TNMC

Today was chainsaw day.  We had a bad ice storm a couple weeks ago that flattened a lot of the county.  Some people were without power for over a week.  Luckily, I live near the center of town and power was restored here after just a day.  The day after the storm I went out, looked around the yard and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the damage was pretty minimal.  So I decided to go across the street and help out my neighbors, who had a lot of damage, mostly in the area they keep their horses.  After a few hours of that I came back home and went to get a nap.  I laid down, closed my eyes and heard a big crack.  I sat up fast and looked out the window in time to see an enormous section of the big tree in my front yard peel off and crash to the ground.  Amazingly, it hit nothing except my crab apple tree.  That would be the same crab apple tree that lost about a third of its branches in the summer when a different tree lost a big chunk in a thunderstorm and landed on the crab apple tree.

Anyway, because of the weather and holiday stuff, I've only been able to spend a couple hours cutting up the big chunk of tree in my front yard.  My wife took the kids to see her family for the weekend.  So without them underfoot and a surprising appearance by the sun in the sky, I finally got out there and started cutting.  And it was really slow going.  And then out of nowhere, one of my neighbors appeared, told me it sounded like my chain was dull and offered to sharpen it for me.  Which he did on the spot.  He even lent me a helmet with ear protection so I wouldn't go deaf.  And after that my chainsaw went through that tree like butter.  The difference was astounding.  Before that I thought I might get through a third of the debris.  After he sharpened it the rest of it came apart with next to no resistance.  That said, using a chainsaw is hard work and my back is now squawking in protest.  So I will spend the rest of the day in bed, watching movies.

And if anyone out there needs some firewood free, shoot me an email and I'll tell you where to pick it up.  I don't deliver.

Today, for a complete change of pace, I will write about movies.  Okay, not movies exactly, more like movie.  One in particular.  Zack & Miri Make a Porno to be exact.

So, it's probably time to let it go and admit that summer is over.  Maybe.

Actual progress is a wonderful feeling.  I added about four pages to the new script today.  The best part is getting home from work and actually being anxious to get to the computer and start working on ideas that I've come up with during the day.  For a long time I've had myself working on second, third and fourth drafts of scripts and that sort of writing is a bit of a grind.  It can be greatly satisfying to work out problems and smooth out awkward areas but it lacks the feeling of joy that comes with writing something entirely new.  Each new idea fills in the world I'm creating, which helps direct the main character, which helps build that character.  It all feeds on itself to create even more new stuff.  Basically I'm enjoying myself.

I'm writing a lot about bureacracy right now.  For inspiration I look to my members of my family who have served in government offices.  They have provided me plenty of gruesome tales of bureacratic thinking at its worst.  But then to make it entertaining, I've been watching a bit of Monty Python for taking the absurd to ridiculous heights.  I'm not trying to ape Python at all.  It's more like taking lessons from a master in the art of absurdity.

 

 

First off, let me apologize for the lack of updates lately.  I've been working behind the scenes to move the site to a new server.  So if you've sent me an email in the last month and not heard back, send it again.  It's possible it was lost somewhere along the way.

The other reason I haven't been posting is that the old brain thingy kicked into gear rather suddenly on a new writing project.  With my third script in the hands of some guinea pigs, I had two choices.  One, fret nervously on what sort of response I would get.  Fretting does not come naturally to me, even if I do admit a degree of terror in letting my work make contact with foreign eyeballs.  That leaves option two, write something else.  Back in August I flirted with a new script idea but it stalled when I hit the need to do actual research.  The emergence of a primetime network show that treads on the same territory didn't help either.   So I went and looked back at my other stalled ideas.  And quickly came to the conclusion that I still didn't have any solution to their various problems.  Things were looking bleak.

And then I read this article.  Now, I love Scalzi but I'm not really crediting him for inspiration or as my stubbly muse.  One line did the trick.

 "Because happy futures are boring"

That's all it took to set me off.  He's absolutely right.  Utopia is dull.  It's not a great topic for a movie where you might actually expect something to happen.  But I'm the sort of person who loves to throw sand in the gears and muck things up.  If I'm bored, I'm almost certainly about to start some trouble.  So the idea was to take a utopia of sorts, toss in a character from the outside of that society and watch what happens.  I love this idea because it gives me freedom to engage in two of my favorite hobbies, annoying people and slapping around busybody do-gooders.

I'm not going to get into much detail but I am going to try and write about the project frequently.  Basically I want to operate under the threat of embarassment for not getting any work done.  If you aren't seeing any updates on this, you have my permission to harass me about it.  I'm going to try and follow the example of this gentleman, although with less fantasy football talk.

I promised myself I wasn't going to watch the debate.  I really knew better.  It was only going to irritate me.  But I turned on the TV, planning on watching anything else, and there it was.  And like a fool, I watched.  Next time I'm just going to pay someone to give me a swift kick in the head instead.  By the time consciousness returns the ugliness should all be over.  The bad news for you is that I'm now going to rant a bit.

Let me be clear about one thing first.  I am neither Democrat or Republican and see no practical difference between them.  My vote will not be cast for either Obama or McCain as I don't agree with either one on anything.  My preferred vote is virtually always "None of the above" except of course that isn't a choice.  So I'll do the next best thing and vote third, fourth or eighteenth party instead.  If you can explain to me a rational reason to vote for one of those big parties that have done such a brilliant job of running the country into the ground, I'd be greatly amused to read them.

Now on to the debate bit that has me so irritated.  First there was the $700 billion voted and approved by the feds to buy up bad debt.  That's offensive enough.  And now McCain, who could actually be President soon, proposed buying up all the bad mortgages in the country.

Isn't he the Republican?  Does he realize he sounds like a goddam communist?  If he's tossing out nutbag comments like this, what the hell can we expect if the actual liberal gets elected?

If this is the direction we're going in let's not stop at mortgages.  How about refunds for all losing scratch tickets?  Let's give Ford and GM a few hundred billion each if they promise to continue building shitty gas guzzling cars.  Let's give T. Boone Pickens billions so he can carpet the country in windmills and give millions of Americans jobs standing next to them in green pajamas waving signs that say "I care about the environment."  Hell, let's just buy fucking Iraq and get it over with.  Maybe we can start giving a few thousand dollars to every person everywhere who has had their feelings hurt by someone's insensitive comments.

Any other ideas?  I'll be in the corner repeatedly slamming my head into the wall until the resulting brain damage hurts more than this idiocy.

I could swear I've seen this show before.  Last year the Mets entered the final weekend of the year trailing another team by one game for a playoff spot.  On that last Saturday they received a brilliant pitching performance from the starter (I want to say John Maine but I'm not 100% certain) to beat the Marlins and pull back into a tie for that playoff spot.  This year the Mets entered the final weekend of the year trailing another team by one game for a playoff spot.  On that last Saturday they received a brilliant pitching performance from starter Johann Santana to beat the Marlins and pull back into a tie for that playoff spot.  Both times the game was nail biting but left me exhilirated at the end, full of hope.  Last year the Mets sent veteran pitcher and near certain Hall of Famer Tom Glavine to the mound.  Glavine proceed to turn in what might very well be the worst performance of his career.  And just like that the season was over.  I'm still carrying the scars from that collapse.  So I'm more than a little nervous about tomorrow's events.

Now, there are  serious differences between the two years.  Last year the Mets held a seven game lead over the Phillies with 17 games to go.  The Mets had led the division all year long but had played only .500 ball the last half of the year.  So their total collapse at the end was somewhat predictable.  The Phillies were hot and the Mets were ice cold.  This year the Mets stunk up the place in the first half of the year, resulting in manager Willie Randolph getting the axe.  Under the quirky but sure hand of interim manager Jerry Manuel, the Mets got their feet under them and then turned scorching hot.  They made up a 7.5 game deficit to the Phillies and took the division lead, only to lose it as injuries started to mount.  The Mets bullpen was shaky a lot of the year but the loss of closer Billy Wagner to season ending shoulder surgery completely unraveled the relievers.  The starting pitchers started racking up high pitch counts in virtually every game in a desperate attempt to keep the relievers in the bullpen where they couldn't cause any harm.  Bringing in Aaron Heilman became the equivalent of tossing gas on a fire.  It was not pretty folks.

So, in spite of ending up at a shockingly similar position to the one they found themselves in a year ago, the story is not the same.  And obviously the ending hasn't been written yet.  Either way, they are not doing the health of my heart any good.

And I also find myself wondering about the other events at Shea Stadium tomorrow.   It will be the final regular season game at Shea.  A big celebration is planned for after the game in which at least 45 former players will be on hand including Tom Seaver, Willie Mays and Mike Piazza.  If the Mets win, this will be a huge celebration.  If they lose, it will feel like a funeral.  I hate to send the stadium out like that.  While many like to disparage Shea, there have been a lot of great moments in that stadium, both small and large.  Saying goodbye should be a happy moment.

Rooting for the Mets always means a considerable degree of heartache.  They make an appearance about once a decade in the World Series, winning it as often as they lose it.  But in between tends to be lengthy stretches of brutal losing.  But it's usually a matter of quantity that is painful, not the quality.  And last year was a manner of losing that actually made me feel sick to my stomach.  For days on end.  Even if they lose tomorrow, it's not going to be that bad again.  But it sure won't feel good.  I just don't need that.

I'm not really that old.  37 to be exact.  But this is definitely the point where I can't really claim to feel young anymore.  To wit, I'm sitting at my computer trying to read while ignoring the shooting pain from my neck down through my shoulder and into the middle of my back.  This is apparently the result of poor sleeping position in the last several days.  A crick in the neck is certainly not a sign of getting old.  I've had them as far back as memory allows.  But usually the pain would be gone the next day.  Now it seems like a week long event.  Day one, notice the pain, be annoyed by it but assume it will be gone the next day.  Day two, notice the pain is still there and in fact has gotten worse.  Day three, notice the pain has shifted slightly, but otherwise not improve.  Day four, lather, rinse, repeat.

A friend of mine, who I've known since childhood, has spent more than the last week with a neck hurting so badly she decided to go to the doctor.  X-rays were involved and the answer came back muscle spasms.  For this she gets physical therapy.  And what caused her pain?  Riding a really mild ride with her kids at a local amusement park.  This is a park so easy going, I had assumed the biggest danger to adults at it was narcolepsy.  And she's actually a little younger than I am.

I have one of my many construction jobs on the house to be working on right now.  But since it involves hammering and sawing on things above my head, I can't seem to develop the motivation at the moment.  That's right.  My neck pain is driving me to actually write something on this website because it gives me an excuse not to do some physical labor.  How sad is that?