2011

Okay....I really need to get my act together. I've been so busy keeping up with 2011 goals, I've neglected to finish up a 2010 goal. I need to make one more post for my A Year of Movies challenge-but not right now (the info is on a different computer and not handy at the moment). I will tell you that I did succeed in finishing at least one movie every day for all of 2010 and I also watched over 500 movies in total for the year.

This year, I'm focusing more on being creative and exercising. I started another round of edits on my novel, The Penitent Assassin (when these edits are done, I'll be submitting to agents again). I've helped get a rough cut of our Indie movie, The Victim, edited. I've begun working on the second half of the script for The Victim so we can turn it into a feature length movie. And, I've logged in nearly 1000 miles on my exercise bike since 1/1/11 and have lost just over 20 pounds.

Overall, I've been successful at maintaining my goals.

Next goal--an agent.

The hunt will begin soon. Wish me luck...

PS: Perhaps a new goal should be to keep this blog more up to date...(okay, I'll try).

Have a great day, All.

About Movies and Exercising and Cleaning...oh my.

In regards to watching a movie every day, some days are easier than others. I know, compared to many people, watching a movie a day is a luxury. I'm not complaining. I usually attempt to watch the day's movie while exercising, or cleaning the house. (My wife is a fan of either--though I think she prefers the house cleaning more--no big surprise!) In an effort to get into better shape before I get too much older, I have been trying nearly every day to exercise to some extent--riding the exercise bike, lifting free weights, or simply a doing a variety of stretching exercises. Writing can become such a sedentary job--and often while I'm writing or editing, I have to remind myself to get up and walk around. Something just to get out of the chair!

Cleaning can be quite a physical work out too. Sometimes I'm able to get quite a bit done while the movie is playing--and other days, I use the movie as my reward. Admittedly, I'm not a big fan of house cleaning. I'm reminded of a scene in 'The Break-up' where Jennifer Aniston's character and Vince Vaughn's character are discussing cleaning and she basically says something along the lines of: I want you to want to clean...and he replies: why would I want to clean? I don't know about you, but I think that's true for many people. I clean...but it's not like it's something I 'want' to do. The movie treat after is my "spoonful of the sugar to help the medicine go down".

So, the moral of the story, if there needs to be one, is: don't complain about something you enjoy doing, even if you don't feel like doing it every so often, 'cause you could be doing something a whole lot less fun all the time instead.

Wait, is that kinda like 'the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence'?

Hmmmm...

Yeah, I suppose that's the 'deep thought' for the day. I know, it's not impressive. But on only a couple of hours of sleep and one can of Mt Dew, it's not bad.

Watch out if I ever sleep eight hours in a row!

General Ramblings

Time flies.

I can't believe that

a: we're 11 days away from Christmas

b: we're 17 days away from the New Year

c: NaNoWriMo ended two weeks ago.

I've been trying to catch up on missed sleep--sleep I missed while working on the NaNo book--but I really don't think one can 'catch up' on sleep. At least, I can't. I might have a day where I actually sleep 8-9 hours in any given 24 hour period, but it just doesn't feel like 'catching-up'.

Oh wells. What's that saying....I'll sleep when I'm dead?

I've just started reading the NaNo book. I took a couple of weeks off, to put a little distance between myself and the book. Also, I've missed reading...and watching movies...and hanging out with the family. My little guy-the five year old-has discovered PlayStation and loves Super Heroes. With so many super hero movies out over the past few years--the Spider-Man trilogy, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk etc he loves playing the super hero type games for PlayStation. Most recently, he and I have been playing Ultimate Alliance (a game that allows the players to pick a 4 man (or woman) super hero team from twenty or so Marvel super hero characters). My little guy's favorites are Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Captain America. I like Thor and Thing.

Anyway--over the past couple of weeks, I've played video games with my little guy, played dollies with my little girl, and tried to convince my oldest (he's 15) the importance of getting good grades in school (especially in high school) and how he really needs to study for his finals. Hopefully, I've succeeded.

Also over these past two weeks, I've worked on reading a few books. I'm almost done with Stephen King's Cujo (somehow I've lived this long without reading the book or seeing the movie). I've also started Peter David's Sir Apropos of Nothing. I own the entire trilogy so I thought it was probably a good idea to actually read them. I have a few series like that--bought because I like the writer, like the story idea, liked what I read on the outside cover, but never seemingly having the time to actually read the book(s). Early new year's resolution - to read more of the books sitting in my personal library!

Another early new year's resolution - to finish editing my NaNo book by summer.

Another -- to ride 1000 miles on my bike--summer 2009. I used to ride 1-2k miles on my bike every summer when I was younger. I'd ride at least 10 miles every day, often times logging closer to 20-30 miles a night. I was in great shape then--and I'd like to get back into shape for 2009. I've already lost twenty pounds this past summer by exercising more and watching what I eat and I'm only about 5-10 pounds away from my ideal so I'd like to use my bike to achieve that goal. Another benefit of riding--it usually frees my creative mind. When I was younger, I'd jump on my bike whenever I'd need to plot or think about advancing my storyline. The blood would start flowing. The brain would start working, and by the time I was done with my ride, I was ready to write again.

I really am rambling today!

I should finish this up -- I have some Christmas presents to wrap yet today.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas--Happy Holidays--Season's Greetings and a very healthy, prosperous and Happy New Year.