Halloween

• It’s Halloween – well, I guess it’s technically Nov 1 now.  My favourite time of the year.
• Ethan’s first year of really understanding the process of trick-or-treating.  Had a good time running up to the doors and saying trick or treat, getting candy (the first year he could eat whatever  he was given).  It was a good time.  There was a house towards the end with a strobe light going and spooky music.  Someone was out front in a grim reaper like cloak and red glowing eyes.  Kinda cool but IT FREAKED THE SHIT OUT OF ETHAN, so that pretty much ended the night.  Still, overall, great time.
• Also took Ethan and Drew to the Day of the Dead celebration for a brief time.  You learn as a parent that you often just have to do an “in and out” if you want to do something.  Went and saw the altars, as well as Linda y Dante, who had a very nice altar set up.  We sat outside for a little bit, but Ethan had finally had enough right before the parade was about to begin, which was fine, as we had to get home and get ready to trick or treat anyway.  With them being half-Mexican, it was nice to be able to at least have them there for a few minutes (with all the skulls and stuff, Ethan was freaked out a bit).
• It’s great AMC is showing a remastered version of Night of the Living Dead, with commentary in between by George A. Romero.  BUT, why do they have to show it four times in a row?  Would be nice to find some horror variety on the tube tonight.  Seems like a common practice as Bravo is showing Hannibal back-to-back times.  I may have to go back to whatever TCM is showing.
• The next page of my book that I write will be page 50.  I don’t have a required number of pages that I have to write, but I imagined it taking around 200 to tell the story, which means I’ll be at the quarter mark.  Despite still being relatively early in the process, I also started to write what may be a short story sequel to the book (or maybe just an “add in” at the end of the book). 
• Aside from the book, which I’m writing at home, I thought I’d try to break it up with some short story writing while I’m at work.  I thought writing something dark would be fun, but, so far, the story I’m writing is coming off as a comedy to me.
• Finished reading A LONG WAY DOWN by Nick Hornby and STORY OF THE EYE by Georges Bataille.  Added it to the books section.  Liked A LONG WAY DOWN a lot but didn’t care much for STORY OF THE EYE.  Deciding what to read next.
• Hope everyone had a delightful halloween….

Constipation

• Today, Ethan was given the thumbs up that his milk allergy is no longer with him.  He celebrated with a little ice cream and a few Cheese Stix from Papa Johns (I could only eat one before feeling sick).  Anyway – so happy for him that he will not be limited anymore.  Happy for Christine and I that we won’t have to check every ingredient of everything we buy to see if Ethan is allowed to eat it.
• Although, sadly, things did not work out for Christine and I to head to Chicago last weekend, where we were planning on seeing The Dead Milkmen, there are a couple video links on their website to a couple songs.  Looking forward to checking them out.
• I really need to re-string my guitar and get a couple samples together.  Really want to put a few songs down to eventually flesh out.  I’d love to get the musical project swimming around in my head moving at some point in the next year or so.
• Watching one of the greatest Christmas movies ever made right now – Gremlins.
• Would like to continue writing, so I’m signing off…not that it matters.

Then…why is it called the poop deck?

• I think it’s great that Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize.  Seems like there’s a lot of backlash about this.  Bush seemed more like a predator; whereas, Obama seems to be trying to work together with different countries to resolve things in a peaceful way.  So, good for him.  I’m glad it’s being recognized that he seems to be trying to take positive steps to resolving some disputes.  Going so far as to wanting to speak with China before meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama so that it’s not seen as if he is taking sides on their dispute.  If he could mediate some sort of agreement between them, that would be wonderful, although I don’t see it happening. 
• I don’t think I will ever become a full-fledged vegetarian again, but I defintely want to ensure the meat intake is at a minimum.  After two and a half years of being meat-free (unless you consider shrimp and scallops meat – there’s a debate I don’t want to start), I don’t see turning my back on vegetarianism completely.  It’s funny when people talk about vegetarians on tv (we watch a lot of cooking shows) because my wife and I still feel like they’re talking about us, even though we’re not vegetarian anymore.  I had purchased the cookbook Vegan with a Vengeance when we were vegetarian, and I still want to go through it and find some good recipes.  The author also has a few other Vegan cookbooks (including the Veganomicon), which I was just flipping through at Borders today.  It made me still want to explore Animal-friendly cooking, but I wouldn’t give up meat entirely again.  I think there’s a happy medium to be found.
• Time to try to get healthy again – I was just on vacation this week and decided it was a great time to put some changes into effect once I go back to work.  No more White Chocolate Mochas (health and monetary benefits there).  Exercising in the morning before work (once I get into the routine, I’m usually pretty good about it – just need to get into it).  Bringing my lunch to work again (again, healthy and economical).  Healthy snacks.  Consistent eating schedule.
• Also – after going “summer casual” – I’m going to bring the button-downs and ties back out.
• Also really need to start saving money.  I think we’ve been doing an excellent job paying off our credit card debt (I think we’re down to four cards when the latest is paid off in December).  There’s just those little things that bite you in the ass – the aforementioned White Chocolate Mochas, paying for parking when you already have a pass for public transportation, maybe working in some occasional bus rides to the train to cut down on gas costs, and bringing the lunch from home.  I think these little things will do a world of good.
• Blu-Ray:  Recently purchased Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness, which both look absolutely amazing in the high def format.  Also recently purchased Gojira.  Although it is an excellent movie, I didn’t see much benefit in the Blu-Ray format over the “normal” DVD release  that I had already bought (actually – the “normal” one was a two-disc set that seemed more expansive – maybe that’s just because of the inclusion of the 1956 US version of the film, so you could say that release was actually superior).
• Speaking of Evil Dead II, the film was originally released UNRATED to avoid the X or NC-17 (whatever it was in 1987 – don’t feel like looking up when NC-17 started).  Anyway, with Sam Raimi being a big-time director now, I wonder if he could create its equivalent today and get an easy R.  Not sure why the film wouldn’t have been R from the get-go, aside from it being an independent film, which seems to have harsher guidelines from the ratings board than big studio films.
• Why am I still awake?  How am I ever going to get back on schedule to wake up on time for work when I’ll be waking up in 25 hours to go to work on Monday, and I still need to get some sleep in before “waking up” on Sunday?

October

• Ahhhh!  It’s October.  Just like that – the weather turns beautiful, and it gets to the point where it’s wonderful to slip beneath the covers and warm up.  Leaves are all over the ground (good thing – Ethan’s school was showing them all about raking leaves).  Definitely my favourite month out of the year.
• Another reason to love October – I’m on vacation next week.  I think it’s the first time I’m going to be off for an entire week with NOTHING TO DO!!!  I can’t wait.  Gonna be able to take Ethan to his preschool and pick him up, looking forward to seeing him in that setting all week.  Usually, there’s always something to do – whether going out of town or having new babies…   Aside from taking a mental break from work, I’m hoping to get myself organized on a personal level.  From – getting myself back into an exercise routine, eating healthy, writing routine, and possibly continuing my normal schedule of getting up early in the morning – just, instead of getting ready for work, I’ll be writing or doing some extra exercising or cleaning or something.
• I’m not a big sports fan.  But, I’m a baseball freak.  If you know me – you probably know that.  Tomorrow ends the baseball season for the Cleveland Indians, so that’ll open up my weeknights, as I won’t have the compulsion to switch the channel over to SportsTime Ohio to see what’s going on.  What to do with all that time!?!?
• We finally watched the first couple episodes of House tonight, and I’m definitely addicted to the new season.  I remember being a kid and pretty much having something to watch every  night from 8 – 10 (so it seems, at least).  Barely watch anything anymore.  House on Monday.  Hell’s Kitchen on Tuesday.  Top Chef on Wednesday.  Simpsons/Family Guy/American Dad on Sunday.  Is there anything on tv worth watching?
• Been reading Nick Hornby’s “Long Way Down” – think that’s the name.  May be getting close to the halfway point of the book, and it’s been really good so far.  Second book of his I’ve read (first was “High Fidelity” which I loved – one of my favourite films, too).  After this one, definitely want to pick up everything else.  Wonderful writer.  Although, his “American” character still sounds British to me (maybe that’s cuz the chracter has been in London long enough?).  Been loving the fact that I’ve gotten into reading more again.  I think I’ve read a few really good books this year.
• What else?  Hmmmm.  I’m just hoping that I can make some good headway with my book – use my time off wisely and get a few chapters banged out.
• I almost screamed in excitement as Ethan was throwing something away and just opening and closing the cabinet within which resides the trash can singing “Hey Ho!  Let’s Go!” as he did so.
• Good night.

Sharts

• Seems like if I’m able to continue writing at least one day on the weekend, then I might finally make some progress.  About to start again for this weekend.  Hopefully, I’ll get this thing going.  I think the book will be somewhat short, and I’ve decided to try to get a screenplay out of it, too.  May as well be optimistic.
• I’m going to try to put a song together that I wrote one day for Ethan.  I miss doing that shit.  Dave – I look forward to listening to some of your stuff.  I will do that soon.
• We’re thinking of heading to Chicago for our 11th wedding anniversary.  We thought about doing that before (I had forgotten) but decided not to because we have no money.  Well, it turns out The Dead Milkmen are playing in Chicago that weekend, so it’s back on the “make it work” list.  My parents live in Chicago, so we’re thinking we may have some babysitters for the night.  Although I doubt it’ll come close to the amazing display that we saw a few years back during the Dave Blood Memorial show, can’t really pass up a chance to see the Milkmen.
• After two and a half years of being a vegetarian, meat has crept back into my diet.  I feel odd when I think about it, but eating meat feels natural.
• “Balls to the Wall” by ACCEPT is on VH1 Classic’s METAL MANIA show.  I think it’s the first “metal” song I’ve seen on the show so far.
• Have a great week.

Time to Remove the Training Pants

I see  I haven’t posted anything since May…since before becoming a family of four.  Damn – what’s happened since then.

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Obviously, our second son was born May 26 – making him 3 1/2 months old now.  He is doing awesome – been smiling since week 1.  Older brother is doing really well, too, loving his younger sibling and being pretty cool about not getting 100% of the attention.  Ethan is also starting “mini” pre-school which will be his first constant exposure to other kids his own age and his first school-like setting.  He’s only gone one day so far.  We’ll see how that goes.

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When I’m finished with this, I plan to continue writing the book I’ve been trying to get going  – I think the book is the only thing I work on less than this blog.  I really need to change that.  But, I’ve been saying that for about seventy-three years now.  It’s up to me to get it going.  I really do like my latest idea, and it’s something I think can be done somewhat quickly – being a shorter work of fiction.  We’ll see how it turns out.  But, for one of the first times, I think I know how I want it to begin and end, as well as having some key pieces in the middle.

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After 2 1/2 years of giving animals a break, my vegetarianism has fallen by the wayside.  I figure I’ll probably still be mostly vegetarian – we’ll see….

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The group I’m in at work has been moved over to I.T.  I don’t know.  My job is ok.  I would feel bad about complaining about it in this economy where you should just be happy to have a job in the first place.  I make a decent living.  I like my job most of the time, I guess.  In the business world, I feel out of place sometime and wonder if I should be looking for something a little more me.  But, I don’t know if that’s really possible anymore.  What do I want to do with my life?  I mean, if writing isn’t in the cards, where would I want to take my professional life?  Maybe it’s time for me to look into the options available to me to see where I would like to take my career…

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OH!  Got on Facebook somhow.  Barely been checking that out either.

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Good enough.  Good night.

Holy Shit!!!

I’m going to be off work for two straight weeks, as our second child is being born on Tuesday (the 26th).  Aside from welcoming our newest addition and having quality family time, I was hoping to be able to get some writing done as well.  Tonight (or this morning…actually), I decided to get started, working on my latest work of fiction.  I wanted to throw in a horror DVD or something while I wrote, hoping to watch something interesting.  The DVDs are pretty much buried, and I’m too lazy to move stuff out of the way to get to them.  I flip through the stations to see if anything is on TV.  Can’t find anything except for Freddy vs. Jason on Sci-Fi Channel, but that’s edited, and I have the DVD, so that seemed pointless.  Instead, I scan the On Demand list and find a film called Tokyo Gore Police.  Samurais and gore.  Okay.  I’ll give it a shot.

Finally, I have seen a film that has knocked me on my ass.  It’s so difficult anymore, especially in the horror genre, to find something that I don’t want to just fast forward through.  Recently, I watched the Friday the 13th remake/reinvention/whatever they want to call it and was thoroughly disappointed.  I’d rather watch Jason take over Manhattan again.  Anyway, I often look for that next great film that’s amazing to see, and Tokyo Gore Police is that film.  It’s just absolutely crazy.  The smallest cut causes geysers of blood.  Mutants galore.

The story is Japan in the future.  Police force has been privatized.  A woman’s dad had been killed many years ago (he was a policeman during the non-privatized days), and she is a part of the new force.  She is an “engineer” hunter.  Engineers are these mutant killing machines.  Lots of twists and turns, crazy visuals, nonstop entertainment.  I thought it would be difficult to write and watch the film (in Japanese with subtitles), but it all worked out.  If you get a chance, add this one to the list – an absolute gem.

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A long time ago, I was in a band.  The bassist, who lives a couple hours away, is going to be in town tomorrow to play a show.  Depending on how Christine is feeling, we’re hoping on catching a little of the show.  Haven’t seen him in many years, so it will be nice if we can make it.  I can’t remember the name of who he is playing with – but it’s at the Symposium in Lakewood.

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The Indians lost again tonight – having a horrible start to the year.  At least it was a good loss in that they didn’t beat themselves with stupid play – they just ran into some good pitching.  Bad note is that two different Indians pitchers left the game injured – and they can’t afford that right now.

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3 days + 5 1/2 hours away from bringing our second child into the world.  Will he be as weird as Ethan?  We can only hope.  I think Ethan should handle the extra baby just fine – he’s always been fine around other kids (sharing toys, trying to help out, etc.).  We’ll see how everything goes.  Can’t wait for the family to all be home.

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My plan to post at least once per month isn’t happening.  Doubt it will start to happen either.  Thanks for checking me out, though.  Catch you on the flip side.

20 Years and Counting…

I know – it is 50 year anniversary of the 14th Dalai Lama’s exile from Tibet.  Being a big fan of His Holiness, you might be asking yourself why I’m not in a more somber mood…

Well, today also marks the 20 year anniversary of my first ever Dead Milkmen show.  It’s the only show where I remember the date -  March 10, 1989 at the Phantasy Theater in Lakewood, Ohio.  Starvation Army and Government Issue opened the show.  I just remember that one band came out saying they were the overlords of the universe or something like that.  Eventually, a sick Dead Milkmen (they were all battling the flu) came on stage.  At that time, they were supporting what was probably their biggest album (Beelzebubba).  I can’t remember if the show was before or after “Punk Rock Girl” started getting MTV play.  I would see them many more times over the years – ending with one of the Dave Blood Memorial shows in Philadelphia a couple years ago.

After all this time, they are still my favourite band – very influential in my own music (along with Robyn Hitchcock) when I have a chance to write any.  Great proof that humour more than belongs in music.  My plan was to listen to nothing but Milkmen today at work, but I didn’t listen to anything (I listened to them on my train ride to and from work).  Even with songs 25 years old, they still sound great – either shows how well their music ages or shows that I haven’t aged well.  I’d like to think it’s the former.

Anyway, they’ve been playing shows here and there (I think they have a show in New York soon), and, still, no one compares. 

Constipation

• Well, work had decided a while ago to block WordPress (as well as most blog sites), so I am no longer able to blog during my lunch hour.  Can’t really blame them for locking down websites.  I mean, they’re paying us to work.  Still, the only real time I had to come here was during my lunch hour, so it made my sporadic writing even more so.  My plan for 2009 was to write at least once a month but already missed January – oh well.
• Let’s see – read Jonathan Lethem’s Fortress of Solitude during 2008.  Very good book – makes me want to check out some more, especially Motherless Brooklyn, which sounds really good.
• Was also getting into Goethe’s Faust.  Even inspired me to start writing my own play/poem in the style of Goethe/Shakespeare.  You know, I figured no one wrote plays in rhyme anymore, and I thought it would be fun to start writing one.  I haven’t gotten too far into writing it yet, but I’ve found it funny so far (one of the four projects I’m not really working on right now).  I don’t know what happened, though, with the reading of the book.  Just kind of stopped after I forgot my book for a couple days and eventually started reading World War Z by Max Brooks.  Less than 20 pages into it, though.
• I think the stress at work has made me want to relax my brain on the way home, so I’ve stopped wanting to read on the train to and from work.  Feel like my brain is going to mush outside of work.  Haven’t been reading or writing, which usually starts putting me in a “down” mood. 
• George Carlin is currently on  HBO.  The man can never be replaced.
• Last movie I rented was Return to Sleepaway Camp.  Not even worth linking.  Horrible.  Couple actors from the original film made this intriguing, but it was horrible – and not even in a good way.  Not even the badly disguised killer was really that amusing.
• My wife wants to see He’s Just Not That Into You, which is opening this weekend.  Looks like it could be good.  In linking the film, I see that Fan Boys is also coming out this weekend.  Wasn’t that supposed to be out, like, 15 years ago?
• Next week sees the release of the Friday the 13th remake/revisioning – whatever you want to call it.  I started writing my own remake a couple years ago.  Don’t know why, but I really do like most of those films.  There’s a documentary called His Name Was Jason, which is out very soon if not already.  Figure I’ll pick that up. 
• Haven’t heard much good music lately – except I am enjoying some of the music that my 2  year old comes across on some of his tv shows – especially Jack’s Big Music Show on Noggin.  For Christmas and Birthday #35, Christine got me a new iPod.  Started going to iTunes store and picking out some music – trying to be diverse, getting Tchaikovsky, Sugarhill Gang, Motorhead, Bob Dylan, Sonic Youth, you get the idea.  Enjoying the idea of having music at the ready again.  Also just received notice that the latest Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 album, Goodnight Oslo, has been shipped – Feb 17 is the actual street date - so I’m looking forward to receiving that in the mail.
• I have four projects I’m currently not writing…my little joke to myself.  Working on a project at work, and it’s rare for me to take a break during my workday now, so I haven’t written any of my fiction in a while.  Like I mentioned above, I thought I’d write  a poem/play in the style of Goethe’s Faust.  I’ve also been working on a couple novels – a tribute to my wife and a “horror” novel.  Also, I started writing a screenplay or stage play – not sure which.  Would like to get back to that.  I decided I would take some old short stories and try entering some contests in the meantime – to make me feel active.  Submitted one and have been lax ever since.
• Watching Ethan grow up has been wonderful, as more and more words escape his lips and he continues to be the little weirdo you’d expect from parents like us.  It’s awesome.
• Number Two (Drew) is due to arrive in late May/early June.  It will be great for Ethan to have a playmate cuz he loves being around kids his own age, but we can’t really afford daycare, so those days are few and far between.
• I’m going to try to get some thoughts down and try to publish every couple weeks or so, but we’ll see how that goes.  It’s almost 2:30am, and I really should go to bed cuz, once Ethan is up, I will be up.  I liked how things were going before my blogging lull with the format, so I will try to make this more visually appealing as well, but, for now, you get words.
• Take care – feel free to drop me a line.

Stupid Firewalls

• There’s a Firewall that was put in place at work, so I can no longer blog during my lunch hour at work, so I don’t know how often I’ll be blogging now (it also means when I log in from home on my laptop that I’m blocked).  So, anyway, here’s a quick bit of what’s happening.
• Reading Fortress of Solitude by Johnathan Lethem.  I was turned on to him by Hutch, when he let me know that he was speaking at the Cleveland Institute of Art.  Very interesting guy to listen to.  The book is very good so far.  Thinking of picking up some of his others when I finish.
• Haven’t watched it yet, but I finally recorded 200 Motels off TCM.  Looking forward to seeing the Mothers film.
• My iPod is finally destroyed, so I’ve been basically music-less at work (and on the way to work).  Listening to CDs at home with Ethan (he was jamming to Talking Heads while eating dinner – made me so pround).  I had a couple albums on Windows Media Player (stop snickering), so I at least had DJ Shadow, Dead Milkmen, and the Kids in the Hall Brain Candy soundtrack to listen to.
• Speaking of, heard the Kids in the Hall are working on a new film.  Sweet.
• Haven’t written much in the past couple of weeks, but the writing had been going well – really enjoying what’s been tapping on the keyboard for both the books I’m trying to write now.
• It was fun watching Penguin Ethan walk door to door on Halloween.  Can’t eat majority of the candy he received due to his Milk issue, but I think he had a good time anyway.
• That’s it for now.  HOpefully, I will log back in again before the year is out.