You are currently browsing the monthly archive for September 2008.
Another month, another 10,000 words.
Yes, I’ve been a little grumpy lately. (What’s that? You noticed? Really?) I’m stressed, I’m tired, and I’m irritated. All the more reason to remind myself of things that make me happy, though.
Obviously, my family is at the top of the list. Penny and Ethan make me happy in ways too numerous to count. I love them every day, but lately I’ve been less demonstrative about it than I should be. My goal starting right now is to change that.
Writing makes me happy. I like the way it feels to build a story from scratch, to put characters into action and watch as they do things that surprise even me. I like the sense of fulfillment I get on the days when I actually accomplish my word count goals. I like that I’m creating something from my imagination.
Not surprisingly, reading makes me happy, too. That’s the biggest plus to taking the train to work every day: It’s like I’ve been given an extra hour or two per day just to read. I love it.
My TV shows make me happy. Yes, I’m shallow, but so what? I love good TV. Hurray for the DVR!
The fact that my friend Eric recently sold his first story makes me happy.
Spider-Man comic books make me happy.
Entertainment Weekly makes me happy. It really does. Good magazine.
The fact that I have a job that I actually like, with coworkers that I actually like, makes me happy.
Cool, cloudy, windy days in October make me happy.
The fact that the word truthiness is in the dictionary makes me happy.
Getting an email out of the blue from a friend I haven’t talked to in ages made me pretty happy.
The Red Sox being in the playoffs again makes me happy. (For now, anyway.)
Last but not least, the fact that Ethan likes to run around the house yelling “HAPPY! HAPPY! HAPPY!” makes me happy, happy, happy, too.
It was, basically, a horrible weekend. You spend your whole week busting your butt at work, and the weekend is supposed to be your reward—a time to relax and recharge. Instead, to borrow a line from Shakespeare, it felt like nothing but toil and trouble.
Such are the joys of home ownership: Rain water leaking behind the drain pipe above our sun room, seeping down the outside of the window and, somehow, through the wall into the carpet. Flooding by osmosis, apparently.
So at various times this weekend I found myself:
a) Crawling across a rain-slicked roof with a six-foot plastic tube to divert the torrent from one gutter away from the other;
b) Pulling up and throwing away the rug and rug liner in our sun room; and
c) Scrubbing mold and mildew from the floor and ceiling of said sun room.
So, yeah, awesome weekend.
It’s ironic that I have so much autonomy at work, because at home I feel like I’m just a glorified slave to my overpriced house. The joys of home ownership, indeed.
Getting there. Slowly.
Returning shows I’ll be watching this fall:
- The Amazing Race. Always entertaining, often exhilerating, it’s head and shoulders better than any other reality TV show.
- Bones. The funniest crime drama on television! (Joss Whedon alumni show # 1)
- Chuck. This one really picked up steam near the end of its strike-shortened freshman season. Season two already has a full 22-episode order, and I’m expecting good things. (Joss Whedon alumni show # 2)
- Dirty Sexy Money. Frivolous rainy day DVR stuff. Love it.
- Eli Stone. One of the quirkiest, character-driven legal dramas I’ve ever seen. An absolute joy.
- How I Met Your Mother. The season opener was a little weaker than past episodes, but I still have faith. (Joss Whedon alumni show # 3)
- The Office. The most perfect, painfully hilarious show on television.
- Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles. Just keeps getting better. (Joss Whedon alumni show # 4)
New shows I’ll give a shot:
- Worst Week. Reviews are good. We’ll see.
- Fringe. Three episodes in, I like it, though it’s the least awesome J.J. Abrams show so far.
- Crusoe. This show gets exactly one episode to convince me it won’t be terrible.
Mid-season debut/returns:
- Dollhouse. Joss Whedon alumni show # 5!
- Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Jeff Goldblum on a police procedural. Could be interesting.
- LOST. Will probably DVR the whole season and watch all at once.
Rock on.
Busy weekend. My parents babysat Ethan for us on Saturday evening so Penny and I could go out for dinner and a movie to celebrate our anniversary. On the movie front, our choices were pretty limited. Burn After Reading was out because I can’t stand Brad Pitt. Vicki Christina Barcelona was a contender until we watched the trailer for it and hated it. So finally, we decided on Ghost Town because a) the trailer was funny, and b) so is Ricky Gervais.
It ended up being the kind of enjoyable, forgettable rom-com stuff that’s perfect for a date night. A little uneven at times, but frequently hilarious, too. Well worth the two hours and $20.
Being out of practice on the whole “going out” thing, we didn’t make dinner reservations and were consequently turned away at the first three restaurants we tried in Beverly. We had better luck in Salem, where we managed to get a table at an upscale Italian place called The Grapevine. The food was decent (I had pumpkin raviolis), we drank a half-bottle of Savignon Blanc, and I questioned the waitress’ assertion that the wild boar tenderloin on the menu was actually “wild” since the boar was apparently raised on a farm in Canada. She responded with all the confidence of John McCain and Barack Obama discussing the economic crisis (which is to say, not much), but we moved on and had a pleasant dinner with refreshingly adult conversation.
Yesterday my dad and I went to the Patriots-Dolphins game at Foxboro. I bought him the tickets for his 60th 39th birthday, and we had a great time despite seeing the Patriots get obliterated by a team that went 1-15 last year and started this season 0-2. The weather was nice, anyway, and our seats were on the 50-yard-line. (About a mile from the field, but on the 50-yard-line nevertheless.) The Brady-less Patriots don’t look very good, but any time I can watch the game with my dad it’s a good time.
In honor of our nine-year anniversary, which is today, here are nine things I love about Penny.
9. She’s been my best friend since high school.
8. She’s an awesome mom to Ethan.
7. She’s funny. (She doesn’t think she is, but she is!)
6. She inspires me to be more socially and environmentally conscious.
5. She’s wicked smart, except when it comes to commas.
4. She’s got great taste in books, TV shows, and movies.
3. She’s pretty! I live for that smile.
2. She’s a culinary MacGuyver: Give her two tomatoes, a sprig of parsley and some duct tape and she’ll turn it into a five-star meal. Amazing!
1. She’s an all-around beautiful person.
Some days the writing comes naturally. Some days it feels like work. Today it feels like very, very hard work. Blood from a stone and all that. I’m currently about 2/3 of the way through chapter seven. My goal is to finish it this week and get a sense of where I want to take chapter eight by the weekend. We shall see.
On Saturday we brought Ethan to the local Snip Its for his first haircut. After 18 months, he needed it—but we were still a little sad to see some of those wild, beautiful, unruly blond curls chopped off. Ethan endured the hair cutting with “courage and bravery” (according to the certificate he received) and a not-insignificant amount of help from a blue lollipop. Here’s how it went down. Yes, we gave him a mullet.
Scruffy-looking nerf herder
The shearing begins
Happy!
All done!
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