October

It's hard to tell what month it is here in the tropics. October is much like September which is much like August. Sure, the rain lets up a bit and the temperature drops from the low 90's to the high 80's but that's about it. No annual color change is noticable in the foliage and leaves litter the ground only as much as they did in the preceding months. Nothing special.

Florida has two seasons, dry and rainy, and if anyone ever tells you, "Oh, it gets cold in Florida too," they're lying. Mid 40's is not cold especially when you grew up in a place where there was a real possibiliy of freezing to death if you were caught in a blizzard.

It's funny, I overheard a conversation where a mother was commenting on how cold it was at the college her son was attending...in the artic wilderness of North Carolina. Yeah, watch out for packs of marauding wolves coming down from the mountains around Chapel Hill.

I picked up Lord of the Flies from the library at school, you know, cause I work with 7th and 8th graders and I need some insight. I saw the movie a long time ago but I don't remember very much of it. The book's always better than the film anyway, well, almost always.

I'm also thinking about reading one of those vampire-love books the Twilight series I think it is. I'm really interested to see if they are well written or just gimmicky fluff written to enthrall middle school girls. (see Eragon and switch the word "girls" to "boys")

I have to go get dinner now. I really want to get working on my manuscript. It is killing me that I haven't been able to work on it lately. But when you have 160 middle school poems, memoirs and short stories to edit it doesn't leave time for much else.

New books read so far this year:

The Name of the Wind
The Lathe of Heaven
Dune Messiah
Lord of the Flies
Next, Ender's Game

-Adios

At Life's Grindstone

Well, here I am again, blogging.

Getting any writing done has been really tough. I'm trying to juggle family, writing workshop, mundane things that I have to do (i.e. lawn care, laundry, et.al.)and spending quality time with the family.

I was able to spend time with a lot of my family this weekend and it was great. It was just a really chill and relaxing time. Plus, it was a distraction from the Michigan game.

I have a lot of work to do this week. Each of my eighty students submitted two manuscripts to be graded. So, I have one hundred sixty poems, short stories, memoirs and who knows what else to grade this week. Ah, well, I wouldn't trade it for teaching Algebra again.

At any rate, I should go and...do something.

I hope to continue working on the new manuscript. I just have to start scheduling an hour or so every day. I'd much rather have two or three hours to work, but I just don't think I can swing it on my current schedule. One hour will have to suffice.

Until next time

Offworld II

"Sometimes doing a friend a favor forever changes the history of a billion universes."

-Finmore Williams


After fiddling with the manuscript a bit I've posted some rough draft of the redux over at offworldstory. Just use the Titan link in the Virtual Hangouts section of the blog. Comments are welcome and encouraged.

Week, End!

This post's title is a command more than anything else. Man, am I glad it is Friday. Seriously, is it Thanksgiving yet?

I was a tad off about the U of M game last week, but how was I supposed to know that it was going to be a fumblefest? I am becoming a part time Buccaneers fan as the Lions are the worst team in professional sports. Are the Pistons playing yet? After the Lions it is hard to complain about reaching the Conference Finals the last six years in a row, even if we do lose almost all of them in maddeningly disinterested fashion. But guess what? The Pistons look good again this year. Go good management! I think Joe Dumars should be the GM for the Lions AND the Pistons and Chauncey Billups could play free safety...

Phil's latest post summarizes exactly why I cannot in good conscience vote for Obama, no matter how trendy. I don't really get into politics but Palin was a genius pick. Honestly, who saw that coming? Alaska? Hockey Mom?

You know I chose to write my senior thesis on The Silmarillion. It's not even a book really, not like LoTR, it's a collection of histories. It was an ambitious pick, and not a good one. There's not enough continuity.

I need to start working on my manuscript more. It's really hard to find time during the week so I have to take advantage of the weekends.

I worked out a couple of times this week and I feel good. Incredibly sore, but good.

I have to go pick up some baked ziti and garlic rolls for dinner.

Don't let the man get you down.

Redux, so far

I've retooled the manuscript, a lot. Kept the same setting, some of the same characters, added a bunch of new characters/locals, and changed from third person to first. Here's a sample:


I was taken violently from my home world like so many others but I was unaware of why. I was ignorant to the vast system of checks and balances that keeps the omniverse in a constant and tenuous state of equilibrium. I failed to realize that I was only currency, another flesh-coin from some out world that had to pay its tribute to the Telek.

“Ted,” I whispered, “you there?” A chorus of stifled sobs echoed off of the cold metal walls.

“We’re dead man, dead.” A voice whispered in the darkness.

“Ted,” I whispered again, “Ted, you there?” Someone close by was mumbling what might have been a prayer. I felt along the wall whispering Ted’s name as I went.

“We’re dead. This is it. This is hell.” The voice was louder this time.

“We’re not dead you idiot. We’re in some kind of cell.” A soft voice from the black answered the morbid fellow. “This is some kind of holding tank.” Knuckles rang against metal.

“Stop it you fool,” a woman cried, pleading, “they’ll hear you.” Fear blossomed in my mind. Fear of what kept us trapped. Only once had the deep blackness surrounding us been breached. A circle of light had formed and inside the circle stood a creature out of nightmare, all scales, claws and teeth. It had reached out and snatched a gibbering man from the floor and dragged the poor fellow screaming into the shining circle, the death circle. Then, as suddenly as it had come, the light winked out silencing the doomed man’s pleas for help. Everyone began whispering after that.

The silence was palpable as I waited in the cold darkness, waiting for the death circle to shine down again like God’s wrath. Silence for an hour, then two. I renewed my voyage through the sea of bodies whispering for Ted. Listen, whisper, listen. Always keeping one hand on the solid metal wall. Despite the numbing sensation I experienced after only a few minutes contact with the freezing surface I refused to step away. The wall was the one remaining bastion of reality in the waking nightmare in which I found myself.

As I passed along I could feel knots of bodies, people crouching in groups of three or four, whispering, crying, huddled together for warmth. Other travelers passed by me unseen whispering the names of friends or loved ones, groping through the blackness for a familiar touch, scenting the air for a lover’s perfume or the scent of a favorite soap.

Thorsday

Yes, it is again Thorsday. I really don't have much to say. I am reading The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin. So far so good, I just started it though.

My new manuscript keeps evolving. It's weird how pieces of what I've written over the last 5-7 years are now coming together into this book idea.

Some of the poetry I write I like and some of it I go back and look at and I'm like, "What is this pile?". Ah well, at least I don't hate it all.

I am probably in the worst shape of my adult life right now. I'm not sure how many times I could get up and down a basketball court. But, have no fear, conditioning for the Lady Lancers Varsity Basketball Team starts next week and guess who will working out with/coaching the team..uh huh. Btw, I really like the new offense that Coach Wilson has chosen, very organic, very versatile. It's the same offense that the Memphis Tigers ran last year.

Tomorrow we have a pep rally at school during 8th period so I don't have to teach health class. Needless to say I am overjoyed. I'm not sure if you've ever discussed the anus with a room full of 8th graders, but let me tell you, it's a treat.

Video games, where have you gone? I haven't played one in about a month.

I missed the deadline for a fantasy football league I was invited to. I felt bad, but really I don't know if I could have even spared the time.

I think Michigan will beat Notre Dame on Saturday, but not by a lot.

13-9 Michigan in a barn burner.

Remems.

-Seems like the internet used to be more fun. Now I just get on to do my banking, read my e-mail, check blogs and read about sports news. Actually, I do alot on the net. Maybe I'm just so used to the internet now that it's not fun anymore. I remember when Al Gore invented the internet. It was a great day for America.

-I've been thinking alot about my past. It's been fun. I've known alot of really cool people. Though, I don't know if I have been the best friend. In fact I know I haven't.

-You know, it's hard to see yourself as you really are. Mental clarity of self, I think, is one of the greatest things anyone can possess.

-Everyday I drive into Tampa to work and I think about growing up in Roscommon, a town of, what, 800 people? I pass more people than that on my daily commute. It was a good place to grow up though.

-I never thought I would live in a home with granite countertops. I didn't even know granite countertops existed until I was in my late 20's. Now I'm a countertop snob!

-Hadoken