Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Bragging Rights (Part 2)

In my delirium and exuberance, I forgot to thank a couple of people without whose help I would not have reached my goal.

First, my writing buddy Dan made Mondays and Thursdays fun, and kept me motivated. Thanks, dude!

And second, my lovely wife Mandy was kind enough to leave me alone when I needed to plug in and get some typing done. Thanks, sweetie!

I feel like I just got an Oscar. Yeehah!

Bragging Rights

The Bears have won seven in a row, and their defense is being compared to the 1985 "Monsters of the Midway" defense that helped win the Super Bowl. I think such comparisons are a bit premature, but it's still a lot of fun to hear. I just hope our offense can keep up.

HOWEVER--

I am not writing about the Bears today. Today is a day to celebrate ...

... ME.

Why, you ask? Because (drumroll, please) I have successfully completed my 50,000 word novel for National Novel Writing Month! You will note that the icon I placed in the left-hand column has been changed from "Participant" to "Winner."

Whoopie!!!!!

The next step is to print the whole damn thing out, stick it in a drawer and let it mellow for a month or two. Then I will take it out and read it. If I am completely embarrassed by what I find, it will go back in the drawer, never to see the light of day again. But, if I manage to remotely entertain myself, then I will break out the fine tools and begin the process of editing and rewriting.

But that is in the future. Today, we dance!

Monday, November 07, 2005

Just Checking In

Hey, everybody! Just wanted you all to know I haven't forgotten about you. I am at work right now, but as you can see it is the calm between storms, so here I am.

My participation in National Novel Writing Month is on track. I passed 10,000 words yesterday, which is pretty exciting. Week Two--the most difficult week of the month, according to NaNoWriMo founder Chris Baty--officially begins on Tuesday. So far I'm having fun, and feeling pretty good about the work.

My awesome Halloween costume turned out to be a bust, as a result of me buying shitty makeup. Serves me right for being cheap. I was gonna be the Joker. I even had this cool idea of using rigid collodion (a special thing used for making fake scars) so I could make the Joker's smile look good and hideous. But alas, I ended up looking like a convention-attending dorkwad with cheap white and red makeup smeared all over my head. The green hair worked out pretty good, though. Anyway, maybe I'll be better-prepared next year, assuming I'm still on this retarded Batman kick.

In other news, the Chicago White Sox won the World Series. I don't know if you heard. That makes us better. Hah. I, unfortunately, am more of a Cubs fan than a Sox fan, but if you live on the North Side of Chicago it gets complicated. (On the South Side things are much simpler: You support the Sox and anyone who beats the Cubs. Days when the Sox win and the Cubs lose are called South Side Double-Headers.) We on the North Side are a little more liberal with our baseball support. We want the Cubs to win, and we also want the Sox to win, just not when they are playing the Cubs. If the unthinkable were to happen and the Cubs were to meet the Sox in the World Series, the North Side would call it a win-win situation. The South Side would call it Armageddon.

It was easy to root for the Sox this year anyway, because the Cubs roster has been filled with douchebags for the last few years.

But most important is that the Bears have won FOUR GAMES STRAIGHT! And they are in FIRST PLACE!!!! Granted, they are in first place in the NFC North, which almost doesn't count. But if the Lions, Vikings and Packers all keep sucking as bad as they are, we're a shoo-in for the playoffs. Yee-hah!

Eh, I gotta git back to work now. Storm's a-comin'.