On Back to School (an A - Z list)

There's something about Labor Day weekend that brings a bout of nostalgia.  So many years removed from High School (and College at this point) those first days of September still manage to hit you over the head with the "Back to School" fear.  Now that I have little ones of my own and they are first learning what back to school actually means (it's still a fun thing at their age), I wanted to take some time to reminisce on what life was during those wonderful/miserable years.  What better way to dissect adolescence than with a list.  Let's rehash the A to Z list.  I bring to you my high school/college years in alphabetical order.  This is a more personal post as opposed to my normal book/movie reviews.  Feel free to skip if it's not your thing.  Or do this on your own.  Who doesn't love a good list?

Anime

I was a real Otaku for several years of my life.  The number of anime VHS tapes I owned...  Let's just say it took up a lot of space and cost me a lot of money.  I did a number of Otakon conventions in Baltimore - costumed up and all (costumes ranged from Ranma - Ranma 1/2, Akito - Martian Successor Nadesico, Waldo - Where's Waldo (ok, not really anime, but it was a lot of fun)).  Got to see some great foreign films, hit up the merch tables, take loads of pictures of people cosplaying way better than myself - though Waldo got me in A LOT of pictures - some of which I would find after the con as people post online pictures from the upper floor down where I'd been "found" wandering the halls.  Good times.  

Bram Stoker's Dracula

Cheating by using this as a 'B' instead of a 'D'?  Maybe.  But I want the 'D' for something else, so deal with it.  Dracula was the first book I picked up outside of the school curriculum.  Other English classes were reading it.  Mine was not.  And I felt vampires would be interesting so why shouldn't I read it.  So, I read it.  And then I needed more books.  So it was quickly followed by other Horror and Fantasy books, and I haven't turned back since.  My late-developed love of reading started with Dracula.

The Crow

The "the" totally doesn't count as a word for lettering purposes.  I watched a lot of TV in those years.  For some reason though, when a friend of mine suggested we see The Crow I had no idea what it was.  Chances are I disapproved of the movie choice, but thankfully gave in the end.  I was 15 at the time and therefore we had to pull the old "mom buys the tickets, gets us in, and leaves" trick.  I don't know how many times I watched this in total.  And now I hear they're talking about rebooting it.  Mixed feelings.  

Danzig

Brutal honesty here.  I really never was a HUGE Danzig fan.  Sure I liked the commercial hits - Mother, Her Black Wings, Can't Speak, etc. (and a few of the non-commercial songs), but I wasn't a strict follower of his.  Never seen him live, never really cared to.  However, I list him here because I did like his music enough to give his name a coveted place on my backpack - yes I painted band names all over my backpack with whiteout (who didn't?).  The reason this means anything is because it was that backpack that caused LE to say anything to me in our Educational Psychology course.  I believe the exact line was "I haven't seen anyone proclaim their fanship for Danzig in years." (Not sure Glen would be too happy about that, but the probability of him ever coming across this is nil).  Sparks flew, there was an elevator incident, and today we have two little brats and a dog (soon to be two) and a wonderful old house together.  

Honorable mentions for Dracula (noted above), Diablo II and Denny's (a diner-esque restaurant, if you don't have any of those near you).  

English/Education

The stars were aligned for me to enter into the business world.  I was a piss poor English student in high school.  The only subject I did relatively well in was Math.  My father is partner in a CPA firm in Manhattan.  All the ducks were lined up for me to get into college and get working on that accounting or finance or marketing degree.  Something changed along the way.  My father is still a CPA, so it wasn't that.  I don't remember where the change came from, if it was a specific course, or if it was just me saying "damn the man," but I changed my major to English with a Creative Writing focus, and then took up grad work in Education.  If one believed in fate, God, the Seven, what-have-you, you could say that this happened so I could meet LE in the aforementioned Educational Psychology class.  All I know is, the education thing ended up not working out for me, and I ended up back in the business world - ok, dad, you were right (thankfully, he doesn't read this).  But I got exposed to a number of good books and good friends during my English and Education days, including my best friend and wife.

Football

I was always a hockey guy (see 'H').  Then one year hockey went on strike...  for the entire year.  I needed to fill the sporting void in my life.  So, I watched some football.  Even then I didn't care for it as much as I do now.  But, there was a team in the Baltimore Ravens that was winning due to their great defense, much like those New Jersey Devils I loved in hockey.  So, I latched onto the Ravens as my football team.  Now, with it's 16 game season and weekly games, football is just so much more accessible than any other sport, and it's the only one I follow.  Looking forward to the opener on Thursday night (go Ravens!).  

Goth

Nine Inch Nails led to Ministry led to Skinny Puppy led to more poppy industrial dance like VNV Nation, et. al.  Around my early college years I started going to a goth club in Newark (not a nice area for those not in New Jersey).  I spent many hours drinking myself silly and sweating up my vinyl pants to the industrial/gothic beats there.  Then it spread to clubs in NYC and Philadelphia.  They were the best of times and the worst of times.  We are contemplating making a trip back to the old stomping grounds in the coming weeks (Alas, it will be jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers for me these days.  Long gone are the knee-length boots, pleather pants, and fishnet shirts).  

Hockey

Scanning through the rest of my answers, you probably wouldn't think me the sporty type.  I wasn't.  Except when it came to hockey.  I started playing when I was around 12 or so, and I just loved it.  I played on ice.  I played on the streets.  I played in organized leagues.  I played in pick-up games where we couldn't get a goalie and used a garbage can.  Hell, we played in the back parking lot to a movie theater on weekend nights.  I watched it on TV (Devils) and watched it again on VHS ("and a save by Potvin, who didn't even know he had the puck" ...  that one's for you, Lenny, if you read this thing).  I got cut up, scraped and bruised.  Friends ended with a broken nose or collar bone.  How can you not love it?

Iron Chef

And I mean the dubbed Japanese version of the show ("I thought white asparagus came from a can").  This show was probably the start of any interest I have in the culinary arts.  The Food Network needs to go give the original Iron Chef a big hug for that initial audience grab.  Because let's face it, Iron Chef America...  not the same.  

Jenkinson's

This is the majority owner of boardwalk space at the Point Pleasant Boardwalk.  When you watch Jersey Shore on TV, that's Seaside Heights, a little further South.  Pt. Pleasant is a little more...  maybe you can call it a little less sleazy.  I don't know how much weight I put on in pizza, funnel cake, cheesesteaks, etc.  Or how much money spent on rides and nonsense games for crappy prizes.  But it's an escape, and what else are we looking for during this time of our life.  

Killer Klowns from Outer Space

I've mentioned this in a previous post.  There was a stretch of time where a friend of mine and I would go to the video store and rent a horror movie.  Return it and do it again.  We must have seen every horror movie there.  Killer Klowns from Outer Space I would count as my first real B Horror movie - this was before the MST3K (Mystery Science Theater 3000, for those who don't know) days.  I loved every ridiculous minute of it.

Live

Technically, the first concert I ever went to was Aerosmith.  However, the people I went to the Aerosmith show with were not my core friends.  Live was the first concert experience with my core group of friends.  They put on a good show, but in the end, I've seen so many great ones since then that Live really only stands out as a first outing with friends rather than any merit to the band's performance.  

Marilyn Manson

Manson was probably the height of my "weird" phase, which is saying a lot because I did go to a few goth clubs in some choice outfits afterwards.  But, there was something about that Marilyn Manson crowd that just let you escape reality for a while.  I listen to him now and cringe a little, not believing I actually enjoyed it.  I like to think that it was more the experience than just the music, so we will go with that.  I will give him credit though, he does a great job of covering songs.  

Nine Inch Nails

I don't buy much music.  I have, however, needed to purchase multiple copies of Pretty Hate Machine and The Downward Spiral.  Nine Inch Nails was the beginning of me finding myself.  NIN was the gateway into so many subcultures - the goth look, the industrial music leading to the industrial dance leading to synth pop, the teenage angst turned on myself instead of lashing out at friends or family.  NIN killed the first attempt at re-instituting a Woodstock for a new generation.  Trent continues to create, and maybe he's changed, or I have, but the new music just doesn't hold me the way it used to.  Still, I can't think of a more complete album than Pretty Hate Machine.  

Honorable Mention to Nintendo.

Othello
Everyone is forced to read Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth at some point.  Multiple times.  And it gets to the point where you think "this is what Shakespeare is." Othello was the first non-ubiquitous Shakespeare play I read (I ended up reading a lot of Big Willy S's works in college - yeah, we roll like that) and it changed how I felt about the bard.  Perhaps it's just that those first plays become a sort of cliche unto themselves with the numerous rereadings, retellings, reimaginings, etc.  Or maybe it was that I could relate to the anger and mania of Othello, or Iago, the bad guy with no motivation other than being bad.  This opened the door to so many other works I wouldn't have bothered picking up, like Titus Andronicus (considered by many Shakespeare's worst play - I thought it fun) and then into the histories and romances.  Of all the books I owned from my English major days, I wish I held on to my highlighter laden, notes-filled Shakespeare books.

Pizza

One of the perks of working at the movie theater (see R) was getting to know some of the other businesses in town.  What started off with us trading free passes to a local pizzeria for some pizza now and again turned into a few of us could just walk in there whenever to grab a slice, and we would just let them into the movies - no passes needed (and we wonder why the theater closed all these years later).  Needless to say I ate a lot of pizza.  

Honorable Mention to the hours I spent playing Pokemon on Gameboy (even dressed up as James for Halloween one year).

Queen

Honestly, I got nothing for Q (will likely come across the same issue with X - EDIT: Nope, X wasn't bad.  U is the problem).  But I jumped on the Bohemian Rhapsody bandwagon when Wayne's World came out.  Though that was likely before my High School days (yeah, that would have been middle school...  let's call it close enough).  

Regal Cinemas

I took a job at Regal when I was 17, which was also the inaugural year of the location.  I worked concessions, box office, at the cafe, but none of that compared to my last position there - projectionist.  I was in charge of getting the movie on screen on time, fixing any problems that arose with the film (brain-wraps in the winter...  it got so bad at some point we took turns standing by one print with a piece of fabric softener to the film to cut back on the static).  Free movies for me was like heaven.  I saw nearly everything that came out - the only movie I actually walked out on was Spy Kids 3D, which was back before 3D was popular and it was just TERRIBLE.  We watched movies after hours.  Midnight releases became popular.  No problem.  Szever would just thread a movie through the projector screening to the public, then instead of leading it to the table, would lead it across the room to another projector, thread it through there, and have it end on that table.  Wallah, now there's a public showing and a private employee showing no one needs to know about while using only one print (the tough part was getting someone upstairs with you to hit the "start" button on both projectors consecutively).  

Honorable Mention to Rutgers University - where the Danzig story takes place.

Stanza

My first car.  A 1990 (I think that's right) Nissan Stanza.  No A/C.  Constant oil leak issues.  Eventual engine burnout.  Some good times with that car.  Not for this blog to hear about.

Trench Coat
Yeah, I had one of those.  Yeah, I got talked to by a cop after Columbine like I was hoarding a mass of assault rifles.  Meanwhile, my time in school passed in a weapons-free, drug-free and (mostly) alcohol free uneventfulness.

Ummmm
My last letter in terms of how I am writing this.  Stumped.  I wasn't a huge Under the Bridge fan.  Underdog, Ukelele, Ursa Minor, Usagi Yojimbo.  U Can't Touch This.  Under the Dome is too recent, and the TV series isn't living up to the novel, IMHO.  In Utero is technically "I" or even "N" for Nirvana.  /sigh.  *Pass*

Vampires
I'm writing this after I wrote the "Z" section.  I thought making this list would be easy, but I did this as things came to mind, not necessarily in alphabetical order.  Now that I'm nearing the end, it may be getting a little tougher.  Vampires are certainly more popular today than they were back then.  But back then Anne Rice's vampires took the spotlight with Interview with a Vampire getting its cinematic makeover.  This opened the door for Blade and (totally unrelated to any of it) Vampire Hunter D (the anime) got a new release.  Like I had back in "B," it was Dracula that started my love for reading so we will give vampires the "V" spot.

World of Warcraft
Ugh.  So many hours.  If it wasn't for the little ones, I'd probably still be playing.

X-Men
I was never a HUGE X-Men fan.  Spider-Man was my go-to comic book when I was younger, and nowadays my comic haul is limited to Deadpool, X-Force and Batman '66.  But the X-Men movies started during my college years and that, if anything, reinvigorated my love for the genre.

Y: The Last Man
The best non-superhero comic book I've ever read.  Constantly in talks for being made into a movie or TV series.  IMDB has it categorized as "In Development." The latest scuttlebutt is that New Line hired Dan Trachtenberg to helm and David Goyer to produce.  Maybe it will happen one day.

Zombies
Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Shaun of the Dead, Day of the Dead, World War Z (the book), Marvel Zombies, Walking Dead, Resident Evil, playing Undead in WoW, the world was taken over by zombies over the last decade or so (figuratively, obviously...  but it's a good thing I have that assault rifle hoard from my "T" post just in case).  I've cut back on my Z cinema as LE has a love/hate relationship with zombies, but for a long time, they were the monster of choice.

That was a fun flashback.  If you made it this far, maybe you know me a little better.  Feel free to comment, question, copy the idea.  

On

I still exist.  Continued derailment of plans due to the unpredictability of life has caused a lapse in any thought-provoking commentary.  Please stand by for potential discussions surrounding any of the previously discussed television programming, Abaddon's Gate (currently at approximately 60% completion), Monsters University, and/or any other topic that I deem discussable.  

On A Game

Earlier (On Purpose) I proposed seven purposes to strive for during the year.  Those are long term goals that are in various stages of completion (some doomed to fail, but that's besides the point).  For this, I want to keep track of what is capturing my interest.  Consider it an advertisement (maybe an endorsement as that sounds less promoting and more publicizing) for the components of the daily grind that I find worthy of distinguished discussion.

Seven seals of approval (and some speculation):

Do you want to play a game?

Reading:

If you have been looking over this collection of thoughts/comments/reviews you will have seen by now that I am currently reading The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks.  This is book two of The Lightbringer series, and still not having finished the second book, I fully recommend picking these up.  Book one (The Black Prism) is the first book mentioned on this list of good fantasy books with horrible covers.  

13 Fantasy Novels That Are Good Despite Their Covers

As an aside, there are several other books on this list I would recommend:

The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch

The Warded Man - Peter V. Brett

The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss (cannot recommend this enough.  If you haven't read it, ignore everything else I've typed up to this point and pick this up)

Overview:

Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world.  He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace.  Yet Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live.

When Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he's willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.

Review:

That is a terrible representation of this book, which contains political and religious intrigue, a unique magic system (seriously, "Chromaturgy is going to blow your mind" - Brent Weeks (ok, so the author may be biased, but it is certainly the most interesting magic I have read)), and numerous twists and turns that will leave you both frustrated (in a good way) and exhilarated.  This is the best book I've read this year, and book two is keeping pace.  

Writing:

Other than work-related memos, you're reading the extent of my recreational writing.  Land & Sea may be dead in the water (no pun intended), at least for now.

Picture quasi-related

Watching:

Currently Mega Piranha is on TV - but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone but LE (she loves this giant sea creature stuff - Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus starring Deborah Gibson; sign her up!).  Instead, I will go backwards a few months and mention a show LE and I binge-watched.  Sherlock - the far superior BBC modern take on Sherlock Holmes compared to our Elementary.  

You may recognize the two stars at this point.  Benedict Cumberbatch (who plays Sherlock) is getting quite a few gigs now-a-days being in the currently in theaters Star Trek movie, and voicing Smaug in the coming Hobbit sequel.  Speaking of The Hobbit, Watson (played by Martin Freeman) is Bilbo Baggins in the new Hobbit trilogy.

Storyline:

In this modernized version of the Conan Doyle characters, using his detective plots, Sherlock Holmes lives in early 21st century London and acts more cocky towards Scotland Yard's detective inspector Lestrade because he's actually less confident.  Doctor Watson is now a fairly young veteran of the Afghan war, less adoring and more active.

Note: The each TV season is three two-hour episodes.  

Review:

Again, a terrible synopsis.  Who writes these things?  Sherlock is sharp, sarcastic, and fully averse and yet subject to ennui until cases worthy of his talents arise.  Picture young Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark as Sherlock Holmes.  No, not quite right.  Review:  Watch me.  

Drinking:

Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy.  

I first noticed this existed when dining at a chain restaurant (TGI Friday's, Chili's, Applebee's...  I honestly don't remember which).  I happened to be on a work lunch, and therefore couldn't indulge, but I kept the idea in the back of mind knowing that barbecue season was around the corner and there's nothing like a cold one with grilled meat.  After a rough week, LE requested an alcoholic escape from reality, so upon obliging and delivering a bottle of Kraken Rum for her, I picked up a six pack of this Lemonade Beer for myself.

Overview:

A Shandy is a beer brewed with a little something extra.  Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy is crisp wheat beer brewed with natural lemonade flavor which makes it a perfect summertime refresher for those sun-splashed summer days.

Review:

Not caring overly much for the bitterness of most beers, the mixture with lemonade makes this easy to drink for us "tasters" (something about tasters tend to be picky eaters/drinkers because tastes are stronger for them).  The company also makes a Lemon Berry Shandy - must remember to pick this up for a test drink.

Waiting:

Oh, Tom Petty, you know exactly what to say.  The Waiting is the hardest part.  

Here's my watch list:

Books:

Joyland - Stephen King (June 4th)

Abaddon's Gate - James S.A. Corey (June 4th)

The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman (June 18th)

Codex Born - Jim C. Hines (August 6th)

The Republic of Thieves - Scott Lynch (September 3rd)

Steelheart - Brandon Sanderson (September 24th)

The Winds of Winter - George R.R. Martin (hopefully before he dies)

The Doors of Stone - Patrick Rothfuss (not anytime soon)

Movies:

Iron Man 3 (Quiet, you!)

Star Trek: Into Darkness (Again, silence!)

Man of Steel (June 14th)

Monsters University (June 21st...  for Crabcakes, really)

Pacific Rim (July 12)

Wolverine (July 26)

Thor: The Dark World (November)

TV:

Game of Thrones (no episode for Memorial Day weekend)

Under the Dome (June 24th on CBS)

Sherlock season 3 (tbd)

Downton Abbey (tbd)

Music:

Tool (maybe before the end of 2013?)

Playing:

Running with Friends

Overview:

Running with Friends has you partaking in the famous Running of the Bulls and as you run away from the pack of charging bulls you'll also need to avoid other obstacles which include fruit carts, other players running for their lives, trains and more.  Along the way, there's your usual star and letter bonus pickups.  Your runs are graded both by distance and the number of stars you pick up, and completing words by picking up all of the letters earns you gems.  Combined, this will give you experience points to level up and gems which can be used to resurrect yourself or buy new avatars.  

Review:

Like Temple Run only touch-based instead of tilting.  A fun quick game if you have a few spare minutes to kill.  The downfall is that there is no single player mode.  You are limited to either challenging your Facebook friends (assuming any are playing) or picking up loads of random matches so that you have games available to play when you are looking to jump in.

Thinking:

It's nearly lunch time.

On A Mental Break (for me)

I continue to exist in the mental fog of sinus congestion, limiting my mental faculties, causing strain on thinking on the simplest of tasks (forgetting to take off one set of clothes before putting on the next?  Check).  As such, contemplating actual discussion points for this blog/journal/review portal/thing has not been foremost in my list of things to do.  So, here are some interesting tidbits I've scoured around the web lately.

Dominos Smell-o-Vision (or something of the sort)

Dominos (in Brazil) has an agreement with certain DVD rental chains to use thermal ink and flavored varnish on discs that, when removed from the case look black, but after running in your dvd player thus getting heated, looks like the above and smells like pizza ("pizza dude's got 30 seconds").

Fantastic Four reboot casting

This is a photo of Michael B. Jordan from the movie Chronicle.  Nothing official here, but rumor mill continues to believe that director of the Fantastic Four reboot (Josh Trank - director of Chronicle) will use Michael B. Jordan here for Johnny Storm (the Human Torch, for the uninitiated).  Comic book purists will cry out (behind their anonymous posts so as to not seem the racist bastard) that he is black.  Well, these people need to get over it.  I already posted a little something on book snobbery, and yes I take part in such actions, so maybe it is my lack of caring for the FF comic that makes it ok for me that the director make this "drastic" change.  Or maybe it's just that aesthetics aren't everything, and a well made character is defined by personality more than physical feature (does anyone really care that TV Tyrion got to keep his nose?).  

Funny things children say

Crabcakes on seeing the Penn State decal on a minivan driving by: "I see a clue!"

On Aches and Pains

When my body is attacked by the microbial nuisance that is the common cold I tend to exaggerate the feeling; the minuteness of the inconvenience seeming to be the end of all that is holy and good.  

In order to make oneself feel better about this hyperbole one just needs to think on a larger scale.

An alien race planning to take over the Earth for millions of years are moments away from pulling it off before being thwarted by the common bacteria we encounter on a daily basis.  Small things can have devastating effects.  

The last few days has been filled with allergies, doctor visits (Munchkin will henceforth before referred to as CrabCakes - or maybe CC for short - after said doctor associated CC's irritability and crabbiness to her Celiac disease - so we therefore can do nothing about it!), and a lot of coughing (both associated with the aforementioned allergies as well as some form of cold that has taken residence within the Szever household).  

Having caught up on Dexter (I haven't decided if there will be more on that another time or if I will just wait until during/after the next (and final) season to discuss) and not caring about watching True Blood (which LE has started) has made it easier to get back to reading. 

But GoT is on tonight, so no progress in The Blinding Knife will be made today (currently at 328 / 727).  

I expect the remaining hours of the day/night will progressively worsen in the feelings department as the microscopic invading army sets up shop throughout my inner-machinery.  I will find comfort in (mostly) mindless television watching, maybe a hot bowl of something (must research if any Chinese restaurants in the area have a Gluten-Free menu), or perhaps a goblet of some liquid fire to warm the soul raised to health.  

Coming Soon:

• Perhaps further discussion on Game of Thrones after taking time to absorb tonight's episode (so far this seems a cross journal/GoT blog...  Need to fix that!)
• A project other dorks/nerds/geeks can relate to...  figuring out what to do with the vortex of wires created from housing electronics in one space (must be a child friendly solution!)

On the 22 Degree Halo

The 22 degree halo is an optical phenomenon caused by sunlight refraction in tiny hexagonal ice crystals within a thin layer of cirrostratus haze.  Easily explained and yet it is something to behold. 

    Photo taken on my iPhone outside my workplace.

Robb: One time she told me the sky is blue because we live in the eye of a blue-eyed giant named Macumba.

Bran:  Maybe we do.

On Productivity

We have been in the new place over a week now and boy has it been a whirlwind of activity.  Painting, unpacking, organizing, re-organizing, re-re-organizing, painting some more, etc.  Sweat drips from my brow, my muscles tense and pulse with adrenaline, the smell of man fills the room.  I'm sure LE is intoxicated by this, as what's more attractive than "I lift things up and put them down." It has been a productive week.

But productivity is a snake eating its own tail. 

The house is becoming a home as we aesthetically manipulate our surroundings to coincide with our preference, and really, shouldn't that be first priority?  I think so.  But the tail here is everything else on the list...  reading, writing, watching good tv (currently catching up on the season of Dexter I missed not having had Showtime last year).  So I continue to slowly make my way through The Blinding Knife, and Land & Sea is still trapped on an island of 3,000 words.  Still haven't made it out to see Iron Man 3 (yes, the host of The Dork Portal has not yet seen a comic book movie - nor has he reviewed anything dorkly on this blog yet). 

Behind the scenes, the annivesary of my entering this world was this week.  Another year older... 



On Drafting

Lost amidst the lights and noise of the NFL Draft.  I don't even watch college football.  I suppose it's just a short FOOTBALL fix between the Super Bowl (go Ravens!) and next season.  Not even knowing who the players are, there's just something about the idea of drafting that is intriguing.  Maybe it spawns from picking your dodgeball team in elementary school.  Maybe there's just something in our nature that makes us want to "pick" things from a list of items.  It's collecting.  Gotta Catch 'Em All.

It makes me miss the trading card games.  They don't play World of Warcraft TCG at my local store, and I just cannot justify starting Magic: The Gathering this late in the game.

This does remind me that Blizzard announced...

A man can hope his trading card game cravings are sated by an online card game.

Drafting also reminds me of colors (read the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks; which I am currently on book 2), which reminds me of writing, which reminds me of how little I have accomplished.  Perhaps now is as good a time as any to research some more names.

EDIT (4/26/13):
Conked out before the end of the NFL draft.  Happy with the Ravens' selection.  Everyone thought they'd go with the Notre Dame linebacker - replace Ray Lewis! they screamed.  But, in Ozzie we trust, and I have to believe in the Free Safety choice.  His highlight reel is pretty crazy.

On Purpose

I saw another blog that had something like this and I like the idea, so, as they say in creative writing classes...  steal, steal, steal.  What I want to make is a list of accomplishments to strive for over the next year.  Maybe having something as such in writing will help.  And since there's power in the number seven (seven kingdoms, seven gods, seven satrapies, seven colors, seven great purposes, seven elevens, seven dwarves, seven chipmunks twirlin' on a branch eatin' lots of sunflowers on my uncle's ranch), I shall have my own seven purposes.  They tell you goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely.  I probably won't hit all of those as some of these are more vague notions than SMART goals, but without further ado...

1.  Be a better father

This is not to say I am a bad father, but this will probably tie into some of the other items on the list (watch less TV didn't end up making the list...  so...  just read on).  I have the propensity to take the easy way out of things, and thus the kids probably watch more TV than they should.  So, in this will be - less TV, more interactive playing, reading, etc.

2.  Be a better husband

I would like to start dating my wife again.  Over time, and with the addition of children, careers, responsibilities, chores, hobbies, etc. it is easy to start taking things for granted.  Daily life falls into a rhythm, and the spark that brought it all together sometimes falls to the background, sometimes in a slow fade, other times in a ball of fire.  LionEyes and I are in the process of buying a new house, and maybe it is a time to start things with a clean slate...  to make each other a higher priority again.  

    (brownie points for picture choice?)

3.  Read more (at least more than last year)

Entertainment has been mindless for too long.  As it stands, I am on pace to exceed last year (and the year before that...  since there's the fun discrepancy of I read more books last year, but more pages the prior year).  I should pass both with so many things to look forward to...  NOS4A2, Joyland, Abaddon's Gate, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Codex Born, The Republic of Thieves, Steelheart, and that's not counting all the prior year books I never got to.  

4.  Go on a trip

Note, plans to go to Disney were postponed due to the aforementioned home purchase.  So, this needn't be a major trip, and likely this will include two - as it should be something with LionEyes alone, and something with Munchkin and Peanut coming along, but away from home for a long day or an overnight just as an escape from the routine.  

5.  Add 50,000 words to work in progress

This may be lofty considering I've been frozen at 3,000 for near a month now and requires my getting on the Naming issue (and considering the overall goal is really over the 100,000 mark).  I would like to write a novel length work one day, and the only way to do that is one word at a time.

6.  Get a tattoo

For me, my family, and my lifestyle, this is sadly the most controversial goal.  Also, this is probably the least likely to occur due to my own chronic indecision on placement (currently bouncing back and forth between forearm and inner bicep) and design.  No, I will not share my thoughts on design as I don't want any outside influence to sway me one way or another (though LionEyes would be allowed a say more likely than not).

7.  Take more pictures

I suppose this includes buying a camera as pictures off the iPhone that look great on the computer tend to be rather fuzzy when printed out.  Pictures of the Munchkin and Peanut, of LionEyes and myself, of us all, of our home, of our neighborhood, scenery...  food (why not?).  I'm slowly reverting back to being a more physical person (holding an actual picture, book, etc. instead of digital...  though I will continue with e-books for the foreseeable future - not counting Joyland - thanks Stephen King).  LionEyes has already been researching cameras, so hopefully this can begin soon.

Now to try to remember to come back to this list as things are accomplished, or just require further reflection...