Getting Ready for NaNoWriMo 2004
November is right around the corner, and that means it's time for another National Novel Writing Month! While I came up something less than short in my first attempt last year, it did serve as a helpful exercise in getting me away from thinking in verse and moving back towards fiction. It was also a good reality check on time management and another lesson in how bad I am at it. I'm ready to give it another try this year, though, and will actually come up with a sensible schedule to get me through it. I don't have the luxury…
Something familiar about the fall of Fidel Castro? Castro stumbled as he descended steps and fell on his side following a speech before graduates of an art school in Santa Clara, 280km east of Havana. The audience gasped and was stunned into silence. But he quickly got up with the help of bodyguards and, sitting on a chair, hastened to assure the audience he remained in control. "Please excuse me for having fallen," said Castro, who was clad in his trademark olive uniform. "Just so no one speculates, I may have a fracture in my knee and maybe one in…
Hey Yankee fans? You like apples? How do you like these apples? (With thanks to Phil West.) I thought I'd feel at least a twinge of sympathy for the Yankees, as I always do for the losing team in big games, but seeing A-Rod pick his nose while watching the Red Sox celebrate their improbably lopsided victory kept the feeling at bay. Fuck 'em! Appropriate that their two big free agent pitchers - Brown and Vazquez - blew it for them in the end. At some point, no matter how much money you have, you run out of things to…
The Kerry Compromise
Life is all about knowing when to compromise and I think I've found mine w/r/t my vote for President thanks to a timely email from Dan Cantor of the fledgling Working Families Party here in New York: In New York, the WFP’s main goals are to get a solid vote for Kerry-Edwards on our line (Row E), and to help our priority candidates win. We ask your help in both. In the Presidential [election], votes for Kerry-Edwards on Row E/WFP are worth JUST AS MUCH as a vote on the Democratic line, but carry an extra message. Long-time WFP voters…
Cheering for the underdog is an underappreciated passion. It's easy to cheer for the favorite, to expect victory, and be disappointed but not diminished in defeat. Easy, but ultimately boring, if you ask me. There's something special about defying inevitability, though. Even the possibility of that kind of defiance gets me juiced. As a Mets and Jets (and XFL!) fan, I know all too much about being the perennial underdog and the inevitability of defeat. If the Yankees lose to the Red Sox, their fans can justifiably look forward to next year. Like they did last year when they lost…
Christmas came early for the Gonzalez kids this weekend as family and friends came through with toys o'plenty. So much so, I had to do some pruning of their existing stash lest they overrun anymore of the apartment. Annoying noise-making toys and a bagful of stuffed animals were the primary victims of the purge. Only two Elmos remain: the bi-lingual plush and the "Mr. Potato Head" knock-off. Reluctant as I am to credit anyone with giving the "best" gift, especially in this case, I have to admit that Isaac's Clap & Laugh Microphone Set ranks in the Top 5 ever.…