On Your Mark...
This is just a quick note for this splendid Halloween.
NaNoWriMo is fast approaching and beginning midnight, I’m off to the races. I’ll be posting excerpts from my novel as it progresses. Wish me luck…
I'm Ready to Leave Tonight - Trust Me
Today was absolutely gorgeous outside. Which made it a wee bit difficult to entomb myself in the windowless factory\warehouse that I now inhabit. Production must go on. Ah well, it ends shortly after midnight. At which time, I will drift off into the darkness. The night air chilled to perfection. For a vampire, that is. Speaking of which, that’s the subject of my soon to be NoNoWriMo novel
“If You Leave Me Tonight”. That’s right, I joined, last night. Yes, I’d had a few – so what? I didn’t need November, anyway. I’ll just save everything that needs doing until December. I can hear some of you, now – “50,000 words isn’t such a big deal” – and you’d be right. Except that I work some tough hours. 10 hours a day (afternoon\evenings) Mon-Fri and some Saturdays. This means I’ll be doing most of my writing in a noisy warehouse environment during lunch and breaks. Therein lies the challenge. By the way, in case you’re wondering (or not), the title of the novel comes from an old “
Night Gallery” episode “
The Tune in Dan’s Café”. My favorite part was when the jukebox needle kept getting stuck on the line
“…till death (scratch)…till death (scratch)…etc.” The line is actually “till death us do part.” Pretty darn creepy. Anyway, I’m going to give it a go and we’ll see what happens. I’ll keep you posted.
Oh yes, I need to write mo
Today has been rather interesting. Major changes in upper management, at work. People running scared. Others in flames screaming “My job! My job!” Fortunately, my position with the company is such that when I ask if my position is secure, they say “Of course! And you are…?” Yes! I’m the Invisible Man. At my place of employ that’s an honest to gosh REWARD for work well done. Flat out invisibility. They only see you when there’s trouble abrewin’. “Well done faithful servant – I can no longer perceive your existence in my universe”. “Thanks, boss!”
This night is going by pretty fast. It seems my major dilemma is deciding whether or not to participate in
NaNoWriMo this November. Thanks, Cullen (as he reaches in his pocket for the
Spyderco Harpy). Basically it’s a month long event where the participants attempt to write a 50,000 word novel within that 30 days. I think I can do it. I’ve got this story that’s been rattling around in my head for ages, now. It would be nice to extract it, give it life, embrace it, have it rejected and die a lonely bitter old man. Oh wait, I was going to do that last part anyway. They tell you up front that you’ll be hammering out a lot of trash – but I do that all the time. We’ll see. With my luck it’ll probably come out like “
Varney the Vampire”…
Footnote
By the way - if you're looking for a really good bad movie site (and you've read through Ken Begg's jabootu.com) look no further than one Mr. Nathan Decker's site at
"Million Monkey Theater" (http://www.geocities.com/nmdecke/TheMovieList.html)
As Lord Vader would intone - "Impressive".
Cross-eyed Henry
Well, here I am during a free moment at work – surrounded by the production ambience of a material existence. These last few days have had a similar motif with the exception of me spending money, as opposed to making it. The Yin and Yang of the “responsible” adult life. When I was much younger, it was mostly just Yang with someone else’s Yin (parents, you know). Now I get to hear the cheeping of baby birds waiting for me to deposit the goods in those needy beaks and you know what? It’s my pleasure to do so.
This weekend was excellent. My wife and I postponed our Monday anniversary till Saturday (I hear you can do that) since I had the foresight to check TicketMaster on a regular basis and found out, a couple of months ago, that Jethro Tull was playing at the Grand Casino which is pretty close to where we live. I'm glad I looked, too, since there was no local advertising. No need - they still sold out. We drove out there, ate at the casino buffet – which is amazingly good and very inexpensive (thanks to the good folks stuck out at the slots happily paying for a good portion of our meals). I have to admit, Cheryl and I
did gamble a total of $11 between us. But it’s really not gambling. You see, for us it’s just fun to watch the machines light up and do their thing. So if you gamble a few dollars at the nickel slots and the machines
do light up (which of course they do) – then you have bought and paid for entertainment (which is not really a “gamble” now, is it?). Shortly thereafter, we hustled ourselves over to the concert area for 2 solid hours of extremely well done vocals and instruments as only Jethro Tull can provide. The only disconcerting thing about a Jethro Tull concert is the sight of all the ageing fans. Of course, we’re not really “ageing”. We’re just “seasoning” – like wood (or something).
I’m also happy to report that I had a chance to watch “Oasis of the Zombies” in its’ entirety. I’ll go into the details in a day or so – but I’ll say this much now.
Who gave these people the go ahead to do this movie. I’m not kidding – I could grab a camera (I wouldn’t even have to be in Italy – Mississippi will do, nicely), scope out some young women, have them slap on bikinis, shoot pictures of their butts and still outdo this film. “Inept” doesn’t even come
close as a description of the proceedings paraded here. As far as monsters go, the kids that show up at my door on Halloween have them beat. Shoot –
I have them beat when I first wake up in the morning. But, I’ll get more into that later. Until next time – I hope you have a peaceful evening…
Do you have your resume with you?
Today was “interview day” at work. We’re currently hiring a number of new technicians to fill some vacancies in my department. Since I’m the Production Supervisor for the section, it falls on me to do the interviews as the agencies filter the hopeful candidates through their own system. I feel sorry for these guys. Here you have a whole range of life circumstances arrayed before you. Jobs that are needed to support families. Kids with degrees – the ink still wet. No jobs to be had without experience. No experience to be had without a job to begin with. Ridiculous.
They come in all shapes and sizes. The savvy ones who "know how to interview". Any questions for me? Answer: “When can I start?” I try not to roll my eyes. The funny thing is – they never really understand what it would take for me to sign them on. “ I need a job, badly and I promise to do my best”. Interview over. You start Monday – we’ll see how it works out. Of course, this only works with your standard candidates. You always get one or two that make you wonder whether or not the agency had run out of decent applicants and had taken to checking out the alleys behind the various liquor stores in town. It wears on you pretty fast. Makes the whole day drag afterwards. Two more hours to go, then it’s home, the family (asleep), the dog (awake) and the cats (ambivalent – till the food comes out). I have tickets for a Jethro Tull concert at the Casino, this Saturday. Things are looking up (until I suddenly remember “Oasis of the Zombies”) Must. Not. Think. About. That.
Well, at least NOW I'm back
Whew. Now I guess I really am back. It’s funny how the urge to write just seems to dissipate every now and again. Then something will trigger a note inside me (usually a melancholy one – but not always). I used to write when I was depressed and then marveled that it was actually
me that did the writing (an almost “out of the body experience “you might say). This time though, it’s more of an upbeat note. I’d been teetering on the edge for a few weeks when I discovered my long anticipated copy of
“Oasis of the Zombies” DVD from Netflix comfortably nestled in my mailbox (looking “oh so innocent”).
I don’t know
what the hell my wife was thinking when she offered to watch it with me this past weekend. I had sincerely warned her against such a foolhardy leap into unparallel misery. But – what the heck. I popped the disk in and off we went careening into the abyss. Well. No. Not quite. I kid you not when I say we didn’t get past the first FIVE MINUTES. I looked at this thing and just said “Sorry, I can’t do this to you.” And I
meant it. It’s truly a testament to filmmaking when a movie can gently tap you on the shoulder; look you square in the eye and seem to say, “I’m sorry, man. Maybe you should watch something else”. I immediately turned it off and cleansed our eyeballs with a couple of Reno 911’s from the 1st season DVD. I’m going to
try to get through
“Oasis of the Zombies” solo, this weekend. I’ll post the results (if I’m still able)…
