure of everything about my characters the moment they were born. For one of them in particular, I knew when he would die. The only troublesome detail in conceiving them was what to name them?In real life, I had a partner in naming my children. My wife came into our relationship with unique thou...
More About: Pain

The Language of the Dead
2007-12-26 21:12:00
It is my belief that the soul in a human body disperses after death. That does not happen immediately, I envision; but, we become a part of the greater cosmos and step into another state of being. I... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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From Dawn until Dancing
2007-12-17 23:47:00
In November of 2003, my wife and I took our two children to Disney World in Florida. This vacation was planned well in advance, and my children were allowed to make up the school work they missed... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
More About: Dancing , New York , Cinderella , Castle

Two Bakers Baking
2007-12-12 22:39:00
The other morning at work I had a conversation with a woman whom I barely know. She replaced my friend in a position which occasionally crosses my path in my official duties in our building. When my... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
More About: Baking , Bakers , Baker