Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Runners is finally available on the net! Check it out!

This is so cool. I have had a copy of it available for a few days and have watched it over and over again. I'm so happy to finally be able to share it. Sean Wang, the creator of the original comic, is shopping this film around as a pitch for a series.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

First off, I know it's been a while since I posted. I've been working on a post which goes into some detail, but it's on my computer at work so that'll have to wait. Suffice to say, it's been an interesting couple of weeks.

The reason I was so moved to write today is that I got hit with a big dose of missing my father today. My friend, Bruce, is in town for the weekend and he invited me to go fishing with him. My father tried taking me fishing once when I was little and I am sure it rated as one of the most disappointing moments of his life.

We lived just a stone's throw from the Warwick Cove, which is an inlet of Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island. Like many in New England, the ocean was a part of your life. I was either 5 or 6 the first and last time my father took me fishing and it is a memory which is etched clearly in my mind.

You first have to understand where my father was in his life. He was in his late 30's when I was born and he had already raised a family of three girls. I am what I like to call "the missed trip to the drug store". Finally, he had a son! While my sisters did lots of things with my father it was still different having a son. Then, I came along. I developed asthma at age two and any possible inclinations I might have had to boosting the testosterone level dropped considerably. Because of my health I did not get involved in sports and spent much of my youth house bound if not in and out of the hospital.

That, however, did not deter my father as we headed down to a dock at the end of the street one summer day. I can still clearly see every move we made. Father and son walking side my side carrying reels and tackle in some Norman Rockwell painting. We got to the end of the pier and I watched carefully as he baited my hook and showed me how to cast. He threw his line in and we waited for the fish to bite.

"Is this all we do?" I asked after only about 45 seconds.

My father sighed heavily as he added fishing to the list of things his only son was not interested in. Baseball, football, card games, car racing and now fishing. He informed me that it did take some time and you had to be patient. When one of our lines did hook something it got even worse.

I don't know what kind of fish it was, all I remember was a large grey flopping and writhing scaled and slimy creature was dropped on the deck at my feet. My father wanted me to help him take the hook out of its mouth. I don't know if the look of horror on his face was due to how loud I screamed or the fact of that scream was the final nail in the coffin of my being the ideal son he had envisioned.

My final memory of that day was the long walk back to our house. I was aware enough to know I had let my father down and I apologized all the way back. He kept telling me it was OK and maybe we would try some other time.

We never did.

I realize now I was only a child at the time and did not understand the concept of male bonding. That the majority of the enjoyment in fishing is just being there doing nothing. Of having the time to just sit and talk with the other person or to simply enjoy their company. And I certainly was too young to know the significance beer can play in the enjoyment of a fishing afternoon.

I'm sure my father is happy that I finally do get it and in some romanticized notion he was there with me on the pier tonight. I didn't catch a single fish. I spent time with a good friend; we talked business, family, friends and bullshit. We also just sat there and spent time with each other.

I think I'll buy some tackle for my son and I.

Monday, January 09, 2006

A whooping nasty cold has kept me away from the PC since last Wednesday. I missed work Thursday, Friday and any chance of making up hours on Saturday. Yesterday was the first time I started feeling human again. Well....close enough, anyway.

I went back to work today wishing I still had time off available. Sometime this week I should be interviewing for a promotion at work. I have been on the phones for two years and I desperately need a break. Recently I had a dream in which I got fired. It was one of those really detailed and realistic dreams you wake up from and have to first decide if it were a dream or not. Not a great way to start the day.

All is getting back to normal even if my respiratory system is still a little messed up. I am enjoying the soothing affects of Nyquil. Those same soothing affects which can be made smoother with a bourbon chaser. Yummy!

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

It's amazing how the universe works! My good friend of almost 30 years, Harry, found this joke on the internet. He swears he found it just as it is with the names and age listed exatly as you are about to read them. If you have known me long enough, you'll laugh at this as much as I did.

Sitting in the bar Harry asked his 42-year-old friend John,

"How come you aren't married?"

John: "I haven't found the right woman yet."

Harry: "So what are you looking for?"

John: "Oh she's got to be real pretty, a good cook and house keeper, she's got to know how to handle money, have a nice and pleasant personality and money, she's got to have money, and a nice big house wouldn't hurt either."

Harry: "A woman like that would be crazy to marry YOU!"

John: "Oh, it's okay, if she is crazy."

Monday, January 02, 2006

Just random thought today.

I really don't want to go back to work tomorrow.

Dick Clark really should have retired after that stroke last year. His performance was like all those uncomfortable visits to my grandmother in the nursing home. To add to the embarrassment was the way everyone else on the show was kissing up to him and acting as if noting were wrong. We should have been allowed to hold onto that "ageless" Dick Clark image.

"I am 100% sure that the wiretapping was the right thing to do."
George W. Bush 2005
"It's not illegal if the president does it"
Richard Nixon David Frost interview 1977

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm something sounds familiar there!

Sunday, January 01, 2006

2005 looks as if it could have been called the Year of the Breakdown. As I re-read my blog, time after time there were mentions of how one van was dying and the newer one never wanted to cooperate. Here's to a better vehicle in 2006.

There are things to look forward to in the coming year.

The door continues to open wider for a possible voice acting career; I should be meeting with my friends at the DAVE School in the next few weeks to talk over plans for the next couple of projects.

At the same time, I will be interviewing for a promotion at work as well; hopefully an increase in pay will go along with that.

My relationship with my son continues to develop and strengthen. I am only hoping we can overcome all these glitches in transportation to make our visits more regular than they have been in the past few months. Tonight was fun, as we worked together over the phone on some homework he had on "Romeo and Juliet". Bonding moment #2,454.

Romance? Well, there is something possible brewing at work which I have even hesitated on mentioning here for fear of jinxing things. I'll know more when I go back on Tuesday. As usual, the majority of the problem is be building up the cajones to say something. More on that as it develops.

I am entering my second year as Chief of Operations for Starfleet International. While I may have been slacking over the holidays, I do seem to have been well received by most of the membership and Chapter Presidents around the globe. I will be headed to conventions in Birmingham, Philadelphia and our annual trip to Shore Leave, which, this year, will be a family reunion of sorts.

All in all, I am very optimistic over 2006. We'll see how many times the devil farts in my face along the way in the next 364 days.