Long overdue writing update

Slowly but surely, I continue to work on the novel. I haven't let myself get distracted by any short story ideas or anything else in a while. Hence no new stories or publications.

I guess I thought that after Chapter 1 was finished, Chapter 2 would be somewhat easier. There would be a roadmap in place, and now all I had to do was follow it. But the truth is that Chapter 2 has almost any possiblities for wrong turns as Chapter 1. I've started Chapter 2 half a dozen times in half a dozen ways. It doesn't get easier and I still haven't figured out how to find time for writing.

Here's the weird contradictory thing. Chapter 2 still has some gaping holes, but I've finished a draft of Chapter 3. Last year I got some software called Scrivner's. And I like it because it allows me to think less linear. I can sort of work on my chapters out of order because at times, that's how my mind works.

All told, I must be at least 50 pages in, but it's still all crap. But there's nothing to do, but keep trying to work at it.

Time to Get Real about Climate Change.

I guess denial is a great self defense mechanism. If you deny there's a problem. There's nothing to fix. Continue doing nothing. I'm stating the obvious, but I'm trying to understand why 97% of climate scientist believe in global warming, but only 52% of the American public does. I'm trying to understand why the Republicans party as voiced by their presidential candidates are going with the 52% of people rather than 97% of the experts. Is it really only a cynical political calcuation, or do these people actually have something in their head that does not allow them to accept scientific fact? Either way, it's not a good thing.

If it is just a political calculation, it's a bad one. Some of these changes are accelarating quicker than expected. If we don't make some changes, it really might become too late.

Maybe part of the problem is that cap and trade is really a bad system. The real answer than no one wants to hear, especially during a bad economy is a carbon tax. It's the right answer, if you think about the problem, but it's not going to happen anytime soon.

Father's Day Report

Father's Day really started with the usual week day scramble to get out of the house. I dropped off Serena and sat it on the first few minutes of her therapy session. Then Wifey called. Jordan was the only kid without her dad at the father's day event and was about to lose it. Fortunately, it wasn't too far away. When I got there, Jordan handed me a hat that she had made for me. It was a blue cap with stars glued on and a very serious looking picture of her. So I had to stick that on my head and wear it for the rest of the day. Then she served me a cup of lemonade and danced around singing, "Daddy, Daddy Daddy...." Then all the dads sat and worked with their three and four year olds to put on a tie. Jordan had no interest and I did most of the work. That was followed by a couple games. One involved popping balloons, which was pretty comical because some of the smaller kids were barely bigger than their balloons and couldn't pop them no matter what they tried. We also had a three legged race. Surprisingly, we didn't finish last. We beat the father of twins who had a kid strapped to each leg AND the youngest kid in the class. Wohoo!

We spent the next day up in Walnut creek. My cousin and his family were in from Seattle, so my grandma was able to see all four of her grandkids and 6 of her 7 grandkids for most of the day. It was pretty nice. Little J doesn't get a lot of time to play with kids just a little older than her, so it was great to see how mature and nurturing her 9 and 7 year old cousins were.

Sunday was mostly a quiet day, but we did go out for dinner at night with more family on Wifey's side. So all in all it was a good weekend. I got an outdoor lounging chair with a built in bottle opener. No complaints about that.

Running for 2nd

I gave up cable and that probably saved me from watching the GOP presidential debate last night. I can't help it. Sometimes, I'm a junkie for politics. So any analysis of the debate I have is second hand gleamed from waht I've seen on various sites today. Still here are some initial impressions. Everyone played somewhat nice and tried to look Presidential. They seemed to like simple declarative sentences that didn't say anything. I will not hire a terrorist in my administration. Clap. Clap Clap. I think we can all agree that wouldn't be a good idea, but do we really need to state that in a debate? Does anyone believe otherwise? Does anyone really have to applaud this?

I guess the person I wasn most interested in learning more about was Pawlenty. But it doesn't seem like it's in his nature to stir up trouble. It makes me think he's not really running for president. He's running for vice president. It's just too early for him to come out and say that.

Bodego Bay

That's how my kid keeps saying it. We've corrected her a thousand times, telling her it's Bodega Bay, but she doesn't care. She's a strong willed kid, and it's just par for the course that she doesn't listen to the parents. We're in for a rough couple of years when she becomes a teenager.

So we spent a few days up in Bodega Bay, renting a new vacation home up there. The house was fantastic, with a professional kitchen, a large family room, nice bedrooms, and great views. Out the front we could see a green chaparal landscape. Out the back we could see the local marina. Three families, each with their own bedroom and bathroom.

Bodega Bay is a quiet fishing town. There's not a lot to do there. And for the most part, that was fine. Mostly, we spent time around the house relaxing. Little J had a playmate of the same age, which meant we could just let them run around together. But we did take a quick trip to the point. We were contemplating a hike, but the wind was aggressive and it didn't make a whole lot of sense. We also stopped by the beach for a while. Little J fell in the ocean and walked out a sand monster. She was thrilled, but gave Wifey a cow.

One of the highlights was going down to Hog Island Oyster. They taught us how to shuck our own oysters. Our group ate over sixty oysters, about half raw and half grilled. I guess the good news is that if I had to depend on nothing but oysters for my diet, if I had a knife, I probably wouldn't starve on day one.

Each night one of the families prepared a meal. It was a great time of bonding, and when you add it all, reasonably priced and less than two hours away. Little J is still asking when she can go back.

Being Conned

I do wish Sarah would drop her name in the hat and declare herself a candidate for President of the United States. Not that I think she would win, is electable, or has more than three braincells in her head, but she would make the race a lot more interesting. That and I would hope that people would just get it out of her system so that we could all agree to ignore her after she fails to go anywhere in the primaries or the general election.

So she's on a bus tour. Maybe she's hoping to learn a little history so she doesn't make any of the gaffes that her buddy Michele can't seem to avoid. But really, this little tour is not about generating interest in a run for president. It's not about doing anything good for the good of the country. She's a distraction and she doesn't care. It's about keeping her name out there so she can keep her name (and her daughter, Bristol's name) in the media and sell books. It's about her branding. She hates the media and this is her way at getting back at them. She's making them follow around a non-story and helping her make money.

Fascinating that this actually works. Maybe she's got more braincells than I give her credit for. Like 5 or 6.