Umvirate

I've really let this blog go the past few weeks, sorry (to the three of you out there). Didn't mean to, but I've been very busy.

Turned in an essay for possible inclusion in a nonfiction, popculture kind of book last week, and should hear back in a week or so as far as revisions needed. It was a bit harder than I expected.

I just put down some money to order a 2006 Toyota Prius. The rising gas prices are obviously a big part of it, especially since I have a commute of about an hour each way. I also dropped $500 to replace the idle speed control valve on my current vehicle, a 2002 Toyota Highlander. I'd wanted to avoid this and just trade it in as is, but it was getting progressively worse, and actually pretty scary, as the car would often just die when you backed out. I was starting to park on the street so as to get a forward momentum going, but 10 minutes of blocking people out in my complex's parking lot, combined with having the kids all weekend, prompted me to get it fixed.

I've learned enough by now about this blog thing not to get TOO personal, but I'll just say that my soon-to-be-ex-wife just had some major surgery and I was really worried about her, and about the prospect of being a real single dad with no other parent in the picture. It all worked out okay, though. It's also weird in this kind of situation to know just how much to offer, how nice to be and all that. I think I was pretty good, actually. That kind of thing really wipes out a lot of bitterness. The only bad thing I did today was when I brought the kids over to visit their recuperating mom for a little while, I smeared her boyfriend's sunglasses with my fingers while the coast was clear. I do have some slight resentment towards him, I suppose. I think it's weird that he hides whenever I come over. I'd have more respect for him if he just acted like it was his place, since clearly he pretty much lives there. Anyway, enough of that.

Golfed for only the second time, last Sunday, and had a good time, despite one guy in our group who would say things like, "that shot woulda been pretty good...if it didn't suck." It was a best ball kind of thing, so I didn't hold anyone up, and another guy in the group gave me some great advice, so I improved fairly rapidly. The insults didn't bother me much--I've had much worse--and I was pretty drunk, anyway. Oh, the night before was a lot of fun, too--a "Dad's Club" campout with about 100 people, all staying in tents on my son's school's grounds, eating popcorn donated by a movie theater, watching The Incredibles on a big screen, making s'mores. If only the sleeping was easier on that cold, hard ground. Good bonding, though.

High ticket items bought recently were a 320GB external drive, which is way more than I need for now, but it was a good price. I just backed up my C drive but need to work with it a little more. I plan to move a big chunk of my music files onto it. Also bought the slipcase hardcover of Krazy & Ignatz, though I have the softcovers.

Finally finished I, FATTY, which really is a wonderful book. Made the barest of starts on THE MEMORY OF RUNNING, and also skimmed through the OXFORD AMERICAN WRITER'S THESAURUS, which looks to be a useful tome (I was going to say "pretty cool book"--it's already working! :)) There are 200+ mini-essays in the book, and one of the ones quoted on the back cover is practical and funny. Says David Foster Wallace of "utilize":

"This is a puff-word. Since it does nothing that good old use doesn't do, its extra letters and syllables don't make a writer seem smarter. Rather, using utilize makes you seem like either a pompous twit or someone so insecure that he'll use pointlessly big words in an attempt to look smart. The same is true for the noun utilization, for vehicle as used for car, for residence as used for home, for indicate as used for say, for presently, at present, at this time, and at the present time as used for now, and so on. What's worth remembering about puff-words is something that good writing teachers spend a lot of time drumming into undergrads: "Formal writing" does not mean gratuitously fancy writing; it means clean, clear, maximally considerate writing."

Made stacks of my unread trades and hardcovers purchased this year, and it's staggering. Things need to change.

Very nice time (Wednesday night til about noon Sunday) with the kids. We celebrated my daughter's third birthday a couple days early; she'll do it again with Mom and her grandma on Monday. I had fun buying her Barbies and Dora stuff, and she seemed to like it all. My son was down with the shift in attention, but I did have a present ready for him as well--you have to be prepared.

Bought the Meet the Parents/Meet the Fockers two-pack for $20 at Target. I still haven't seen the second but have seen the first many times. If you already have it and think this new "Bonus Edition" with "Over 35 All-New Outtakes" might be worth getting, don't bother. I mean, seeing people blow lines and laugh over and over again is mildly amusing, but that's it, and the "uproarious" scene of De Niro singing at his daughter's wedding isn't funny at all.