Release the Quacken!

Yes, I wrote my wife a poem for Mother's Day. Hey, I'm sure it is/was as big a surprise to her as it is to you!

It's odd. I fancy myself a writer - I enjoy it and I'm pretty good at it. Plus, I fancy myself an artist. I can draw, and paint, and do graphical things that are visually impressive. Heck, I can even play guitar quite well (thanks, dad!) and write songs. I'm a pretty good singer. You'd think with all of those things at my disposal that I would always be writing and painting and drawing special things for certain loved ones on special occasions...

But I don't. And I'm not sure why.

My wifey and kids are always making homemade cards and little artsy projects for Gramma and others... I know it means a lot to them, and I know it would mean a lot to them to receive such things as well. I mean, part of me knows that. And that part of me is compartmentalized. It never seems to interact with the part of me that decides what to do with my time.

For some reason, at long last, those two parts of me met and shook hands, in time for me to write a poem to my wife for Mother's Day. Surprise surprise!

Now, I know I've occasionally vented in this blog about the rocky road that is my marriage. Hey, nothing new under the sun, right? Every marriage is rocky. I suppose it was poor form on my part to vent such nonsense in such a forum, but my argument has always been that, hey, it's my blog, it's about me and what's on my mind, and hey, people don't have to read it... I don't necessarily write this blog for other people (though it is nice to know people do occasionally visit here), but rather I write it for myself, to help maintain a certain level of sanity that allows me to function socially at acceptable levels.

That having been said, I know I've occasionally waxed honest about certain domestic grievances, but I don't know how often I've balanced it out with the good stuff. It isn't all difficulties and frustrations, there are plenty of moments of fun and joy as well (thank God). As much as it may have been an embarrassment to vent my spleen in here about things that were likely best left in the dark, I'm afraid it has also been an embarrassment to neglect balancing things out with the positives.

So... sorry about that!

I have lots to be thankful for.

All that to say, I wrote a poem! And no, you can't read it! It's personal!

So I recently finished reading the first two books of Brandon Sanderson's Stromlight Archive -- The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. A 2,100 page journey, and I loved every minute of it. I'd write a lengthy review of each for you to skim, but I haven't the strength. So I'll summarize: 5 stars for both titles. Great characters, great action, wonderful dialog, terrific world-building, a robust magic system... top to bottom, a terrific ride, highly recommended. I even pulled a trio of monologues out of the text, to add to my collection.

Oddly enough, Wifey recently started reading Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy, at my recommendation. She devoured (and loved) the first book in the series, and quickly moved on to book 2. It's funny... we have something new in common now! I'm not sure we'd ever read the same book before... I'm going to have to re-read the trilogy again, so we can talk about it!

And now, the Most Interesting Man in the World...



So cool. What a great acting story...

Perhaps some day, I'll have a great acting story of m'own!

BTI Update: Currently laboring away on the next script. And there's talk of a convention and an appearance on a radio program in the near future... stay tuned, eh!

I'm loving the acting classes up in LA more and more. Believe it or not, it's worth the trip, though it's putting crazy miles on my car. I'm leasing it. Man, I'm going to take it in the shorts when it comes time to turn it in... anyways, yeah, 110 miles up, 110 miles back, twice a week... and it's worth it.

I'm thinking it's time to resurrect my Wagnervana website and make it my professional actor site... I think I have enough to make a good demo reel now, between BTI and the two 48-Hour films I did last year, and the Lazarus film we made at Mt. Zion a couple Easters ago... I should be able to pull together a good 2 minutes... You know, I wonder if it would be too unprofessional to simply add a page to this blog instead? Going to have to think about that some more. Anyways, time to kick things up a notch, as far as my acting presence, etc.

Going to turn in for the night. Hey, it's 1:33am! I need my beauty sleep!

Adios for now. More soon, I promise...

Dave the Goof