The End of a Long Week

With working overtime on Saturday, buying suits for a funeral on Sunday, a trip to Nagano and back for said funeral on Monday and Tuesday, an observation in Hadano for my first day back on Wednesday, one bit of respite--drinks with some friends--on Thursday, and one last crazy day of one part training, one part observation, and one part insanely boring meeting all now behind me, I am quite exhausted.

But things are good.  Faye is cuter every day and says the most interesting things.  I've started working on my next short story, All Things Comfortable, and it's starting to shape up nicely.  I've also managed to watch some quality stuff.  I don't pretend to understand it, but Primer was quite good.  Garth Marenghi's Darkplace was amazingly original and funny.  I can't say how much I respect the writer(s) of that show since, in a way, that's what I attempted to do with Skull Kaiser, back in the day.  I've also been able to keep up with The Walking Dead, which is pretty good so far, though, from what I can tell, it's deviated from the comic quite a bit.  Anyway, good stuff.

The Sinzer Rebellion

...is finished.  The first draft, anyway.  I think it turned out pretty much the way I envisioned it, which is satisfying.  I think I will be working on All Things Comfortable next to make good on a promise to a friend.  I'll also be going back and looking at the first Approaching Infinity book, updating it to reflect things that have been developed or expanded in the short stories.

In other news, I'm caught up on Fringe and Supernatural.  While I'm thoroughly enjoying Fringe, not sure what the hype about the 3rd season was.  With the events of episode 7, though, things should get pretty high stakes soon.

A Select List of Favorites, Part 1

These lists are by no means exhaustive, but these specific episodes have stuck with me for one reason or another.  For those of you who have never given OTR (Old Time Radio) a try, I highly recommend it.

TV
1977    Kolchak, the Night Stalker      S1E01    The Ripper  
1996    The X-Files                            S3E17    Pusher   
1998    The X-Files                            S5E19    Folie A Deux   
1999    Buffy, the Vampire Slayer       S4E10    Hush   
2004    Angel                                    S5E14    Smile Time   

OTR (dates are suspect!)
1941    The Shadow                     The Shadow Challenged
1945    The Shadow                     The Case of the Burning Skull
1948    The Shadow                     The Man Who Was Death
1937    Lights Out                        The Dark
1937    Lights Out                        Little Old Lady
1938    Lights Out                        Super Feature
1943    Lights Out                        Archer (Ancestor)
1940    The Hermit's Cave            House of Purple Shadows
1943    The Weird Circle               The House And The Brain
1943    The Whistler                     Mind Over Matter
1953    The Hall of Fantasy           He Who Follows Me
1953    The Hall of Fantasy           The Shadow People

'Tis the Season

Western holidays--really just Halloween and Christmas--are very interesting here in Japan.  They're mostly just merchandise blitzes in a culture that's crazy for character goods.  But that's okay. 

As I have mentioned before, I love autumn.  I'm not sure if one started the love for the other, but I love Halloween as well.  It's a shame there's no real trick or treating to be done here, but the imagery is sufficient for me.  And Faye loves obake or bakeke as she says (that's bah-keh-keh for the unindoctrinated).  This was essentially her first Halloween and it was a hit.

Christmas has all the Santa Claus imagery but none of the religious significance and that suits me fine.  To me, Christmas has always been a time for families to be together and that's exactly what we do.  And then there are presents of course.  Like Halloween, this will be the first Christmas that Faye will be able to appreciate.  We're all looking forward to it!

Maintenance

Don't know why I didn't think to do this sooner. It sounds silly, but it was like a flash of inspiration: how about links to pages/posts that really describe what the hell I'm writing? Yeah... Hey! That's a good idea!

Anyway, I'll be putting up a number of posts (permalinked!) to codify what I'm all about, with respect to what I write, that is, so those of you following my blog can better sing my praises and spread the word. Uh, or not.

This is unrelated, but I want to relate that I finished The Prisoner and was just as impressed as a full-fledged adult as I was as a teen-ager. The last episode was a bit rough, but I'm not complaining. I'm on to Fringe now and am enjoying that so far. Someone really talked up the first episode of the 3rd season so I'm terribly curious. Have a ways to go yet, though.

An Unlikely Post

I've never been much for flowers. They make good gifts for moms, wives, and girlfriends, and I can appreciate their aesthetic value, but that's about as far as my interest goes. Before I ever came to Japan I wouldn't have been able to answer what my favorite flower was if asked--not that many people were asking, mind you.

Now, though, I can answer with conviction. I love autumn. Always have. And how nice it is to have it heralded by the blooming of 金木犀. That's kinmokusei, or fragrant olive. I'm sure these trees can be found elsewhere in the world, but I never encountered them around the Sacramento area or in or around Seattle. They don't last long but their scent is intense and they have, in a very short span of years, come to represent an integral part of fall for me.

That is as close to an ode to flowers as I will ever be capable of.