I have told a number of people that I am working on my last project: a fund-raiser for the MPN Foundation. The foundation does research into myelofibrosis and offers various things for patient support. I got the idea for the raffle one afternoon, and it has evolved since then.
It started as a fairly simple raffle: let's buy a higher-end knife, and then sell tickets for $20 as a chance to win, via random number drawing, this knife. It has evolved to include t-shirts; I have 3 knives committed by sponsors, one of which will be heavily customized for first place. I'm negotiating to have engraved flashlights made and paid for by a sponsor, so that the prizes become nice packages. Tickets will be $75, I think; I'm trying to give a 1-in-20 chance of winning a prize equal to or of greater value than the ticket price.
While it's too late for this to benefit me, it will be good to carry the knowledge through the upcoming pain and suffering that I have done at least something to help others suffering with and fighting myelofibrosis.
However, what I've told people is a bit of a white lie. This might well be the last project I undertake which has well-defined goals, operational parameters, and coordination of various people and pieces, it will not be my last project.
My last project is also underway: I am writing a novel. Nothing about this novel is well defined; the story is unfolding in my mind, living its life in my imagination, changing texture, shifting characters, and transforming scenes before my mind's eye. It will touch upon a couple themes that have played important roles in my life: identity, dogs, and regrets about a life of solitude, a life spent sequestered, the self-imposed sentence of my captivity in a prison with no walls.
As Orson Welles once articulated a theme that surfaces repeatedly in Western culture: "We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone."
It will touch upon the vanity of the mind; how many people are incredibly vane and superficial, yet believe that they are deep thinkers - with absolutely hilarious results observed by anybody who can indeed think and reason.
Paradoxically, it will also feature plenty of violence, blood, guts, and weaponry. You know, 'cuz Murica and life, liberty, and the pursuit of monetary reward.
I also have news on the health front: nothing major, but something. I'm still digesting it all.
