8 Seconds

So the last two weeks haven't gone by as planned. Last week especially. I mean, I guess you could give me a hall pass for spending the week in Dallas for work and succumbing to an annoying (but physically draining) head cold. Or you could not. that's really on you.

I was supposed to run a lot last week, and write a lot. I ran about 9 miles total on 2 days, before dehydration and the common cold had their way with me. I was supposed to write, at least semi-regularly, and i barely touched it. I was all out of sorts, all week.

I got back late friday night, and I spent saturday on the couch recovering my cold. Sunday I was feeling better (but still in recovery mode), so I watched a lot of football and held back most of the day. I was still suffering my out-of-town hangover. I decided to hold off on regular activities until today (Monday), on which I would resume my normal(-ish) schedule.

Which I mostly did. I went to Krav Maga, and jumped right in. At the end of our second (particularly uptempo) warm-up exercise, I got a little light-headed and I knew that I was not quite as over my cold as i expected I was. I sat out the next group to see if i could jump back in. I decided against it, and cut the workout short. I'd rather play caution today, and (since tuesdays are a normal rest day) pick back up at full strength on Wednesday.

I did sit myself down and force myself to write in the novel for a bit tonight. it was slow going, but I sat at it and put some words down. I'm going to go fix some dinner and play some video games next.

And can we please not mention the Chiefs? At least not for a little bit, until the stinging, horrible pain has subsided a little.

Daily (Resumed) Activities:

• Research the location of the Crossroads in the story
• Research Black Mask pulp magazine issues from 1933
• Write 441 words on Chapter 2 (as counted by Open Office)

Music of the Day:

• Freak*on*ica by GVSB (or for those not in the know, Girls Against Boys)

Pictures of the Day:

The "neon-lit sign of the Hotel Monroe" at 1908 Main Street in "Kaycee." A little bit of history there, if you wanna look it up. I was really excited, because several aspects of this hotel (including it's location, both in relation to historics and the needs of my story) were tailor-hemmed to fit my story. My "villain" (although that's sort of misleading, you'll understand when you get to read it) has his room up in this hotel.






One of the things I'm really working on in this story is tying it down right and well with the time period. I'm trying to be very accurate as far as most of the buildings, fashions, and pop culture of the time. Part of that (and also part homage to the foundations much of the story is built upon) is a reference I included to the Black Mask magazine (cover shone from April of 1933). It has no specific bearing to the plot, but it's sort of an Easter Egg for the readers. I guess you guys will all know about it already. I give you permission to point it out to people and brag about how you figured it out when my novel becomes a best-seller.





Goals for Tomorrow:

• Become completely un-sick
• Continue writing in Chapter 2, as possible. The goal of the week, writing-wise, finish chapter 2 by Friday (or thursday, since friday is usually an off-day)
• Catch up on Warehouse 13 and Eureka (i'm goign to have to catch up on Castle & Big Bang Theory soon...i'm running out of TV time!)
• Blog about Storytelling in the Medium of TV (postponement possible)

Day After Suckage

So apparently my run yesterday was worse than i thought. I knew i was dehydrated, but it caught up with me, oh did it ever. I even knew it right after the run started, about a mile into it I said to myself, "I didn't drink enough water." I decided to soldier on through, figured i might be a little uncomfortable later.

so yeah. that little was a lot. a whole sucking lot. I started drinking water after i got back, and when I sat down to watch the Raiders on MNF, I could feel a little headache coming on. I didn't want to wait for it, so i poured another glass of water, and took some excedrin migraine medicine. usually works.

By the third quarter, the tv was the only light in the room and it's glare was the worst light ever. My head was stuck in a vice grip that kept getting tighter & tighter. My jaw hurt. My muscles ached. My stomach was queasy. I was flushed, hot. it was late, i had to get up early, i decided to pack it in and sleep it off.

I hurt so much I couldn't sleep. i thought i was going to throw up, and so I went to the bathroom. I didn't throw up, but I could feel the heat racing up and down my body. the only thing that was remotely comfortable was the cold bathroom tiles against my warm skin. I lay on the cold floor until i was sure i wasn't going to throw up, and exhaustion overpowered the dull, constant aching of my body.

I crawled into bed, and slept until morning. And then through my alarm. I overslept by an hour. I only barely made it up and out the door to get to class on time this morning. The migraine was gone, thankfully, but it left it's toll on me. Usually, I sleep off a migraine and I'm fine. Not today; i was groggy and light-headed for most of the day. Not serious, not enough to impair any functioning, but enough to be annoying. It finally subsided after dinner.

If you've had a migraine before, you know what i'm talking about.

But I'm sure you wanted to hear about THAT. I'm done, so you can keep reading.

I didn't go running today. I still don't think I drank enough water today, and after yesterday's debacle, I wasn't going to chance it. Also, right after class one of the instructors took us all out to dinner at BJ's. I wasn't going to turn that down. By the time we got back from that, a run wasn't really feasible.

I think BJ's may be my favorite "sit-down" restaurant these days. I love everything on the menu. I'm not an appetizer guy, but their avocado egg rolls are a must-have. The pizzas are excellent, some of the best pizza i've had. Bonus, they brew their own beer, root beer, cream soda, and black cherry soda. there is not one part of that i do not love.

I got back home from BJ's, and I worked on my novel. That's been my day, in it's entirety today. Wake up late, class, dinner at BJ's, time on the novel. I'm going to read a little bit in just a few minutes, then i'm going to sleep. let's be honest, i might turn on the tv for a little as well.

In accordance with tradition...

Novelty acts, done:

• research heroin & heroin use in the 1930's (one of my characters is a heroin addict. Let's see...two of my important minor characters are strip-tease waitresses, my jazz singer's a heroin addict, that means my novel will be full of good ol' fashion sex, drugs, and jazz. No rolls, unless I mention dinner rolls.)
• continued writing in Chapter 2. Not many words, but put down the first draft of the "the devil doesn't play guitar, he plays bass" speech.

Music of the Day:

• Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens

Inside Joke of the Day:

• "Ahhh.......pirate."

Goals for tomorrow:

• Drink more water
• 5 Mile run
• continue to work on chapter 2, as possible
• don't oversleep and wake up early enough for a hot breakfast at the hotel
  

Red Hot

So if it wasn't enough to spend the weekend in Kansas, now i get to spend the week in Dallas for work. I got into the hotel last night, and I was already tired of traveling. I'm glad that I really like a lot of the people in my training class this week--we'll have fun--but i'm way ready to spend more than one straight, normal week at home.

Apparently the airlines have an identity crisis. I had a ticket for United flight 4659. The flight was:

• Operated by SkyWest Airlines
• dba (doing business as) United Express
• but I actually flew on Continental Airlines

Quite the confusing. Bonus: Continental Airlines apparently has the most beautiful flight attendants. Olympia was gorgeous, and had that asian fashionista look down...complete with the perpetual "i'm sooo bored" attitude. Kayleigh and Magdalena, also beautiful. Bonus, they knew how to smile.

I managed to turn on the computer for a few minutes during the flight to work on the novel. I broke one of my rules, and read back through what i'd written for chapter 2. I only changed one word and added one small preposition, so i can accept my lack of meddling. Truthfully? I was expecting it to be subpar; it exceeded expectations. I was impressed. I also added a few paragraphs before we dropped below 10,000 feet and they made me turn it off.

I did go out running today. It was 17 degrees cooler than the last time I was running in dallas. That means it was still 95 degrees out today. ugh. I ran about 5 miles, and I realized that I was not properly hydrated. It sucked. I thought i'd drank enough water today; i was wrong. Will have to drink more tomorrow.

i'm tired right now, so you'll have to excuse my lack of the normalties, because i'm gonna go watch some football. and by watch, i mean that i'll probably fall asleep to some football. class is early tomorrow.

On the Road Again

So, for the first time, i'm posting this blog on my new computer. also, sitting in my parent's family room, which is still, as it has been for a great many years, in kansas city. I have parents upstairs, as well as the whole kit-and-caboodle of brother, sister, and in-lawed brother & sister. I just think of them as my brothers & sisters, the whole.

I spent several hours of my day today on airplanes, and not as much as I expected in airports. I arrived at San Francisco International Airport at such a perfect time to get my tickets, process through security, and get in line to board my plane. I proceeded to sleep that plane to the airport in Minneapolis (don't forget St. Paul!). I only say Minneapolis Airport because that's what they called it. i disagree, it appears to be significantly more like a mall that they park airplanes nearby. Although I'll give them credit for being a nice mall. I only had time to walk from one end of Minneapolis to the other, pick up a cheeseburger (double, thank you, bacon of course) and most importantly a cup of coffee from Caribou Coffee. In the Bay area, we have Starbucks aplenty and Peets a-not-enough-plenty, but we're missing out on two of the finer coffee-serving chains out there, the above mentioned Caribou Coffee (who's slogan is excellent..."Life is too short, stay awake longer") and the ever wonderful Dunkin' Donuts. I am pro-chain coffeeshops, because it is immensely comforting for me to know that anywhere I go in the US, I can always find a good cup of joe within striking distance. The Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks at the airport in Lima, Peru (which is not at all in the US!) were wonderfully comforting.

I think I digressed. I arrived at my gate in Minneapolis with just enough time to get in line to board there, too, and then I read my book The Savage Detectives throughout that flight. then i was home, and it was dinner, and then it was off to the Greek Food Festival, and then it was off to the Hoolihans with the Liz & the Brad for drinks with Sara & her beau Steven, and then it was home for a good ol' fashion sibling hangout.

There was no novel working to be seen. I'll get back into it. One of the reasons for the new laptop: I can work on the novel all week in Dallas (if we don't go out to dive bar/pool hall every night). Maybe not tomorrow though. we'll see. Busy day.

Looks like i missed the thunderstorms back home. Oh, wait. There was a thunderstorm here too. Nevermind.

So, then...

Running Accomplishments for Yesterday:

• The half is closing. Gotta up my distances. Ran 5.25 miles at about race pace. Little bit slower. Felt really smooth actually. Started off slow, but got into a good groove later. Gonna have to test out my 5 Finger Socks soon.
  

Activities for Today:

• vacation, as listed above. I'm not repeating myself.

Music of the Day

• drop dead by the Violet Burning

Ethnic Dessert of the Day:

• Baklava

Goals for Tomorrow:

• on holiday (as the brits would say)
• "...they got lotsa pretty women here and i'm gonna get me one..."
  

Epic Fail

There are few things in life as wonderful as a three day weekend, but this three day weekend totally threw me for a loop, or maybe two or three. Heck, I could probably count 23 loops.

I expected to take Friday, and maybe Saturday off. I didn't expect to take Sunday and Monday off as well, but I did. I actually thought about sitting down and writing on Monday, but it didn't happen. Motivation wasn't there. I did read some pages in Goin to Kansas City, but that's no substitute.

What, then, did I do this weekend?

• Laundry. Mostly completely caught up. w00t!
• Feng Shui. I dont' actually believe in it, but there are very few things in my life that are more unstressful than a clean & organized room. I assure you, this is a rare item in my life. But I got it in my head, and cleaned up and moved all the furniture around in my room. Much improved! Also, now I have a couch in my room. Ideally, to sit and read on. realistically, to throw things on rather than the floor.
  
• Surround Sound. In "where-the-heck-did-that-come-from" fashion, I got a Dolby surround sound "home theatre audio" system, and "installed" it in the living room. No longer am i running the TV through my 15 year old shelf stereo (which i fully intend to put into my room).
• Wrote a song on my acoustic guitar.

Other items, not bullet-point indicated, include running, football, and one really cool couplet.

On Saturday morning, i did swallow my pride and went out to play flag football with the guys. It was a great game. 6-on-6, then 7-on-7 at the end. I had a monster first half, and a rough second half. The first half I had 3 catches, including a short gain, a long gain (that should have been a touchdown), and a short catch with a long run after catch that involved an excellent stiff arm, some tough running, and a touchdown. my dexterity limitations were revealed in the 2nd half on defense, and I got victimized more often that i would've liked for catches (and maybe a touchdown or two).

Mostly it felt great because I ran up and down the field and hardly felt winded. By the time we called it quits, most of the others were huffin' and puffin', and I was still primed to go. This is not the nate you used to know on the football field (although my reputation as Nasty Nate remains...and I don't discourage it).

I was sore saturday evening and sunday, so i got lazy and didn't go running. but i did go out for my 4 miler on Monday at least. I ran it at my race pace, and it felt natural and good (for the most part). I was not well hydrated though. Gotta work on that.

I wrote a song, and it's okay. I like the chorus a bit, but the verses don't really feel as complete. Nothing super fancy. on a positive note--I don't write many songs these days, so anytime i do I feel accomplished. Depending on how I feel about them later this week, I might copy the lyrics.

While looking through my song notebook for inspiration for lyrics on teh verse, I came across a couplet i wrote a long time ago. I don't think it would make good song lyrics, but I think it's an excellent poetic couplet. Every once in awhile i write an excellent line or two that seem pulled out of the ether from some masterwork. this couplet:

"Using streetlights for sunlight and tail lights to guide me
I'm running from something I won't let define me"

I like 'em.

I was supposed to receive my ordered laptop today, but UPS is a bunch of useless idiots. They didn't deliver it because they "invalid address" (aka the driver couldn't find it). I literally had to call up the world's largest delivery courier service and give them directions to my store so they could deliver it tomorrow. Seriously? And they treated me like it was my fault. I work for a shipping/delivery company. If someone had called me with that complaint, that would've been a pretty big deal and I would've moved heaven and earth to make sure they got taken care of. I had to talk to no less than 5 people at UPS over the course of an hour and a half, and none of them cared and it was only with a blunt force that i was able to make anything happen. This is not the first time this has happened with them. Or the second. or the third. i have never had a UPS package that was delivered without something or other causing me to fight through 4 or 5 customer service people before they would actually even deliver my package. I would much rather give a five dollar bill and my package to a raccoon and hope it got there eventually than use UPS ever again. Much more faith in the raccoon.

I did sort of get back on the horse tonight. I really wasn't motivated to write, but I had to force myself to sit down and work on the novel. I didn't add anything to the text, but i did transcribe the notes for the Musician's Tale and plan out the (very brief) chapter summaries. That means that I now have all of the major scenes/chapters for the entire novel identified with at the least a very brief summary/note about them. The details can come later, but i'm not shooting in the dark any more!

Well, then...

Activities for Today:

• Hate UPS (check!)
• Transcribe notes for the musician's tale & begin outlining process
  
• Read some Goin' to Kansas City

Music of the Day:

• This is War by Thirty Seconds to Mars

The Best Movie EVER

• Machete. Seriously. It might even be better than Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter (watch the trailer here...seriously, do it) or My Name is Bruce. I haven't had that much fun watching a movie in a long, long time

Actress that I always fall in love with when I see her, but forget about (and then regret forgetting):

• Michelle Rodriguez

Goals for Tomorrow:

• Do not go postal on UPS
• Write, as possible, in Chapter 2, The Musician's Tale
• Read!
• Setup new laptop
• Run 2 miles before Krav, and then Krav after running 2 miles.
• Don't fall behind at work

Ants Marching

Contrary to popular belief, we will not be talking about Dave Matthews today. Let's get that out of the way right now. Nothing against him; just nothing for him today.

Thank goodness that wagons are not bucking broncos or raging bulls. You can tell me which one is easier to get back on. I have managed to find time today to:

• finish my run
• order a laptop
• write in my novel
• make attempts at being witty in my blog for you fellows

I have not read yet. There's still light left in the day. Mostly because i control the switch on the light which turns it on or off. gotta love power over power.

So I ordered a laptop! I had actually wanted to do it last weekend, but as I went to click on the "Check Out" icon at NewEgg.com, I was informed that my laptop was most recently declared "Out of Stock." that was a little frustrating.

i've actually been planning to buy a laptop for a little bit of time now. The one i'm currently using is about 4 1/2 years old, and on the verge of death. The battery is well and long gone, the wireless card is shot, i'm two Windows OS's out of date, and I'm pretty sure I saw a snail moving faster. Most impressively, if you knew me from way back, was the dedicated effort i took to not make an impulse buy. It took me 3 months to settle on a laptop. Now that i've decided on which one, I'm overcome with the crippling fear that i chose the wrong one. Too late!

Oh, yeah. I got an Acer Aspire AS5750-6690. And I most certainly did not pay the price Amazon wants to charge for it. Silly Amazon, kicks are for trids.

I will most definately tell you how it is after I get it, and then after I've had it for a year I'll tell you how it really is, rather than how it is compared to my 4 1/2 year old antique.

I went running too! Went out on my 4 miler course, as normal. It wasn't as smooth as most of my other runs have been recently. My calves got really tight about halfway through it, and made it quite uncomfortable. Had to even stop for a short bit to stretch them out more. I'm pretty sure I'll feel it in those same calves tomorrow morning when I wake up. I started out of the gate really fast, probably a little too fast. it caught up to me. Have to work on better pacing next time, and by next time, i mean tomorrow.

So, then, as it goes...

Activities on Yesterday's To-Do List that I Checked "Off" Today

• Run 4 miles!
• Write in Chapter 2, the Musicians Tale (I got to introduce/describe Louis, the "villain" of the story)
• Read SOMETHING/ANYTHING. Ok, honestly, I haven't done this. Yet. but I will read some pages before bed. i promise. Pinky swear.

Picture of the Day

Dante's Inferno, one of the clubs in 1930's Kansas City. As you can see, the walls were made to look like cave walls (with "decorations"), and the waitresses were dressed in little devil uniforms. The story goes that the uniforms had little devil tales, which caused all sorts of trouble because they would smack into things, but more troublesome guys would grab on to them to pull the pretty girls over to them. Grab and yank on a waitress scurrying around with a tray full of drinks, what do you think will happen?







Music for the Day

• Grace by Jeff Buckley

Goals for Tomorrow

• Band practice! I miss playing with Esperanza Viva
• Running, still.
• May or may not continue to write, as possible, on Chapter 2.
• Drink a toast to three day weekends
• Most definately do not do a Friday dance
  

Trench work

Yesterday was spent playing Madden 12. We knew that was coming. No surprises there.

Today was also spent playing Madden, but I had to make sure I did some writing. Skipping one extra day is okay--i think allowing yourself to indulge once in awhile helps you maintain the focus necessary to complete the long hall. But two days is slacking off, and you loose momentum. So I wrote today.

But I have to admit, i didn't run. I got off of work late, so no Krav, and was frustrated i couldn't find something on several trips to the store. I determined it would be best for me to reschedule my Wednesday workout for Friday since I'll have time this week between work and music practice (which I normally do not).

Anyways, honestly, today is not very inspiring. I started Chapter 2, but I only wrote because I knew i had to. Same thing here. not feeling it today. But you knwo what? I'm okay with that. As long as I'm still doing it. Every day's not going to be puppies and ice cream, and sometimes you've just gotta slog through it. maybe I didn't write as well as i feel i can in that section, no big deal. I'll be back rewriting later on, i can fix it then.

So then...

Activities for Today

• begin writing Chapter 2, the Musician's Tale (chapter titled, tentatively, One Bad Night & One Bad Decision)--330 words, as indicated by Open Office
  
• slog through the blog

Guilty Candy Pleasure for the Day

• Junior Mints

Goals for Tomorrow

• Run 4 miles.
• continue writing in Chapter 2, as possible
• and/or transcribe handwritten notes onto file
• READ (something, anything)