Long Lost Stories

Long Lost Stories

This is gonna be really meta, but I promise I’ll bring it back around.

So I still have my old site, strugglingwriter.wordpress.com, which still maddeningly garners 60 to 100 pageviews a day (sorry, I said I was gonna get meta). I say maddeningly because this is the site I’m most focused on right now, and I get 10 pageviews here on a good day.

Anyway, I saw a huge spike yesterday and today on the old site and after investigation I discovered that a post I had written in 2006(!) had been linked on a tumblr post about writing help. The somewhat odd part was that the post of mine that was linked, Plot Help, was actually me asking for help with my plot, not me offering any kind of writing tips.

Now, I went back and read that post. There’s not really anything exciting about it on the surface and in fact it’s kind’ve blah. However, there is this:

I am at a point in my novel that is key to the whole plot of the work. If I screw this up, there is no going back. 48,000 words will be wasted.

My plot involves a 23 something guy who visits his parents looking for one of his favorite books of his childhood. He doesn’t find the one he is looking for, but does find one that looks interesting that he didn’t remember. As he opens the front cover he sees something written inside. It is a note to himself he wrote when he was eight years old urging him to do or remember something.

Well, I’m sorry to say that the novel did fail. I have almost no recollection of it at all, other than I think that’s the one I wrote in a Moleskine notebook. Sure enough, that is the one. I even have a post where I say I’ve given up on the story and another where I’ve posted pictures of my handwriting.

What gets me most, other than I have a LOT of content over on the old blog, is how foreign all of that stuff feels to me. It’s like it was written by another person. Bizarre.

I wonder where that notebook and story are? I’m hoping, but not positive, that they are still in my nightstand where I left them. I really hope they are, actually. That is my homework to myself today. To find that notebook and see what it contains.

The Things They Say

The Things They Say

I was just cleaning out my wallet because it’s gotten to that point where it is so full of stuff it’s unable to close. And no, the “stuff” in my wallet is surely not money.

It’s mostly notes to myself, lost and forgotten story ideas, or lost and forgotten receipts. However, in all of that stuff was something awesome. It was a quote of something my daughter (now six and a half) said when she had just turned four. Amazingly, I actually had the forethought to write the date at the top. I share with you now what I had written on said lost note, because it is funny, and also because it needs to be saved somewhere.

I hope there’s a lot of boys in college because I want to get married and have some babies.”

Ah yes. That’s my girl. I would like to state for the record that I hope there are lots of boys for her to meet in college and that none of them break her heart. Now about that babies part…

Things That Should Have Existed: Heat Vision and Jack

Things That Should Have Existed: Heat Vision and Jack

I’m possibly late to the party, but I still had to post about this because it is too awesome not to. So, this was a real television pilot proposed in 1999 and turned down by Fox (another reason other than the cancellation of Firefly to hate Fox).

Just look at this description:

The on-the-run adventures of astronaut Jack Black who gets superpowers after a space accident, and fights crime with the talking motorcycle named Heatvision (voiced by Owen Wilson), powered by the mind of his unemployed roommate.streaming movie Transformers: The Last Knight 2017

Tell me that was not written by the gods of comedy themselves.

Just read these character descriptions (via wikipedia):

  • Jack Austin, a former astronaut. He was exposed to inappropriate levels of solar energy, giving him superintelligence. He appears to lose this intelligence at night, requiring only Earth-normal levels of daylight to reactivate it. His catchphrases are “I know EVERYTHING!” and “Knowledge is power… for real.” Played by Jack Black.
  • Heat Vision, a talking motorcycle. He was created when Jack’s unemployed roommate Doug was shot by a ray, causing him to merge with his motorcycle. He is capable of speech and can fight by ramming into opponents. He is unable to use doorknobs and is unable to right himself if pushed over. Voiced by Owen Wilson.
  • Ron Silver, the main villain. He works for NASA, and will stop at nothing to capture or kill Jack Austin, but he also dabbles in acting, perhaps as a diversion, perhaps as a cover. He appears to be invulnerable, shrugging off the threat of being shot and later displaying great annoyance but no injury or pain when he actually is shot. Played by himself.
  • An unnamed sheriff, played by guest star Christine Taylor. Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor, now husband and wife, met on the set ofHeat Vision and Jack.
  • A cook named Frank, who becomes possessed by an alien broadcast and thereafter calls himself Paragon. Played by Vincent Schiavelli.

Lucky for us that although this gem never saw the light of day, the pilot survives thanks to the Internet. Tell me you wouldn’t have watched the crap out of this. I dare you.


Lego Table With Top Panels

Lego Table With Top Panels

I had hoped to finish this thing this weekend. Then we had my son’s birthday party on Saturday,   and family staying over. So, I have acquired liquid nails to affix the Lego plates to the wood, but have not done so. I need one more layer of poly first. Anyway, here are some photos of how the table will look in stealth, non-Lego mode. And for the record, my son got a TON of Lego for his birthday. This table needs to be done ASAP.

CoffeTablePanels1 CoffeTablePanels2

An Update On The Lego Table

An Update On The Lego Table

StainedLegoTable

Here is an update to the Lego coffee table I’ve been building. It probably should have been finished early this month, but was derailed by me getting sick a bunch of times in January and February. This is a photo of the table, without the top panels.

Stain and one coat of poly have been applied. I’ll apply one more coat of poly tonight and then affix the Lego plates to the top panels and I’ll be done.

It has been a really fun project and I’m proud I’ve been able to pull it off. As for how good of a job I’ve done, I don’t think I can accurately assess that. I’ve been too close to the process. I’ve seen how the sausage has been made, and it hasn’t been all that pretty.