I'm not dead.

I've had a lot of things that I've wanted write about lately, but the vast majority of them are negative.  Therefore, here are some of the positive things taking place in my life.

1)  SCHEDULING NIRVANA.  With the new run I have until the end of the year, it means that Lady Jade and I get to go to work together (thereby saving gas and the environment), have lunch together, go to the gym together and go home at the same time.  Being that I am one of the fruit bars that actually enjoy spending time with their spouse, this is a damned good thing.

2)  DECORATION CENTRAL.  We have gone above and beyond last year's Halloween decorations.  I'm going to have pictures of it soon, and it looks like we're once again going to have lots of people posing in front of our house for poctures.  My wife and I are Halloween dorks, and it's damned fun.  If you think that's lame, shove it.

3)  IT'S A GUITAR WORLD, PEOPLE.  I think I may have picked out the equipment I need for Christmas to truly bring my guitar rig to life.  Now that I have improved signifigantly and stuck with it for the last year, I feel okay about getting more equipment.

4)  HOME, SWEET HOME.  We're going to get to keep our house.  The California housing debacle is still roasting people alive, but after much harum-scarum, we're not going to be added to the body count.  The details are still to be hammered out, but what looked extremely grim a few months ago is finally seeing the light.

5)  I WILL NOT SUBMIT.  Not until the new year, anyway.  With all the economic fuss and bother, companies are really not looking for new talent right now, and this is actually a load off of my mind.

6)  NANOWRIMO AHOY.  I'm going to start calling some people out to join me this year.  You've been warned.

7)  COUNTDOWN TO MOVE-OUT.  I could fill several LJ's with how much I have hated having my brother-in-law and mother-inl-law living with us, but the light at the end of the tunnel can now be seen.  About six months or so to go, and my wife and I (finally) get our house back for just us.

Positivity?  Amazingly, we've got that.

Five scenes to go on Underworld.  Anticipation?  Yeah.  Maybe another week and a half and it'll all be laid to rest.  I'm not looking forward to the editing that'll have to be done, but having it done in and of itself is going to be a major relief.

Okay, National Novel Writing Month update.  The title I'm tentatively working with for this year's project is The Final Nine.  While I'm not too thrilled about two books in a row using "The" in the title (because I'm weird like that, okay?), I do like the ring of it all.  I also find it humorous in and of itself that in addition to a plot outline, one of the things I'll have to come up with in the planning stages is going to be three baseball box scores.  Bet you haven't read that little tidbit in any of the spoilers given away by your favorite authors recently.

Last year's total was 50,181 words for The Phoenix Initiative.  No joke, I'm pretty sure I can top that total by day 15.  Seriously, I am champing at the bit to write this story.

My shoulder still hurts, but eh, what else is new?

Oh, and new run time.  A little later I get to sleep (5:00 AM instead oF 4:30 am) and it pays about thirty bucks a day more.  Oh thank heaven for cold, hard cash.

I haven't been around lately, so what's new with y'all?

I know what you're thinking... "Jesse, isn't it your vacation this week?  Why are you updating your journal at 7:30 AM on a Monday rather than sleeping in, getting tuned up for NaNoWriMo, soaking in your terribly substandard bathtub or doing anything else at least a little more fun than trying not to hit the wrong keys and thereby expose what a pendejo you can be without enough caffeine?"

I'm glad you asked because believe it or not, there is a reason besides "our ball of fusion energy called a kitten woke me up damned early and I couldn't get back to sleep."  This week we are doing the long-threatened and finally delivered bathroom remodeling that Lady Jade and I have pined for ever since we first floated the idea of buying a house.  Her cousin Tim, a damned good contractor, is leading us by the hand and getting us through this difficult process... and when I say difficult, brother do I mean difficult.  If it wasn't for him, we'd be shelling our vital organs on E-Bay to get this done.  After a casual inspection of the whole process, I now see why the average nathroom remodel goes for about twelve grand.

Our estimated total cost?  About 2K.

Yeah.  I know, man!  It's going to be great.  New linoleum faux-marble floor, genuine granite tile for the tub box and the wall behind it, a new oak vanity with granite countertop and neat-looking fixtures, an oak linen closet and ye Gods and little fishes, a genuine goddamn whirlpool tub complete with a motor that is deep enough to drown in and already the subject of several fantasies we both have long-held but have been unable to do since the average bathub is suitable only for bathing kittens, gnomes and the occasional laptop bag that has gotten coffee spilled on it once again.  So I'm up early today, and I'll probably be doing so the rest of the week (although I'm still doing my NaNoWriMo, which means it's important to blow out as much as possible in the next two days, and Tim says this can be done).

And, being the nice guy I am, I've already given Lady Jade the first crack at the first tub soak.  I know, I'm a big softie.

Other than this project, I really have nothing else planned for vacation besides NaNoWriMo, so once that takes place, my entries will probably be terse or simple archive rips.  So before I stick my head under the executioner's hood, I wanted to say hello to everyone and ask just how the hell are you?  Because really, this might be my last gasp for a little while.

EDIT:  Oh, and the Oakland Raiders are no longer the worst team in football.  I know that means absolutely nothing to you, but it gives me a little spring in my step, so there you go.  Couple the above entry this with the incipient start of basketball season and I'm definitely a lot cheerier this winter than I was last year.

Comment on this entry and I will give you a letter if you want. Write ten words beginning with that letter in your journal, including an explanation of what the word means to you and why, and then pass out letters to those who want to play along.

seferin dealt me the letter Z.  Sadist.

Zombie:  Not just a fun bar drink, or for the kids.  I'm a sucker for anything involving the living dead, from the books of Laurell K. Hamilton to the film 28 Days Later (okay, not really zombies but close enough) to the song "Night Of The Living Dead" by the Misfits.  And my handle, of course.

Zeal:  I admire passion of any type, and this word needs to come up in day-to-day conversation more.  Now that I think about it, I'm going to start a campaign to bring it back.  Yeah.

Zero:  As well as being the mathematical denomination of nothing, it'll also be the title of the last novel in my series I'm working on.  After I get done with Underworld and whatever the next one is titled, it'll be time to start Zero.

Zoos:  Mostly they make me sad; it must be the concept and nbot the actual execution, because the Sacramento and San Franscisco versions are quite good.

Zodiac:  I am fiercely proud of being a Capricorn.  Best fucking sign in the world.  People who think differently are, quite simply, wrong, although Virgoes are allowed to make a case (yes, my wife is a Virgo).

Zinger:  I can dish it out and take it, as evidenced with my public flaying at the hands of the harpies in the You Can't Write community.  May the damned eternally shit upon their heads.

Zen:  I try.  I really, really do.

Zoot Suit:  When my wife and I renew our vows, I may just wear one.  Always liked them.

Zeppelin:  Growing up, one of my favorite books was Jane's Pocket Book Of Airships.  I was particularly enthralled by the fact that the Hindenburg and the Graf Zeppelin II were sister ships; one burned and killed 36 people over U.S. soil, the other flying missions for the Luftwaffe and eventually being destroyed by those same people.

Zenith:  I have yet to reach mine.  It's a good feeling.

Next?

Okay, I just got my DSL back after being down since Tuesday morning.  I'll catch up, update and do stuff with LJ... well, not today, but over the next few days.  No, I didn't die, in case you were worried.

(shrugs, grins)