Illinoir

…is this penguin baseball game

don’t feel bad for the penguins. i was talking to them and they feel its their destiny. trust me.

went to the funeral of my father’s uncle milton last week. my second funeral, my first funeral procession. nothing like driving madcap across new york (brooklyn to queens) trying to keep up with a hearse. shoulda kept track of the miles i drove yesterday (plainsboro to newark to brooklyn to queens to brooklyn to princeton to newark to plainsboro)…. was just totally beat at the end of the day…. and i don’t know what more to say about it. (in fact, this entry was written the day after and seemed so ineffectual, so unlike anything else i’ve ever written here that i put it aside….and such and so forth.)

and here is the coolest homie ever:

Chia-Jung and I have a habit of watching The Match Game on Game Show Network weeknights at 6:30 PM. The show is hysterical, one of the funniest, most enjoyable gameshows I’ve ever seen. The funniest part, though, is the commercials, which constantly make me feel like perhaps 6:30 on GSN isn’t programming geared towards me… Commercials for:

• Laxatives
• Stool softener
• Medic-Alert systems
• No-refusal life insurance

and other items obviously not for me. I’ve never felt so out of a target market….

Now, for your viewing pleasure, the double-yolk egg I cracked the other day. They’re at the top — the one at the bottom is a normal, non-terrifying-mutant egg.

Mom says I’ve been neglecting this thing, and so it seems I have. Not that I’ve been too busy to update, just that things haven’t been really happening, so there’s not been much to say.

However, I shall attempt….yadda yadda yadda.

Ripping off Brian Michael Bendis, here are the things taking my time:

• Project Gotham Racing 2 (Xbox) — super fun single player (the only racing game I’ve played so much, ever) and excellent online play. Never thought I’d keep coming back to a game I’m so terrible at, but hey, there’s always something new and fun. Plus, there’s driving through ultra-realistic Chicago levels and that’s a good hometown feeling.
• Upright Citizens Brigade The Complete First Season DVDs. Absolutely hysterical, great stuff which I missed the first time around.
• The Fortress of Solitude : A Novel by Jonathan Lethem. If you liked Motherless Brooklyn then you’ll dig Fortress. It’s very good, though the ending kinda left me….wondering what the entire novel was about. But, what’re you gonna do?
• Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross — got this very cool book from Chia-Jung for Christmas. Really nice look at Ross’ work through the years (on back to childhood) even. Just wish it included his Marvel work as well, but I suppose that would be a different (and limited) book.
• Mighty Beanz are ridiculously fun. Little bean things with a metal slug inside that makes them move in unexpected ways. Lotsa fun, but of course, they’ve made it into a “collector” thing so now I have to obsessively gather them all. No no, I only have six and unless I find a pack of the Marvel Super Heroes beanz, I think it’ll remain that way.
• Lastly, and this is only included cuz it’s wild stuff, not because they’re taking up my time or anything like that: Eclipse Cigarettes are cigarettes from the future. They include a manual on how to light them. Need I say more?

Alright — you want photos? How bout four pages of them? Christmas 2003!

so, the first snow fall decides to be a freaking doozy. there’s a foot of snow out on my balcony. there’s a lot of snow everywhere. here you go: snow!

other than that (and even with that) things continue on alright. keep on keaton on.

so, the first snow fall decides to be a freaking doozy. there’s a foot of snow out on my balcony. there’s a lot of snow everywhere. here you go: snow!

other than that (and even with that) things continue on alright. keep on keaton on.

Chia-Jung actually read it yesterday — one day after finishing and already a reader. Amazed she read it so fast, though she is the fastest reader in the west…and the east. Nice that it’s an easy read.

And of course, she, like I, was disappointed with the ending. Action scenes and climactic finishes are tough to write, I’ve found. And I was just pushing to end the sucker, wasn’t really thinking about the ending so much…. But, good good good.

Oh — and she enjoyed it, so that’s even better.

Chia-Jung actually read it yesterday — one day after finishing and already a reader. Amazed she read it so fast, though she is the fastest reader in the west…and the east. Nice that it’s an easy read.

And of course, she, like I, was disappointed with the ending. Action scenes and climactic finishes are tough to write, I’ve found. And I was just pushing to end the sucker, wasn’t really thinking about the ending so much…. But, good good good.

Oh — and she enjoyed it, so that’s even better.

Well, I trotted over the finish line at around 3:40 EST today. Yahoo!

50,420 words. And with 8+ hours to spare. Much better this year than last. Much more coherent, cohesive and tidy than last year.

Yippie!

So, here it is, in all its unedited glory. I know there’s tons of total crap in there, and it needs to be cleaned up…. But, that’s what December is for. It’s also what you guys are for. Let me know, if you get a chance to plod through all 90+ pages (or even just some of them) what you think.

Let’s keep in mind that while there’s much less swearing in there this year, there’s a lot more sex. I feel kinda…dirty…about that, and I don’t know where it came from, and I’m not necessarily proud of it, but a large part of me thinks it’s absolutely hilarious, and it served as a nice subplot to the bigger thread….. Just let’s let it go, okay?

Here you go: Baywatch!

thanks to everyone who gave their support and tips and ideas and read the excerpts and all that. much appreciated. 🙂

Saw an SUV driven by a dumpy blonde middle-aged woman. The first bumper sticker I saw on her car read, “If you really care, don’t feed the bears. Keep New Jersey’s black bears wild.”

And my thoughts are: I’ve moved to a state that has wild black bears? What am I doing?

The second bumper sticker read, “A man with a gun is a citizen. A man without a gun is a subject.”

And that was even scarier.

Headline in newspaper: “Attacks in Iraq turn ugly.”

Because the ones before now were so wonderful and pretty? What the hell? Haven’t they all been pretty ugly? Most of them anyway? How are they just now turning ugly?

Me oh my oh.