Dear Santa...

I asked my son what he was going to ask Santa for this year. Pokemon and Bionacles topped the list. My wife then asked me what I was going to ask for. My five year old son pipes up and says, “Maybe you can get some new football players dad?” “What do you mean son?” I said quite confused. “The Seahawks are not good Dad. You should ask for a new football team”.

This is me asking Santa for a new football team.

You never really appreciate how retarded the English language is until you attempt to teach someone how to spell. I am positive that the letter “c” was inserted into the alphabet by the French just to piss us off. Does it make a KUH sound or an “ESS sound?” Nope, this time it’s silent.

Kick the damn letter “c” to the curb along with “ph”.

I am on the second draft of my current screenplay and breaking the story on my second idea. Things have been slow lately but should pick up again. Previously I was busy roaming the wasteland in Fallout 3 but now that is finished I have some more time on my hands.

Fallout 3 is a great game, very well done. I am considering picking up Dead Space but I am a jumpy fella by nature and I am worried that it will freak me out.

That is all.

"...press one for English"

Fuck you!

-Jim

Sweet... sweet pages.

Thirteen glorious pages completed over the long weekend!

Saturday was mostly spent watching football and checking out PAX. Sunday was a lot of sleeping and some gaming… but Monday I knocked that shit out.

I had a chance to run down some story points with a friend of mine over Thai food on Saturday. He liked the story points and said the story thus far was strong. He is pretty critical when it comes to sci-fi fantasy action stuff so coming from him that was a huge boost. I spent the next day or so visualizing the ending of the story and when Monday came around I banged it out.

It felt tremendously good but damn it wore me out. I guess expending that much brain power for that long takes its toll. Good think I engineer software for a living. Writing is easy… creating something from your mind out of thin air is an entirely exhausting process.

Go Ducks!

PAX was really cool. I had never been to a Gaming convention before and seeing all of the demo’s and even a few familiar faces from the videos and interviews online was cool. As fun as it was I doubt I will go again. $30 cover charge and huge crowds to see demo’s of stuff that I have seen on the internet isn’t going to draw me back.

Warhammer Online open beta begins this Sunday. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!

My goal is to get my first ever completed draft of a screen play done by September 21st… my birthday. I am well on my way and confident I will reach the milestone.

Go Seahawks!

-Jim

Monthly Post

I suck. I need to post more. Been busy and shit… anyways…

I am failing miserably in trying to teach my five year old son football. We recently picked up Madden 09 for the Wii and he and I were playing on the same team. I was the quarterback and he was the running back. He does ok with runs up the middle but anything to the outside he would turn around and run backwards.

With my patience wearing thin after another 40 yard loss and asked him why he kept running the wrong way. “They were chasing me daddy…”

I highly recommend Madden 09 for the Wii. They did a good job of incorporating the control movements to play the game. They also have an awesome "All Play" mode which tailors the game difficulty down to the players as you go along. Good stuff.

My new favorite shows are Dexter and Weeds, both on Showtime. You can catch the first few season of these on the Watch Now feature at www.netflix.com. There are also some episodes on www.hulu.com.

Dexter is based on a set of novels by Jeff Lindsay. It’s about a man who experienced and severely traumatic event as a child and grew up a serial killer. His foster dad recognized him for what he was at a young age so he instilled a strict moral code in the boy to focus his killing urges on other murderers. The show is awesome. Dexter cleans up the streets but chopping up murderers at night and is a blood splatter expert for the Miami police by day. I recommend watching it.

The novels are good but they are all in first person so you don’t get the added story lines and drama that you do in the series.

Weeds is an odd show about a widow forced to sell weed to make ends meet for her family. Obviously the occupation comes with all sorts of drama and the writers make it compelling.

I find it interesting that both shows are about someone who has to make a choice that on the outside looks horribly wrong but on the inside it’s really all they have. Kind of makes one view the world in a few more shades of grey.

Football is finally here, the Mariners just breathed a sigh of relief. Not that we gave a shit about them anyway…

Writing is cruising along, at least a few pages every day. The rewrite is going to be brutal but I like what I have so far. I visualize the day I register my script with the WGA and hamd it too a few choice people to read for the first time.

-Jim

Getting it done!

This is the longest continuous stretch of writing that I have been on. I am approaching two weeks now of writing something each day and I feel really good about the story I am building.

A lot of my struggle comes from process. How does one go about fabricating a compelling story out of thin air? There is no right or wrong way, only what works for you.

After reading countless screenwriting books, blogs and forums I have tried several different methods. All of them have some merits but they just weren’t working for me. So after trying and failing numerous times I arrived at my current scheme and things are moving along quite nicely. It is a good feeling to see progress on my story and most importantly feel good about how it’s shaping up and where it’s going.

This go round I started with a two page short story. I revised that a few times to get a good high level idea of the story I want to tell. I then took that and translated it into a beat sheet. Blake Snyder’s beat sheet to be exact. Love him or hate him I don’t really care. I can sit down with his template and go beat for beat with any successful film made to date. It works and I like it.

As I revise the beat sheet it turns into an outline. Still using the beat sheet framework I begin to add scene blocks under each beat header and add story notes and “trailer moments” I want to include but not sure where they go yet at the end. I think I am on my fourth revision and as you can tell excited about my progress. I hope to begin writing the actual script by the end of the weekend.

I am excited, motivated and can see the scenes in my minds eye. I am having fun.

Have a good weekend.

-Jim

Multitasking

When my son brushes his teeth we have a little “two minute” hour glass timer that he flips over so he knows how long brush for. I walk into the bathroom last night and he is bent over the sink bucking like a mule and trying to brush at the same time. I ask the obvious question;

“What in the hell are you doing son?”

“I have to go to pee.”

“Put the toothbrush down and go!”

“I can’t, the timer is running.”

Mom came in and rescued us both but tipping the hourglass on its side to stop if from running. Way to go Mom!

Come to think of it I don’t think I’ve ever taken a whiz and brushed my teeth at the same time so I can’t blame the lad.

-Jim

Precious Snowflakes

http://www.wtam.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=122520&article=3881429

Reading this article is a dead on example of what’s fucking wrong with country. Let’s make sure everyone feels good about themselves. Lets not celebrate those who work their asses off and excel at something, oh no. Let’s push him back in line with the rest of the herd. And while were at it lets not give those who haven’t quite reached their potential a yard stick to measure themselves and give them something to strive for. Keep lowering that bar to the weakest link and in a hundred years we’ll all be fucking retarded.

Let’s dumb down the test in our school system so that everyone passes equally. Let’s accept personal finance as a math credits instead of Algebra so that your precious snowflake can graduate with everyone else. Never mind that when they get into the real world, try to get into college or get a real job they are fucked cause they can’t add.

Lets have a graduation ceremony for every fucking grade level up to middle school so we can tell these kids how fucking special they are. That way when they grow up and someone isn’t constantly hugging and telling them how great they are they can slip into depression, get all fucked up on whatever medication the ass hat pharmaceutical companies are peddling that decade and then shoot all their fucking coworkers when their shitty health insurance won’t cover the prescription anymore.

Next time you watch whatever biased, horseshit news channel you watch, and see how the other countries in this world are kicking our ass in education, scientific and technological progress think about how mediocrity is celebrated in this country.

If you have a child, nurture it. Teach them too always strive to better themselves and if they can, those around them. Teach it to do the best it can. And when someone lets them down, teach them that that person did the best they could.

Mediocrity is not ok. Making sure you think like everyone else is not ok. Strive to do better and part of that is finding a skill that you can do better than most others. This is what makes a great society.

And bring back the fucking all-star games you dumb asses.

On a personal note my son called Tacoma, Washington “Tacoland” this morning. See, he’s already making improvements.

Love and shit.

-Jim

Little Boys Day!

Sunday was a good day. I was awakened by my five year old son bearing gifts. He shoved them into my arms and hopped up on the bed barely missing my tender bits (shout out to Kung Fu Panda... awesome, go see it) and clapped excitedly.

His favorite thing to get these days is the “talking” card, the ones where you open them and they sing a song or play a recorded message. He gave me a superman card with a personal message telling me to have a good Fathers Day and enjoy my sandwich, which was apparently to come later.

I also got the fourth season of Scrubs and a baseball game for the Wii along with a lovely card from my wife!

So later on I am giving my son a shower and he says to me, “Dad, when is little boys day?” “Little boys day?” I replied. “Yeah Dad, I want what you got today, when is my day to get presents”.

It was a good day.

Saturday, as mentioned above, the family went to a 10 am showing of Kung Fu Panda. First of all 10 am is a great time to take the kids to a movie. It’s like a kindergarten in the theatre and its fun to hear the children laughing above the movie sound and the children crying, complaining, eating popcorn and what not. It was a good time and we all enjoyed the movie. I am a huge Jack Black fan and will definitely add his cover of “Kung Fu Fighting” to my iPod when I can.

Happy belated Fathers day to everyone out there in the scribosphere!

Note: I tried to air brush out the "Mariners are #1" foam finger and replace it with a fork cause they are seriously done for the year but I couldn't get it to look right. I apologize for the inconvenience.

-Jim

Oiy!

Been awhile…

I am bored and cranky at work. I can do only so much in Crystal Reports before my grape shuts down so I thought I would hop on and post. Problem is I really don’t have anything important to say.

Mariners are sucking horribly this year. I am regretting the purchase of a six game package back when they thought they were going to kick some ass. I guess we should just be happy to pay $70+ for the chance to buy garlic fries and shishkaberry’s.

My sister-in-law has a white cat named “cracker”. When my wife told me this I almost died laughing. I spent the rest of that day walking around the house doing my best Chris Rock impression of “cracka-ass-cracker”.

I am working on a new story while I manifest the energy to finish Red Vector. Keeping it under wraps for now although I will say it’s inspired by events in or around Mt. St. Helens. Should be fun!

I’ve been playing a bit of Age of Conan online. There’s a lot of blood and gore and even a naked booby or two. The game has a lot of work that needs to be done but the world is beautiful and if FunCom stays the course it will be a great game.

-Jim

Can anyone recommend a good home brewing kit?

Throw it to first!

On Sunday my son had a T-Ball game down at the local high school. They played on the softball field which had the really nice artificial turf field, the kind they put in Qwest field. It was raining a bit so it was nice to be there and not some quagmire.

If you ever get a chance to take in a T-Ball game with four to six year old boys and girls hanging out, having fun, playing with their gloves and occasionally paying attention long enough to actually field the ball I would recommend it. Watching all the young minds trying to decipher the game with 20 parents and coaches screaming at them to throw here or run there is quite comical.

We are constantly telling the kids that if you get the ball throw it to first base to get the out. At one point the ball was hit right to the boy playing first base and he charged it, fielded it cleanly turned and through the ball to first base. I mean AT the first base, bouncing the ball off it. The kid did exactly what we asked, good boy!

My wife’s computer is finally on its last legs. So I did what every good husband should. I bought myself a new one and gave her mine…

It shipped today and I should have it assembled and running by the weekend. This is my first new computer in about three years so I am really excited.

Writing is going well. The story is moving forward and even though I am not going back to rewrite my previous pages as I need to keep pressing forward, I already have several notes for myself for changes. I am enjoying the process, much more fun this time around instead of feeling like a chore.

Seahawks had an interesting draft. The experts seem to be a bit down on our selections but I like the fact that the Seahawks look for quality PEOPLE, not quality players.

-Jim

NFL Draft

Go Seahawks! Don't do anything retarded...

-Jim

Get off your ass and play video games!

I cranked out about 10 pages of “Red Vector” in and around a busy week that included my son’s fifth birthday.

We got him a Wii, which was a bit hard to find as they are flying off the shelves. Thanks to a friend of mine we scored one and I couldn’t be happier.

The console is just awesome. The night he got it we played baseball, tennis and bowling together. We stood in the middle of the living room swinging wildly with the remotes in our hands. We both were winded and he was sweating by the time we quit. I truly believe this is the future of gaming. Actually having to get off our ass and play the game. I love it.

I got him Mario Galaxy and even at five years old he is able to play it and do very well. It’s also teaching him letters and numbers and to a small degree to read. I have to read him the text but he is starting to recognize some words which is really cool.

So I have to give the Wii huge thumbs up in terms of game play and family fun. Get one if you can, you won’t be disappointed.

-Jim

Red Vector Update

April 18th and it is snowing where I work North of Seattle…

A quick update this afternoon. I busted out another six pages on my new screenplay tentatively called “Red Vector”.

This time around I took the time to really beat out the story and make sure I knew where I was starting and where I was ending. I left enough out to give myself room for creative thought during the writing process. So far it is a lot of fun and feels like I am writing downhill this time instead of battling to fill pages.

Holler at you later.

-Jim

Have fun with your peoples!

I have no idea where my son got the saying, but every morning when he sees me out the door for work exclaims, “Have fun with your peoples!” It is a great way to start the work day.

I finished beating out my story yesterday. I was getting antsy because I wanted to start writing it ASAP. But I am getting know my writing self and knew that unless I had the story beat out I would flounder. I have about 40 pages of two unfinished scripts sitting in a folder. If I don’t have a decent notion of where I am headed I go off on tangents and find myself off the path of the story I wanted to tell.

For some this is a good thing however I need at least a framework in place to keep me focused and on task. So last night I added a few more lines to the beat sheet and knocked out five pages. It felt real good to be writing and for now I am happy with what I have so far.

I am struggling with a title for the new project. The story can be described as “No Escape” meets “Pigs in Space”….

OK I am kidding about the “Pigs in Space” but how many of you now have those Muppet segments in your head? “Piiiiigssss innnnn Spaaaaaaace?”

So it’s “No Escape” in space. My screenplay credits are piling up on TriggerStreet so I am excited to get a story done and uploaded.

FHoD:
“Plumber jailed for crack”

-Jim

Sweat Circles

I took my family to the mall this weekend. Inevitably at some point my son will get tired and he will want to ride on Daddy’s shoulder. It’s one of the hallmarks of being a Dad to carry your son or daughter on your shoulders. To bear their weight, to watch the people passing you look up and smile at them and have them hold on to your face and in my case tug, rub and scratch my goatee until it’s painfully raw.

My son is tipping the scales at a healthy 47lbs these days so it’s a work out. When we got back to the car and got buckled in I was sweaty and a bit winded. He jumps in the back and buckles himself into his booster seat and declares, “Whew… all that walking really made me tired. I think I need a rest”.

I watched a Blades of Glory this weekend and followed along with my trustee Blake Snyder beat sheet. In my opinion an interesting way to study a film and still be able to enjoy it. The filmed followed the structure really closely. Although I liked the movie I thought some of the story points were weak and that the creative team could have done a better job with callbacks and tying up loose ends.

I would like to see Will Farrell in some more movies like Stranger than Fiction. I enjoyed that story and I think Will is a good actor. His comedy is getting a bit tired. Anchorman remains my favorite.

FHoD:
“Man jailed after punching a police horse in the ass.” I never have to brainstorm for story ideas. I just read www.fark.com.

-Jim

My Eyes are Bleeding

I’ve been reading spec scripts from www.triggerstreet.com lately. It’s a great way to learn and you need to prime your account with reviews before you can post your own work. I will be the first to admit I don’t know shit about shit when it comes to screenwriting but son of a bitch there are some brutally crappy scripts out there.

Simple grammar and spelling errors make me groan. Then I read an action block where the writer tells me the same information over and over, drilling it into my skull with a dull spoon.

Hey, hats off to them for finishing a script. Something I have yet to accomplish as of this posting. It takes a lot of work to complete and a lot of guts to post it on the internet so ass hats like me can rip it apart.

However, at least spare me the pain and bring you’re A game OK? The good news is when you read scripts you see what works and what doesn’t. Every now and then you get a good one that is enjoyable and you blaze right through it. The not so good ones feel like your trying to run in knee deep water.

I can only hope I am this objective on my own writing to recognize my screw ups.

-Jim

The Horror

I am sitting at light yesterday when through my side view mirror a catch a glimpse of a fairly attractive blond sitting in a massive gray Ford 150. I can see her designer nails on the steering wheel from two cars down, we’re talking one of those high maintenance chicks.

I glance up to check the light and back over to the mirror to see, to my amusement, the lady has her $60 nail knuckle deep in her nose. Now I know objects in the mirror may appear closer than they are, but this bitch was strip mining.

Hey, who am I to judge right? So I shrug it off and laugh about it until I look back and the unthinkable happens. If I’m lying I’m dying and you can iron the wrinkles out of my nut sack, this chick ATE THE BOOGERS.

Like she was spooning Rocky Road out of her snot locker she was digging that shit out and going right to the mouth with it. Congratulations to whoever she’s banging, I doubt she brushes or flosses after the drive at five snacks.

A woman down in California needed her appendix removed but didn’t want the scares. So some doctors got together and decided to remove it, through her vagina. How awesome is that? I think more surgeries should be done through random orifices. Laser eye surgery through the ass, tummy tuck through my pee whole. Come on guys lets get crazy here.

Brainstorming a few more story points on my space adventure script, I’ve almost completed the beat sheet. The title sucks but like most of my ideas I will have an epiphany at some point and it will work.

My scribosphere mate Matt has taken down his blog shingle. I wish him the best.

-Jim

Pulling Teeth

Stingrays have apparently declared jihad on the human race. First Steve Irwin gets one in the chest now they are leaping into boats and killing soccer moms. Stay tuned for "Open Water 2: Stingray". The plot will of course blame global warming.

The Euro is crushing the American dollar. Exchange rate is something like $1.57 per. I can’t wait for the “Amero” (google that shit).

I love the interweb and all its tubes and highways. I truly think that the only way we are going to survive as a society is if people educate themselves. Not only within your own comfort zone and belief system but go outside and see what the other folks are thinking and talking about. Fanaticism on any level about anything is unhealthy.

Just ask my wife about me and my Seahawks….

Fark Headline of the Day:
McCartney fans say his latest album contains hidden jibes at Heather Mills, because "Mister Bellamy" is an anagram of "Mills Betray Me." In other news, Sir Paul McCartney is an anagram of "Crispy Anal Rectum"

-Jim

Random Synchronicity

If you’re caged in a cubicle all day like myself and enjoy your music head over to www.pandora.com. It’s a streaming site that allows you to set up “stations” and tweak the content based on songs or artists. I think I discovered it from Emily over at www.whiteboardmarkers.com so credit goes to her. I have a techno-industrial channel and an alternative rock channel that I switch back and forth between. Nothing like crankin out code to KMFDM! Anyways check it out.

I’m bored so I thought I would toss out some odd shit about me…

I think the moon landing was a hoax. For those of you who are still here it’s just one of those fun conspiracy theories that I indulge. I would go into an explanation of why but I will leave that for another post. In the mean time raise your hand if you can tell me why the flag in the above picture is waving, on the moon, with no atmosphere, and no wind?

I think we are the remnants of a much more advanced civilization. I think we achieved as a society then wiped ourselves out. We are in the process of rebuilding. Lets hope we don’t fuck up this time.

I hate watermelon. Got sick on it as a kid not I can’t stand the smell.

I think oil is abiotic and not a fossil fuel. I think we purchase oil from OPEC as a concession for keeping Israel safe and on the map.

I lived a large portion of my teenage life overseas.

I finished high school in a small logging town in Oregon. Watch “Ax Men” on the History channel if you get the chance. Those boys are some grizzled sons of bitches let me tell you. That and Deadliest Catch on Discovery are the only “reality” shows I watch.

I don’t believe, I think.

-Jim

Fruit Salad... yummy yummy

Taking my son to see The Wiggles today. He is jacked up about it, running around and bouncing off the walls. For those of you that don’t know who The Wiggles are its four Australians singing about fruit salad while a guy dressed up as a pirate wielding a sword made of feathers chases a female dinsoaur around the stage while a large dog and octopus frolic in the background. It's my goal in life to pitch that movie some day. I love my son, what can I say?

Took a beating on my March Madness bracket yesterday. I am all about the underdog and I think only one lower seed won yesterday. Oh well… GO WASHINGTON ST. COUGARS!

Barry Bonds has not signed with a team yet. The league is investigating collusion charges because of it. Come on. The guy is a douche nozzle and any team that signs that bloated prick will be hated for a decade. I predict the newest curse in baseball will be the Bonds curse. Anyone who signs that ass hat will spend the next century in the cellar. I hear the Mariners are looking for a bench weight…

Looking more and more like the “Hawks are gonna boot Alexander to the curb. To bad, I liked the guy, wish he ran harder. Should have put and APB out on his nuts a few years ago, maybe he would still be running like he had a pair.

Couple more paragraphs of writing done yesterday. I’ve “shot” my heroes up a tree and threw a massive asteroid at them… trying to figure out how to get them down now. Having fun.

The Everett Silvertips face off against the Spokane Chiefs tonight in the first round of the WHL Playoffs. GO TIPS!

No stock market activity today, they all get Good Friday off. WTF is that about? Answer coming tomorrow.

Fark Headline of the Day (from here on out known as FHD)
“Turkey bombs Kurds, claims they're getting in the whey”

Off like a dirty shirt

-Jim

Hump day + 1

In an effort to post more often I will attempt to write something, anything, every day.

Working on a space story that my brother Haans and I have been tossing back and forth, high concept wise think Con-Air in space. Wouldn't it be a bitch if first contact with an alien intelligence was a prison ship?

March madness starts today. Go Portland State!

Grats to my Hustlin' Owls of the Oregon Institute of Technology (class of 2001) for capturing the NAIA Div II National Championship. GO HOOTERS!

Doing lots of math these days at work. Writing a graphing engine and had to bust out the trigonometry to figure out some shit. When was the last time you used SOH-CAH-TOA in your daily life? I collapsed shortly after the build.

Fark Headline of the Day
“Man facing 40 years in prison after his wife turned off his television and he used his gun as universal remote” The strange part is it isn’t even football season yet…

This is me, tonsil free, signing off...

-Jim

A legend in my mind

Yesterday Gary Gygax died in his home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Any correlation between this and Brett Farve retiring has yet to be determined…

In all seriousness, for those of you nubs not in the know, he was the creator of Dungeons & Dragons. As I read the articles about his death I started thinking about my early experiences of D&D and what an awesome time it was. Freshman year in high school I discovered this wonderful game. Using the mighty number two pencil and any paper (never use a pen, almost sacrilegious) I could get my hands on my friends and I created avatars, monsters, encounters, traps, puzzles, drama, conflict, resolution, reward, and death. No computers, TV’s, joysticks, or consoles needed, we used our minds and created worlds.

I can’t remember all of the D&D clones I’ve played over my life time. Some of the more memorable ones were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles RPG (I know that sounds corny but their pen and paper game rocked the house), ShadowRun (A sci-fi / fantasy post-apocalyptic world set on the west coast), Marvel Superheroes, and Twilight 2000 (A WWIII infantry RPG).

My friend Jason and I played TMNT constantly for almost a year. Using the “Road Hogs”, “After the Bomb” and “Mutants Down Under” source books we reeked havoc with our mutated animal heroes, hands down my favorite RPG game. During that time the Nightmare on Elm Street movies were big and together we created an entire system and rule set for a dream warrior type game. Each hero had a specific nightmare type and using a unique power set had to battle his nightmares to stay alive. We spent hours building and playing this game. To this day my father mentions how impressed he was at the amount of material and the complexity of rules we created.

A low point was when my parents came and tried to forbid me from playing these games. Apparently the church I belonged to at the time (I’ve since become a free thinker and actually make decisions based on what I think) decided to tell its followers that D&D and games of this ilk were satanic! Bullshit and completely unfounded. God forbid the little sheep begin to think for themselves and use our imaginations. Another scathing post for another time.

Since then I’ve followed the genre as it has grown and morphed into what we have today. Video games (World of Warcraft), movies (most of them suck but I am working on that) and the occasional table top game (Warhammer 40k). I play a lot of these games and to my wife’s horror my son has also caught the gaming bug a bit. I am so proud… tears of joy I tell you.

I think for me it opened my mind into what can be accomplished, literally, out of thin air. All of my early writings were rooted in my gaming experience. It taught me how to imagine. It taught me how to create an avatar on paper and actually fear for its life as I navigated it through perilous adventures. Laugh; call me a geek or a nerd if you will. But I challenge anyone that loves a good movie or book to tell me that that is not what deep down they are looking for when they experience a story.

So I wanted to give Mr. Gygax his proper due. Without ever having met the man, he had a monumental effect on my life. Thank you sir.

-Jim

A moment of deafening roar

Some day in the future I will be watching football with my son and Brett Farve will pop on the screen. When that moment happens I will tell my son that Brett Fah-verrr-ruh was one of the grittiest, hard working, toughest, highlight-reel-waiting-to-happen quarterbacks I've ever had the pleasure of watching.

That 4th down play in the playoffs this year against the 'Hawks where he underhanded the ball to the reciever as he was stumbling was heartbreaking but when I see it now I just shake my head and file it under "Vintage Farve". Thanks for playing Brett. I will miss you...

On a side note did anyone in Greenbay go to work today? How bad are they gonna suck next year?

Josh Brown can eat my ass. That's all I have to say about that. If the 'Hawks don't make some moves soon in Free Agency I suspect this will be the lame year heading into a rebuilding cycle. It was fun while it lasted but getting some young new stars from the draft will be exciting.

Baseball is in full spring training. Mariners are looking good. Baring any Mariner Moose incidents our staff should be pretty strong. Should be a good year. Got my six game package for me and my family. Out of sheer luck we have tickets for both Mother's and Father's day. Awesome!

Silvertips are rockin. Got tickets to their last home game. Playoffs start in a month or so. GO TIPS!

I love the Seattle area. So much sports... and culture. But really a lot of sports.

I purchased a mountain bike last week. Looking to get in shape. Went on a ride with the family and had a blast. They forgot to mention that the seats on the bikes these days are fairly hard, so as you can imagine I am sore as shit. Feels like I got fucked by a Rhino who went horns deep. I love it though. Riding a bike is so much fun, I am puzzled as to why I ever stopped.

Writing is slow. I have a lot of ideas but nothing that's jumping out at me as a great story. I am tinkering with a few lines so we will see if something gains momentum.

That's it.

-Jim

[Witty Title]

What a two weeks since my lost post….

I am on day three of my new job. So much to learn my head feels like mush. The people are nice and the projects are exciting. I’ve cut my one-way commute from 90 minutes down to 10 minutes. I have to time to hit the Y and work out. I am happy.

The writers strike seems to be over which is awesome. Here’s to everyone getting back to work and coming up with some great shows! Cheers!

Looks like Blu-Ray has come out on top over HD-DVD to win that war. I am so glad I waited until they sorted that shit out before buying any new DVD’s or a player. Somewhere in a secluded pawn shop a Betamax silently weeps…

I caught the last few episodes of Psych on TBS. That show is funny as hell. The season finale had me laughing out loud. I tried to watch Monk but that show is tired and I am still pissed at them for dropping the first blonde assistant. I don’t care for the new chick at all.

My four your old son is making his way through a PacMan adventure game on the original X-Box. When he gets stuck he comes and grabs me for help. Unfortunately I suck at arcade games. Here I am a grown man screaming at the TV cause I can’t make this double back flip jump twist or some shit and my son is calmly patting my on the arm saying “It’s ok daddy. Just try, try again”.

Aside from the fact that Lindsay has some nice Lohan’s I am not impressed with her comparing herself to Marilyn. To my knowledge Lindsay hasn’t porked a president or even been to the white house for that matter. Between her busy schedule of rehab and driving while under the influence I guess kudos to her for finding the time for a photo shoot.

When thing settle down with the new schedule I will work in a writing schedule. I am still holding myself to getting at least a first draft done by June. With all the major worries and issues solved for now I think I can devote some brain cycles.

Until next time…

-Jim

Thank god Eli is single...

Congratulations to the New York “Football” Giants! What a great game. The Giants took it right to the Patriots and smashed them in the mouth. Sure looked like an aging Patriot linebacking core lost a step or two in the fourth quarter…

Does anyone in this country like that fucker Belichick? I was SHOCKED to find out has a kid. Dear god my heart goes out to him. I think the Patriots and that ass hat of a coach need to be fined for not being out on the field for the final play. Hell I am not even sure they had 11 men on defense for the final kneel down.

Belichick completely disrespected the referee that was trying to tell him there was another play then he disrespected Coughlin and the Giants by leaving the field early. The guy is a prick and needs to be fined a seasons paycheck for his bullshit.

His players and organization must be so proud of him and his antics. A stain on an what I felt was one of the best Superbowls I’ve ever watched.

**News Flash**

New England has an APB out for this woman....

Do not approach her if you play professional sports. She is armed and dangerous.

Pitchers and Catchers report this month… Go Mariners!

Where the hell have I been? Well let’s see.

I start a new job on the 18th at a small software company about 15 minutes from the house. No more hour long bus commutes to downtown Seattle. No more corporate bullshit to deal with, just creating great software for customers who will use it. My kind of gig.

Writing has been sparse lately due to lots of distractions that I really can’t use as an excuse but will anyway. Things are looking up so I find myself wandering back to my stories and they take life again.

Talk of the writers strike nearing and end is good. TV is sucking horribly these days. I hope they finish out the Scrubs final season.

I will holler at you all later.

-Jim

Happy New Year and shit

My ‘Hawks are done. Blasted in the “..Frozen tundra of Lambeau field”. Congrats on a good run guys. I am rooting for Brett to go all the way. I think the Packers have a good shot and beating the Pats.

Holidays were good. I got very little writing done. I’ve been in a funk at work so my attitude and demeanor haven’t been the best. I find it hard to creating conflict on paper when I have real life problems to hammer out. I should probably figure out a way to marry those two, might come up with a half way decent story.

For awhile there I was consuming any and all information about the strike I could. It was kind of exhilarating, a war at home sort of thing. Now it just pisses me off. I hope everyone gets their shit together and starts treating each other with what used to be called respect. They keep fucking around and you’re going to see a whole generation playing video games and interacting online instead of watching TV and Movies.

My goals for this year are to get in shape, lose some weight and get at least one script done and have two or three more in various stages of development.

Here’s to all my reader(s) and wishing you a happy new year.

-Jim