More ROCK...comin' right up

Two more days until Rock Band 2. I play a lot of Rock Band and Guitar Hero. It's a good way to loosen up the ol' fingers before, during, and after work. It's like listening to a CD in front of the TV with a toy hanging from your neck. Very therapeutic. Rock Band 2 has a ton of great songs on the list and I'm pumped to start rockin'. I won't pick up a new set of instruments until October when Guitar Hero World Tour releases. The GH instruments look a bit cooler and I can't afford to buy EVERYthing that comes out. So, Sunday will be busy. Do a little work, rock out. Do a little more work, keep rollin'. Maybe after that, I'll stop using so many apostrophes.

Decorating mistakes or just good TV?

Ok, so new stuff is coming out on TV and I’m actually starting to get a little pumped. As freaking awesome as Hole in the Wall might be (if you haven’t seen it, you’re missing out. Weirdoes in disturbingly form-fitting jumpsuits jump through shapes in a foam wall. Classic), it’s about time for some actual plotlines. Heroes looks like it could be pretty good, but that’s a little ways off. Sanctuary on the Sci-Fi Channel looks like it will have some promise. Torchwood will be returning. You know my thoughts on Primeval (awesome). The one I’ve seen most recently is Fringe.

Please Lord, let there be Fringe. I’ve heard the numbers for the pilot weren’t great, but the show sure as hell was! Even the lettering that marked where they were at the beginning of the scene was cool. It’s hard to explain, but if you’ve seen the show you know what I mean. The writing was great, the characters were original (a crazy guy who actually acts like a real crazy guy instead of some Looney Tunes character. SWEET), and there were even a few twists and turns that took me by surprise. Even the ones that weren’t a surprise were nicely done. It’s out there, but not quite X-Files out there. It’s right on the. . .oh. . .Fringe. Huh. Well Played, JJ Abrams.

Chuck’s also coming back and I really enjoy that show. Let’s see. . .I’ll give Knight Rider another try and I think that’s about it. I just hope Fringe gets its fair shot and is picked up for a full season. Maybe people just DVR’d it and watched it later like I did. Would that affect the numbers? I don’t know. Just keep your fingers crossed.

Where's the "I hate you. You're the bane of my existence" button?

You know what truly sucks about working at home? Not having a tech guy to come around and fix my computer!! I know just enough to do the really hard stuff like work on Word documents and check email. Then, for no apparent reason, every little thing becomes a multi-layered chore that involves starting/stopping programs, watching everything come up as “not responding”, restarting the computer, talking to customer service reps, and all kinds of other fun stuff that wastes a good chunk of my day.

I need a tech guy to come in and work the voodoo required to clean up whatever I messed up. Yes, I’ve run virus scans, but I’ve never had my computer act goofy, run a scan, find a bunch of bugs and then have it run great after removing those bugs. Usually, all I get are a few tracking cookies and then I need to restart the computer because it’s chugging away at something or other. Seems to be working ok now, but it’s only a matter of time before I’m ready to get out the crowbar and do some debugging the old fashioned way.

MEG Branch 1

I put a link to MEG Branch 1 on the side of the page. It's just my page on Live Journal. I actually started out trying to put this blog on Live Journal just because some other people I know are on there. I found it hard to work with, so I ditched it and moved over to Blogger. It's not that LJ is overly complicated, but getting stuff set up on there just felt like a chore. Blogger seems a lot easier as far as arranging the layout and inserting pictures and all that crap.

Just a preference thing. No biggie.

The people I mentioned are still on LJ and you need to be a member to leave comments on some of them so I rejoined and put together another journal. I'm not crazy about updating more than 1 blog, so I decided to give that one an ectological focus. I can talk about supernatural stuff like ghost sightings, ghost hunting, urban legends, all that fun stuff. This will still be my normal day-to-day blog.

It's kind of funny because at the time I'm writing this, SKINNERS #1 isn't even on shelves yet and the only people who read this are a few friends and family (you will all be remembered when the New Order is implemented...heh). The last thing I need is another blog, but there it is. Not really that big of a deal when I think 2 blogs is probably a pretty low number for most folks. I still haven't done much of anything with my MySpace page, which I started for the same reason as I started the first LJ.

Enough of that. You get the idea. 1 blog is now 2. The link's on the side, so check it out if you like. If not, there'll still be plenty of crap right here!

What's my problem??

First of all, I love to read. Let’s just get that out of the way right now. Makes sense, right? I write books, so I like books. It follows I’d like to read books. The sucky part is that, when I’ve really got my nose to the ol’ grindstone and am writing away, I don’t really read that much. I know authors who read voraciously and they keep up on everything out there. I truly wish I was like that. What happens to me is, after a hard day of writing, I don’t feel like looking at more printed words. That sounds horrible, I know, but it’s true. It’s like I’ve spent my whole day cooking pizza and the last thing I want when I’m through is to eat more pizza!

I’ve got so many books piled up that I need to read, it’s just ridiculous. When I make time to crack open a book, I really love it. Sometimes, though, blowing stuff up in a video game or switching my brain off to watch crappy TV is the equivalent of stuffing some burgers down my throat instead of cooking a good meal. More food references, huh? Maybe I’m hungry.

This really does bug me. As a writer, I should be able to plow through a couple books at a time (like other writers I know) and spout off all the textures of every new release. Damn, I wish I could do that. My little pea brain just gets chafed or something. Maybe I’m just lazy. Yeah, that’s probably a little bit of it. Short attention span? Ok…I’ll admit to that one too. Not all the time, but…what was I saying?

Another sad personal fact is that I’m a sloooooooow reader. I’m not exactly stupid (although some may disagree on that), but I just don’t like to skim. My wife devours books and even finds time to re-read them. She admits to skimming, but I just can’t do that. I want to read every word and if I happen to space out a paragraph or two, I’ll go back. This amounts to taking a lot of time to make it through a book. Eh, I just need to put down the Xbox controller more and haul my ass away from all those wonderfully bad Sci-Fi Channel movies and read.

This public service announcement brought to you by Reading.
READING. It’s what’s for dinner.

Coolness is...well...cool

Damn! It is really nice outside!! I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts, because there's always that bit of cool air right before the last blast of summer. I think I might go out and frolic. Either that, or I'll just settle for a quick drive to Scooters for an Espresso Smoothie (chocolate peanut butter).

DO YOU FOLKS LIKE COFFFFEEEEE??? REEEEAAL COFFEE...from the HILLS...of CoLUMbia. (See the Duncan Hills jingle on the player to the right. Metalocalypse fans probably appreciate it.)

Blurbs, shooters, time distortion...the usual stuff

I’ve been messed up this whole week, and I don’t even mean the fun kind of messed up. I mean I had family over at the beginning of last week, which made it feel like the weekend. Then, I took a day off of work to be with said family so it REALLY felt like the weekend. After they left, there was a long weekend, which felt like a whole lot of nothing. The Olympics are over, so TV is just starting to come out of its shell. All of my normal gauges for time and space are off. Now, it’s Tuesday after the holiday, so it feels like Monday. I’m only one day off, which means I should be back on track sometime before Halloween.

And it’s September. Yessssss!!! I don’t know about the official season start/end dates, but summer is June, July & August in my mind. Therefore, September is the beginning of autumn. I LOVE autumn! The sun’s not so damned blaringly bright. The air is cooler. People are generally quieter. Pumpkin Pie goes on sale. Everything smells like apples. Ok, so maybe that’s all a bit much, but autumn is great.

Speaking of TV, a new episode of The Shield is on tonight. I love that show, but there better be one hell of a recap because it feels like it's been about 4.27 years since the last one.

I finally got around to finishing the single player campaign of Call of Duty 4. That game is simply amazing (old news, but still true). I’ve been playing the hell out of the multiplayer, which I like simply because it’s one of those games where you can die a lot and still keep playing. Tom Clancy games are freaking great, but a lot of them are “bang, you’re out”. More realism doesn’t exactly = fun for crappy players like myself. Still plucking away at Too Human, GTA 4, Ninja Gaiden 2, and so many others. I remember the good ol’ days where I had nothing to keep me busy but some school work and games. Ahhhhh.

My XBox Gamer Score is 22221. I NEED A ONE POINT ACHIEVEMENT!!!!

Still collecting blurbs for Blood Blade. I got some really good ones from some great sources! I’m just jazzed that these people are reading my book and not just using it for a doorstop. It’s coming out in February, but I can’t think about that too much or I’ll start to jump around like a monkey when some demonic evil enters the zoo. Or monsters. Eh, you know what I mean. Those movies where animals and kids always freak out when the bad guy comes close and…forget it.

The second SKINNERS is coming along nicely. I’m in the second half of the first draft, which means there’s a whole lot of work left to do. Still, it’s great to be working on it at all. Writing a sequel and thinking about all the continuity stuff for past and future volumes makes me think about writing a series in general. Writing western series isn’t as difficult, mainly because they prefer to stick to stand-alone types of stories. The fantasy genre (urban or otherwise) likes its continuing plotlines. I love thinking about over-arching stories, but it’s tough to strike a balance between explaining things to readers who pick up the second book first and continuing things for people who read the first one. Hopefully, this turns out to be enjoyable for anyone. In the end, though, it does say “Book 1” and “Book 2” right on the cover.

Time to stick my nose outside. Haven’t done that for a day or two. I’ll probably go to Best Buy to see what came out on DVD this week. Exciting stuff.