A character’s actions must flow inexorably from his or her established traits.

- Tahain of Vulcan, Dictates of Poetics

Mile 81 by Stephen King

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Because I haven’t read a lot from Stephen King, I’m not sure how well this novella represents his work. Mile 81 is a little sci-fi, a little paranormal, and a little horror. The plot and characters were interesting enough that I willingly followed along (no duty-bound reader’s guilt required), but I wasn’t very happy with the ending. It felt a little rushed and the last few lines of dialogue were a little beyond the children speaking them.

On the whole: I liked it. There was more profanity than I expected (a minus for me) and there was significantly more of the fantastic and magical than I’d have expected. For an hour’s read, I’ll consider my time (and money) well spent.

Check out these screenshots to see a few of my first Flight Simulator X feats.  These were all taken on flights in a Cessna C172SP Skyhawk G1000.

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 Lately I’ve been playing around with Flickr, a site specializing in photo hosting. My ultimate goal is to remaster and upload my pre-misison, mission, and post-mission photos for my own enjoyment/reference, and to share with family and friends.  I like flickr because, unlike other sites, I retain the rights to my photos and do not have to worry about favorite pics randomly ending up on the sides of buses (I’ve heard some horrible facebook photo privacy stories).

I love essays because of (thanks to) Brian Doyle.  I love his faith. I love that we’ve shared tears over the same things. I love his oft-hilarious use of the word mammal.

I love Brian Doyle’s ferocious honesty.  I love the way he honors the brave men that serve as Catholic priests.  I love that he can (and, between all his essays, pretty much has) transform(ed) any and every human interaction into prayer.  I love the way he crafts his sentences.

If there is one person to blame for showing me what an essay can do, it’s Brian Doyle.

It all started when I picked up a copy of Leaping: Revelations & Epiphanies, a collection of Doyle’s essays, off the shelf at a local Barnes and Noble and thought to myself, ”A collection of essays? Is that how essays come packaged? Can people even survive that heavy a dosage?”  I thought essays were best rationed sparingly throughout poetry and literary criticism magazines.  The book was in the cards, however, and I took it home to “try it out.”