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Novels That Never Were

peter-chiykowski-bad-ideas-author-photo

 

  • 1. Dragon with a sore throat
  • 2. The Car with a heavy undercarriage
  • 3. Help! Our ferris wheel refuses to spin
  • 4. Untasty caramel apple goes missing
  • 5. Hackysack, a new Olympic sport
  • 6. Look! The Grand Canyon is filled with Nickelodeon goo
  • 7. Spam – an underdog story about America’s other luncheon meat
  • 8. Batman: lost in a dancehall
  • 9. The Edible moon is inhabited by Rugby players
  • 10. Lonely manual transmission 4 Sale
  • 11. Inline skating RETURNS to Orange County, CA
  • 12. Disco: it’s a discotheque in 2016 y’all
  • 13. Grifford the Big Blue Beetle
  • 14. Trash Day – a crew’s all-too-scary story at the landfill
  • 15. Who Forgot to Feed Sparky Last Week?*
  • 16. Have you seen Sparky?*
  • 17. Sparky, where are you?*

 

*Part of a 3-book series

 

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Friends.

amigos

Friends.

Tell them that you love them.

“Love. Amour. Liebe. Amore. Amor. Ljubezen.”

 

There are so many ways to say it. (The last one was Slovenian. You’re welcome, honey.)

 

Why tell them?

 

  • Maybe because they let you do the ‘Cluck Hunt’ one Halloween, while dressed as Johnny Appleseed:

 

https://www.facebook.com/dani.pintopyles/videos/vob.12919627/518518643203/?type=2&theater

(If this link doesn’t work, add Dani Pinto Pyles on Facebook. The video is a good one. You’ll want to see it. Maybe for your next party?)

Game rules: “Two teams – 2 Roosters, 13 Hens, and hidden candy corn. The hens can only CLUCK to get the roosters attention when they find a candy corn. Only the rooster can put it in the hen’s cup. Collect the most candy corn for your team to win.”

 

  • Maybe because this friend didn’t desert you when you danced like this:

VIDEO0016

 

  • Or looked like this:

shoe on head

  • Or this:

beard

 

  • Maybe because they swam in lake water with you that was so murky you couldn’t see the water moccasins. Just feel them.

 

  • Maybe they rescued you from yourself more than once.

 

Whatever they do/have done for you. They’ve gained the label ‘friend’ for no uncertain reason in your life.

 

Celebrate that today. Tell them, “Thanks for not letting me die that one time!” Or, whatever you feel led to thank them for.

 

God put them there in that space for a reason.

 

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Best Title Ever?

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What’s the best story title you’ve ever heard, read, seen?

One that makes you laugh, cry, hide under the covers. Maybe it does all 3 of those things. Maybe it’s one you haven’t read in a while. It could be a movie title. The name of a city you hope to visit before you die. One on your bucket list?

I’m currently working on a short story, and I’ve tentatively titled it “Lobster Meat is Sweet.” It’s silly and fun, and it makes me laugh when I read it. (Yes. It does have pertinence to the story itself.) But, that would make it even better if it didn’t have a connection.

What’s a title that cracks you up every time you read it?

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, A Good Man is Hard to Find, Brave New World, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Where are you going?, Where have you been?, The Rockinghorse Winner, The Dead, Popular Mechanics, etc. etc.

Take a stab at it! I’d love to know some of your favorite titles. There’s SO MUCH in a name!!

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Hat Fetish.

I have an obsession with hats.

See Figure 1 below for proper em-phasis (on the right syl-lable).

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Call it temporary, and I’ll show you a progression. This is compliments of Facebook and its record-keeping self. (Scary, I know.)

2004: (80s party)

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2005: (Halloween shindig with JT and Adam at Campbellsville University)

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2006: (Residence life at UK and Burger King at 2, 3, or 4 am)

1910092_518873466380_2775_n and 1927681_518631561160_1863_n

2007: (Pool table at Casa de Silvers)

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2008: (Honeymoon on the open seas and dry land and Illinois with the Mrs.)

1909712_582937671200_9580_n and 1909712_582935061430_652_n and 1929655_521086905824_118_n

2009: (Halloween in Monticello at the Pyles’ residence)

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2010: (Mexico and Ohio)

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2011: (Mexico again)

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2012: (Gun range with sister-in-law and Florida and Kentucky)

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2013 – Present:

Is, of course, still being written. The lesson learned from the above images?

I have entirely too many hats and…have worn them all to the best of my ability.

I’d like to thank Facebook for this field study in accessorizing. (Maybe the first one ever completed via social media.)

It has helped me learn 2 very important lessons:

1.) All hats are not created equal

2.) There’s a right time and a wrong time to wear a straw hat. There’s NEVER a wrong time to break out the Viking helmet. EVER.

*The Viking helmet shown above was worn during the Writer’s Residency in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. However, it was also a helmet worn during the cruise of January 2009 and was a great conversation starter.

**The golfer hat above was worn during New Year’s celebrations with friends in Lexington, KY.

 

Do you have a hat that you wear almost every day of the week? What makes this the “go-to” hat?

I know I write this with light-heartedness and humor, but I really do look back fondly on all of these silly excursions and appreciate the times shared with good friends.

May you find any (and all) opportunities possible in 2015 to be yourself and celebrate the “less formal” arenas of your life.

God bless!