Life In Motion

Well, a LOT has happened since I last updated this....

Where shall I begin?

I guess the first piece of big news is that I'm dating a girl named Alison. She's an accomplished businesswoman and a master chef. She's also very intelligent and a sophisticated traveler and we're very attracted to each other. It isn't formal but we've had five dates so far and have three more scheduled well into January. We'll be going to Hellen next week, so make of that what you will. I'm certainly enjoying it.

So the most serious personal bits: October was the Month of the Knee. I strained them while doing a badly done Circle Crescent Kick, and took too much Ibuprofin. That, combined with loud noises in a live concert gave me Tinitus. The good news is that my knees are better. The bad news is that the Tinitus hasn't. I went to a specialist today and she told me to wear ear filters at loud places (concerts), a mouth guard for my grinding and to make sure any ear buds I use go no higher than setting 3 out of 10.

Personal progression is going well. Not as fast as I'd hoped but I'm getting more focused again and getting more energy. In the First (new) Life, I've obtained a Yellow Belt, and going to start on my Advanced Yellow Belt in January. Karate+Walking+Working Out has made me more fit than I've been in years. In the Second Life, I'm proceeding slowly but I've been working with Ken on his part of the fourth novel (finishing it basically) editing and reediting my stuff. We may have the first draft finished by the end of the year. The fifth novel has finally formed in my mind. It will be Magical Realism, with three sub novels bound by two chapters in each 'chapter cycle'. Complicated? Yes. But its "Literary" and more importantly this time I'm writing what I want because I want to. Graphic Novel Chapter 4 looks like it will be done by the end of the year. Third Life is also moving along slowly. I've kept up the Podcast though I'm not sure if it will continue. I'm slowly picking up more skills as an Editor under Jay's Tutledge and have finished an excellent rough cut of the reshoot of Dueling Morons. I'm looking at making a Buffy Fan Film next year...should be much simpler than Other People's Musicals, but we'll see how it works out. "Simple" is relative and I'm still learning tricks with my editor. Re: The Fourth Life, my job is providing me with invaluable Project Management skills. That, plus the Project Management I'm doing for Project Chrysalis with the Mythic Imagination Institute + My Own Company up to now make me finally confident enough to take the PMP some time in May-July of 2011. I'm also going to look into starting consulting work on the side and probably my own business as well. Alison is offering very helpful insights into this.

Two major trips of note since the last entry. The first was the weekend we took in North Carolina (Black Mountain) to celebrate Grandma's 90th birthday. We rented a cabin and got to see a lot of the sites where Grandma grew up. It was a short trip but it was nice. Grandma bought a Harpsicord and we also ate at 'the Goddess' cafe which had really good food.

In late Thanksgiving I visited the siblings in Houston. It was fun. Spent a considerable portion of the time hanging with Greg & his family. They have an AMAZING new house. Rachelle (with Greg's help I'm sure) is doing a diligent job of turning it into a Home (as compared to a House). We played computer games and board games with a few of his friends. Got to eat Thanksgiving with Christy + her family. Had an awesome visit with them but Christy couldn't stay long due to her new job. She seems to love it (which is good) but it also seems a bit stressful. But I'm glad she's enjoying it at least. Randy and Jamie + nephews and nieces came by the next day and we had dinner and talked a lot. Was quite fun. The young ones sure are growing up fast! There and back again I listened to "Tacitus: The Histories" which talked about the Roman Civil War (the big one) and was rather interesting to listen to. Except maybe the part where the accurate and detailed secular history was interlaced with this bizarre anti semetic rant about Jews that sounded like it came straight out of an Inquisition text book. Extremely inaccurate too. It was the only part of the book that also incorporated heavy supernatural elements. Weird.

Other things: Attended a kickass Christmas party at Amy Winburn's house. Got to play board games with Eisen & Co for the first time in months (Karate falls on the same night). Both are excellent hosts and may be involved with helping in the Buffy fan film. I've been walking with Russel & Claire at Stone Mountain about every three weeks. It works quite well.

On a personal note, I'm trying to extricate myself from as much politics as possible. Given how much news and other things I read, that's difficult but what little I've been able to do so far has been of a great benefit to my sanity.

More of course has happened but that's the highlights, and a pretty good job of summarizing 3 months.

One last thing, I've got a syndicated (unpaid) Blog Column on Rob Berris's web site called "The Mighty Tide of Justice" called "Nerdgasm" (I'm Tom Drake). I update it Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. (Warning: Many postings there are not exactly G rated...)

One last last thing: My company has finally come out with the product we've been working on all year. If you get a chance, and you have a smart phone (Android or Iphone) you might download Swagg.

All for now :)