sense of doubt

Though the current project started as a series of posts charting my grief journey after the death of my mother, I am no longer actively grieving. Now, the blog charts a conversation in living, mainly whatever I want it to be. This is an activity that goes well with the theme of this blog (updated 2018). The Sense of Doubt blog is dedicated to my motto: EMBRACE UNCERTAINTY. I promote questioning everything because just when I think I know something is concrete, I find out that it’s not.

Monday, July 13, 2026

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4165 - Play God - Music Mix Reprint from 2024

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4165 - Play God - Music Mix Reprint from 2024

Giving this new cover art, which comes from a movie called Playing God.

You Tube frequently serves up old playlists that have "recent activity." Sometimes this activity is a song or songs being removed. Other times it could be an actual listener. After all, as of today, the mix has 207 views, and those are not all by me.

Though this mix is only a little over two ye4ars old, I forgot how good it is.

Enjoy!

Thanks for tuning in.

LOW POWER MODE: I sometimes put the blog in what I call LOW POWER MODE. If you see this note, the blog is operating like a sleeping computer, maintaining static memory, but making no new computations. If I am in low power mode, it's because I do not have time to do much that's inventive, original, or even substantive on the blog. This means I am posting straight shares, limited content posts, reprints, often something qualifying for the THAT ONE THING category and other easy to make posts to keep me daily. That's the deal. Thanks for reading.

BLOG VACATION #1 - 2026 - Taking a blog vacation for a couple of weeks, until at least June 26th, 2026. But now that it's past June 26, I am not sure when I am resuming normal operations. Mostly reprints. A few simple shares (not that simple shares are out of the norm) and THAT ONE THING. Need time for other things.

Link to the original post I am reprinting below:

Monday, April 15, 2024

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3345 - "Play God" - a new mix for Music Monday 2404.15

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3345 - "Play God" - a new mix for Music Monday 2404.15

This mix has been in the works for some time.

That's what happens.

I conceive an idea: "hey, I like this song. I should build a mix around it."

I put it on the schedule.

And then, because I have not worked on it at all, I keep pushing back the publication date.

In the end, I just went with a random mix not so much one that has a theme that unites most or all of the songs.

The selections here are mainly songs that came to my attention recently or for one reason or another went into my "favorites" list, which is more a dumping ground for songs to listen to than an actual list of favorites.

Though, because You Tube keeps hiding these lists from me for no reason I can discern, I made a blog post to be able to get to them if I cannot find them in my playlists queue. You Tube really needs a search function in all the ways I can scroll through my playlists.

Sunday, September 26, 2021

A Sense of Doubt blog post #2413 - FAVORITES and NON-MUSIC FAVES PLAYLISTS YOU TUBE

This is an interesting collection. After the song for which the mix is named and my starting point -- "Play God" by Ani DiFranco -- I went with contrast and yet thematic unity (I think) with what was chosen as the theme song for the show Constellation on AppleTV+ that I featured on the blog last week.

Monday, April 8, 2024

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3338 - Surrogate Sibling - "Tellur" - Musical Monday for 2404.08

Hans Zimmer's brilliant theme for the TV show The Crown seemed to follow "Tellur" well, and then there's songs recently recommended by my friend Helene interspersed with other gems, such as PJ Harvey and Jane Siberry.

I haven't even listened to the mix all the way through, honestly. But that's okay. I like randomness and surprises.

I am happy to get Kit Sebastian into a mix as I have proclaimed on social media they are one of my newest most favorite bands, though I have yet to feature them in a blog post... that needs to go on the schedule.

I feel the frame from "Play God" to "Thank You for Hearing Me" works really well, too.

From Track 18 to 26, I am not sure that all works. That's where the mix gets VERY random.

But I am sticking with this for now.

I hope you like it.

Thanks for tuning in.

"Play God" - a new mix for Music Monday 2404.15

"Play God" Mix - Track List

[1] Play God - Ani DiFranco (Official Music Video)

[2] Surrogate Sibling - Tellur

[3] Hans Zimmer - The Crown Main Title

[4] This love Craig Armstrong ft Elizabeth Fraser 1998

[5] PJ Harvey - Prayer at the Gate (Official Audio)

[6] Jane Siberry & KD Lang - Calling All Angels

[7] David Sylvian - 'For The Love of Life'

[8] Madonna - Drowned World (William Orbit "A Reverie" Remix) [official]

[9] Peter Gabriel, Liz Fraser & Paul Buchanan - Downside Up (Later with Jools Holland, May 2000)

[10] The Psychedelic Furs - Heartbreak Beat (Official Video)

[11] Chelsea Wolfe - Everything Turns Blue (Official Music Video)

[12] Ryuichi Sakamoto - Heartbeat (Live)

[13] David Bowie – Sweet Thing-Candidate-Sweet Thing (Repr.) -Live at the Univ Amphitheatre- 1974

[14] PORTISHEAD - Sour Times - REMASTERED 2024

[15] Tracey Thorn - Nowhere Near

[16] Kit Sebastian - Lady Grinning Soul

[17] Binary - Ani DiFranco (Official Music Video)

[18] Paul Weller :: Soul Wandering [Official Lyric Video]

[19] MK, Dom Dolla - Rhyme Dust (Official Visualiser)

[20] Ani DiFranco "Asking Too Much"

[21] High and Dry - Radiohead (Cover by Kawehi) | Live from my Basement

[22] Roxy Music - Virginia Plain - Top Of The Pops - 24th August 1972

[23] Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Enola Gay (Official Music Video)

[24] Portishead - Glory Box

[25] Kit Sebastian - L'Addio (Official Music Video)

[26] Fanny - Ain't That Peculiar (1971) | LIVE

[27] Vegas featuring Siobhan Fahey - Walk Into the Wind (version 1)

[28] One Hundred Years - The Cure (2005 Remaster)

[29] DAVID GILMOUR with DAVID BOWIE 『 Comfortably Numb 』

[30] Who Knows Where The Time Goes? Fairport Convention

[31] Pixies - Monkey Gone to Heaven [1989]

[32] TOS2020 (single version) - Remission International The Mission UK MWIS - Official

[33] Sinéad O'Connor - Thank You For Hearing Me (Official Music Video) [HD]

"Play God"

- Ani DiFranco

LYRICS

I was done at 16

Showing up for class

I was out there in the ring

Learning how to kick some ass

I was done at 16

Using my momma's key

It was all on me

Weren't no free rides

Weren't no IOU's

I pulled my weight, yeah

I paid my dues

And I showed up to enlist

On the first day of recruits

How 'bout you?

How 'bout you

I'm my brother's keeper

Every chance I can

I pay my taxes

Like any working man

And I feel I've earned

My right to choose

You don't get to play God, man, I do

You get to run the world

In your special way

You get much more

Much more than your say

Government, religion

It's all just patriarchy

I must insist you leave this one thing to me

Just leave this one thing to me

Just leave this one thing

'Cause there's one thing that a man needs

To be truly free

This is the modern world

And that one thing is money

But there are two things

That a woman needs

Control over her own body

Yeah I pay the price

On top of everything

Each month a bill

Each month a reckoning

And each seed that dies

I cry and I bleed

So you can't tell me

You can't tell me

I am a soldier

It's my blood that flows

I'd give my life

So that this tree can grow

You don't know creation

Like I know

So you can't tell me

No you can't tell me

You can't tell me

You get to run the world

In your special way

You get much more

Much more than your say

Government, religion

It's all just patriarchy

I must insist you leave this one thing to me

Just leave this one thing

Just leave this one thing to me

Just leave this one thing

'Cause I'm my brother's keeper

Every chance I can

I pay my taxes

Like any working man

And I feel I've earned

My right to choose

You don't get to play God, man, I do

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Ani Di Franco

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2607.13 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 4029 days ago & DAD = 4029 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

Sunday, July 12, 2026

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4164 - Creamsicle of Asgard - SoD Reprint from 2018

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4164 - Creamsicle of Asgard - SoD Reprint from 2018

It was time to reprint the Creamsicle post.

Thanks for tuning in.

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #1091 - Creamsicle of ASGARD

From the Graphic Novel "I, Whom the Gods Would Destroy."

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #1091 - Creamsicle of ASGARD

Hi Mom,

Good THOR STUFF.

I must confess that the image above and cartoon introduction came from a Fanfare newsletter sometime in 2017, surely the products of the wonderful imagination of newsletter curator and made genius Josh Upson. So I cannot take credit for the creamsicle. It's too good.

Not to make light of it, but the woman wielding the hammer as the Mighty Thor has passed away in the Marvel Comics, and the Odinson is due to take back the mantle of Thor, worthy or not.

The Mighty Thor has been one of Marvels' most consistently well written and visually beautifully rendered comics of the last five years, mainly due to the efforts of Jason Aaron and a legion of artists, including Russell Dauterman and Esad Ribić.

The debut of a woman wielding the hammer of Thor shook the Marvel universe and fandom. It was a great idea and one born for a long term story arc, as we still do not know what Thor was told back in the Original Sin mini series that made him unworthy to lift Mjolnir.

The debut of a woman Thor was also smartly done as it was not revealed for nearly a year who was the human woman in possession of Thor's hammer and transformed to the God of Thunder by wielding the enchanted Uru hammer.

Genius idea!!

When we learned that the human in power was Jane Foster and that she had cancer and was dying, the story took on an even more poignant and powerful pathos.

This panel below shows off one of the best moments in the run.

I could go on and on about what made this run great, but I had promised myself to keep my comments somewhat short. So...

However, I can go quite yet. If I get into a comic book subject, there must be an art and cover gallery!

ART AND COVER GALLERY

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Reflect and connect.
Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you.
I miss you so very much, Mom.
Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.
- Days ago = 1093 days ago
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1807.01 - 10:10
NOTE on time: When I post late, I had been posting at 7:10 a.m. because Google is on Pacific Time, and so this is really 10:10 EDT. However, it still shows up on the blog in Pacific time. So, I am going to start posting at 10:10 a.m. Pacific time, intending this to be 10:10 Eastern time. I know this only matters to me, and to you, Mom. But I am not going back and changing all the 7:10 a.m. times. But I will run this note for a while. Mom, you know that I am posting at 10:10 a.m. often because this is the time of your death.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2607.12 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 4028 days ago & DAD = 682 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

Saturday, July 11, 2026

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4163 - SoD Reprint from 2021 - Reading - Best Selling Novels

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4163 - SoD Reprint from 2021 - Reading - Best Selling Novels

Another reprint with lots of commentary on one of my favorite books on writing, one I read a lot before I connected its author to the Dean Koontz whose novels I had read, like Midnight, primarily.

Thanks for tuning in.

Link to the original post I am reprinting below:

Saturday, July 3, 2021

A Sense of Doubt blog post #2328 - Writing Best Selling Novels - WHAT I AM READING pt.5

A Sense of Doubt blog post #2328 - Writing Best Selling Novels - WHAT I AM READING pt.5

Welcome back to another edition of WHAT I AM READING, which is usually also associated with COMIC BOOK SUNDAY, but this Sunday, as in tomorrow, is JULY FOURTH, which for me will now always be the anniversary of the day my Mom died. Six years ago tomorrow. So, I will have another HEY MOM post tomorrow to acknowledge her death, so more on that tomorrow.

For today, reading:

How to Write Best Selling Fiction by Dean Koontz

Heroes Reborn - Heroes Return mini-series, Marvel Comics

Lisey's Story - Stephen King

and

How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

On a regular basis, I hesitate to say annually but on a regular basis, I read books about writing fiction. I have favorites, such as The Writing Life by Annie Dillard, On Writing by Stephen King, How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card, Science Fiction Handbook, Revised by L. Sprague De Camp and Catherine Crook De Camp as well as Story and Dialogue by Robert McKee.

And among the other favorites, I am found of Writing the Novel by Lawrence Block and How to Write Best Selling Fiction by Dean Koontz. I read both of these books before I read any fiction by either Block or Koontz. I am not really a huge Dean Koontz fan. I like some of what I have read. Midnight is a particular favorite and a frequent touchstone. But I do not read much Dean Koontz, not like my gobbling up of Stephen King novels.

Books on writing inspire me much the same as any books inspire me, both fiction and non-fiction. I like reading writers write about writing because I like to think this reading practice is part of how I hone my craft. It's not as if writers on writing reveal arcane secrets from a world into which I have no window. I feel like I am not looking into that room, the writing room, through a window. I am in the room. I might not be in the banquet hall with the other published novelists, but I am definitely writing, and so I am in the writing room.

Because I have stepped up my writing work, it is time again to read some books on writing, and so I chose Koontz's book to be first.

The thing that strikes me now as I read it -- and I have read it many times before -- is the way in which his rhetoric shaped me as a young man and how it no longer really has the same effect on me. In fact, I quite disagree with a lot of his statements.

Koontz devotes a great portion of the second chapter to criticizing academia and the literature in which academia is interested. These criticisms proved influential to me as a young man in academia, both as an undergraduate student of literature and writing and then as a graduate student in an MFA program. Koontz' arguments may in part be why I wrote a Star Trek novel as my MFA project, one my academic advisor did not even read, though she did pass me and allow me to graduate. I eschewed academic and literary fiction and want to plunge myself into popular fiction and something with a chance of being published by a commercial house.

Though my ire towards academia does not come off as petulantly as Koontz's, I did reject the literary path for fiction about which I was much more passionate.

Koontz properly characterizes the snobbery of academia toward the "popular" or the "mainstream" fiction of the time, IE. best sellers. I encountered this academic bigotry even before I submitted my Star Trek novel to the MFA program. When an Anne Rice inspired older woman enrolled in my MFA advisor's course and was churning out vampire fiction, the teacher wanted my help in looking at those manuscripts because she claimed to "not know anything" about the genre. Well, why did she need to know about the genre? Fiction is fiction. The rules of good fiction apply to all fiction. But this reaction toward that woman's vampire fiction is endemic of the attitudes in academia toward the "popular." It is seen as low brow, lesser, not as "artistic," lacking in quality, the food of the uneducated.

And yet, when one of my PhD holding friends attempted to write a Harlequin romance because she assumed it would be an easy enough route to a quick buck only to be summarily rejected, it was clear that academics cannot stoop to the low brow and be successful. To write a good Harlequin, one must steep one's self in the genre, believe in the genre, and be authentic with the writing. If a writer finds the genre to be beneath her, then this attitude will come through in the attempt, and it did, and it was rejected by the publisher.

Interestingly, since Koontz's How To on best selling fiction was published in 1981, academia has absorbed more of the popular fiction of the time. The schism between what is considered "true art" and "popular" has narrowed. People still excuse their reading (or even writing) of "trash" all the time. There's still the perception that popular books are quick, easy, and "mindless," like cotton candy. I have even held these beliefs. I have often said that I like Stephen King the most of the "popular" writers as if writers like John Gardner or Toni Morrison are not popular in their own ways and among their own audiences. But this comment of mine is meant to be dismissive, forgiving. "Please do not judge me for consuming this trash; this is good trash." And though I have often claimed that John Irving should be regarded as our modern Dickens, perhaps I should be saying that Stephen King should be so regarded. People are not standing in lines for Irving's books. Though Irving is a great writer, and I adore his work, even when I do not enjoy the book overly much, as in the 2015 effort Avenue of Mysteries, which I did not find overly gripping and had to switch from reading it traditionally and consuming it as an audio book. But King is more in line with the idea we have of Dickens as a "hack" (as he was so regarded in his time) that was still wildly popular with the "masses," and people were lining up to get their next hit of the current Dickens episode.

Thankfully, graphic novels and a great deal of "popular fiction" have become part of academic studies. And as I am currently reading Lisey's Story, which I find lyrical and complex in many ways, I would argue that the book is just artful as many so called "literary" novels. The greater acceptance of stories that deal with supernatural, fantastic, and science fictional elements reveal that works of fiction can be both chimerical and artful.

Koontz clearly suffered from inferiority complex for not being accepted by academia or perhaps for not continuing his education past the Bachelor's level, even though he attended a highly ranked state college -- Shippensburg State College of Pennsylvania.

Koontz appears to have been triggered by his high school English teacher, who wrote him and implied he was wasting his time with popular dreck and should take a crack at writing "the great American novel." Koontz balked at this notion and questioned what defines the "great American novel" as such. He feels his novels are both great and American, and they sell well and provide him with the lifestyle he wishes to have.

But then Koontz expands his argument to suggest that no one reads Melville, Hawthorne, or even Hemingway much any more. Koontz goes on from there to make many damning statements with which I disagree.

Koontz seems to think that some writers have chosen to write purely for the approval of academia and refuse to write novels with "popular appeal." There is some truth to this statement. Many snobbish writers refuse to "prostitute themselves" with work they find low-brow, mundane, sensational, and only for the uneducated masses. But the generalizations Koontz promotes that all authors with literary aspirations "turn [their] back on the masses and refuse to write novels with popular appeal" (13) is just nonsense.

After all, Koontz's definition of popularity is just as limiting and narrow as the definition of "literary fiction" that he opposes. He makes a series of generalized claims that are not well supported by his own somewhat convoluted logic. Though I agree with some of his ideas, his overall argument is deeply flawed and seems to come from insecurity and bitterness from someone denied admission to an exclusive club of which he very much wants to be a part.

"There is no merit in writing for a like-minded clique and selling two thousand copies of your book" (Koontz, 13).

No merit? Like-minded clique? That statement by Koontz is just stupid and transparently bitter.

After listing the elements of good fiction (strong plot, action, hero/heroine, convincing characters with motivations, flush backgrounds, mechanical well-written, stylistically somewhat lyrical and vivid), he falsely claims that "the academic generally has little or no use for plot in a novel" (14), which is patently false. Though post-modern novels and stories often are less works of plot than other literary devices, it is inaccurate and quite ignorant to claim that an academic novel (whatever that is) has "no use" for plot.

Later, Koontz makes one of his most puzzling statements about the role of art in our lives and our culture: "What use is art if it not humane? What use is art if it does not give us hope, if it does not lift our spirits? What value does art have if it does not make our years on this earth better, happier, and easier to bear than they otherwise would have been? I will answer my own question: if it doesn't do those things, then art is of no use whatsoever" (Koontz, 15-16).

This strikes me as a very narrow and limiting definition for what art is and what art can do. As an artist, my immediate reaction to such a statement is to begin to imagine art works that are the opposite of Koontz's reactionary and quite stupid definition of art. We would not have "Piss Christ" and so many more art works if all art had to fit into Koontz's myopic, harps and flowers version of art.

Koontz remarks about followed as support for his argument that it is easier to write about villains than heroes. Again, his remarks are full of generalities and seem to overlook the anti-hero let alone the villain as hero, which, in defense of his limited views was less of literary concern in 1981 than today.

I am still going to finish my re-read of Koontz's book because when it comes to the toolbox of writing, he has lots of knowledge and great wisdom. His books are successful for a very good reason. But his heavy-handed moralizing and puerile rejection of academia nauseates me as I hope it nauseates you.

SHORT BITS

I am almost done with Lisey's Story, which may supplant The Stand as my favorite Stephen King book. It's lyrical, and I like the interwoven past-present structure. More on that book in my next installment. I plan to study it closely. I bought the Kindle edition and will purchase a paperback copy to go with my hardcover.

I am still reading Attack Surface, but I have less to say about that right now.

Though I finished How to be an Antiracist, I want to keep writing about it, but not this time. The Koontz thing ate my devoted writing time for this entry. The goal of this focus was to keep the entry focused and give some good content. So more next time.

I also wanted to writ about the Heroes Reborn mini-series from Marvel. I am putting that off for next time, too, but I will share the cover gallery here before I go.

See y'all next time.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2607.11 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 4026 days ago & DAD = 681 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

Friday, July 10, 2026

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4162 - SoD Reprint from 2023 - A Nature Hike That Nearly Killed Me

Yes, that's my finger in the upper right.

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4162 - SoD Reprint from 2023 - A Nature Hike That Nearly Killed Me

Another reprint.

I am yearning for time in nature.

Link to the original post I am reprinting below:

Wednesday, July 5, 2023

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3060 - Last Week: A Road Trip and a Hike

old growth forest

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3060 - Last Week: A Road Trip and a Hike

Since I was on break, I took two days completely away from work because even during break, there is prep to do, and I do teach for another school.

Friday June 30th, I drove up the Washington Coast from Longview to Aberdeen and then over to Olympia for lunch with a friend and then home.

I did not take pictures.

I am considering setting a great deal of my current novel in Aberdeen, WA.

Then, on Saturday July 1st, with my friend Paul, we drove up past the Lewis River Falls (Lower, Middle, and Upper) to the Quartz Creek Trail for a hike.

The Quartz Creek Trail is an eight mile hike -- four miles out and four miles back -- but we did not know it would be up and up and up and UP!! The trail followed switch backs hundreds of feet above the creek. After about two miles, we were whipped and turned around.

QUARTZ CREEK TRAILHEAD

Here's a bunch of pictures in this entry.

It was good self-care. I feel closest to my Mom in nature. As I wrote yesterday, it has been eight years since her death.

Thanks for tuning in.

Hike Quartz Creek Gif Pinchot 2307 01 1

Chris Tower

coral mushroom

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2607.10 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 4026 days ago & DAD = 680 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

I am Christopher Tower the gmr

I am Christopher Tower (or Chris), and I am a writer of stuff. I grew up in Michigan; I now live in the Portland, OR metro area. I play Ultimate, ride a bike, and supposedly educate college persons while myself being educated in college. I am married with two kids, a beagle, a curly lab, and a fiesty pug/frenche mix. I like sushi. I love all SF, fantasy, comic books, D&D, board games, and Gnosticism. I am a Jungian. I am currently studying Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Walden University.

SENSE OF DOUBT STATUS AS OF 0705.04 - 16:45

Sense of Doubt is not currently dedicated to any themes or special interest. The subject matter is mine and may range from comic books to ultimate or from Baseball to feminist-centered media criticism. Until I feel I have enough content for multiple blogs, or until I am seized with a desire to create multiple blogs, this is it, and appropriately so. "Sense of Doubt" came about in Bowie’s Berlin period and the dark, ambient collaborations with Brian Eno. Like the Bowie of 1978, I have my own darkness that steals over me and through me, infecting everything. At the risk of sounding far too melodramatically obsessed with my own self-flagellations, this blog dedicates itself to that darkness, that infection. But it’s fun, too. Hey, I can be amusing? Or not. It’s the way of the [w]rench. Neurosis compelling action in insecure double-checking and misunderstanding evasions. It is my way.

More from the original description text that needed editing in 2015: Furthermore, Sense of Doubt is dedicated to the random. The theme is no theme. Just questions, doubt, and uncertainty. Feel the power of not knowing the answer. So dedicated on the last day of July 2006 by the Galactic Monkey Wrench.

The Galactic Monkey Wrench

This is the logo of the Galactic Monkey Wrench. I was given the nickname Galactic Monkey Wrench in college by a friend of mine who felt that I threw the monkey wrench into the cosmos at every available opportunity. Later, in discussions with my best friend, who is the Lord of Chaos (the Loc), he asked for my title and when I told him, without thinking, he blurted out "the gmr!" Since this was random and we appreciate randomness, I became the gmr, even though technically I should be the gmw. But gmw sounds like a car or some industrial manufacturing firm that makes a strange widget of which one has never heard. This acronym fetish may make no sense to anyone else, but my friend and I are quite driven to provide acronyms for many things. At the very least, it allows us to keep our conversations obscure and often private as no one knows about what we're talking.

Monkey Wrench Books

Chris's books

A Feast for Crows

by George R.R. Martin

This book is a little slower than the others. But if you become invested in this series, it provides key information about the history of Westeros and the lands across the Narrow Sea. It may not contain chapters with my favorite characters ...

A Game of Thrones

by George R.R. Martin

Do I really need to review this book? It's one of the best books I have ever read. Martin is a great writer. All the books are great, and I am loving my time rereading them. If you have not checked out these books, start here and get ready ...

The Golden City

by John Twelve Hawks

These books are immensely entertaining. Treat yourself to some strong writing, great action, compelling characters, and a mix of metaphysics and theology. The ending of this third book, which is presumably the last, is anti-climactic and so...

Pathfinder

by Orson Scott Card

This was a fun book. Not OSC's best but very good OSC nonetheless. The best thing about is the time travel, slowing, and speeding powers of the characters and how OSC engages the reader in discussion of causality and time paradox. For fans ...

Swamplandia!

by Karen Russell

This book came to me via my wife Liesel who discovered it and urged me to read it. Beautifully written with compelling characters and a sense of the magical (yet realistic, somewhat). Funny yet full of the pathos that marks a good if not gr...

Hey, Mom! The Explanation.

Monday, July 13, 2026

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4165 - Play God - Music Mix Reprint from 2024

Sunday, July 12, 2026

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4164 - Creamsicle of Asgard - SoD Reprint from 2018

Saturday, July 11, 2026

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4163 - SoD Reprint from 2021 - Reading - Best Selling Novels

Friday, July 10, 2026

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4162 - SoD Reprint from 2023 - A Nature Hike That Nearly Killed Me