Headsets Anyone?

The headset law went into effect on 7/1/08. Anyone talking on a cell while driving MUST wear a headset. The number of accidents associated with holding a cellphone has now probably decreased greatly, while the number of accidents associated with trying to adjust the damn earpiece has increased 400%.

I go though headsets like cheap sunglasses. I finally got this rad set with a nylon wrapped cord rather than a wire surrounded by rubber. Cool! I can't break it! The down side (isn't there always a downside?) is whoever developed it did not design the earpiece to fit an ear. I've twisted it, turned it, shifted it, changed ears, and it still doesn't fit. Whoever is talking sounds like they're standing in an adjacent room behind the wall.

Then it finally came to me. I now realize what the designers were as visualizing when developing this earpiece...




A perfect fit every time!

Go Back Home

Tonght I was in my local coffee shop working on my book Safe Passage. I had my ipod going and was in the throws of it when three guys in their late teens sat down at the table right next to me. The guy with his back to me was so close, when he folded his arms and laced his hands behind his head I almost got elbowed in the ear. No big though, I just tuned them out and listened to my music as I wrote away.

I don't know which happened first; a pause between song changes, a lag in between sentences, or the conversation next to me getting louder, but I caught a sentence that destracted me from my work. "You ran away."

I kept my earphones in, but the conversation was too close so I couldn't help but hear. Turned out the teen with his back to me had run away from home and the other two were friends were trying to talk some sense into him. One boy, who appeared to be the eldest, was the primary speaker. He discussed stubbornness, anger, and the fact that the guy's parents care about him. He wasn't weak about it either. The runaway bucked back slightly, but listened to his friends. They talked about losing respect and the runaway's college plans going to hell, then said they were leaving to go see the runaway's dad and invited him to come. Both friends left. The runaway sat by himself at the table for less than a minute, then went out the door and in their direction.

I hear a lot of crap about kids today-they're rowdy, disrespectful, unrefined, they don't take responsibility for their actions, they expect a lot of return for a little effort-and I have seen cases that exemplify this.

But guess what folks, there are some damn good kids out there. Those guys having the guts to talk to thier friend about something so heavy becuase they give a damn, that gives me hope.

Fear and Loathing in Gameland

I picked up the much anticipated (in my world) Alone in the Dark video game yesterday. I had it on hold because I really dug the first Playstation II game. In short, it blows. It sucks so much that I tried to return it today in hopes that the 'I just bought it yesterday' plea would get me somewhere. As with all entertainment media, I was TSOL. Sure, I could sell it back to the game store for $17--I bought it for $50. What a deal!
I took it home and will trudge through further in hopes it will get better.

So, what the frick happened? There's no plot so far (the first one had a bitchin' plot). It starts in a building and you don't know why you're there. It's rated mature, which I thought was due to the graphic violence, but within two sentences characters are dropping the F bomb. The first game did not have cussing at all. Don't get me wrong, cursing doesn't offend me personally. Hey, as a writer I can tell you nothing pleases me more than a well placed cuss word. But what the frick, do game writers/creators really need to drop gratuitous profanity? Is it to earn the mature rating? They definitely didn't take time with story development in the beginning, so maybe they made up for it with R-rated language. Who the frick knows. I do know that a large portion of game consumers are kids and many were looking forward to this game as well. They were probably given the nod by their parents after they saw the first Alone in the Dark-which was bloody but damn good-only to take it home to find out it's a big crap sandwich that they wish they hadn't bought for their kids.

It seems that the video game world has taken on the same air as film and publishing. Big names and shock factors that yield high volume purchases are the driving force, while the smaller and often more creative and visionary projects get pushed aside, squashed, or absorbed and diluted. Reason? Producers don't believe the return on investment will be enough. We can only produce so many projects per year ya know...It makes me think of the old black and white movies that were churned out hand over fist. There were tons of movies made each year and man, there were some GREAT STORIES there. The stories were the driving force. If the same formula used today was applied back then we wouldn't have the classics to remake over and over and over and over.

What did I learn? Your dollar is your vote. Rent first!

Origin Story

I have been telling stories for as long as I can remember. Although my bio states that I've been writing them since the age of seven, I've been telling stories since I could speak.
Stories were the way I understood the world. I would listen to my grandmother tell stories about The Depression and World War II, I would listen to my mother and father tell stories about their childhoods, and I would listen to my friends tell stories about their lives and families.
Making up stories was a form of entertainment when I was little. My grandmother would tell me scary stories. My best friend had me convinced that the concrete bear in the backyard came to life every night (yeah-I'm gonna use that one for sure).
It guess my love just stemmed from there.
I remember being in 3rd grade and standing on a concrete planter that surrounded a tree at recess telling scary stories to other kids. The stories would always involve a loud BOO or YYYOOOOWWW! at the end to add emphasis and the kids would always scream. I loved the feeling I got when I told stories.
I, like so many others, wanted to write a book when I grew up. Throughout college I kept a journal of some sort with me at all times, and although some good ideas for stories got started in those journals, they are mostly filled with morbid poetry about the problems of youth-acne, love gone wrong, parental pressures, etc.
After college my dream stayed alive, but forced waaay back by life stuff-bills, work, etc.
In December 2001 I was attending graduate school. As we all remember it was a turbulent time. I was in the middle of writing my final papers, and I stopped.
I made a deal with myself-if I quit grad school it will be to write a book and finish it. Write several hundred pages for myself rather than for professors. I gave myself one year to complete the book.
In December 2002, over thirty years after telling stories on the concrete planter, I finished The Skater Chronicles. It's a first book, but with all the errors and mistakes I still look back and love it because it exists. I've rewritten it several times since so It's more of the vision I originally had.
Many projects have followed. The more I write the more read, and the more I read the more I realize what awesome talent is out there. It's great to read something that blows my mind. There's room for all the voices in the world.