Tuesday, January 23, 2007

What Else Am I Gonna Write About?

Bears. Super Bowl. The Bears. Are in. The Super Bowl.

Can't breathe. Can't. Can't breathe. Holy crap.

Super Bowl.

Bears.

Thud.

(That was me, hitting the floor after passing out.)

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Did the New Year Happen Yet?

I looked at a calendar today and was appalled to discover that over half of January has already passed and I have nothing at all to show for it - not even a lousy blog entry. Shame on me.

So, Happy New Year, everybody. How were your holidays? I have only a vague memory of mine. Not that I spent them in a drunken haze or anything like that. They just went by so freakin' fast. It's like all of a sudden I looked up and discovered I had spent a retarded amount of money and completely misplaced a week and a half of my life. Apparently my holidays took me all the way to Michigan and back, but that is only a rumor right now.

There is some evidence that the holidays did in fact occur. I got presents. Sweet. Mostly books and gift certificates, and also some stock. I'm still unsure how I feel about the stock, except that it's cool to say, "Yes, I own stock."

I do recall New Year's Eve, which was a pleasant evening Mandy and I spent with our friends Alex and David. We watched the Bears lose to the Packers, and then just hung out and chatted until about one in the morning. Very nice. It was a last minute decision; our other option involved watching the game and then going to a bonfire, which was a bit more than we were looking for in our quest for a low-key evening. Had the Bears won, everything would have been perfect.

I also have some resolutions for the new year, which I will now share because that way people might occasionally ask, "Hey, how's that [Insert resolution here] going?" After a couple of those, I will do anything to avoid be embarrassed into admitting I gave up. So, my New Year's Resolutions for 2007 are as follows:

1. Lose Weight. Yeah, I know, everybody does that one. But seriously, after all that holiday food I tipped the scales at 297 lbs. That scares the shit out of me.

2. Publish Two (2) Short Stories. I look at this as the equivalent of beefing up my resume. I am more interested in writing novels, but a few publishing credits under my belt will help round out that query letter.

3. Get a Driver's License. I had one once, back in Michigan. I somehow lost the actual card when I moved to Chicago. I desperately needed some ID as I was looking for a job, so I just wandered into the nearest Secretary of State's office and applied for an Illinois State ID. For some reason I never bothered to replace the Michigan card, and it has long since expired. I haven't needed to drive a car in ten years, but I just think that one of these days I'm going to need to rent a car at a moment's notice and I won't be able to. So, I should get on that.

That's it, basically. Oh, I should try to do other stuff. Make more money. Figure out whether or not I'm going back to college. Stuff like that. But those big three are the things I want to do, just for me.

Oh, and I am making another foray into the theatre arts, as well. Yesterday was the opening night for Stone Cold Dead Serious, a play by Adam Rapp and directed by my good friend Joanie Schultz, and featuring stage combat choreography and a voice-over provided by yours truly. But even more exciting, this week marked the beginning of rehearsals for Rogue 8 - Issue #3. This is a really fun serial play about a group of misfit superheroes. Dan Telfer has written every "issue" so far, and this time around he was kind enough to invite me to direct. So, stand back and prepare yourself for the awesomeness!

In other news, the Bears won their first playoff game, barely, against the Seahawks. Next Sunday they go against the Saints for the conference championship. I'm terrified.

Also - and I am particularly excited about this - one of my all-time favorite fantasy novel series, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, was optioned by HBO to be turned into a TV series. The plan is to turn each book into a season of the show. This just might be the coolest thing ever, in the history of the world. I can't wait. Of course, this means now I have to get HBO. I guess I'll add that to the list.

Happy New Year!

Addendum:

I love books, and I love movies, but if I had to choose between the two, I'd have to choose books. However, I get all excited when I hear that a book I love is being adapted into a movie, but I find "novelizations" of movies to be ridiculous. Is that wrong?