Easter Odds and Ends

Saturdave draws to a close and begins the slow, smooth transition into Sundave. It's been a good dave todave. Mellow. I did the final proofing of the "book" that I wrote for my Eldest for her 21st birthdave, which is on tuesdave. 21! Dang! And since I know she doesn't read my blog, I can also mention that I bought her a little heart-shaped necklace locket, and had it engraved. And a couple other small things. I wanted to buy her a car, but it can't happen in time for her birthdave... she'll have to wait a bit longer.

On a related note, I got my own car fixed up some. I got the windshield fixed (finally!) and also went all-out on a full inside-and-out wash/wax/detail. Ugh, I hate that "new car smell" however... plus, whatever they use to treat the dash and vinyl (armor-all or some such) irritates my skin, which is sad.

But, hey, that's a small price to pay for a sparkling new-looking car, eh! Besides, now I can take wifey out on our weekly date to On The Border for Taco Tuesday in style. Hey, it's old, it's dented, and usually dirty, but it's paid off, it's reliable, and it's mine!

My car, I mean... not my wifey.

Look out below!

So I wasted no time devouring A Clash of Kings, and now have moved swiftly onto A Storm of Swords. I know I hype up GRRM for his masterful writing skills, but I was thinking today... I was trying to remember my very first read-through, and how it may differ from these subsequent read-throughs... when it was fresh and unfolding for the first time, there were so many stunning moments and unexpected bomb-shells that I missed a lot of the detail and the foreshadowing that I'm discovering this time through, which makes it fun again, rather than dull. It's really cool to see how he alludes to things in Book One that don't come to pass until Book Two or Three... or have yet to come to pass. It's fun to reverse-engineer the narrative, and try to get a good look at how GRRM crafted the story itself (as opposed to letting the story itself pull me along). I know the story well now... what remains is figuring out how he built it, and pulled it off so wonderfully.

Of course, I'd still take an editing pen to some of the "adult" content, but again, that's just the prudish facet of me speaking.

It's interesting, how multi-faceted people can be!

Take Russell Brand, for instance. Now, I have not been a fan of his in the least, not just the content of his stand-up material, but for his over-all arrogance and style (at least, that's how he presents himself (or rather, is often presented) in the media). If you don't know who he is, it's not important. My point is, I am not a fan of his. HOWEVER, I saw a 15 minute segment of an interview of him done by the BBC (and posted on Boing Boing) that pretty-nigh blew me away. He is incredibly erudite and fluid of speech, extremely quick of mind, with barely a stumble or stammer anywhere. He talks about the pitfalls of celebrity, and actually, he was very fascinating to watch.

I am going to post it here. Perhaps you will likewise be impressed.



Granted, that doesn't mean I will find his public persona or stand-up any more palatable, but I found this "facet" of him to be very impressive. I wonder if that's a natural gift, or a result of overmuch schooling? Or drugs?

Easter is upon us. Easter Sunday will find us (the fam and I) at church in the morning (as is our custom) and then up to my dear, sweet, wonderful, beautiful, generous, inspiring mother's house for an afternoon/evening of great food, laughs, and (no doubt) plenty of vacuous television entertainment. I'm sure there will be an iCarly marathon or the collected works of Sir Nicholas Cage on the tele, in direct contradistinction to the intended focus of the holiday.

I had three amazing comments left on the last blog post I made. Thank you Logan, Beth and Lisa.

I've been working on my own novel regularly of late. So fear not, Abbie! Your adventure lives! But I have forsaken my Vista writer's group in favor of the much closer (and gas tank-friendly) Panera location here at the mall by my house.

A very cool HotWheels Billboard.

There's a family trip to Albuquerque in the works. The last couple trips have been the Wagner Women only... not sure if I will accompany them this time or stay home again. I have mixed feelings about it, as usual. There are good reasons to go, and good reasons to stay. One thing is for sure... if I stay home, there will be a LAN partay at my house! Because my motto is, "let us sit down to eat and drink, and rise up to play"! Or rather, "...remain seated for several hours and play".

By the way, for Logan and others that have read The Song of Ice and Fire series, and plan on reading A Dance With Dragons in July, but DO NOT want to undertake to re-read the series in preparation (like me, eh!), you can go to a cool website called The Tower of the Hand and read thorough chapter reviews of every chapter in the existing four books thus far. Apparently, it's a well-done refresher course that will reinvigorate your brains and remind you of all that went before.

Lots of other little things going on, but I shall spare you the mundane details at this point. If any of those items blossom into something intriguing, I shall include them in my next post.

Oh, by the way, Rebecca wrote a brilliant post recently which you really should read when you get a chance. HERE is the link.

Adios for now.

Dave