a fresh new tuesday

hi friends. been a long time.

i had a few personal cards made up not too long ago. i call them personal cards because i can't call them business cards because i am not really in business. they have a sampling of my personal data on them. so they're personal cards.

one such bit of information is a link to this blog, which has been woefully neglected for quite a while now. so without further ado, here's an update.

i'm no longer on night shift at the factory, and quite thankful for that. i run one of the brand-spanking new presses, which will hopefully mean a decent raise next month when reviews come around. i am generally in a better mood, getting to see my family a bit more often and not being a zombie during the weekends.

with my body and mind slowly adjusting back to its traditional circadian rhythms, i am now in a position to get the rest of my life back on track. the car is finally paid off, so we can slowly climb back out of debt.

i'm hoping that with these vast improvements to my overall well-being will come the return to writing. any of you who keep up with me will know it's been a tough year for my creative process. i'm hoping that this new position and new fresh outlook will allow the proverbial creative juices to proverbially flow.

what else? over the last year i've taken up wargaming, Warhammer 40k to be precise, and so far this year i've given up wargaming, Warhammer 40k to be precise. the universe of 40k is massive, filled with great stories and memorable characters. just the background story (10,000 years before the game itself is set) is 20-something books strong. i've read a dozen or so of the books, and plan to read more in the future. and while the universe is huge, the stories memorable, the characters brilliantly brought to life, the game itself is just too damn expensive. rather, too expensive for me. i could see myself picking up a model now and then for painting, because i do quite enjoy that aspect of the hobby, but in order to keep up with the other players (hell, just to play with my kids at my house) requires a sizable investment that i'm not willing to put forth just now. 

books. books, books, books. regular books, comic books. i've been reading a lot this last year, more books than comic books, to be sure. as i mentioned above, quite a few 40k books have been absorbed, but i've also managed to read outside the sci-fi genre as well. a few examples:

The 1,000 Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and Cloud Atlas, both by David Mitchell

Clive Barker's newest Abarat book, Absolute Midnight

All the rest of Martin's Fire and Ice series that i hadn't read so far

Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline, which I'm sure will be turned into a movie

and right now i'm re-reading Necroscope by Brian Lumley, having read it a few times over the last few decades.

as far as comics go, i am woefully behind. i'm hoping this year to follow a few titles a bit closer, but now that Hellblazer is being cancelled, i just don't know what books to keep up with. i am, of course, open to suggestions.

well i'll wrap this recap up. thanks for taking the time to keep track of me. i will promise to update my blog regularly, and fall short of regular like i do every year. i hope this new year brings peace and prosperity to everyone.

-jamie

9.52 on a tuesday morning

still working the graveyard shift at the factory, as most of you know. i've heard rumors that this week holds the tenuous promise of reviews, which hold an even stringier promise of a raise for some of us. really looking forward to good news on the raise front. it would be a real shame to be overlooked for my performance over the last year, in which i have consistently performed the tasks usually set forth for two separate worker-entities. would be a real shame... if that building were to go up in flames..

kidding. i don't even own matches anymore.

in other news, if you haven't noticed, any and all updates regardin

g my creative writing attempts/progress have ceased, and for some time now. the work schedule is taking a toll both physically and mentally, and i don't have the particular drive lately to work on any personal creative projects. which is a shame (that word seems to be popping up a lot in this post), because i do daydream up all sorts of stuff at work while i watch the labels wizz past at speeds topping 400 fpm. once i'm home, however, all drive to actually put any of it to down, aside from some light scribbling on scrap paper, goes away. here, on the desk next to me, sits a pile of napkins, receipts, and assorted other torn or wrinkled pages, containing 100 beginnings of 100 great american novels. someday, someday soon, the writer inside will wake up and hopefully put pen to paper proper (finger/keyboard, whatever).

i could blame it all on lack of sleep, which there is no lack of (no lack of lack of sleep, not no lack of sleep. follow?), but i feel that there may be more to it that that. lack of sleep, sure, but also lack of interaction with others. lack of family time. lack of scotch? serious. i get home from work, and once the kids are off to school, i just want to go to bed and disappear until work starts again, so i can get through the week as quick as possible, make it to that wonderful, dreamlike period of time called "the weekend", in which i barely sleep at all, spending time with the family during the day, and staying up all night to keep the weekly schedule.. um.. scheduled. there is barely any drive to put on pants most of the time, let alone sit myself down for an hour or two a day to work on something.

i know what you're thinking. excuses, excuses. and you're right. they are excuses. i've got more of them, too, involving everything from diet, to car trouble, to 3 teenagers in the house, to showing all of the telltale signs of depression. all of these are excuses i could throw out as to why i haven't been writing. i'm going to stick with the work schedule for now, though, until it gets old.

i am, secretly, inside, hoping that i don't get that raise, so i can start looking for another job. during the day. or the

evening. anything but overnight. i want to sleep in the same bed as my wife at the same time, have dinner with my kids, and enjoy a scotch in the evening. because a quick beer at 7.30am is nothing like a nice Glenmorangie after dark.

that last passage was a secret wish, like i said, until now. because now i've said it, and you all read it.

so, as far as the job goes, i'll keep you posted. and as far as the writing goes, i'll keep you posted.

up until very recently, other things were brewing over here. i began a little project on the weekends involving a bunch of old home movies, a newly purchased vcr, and a fresh youtube account. by clicking here, you can fast-travel to Clifton Park Home Videos, a (small) collection of newly-transferred videos from my high school days in New York, and then in Indianapolis. only a few so far, but i've lots of tapes to sift through, so more to come.

enough for now. tune in next time to hear about what i've been reading, my never-ending dream to run my own comic book store, my love of cheese, and what it's like to run a family of six (plus two cats, one awesome* and one not-so-much**), on a pressman and a saleswoman's salaries (the saleswoman would be my wife, not me).

*the awesome cat noted above. his name is jeph.

**the other, not-so-awesome cat, not worth picturing.

who wants to work in a comic book store?

approximate time, 4.40am. saturday morning. i am stuck between sleeping during the day to keep my weekly schedule going and sleeping at night to enjoy the weekend with my family. i end up losing on both ends. i am ridiculously tired throughout the day and have to disappear for hours to indulge in naps, and i am unable to sleep in the evenings, and wander about the house, quiet, drinking imported beers, trying not to wake anyone up, yet not knowing what to do with myself. even this typing i have to do quietly, gently, to avoid waking my wife, who sleeps as we speak, soundly, in the same room.

as you may know, i applied for a job in the new comic book store that opened in the local mall this week. after returning to the store today, i now have no desire to work in such an establishment. it looks like a great place to work, if t6ou want to work retail;. comics, movies, and video games. books, fiction and non, movie posters, action figures, statues, the lot. what fan would not ant to work there?

today i went in with my kids to wander about, maybe purchase a few things. the first flaw i found was in the comic book section proper. on the racks labeled "new this week" there were maybe ten books. on the racks labeled "new recent" maybe ten others. and by "racks" i mean "rack". sad. i know Diamond releases more in a week or a month than this.

the store advertises their subscription service. 10% off books you have added to your pull list. good stuff. i am interested in this, i tell the guy at the counter. he is unsure, shaky in his delivery. he tells me i may want to find Abby, the "Comic Book" girl. unfortunately, she is off on this particular day. when i tell him the books i am looking to subscribe to, he is completely flabbergasted. Elric, Planet of the Apes, and Hellraiser (all BOOM! books) are not on his list. he does not think that i can subscribe to these books because they are, as already noted, not on his list. again, i would have to talk to Abby. who is, again, not in evidence.

i did purchase the 3-4 books i had in my hands, because i did want to see the new Ghost Rider, and i did want to see what the Thunderbolts were up to. after reading some of that, i would have rather seen Elric and Pinhead and some Damn Dirty Apes.

why can't there be a comic book store within 30 miles of my house that is not inept? i have been to two different shops that were great, but they are farther away than warrants the cost in gas for the 3-4 books i am really after these days. Hellblazer, how i miss you so. i live in Chesterfield, Missouri. it is a town full of rich people, where the parents work hard and the kids are afforded whatever their little hearts could possibly desire. do none of those bastards desire comic books, video games, warhammer, magic, d&d? none of it? i know if it was within reach, they would go for it. the parents want to drink mojitos and bad light beer. they want to give their children something to do in the meantime.

i will continue to lament the lack of a decent comic book store within 25 miles of my house. someday, when i am out of debt and independently wealthy, i will open such a shop. until then, must i rely on mail order?