Thursday, March 26, 2009

Son: (playing on DS) "How many points does Mario have?"
Daughter: (stretched over three syllables) Ze-eer-oh.
Son: "Yeah, THAT's what I'm talkin' about!"

I'm OK with the talk being better than the talent. That's being a Keeble right there.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

I Need A Haircut

I also need to clear my head. The evidence:

* I am back to waking up at 4am now my insomnia has adjusted to the time change. I am going out late this Friday and maybe that will help put things back in order for a while. Some warm weather wouldn't hurt either, which brings me to...

* What is with this spring? Last year once the cold snap snapped, it was glorious. This year I have counted at least three "ah! Spring!" moments which have actually ended up being "Holy heck! Where did I put my big coat?" moments. 65 degree weekends followed by 28 degree Mondays. What is that?

* While some things on my mind seem to have eased up over time and now are almost funny where they were once concerns that had me unable to sleep, I now have fresh anxieties to bother me. The one most pressing right now is the fact I have the old country song "Blanket On The Ground" ringing in my head and I have no idea where it came from. It wasn't part of, or even relevent to, one of my two epic, easy to remember and interpret dreams (no details, sorry... other than to say neither featured Billy Jo Spears.) I feel like, if you will excuse my Battlestar tendencies for a minute, when the Cylons found themselves hearing "All Along The Watchtower" in their heads. Why this song?

* Since scoring a bunch of goals in January, and now having been working out at the gym for a month and appreciating the difference it has made to the bag of wet sand I call a torso, I have been playing like crap. Goals? Not even close. Confidence on the field? I'm confident I remember where the field is, but once arriving I'm somewhat lacking. I even staried seeing things when I thought I saw someone in the bleachers laughing at me on Sunday. I mean, someone was in the bleachers laughing at something - maybe me - but I thought it was someone I knew. Right before I chased a ball, turned, cut back and fired so inaccurately I'm not sure the ball was ever recovered.

* My writing has not been good of late. I've just pitched a bunch of stories and have things to do that will pay (always good) but creatively, this blog entry is probably the best thing I've written in weeks (not including a funny exchange with a friend on Facebook about Liverpool FC - extremely R-rated harking back to the days when he and I insulted everything and everyone, even things we liked, like one very attractive girl we nicknamed "button mushrooms" and you aren't seeing that.)

OK, it's now 5am and I've been awake for half-an-hour. The familiar pattern will continue tomorrow unless, by some miracle, I can come back to the living room after putting whichever kid I am responsible for putting to sleep to sleep and put on one of the movies sitting by the TV to take me beyond 10pm.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

It's been a while...

You might be surprised, considering everything that has happened in the last month, that I haven't posted anything here. Well, it's because a lot of things have been going on and I haven't had the inclination. Sorry. I would promise I will improve, but I don't want to break a promise.

* There is no book news to report. I have been sending pitches that have been vanishing into the abyss. In fact, of all the pitches I have sent, only one bothered to reply with a "sorry, but..." and that was too bad, because I looked the look of them.

* We replaced Heinz Ketchup with Hunt's Ketchup and can now be considered converts. I have taken the concept one step further and now consider Thousand Island Dressing my condiment of choice.

* After a blistering start to the soccer season with a shedload of goals, in the last two weeks I would have struggled to hit the broadside of a barn with a bulldozer. Last week was particularly rubbish.

* The fact I almost never get time to myself is frustrating. Less frustrating is spending quality time with friends, including newer friends I am still getting to know. One particular memory that will stay for a long while was when four of us got together to play tennis, taking the court time from some of our wives. We laughed loud and hearty.

* "There Will Be Blood" - can someone explain how a movie so long and so critically acclaimed can be such crap, and with such a confusing ending. The end of TWBB made the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey seem like the end of Ocean's 11 (that is, where everything was explained clearly and left the viewer feeling satisfied.)

* "Watchmen" on the other hand is amazing. As good a film as I have ever seen.

* I abuse my library often in the quest to find a book that is accessible and suits my frame of mind. The ratio of hits to misses is about 1:4. I am really, really enjoying Eat It by Kenny Shopsin and I liked the new Charlie Huston, although that was a pretty safe bet. Some of the other stuff, even friend's recommendations, just haven't done it for me.

OK, that's all I have. I'm leaving stuff out because it's half-finished and I'd rather write a story that had an end. See you in a month (but hopefully less.)