On writing a comedy and rainy Saturday randomocity . . .

In Stephen King's most excellent and useful book, On Writing, he says that you never really know how you feel about something until you write it down.

Damned if that isn't a true statement. I've been stuck on something for days and decided just to sit and jot down some ideas and damned if the juices didn't start flowing again. Sort of akin to the end of a bout of constipation, except the output is something rare, beautiful, and funny, instead of . . . well, crap. Hopefully.

I'm not going to go into details about what I'm working on right now except to say it's a comedy and a webseries, both of which are new territory for me. Comedy is incredibly hard to do well because if it fails, it fails completely. A horror story can still work even if it's not scary if it is suspenseful and has relatable characters. A comedy that isn't funny isn't anything but a waste of time, no matter how interesting the characters or well-written the story.

The shorter version of the above is I don't write comedy that often and I'm being reminded that there is a reason for that. I've come up with some characters that I think are interesting and quirky and hopefully the situation I'm about to throw them all into will result in some serious yuks.

This is also making me appreciate good comedy writers. Trust me, if you can write consistently funny prose, scripts, or whatever, you can write anything. Dave Barry--one of the funniest writers on earth--wrote two "serious" columns that moved me to tears. One was when his father died. The other was when his mother died. Beautiful, moving tributes to his parents, who he presented as real, flawed human beings who had his undying love and respect. I highly recommend you seek those out. Read some of his other stuff, too, if you haven't already. You'll hurt yourself laughing.

Anyways, I sat out on the balcony of my new place with a legal pad and a pen and made some notes and decided the approach I was using for this thing was all wrong. I attacked it from a different angle, and now I think I have something. Instead of being forced the story is starting to flow, naturally, and the humor will arise from the personalities and the situation instead of being forced and stupid.

Yes. Let us hope that this thing will be funny when it's done. Amen.

Post move randomicity

I got back from my final trip to Savannah today.

It's weird but cool, in a way. I now feel more positive about all this.

I'm also digging the new apartment, especially now that I've rearranged my living room so that I have some room to move around. I realized the other day that the arrangement I had before mimicked the one I had at the old place and it was really inefficient and claustophobic. Now I've got this nice clear area in the middle and I can move around.

There are a couple of things I've realized during this move, both of them totally unrelated:

• No matter what, movers will find some way to mess with you. It's happened to me every frakkin' time.
• If you drop a medicine bottle it does not matter how secure the lid is, it will come off, and every single pill or capsule or drop of liquid inside will wind up on the outside, on the ground.

I stopped and spent the night at my dad's on the way back from Savannah--it was something I needed to do but dreaded for a number of reasons. In particular, I have a lot of memories there of Atari and I could feel his ghost there many times. It just sort of tore the bandage off of that wound. Somehow I feel like he knows about this new place and approves, though, which helps. I know, I'm deluding myself, but like John Lennon said, "Whatever gets you through the night . . ."

Talyan, my goddaughter, will appear in three episodes of Two and a Half Men in a row, beginning April 9th. The final one she appears in, on April 30th, is the 200th episode, which is a really big deal. Another guest star on this episode is Kathy Bates, just so you know. Watch for Ava, the unbelievably cute little girl with the English accent.

The oven in my old apartment tripped a breaker every time I used it. I finally realized that this is no longer an issue. My plan is now to make biscuits for breakfast tomorrow. I think I remember how . . .

Anyways, that's about all I have the strength for tonight. I hope you are having a lovely weekend, wherever you are!

Greetings from D'ville!

Well, all the stuff has been moved into my new place. I'm sitting in my new living room now typing this, watching my Big Bang Theory DVDs, as my cable has not been activated yet.

I estimate I've got 3/4 of the unpacking done. It's been exhausting. I don't think I've ever been this tired--having to do this alone is almost more than I can bear. I am lucky that my company paid for movers to pack up my stuff and move it--no way I could do that myself, or afford to pay somebody to do it for me.

My new place is smaller than the old one--as much junk as I got rid of, I still have to find some places for a lot of my remaining stuff. Still, it's looking pretty good.

Strangely enough I have found myself in these new surrounds really missing Atari. I don't know why. It comes in waves--I'll be fine, then it'll just come washing over me, wave after wave of missing my Big Silly dog.

Which in a way makes me dread tomorrow, when I have to go back to my old apartment to clean up and turn in my keys. That place is empty now but to me it is full of ghosts--I lived there around nine years or so and there are a lot of memories there. Atari's ghost still walks down there--everywhere I look I'll see something that reminds me of him. His ashes are here and will be guarding this place while I'm gone but I feel like he's with me everywhere I go.

So, Big Silly, this one's to you. I love you and I miss you so much, Atari.

Goodbye to Savannah

No, I haven't actually moved yet, but I will be tomorrow and I probably won't have Internet access for a day or so. And I will be coming back later this week to wrap some things up but I definitely won't have Internet access then, so I decided to go ahead and put my thoughts down now.

I've lived here almost twenty-five years. Almost half my life. A lot has happened to me here over the years--I've made and lost friends, grown a lot as a person, achieved a lot, been disappointed a lot . . . same as everyone else, I guess. Over the past few years, though, all of my non-work friends have moved away.

I've been told the change will do me good, and I really think that's true. The area I'm moving to is pretty close to all kinds of stuff--including the Atlanta airport. I may actually do a little traveling, if I can find a little money somewhere for a plane ticket, because of that, since I can catch direct flights to just about anywhere I'd want to go. (Savannah's airport also has direct flights to many major cities, though all of them are Atlanta.)

It's a little ironic that my last weekend in this city is just after the St. Patrick's Day celebration. I didn't do anything for it this year--as I've said before, I lived downtown for several years so I've been through enough of those for a lifetime.

Anyways, the movers come in tomorrow morning, I'll be packing up my computers and losing my Internet connection until I'm up and running at the new place.

Wish me luck as I begin venture into the strange new world that is Douglasville!

Pre-move randomocity

I think I've got most of the big stuff accomplished.

I move Monday and most of the stuff I've got left to do will have to be done at the last minute--like packing up my computers.

And I'm a bit scared, mostly because so far everything has gone exactly like I planned. In my experience this is the prelude to a major clusterfuck. Let's hope this feeling is just something I inherited from my mom--she was the queen of anticipating disaster--and not something that actually occurs.

I did go back into the office for a few minutes this week for a co-worker's birthday celebration. It was weird, being there, seeing my old desk with all my stuff gone. I'll get over it, though--my stuff has been shipped to the new office and will be ready and waiting at my new desk.

Yes, I still miss Atari, still feel sometimes that he's around, and I still forget that he's not going to come into the living room while I'm watching TV, wanting to be walked. I guess, in some ways, I was really lucky when he died--my best friend (and Atari's mom) and my goddaughter really helped me over the immediate aftermath, and all this moving crap has given me a ton of other stuff to concentrate on. In the mean time the gaping hole in my heart has scabbed over, I think. Plus, Talyan's success in pursuing her acting career have given me some positive things to focus on.

I do have an idea for a web series that I need to develop. I'm still at the ruminating stage with it--I won't be able to concentrate on it until after the move. I think it'll be a Good Thing, though. It's something I've never done before.

Anyways, I'll be missing all the St Patrick's Day festivities here in Savannah--in case you didn't know, we have a huge blowout every year. It's no big deal for me--I lived in the Historic District for several years and was at Ground Zero for the festivites more times than I care to remember. So, with me it's a Been There, Done That kinda thing. That many drunk people in that small a space leads to some interesting occurances. Like the argument I almost always get into with a drunk Yankee who is going on and on AND ON about how wonderful things are up north of the Mason-Dixon line and how nobody in their right mind would want to live here . . . don't get me started.

So, what are you doing this weekend? Partying? Or chilling out?

The trailer for a new short film

Just wanted to share this with you--it's the trailer for a short film called Little Girl Ghost. About to start production, starring Talyan, written by Rox. Music for the trailer provided by yours truly. Click over, take a look!

And keep an eye out for Talyan on Two and a Half Men--she's got more appearances this season. Look for Ava!

Yes, I'm a proud godfather!

The end of an era . . .

You know, I've been working in the same building for 24 1/2 years. Yep. Damned near a quarter century.

That came to an end yesterday. I am now officially on vacation, in preparation to my move to the new Douglasville office.

Yes, it was a bit sad, but I"m also looking forward to beginning this new chapter in my life. I like the new apartment, and the area seems to be pretty cool. We'll see.

I still have quite a bit of work to do. Still got a ton of stuff to haul out to the dumpsters. I got lucky earlier today--I was tossing this cheap, beat up old electronic drum kit and when I came back to the dumpster to toss the pedals one of the guys landscaping the property here was fishing the drum kit out and putting it on a little cart. So, I took advantage of this opportunity to get rid of my old and extremely heavy TV set--dude was happy to take it off my hands. Since I actually gave it to the guy instead of making him have to dig it out of the trash he also got the remote that goes with it, too.

Anyways, I estimate I'm maybe two thirds of the way done going through all my stuff. I need to hurry--have to be done by Thursday morning, when the surveyor comes by to come up with the estimate for the movers. I think I can make it.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

The countdown

This will be my last week in the office here in Savannah.

I don't officially move for a couple of weeks but I've got a ton of stuff to do to get ready for it. I've already done quite a bit but I have a ways to go. Most of what I have to do involves throwing stuff away.

I'm a little sad, leaving the office. I've gone to work in that building for almost 25 years--something I would have thought was impossible when I first moved here. The longest I'd had a job before was a year and a half. Hopefully I'll be working this one long enough to retire.

I've said before that it's probably time to leave Savannah anyway. All of my friends have moved on and I think I've pretty much gotten everything from this town I can get. Time to see what a different area can give me.

Yes, I still feel Atari's prescence all the time. I think I'm gradually moving into a place where I can accept that he's gone but I still miss him and the pain is still almost inconceivable. Maybe a little less inconceivable than before, though, if that makes any sense.

The last stage of grief, I've heard, is acceptance. I'm not there yet. Hopefully I will be soon.

In the mean time, I still miss you, Big Silly mutt.