Dennis, still alive, after a fashion

I intend to resume real writing here soon, as well as the fictional thread over at Storyboard. Sanity and order are reasserting control and even now are rapidly reclaiming the psychological territory lost to the rebel forces of sloth and intemperance over the last few months. They advanced quickly but cannot hold their gains, as always (hey, were talking about sloth and intemperance here). As rapidly as they acquired territory they will yield it back to my determined counter-insurgency. The smoke is settling; I can see the landscape of my mind, gouged by bomb blasts and littered with corpses. It's only a matter now of cleaning up the mess and convincing the population it is safe to return. Until the next assault. The Surge is working through mass arrests, extraordinary rendition, a shameful reliance on air power regardless of civilian casualties (there goes a Hellfire now, obliterating a van full of insurgent impulses--or just wreaking more collateral damage by destroying civilian brain cells) and of course by walling off the emotionally cleansed sectarian neighborhoods of my psyche. Psychological reconciliation proves elusive still, but we're in this for the long haul. This is the long war!

Well, I'm gone to Detox Mansion
Way down on Last Breath Farm
I've been rakin' leaves with Liza
Me and Liz clean up the yard
(...)
Growin' fond of Detox Mansion
And this quiet life I lead
But I'm dying to tell my story
For all my friends to read
--Warren Zevon, Detox Mansion