Did a bit more editing work on my latest D B Shan novel in the morning, but then I had to have another meeting with my architect in the afternoon, so that was the end of creative work for the day! I'm not getting as much work done recently as I would have liked -- summers are usually an active time for me on the writing front -- but now that the statues are in and plans are moving ahead nicely on the extension front, I should hopefully be able to focus more fully on what matters most -- writing lots, to keep you guys happy!!!

Speaking of my D B Shan alter ego, I've just added the cover for the American edition of Procession of the Dead to my D B Shan site. You can check it out by clicking on THIS LINK. I think they've done a great job on the cover -- I hope you do too!! For any of my American fans who are wondering when they'll be able to buy Procession of the Dead, it is due for release in the USA on June 1st 2010. The even better news for the more impatient fans among you is that the second book of the series, Hell’s Horizon, is due to follow swiftly on its heels — it’s scheduled to go on sale just six months later, on January 1st 2011!!! I know it’s been a long wait, but once these books hit, it’s going to be fast and furious from that point on!!!

Forgot to mention yesterday, in all the excitement about the statues, that I did a radio show in the afternoon, on a show called Moncrieff, on Newstalk -- an Irish radio station. It was an enjoyable chat. If you missed it, it is now available as a podcast, so you can listen to it by CLICKING HERE. It runs about 15 or 20 minutes.

Phew -- I'm exhausted!!! Sorry I haven't been blogging as regularly as normal, but I've been away from my PC for most of the last couple of days. I spent the weekend and Monday editing the adult book which I hope to release after City of the Snakes, but I had lots of other bits and pieces to deal with too, so I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped. Then, on Tuesday, we started to install a group of three statues in my garden, whilst moving another statue from the back of the garden up to the front. It was a very complicated procedure, and even though everything went as smoothly as it possibly could -- indeed, far smoother than we had any right to expect -- it still took almost two full days to get everything into place. The staues are 12 feet tall and VERY imposing!! I first saw them 3 or 4 years ago and fell in love with them. They were a bit out of price range at the time, so I had to wait, even though I knew that meant I might miss out on them if somebody else came in and bought them. But luckily they were still there when the funds fell into place (thanks to the movie!!), and now they're finally in my garden -- wahoo!!!

I'm just a big kid at heart, really. Like a kid, I have crazy, overly ambitious dreams -- but I've found that if you don't accept the limiting logic of the adult world, and instead allow yourself to carry on dreaming, and actually work hard to achieve those dreams, some of them CAN be realised!!! The statues look amazing, so I love them for that -- but I also love them because they're concrete, physical proof that some of my dreams have come real, justification of all the hard work I've put in over the years. Of course, I've had plenty of justification propr to this -- incredible book sales, thousands of heart-warming letters from fans, travel all around the world -- but sometimes one single moment or event or acquisition can drive home the truth of your good fortune more than anything else could, and this is one of those times. When I look out the windows at the back of my house tonight, and see the statues, I feel like the king of the world!!!

Getting a book published isn't like winning the lottery. There are very few moments of craziness or elation -- you work very hard over a long period of time and hopefully produce something that you can be proud of, something which gives you a deep sense of satisfaction. But every so often, even in the refined, cultured, slow-moving world of literature, you DO get a sudden rush and feel like you've had a big win. Tonight, I feel like I've hit the jackpot!! Tomorrow it will be work as normal, but tonight it's just --YIPPEE!!!!!!!

Oh -- I almost forgot to explain why I gave this blog the title which I gave it!! I was out in the garden most of Tuesday, helping with the installation, and while it wasn't very hot, it was sunnier than most days in Ireland. I'm not used to being outdoors for long periods of time -- most of my work is done inside, on a PC. I ended up getting a bit sunburnt, on my arms and neck. By no means the worst sunburn ever, but it reminded me of a time when I DID get absolutely roasted, several years ago -- and you can find the wince-inducing photo on my web site by CLICKING HERE. Ouch!!!!

I finished editing City of the Snakes on Thursday. This is my last full edit of the book, although I'll be going through it one final time in a few months, when the page proofs are sent to me -- but by that stage I'll only be looking for typos or tiny errors, so to all intents and purposes this marks the end of the "real" work on the book. It's certainly a year for endings!! I've polished off the last Demonata book after 8 years, and now my City Trilogy after close to 16 (!!!) years. Huge chapters of my life have come to an end in the last couple of weeks... but I'm not thinking about that!!! Instead, on Friday, I moved swiftly along to what will hopefully be my next D B Shan novel for adults, and started another edit of it. This is a book even twistier than usual, with all sorts of seismic plot lurches. I think it's a little tiger of a book, and my agent does too -- hopefully publishers will as well, once we submit it!!!

It was my Mum's 60th birthday on Wednesday. She didn't want a big party (she was trying to keep it as much of a secret as possible, so SSSSSHHHHH!!!!), so we got a Chinese takeaway and had some family members around to celebrate. Then, on Thursday, we went out to a posh restaurant in The Adare Manor for Mother's Day -- I know it was months ago, but every year Bas and I take out my Mum, Granny and aunt Maureen for Mother's Day, and this year we were away when it was on, so we pushed it back a bit. My Granny wasn't up for it this year, unfortunately, but my aunt Kathleen was more than happy to step in and take her place -- it's an ill wind that blows no one any good food!!!! The meal was delicious, and we rolled home well-stuffed!!

Right -- time to answer some more fan mail. I was drawing close to the bottom of my pile earlier in the week, but then I called in on my friend Kenny yesterday and he handed me a bag full of new correspondence -- it's the pile that never diminishes!!! I actually like having a big stack of letters from fans -- it proves that I'm popular!! -- but I know that if I just sit here admiring it, the letters won't get answered and the fans won't be impressed!!!! So, here goes -- wish me luck!!!!!!

Edited another chunk of City of the Snakes today. One of my favourite scenes from the book was included in today's section. The thing I love about this book is that there are all sorts of stories going on at the same time, not all of which seem to tie together at first -- but they come together over the course of the novel, and in ways that readers won't expect. One of the main plot threads of the book concerns a revenge quest, which seems in the first half to be the prime driving narrative force -- the book will look like it's headed for a big showdown at the very end, in which old scores are settled. A very familiar, pleasing plot device, which I've used myself many a time in the past, and probably will use again many a time in the future -- but not this time!!! There's a twist in this tale, and the revenge issue unexpectedly reaches its apex far sooner than expected, posing the question -- where the hell will Shan tale the story from here?!? The answer? You'll find out next March when you read the book!!!

Synchronicity being what it is, while I was feeling very pleased with myself for not going down the obvious route with this book, I happened to watch a fascinating documentary called Man On Wire, about a French tightrope walker who dreamt of walking between the Twin Towers (this was back in the early 1970s). Against all the odds, he managed to fulfil his crazy dream! It's a film that is definitely worth watching, but what struck a special chord with me was a bit near the end, where he talked about having to face new challenges in life, of not taking the easy route all the time, of dreaming big and chasing your dreams -- if everyone in the world did that, he said, we would all be walking a tightrope, metaphorically speaking.

I've been a bit ill at ease recently. The planned extension to my house is going to be a major upset, involving all sorts of complications, not least of which is having to pack up everything and put it in storage, and move out of our house for a year! I'm also putting some new statues into my garden over the coming months, which will require a lot of thought and tinkering with to position correctly. I've been feeling that I'd bitten off more than I could chew, that I'd be better off scrapping the extension and not buying the statues, and just carrying on as I have been for the last several years. And, yes, my life certainly would be less chaotic and more peaceful that way -- but also a hell of a lot more boring!!! The house will hopefully be fabulous when the extension is finished. The statues will hopefully look amazing. But there's no easy way to do all that -- if I want to enjoy them, I'm going to have to make sacrifices and go out of my comfort zone to get them. After watching Man On Wire, it reminded me that life shouldn't be about taking the easy options, that if we want to get the most out of it, we have to suffer a bit sometimes, and put ourselves in positions which aren't familiar to us, and ask more of ourselves than we might like. Life shouldn't be about safety all the time. We have to take risks, chase dreams, learn new skills, invite problems and hassle and dilemma into our everyday lives. Otherwise we just plod along and do nothing memorable. I'm not saying we should recklessly race across every tightrope we come to -- but sometimes we need to go out there on a limb, or even deliberately look for a challenge every now and then.

I've always sought the best of myself with the work that I do. And I try to seek the best of myself in other ways too, though I'm not as adventurous in other ways as I am when writing. If you want to do something crazy and big and dramatic and remarkable with your life, you'll need to challenge yourself too, and face days where you feel like you've bitten off more than you can chew. Don't ever shy away from a challenge, not if the prize at the end is something you truly desire. Because at the end of the day, when you're lying on your deathbed and looking back over your life, do you want to be thinking about the dull, grey, safe choices that you made -- or do you want to recall the days when you went out on a rope, high above the ground, all by yourself, and dared the world to knock you off????

I actually did end up treating myself on Friday night, after finishing my final edit of the last book of The Demonata -- as well as sharing a bottle of champagne with Bas, we watched The Godfather Part II, one of my all-time favourite films. What could be more fitting that that?!? A nice, dark treat to celebrate the end of a nice, dark series!!!

I did some stuff on the web on Saturday, but otherwise took things fairly easy. We were meant to go and see Elton John playing in Thomond Park. I'm not a big fan of his, but Bas likes him, and this was the first ever concert at the rugby stadium, so we thought it would be fun to go along and see what it was like. But the weather here has deteriorated astonishingly!!! Last week it was in the high 20s Celsius -- by Satuday, the temperature had dropped by 20 degress, rain was lashing down, and a strong wind was blowing. We asked each other if Elton John was really worth standing in the freezing rain for 3 hours or more for, and the answer was a resounding NO!!!! So we stayed at home and watched Ireland playing Bulgaria on the TV instead!! I guess it's a sign that we're getting old and boring, but to hell with it! I don't mind suffering for a band or singer that I love, but I'm not risking catching a cold just to see someone I've only a passing interest in!!!

I returned to regular work on Sunday and Monday, throwing myself into my final full edit of City of the Snakes, my third D B Shan book, which gets released in the UK in March 2010. I still have the page proofs stage at which to tinker with it, but this is my last proper edit, the last chance I have to make any significant changes. I haven't found too much that needs to be altered, but my editor has highlighted lots of little bits that can be corrected or improved, so I'm enjoying going through it and making small tweaks here and there. Every little bit helps!!!!

I saw the final of The Apprentice on TV last night -- great stuff!!! That's one of my favourite shows, one of the few that I watch on TV each week as opposed to catching the whole series later on DVD. I'm always sad when it finished -- nine months is a long time to wait for the next one!! I also started watching the final series of Battlestar Galactica. I can't wait to get to the end of this one -- it's been a dark, depressing but utterly fascinating ride of a series, and I'm intrigued to see how they wrap it all up!

Well, that's it -- it's all finished. This afternoon I concluded my final edit of the final book of The Demonata, so work on the series is now, after eight years and 4 months, officially OVER!! A long, complex journey that began on February 6th 2001, when I first set about tackling the story of Lord Loss, has now come to its end. There were no fireworks when I finished. There never are. Because I'm always juggling several books at the same time, I don't feel the same sense of completion that I suppose most writers do, when they work on a single project for a long period of time and then come to the end. I wrote the first draft of book 10 back in July 2006, so in a way the series has been "ending" for me for the last three years!! It's nice to have made it safely to the last page, but apart from maybe having a bottle of champers tonight, I won't be doing anything to celebrate -- after all there's still the October tour to come... and then the release of the book in other countries around the world at later dates... and the questions to answer at future events and signings... and -- well, in a way, hopefully, the series never will truly end for me. As long as you guys are out there keeping it alive, it will live on.

Having said all that, the ending was special in one way. We had another power cut this afternoon, so I did my final stretch of editing in silence. I normally have music playing in the background when I work, but this time it was just me and the words, so I did find myself thinking about the ending more than I usually would have, reflecting on all that has happened over the last eight years, both to the series and to my life in general. It was a nice, slightly maudlin, but ultimately sweet way to wrap up work on what, I'm sure we'll all agree, has been a far from nice, sweet series!!! I'm sure I'll write books just as dark, or even darker than The Demonata, but I doubt if I'll ever again get to revel in a story which requires worlds made of guts, or demons that stab your eyes out and spit eggs into your bloody sockets which hatch into insects and chew you down to the bone, or heroes who routinely vomit over their enemies when they want to kill them!!! This has been an OTT journey through disgusting, gory, messy words -- and I've loved every last blood-spattered minute of it!!!! I hope you guys have too, and while we might have peaked on the gruesome front, I promise I won't ever go the way of respectability and stray too far from my dark, visceral path!!!!

Speaking of endings -- I don't want this to turn into an obituaries column, but the world has lost another of my childhood heroes. I found out today that David Eddings has died. When I was a teenager, I absolutely LOVED The Belgariad. In fact, for a while, they were probably my favourite books in the whole wide world. They made a huge impression on me, and strongly influenced my writing -- indeed, I created the characters of Vancha March and Evanna as a direct homage to some of the creations of Eddings' world. I moved on from his types of books in later years, and it's been a long time since I dipped my toes in any of his books -- but as you'll see if you read the piece about him that was published in The Guardian, I don't think he would have minded that -- CLICK HERE. I love the fact that he wasn't precious about his work, that he was pleased if it only served the purpose of getting people interested in reading and then sending them on to find more challenging writers. In a way, I think I'm a lot like that myself. I know some of you are incredibly loyal, and have stuck with my books for several years -- and maybe will for many years more -- but a lot of my fans move on too. When you write for children or teenagers, that's inevitable, because everyone grows up, and it's natural to move on when you do. I never mind, because I've done that myself. But what I know from being a fan of works like The Belgariad -- and I hope it's something David Eddings realised too -- is that, generally speaking, nothing has as much as an impact on your life as the books you get into when you're just starting out. Sure, I've gone on to far more complex, layered, adult books since moving on from the fantasy books that I read in my teens -- but I still remember those books more vividly and fondly than just about anything I've read since. Virtually nothing rocks me these days the way The Belgariad transformed my world 20 or more years ago. My greatest hope for my work is not that people go on reading my books all throughout their lives -- but that they carry fond memories of my books with them as they set off on new adventures. David Eddings did that for me, and I know that I will always carry a large part of his legacy around with me as long as my brain and heart are ticking. I'll miss him immensely now that he's gone. We might never have met in life, but in my imagination we have run together more times than I can count, and even though he's finished with this world now, as long as I go on dreaming, he will go on running with me forever.

I started my final edit of the page proofs of Hell's Heroes, the last Demonata book. At this stage I never have much to do. I'm mostly just checking that everything is spelt right, that there are no gaping errors that we've all missed, and making an occasional minor tweak here and there. I feel sad as I work on the book, as I know this is the end for me and my demonic creations -- once I wrap up work on the proofs, probably this Friday, it will all be over, and I'll be leaving this universe behind forever. No more first drafts, no more editing, no more thinking of new, vicious demons. Boo!!!! It's been over 8 years since I first began Lord Loss, and the time has flown by. In a way it's scary -- I can remember so well starting this series, and how it evolved over the coming years. In my head it feels like it's only been going for a couple of years!! Hard to believe I'm in the final stretch. But I also feel incredibly proud and glad to have got here -- there's never any guarantee, when you start a long project like this, that you'll make it to the end -- you imagination might fail, your health might fial, your publishers might dump you, you might die... so many things can go wrong!!! But here I am, the final line in sight, and... *GASP*... *CHOKE*... oh no!!! My heart is... jumping... eyes clouding over... losing will to live... I'm going... I'm going... I'm...

...

...

Nope!!! No need to panic!! I'm fine -- I just had to burp!!!!!

I put up the Shanville Monthly on Wednesday, but I've been having trouble sending out an email to everyone on my mailing list. So if you're wondering why you haven't been alerted yet -- that's why!!! If you don't want to wait for the email, simply click on THIS LINK to head on over there now, to check out all the latest news.

Oh -- one final thing. I was very sad to learn today that the actor, David Carradine, has died, apparently of suicide. While he didn't make many great films during his career, he was the star of the seminal TV series, Kung Fu, which I absolutely LOVED when I was a kid -- I can remember watching it on Irish TV every Saturday night, and this was back in a time where there weren't very many interesting programmes on the two Irish channels, which were the only channels we had!! It was one of the coolest shows ever, and it made a huge impression on me. In fact, when I was first toying with ideas for The Saga of Darren Shan, my original brief was to write a vampiric version of Kung Fu, where Mr Crepsley would play the wise mentor role, and in each book they would have some sort of different supernatural encounter. I quickly realised that wasn't the direction in which I was destined to go, but if not for those initial discarded plans, perhaps I would never have found the path I wound up taking... Sleep peacefully, Grasshopper -- you brought much joy and colour into a young boy's otherwise fairly boring world.

Went for Sunday lunch with my grand-aunt Nora and her hubby Davey -- always a treat! We hadn't been for a while, so it was nice to catch up, though we couldn't stay as long as we would have liked, as we were meeting one of Bas's friends (hi, Liz!!) and going to see La Clique up the West End in the afternoon. La Clique is a weird sort of cabaret-cum-freakshow. I've seen it a few times in Edinburgh and always had fun, although it's the sort of show that is best the first time round. The lineup this time wasn't the strongest I'd seen, but it wasn't the weakest either, and the two hour show flew by. After that we went for some Mexican food (I ate WAYYYYY too much on Sunday!!) then had an early night.

On Monday Bas and I went to Bath to see some sculptures by an artist called Sophie Ryder -- as well as producing bronze works, she creates amazing statues out of wire. We got to see some of her finest work, and also to meet Sophie and her family, which was a real treat. After that we flew back home, did some shopping en route, and tried to bring down the temperature inside our house -- the weather changed dramatically while we were away, and it felt like being inside a boiler!!! In the end, since we were so exhausted, we slept the sleep of the dead.

I was halfway through checking my emails this morning when the power suddenly went dead. Power cuts are not uncommon where I live, but they usually get fixed fairly swiftly. This time though, despite the glorious weather, I was without electricity for nearly 6 hours!!! I ended up doing other bits and bobs -- answering fan mail, unpacking, etc -- and the time passed fairly quickly, but it was still quite frustrating. The problem with living in the modern technical age of wonder is that we get used to the speed of the world. When we're cut off, panic can quickly set in -- I spent all day thinking that vital emails were being fired off in my direction, all of which required an instant response!!! Of course, when the power finally came back, there was nothing especially urgent and I had a little chuckle at myself. Still, as I much as I love living where I do, there are times when I wish I lived someplace where the electricity supply was a little more reliable...

Had a great time in Norway, even better than I'd anticipated. I travelled over on Thursday, flying via Heathrow Terminal 5 for the first time (very swanky!! I was tempted to have breakfast in the Gordan Ramsay restaurant, but plumped for Giraffe instead). I was met at the Oslo airport by my Norwegian editor, Geir, who accompanied me to Lillehammer on the train. After I'd settled in at my hotel, I went for a meal with Geir and some other authors, including Jon, who was to by my on-stage host for the next couple of days. It was a nice night, good food, pleasant conversation, and a few beers too!! I was suprised by how bright it stayed -- "real" night never fell -- it stayed in a dusk-like state throughout the night. I got to bed a bit before 01:00, happy with the first impression the country and twon had made on me.

On Friday I did a couple of interviews with Norwegian papers in the morning. Then I did my first event, for 200 school kids. Because the Norwegians speak such good English, I was able to do it all in my own language, which helped the event run very smoothly. I did my Cirque Du Freak scene, and got some children up out of the audience to act it out with me, and they did a great job. I went for some lunch afterwards, then had a little stroll around the town. Then, in the evening, I took part in an outdoors reading event in a park, where several authors read out extracts from their books. I was last on, and because one of the authors pulled out, I had more time than originally planned, so I did my Lord Loss extract and had a ball -- the sun was shining, the crowd of mostly adults was in good form, I'd had a nice beer while listening to the other authors -- it was great fun!!!! After that I went for dinner, then to a pub where lots of my publisher's authors were gathered. From there we went to a converted bank. There were lots of events going on inside, such as a band playing, and a poetry slam. I'd meant to go to a few of the events, then get an early night, but the weather was lovely and beer was being served up outside, so I ended up staying outdoors until midnight, then going in to a big room inside with a comfy couch. My original early night plan went out the window, and I ended up winding my way home about 03.30!!!! I wasn't drunk, but I'd certainly had a lot more to drink than was good for me!

When I woke in the morning, I felt terrible!!! I lay in bed for a couple of hours, getting up to shuffle around the room every so often to try and revive myself, drinking lots of water. At midday I went for a short walk in the park (one of the nuns in the convent where Bas's aunt lives loves Norway and has asked for me to bring her back some earth from there, and as poorly as I felt, I didn't want to disappoint her, so I forced myself to go in search of some nice soil!!). I felt a bit better when I got back, and headed over to the cinema where I was to do my last event, for a public audience. Once inside again, my head started pounding. Five minutes before I was due to start, I locked myself into a toilet cubicle for peace and quiet, to rest my head against the cool wall, and to take lots of deep breaths!!! I wasn't sure I'd be able to get through the event, but I decided to give it go. And, miracle of miracles, once I got up on the stage, I was fine!!!! I think it's the adrenalin rush that I get whenever I perform. I always get a buzz when you guys turn out to see me, and this was almost a full house. As soon as I saw all the fans out there, good feelings went shooting through my body and I went ahead and did my usual fun show, the only drawback being that I had to drink lots more water than usual, to keep myself hydrated!! At the end, I signed books for an hour and a half, even more grateful to my fans than I normally am, since without then, I'm sure I'd have suffered with my hangover for most of the day!!! That's only the second time in more than nine years that I've been in that situation (I'm usually very careful not to drink too much when out on tour), and it's hopefully going to be a long time again until the third!!!!!

After the event, a lovely couple who work as part of the festival took me for lunch, then up to see the ski jumping slope in the hills above Lillehammer. We got a chair lift up, then walked back down. On our way back to the town, we called in to see their daughter and her family, so that I could have a look inside a real Norwegian house. You don't get that level of hospitality in many countries!!! I was driven back to the airport later, and spent the short flight home smiling at my memories of Norway and looking forward to my next visit there, which will hopefully be in the not too distant future. I plan to have a holiday there and see more of the country, including the fjords and Northern Lights -- only I won't drink quite as much next time!!!!!

OK, I'm not actually heading to Norway until Thursday, but I'm going into Limerick city to watch the UEFA Champions League final on Wednesday (Barcelona v Man Utd -- a mouthwatering prospect!!!), so this will probably be my last chance to blog ahead of my trip!! I'm really looking forward to visiting Norway -- it's a country I've been meaning to go to on holiday for a quite a while now, so this will be a good chance to scout it out ahead of a hopefully longer vacation in the future. I'm also keen to meet some of my fans there -- I know that the books have had strong support in Norway almost since the start of The Saga, so it will be nice to meet anyone who can make it. If you live there, and want to come along to either of my public events (I'll be doing a short reading at a multi-author event on Friday evening, then a full show by myself on Saturday), you can find more info on the Shanville Monthly by CLICKING HERE.

I was able to get back to normal work today -- hurrah!!! I started my final edit of City of the Snakes, the third of my D B Shan trilogy. I did an edit of it just a few weeks ago, and now my editor has come back with her comments and queries, so it's a case of tidying up any loose ends. It isn't the very end of the book for me -- I'll get a chance to fine-tune at the proofs stage later in the year -- but this is my last chance to make and significant changes. Although so far, I'm delighted to report, I haven't had to make any! I've got the book into a shape that I'm thoroughly pleased with. You always know when you've taken a book as far as you can when you can't find anything major that needs to be adjusted. It's always a relief when you hit that level, and for the first time with this book, I have. I was very pleased with all of the earlier drafts, but now, reading through it, I at last have the impression that I'm working on an almost finished book, one that I've polished as much as I can. It's almost ready to send out into the world. Just a few more little tweaks and I'll be done, ready to move onto my next project...

Saw a really good film this afternoon, called The Lives of Others, about life in East Germany in the 1980s. It really made me appreciate how good we have things these days, how we're free to say what we think, to preach what we believe. I think we're only truly free when we have that freedom of speech, and I'm always astonished by how many people there are in the world who strive every day to chip away at that freedom. I think it's dangerous for any group to claim superiority over any other, to say "Our way is the best, and everyone must think as we think, and do as we do!" But it's hard, enjoying the liberties which we do, to see any merit in any system which denies its citizens the right to express themselves openly and publicly. The key message I got from this movie was that without civil freedom, the world is a smaller, darker, more miserable place. I understand perfectly why political and religious leaders aim to take freedom away from their followers, as it affords them a greater measure of control. But why do ordinary individuals go along with it? How can any normal, everyday person think that oppression is a good thing? For me, this world only really works if people are free to say whatever the hell they like, even if it's not something that the majority want to hear. I always think it's a shame when groups or individuals rail against that, and try to knock the rest of us into a shape that they find pleasing -- I kind of think they're missing the whole point of what this life should be all about...