MicroBlogging

I find it rather interesting that I spend more time microblogging on twitter and facebook than I do writing actual blog entries on here.

67, 68, 69...

A ficlet (and for some a story they already know)

The coffee shop is normally a good place to people watch, though I don’t think I’m going to have much luck today. I have my usual corner table, coffee and laptop out; pretending to be working.

Sitting at the next table are a young mother and her two children. They are maybe 3 and 5 years old and noisy. The mother smiles at me apologetically a few times, aware that her children are causing a general disturbance. I just smile back and nod knowingly, my eyes on the ring on her finger.

The boy is trying to prove to his older sister and mother how high he can count, unaware that he’s proving it to everyone else as he continues right along.

“67, 68, 69.” He stops.

The mother turns up her head to look straight at me. In a voice directed above her children she asks. “You do know what comes after 69, don’t you?”

A wry smile crosses my face, my eyes never leaving hers as I murmur. “I roll you over and take you before sending you home to your family.”

The young boy turns to look at me through eerily familiar eyes.

Autographs

Phil Bourque and Eddie Johnston signed my new 'Class of 1967' Penguins hat tonite.

A 'toe-dip'

"Your hair's a mess, your skirt's hiked up, and your shirt's half open." He observed. "You look like a victim or an invitation."

"Victim? You try walking through the hot sand in a skirt. When the fools at the desk told me you were 'just down the beach' I didn't expect a ten minute hike."

"Upset that they didn't offer to carry you down in a palanquin? Really Mags, you of all people shouldn't be that put out by a short walk."

"Ha. You know when your assistant told me that you were in trouble and needed my help, I assumed the worst. Stretched out in a hammock with a pina colada in your hand doesn't exactly look like you're in trouble."

"But I am. I have a blender full of boat drinks and no one to drink it with."

"You mean to tell me that I spent four hours on your private plane, worried sick, preparing myself for the worst... all because you wanted someone to drink with?"

"You were worried about me? I'm touched."

"Grow up Gabriel."

Hard.

The hardest part about starting to write again is starting to write again.

#edit (about 2 minutes later)

I originally intended this post to be one sentence, but the movie 'Finding Forrester' keeps going through my head:

Forrester: No thinking - that comes later. You must write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is... to write, not to think!

Forrester: Writers write things to give readers something to read.

Cylons Like Hockey

I had a rather surreal experience last night. I went to the Pittsburgh ComicCon looking for more artwork from a couple of my favorite artists, more anime and bootleg TV shows. There was next to no anime. I finally found a decent price on my favorite TV series from the 80s, 'Tales of the Gold Monkey.' $40 for the entire series on a handful of discs.

While I was wandering through the expomart, I turned a corner and there was Aaron Douglas. You will probably recognize him as Chief Galen Tyrol from Battlestar Galactica. They'd just announced that the dealer room where he was sitting was scheduled to close in 15 minutes. There weren't many people left wandering around so I was able to walk right up instead of the usual line you see at cons. I'm wearing one of my Penguin Hockey shirts and he's reading to back to me as I'm stepping up to say hi. I spent the next 15 minutes talking hockey with Aaron Douglas. Any thought BSG or what was going to happen in season four was right out the window.

We discussed the playoff race, who we thought had a chance to go all the way and who would come out on top in the end. We talked about the goaltending each real contention team (Montreal, Pittsburgh, San Jose, and Detroit) had and the depth that would be required. We talked about who had the best all around team and whether the high scoring shooting stars from the east would be able to overcome the precision and discipline from teams from the west. We talked about how the NHL was probably upset for the missed marketing opportunity to have Ovechkin vs Crosby. I was half tempted to invite him back to my house to watch the Pens v Rangers and Sharks v Stars game. I asked him one BSG related question about when they would be done filming, got an autographed print and then we started talking about hockey again.

A very surprising and enjoyable conversation.

Hi.

Is this thing on? Apparently I need to write more. This appears to be the location where it's going to happen. Now if my muse would wake up and provide me with inspiration again.

Is anyone still paying attention?