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Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
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12:19 pm - wired jacks
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Every once in a while I get freaked out by how fast time seems to pass. I knew it was about time for a new blog entry but had no clue it had been so long since my last entry. So, let's catch up shall we?
Fourth of July has always been a favorite holiday of mine and this year was no different. On Friday the 3rd we headed out to a great event held at a swanky private golf course called Canyon West. They play great music, have tons of food stands, and you just hang out on this incredibly scenic and beautiful piece of land waiting for it to get dark. Once that happens we were treated to the most awe inspiring fireworks display I'll probably ever see. First of all, you're about 200 yards away from where they're launching. So instead of seeing it from miles and miles away you're right there at the source of the fireworks. Secondly, this was by far the longest, biggest, and best coordinated fireworks display I've ever seen. The whole thing was just so great. My entire family was out there and my roommate and his family were out there and the day couldn't really have been much better than it was. Here's a picture of where we were:
So that was Friday. On Saturday my roommate and I had our families over for a pre-poker tournament cookout. Things went mostly really well. About halfway through the grilling a really strong smell showed up in the kitchen. I think it was my dishwasher burning up but I got pretty freaked out about it since all of my nephews were in the house. Eventually that faded once we aired the house out and I went on with grilling burgers and hot dogs. They all ended up really tasty (I don't have the greatest track record on a charcoal grill so it was nice to have them come out well) and it was fun to have a great meal with the whole family. A few hours later our regular group of poker bums joined back up for our bi-weekly poker tournament and that went really well. I got some really good hands early that ended up being beaten by the time all the cards were on the table and ended up shutting down my game and just nursing a short stack for a LONG time. I spent about 70% of the game just sitting around with my small stack of chips but when things went down to four players I had a really good turn of luck when the other players all clashed big and hurt one another. I won a nice coin flip (this is probably making no sense to non poker players) to put out a player and once three handed played really strong. Got heads up against my brother but just couldn't catch anything and ended up losing. He's now our first two time champion and while I'm extremely proud of how awesome he played I can't wait for my chance at some revenge at the next game. Still, second place after sitting as the small stack through the majority of the game was a good accomplishment and I was pleased with how I played for sure.
What else have I been up to? Did a lot of chores last night. Did my yard, cleaned the heck outta my room (it needed it bad). Spent the early part of the day with my nephew. We ate at Jack in the Box and then I took him to see Ice Age. Sitting through kids movies is like pulling teeth for me and it was made worse by the fact that he seemed to really not enjoy it either. I sort of wanted to suggest we leave after about a half hour but felt it would be mean to do so. Afterwards we hung out at my house for a while and watched some "iCarly" on Nickolodeon. Then took him back home and spent a few more hours there hanging out with my other nephews and the rest of the family. It was time extremely well spent, as per usual.
Hmmm... anything else? Nothing really. Work's going really well. My bosses are on vacation this week and I'm pretty happy about it. Most of the time when they are on vacation I get overwhelmingly slammed with work but this week is so slow. It's been nice so far. Still working on my short story that will kick off a new project with some fellow writers. I'm excited about it and really want to summon up the motivation to finish it today.
There's some other stuff I'd like to share about but at this point the entry is long enough and I'm wanting to go hang out with my nephews for a while so I'll save it for later. I really hope you're all having a great week so far!
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| Thursday, June 18th, 2009
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3:11 am - hair enough for now
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I am so tired right now but unfortunately I'm not done with work for the night. Been wanting to blog today and while I wait on a few hundred pictures to upload to our newspaper photo website I figured I'd do just that. Really don't have a whole lot to talk about tonight. Feeling good about a decision I made yesterday that has really helped me take away a big distraction that was hampering my creative writing. So that's really nice. Hrmmm, what else? Got stopped by the cops tonight, that was interesting. Wednesday is the day our new issue comes out and while we place plenty of papers in most big businesses around the west fort worth area when it comes to the smaller places it doesn't make sense to spend too much time going in and out of all of them just to drop off a few papers. So late on Wednesday evenings I head out with some bagged up papers and throw a few to each of these businesses. Well, I live in a pretty small town and at night this place is empty and quiet, so I've always thought that I probably look suspicious going in and out of business parking lots. Well tonight it finally happened. Had two cops basically following me and surveilling me and I just knew it was about to happen. I was surprised by how long it took them to finally pull me over. When one cop finally did stop me he recognized me as soon as he got up to my vehicle. The good side of being a bit known around town is stuff like that, hahaha, because I'm sure I looked very suspicious slowly cruising through parking lots of all the closed businesses. The whole thing was over quick. Honestly I'm surprised this is the first time I've ever been stopped. It's definitely a fishy looking thing to be going in and out of these parking lots constantly and driving so slow. Anyways, no harm done, so it was all good.
I threw my car keys into a gas station trash can this afternoon. I tossed some trash, an empty drink, an empty water bottle, and then I just toss my keys in after them. And to make it way worse when I tried to fish them out I barely bumped them and they sank all the way to the bottom of the nasty trash can. Let's just say that I've since scrubbed my arm rather thoroughly. Also, while I'm admitting to weird bonehead things I did today, I was leaving the house to swing a birthday present by a friends place on the way to going to work and I gather my things and head out. I got to the car and start putting stuff in. Birthday gift? Check. Media badge? Check. Camera? Check. Notebook? Check. Alarm clock? Check.
Then I sort of stopped and looked down at the seat of my car to discover that I had in fact picked up my alarm clock from my room and then carried it out to the car and loaded it up. I have no clue where my head was at on that one but it obviously wasn't focused on what I was taking to the car, that's for sure.
In other news I went ahead and got my hair cut today. For the last four or five years I've only gotten one haircut per calendar year, usually about every ten or eleven months, and it was definitely time. The lady who cut my hair was incredible at her job but made me truly uncomfortable at one point. She's doing my sideburns and around my ears and then she just shifts down and starts grooming, trimming, and cutting my beard. MY BEARD! I didn't ask nor pay for any such service and I was pretty uneasy about the whole thing. I don't know if it's just me or all men but shaving is a bit of a private thing. That's done alone in the bathroom by me and me alone, you know? So having a complete and total stranger take it upon herself to get all up in there was a bit janky. Then again, the woman did a great job all around and even used some sort of bubble gum scented conditioner on my hair, so hey, she's alright in my book.
Well, pictures are finally uploaded. I'm going to finish up work and catch some sleep. I shall, however, leave you with a pic of the new do. Doe? do? Du? Dew? Whatever, the new haircut. Sheesh.
The lady cutting it said "I cut away hair enough for five regular people" when she was done. I think it may've been an insult.
Anyhow, I hope you are all awesome and amazing and that your weeks are going great. I'M GOING TO BED NOW!
current music: Muse
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| Saturday, June 13th, 2009
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11:44 am - back with a vengeance
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So yeah, it's been a long while since I blogged. Why is that? One day I just quit doing it and for a while I didn't even miss it. Then I started missing some of my online friends, a few of which I consider to be as good as if not better than some of my real life friends. I still read their blogs and updates across myriad social sites but it felt like a one sided conversation. Seeing as I care about some of these people, that sort of sucked, as I tend to enjoy conversing with those I care about and when it comes to online friendships this is sort of the way to do that. So that's one reason. The other is that I just wasn't writing. I mean, obviously I was writing, I'm a reporter and I write a novella's worth of words each and every week. But I wasn't creative writing. And when I'm not creative writing I feel like something is just slightly wrong with my soul. And thusly I rarely feel like doing much of anything. But things are good right now in most realms of life and in those realms that things aren't so good I'm working hard on getting them there, and that's about as good as I think anyone can be expected to do during their time on this planet.
So, it's my birthday on Monday and I kind of have mixed feelings about it. 28 years old. I'm fine with the number but I won't be in two years. I don't want to be 30, not in the slightest, but I suppose I have two years to find some sort of peace in the matter. My best friend got me an Iphone as an early present and I can't believe how much I love it. It's a bit of a mixed feeling however as some of my family have made me realize that it probably wasn't the fairest thing I could've done to take on a high monthly bill when in the past they've helped me out financially in times of need. It's not that I don't get by but it's the fact that when something happens, like your car breaks down or the IRS hits you with a 1300 dollar bill just because your employer classifies you a certain way (true story, it sucked majorly), my family are the ones that step in with the big sums of money to help float me past these major problems. And I guess the argument they had was that instead of paying this much higher than my current cell bill I could've been saving that much money so that the next time I have car trouble or the next time the IRS screws me for being the "little guy" I'd have my own funds to take care of it. Of course I learned they felt this way a day after getting the phone and signing a two year contract which leaves you little outlets other than feeling like garbage. Puts a bit of a weird haze over my birthday on Monday too because the last thing I want is for any of them to spend any money on me after all of that and yet I've always spent my birthdays hanging with my family. I tend to be a birthday fanatic so it really pains me to admit that I'd rather just skip this one and give the whole thing a few weeks to settle and then get back to normal with my family whom I adore and hate to see upset with me.
I'm finally going back to church and am so very happy about that. I love a good church and yet I can find a billion excuses why "this Sunday isn't going to work for me". But, for two weeks in a row now I've been getting up and heading out and each time it's been such a true blessing. It's a smart, excited, growing, young church and I really feel energized there. I feel excited as Sunday looms in the week and I feel energized and inspired when I leave that place. I feel a desire to be a better person and I feel I have the power to make it happen. Religious or not I think you'd have respect for the fact that something can have that effect on a person. I can't wait to be there in the morning.
So, while I have a few trusted test readers read over the first half of my long in development novel Moonbridge, CO I am prepping a new short story collection to publish. It will be called A Case of the Mondays and will include some of the stories from the long defunct achall.net as well as several new ones I'm writing and several others that were never published anywhere. I'm really pleased with the quality of stuff that'll be in there so far and the new things I'm getting together for it like "The Daily Market" and "The Crushing Inevitability of Death" are some of the best stories I've written in years. I'm excited to get something new done and out there for you all to read.
( And now, on to some mundane stuff to close out this already too long post. )
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| Sunday, March 22nd, 2009
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11:11 pm - the end of the vacation
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I just sent off my final piece of writing for the week to the newspaper and man, I'm wiped. My bosses were on vacation this week and it turned into one of the busiest weeks in recent memory. Over the past two days I sent them enough material to fill the next two papers. I'm looking forward to getting things slowed back down this week and am even thinking it may be time for a vacation of my own. Hope you all had a great weekend! I'm heading into my one and only day off each week (Monday) and am excited about it. The only thing on the agenda is "walk to office" and I'm just doing that for exercise, not because I have anything to do at the office. Oh and also on the agenda is "take table to my mom's house". I'm glad I remembered that.
Alright, I'm gonna go read or write or watch tv or play a videogame or talk to my housemate. The sky's the limit at casa de aaron tonight!
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| Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
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12:14 am - Didn't anybody ever tell you how to gracefully disappear in a room?
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Home alone and working on my novel. Ugh. Writing novels is hard. I've developed a new system to keep myself accountable and on track to get this dang thing done. Currently I'm behind in a pretty sizable way. Wednesday is one of my two allocated days off from the novel. In order to catch up I'm going to have to spend a few hours working on it anyways when I get free from newspaper duties sometime in the afternoon. It occurs to me that these are all dandy problems to have in life and I'm glad to call them mine.
Anyways, just wanted to share. I always feel weird when I'm home alone. My housemate is gone to see Watchmen. I saw it last week and while I thought it was brutally brilliant I can say with absolute certainty that I hope to never ever see it again. Also I'm sunburned and that always makes me really miserable. We're building a fort/play set thingy for my nephews and this just happens to be the week that Texas decided to get sunny and warm. It didn't help that I walked to work today and the sun continued to stab it's fiery rays into my neck and face. The exercise was nice though. I heard if I get enough of it I might actually lose some weight. I think I'm going to see if that's a myth or not.
Anyhow, need to get back to it. I declared to myself that I'm going to work on the novel until Chris gets home which will probably be in about fifty minutes. At that point I'm either going to go to sleep or maybe go play poker on the Xbox. That's right, party central over here!
I hope you're all having a great week so far. I had a blast conversing with the high school Athletic Director and his wife while covering the softball game tonight. It made me realize that conversing is quite possibly my favorite thing. Or at least one of my favorite things. Writing is up there too, even though this sophomore novel of mine is proving to be a mighty challenge indeed. But it's never going to get done if I don't stop blogging, hahaha, so I guess I'm shutting up for real. Talk to you all soon!
current music: The National - Lit Up
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| Tuesday, March 10th, 2009
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2:18 pm - Boxer
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I just discovered this band yesterday and immediately fell in love with them. They're called The National and I think you'll love them as well.
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1:12 am - paragraph fiction 3
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Felix turned onto his back and floated. The full moon hung large in the night sky casting a bright illumination across the ocean below. In the distance Felix could make out the restaurant and the anger came rushing up again. He started swimming further out, letting his rage fuel him. He focused on it, making it the only thing in his mind.
“Now she says it’s too well done!”
The voice echoed loud in Felix’s mind. What had seemed like a dream job, getting to be a chef at a restaurant on a popular beach, had quickly turned into a nightmare.
“And table nine said cancel the shrimp, he wants steak.”
Three weeks Felix had worked at the restaurant, hating it more with each passing day. But this night had been the worst ever. The words of his head waiter kept coming back to him, fueling Felix’s angry swim.
“Table six left without paying their tab.”
He had always dreamed of being a chef but on this night he felt the dream slipping away.
“Now that jerk at table nine says he wants a shark filet.”
That one had gotten Felix’s attention.
“We don’t sell shark.”
“He said he’s a reporter and he’s going to trash the restaurant in a review unless he gets a shark filet.”
Despite the cold ocean water around him Felix could feel himself getting hot. It occurred to him that what he was doing was crazy but he didn’t care. The bright rays of the moon gave him just enough of a view underwater that when a large shape passed beneath him he saw it. Felix steeled himself and then dove down into the cold, dark ocean.
The man had wanted a shark filet and that was just what he was going to get.
current music: The National - About Today
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| Sunday, March 8th, 2009
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5:43 pm - gasoline is in my head
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Going ever so slightly stir crazy today as I'm chained to the computer trying to get all of my work done. First, I just wanted to ask if I'm the only one who finds the milk chocolate crosses being sold at Wal-Mart to be slightly offensive? Seriously, as a Christian I'm not sure I'm all that comfortable with the cross becoming a tasty treat. Anyways, I also just wanted to share a few songs from a canadian band that features one of my all time favorite rock singers. This guy's voice is dynomyte. The videos are a bit strange but I guess when you live in Canada you've got nothing better to do than try and put oddities into your videos. Silly Canada. Hope you're all having a great Sunday!
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| Saturday, March 7th, 2009
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11:55 pm - my newsmind meltdown
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I spent a good seven and a half hours judging a UIL journalism contest today. It was awesome and I had a blast but by the 35th news story about the same exact thing I was feeling a bit fried. That, of course, was followed by two more events to judge that were full of story after story covering the same exact things. As soon as I got done I came home where I now am spending hours upon hours working on stuff for the paper since we've got to get a lot of extra stuff done due to my boss's upcoming vacation. And I have to say, as awesome as it was to be asked to come and judge that competition, I am as newsed out as I've ever been. This doesn't gel with the fact that I've got about twelve more hours worth of news writing I need to finish by Sunday night.
Yes, I'm complaining. Honestly though, the competition really was a lot of fun. Believe it or not I think I learned a lot today. Getting that many examples in front of you that clearly illustrate really good and really bad news writing, it sort of seared itself onto my brain. Since I got home every story I start working on I keep seeing the judging worksheet in my mind. "Did lead contain the needed information?" "Does the writer properly use quotes?" And so on and so forth. I'm just going to say for the record that if I dream about UIL journalism worksheets tonight then I likely won't be returning to judge this competition next year, hahaha. Hopefully it won't come to that though.
I honestly had like four other things I wanted to talk about but that's the only one I can remember. I suppose that means they weren't all that important. I hope you're all having a great weekend. I'm going to get a bit more work done, watch an episode of Kyle XY, and then get some much needed rest.
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| Friday, March 6th, 2009
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1:48 pm - The Completist
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Just a quick one here as I'm running out the door to take some baseball pictures and then off to see Watchmen. This week has been the perfect storm of entertainment for me. First, on Monday, I finished the novel I was reading. This is noteworthy because I'm a relatively slow reader, finishing one book every two or three months. This one was my advance copy of Starfinder by my friend and acclaimed author John Marco. The book doesn't release until May, so it's pretty cool to be done with it months before it'll even be on store shelves. Then, on Monday night I finished watching Las Vegas. I grabbed the first season last November on a whim, having never really watched much of the show. I fell madly in love with it and since have bought all five seasons. Monday night I watched the final one and now I'll be forced to move on to another show. It was an amazing run though and is now entrenched as an alltime favorite show. Okay, then finally, last night I finished the videogame I was playing. Called Valkyria Chronicles, this Playstation 3 game is by far the best game I've ever touched. It usurped Final Fantasy X on my all time list. The ending almost made me cry it was so good.
And that is all I have to share with you. I'm probably going to start in on the anime series Death Note now (picked up the whole series at Best Buy where all their anime is 50% off at most stores this month), I'm reading a short story collection called "The Drowned Life" and as for games I'm going to finish out the last part of Metal Gear Solid 4 in the next few days.
Okay, so now that we're all caught up on the uber important status of my entertainment life, I need to run. Hope you're all having an awesome day! I am, even though I ate some nasty food for lunch.
current music: Megadeth - I Thought I Knew it All
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| Thursday, March 5th, 2009
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9:53 am - The Autumn Effect
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Last night I experienced one of my biggest pet peeves as it relates to my job. First off, I do feel the need to acknowledge that I do in fact have one of the worlds greatest jobs. I get to write for a living, get to mostly set my own hours, mostly work from home, and get to do all sorts of varied and amazing things (you'll read about one such thing below!). But, there's still one downfall of my job and that is how it impacts my creative writing. When you've sat for five hours writing news stories it's hard to make yourself continue to sit and write on your creative work. You want a break, you want to get away from the computer. It's something I definitely fight to overcome and continue to make progress on, but still, it can get a bit annoying. Case in point, last night I came into my room to get some work done on my novel. I meticulously set up my files on my hard drive into many subfolders and things such as that. Well, I sit down, double click the C: drive, double click the Aaron Writing folder, and then without even realizing it, I double click the Grizzly Detail folder. Then I just sit there for a moment and think "okay, which news story am I needing to do again?" Then it hit me and I was a bit disgusted that I had automatically gone into work mode. And of course, now that I've written it all out in a big paragraph to complain it really doesn't seem like that big of a deal. Especially considering I did in fact get a lot of work done on the novel and write some of the more disturbing dialogue of my creative writing career. You gotta delve deep when your main characters come into contact with a true psychopath and when it comes to this particular baddie I'm having so much fun making him menacing and psychotic.
Okay so, the cool thing from work. On Tuesday evening the Brewer Bears Varsity Baseball team (Brewer High School is not only the high school where I graduated, it's the main school within our paper's coverage area and thus the school that we cover all the sports of) got to play a game at the Texas Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. I was thrilled for the kids, I mean the opportunity to play in a real major league stadium is one that most people won't ever get, so this was a cool deal. And as the reporter covering it, it's also a cool deal for me. I met up with our photographer out there and we made our way over to the third base side to get better angles for the camera. We then went down to the field and took up residence in the camera pit where the tv cameras are usually stationed. This is about a three foot deep concrete hole that is as absolutely as close to home plate you can get without actually being involved in the game. Before things got underway we got out onto the field and wandered around a little bit. It occurred to me while I was out there that now I've stood on the track at Texas Motor Speedway, I've walked the 18th hole at the Colonial Golf tournament, and now I've stood at home plate in Rangers Stadium. I just need to get on the ice at a hockey game and get down on the field of the new Cowboys stadium and I'll be ready to retire.
Anyways, the whole thing was just plain awesome. Our little fox hole wasn't all that comfortable but it was a once in a lifetime spot to take in a ballgame so I didn't budge the entire time. If you want to see some of the pictures that Keith, our photographer, took then you can go here:
http://www.pbase.com/keith1959/brewer_vs_joshua_3309
Oh and some of you probably got this info in an email from me but for those that didn't I am offering a deal on my books right now. If you purchase any one of my books over at http://stores.lulu.com/freejenkins then I'll give you a free digital pdf copy of any one of my other books. All you have to do is forward the receipt email that lulu.com sends you upon purchase of a book and tell me which free copy you want and it'll be in your inbox. So if there are any you haven't had a chance to pick up yet this is a great way to get two A.C. Hall books for the price of one!
Okay, that's it for me, got some work I need to do and then I'm going to eat breakfast. My bosses are going out of town soon so we have to get as many stories together as possible before they leave. The week leading up to their vacations is always extremely hectic for sure. Hope you are all doing well!
current music: 12 Stones - The Way I Feel
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| Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
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1:18 pm - paragraph fiction #2
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Forcefully, as to exert great force. That is how Mallory slammed down the telephone. It was not the gentle, heart wrenching way in which she had begrudgingly hung up the phone eighteen months ago when it had been him on the other end. The blossoming love between them had swelled her heart and she always felt a great sadness when their hours long conversations were at an end. Hanging up was like severing her sole connection to him, suddenly bringing the reality of the many miles separating them crashing down onto her head. But now things were different. After his last disastrous visit to see her in the city she was now thankful for the distance between them. Oblivious as men could be she doubted he even knew how her feelings had changed. She felt guilty for not telling him yet but after the things he had said late at night in her apartment, the secrets he had let loose while lying beside her in bed, she dared not tell him. Even though she was unsure if this was simply her excuse or an actual reason, Mallory chose not to think about it. Instead she focused on the one action she had allowed herself to take regarding the situation. Deciding once wasn’t enough she lifted the phone once more and placed it to her ear, pretending to hear his voice on the other end. “I love you too,” she said emotionlessly. She then slammed down the telephone. Forcefully, as to exert great force.
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1:14 pm - talks to the dark
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So, not a whole lot to really blog about. Been keeping busy, as evidenced from my total lack of updates around these parts. Mostly just haven't felt like I had too terribly much to say to be quite honest. Been working hard, playing some videogames and watching some movies in my free time, spending a lot of time with my family. Nothing too overwhelmingly spectacular really. Just feeling happy and enjoying each day, which is a good thing for sure.
I had jury duty yesterday, that was fun. Unfortunately I took a book with me that I was almost done with, so I completed it about an hour into my six hours of sitting around. I had a notebook with me though so got some good stuff written as well. Finalized some interview questions for an upcoming newspaper feature, wrote another paragraph fiction (which I'll be posting in a few minutes), and then continued to plan out the structure for a local club/group I'm founding with a friend of mine. Loosely, we're going to call it the White Settlement Creative Writing Group, or WSCWG. And yes, the Fort Worth suburb I reside in is called White Settlement. The current structure is rather loose as we don't really want to just sit people down for 90 minutes and give a lecture. We'll introduce ourselves, talk a bit about what we're working on, have a short educational section, talk about any writing problems we're having, and just generally socialize and network. There'll be voluntary critiquing so if you want to put your stuff out there to be critiqued that's an option but mostly it's just going to be a place for writers to hang out and stay focused and excited and help one another out whenever possible. Depending on the number of people we can start to pull together we're also going to try and do an annual anthology of some sort, possibly with themes or without. I may extend a few honorary invitations to a few of my favorite writers and writing pals that aren't local as well, so it should make for a good time. We've got a local restaurant that has nice meeting rooms saying they'll let us come in there for free (with the hope that most who show up will eat, which is probably rather likely anyways) so I'm getting pretty excited about it.
Anyways, I guess that's it. Not a lot going on with me personally. Feeling good, doing good, working hard, loving life. Not sure there's much else required. I hope you're all doing well and I'll do my best not to take so long between posts anymore.
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| Tuesday, February 24th, 2009
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12:15 am - Pargraph fiction #1
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I've been trying to recover from an admitted writing slump and thought a great way to do it would be to get back into some of the flash fiction things I've done in the past. So I decided to resurrect my old "paragraph fiction" feature I ran at Stumblebum Studios a while back. Stories that couldn't exceed 300 words. Apparently it was meant to be, as this was my first attempt and without even thinking about it or planning it I finished up and checked word count to find myself at 299 exactly. So I hope you enjoy and I'm going to see if I can't post several of these up each week. Hope all of you are doing awesome!
edit: I've been listening to this album for an hour or so and just so happened to be on the song "So Near So Far" at the time of posting this. You'll realize how uncannily fitting that is once you finish the story.
PARAGRAPH FICTION #1
Patrick squinted as he burst through the roof access door into the afternoon sunlight. He stumbled forwards and took a deep breath of the fresh air, thankful to be temporarily away from the trouble that was pursuing him through the building. As his eyes adjusted to the light he looked back at the door and tried to handicap how long he had before they appeared. His sweat soaked hair hung in his eyes as he quickly ran over anything he could say to get out of the situation. I didn’t know what he was planning, I’m just in the wrong place at the wrong time, I’m innocent. The young man didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry at the futility of the statements. After what had happened… he shuddered as he thought about what had just transpired in the lobby twenty floors below him. After a moment he completed his thought. After what had just happened they’d never believe him. Which left just one option.
He jogged slowly to the edge of the roof and forced himself to look down. The trash littered alleyway below looked impossibly far down. Patrick shook his head as he looked across at the nearest building, the word nearest seeming hilariously inappropriate to him. His best estimate put it fifteen feet away, hopefully a bit less than that but probably a bit more. His legs felt like putty from the sprint up the stairs but he moved to the middle of the roof anyways. Without thinking anymore about it he sprinted towards the edge. At the very last second he launched himself with all his remaining strength. He shut his eyes as tightly as he could and reached out with both hands, grasping but feeling only
air...
air…
air…
air…
air…
and then...
current music: Angra - So Near So Far
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| Saturday, January 10th, 2009
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12:41 am - tired, but not sleepy
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Do you ever have that? I get it a lot lately, where I'm really really tired but not sleepy at all. Ultimately it's pretty stupid, because if I turned off the light and got into bed I'd almost certainly fall asleep. However, I'm not interested in sleeping. I want to get a headstart on some of my newspaper writing, watch an episode of Las Vegas (I'm watching my way through the dvd box sets of this show, it's a super guilty pleasure but I'm loving it), flip channels for a while, and then go to sleep. Do you see the problems I face on a daily basis? This stuff is real folks, it is real.
Had a busy day today, which is pretty much the way my life goes most days. Got to meet and listen to a speech from one of the Dallas Cowboy coaches, that was cool. Also covered Basketball, both girls and boys. The boys team had a great game and that was fun to cover. There were two things about today that were bad though. First, was that I saw the movie Bride Wars so I can review it. Ugh. I'm in love with Anne Hathaway less and less these days, because that movie was just so far beyond awful. At first I was thinking about saying "it's a great movie for women to see on a girl's night out" but the more I think about it I have to wonder why they'd waste their girl's night out watching such a crappy movie. Ugh, it was so uncharming and unfunny. Who knows, maybe I'll lighten up on it by the time I write the review tomorrow, but I doubt it. The other bad thing about the day was that when I was leaving the basketball game I saw a cop pull over a truck on the highway. I was on the access road and as I go past them I see the cop sort of jump out of his cruiser, pull out his gun, and then run to the back of the truck and start yelling something at the driver. It was crazy, and I sincerely hope that the cop is okay. I wanted to see what happened and see if I needed to call him some back up or something but the driver behind me was coming up on me really fast so I had to keep moving.
Okay, so recap. Dallas Cowboys coach good, enjoyable basketball game good. Bride Wars bad, cop in dangerous situation bad. That was my day.
Oh wait, not totally. I also bought some new clothes, and am currently wearing the brightest shirt I ever did own. It was expensive, even on sale, but I bought it and one other shirt and they instantly became the two nicest shirts I've ever owned. I also bought a pair of pants that came with it's own belt, which I found odd. Oh, and I thought the pants were green the whole time I was in the store and then when I checked out the cashier grabbed them and I saw that they were khaki instead of green, which was sort of nuts. Because up to that point I would've sworn in court that the pants were green. I blame the shoddy lighting in Burlington Coat Factory, personally. Oh, and I watched a movie with my brother this evening, which was a lot of fun. He's an awesome dude and I'm very glad to know him and have a relationship with him. Families that aren't super close make me sad, because I'm super close with mine and it makes life way better.
So, still tired here, so I'm going to shut up now. I hope you're all doing great and such things as that. Have a great weekend!
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| Thursday, January 8th, 2009
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2:56 am - the awesome things we do
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You know, I'm pleased with a lot of things that happened today. Firstly, I had an extremely awesome early dinner with my best friend/roommate Chris. We live together and spend most non work waking hours hanging out, but it's still nice to head out and have some great food and fun and engaging conversation.
After that, the next thing I did was go visit with my nephews. Little kids have no right to be that cute but darn it those three are just off the charts amazing. By the definition of love in the dictionary it should just be a picture of those three children. I love them so much and had a blast visiting with them for a while.
Then I came home, where my roommate and his brother were hanging out. However, I followed through on a self promise and instead of hanging out I came into my room and put nose to grindstone on my novel, Moonbridge, CO. I've been in the middle of the same chapter FOREVER and I vowed that today was the day I was going to finish it. Turns out the chapter was about three times as long as any of the others in the book, but about 3,000 words later and I finished it. I'm trying to work at a 1,000 words a day pace right now so it was really nice to have a day where I eclipsed that. I've really got my feel for this book again, and it seems like my writing has stepped up a notch. I'm really comfortable with how the words are flowing and weirdly I feel like my vocabulary is way better than it's been in the past. Can't wait to get going on chapter 14 tomorrow as I keep putting these characters through the ringer. I'm having a blast telling this story and am excited to share it with some of you in the coming months with a new, super cool test reader thing I've got planned. More on that in the future, however.
The last thing I'm pleased with tonight was a two hour phone conversation with a friend. I spent a good portion of 2008 being a pretty closed off guy, due to work being busy and as much as I hate to admit it, also due to just not being that good of a friend. It was insanely nice to have a conversation and to this guys credit he totally let me off the hook for being such a flake and we just had an awesome conversation about anything and everything. Calling him up was one of the better decisions I've made so far in 2009 and really made me feel good. I'm definitely going to continue my push to be a better friend this year and I feel like tonight was a perfect first step towards that goal.
So, that's about it. Got soccer coverage tomorrow, should be stellar. At least it's early, I about froze to death at soccer the other night! Seriously, my finger got so numb that I couldn't push the button to take a picture on the top of my camera. I ended up hiding in my car and parking it in a fire lane so I could watch the game and write about it later. I love cold weather, I do not love FREEZING cold weather. Go figure.
Alright well, I hope you're all doing super duper. I'm feeling pretty high on life tonight, there's a lot to be happy about in my life and I hope that the same is true of your life too. The only downside of today is that my mom was busy talking to a guest when I left her house and I didn't get to give her a hug. And if that's the biggest downside of my day, I'd say I had a pretty great one. Goodnight!
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| Thursday, January 1st, 2009
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11:28 am - Feeling fine in 2009
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Man, I was just re-reading my final posts of 2007 going into 2008 and was reminded of just how sick I was at the end of that year. That illness stuck around for a good four months before I finally got over it. I'm happy to report that as 2008 ended and sent me headlong into 2009, I was not sick. Which is nice. Of course, that doesn't mean 2008 and I parted on good terms. On the contrary, it was a bitter split. I loved a lot about that year and I hated a lot about that year. Professionally, 2008 was a good year. I did some amazing journalism work, I had some once in a lifetime experiences while out being a reporter, and our newspaper grew and continued to expand. Time spent with my family was also lovely. My nephews continue to grow and get cuter and it is the single best thing that ever happened in my life to get to know them and be around them. Just looking at my nephews cures me of any negative feelings. Just seeing them, before I even talk to them or hug them, is enough to make the worst day good. Children are truly a gift from God and I'm so incredibly thankful that God has placed these three children in my life.
The things I hated about 2008, well, are in the past quite frankly. I have an amazing life, a truly amazing one, and that's what needs to be focused on. The great thing about a new year is the ability to right what went wrong the year before. I've never been a big believer in making resolutions, at least not publicly. I think it's those promises you make to yourself, within yourself, that matter most. And I've certainly made some, and I don't take these self promises lightly. And so, happy new year to all of you out there! 2009 isn't a clean slate, but it is a new canvas in the collection of paintings that make up your life. So if like me, the picture that emerged from your 2008 didn't turn out how you had hoped, now's a good time to start crafting that ideal picture for 2009. Dang that's cheesy sounding, but heck, cheesy works for me a lot of the time, so I'll take it.
So, what awesome stuff did you get for Christmas? I got some great stuff like books and such, but the absolute top present this year came from my housemate and best friend Chris. He got me a record player, which is something I've always wished I had. I've already got a small record collection going, with the highlights being Nat King Cole, Mozart, The Ink Spots, and two different versions of "Pictures at an Exhibition".
Alright, I'm out of here! Hope you're all having a great day so far!
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| Monday, December 15th, 2008
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10:39 am - flash freeze
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Remember that scene in "The Day After Tomorrow" when it gets super cold super fast and anyone caught in it dies? Yeah, that's like what happened here in north Texas last night. The temp dropped over 30 degrees over the course of an hour and now, now I'm really really cold.
Saw the space shuttle land at the local base the other day on its way back to Florida. Piggy backed on a giant airplane, getting to see it up close again (it made this same stop years ago when I was a kid) was really awesome.
Saw "The Day the Earth Stood Still" with my dad yesterday. Getting to hang with my dad and go see movies is one of the real joys in life. Seeing a movie as awful as "TDTESS" is not one of the real joys in life. It was beyond awful. Did finally see "Punisher: War Zone" however, and really really liked it. Don't get me wrong, the film was ludicrous and the villains were among the stupidest around, but man that movie got a few things more perfect than most comic book movies could dream of doing. Ugh, the villains though. SO bad.
Anyways, I'm out the door for a while. Work continues to be all zany through the holiday season but at least my Christmas shopping is complete. I even wrapped all the gifts already, so that's cool. I hope you're all having a great start to your weeks!
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| Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
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9:07 am - off to the world of sleep
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Man, I was tired last night. The following post was written around 1:30 am and I apparently fell asleep after that final paragraph. Upon rereading this I realize that I had a pretty boring day yesterday, hahaha. I like what I titled the post. It turned out to be a self fulfilling prophecy.
Gah, so glad I got today over with. Haven't had a day off in some time and even though I do have to work tomorrow it's a pretty light day and I couldn't be happier about it. Feeling quite exhausted so I just have a few random things for you from my day.
I rearranged one of the shelves on my book shelf tonight. Now the top shelf is all books that I'm super excited to read as well as a few of my all time favorites. After stalling out and not reading for about a month I'm now getting way back into "Pattern Recognition" by William Gibson. Definitely not a fast paced book but it's really good. I'm at about the 80% mark and can't wait to find out how things are going to turn out. The book is written in present tense which is weird. So it's not "The man dropped the gun" it's instead "The man drops the gun." I've never read anything else in this tense before and it's honestly a bit of a distraction. Not a big one, as the book is still good as heck, but still, it is a little distracting. I was planning on reading more tonight but started nodding off so I had to shut it down.
Anything else? It's freezing. I left for my first assignment of the day around 11:15 am today in a short sleeve polo shirt and pants. I got out of that meeting around 1:00 pm and thought "it's a bit windy and feels kind of chilly". I headed over to the office where I stayed and worked until around 4 pm. When I stepped outside the office I was blasted by powerful arctic winds that chilled my very soul. Seriously, the wind outside today may be the coldest I've ever felt in my entire life. And yes, I am writing about the weather, I just noticed it too. Thus I'm stopping.
I went grocery shopping tonight after covering city council. It was a pleasant trip but when I got home I discovered that I had forgotten several main components to several different meals. Thanks to my second job and my apparent inability to buy all of my needed grocery items in one trip I can safely announce that I visit a truly unhealthy amount of Wal-Marts each week.
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| Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
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2:10 am - Taurids meets Leonids
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Okay, so I went my entire life and never saw a shooting star, right? I heard about them, had even talked to people who had seen them, but not me. 27 years on planet Earth and not a single one. However, since November 3rd, I've seen five and have been present three times when someone else saw one but I was too busy driving to catch it. The first 27 years? Zero shooting stars. Since then? Eight, five witnessed, three not. Are the celestial heavens crashing to Earth at an alarming rate these days or what? For some reason the whole thing sort of freaks me out.
Anyhow, weird reason to break my weeks long blogging silence, I know, but I just wanted to share. I pledged earlier today to myself that I was going to blog at least once a day for the foreseeable future. I enjoy doing it and plus there are too many of you out there that I value greatly that I only interact with via livejournal. So not blogging has become like not ever talking to/with close friends. And heck, even family, because even my mom reads this thing and I'm sure she finds it reassuring to read my posts and know that I'm doing just fine in my house that happens to be situated no more than a few hundred feet away from hers on a different block. Of course, I call my mom all the time and I show up over there usually at least once a day, so I doubt she misses me too much, hahaha.
Alrighty. It's late and I'm not tired but I'm going to go anyway. Been striving to make some positive changes in my life lately and it's coming around slowly but surely. You gotta start small sometimes but doing a little is way more helpful than doing nothing at all. For example, I marched in place while lifting small weights in each hand for twenty minutes this evening (while watching the nightly news). That was way more helpful than my usual routine which consists of eating too much and not exercising at all. See how that works? Add in some vitamins to make up for the fact that I haven't eaten vegetables (any of them) since I was about 8 or 9 years old and subtract at least three or four soft drinks from my daily fix (which leaves about 2 soft drinks in the mix) and you've got a number of small steps that can all work together to start helping in big ways.
Okay, going for real now. I hope you've all been extremely well and that the holiday season is treating you nicely. Personally this is my favorite time of year. Professionally it's a bit of a nightmare. Work's been pretty constant and hectic but we're getting through it, which is all you can do. I helped put on an awesome birthday gathering for my big brother yesterday and am collecting some stellar presents to give to my inner circle of loved ones for Christmas, so that all makes me very happy. I'm pretty much just giving everyone books this year and it's been a lot of fun to go out and track down stuff that I think each person will love. So far I've got my roommate, brother, oldest nephew, and mom bought for. But really all I'm focusing on this year at the holidays is love. Love for my family and love for my lord and savior Jesus Christ who started this whole dang holiday in the first place. Gifts are nice and all and so are cookies and christmas trees but honestly I think the spirit of this holiday is so diluted that it's just sad. What better time to just be with family and appreciate them than Christmas? I've been hugging my nephews extra tight every time I see them lately and really I can't think of anything else that matters more than that.
And now I'm shutting up for doubly real. I hope you're all doing really well in life and that you're happy. It can be a hectic season for sure but try to keep your head above water and your focus on what's truly important. That's definitely what I'm trying to do each and every day.
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