Category Archives: general

A pretty good day

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So this morning was a trip to the World Famous San Diego Zoo with my sweetie-wofe. We had a very nice and got in a some decent exercise. Afterwards we went to a new place for Lunch, the Sea Rocket. This was an upscale bistro kind of place, so not my usual haunt. The food was good, the services was excellent and we enjoyed ourselves. (Though the burger I ordered was too large to eat like a hamburger and I was forced to utilize knife and forke to tackel the thing.)

Then it was grocery shopping and home. The entire time I had my mind gnawing and working on a problem in my newest novel. I have been going like gangbusters on the outline, it’s now up to 24 pages, and this week I came to a sudden and terrible halt. Partly because of the huge load of work that descended upon us at my day job, partly because of the arthritis flare that took me out of typing commission at home, and partly because I knew I was stuck for what was going to happen next in the plot.

If you think of the plot as a number line I was at 18, and I knew what happened from 23 on, but 19, 20, 21, & 22 were leaving me stumped. Today I think I cracked the problem. I’m going to sleep on it and try writing it out tomorrow, then I will know if it worked.

And I’ll close out with a photo from the zoo taken with my iPhone 4.

 

 

Just a few tidbits

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So I started a new work schedule at my day-job this week. Instead of working 8-5 I will now be working 7-4. Getting home earlier is nice, but my body hasn’t yet adjusted to getting up a little earlier. As such I’m a little fogged of mind and will not likely be doing any writing this week. (Also there is a convention, World Fantasy here in San Diego, starting on Thursday.)

It’s a shame about the writing as I just cracked a plotting problem for my SF noir idea. (Currently titled in my head “The Long Night.”) I did not want my lead character to be a cop or P.I., but rather someone not normally seen in the role of unraveling a mystery. I’ll make sme notes but not much more tonight.

Here are my latest movies on blu-ray.

A first rate superhero film and an excellent lead into next years The Avengers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the price I couldn’t turn down a blu-ray set of all three films with bonus material. (My set does not have the swag, it’s just the three discs. I dislike unusual packaging as it never fits well in my cases.)

 

 

Stayed Home Sick

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Last night, actually yesterday afternoon, I started developing a sore throat. BY the evening I was light-headed, dizzy and my throat had begun to seriously hurt. I went to bed quite early, I’m guessing it was about 8:30. (My sweetie-wife and I had just finished watching Journey To The Far Side of The Sun. A quite silly film from 1969.) I got out of bed at 6 o’clock to call in sick and then went straight back there until about 9:30 a.m.

I spent most of the day drinking water and being thankful I did not have to speak. By the end of the day the throat had settled down to just scratchy and I was feeling tired but not light-headed or dizzy. I was able to get some writing work done. Finished a new scene for Love and Loyalty inspired by some of the feedback at the luncheon and edited a short story that was very well received at my writers group on Monday night. Once both has been proofed by my sweetie-wife I will see about using them. The short story I intended to submit to Asimov’s SF Magazine.

 

 

a trip down memory lane

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So on Sunday Night I decided to go to the drive-in. A friend of mine also came along as I was seeing a double feature of Contagion and Apollo 18. (I expected Contagion to be good and Apollo 18 to suck.) After a minor navigational error where we learned that the turn-by-turn software knew my friend’s area better then he did, we made it to the Santee Drive-in about fifteen minutes before show time.

There were plenty of spots to choose from and we ended up pretty much front row center. A quick trip to the restroom and concession stand and we were ready for the show.

I did not expect top flight visual as this was a drive in with a long throw on the projector. There were lines running vertically through the image, almost like a video display had been enlarged. Still I was seeing two feature films, first runs films, for 8$, ($12 after gas) so really there was little to complain about. The sound was transmitted via FM radio and sounded just fine on the car’s stereo.

Contagion was a damn good movie, a very realistic and scientifically  accurate portrayal of a sudden and deadly global flu outbreak.

Apollo 18 sucked rocks as I expected and —–spoiler alert —–

—ends badly when the Command Module Pilot apparently forgot how to pilot the command module. Avoid this film, even on video.

Things seem to be looking pretty good.

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I have finished a new short story, the first in months. I have another edited and ready to send off to a market for it’s customary rejection. I’ve had two good conventions in rather short order and I have two more coming up the as many months, so I really have little to complain about. So I won’t.

This Sunday night I plan to go out to the drive-in theaters and relive that bit of childhood memory. (not teenager memory never had a car as a teenager and only went to the drive-in once as a teenager. By myself, on a bicycle, to see 1979′s Dawn Of The Dead.) This sunday will be a double feature of CONTAGION and APOLLO 18 for $8, hell you can’t beat that.

40 hour week? What’s that?

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At my day job there is overtime stretching as far as a fa’sn ire at George Lucas futzing with Star Wars, again. (yes he’s doing it again. Apparently his plan is to make the original trilogy suck so badly that the newer ones don’t look as so bad.)

I’m doing 50 hours weeks and there literaly no end in sight. It’s impact my bank account, positively, and my writing, negatively. Still I’m up for it ’cause I love me money.