Revision

Dipped my big toe into the revision today, testing the waters. I've got a lot of changes to enter from my mark-up, but I finally started today. Not much, but now that I'm set up, I should start getting more and more work done. It's nice to have a post about actual writing up here again.

Good People: In case anyone hasn't noticed, at times I can be a rather pessimistic fellow. I tend to stick by the old joke that I'm not really a pessimist, but rather a realist. However, my "realistic" point-of-view recently took a huge, crashing blow that has me rethinking a lot of crusty, old opinions. Life's been hard on me lately, but someone very special out there took notice and did something for me far beyond the call of friendship. I'm still marveling at the generosity this person has shown me and often ask myself, "Why me? How do I deserve this?" That's the point, though. It isn't a question of self-worth, it's a question of faith in people--faith that despite the anger and hate and ignorance you see on a constant basis (and believe me, living in Los Angeles I see a lot of this crap, never mind the horrible driving) there are good people out there who do good things, not to get something in return, not to win over your vote or your loyalty, not even to gratify their own ego. These Good People do good things simply because they're good people. I wish we had more of them. I wish we could gather them all up and form a country, isolated from the rest of the world. But that wouldn't be fair, I guess, because everybody deserves to be touched by the magic of these Good People. Besides, having them among the rest of us normal folks could lead to our aspiring to be more like them. I know I'd like to join the ranks of the Good People.