twenty 8

So, I turned 28 on Sunday. Happy belated birthday to me. I had quite an exciting day. I walked around the world, twice, took a boat to Morocco and had leg of lamb there, traveled back in time, crash landed on Mars, traveled to the future, recycled enough garbage to power a village, sampled foods and wine from around the world, took exciting boat rides in Mexico and Norway, and saw a spectacular fireworks show; all in the Experimental Prototype City Of Tomorrow. Thanks to Shelli for that awesome experience. :)

Actually, I must admit, I am feeling a bit melancholy about 28. I am on the precipice of my 30s, standing before the doorway of the rest of my life. Realizing that your youth is fading and now you must make real decisions about what you want to do with life is slightly depressing. They do say, though, that 30 is the new 20. Maybe this cloud does have a silver lining after all.

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One Week until Madness!

That's write, NaNoWriMo begins in a week. This year is my first attempt at such literary insanity. For those who don't know, I am talking about National Novel Writing Month and it happens every November. 50,000 words in a month. Fifty-Thousand words in 30 days. That breaks down to 1700 words a day everyday. Nutso. Since March, I have written about 15k words on my current project. I need to more than triple that in one-tenth of the time. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to *finish* a book. A staggering percentage of people who want to write never do, or at least never take themselves seriously, because the idea of finishing a novel is preposterous to everyday life. Not to mention you aren't a literary genius so why try? Well, every literary genius out there has been quoted saying something like, "First drafts always suck." Well, Its true. So just frakkin write it. Get to The End. *Then* cut out half of it and rearrange the rest. Then you get to take the story where you really want it to go. At least that is what I am hoping.

That has been exactly my problem. I have never finished a book or a short story (unless it was due for class) because I let my self-critic talk my way out of it. Forget all that. Just keep pumping out words. Breakthroughs will happen. The point of NaNo is to get over that internal criticism stigma. Quantity over quality.

So, the next month will be spent primarily in coffee shops drawn into my laptop. It will be fun, like running 15 miles is fun. Painful and liberating all at once.

http://www.nanowrimo.org

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Now Hiring

Due to overwhelming request from my burgeoning fanbase, I promise to update more! And check it, I am looking for an Assistant! With the overwhelming amount of mail I get daily I need a super organized-multitasking-coffee drinking-calendar brained-administrative cyborg by my side. Please reply with resumes.

My dog, Oscar, has the worst breath ever. Death Breath. Boy, I love it when he decides to plop down next to me and start panting. I think I'm going start hiding Altoids in his treats. Anyway, I am procrastinating right now. I should be brainstorming and preparing for NaNoWriMo. But I am not. My fans are more important.

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Big Mac

actually, its a small one. I inherited Shelli's iBook g4 when she got her pimp new 20" iMac last week. It needed a new battery and a RAM upgrade. I found this guy on craigslist who was selling a factory sealed battery for $50, a nice savings from the Mac price of $130. Turns out, this dude refurbishes and resells used Macs. He happened to have a gig of RAM lyin around for my iBook. So he sold it to me and installed it for $20. Killer.

I have come to the light! Oh lord, I have come to the light!

Now I have a notebook to take around and type up my book during NaNoWriMo! I will be spending much of November hunched over this thing in coffee shops.

In other news, I got a new network card for my PC and can finally play FFXI again! After months of not playing I will be returning to my virtual gaming mmorpg world. Oh yeah.

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I Finally Saw Saw

Great movie. I thought it was a creative spin on the typical serial-killer-cop-investigation movie. I was expecting it to be a bit gorier, which I am generally glad it wasn't. Excessive gore really only works in cheesy horror flicks like Evil Dead, Society, and Dead Alive, etc. The movie was intense though, mostly taking place in a nasty cell where the master mind serial killer has the victims, usually two, pit against each other where one must kill the other to survive, or both die, in some sick game. For those who haven't seen it, no spoilers here. I will say, that the twist at the end is ridiculous. Absolutely unexpected and, in my opinion, made the movie. I will be renting the next three to watch before Saw V comes out in theaters on the 24th.

On a totally different direction, I had another first in the last 24 hours. I did yoga. Holy shit it is hard. Shelli has this yoga dvd, and she convinced me to try it. It is good for the mind, body and soul no doubt, but I am about as flexible as a cinder block. I had to stick to the easiest modifications of the positions, and even then had trouble with some of them. But, it was a good work out and surprisingly relaxing. All the movements are deliberate, so it forces focus, but slow enough not to be strenuous. And breathing. Lots of breathing. I think I am gonna keep it up a couple times a week. It will no doubt help me with my discipline and stamina in playing the drums, and help boost my energy all around. I have one word of advice for those wanting to try yoga: do not attempt after eating until you are completely digested. It makes you gassy.

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Intro

Here it is, the weblog of none other than me. Right next to yours in the massive, expanding sphere of complex connections we call the web. In a world populated with millions of blogs, mine is but one. "So why read it?" you may ask. Because it's one-in-a-million. Because here you will find daily rants and ravings, insights, tips, tricks, advice, stories, experiences, art, music, reviews, previews, scenic views, abstractions, distractions, attractions, contradictions, predictions, humor, rumor, emotion, commotion, introspect, retrospect, monologues, dialogues, prologues, epilogues, captain's logs, and whatever else spews from my mind and shoots out my finger tips like volts of lightning. I meant bolts of lightning.

Who would not want to read that? Stay tuned.