Til I Get My Way

Tonight I get the rare opportunity to watch the UW basketball Badgers play on TV, thanks to newfound cable and the big ten/acc challenge. "We've" already struggled with Eastern Kentucky and Old Dominion this year, the former being a come from behind double OT thrilla, and are on the road at Wake Forest, but I think we have a shot, Wake commits too many turnovers and can't shoot free throws.

Thanksgiving weekend was spent in the confines of my apartment, save for a brief foray downtown on saturday night. M's family arrived to provide the kind of shocking drama you only usually see in movies or on TV. No details here, sorry. Otherwise I picked up a whopping 5 games on my dad in our family football pick em pool, going from being down 2 to up 3, giving myself a realistic chance to have the best pigskin prognosticating record in my immediate family for the first time since 1992. But seriously, who would pick Detroit, even on Thanksgiving? I fear for his mental health.

Only four thousand words to go before I give up non-bloggy writing forever. December is National Start Exercising and Lose at Least Five Pounds and Stop Feeling Sluggish All The Time and Maybe The Approximately Three Liters of Scotch I've Drank While Writing Has Something To Do With It Month. Ab-roller, it's been far too long. What, I have a free exercise room in my building? Who knew?

I'm crazy exited about this. Best of 2006 for sures! Speaking of, if anyone wants a best of 2005 CD who didn't get one last year, let me know by the middle of December. I begin working my mix-tape magic next week!

Music: I'm seeing The Black Keys on Friday at the Metro, I'm super excited. Haven't been to a show in so long, and these guys are grrreat. Problem is the coworker I am supposed to go with is suddenly trying to flake out on me.

How long are Thanksgiving leftovers good for? We've inherited enough food to feed a small elite ninja squad for a week, but I've barely made a dent in it. That said, dinner tonite: Thanksgiving leftovers.

A couple months ago I got a mailing with an offer for a discounted subscription to MAXIM magazine. Usually, I just throw these in the trash absentmindedly, but this one I didn't throw away immediately, mostly because I was lazy. M says "Are you going to get MAXIM?" I said "eh?" She says, "i don't care, you can get it if you want" and I say "Fine, I'll get it!" and sent back the subscription card. Now I have an eighteen-month subscription to fucking MAXIM. I've already received two issues. Pictures of breasts? Check. Sarcastic captions in small-print? Check. Content that reads like it's trying to target a man so one-dimensional that he would be more realistic and multi-faceted if his sole characteristics and personality were derived from a 1987 Elaine Boosler stand-up comedy special? Ch-ch-check. I can barely page through a whole issue without getting a headache, and the pictures aren't even that great. I have a theory that the magazine is actually written and edited by a bunch of smart guys who read Harper's on the subway ride home from work. Then they go to work the next day, and say, "Okay, let's make our magazine for guys who are too stupid to get through the articles in Esquire or GQ and live in their stepmom's basement." I have made many mistakes in my life, and this ranks in the top 1000.

The engine of the corporate machine is greased with the blood of the working man, Or, Rise Up, Comrades!

The corporate world sucks. Yesterday eight of my coworkers were 'let go.' It's a pretty big chunk, considering our company has only maybe 60 people or thereabouts. A couple of the people who were fired weren't very good employees, and I would've fired them a long time ago if I had the power. But some were, and one had been here 27 years.

I dodged the bullet since either:
A) My wide range of knowledge is too valuable to risk losing
B) I get paid less than everyone else who works here, by far.

I'm not sure if this is really a corporate thing, either. Are there any jobs that don't work like this? Doctors don't get downsized, do they? Lawyers? The big problem is that people get rich by finding the least amount of people to work for the least amount of money. My dad lost his job, along with everyone else is his factory, a few years ago because of this. I figure I am safe for now, since my (alleged) future potential and low wages deem me worth keeping, despite my relatively low production. But at what point does the balance shift? In five years? Ten? I don't know, but something tells me I won't be sticking around to find out. Of the eight who were fired, I don't think any were younger than 40. Maybe one in their late 30s or so. If I was to get fired once in my life, I'd want it to be when I was 26 instead of when I'm 46 with six kids and a house.

This weekend will be spent doing laundry and writing. One of the guys who got fired is my opponent in this week's Fantasy Football game, so I'll feel guilty if I win. Though both of us should be in the playoffs either way.

Taste the Happy!

You are all probably a lost cause by now, but you can buy the Season 1 and Season 2 DVDs of Arrested Development from amazon for only $31.94 (scroll down to Best Value)

I've gots blistahs on me fingahs!

Note to any aspiring writers out there: If you are attempting to write a novel in a month, or in any length of time for that matter, it would be a good idea if you had some idea of a plot when you were nearly half done. At the very least, at least have one very defined and interesting character, someone who could carry the reader even if there wasn't much of a plot. Coincidentally, I have neither of these in any of my 18797 words or 55 pages so far. I write bad sentences, but can't delete them, wary of the hit my word county would take. So, it's all crap. This weekend i wrote zero words on friday, over 3000 on saturday (mostly all after 10 pm) and another couple thousand yesterday. I'm still 3K behind where I should be, and am thinking about staying in my apartment alone over thanksgiving weekend in order to make finishing possible. Since my only other option is traveling to Iowa, it's quite possible.

Spending 60 hours a week at a computer limits the number of humorous anecdotes I may have, unless you count scoring an all-time high with my Samkon Gado-led fantasy football team and still getting beat. (the WSs are now in a third place tie with a 6-4 record, for shame!)

I was just thinking it would be awesome if sometime next spring I came upon a large sum of money. I want to travel again, 2k3-style. With my current job I've already broken the record of most consecutive months in full-time employment by the same company, without getting a five month break in the middle to drink a lot and feel depressed. I have business cards now. I actually met with a financial advisor last week, and he tried to make me discuss some vague plans for retirement. RETIREMENT! Are you kidding me? I hemmed and hawed for a bit, then threw down a smoke bomb and escaped to go home and play Nintendo and eat Nachos.

Two sips from the cup of human kindness and I'm shit-faced

It's Friday afternoon, I'm just getting over a little 'our company is doing so poorly and I'm the person with the least experience so maybe I'll get downsized today' ride to work this morning. I planned on telling everyone off and spending the rest of the weekend drunk. Oh well, one out of two ain't bad. HA!

Real weekend plans include:
tonight: ?
tomorrow: try to catch up on NaNoWriMo. I've got 13,290 words so far (officially the longest piece of writing by me, evah), two pages of which are actually semi-decent, by my low standards. The other 40 are shit. Seriously. Garbage. My plan is to try and write 1800 tonight after M goes to sleep and write 5000 tomorrow in three shifts, which will catch me up to where I should be. Should be manageable, aside from the UW/Iowa game I've got nothing to do. If you are interested, you can see my progress here. Remember, it's all about quantity, not quality.

Last weekend my parents came, and it was OK. We stayed in the neighborhood the whole time they were here, went out to eat a couple times, went to the MoS&I, and played 'Cranium,' which seemed to make my dad sick with embarrassment. It was a little weird.

Found out today the Arrested Development has been cut from 22 to 13 episodes this season, and will inevitably be cancelled for real this year. I'm not surprised, but obviously it sucks. Last monday featured the two best eps of the season. 'The jury is still out on science.' ha, ha, cry.

I remember when I was a little kid, and my dad watched the Packer game every Sunday, even though the team would always be 4-12 or 6-10 for the season. I really didn't get into football until I was 12 or 13, which was when the packers started winning. Now, as my team sits at 1-7 for the year, it just seems surreal. I mean, they really don't seem THAT bad, just a few plays away from having a 4-4 record. Is this just denial on my part? Maybe. At least we'll do better next year when we have a cake schedule.

I'm the worst blogger evah lately, but better than most of my readers, at least. Honestly you guys.

Last night I convinced M to leave the apartment on a school night and go see 'Pickpocket' at the Music Box Theater. I call it one of my fave movies ever, but I had only seen it once before, while in school. Criterion collection DVD comes out this month, ch-ch-check it out. Worth it for the train (& train station) scene alone.

Just this minute I saw a piece of paper underneath my monitor stand that was from the person who lived in my cube before me. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to pull it out. Now my black pants are covered in dust. Rad.

I'm trying to read a borrowed copy of David Foster Wallace's 'Infinite Jest' this month. It's so good, but going to take me awhile. Also, due to its influence, I've started using footnotes in my 'novel.' (IJ actually uses endnotes) Also bought 'The Better of McSweeneys' online for only $13. Looks great, but it'll have to wait for a bit.

One day after I signed an online petition to not allow drilling in the ANWR, the provision was taken out of the house bill. Coincidence? Maybe, but that reminds me I should sign the annual 'Save Arrested Development' petition right now.

Post of substance will return someday.

Trapped in the closet, chapters 6-8

Tonight my parents are visiting. I need to clean the bathroom and make the bed. They are staying in the 'hospitality suite' in my building, and leaving sunday early enough to make it home before the 3:15 packer game. They'll probably arrive too late tonight to do much, but I hear that tomorrow we'll go to the Museum of Science and Industry. Should be good times, haven't seen them for four months, and the time apart always makes our meetings more pleasant. That, and the fact that usually we end up all drinking together as well.

My novel has 5440 words to date, only 44,560 to go. I'll probably fall behind this weekend. So far it is the worst thing ever. Stay tuned.