Sunday, June 27, 2004
Write your heart out!
Pardon me while I digress into some thoughts about writing and technology. Just for a moment. Really, listen to this, it's important, especially if you're an aspiring author.
The word processor is the most wonderful thing to happen to a writer. But for all its gifts, one simple little program like Solitaire undoes all the advantages. Add instant messaging, streaming video, hot and cold running Internet journals, a flood of forwarded eMail jokes... You get the idea. The computer is a Pandora's box of distractions. For some reason, many writers are susceptible to these (myself included). Really, any of you writers out there who want to do yourselves a favor, go buy a $45 surplus OEM Palm IIIxe and a $8 Palm Portable Keyboard (both readily available on eBay), and a nice little Palm word processor like WordSmith, and just go to town. Write your heart out. Because, not only is it highly portable, it doesn't have Internet access. And it doesn't have any games that you don't put on it (don't put any on it!) You can't really do anything with it but write, make lists, and keep track of appointments. Amen, brothers and sisters! Huzzah!
And, um, don't leave it plugged into the keyboard overnight with cheap batteries.
Learned that one the hard way.
Saturday, June 26, 2004
No Cheapo Batteries Allowed
Okay, I learned a lesson. Don't use cheapo batteries in my Palm Pilot, and don't leave it plugged into a peripheral overnight. This morning I discovered that Ye Old Trusty PDA was dead, inert, blank, non-functioning, and all the work I'd done on my current story over Friday night and early Saturday (pre-dawn) is lost. After installing another set of batteries (more cheapos, must remedy that ASAP) my trusty little machine blinked, crippled, saying over and over "Do you want to erase all data?" Answering "No" only made it blink and ask again. It was futile, so I finally picked the only real available answer, which was "Yes," and the poor energy-starved pal of mine did a hard reset and came back to life with total amnesia. It didn't even recognize me. It didn't even know what date it was.
A trip home, and some tender loving care in it's sleepy time cradle, and Mr. PDA was as good as new, but missing a day's worth of data. It came back to life and stared at me, confused, as if asking, "Okay, what happened? Something is different..." I didn't have the heart to tell it what went wrong ... especially since it was my fault. So, lesson learned, I will recreate the lost parts of my story from memory, and be much more careful from now on.
Hope everyone is having a happy weekend!
Thursday, June 24, 2004
Me? With a Cell Phone?!?!
My boss has a new boss, and he found out I'm a writer, so as of today I will be writing articles for the company newsletter. He wants "lively and funny." This is going to be fun.
Also, since I have a lot of experience setting up websites, I've now become the guy who updates the company intranet. Cool. I like it. Once again I've managed to work my way into a creative position. For me, it makes work much more interesting and enjoyable.
I signed up for a mobile phone this afternoon. My employer has a big account with T-Mobile and so we get a discount and a free phone. My plan is to replace my Internet access at home with cable and then drop the phone line entirely. This will save me about $25 a month. And make it much easier for family and friends to get a hold of me.
No word yet about the beer tasting gig. Damn.
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
AirFresh Seat
I just signed up for a part time job: beer taster for a research firm. Yes, you read that correctly. It's a job. I'd get paid. Can anyone say "Dream Job"? Can anyone say "Too good to be true"? We'll see. So far I haven't heard back. They're probably swamped with applicants.
One of the things that I've learned from my Italian-Spanish girlfriend is that just about anything tastes better with Balsamic vinegar. The stuff is fantastic. I even put it on my macaroni and cheese. I know that sounds weird, but Kraft EasyMac needs SOMETHING, and that did just the trick. Tonight she's coming over and I'm fixing her some spaghetti. Such a sweetheart, she doesn't seem to mind my crappy cooking. It must be love.
Been working on my father's new website: AirFreshSeat.com It's his latest invention: a toilet seat with a built in power air filter that sucks away the stink as you make it, so that by the time you're ready to stand up, the smell is long gone. We're going to try to market it online and on eBay.
Friday, June 18, 2004
Bird-Brained Bird
A mockingbird smacked into my office window.
I think it was chasing a bug. Don't know for sure, because I wasn't looking. There was a loud bang and I looked up to see it bouncing away. Oh no, I thought. Broken neck.
But, no, it fumbled around a moment or two then fluttered off and alighted on the nearby fence, then sat fluffing it's feathers and staring back at the window as if trying to figure out what happened.
Then it flew back over and landed on the sill, right up next to the window, looking in ... or at it's reflection. Fluttered it's wings, squawked a few times, then flew back to the fence.
Then back again.
Then away.
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
I've always been a Buddhist
The more I study Buddhism, the more I find that I've always been a Buddhist.
Weird.
Getting more in touch with my spiritual side is a real mind-bender for me, because I've always been a scientist at heart, and so have always been somewhat skeptical. I keep an open mind, but I don't accept things immediately. Which is why I've always had a problem with 'faith' per se, it demands that you accept without proof.
The appeal of Buddhism to me is that, instead of a religion, it's a philosophy of life that doesn't demand faith. Instead, it's a way of looking at the world right in front of my face and seeing it in a more enlightened way. Cause and effect. Goodness, kindness, clarity, understanding. Understanding with proof.
Yes, it's a good thing.
Monday, June 14, 2004
Another Weird Dream
Had a really weird dream recently. I was at a fair with my dad, and I was just a teen (probably around 15) and we were trying to buy film for a camera. For some reason I had to leave my dad and walk all the way around the fair, and by the time I got back, everything was closing up and people were leaving, and they were all laughing and pointing at me because I was suddenly dressed only in my underwear. Even worse, I had shoved a big plastic bottle down the front of them ... I guess as some sort of joke. But, it was really embarassing, and in the dream I felt it would be even more embarassing if I were to reach in and pull it out, so I left it there. And the place where I was supposed to meet my father for the film was gone, and so was he, so I was trapped there in my underwear, with a plastic bottle shoved down the front, and I knew when I got home I would be in bad trouble. What does it mean?
The real question is, do I really want to know?
This weekend my girlfriend Lauren and I went to the Inwood Theatre in Dallas and watched a Korean film called "Spring, Sumer, Fall, Winter." Loved it. LOVED IT. It's a simple, elegant movie and I highly recommend it. A beautiful example of how movie makers can do more with less. Bravo!
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Ill and Not Ill
From yesterday evening
6:38pm - Steam escapes somewhere in the distance, making a hissing that echoes like the sound of a giant mutant snake loose in the dark, cavernous warehouse. Next to me is a loud, continuous buzz from the high energy transformers; above drones the endless rumbling of a fan motor. Other machinery in the factory squeaks and rattles. I sit in a lone spot of light nursing an ill computer. In between reboots I jot this text down in my trusty little Palm IIIxe.
Outside it is raining a torrent, the wind whipping the corrugated metal of the giant shipping doors so violently I wouldn't be surprised if there were a tornado in the neighborhood. The ill computer in front of me is taking its own sweet time. Meanwhile I'm feeling ill as well. Have been since last night.
Update: This Morning
I'm not sick anymore! I feel great! Happy Thursday everyone!
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
A Candid Moment
As many of you know, there have been some major changes going on in my life ... one of which is that I actually have a life.
Not that I didn't before. I must emphasize this so as not to hurt anyone's feelings (as I've found is so easy to do while writing candidly here for the world to see). The marriage I had with Becky did not fail. What happened is that we painfully concluded that we no longer made each other happy. Neither of us are at fault - the problems were around from the very beginning and stem directly from very basic differences in our personalities. There was never a lack of love. In fact, the way I look at it, our separation in itself was the ultimate gift of love to each other. We respectfully, lovingly gave each other our freedom to go find our own paths to happiness. And we have vowed to remain the best of friends forever.
Quite to my surprise, I found my new bachelorhood full of active romance. More so than ever before in my life. And in these exciting, emotional days I have met and fallen in love with someone who is truly my kindred spirit. We have grown inseparably close in the past few weeks and when together the years melt away and we are both teenagers.
If anyone out there was wondering why I'm not writing so much here, this is the reason.
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
For Lauren
In the deep cold black, the stars shine bright and pure
Night animal sounds surround us
The wind rustles the pines, and we
Huddle together, warm in love, and watch
The Northern Lights burn like Heaven's fire
And we ooo and aaah, then
Sip warm chocolate and giggle
In our cozy tent we entwine in a nest
Our body heat warming the chilliest air
The inside material is damp with dew
Water from us, our breaths, our love
We frighten away bears and elk with cries
That echo across the canyon
Like Tarzan and Jane conquering the North
In morning blaze, the sun crests the hills
Filling the sky with glorious fire and warmth
And awake we are still, giggling, talking
Making breakfast sleepily, happily
Because in each other we've found paradise
And, to bask together in the light of a new day
Is to find Shangri-la every single morning.
|
