So, a funny thing happened to me this past Thanksgiving. Actually, it’s not that funny but more of a pain in the butt. Literally.

I’ll start by saying that writing has been consistent since that last update, despite the event that happened on Thanksgiving. And photos of Zach and myself for the promotion of “The Last Job: File 3454” have been sent to the advertisement agency. The photos were taken on Zach’s phone on Thanksgiving and I cannot go any further without just getting into the fried turkey meat of it.

On Thanksgiving day, I got too close to a heater, my clothing started on fire, and parts of my body got burned.

I’m okay, I’m healing up, and despite the pain, I’m still putting the effort into writing.

So what exactly happened? Well, here is the story.

Zach came over on Thanksgiving to take pictures with me for our book’s promotion. I had this bright idea to have my picture taken by the heater in my family’s garage. I was thinking of holding our book, sitting and reading it by a “cozy fire” hence why I was by the heater.

Now, nothing happened yet, and everything went according to plan. We actually got some decent shots of me with my favorite shirt, reading our co-authored book. Zach then wanted a photo of the two of us together with our book. My uncle helped by holding Zach’s phone and taking pictures.

I was occupied with the photo shoot, chatting with Zach and my uncle, and wearing three layers of shirts, and I stood by the heater. And I thought I was far enough away. Well, nope.

A series of moments happened. The first being myself feeling way, way too hot and thinking of turning the heater down. I turned and then my uncle shouted that I was on fire. Thinking it was only a small flame, I patted my back.

Before I knew it, I saw the flame at my sides, coming off of my pants and I dropped and rolled. And thank goodness in elementary school that stop-drop-and-roll is taught. Because the act of rolling on the ground saved my life. Seriously, it was one of the most terrifying moments of my entire life.

And that was followed by one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.

My family comes out as I strip off the burn, still hot, clothing. Right down to my underwear. My favorite shirt, favorite long sleeve thermal, and nice white undershirt have no backside left. My pants were scorched and looked like I had a firecracker go off in one of my back pockets.

My underwear was fried and so is my . . . yeah. And on both sides too.

I had some burning fabric get stuck on two fingers which formed some nice juicy blisters. And somehow after four days they had not popped. Luckily, my two pointer fingers, my main fingers for typing, survived. Otherwise, I would not be typing right now.

I am okay, just still in a lot of pain and because the blisters on my butt and the burns I sustained on my left side, they are pretty moist. And yes, I am using the word moist because I know it makes some people cringe. Or make their mouths water, depending on the person.

And I have had my fill of hospitals. All Black Friday I was with my family, going to a couple different hospitals and waiting before seeing a nurse or doctor. And I was, and still am, unable to sit down.

Honestly, with how much standing hours and hours on end I did during the hospital waits, I have potential to be a decent Beefeater Guard. Seriously, those guys are bosses for what they do. Standing on your feet for hours on end is tough. Luckily, I’m on my feet a lot at my day job, so my legs could take it.

For the last few days, I have set up my laptop on my bedroom dresser, so I could still type while standing up. But I can only manage that for a few hours before needing to lay down. And I will admit, I have fallen down the anime rabbit hole again. The isekai genre has been my chosen abyss to fall in during my recovery.

What really sucks is that I took advantage of some Black Friday sales and got my hands on a few “Call of Cthulhu” RPG books. Including, finally, the core rule book. And I planned on sitting down one quiet evening and giving the core book a good read. And of course, the books arrived the day after my burns.

I could stand or lay down to read but I have not been very motivated to do so lately. Because burns are no joke and hurt like hell. It is super hard to focus on anything when you got some nice, juicy, moist, hurty burns. And the hurty only gets worse before it gets better.

The most painful thing so far had been the constant changing of dressing on the wounds. The tape being peeled off skin and ripping hair. I never thought tape would hurt so much but it does. Especially on Black Friday, after having my wounds be undressed and dressed again several times by doctors and nurses.

Despite everything, I’m okay. I’m healing up slowly and still keeping on with writing. By some miracle, I completed a few more chapters of that Horror-Comedy story I want to post on the blog. And as long as I can station my laptop on my dresser, I can type. And at the same time, train my legs to be a proper Beefeater!

Well, this update/rant has gone on long enough. I did some more writing today and should reward myself by laying down somewhere. Probably in front of my TV and absorb more isekai. Oh, and I now cringe anytime someone casts a fire spell and sets someone ablaze.

I am so grateful that fire magic is not in the real world. Fire is fun in fiction but is horrifying in real life. At least I’ll have plenty to talk about during this year's Christmas get togethers.

Good Luck and watch out for Fire, seriously!

—Buck

PS: This blog was written on 2024 / 12 / 2. BTW, I’ve been having Turkey and Waffle for the last three dinner meals and man, that is a tasty combo. So yummy---OOOUCH! I’m going to go lay down now . . .

PPS: The following was added on 2024 / 12 / 3. So, I saw the burn specialist today and my recovery is going to take another week. Yup. Please be safe out there and avoid hot things. Be safe, be cautious, and don’t get burned. And please think twice before casting fireball. Use fire magic responsibly. 🔥