Quite frequently, something happens in my life and I think, “I should mention this on my blog.”
This is one of those unpleasant truths that I’m reluctant to come to grips with.
I think part of the problem is the word “blog.” I never felt this way when I would think similar thoughts about the humor column I wrote, or when I think, “I’m going to put that in the novel.”
I know a lot of people who struggle to think of material to put on their blogs. I’m the other way around. If I went with my natural tendencies, I’d be writing little stories up here every day, maybe more. Slowly I would move all my writing energy into the blog, then it would start eating into other parts of my life too. Drawing time and energy away from vital activities like eating and playing videogames. Eventually they would find my shriveled husk in front of the computer.
Because I don’t blog all the things I think of, sometimes interesting little stories get left by the wayside. This ensaddens me.
For example, months ago, I was driving around with Sarah. We were bickering, which is like arguing, but cleverer. We’re really good at bickering. We could bicker for our country if they ever made it an Olympic sport.
The key to our successful bickering is the fact that we argue about stupid shit. We’re also articulate, witty, and in love. Lastly, I am funny as hell, and Sarah is absolutely batshit crazy.
This leads to great bickerings. Honestly, I wish I had a lot of them on tape.
So we’re driving around, bickering, and Sarah says, “Whenever you call me a rule utilitarian it makes my womb clench.”
And I thought, “I’ve got to mention this on my blog.”
Not the reason for the bickering, which I can’t remember. Not any of the context, which really isn’t that important. I just wanted to share that sentence because I knew if I didn’t, you’d never run into it at any other point in your lives. Ever.
Sometimes the blogs that get put off are more substantive. I put those off because they’ll take a lot of time and energy to get right.
And sometimes they aren’t hard to write, they just get buried in the ephemera of daily life. Then when I rediscover them, I think, “Shit. I can’t believe I haven’t posted anything about that yet…”
This is an example of something thus belated.
In response to that blog. Captain Joe sent me this.
In short, it was some serious above the call of duty coolness.
So I just wanted to take this opportunity to share this coolness, and thank him for it in a very belated way. If I had my way, I would have them write “Winner of Captain Joe’s Most Kickass Novel of the Century Award,” on the new version of the book when it comes out. But I’m pretty sure the marketing people have their hearts set on the whole NYT bestseller thing….
Later folks,
pat
Friendly Reminder: Voting on the Hugos.
Last night I was up late reading (I’ll talk about that in a minute) so today I woke up at the crack of noon.
Blearily, I washed my face and trudged upstairs to check my e-mail. Because I was really behind on my e-mail and the weekend is a good chance for me to catch up.
When I got to the top of the stairs, Sarah was there, staring at me, her hands on her hips, her expression exhasperated and vaugely accusitory. “Well,’ she said, “he’s a boy!”
I’d only been awake for about three minutes, so I just stare at her in confusion. I was pretty sure we’d sorted that out fairly early on.
Then I hear Oot shouting from the bedroom, “I pee in the CORNER!”
Yup. He’s just like his dad. By which I mean he’s got good comedic timing.
Rest assured that later on, after I had showered and was fully awake, I did my fatherly duty and had a talk with Oot. I explained that we pee in the toilet. We also pee in our diapers. That’s good too. We sometimes can pee outside, which is cool, so long as nobody’s watching. And the bathtub is fair game too. But that’s pretty much it in terms of kosher places to pee. Although, come to think of it, the sink is also acceptable in certain rare situations. The corner is almost never a good place to pee, except in rare situations when you might be making some sort abstract political statement or attempting to connect with your roots as a true cynic.
At this point Sarah said that my talk probably wasn’t helping much.
Parenting is kinda hard if you’re an ethical relativist.
Anyway, the real point of this point is to mention that I spent most of the day reading all the short stories, novelettes, and novellas that were nominated for the Hugo awards this year.
For those of you who don’t know: the Hugo awards are kind of a Big Deal in the sci-fi and fantasy community. If you win one, you are offically awesome. Plus they give you a statue that looks like a rocket ship. Which you have to admit is pretty cool.
The Hugos are awarded every year at Worldcon. If you attend the convention, you get to vote on who’s stuff you think is best.
In the past, I’ve been bad about voting on the Hugos. But this year I’m making an effort to change that. I’ve decided I want to be a responsible member of the community, so I’ve been reading all the books and graphic novels and stories so I can cast a smart vote.
Just like any election, more informed votes = better results. So I thought I’d post up a friendly reminder for those of you who are like me. Specifically, for those of you who tend to put things off to the last minute, then occationally forget about them until it’s too late.
So yeah. If you’re heading out to Worldcon this year, and you haven’t voted yet, you might want to get on the stick.
Voting on the Hugos closes tomorrow (Sunday the 31st) at 11:59 PST.
pat