Archive for March, 2009

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The Social Experiment: The Non Stop Blogger

March 31, 2009

_toonblg

Facebook. Twitter. Texts. Email.

It’s really starting to feel like we’re slipping into the Matrix. I’m starting to look at life in 140 characters or less.

The other night, I’m sitting on the couch with TH and TG. TH says, “hey, do you know who reps Joe Budden?”

I start flipping through my contacts.

And then TG says, “Daddy, don’t you mean Joe Biden?”

Me and TH start cracking up. Not a good sign for Joe Budden if a twelve year old hears your name and assumes you’re the vice president.

Then, I’m thinking: Ha. That was funny.

And I log on to Twitter. And recount the story there. No one responds. No one LOLs. And somehow the moment feels less special.

Maybe it wasn’t so funny.

And I’m like, what the hell am I doing?! Is my every thought and moment going to be regurgitated for cyberspace? Do I need feedback from people I don’t know on everything that happens in my world?!

Is that what we’re gonna do? Really?

Okay. Well fine then. Let’s try this.

Tomorrow morning, my kid’s gonna wake me up around 7-ish. As soon as I open my eyes, I’ll be posting.

And I will post all. day. long. No thought will go unwritten. No menial task will go undocumented. If it happens, I will blog about it.

Let’s all get a taste of the future.

I’ll give you a sample of how this is going to go down starting right now. I’m gonna turn on my webcam right now. Here I am, typing this blog post. This is me right now at 3:43 PM, in my office in Newark, New Jersey on March 31, 2009. My hair is a hot mess today. Ignore it. And yeah, I’m singing along to my girl Faith. And yeah, I can’t sing. I’m aware of that. And all of you are too. Whatever.

See you in the AM. This should be interesting…

Posted in Blogorama, The Social Experiment | 12 Comments »

New Music Monday*

March 30, 2009

*Okay. This is not new music. But it’s new to me. So there.

Eff that Swiffer. Always running out of absorbent pads. Eff him! It was always you dear mop. Always.

Eff that Swiffer. Always running out of absorbent pads. Eff him! It was always you dear mop. Always.

Definitely like Laura Veirs. So glad I was nosy on Friday and discovered her. I listened to a few snippets on itunes and liked everything I heard: snappy folksy music with great instrumentation. And her voice is soothing. She reminds me just a bit of the Moldy Peaches, the group behind the super-amazing music on the Juno soundtrack.

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Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Omar’s…

March 28, 2009

It’s Saturday morning. I usually make a point to spend weekends with my family and not do any work unless it’s completely unavoidable.

Frank Lucas said he’s ready to make revisions on the book.

So I gotta go.

Left the house and came to the office to go over the manuscript before I head to Frank’s house at noon. (God help us…)

I stopped by Omar’s to get my cafe con leche.

I’ve been in and out of Omar’s for months. Never a change in his behavior toward me. He always give me a questioning look that means what do you want. Even though I order the same thing every time I come there. I tell him coffee. He grunts. He makes the coffee. Sugar? I say yes. He puts it on the counter and walks away.

Today, I come in. I’ve never been in Omar’s on a Saturday. It was bustling. All families. None of the blue-collar workers I usually see at the counter. Parents and children crowd tiny tables and eat Omar’s world famous cubano bifstec.

Omar gives me a head nod. I had to look around to see if someone was standing behind me because I knew he couldn’t be headnodding at me.

But he was.

He turned away and made. my. coffee. Didn’t ask me if I wanted sugar. Just made it the way I like it. And plopped it on the counter. His eyes were on the soccer game.

I put my dollar on the counter and picked up my coffee.

Omar took my dollar. And he said, thank you.

I’m thinking next year this time, we might actually have a conversation…

omar

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »

Overheard in Starbucks…

March 27, 2009
Thisbe: By John William Waterhouse 1909

Thisbe: By John William Waterhouse 1909

I came in here this morning to write a post about how to find the email address of an editor you’d like to pitch a story to. (Stay tuned for that one… it’s good.)

And then I remembered that Blender magazine announced yesterday that they were closing. And I immediately started writing about that. (I wrote in the first issue of Blender. I think it was either on Afu-Ra or RZA. Is that bad that I can’t remember which? It was ten years ago…)

So, I’m sitting here at Starbucks, tap-tap-tapping away about Blender and Afu-Ra/RZA. And then two random white guys sit down next to me.

Like most writers, I study people. People I observe become characters in fiction. I also love to listen to how people talk. It helps with writing dialogue. (Real human speech is much more stilted than what we write. It’s very hard to capture.)

And on top of all that, I’m easily distracted. So if I’m not wearing headphones, I will definitely wander into someone else’s conversation and hang out for a while.

TH and I often play a game called Who Is That. We listen and observe strangers in restaurants and then decide if they’re dating or married, kids or no kids. Rich or poor, etc.

I start doing that this morning, watching the two guys and listening closely to the conversation… (more…)

Posted in Random, Uncategorized | 16 Comments »

Namaste

March 25, 2009

bridge1

I don’t know how to do anything halfway. I only have two speeds: On. Off.

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Posted in Uncategorized | 20 Comments »

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