more words

725, to be precise. I should probably have written more tonight, but I didn't. Tomorrow is another day to make more progress. I like where the story is going. I decided to start with the end and thus give myself a target for the rest of the work.

I'm still mulling the podcast idea... I'd like to include other writers and book people, if anyone is interested. In the meantime, I'm off to bed.

2025 down, 47975 to go. I'm still confident.

NaNo Update

Well, I started. Since I couldn't start until midnight, I didn't write a ton - 1300 words +/-. I have a great feeling for how the story is going to go, though. I am looking forward to my writing session this evening very much.

As for the podcast idea, expect some news on that by the end of this week. Don't forget to check out my NaNo profile page regularly ( http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/532244 ), I intend to post different excerpts as I go along, which will give readers a little taste of my story. You can also see how much progress I've made toward the fifty-thousand word goal.

Wish me luck, and look for more soon...

The NaNo Odyssey

It's just about to start. 24 minutes before NaNoWriMo begins for me. For those of you who don't know, NaNoWriMo is goofy nerd code for National Novel Writing Month. I am participating this year for the first time, and while I've never attempted something like this, I am excited. I think I have a good plan. I will try to update this with news of my progress regularly. Also, I am considering a podcast about books that will center on the NaNoWriMo experience throughout November. Wish me luck.

Do you *really* hate Kanye?

"I Hate Kanye West!"
"I hated Kanye before hating Kanye was cool"
"What would your mother think?"

Seriously? Kanye interrupting a pointless acceptance speech, given by a vapid pop-star, upon receiving a completely meaningless award engenders hate? What was it about Kanye's (admittedly rude) outburst that touched such a nerve in people? Were people really so interested in what Taylor Swift had to say?

It would be easy, and intellectually lazy, to attribute the vitriol to nothing more than the usual racist outrage that (according to many) lurks, barely concealed, beneath the surface all over white-America.

I tend to think that (white) people are angry at what they see as a shift away from their "values." Kanye is a convenient symbol of this perceived shift, and so bears the brunt of white fury. If you are out there, talking about how you "hate" Kanye, or how Kanye should be somehow punished, I have three words for you:

Get A Grip.

If your value system includes lynching (as I've seen suggested in a few posts about Kanye recently), then your value system is broken. If you feel this passionately about the VMAs and Taylor Swifts right to thank God, her manager, her producer, her family, and all the girls who inspire her every day to keep writing crappy pop-country tunes that will be forgotten before she is old enough to drink legally, then your priorities are probably a little out of whack.

Kanye may be a douchebag, but who really cares? And why?

Death comes to us all

Every time a friend, family member, or friend of friend dies, it gives me an opportunity to think a bit more about mortality and our strange, visceral reaction to it. The emotions that accompany a death -- the grief, anger, frustration, fear, denial -- the generally morose reaction to the passing of someone close, have always confused me a bit. I have to try really hard not to recite the Buddhist parable of the mustard seed, because I know that while the story gives me great comfort, it does not always have the same effect on others.

In any case, I just don't feel particularly sad when people die. I am sometimes surprised that it happened when it did (though, being a rational person, I am never really surprised that it happened...), I am sometimes sorry that I did not get to spend as much time with a person as I would have wished, or that I did not have an opportunity to say goodbye, but it is rare that I am deeply saddened by death.

I do not, however, fault others for their sadness, or any other reaction to death.

I am a bit confused by people who claim great faith being saddened by death. It would seem to me that great faith would bring a sense of ultimate relief in death. If you believe, truly, that death brings reunion with your creator, why would death ever be a sad thing?

I tend to think that the sadness at death is a selfish sadness. Sadness born from the thought of what those who still live have lost. Again, I do not fault people for this sadness -- but as I try (and most often fail, but still try) to let go of selfishness, I just can't feel that sort of sadness.

In case you do not know the Buddhist parable of the mustard seed, here it is:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/btg/btg85.htm

On Dinner

I had dinner out this evening. This is not a particularly rare occurrence, but neither is it a nightly one as it once was. I had the pleasure of dining at The Metropolitan Grill. I have eaten the The Met (as it is commonly called) many times, stretching back to 2004. With a few exceptions, I have enjoyed each visit. The service is generally very good, the food is exceptional, and the atmosphere is relaxed but not usually overly-casual.

Tonight was not noteworthy, but it was very good. We began with the crab-cakes (which are exceptional, and -- oddly enough -- mostly crab). I opted for one of their chalk-board specials, a New York strip steak aged 42 days (instead of the usual 28). The waiter explained that the extra aging would yield a somewhat 'softer' piece of meat with a more 'buttery' flavor. As seems to happen every time I stray from my usual fillet mignon, I was less than thrilled with my steak experience. Don't get me wrong, it was a fabulous piece of meat, and it tasted wonderful. I could not, however, help but be jealous of my lovely dinner companion's perfectly seared puck of meat with the gorgeous blood-red interior. We both opted for the steak-fries for the first time, and both wondered aloud why we had not done so in the past. We shared a gigantic side-order of Alaskan king-crab mac & cheese. I am not sure that there are words to describe how good this side dish is. The sweetness of the crab is offset perfectly by the tang of sharp white cheddar, the creaminess of the bechamel balanced by the crispness of the panko topping, browned perfectly in the intense heat of their ovens.

The late-ish vintage (2001) Gouguenheim Malbec we chose to accompany our meat-fest was perfectly peppery, velvety and just fruity enough that it did not over-power the steaks. I have, of late, become quite fond of Malbecs of various vintages and provenances. They pair often perfectly with steaks, and tend not to break the bank.

For dessert (always the most important course, right?) we opted to share the Chocolate Lava Cake, which is quite good, and was really too much. Who am I kidding? It was fabulous (I love chocolate) and there is no such thing as too much when one is talking about a meal like this. Excess is the name of the game, and I came out a winner tonight. Next time I'll get the fillet, but other than that, I have no complaints. If you have a chance, give the Met a go.

There Is No "Us And Them"

My intention is to develop this idea further in a future post, but I want to set the concept in motion before it escapes my feeble mind.  

Often during the debates about the economic stimulus and bailout programmes I have heard commentators, pundits, politicos and people I know talk confidently about why we should just let "them" or "those people" or "those companies" fail.  It strikes me that, while there once might have been a more discreet economy that would tolerate the failure of large companies without considerable effect on the rest of the economy, such is no longer the case.  When Rick Santelli says he doesn't want to save the "losers" who can't afford their mortgages, I wonder how he will feel when half the houses on his block, or condos in his building are foreclosed and the value of his property plummets as a result.  When my friend says that GM should be allowed to fail because they made poor management and development decisions in the past, I wonder how he will feel when the ripple effect of all that unemployment chokes off his own business.  

The sort of narrow thinking that says we should not, as a society, take an active role in rescuing our economy for all of our good baffles me.  I'm all for personal responsibility, and I am not in favor of handing out money without any regulation, or requirement for how it is spent.  I do think, however, that government intervention is the only way left to stave off complete economic chaos.  We tried letting the market, such as it was, determine economic growth, we sloughed off regulations, we loosened lending requirements, and we encouraged people to live a consumer lifestyle that was largely unsustainable.  I'm sure someone will read this and think "socialist."  Fine.  If the only argument to be made against me is to trot out some 1950's bugaboo, I'm okay with that.  I, for one, don't think socialism is necessarily always a bad thing.