Fame

Let’s see, the guy who wrote Transmetropolitan, the guy who directed Iron Man, the guy who does the art for the Munchkin games, the guy who does the FoxTrot comic strip, a couple of guys who were on Star Trek, an astronaut,science fiction authors, one of the guys from Mythbusters, notable musicians, a Monty Python alumnus…

And some insurance claims adjuster. Yeah, that scans.

100 Geeks You Should Be Following on Twitter ate up a huge part of my day off today.I was finally forced to disconnect because I couldn’t keep up with the email and direct messages. Bah. Get these people off my lawn.

Workaholic

Have the day off today, because I worked last Sunday. Vowed to myself that I will not do any kind of work today (this is my personal blog, not work). Other than folding some laundry and doing dishes, which are “nothing” chores. Not doing any writing or blogging (this is my personal blog, not work). Not working on any interviews or reviews or planning games to be run. The only reason I’m up is because I have dogs, and once their needs are met they’re going back to bed with me. I’m going to watch movies (Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai for starters, then random selections from the DVD collection) while laying in bed. Going to meet a friend for coffee. Going to read.Going to stop talking about this stuff and go do it now.

Media

Reading Robert E. Howard’s Savage Tales of Solomon Kane for the third time this year, because it speaks to me and the language and meter of it is enchanting. It’s all mood, the writing is brilliant, it’s so easily Howard’s best work. I will be poetry if it’s written by Robert E. Howard. Reading Mind Storm Labs’ Alpha Omega RPG for a review, in conjunction with an inmterview I’m doing with the publisher for Examiner.com. Need to re-read the Shaintar setting for Savage Worlds for a review, to go along with the interview I’m conducting with that publisher (Talisman Studios) also for Examiner.com. Yes, Examiner is driving my reading habits, not a bad thing. Been in a mood to re-read Fritz Lieber and Michael Moorcock lately, too.

Lost is finished for the season so we can pack away the TV for another 8 months. Watch The Wrestler with Mickey Roarke and fell in love with it. It kind of resonates with reading Solomon Kane in a weird way. Rewatched Jim Jarmurch’s Dead Man this past week, and will be watching Ghost Dog sometime this week. Just in this weird head space. Nothing in my Netflix queue right now by Doctor Who-verse stuff (Hartnell, Torchwood, Sarah Jane) and Eddie Izzard standup. Everyone is telling me I have to go see Star Trek, which is the prime indicator that I don’t. I’ll be happy watching it on DVD in the privacy of my own home in a few months, far from the maddening crowd.

Haven’t figured out what I’m loading on my MP3 player this week. I’m thinking of searching my CD collection for progressive rock, Yes, ELP, stuff like that. I’m in a trippy head space, brought on partially but this rambling blogging I’m doing here. It’s very relaxing and the surreal edge of things takes away a lot of the stress of everyday life. It really has nothing to do with the drugs, I’m only on ibuprofen at the moment and saving the hard stuff for the really, really bad days.

Next weekend is another big gaming weekend. Ides of Gaming Saturday afternoon, Hellfrost Saturday night, and the final (!) session of the World of Darkness campaign on Sunday. then taking Sunday off to write and do household chores for a few weeks, before another campaign begins. Woot, as the kids say these days.

Projects

There’s an episode of the TV show Friends where Rachel’s going running and Phoebe wants to come with her because it sounds fun. Never mind that this is the only time in the entire series that Rachel goes running, and I know because my wife owns all 10 seasons on DVD and watches them through from beginning to end and then takes a couple of weeks off and watches them again. What do you call a Friends Trekkie? Anyway, Rachel the professional runner is embarrassed because Phoebe flails her arms around and runs like a little kid, full of joy and reckless abandon. That’s how I feel writing like this, stream of consciousness. Who cares what people think, I’m having fun.

Not making any big announcements about taking a hiatus. Just putting UncleBear into reruns and doing my thing. Don’t feel the need for a sticky post proclaiming “hey everyone, look at me, see what I’m doing?”. Nah. Just doing my thing. Commitment #1 fulfilled, two more under way, and then I think that’s it. Except for Examiner.com gig, which is my 2nd job because I’m paid to do it. And it’s just starting to get really fun. Shifting focus onto one project. Have a total of five I want to work on, but seriously, even though I’ve said it before, I’m only doing one at a time. Should go faster because I’ll have a rhythm, most of the projects have similar beats so it should get easier with each successive one. Couple of small projects I might stick in between the big ones as palate cleansers. No I’m not saying. Just wait for it. Doing stuff for friends (like, real people, not TV show characters) on a selective basis.

Armchairs

Sitting in a coffee shop, doodling in a notebook, listening to the old men at the next table talking about sports and politics. The conversation ambles organically between the two topics, and they not only discuss them with the same tone and vocabulary but as if they’re the same thing. “He’s a bum! They’ve got to get rid of him! He’s gonna bring the whole thing down! Remember when they had that other guy? He did a good job. They need another guy like him, but they don’t make ‘em like him again. We’ll never see another guy like that again. That’s not what they want these days.” They’re equally adapt at espousing how the people in charge should be doing things, their disappointment with the status quo. It doesn’t matter that none of them are likely qualified to either run a sports franchise or hold elected office. They have opinions! And their opinions are Truth! The One Truly True Truth! If only the world would see things their way, both sports and government could be saved.

I’m like a liver spot away from joining their club.

Ramble

Maybe if I keep babbling I’ll find the pattern in this stream of consciousness and have another epiphany. Have you ever stopped in the middle of something and asked why you’re doing it? You fall into habits. You stop doing things meaningfully and you do them by rote. You lose the zen of the thing. You lose the pleasure of doing things mindfully. You stop doing things because you desire them and enjoy them and just do them robotically because that’s just what’s done. Having a blog, you can post things like this and even if the reader’s aren’t reading mindfully, they might understand the patterns in the ramble, it might strike some chord with them so that your words have meaning to them even if they don’t have meaning to you. It’s like poetry, I guess, although I rarely get poetry and can’t write it worth crap. Even in creative writing classes, instructors looked at me funny when I had to write poetry. It’s boxes. I’m supposed to adhere to rhyme and meter and still say what I feel. Maybe what I feel doesn’t fit in a box, how about that? Maybe what I’m writing now is anti-poetry? Maybe it’s just so poetry that it went through the extreme end of poetry and came out the other side. It is both anti-poetry and meta-poetry. Ur-poetry, if you will. Ultra-poetry.

I want to run a Warhammer 40k Space Marine chapter called the Ultra-Poets now. Just ruined the moment for you, didn’t I? Good. you were starting to take this a little too seriously.

Demon

Last night I had a dream that I walked into a Circle K (convenience store, for those out of region; see Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) and a demon was buying a case of beer. He didn’t look like a demon. He was short guy, wearing denim shorts and a sports jersey, sneakers and a ball cap. Looked ordinary. But somehow, I knew he was a demon. So I drew my longsword (I have no idea why I had a longsword) and ran him through. No one reacted. No one seemed to notice. As I pulled the sword out and blood welled from the wound in his chest, black blood that smelled horrendous, he looked down where I’d pierced him and said “well crap, if I’m going to die I’m having a hot dog first”. Then he walked over to the roller, fixed himself a hot dog with mustard and relish, ate it, and collapsed on the floor.

I apologized to the clerk, who wasn’t too upset, paid for the hot dog and the demon’s case of beer, took the beer and left. I had the sense that I needed the demon’s beer for some quest. Then I woke up.

Schedule

To run with an old cliche, I threw a bunch of stuff against the wall to see what stuck. Turns out most of it did. Now I’ve got to run with it. No new projects for a while. Not taking anything else on until I get some existing things done. Rethinking some of the existing things. Always good to periodically revisit why you’re doing what you’re doing. Cost/benefit analysis, if you will. Yes, I’m rambling, I’m tired. Had some epiphanies lately. Good epiphanies. That’s why I want to wrap a few things up and take a personal inventory before I start anything new. Getting too philosophical. Not overthinking anything, just trying to put the right amount of thinking into them.

I need a nap. Will write something coherent later.