The FAO is a virtual graveyard today. Lots of folks I think have the 3-day weekend on the brain, and a good portion of them have slipped out early. I am one of four in the office today; eight are out.

It looks like it could be a helluva nice weekend, provided that the rain holds off. Yesterday was just gorgeous in the afternoon, so I took some photos. I should probably put them up here in case you’d like to have a look.

Right, so Memorial Day: not always that memorious, what with all the visits up north and the comings and goings and cursings and rantings on the highway, but y’know — it’s important to keep the reason behind the holiday in mind. I guess I didn’t realize that it started way back during the Civil War, so there’s a little trivia for ya. I think that, especially during these times when we have our servicemen & -women strewn across the globe risking their lives all the time, we should be seizing the opportunity to remember the people who made the ultimate sacrifice. For those who were fortunate enough to come home again and have since died, we should remind others of their great deeds and lift them to a special place in our minds and hearts this weekend.

So take care this weekend, have a good time with family and friends, and may your summer begin on an enjoyable note.

Has it really taken me this long to figure out the flaw in my writing philosophy? Possibly so.

Last night, I had what one could characterize as “an explosion of creativity,” during which I rapidly whipped out a short narrative of 1100 words. I thought more about those words later in the evening, and realizing that I have a lot of similar ideas that I could string together, I figure I could have myself a neat little 5-8 thousand word story by the end of the week.

And my question of myself today is, “why the hell haven’t I always just acted on these impulses?” My tendancy has always been to catalogue them, file them, allow them to percolate and eventually have them lead to nothing. I have a file drawer full of half-good, under-developed ideas, but what good is that doing me? Really nothing.

I should be acting on all of these ideas as quickly as possible, because a completely written story that’s shit is always better than a fleeting idea that’s awesome. At least the shit story gives you something to work with. And, if you have some shit stories, when people ask you what you’ve written, you can say, “Well, this, this, this and this. They need a little work, but they’re done.” The other nice thing? The more you just do, the better you get and the less you have to follow up on later.

In all honesty, what I’ve been trying to do the last couple weeks is to use the Internet only for things that are absolutely required, and leave the TV turned off unless I’m actually watching one of my stories, because those two things alone have freed up a considerable amount of time.

So anyway, I’m at work and I’m going to do some other stuff. Have yourself a fine Tuesday…

I’ve had a very nice extended weekend here in the greater Milwaukee area… all four screenings of Episode 3 were good (although, I have to admit that by the 6:20 show on Thursday, I was getting pretty tired, what with having slept just 3 hours the night before), I had a very relaxing and enjoyable Friday, my Saturday night was great, and now I just have to find a way to get back to Oshkosh.

Jen called me last night with her initial reactions to the movie and I was a little bummed that we couldn’t see it together on opening day like we have with the other two. But, I anticipate going another 2-4 times over the course of the summer, and I know Jen will want to see it again, too, so…

Christy also said it was really good, and she had to run out and rent Attack of the Clones to see the goings on in that movie (relative to the third) again. So I think that goes to support the notion that this new flick did such a great job of sewing up the events of the whole saga, it makes the less-than-spectacular episodes in the series better.

Enough about Star Wars I guess. I was sitting here for a bit at Joe’s computer, just surfing the web and not really reading anything of consequence, then all of a sudden I had this pang of paranoia where I tried to remember what it was I needed to be doing today: ‘OhmigoddoIhavetoreadsomethingforclassorwhatohcrapI’msupposedtobewritingI’mgonnafallbehinddammit,’

But then I remembered that it’s summer, and it’s all good.

Hope to be back soon…

George,

You are still a selfish, egomaniacal, money-grubbing dick.

But Episode III was awesome.

Best,
Jason A. Bock

I walked across the pedestrian mall between the side door of Dempsey and the library this morning to quickly return some overdue books.

I looked up at the overcast sky, solid white with clouds, but still blinding, and I noticed that all the leaves were on the trees.

I figure this must have happened at some point during my 2-week hiatus from most aspects of living, as I consumed myself with work for classes.

I had a minor epiphany as I looked at the trees, realizing that I marvel at the change of every season, every year, and I always note how the passage of time, while constant, seems to speed up in memory. N’ary a winter melts into spring, or a spring bloom into summer, or so on and so on, without me taking a moment to remark to myself how beautiful and refreshing each change is. I’ve seen the Earth cycle through so many times, but each new season feels like a rebirth, and in the same moment, I find comfort in the change and anxiety knowing it’s fleeting.

This summer, I think I’ll try to enjoy the (relatively) carefree weeks a little more. I should try to be inside less. I should go to the lake and do my writing outside. I should try to visit with people and build some good memories.

Hope to see you this summer; get out and into it while you can…

I’ve got a couple minutes here while I’m at the front desk here at work, so I thought I’d let you know what I’ve been doing the last couple weeks:

– research
– writing
– avoiding writing
– avoiding research
– class presentations
– studying for a final
– writing
– going to Mt. Morris to write (thanks, Behlings)
– sending movies back to Netflix almost as fast as I get them

So I’ve got a test tonight, and I have to do a little more studying for that when I get home, and thank goodness I have the upcoming weekend in which to get the balance of all my writing done.

It’s going to be pretty cool to have written a novella a week from now. Almost like I’m actually a writer.

I started to write this *on* the site itself, but recent post-disasters in which I pushed the back button by mistake made me rethink that scenario.

Today is the first of May, and that is indicative of at least three noteworthy things:

– Jen and Joe’s wedding on Friday was a great time–everything from the shooting range in the morning, to the ceremony in the afternoon to the party in the evening went just swimmingly. I impressed myself by being able to get home without incident after all the hoopla ended, despite the fact that I was alone and pretty much intoxicated.

– Grandma’s birthday is today, she turns 74. We had a little party for her on Saturday night, where the food and company were once again very good.

– On a more panicky sort of note, I have two weeks left in the semester, and still plenty of work to be done.

Currently, I’m still at Jen and Joe’s house, although they took a trip up to Uncle Bob & Auntie Chris’s cottage in Mt. Morris for the weekend. Mom wanted me to unload the dishwasher, so I suppose I ought to do that before I go. I might also try to get some of the aforementioned school work done while I’m here.

The Brewers are playing at home this afternoon, and I would kind of like to go to a game, too… but I suppose I have all summer for that.

I might have more matrimonial/weekend reflections after I have some breakie.