ZaAt

First posted 5-8-07

"Well, I ain't seen that college education of yours do us much good so far."

- ZaAt (aka Blood Waters of Dr. Z)

And that's why I got a PhD. Actually it isn't. I got a PhD because if you are going into science it's what you do. So I did. I done did it. I did it done good.

Okay, actually I'm bored and feeling guilty that I haven't updated my blog in a while. Like there is some obligation here.

This weekend I got in ANOTHER huge fight with my girlfriend, but it was good in that it set some things straight. Actually it wasn't a huge fight, but one of those talk seriously for several hours, which is about the same thing. In all honesty, I wasn't getting treated fairly and I about had enough. But things are better...for now. Will it last? Who knows. I mean, I knew relationships were complicated, but I didn't know THIS complicated. And what really sucks is I get all the complication with none of the sex. But it's worth it, right? Right?!

I am reclaiming my crown as King O' Procrastination. I was fairly impressed with myself when I turned on the Get Shit Done engine and wholloped the last of my PhD out, but now I'm back to "I can do that tomorrow". Which includes finding a new place to live. Which, I'm told, is important. I'm thinking if a Uhaul truck had electricity, a bathroom, and air conditioning, I'd be perfectly satisfied to live in that. And what stories it would make! I can imagine now, applying for a faculty position, and telling them moving is no problem cause I live in a Uhaul truck. My home would be MOBILE, bitches.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I like this idea. Hell, the rent for a Uhaul truck per month may be cheaper than rent for an apartment. I'll just need to get one tricked out....

Ooo, yesterday I did something I never thought I'd do. I wrote the first two paragraphs of my novel. Yes, I have novel. No you may not know about it. The explaining would require me to meet you in person and consider 2/3's of my readership really should have manlove with me when we meet, I don't think there would be time.

I'm not sure if I'll write any more of it, but those two paragraphs are there, written, and I am happy about it.

Though I may have to change something about it. I was going to make a part of the book sort of western-ish, but now I'm reading The Gunslinger and I'm afraid it would just seem derivative. Also, fuck you Coyote. Both you and my girlfriend sort of hounded me on this book, so now I'm reading it.

However, it just occurred to me that the structure of The Gunslinger, how it sort of has Acts, would fit my story well. Not that there is a story. Well, maybe there is a story but there is not plot. Aside from the Western-ish thing.

I kind of get this impression that if I could write one paragraph a day, in 30 years time I would finish it. I also get the impression that if I just start writing the damn thing the plot will come as I go along.

And I know, I KNOW, that if I live my entire life without attempting to write this novel, I will despise myself.

	Posted by The Taco Prophet @ 05/18/2007 12:36 PM PDT
	Yeah, so I've been slack about keeping up with the blogs I follow. I'm a bad man. But bad boys are the ones you want to sleep with, right? Right? So anyway, living in a U-Haul. That reminded me of an awesome story. My old roommate gradgy-ated and moved down to Floridiaville. He got some kind of awesome job where he does work for various military thingies (technical term, sorry for the jargon) of which he is allowed to say very little. He rented a U-Haul to haul his things (as distinct from thingies, which are uber secret military artifacts and far more awesome, though with much lower sentimental value. Also, you can't wear thingies. Well, you can, but it's awkward at social engagements and generally frowned upon at your finer dining establishments) down to America's penis. I mean Florida. I helped him load the boxes in, he drove his car up onto the dolly, and we said our tearful farewells. As he pulled away, I noticed that he'd forgotten to pull the ramps of the dolly back up, and so he was dragging them on the pavement. I tried to get his attention, but he was off and running. I tried to catch him in my car to flag him down, but he must have taken a different route than the one I had guessed. So when we spoke next, I asked him about how much damage had been done to the dolly. And that's when I got to the part of the story I really want to tell, but have been too full of bullshit so far to get to. Oh. Yeah. Also, he answered that dragging the ramps on the pavement from South Carolina to Florida did, in fact, fuck them up some. So anyway, it turns out that he forgot to take his car out of park or disengage the parking brake, and quite literally dragged the car the entire distance. So when he realized this, he took the car down to a mechanic, pulled along by the U-Haul, and dropped it off for rather expensive repairs, which took several days. Being a practically-minded sort of fellow, he thought to himself, "Hey, Self, we've lost our car, but we still have this U-Haul that we've rented. We'll just drive that to work until they fix my car." It turned out that the security guys at the gates of his company were far less impressed by his story of why an employee at such a company, which required of many of its workers a security clearance, was coming and going in a rather large U-Haul truck. And got less happy about it daily. He was pulled aside, both coming and going, daily, while they searched the vehicle for anything amiss, a process which apparently took considerable time. I still periodically imagine what these poor sumbitches must have been thinking as they saw this vehicle entering and leaving the place daily, with the only explanation given as, "Yeah, my car's in the shop."

	Posted by Coyote @ 05/08/2007 06:37 PM PDT
	A personal fuck you. Yay! I collect those y'know. What the hell? We find out there is a novel and are then told that we may not inquire about it? Dude!? What. The. Hell?