Category Archives: General Posts

Sports, relationships, parenting, literature, education, and more. If it catches my interest that day, I’ll write about it.

General Posts

Sunday Morning Ramblings

Leave a comment

This time last year, I was over halfway through my first Dragon*Con as a guest author.  It should’ve been a great event for me, but a selfish person decided to create drama and ruin it.  Still, I did perform fairly well on my panels, and I made a lot of good contacts.  The convention itself is something to behold — the costumes, the creativity, the passion.  The people who attend it are, for the most part, huge fans of science fiction and fantasy, and for many of them, Labor Day weekend has become a sacred time.

I’m proud that I was part of it.  For an unknown independent, being accepted was a major victory because I got in based solely on my talent and my efforts.  Not everyone can say that.  I also feel like I made a good showing of myself despite the unnecessary drama.  Still, I’m not sure how much of an impact the show has had on my writing career.  Not much is different from before and after.  I can’t point to a jump in sales and say that it was directly because of Dragon*Con, so I’m not sure if it was worth all the effort.

What a difference a year makes.  This year, obviously, I wasn’t invited back as a guest, and because of my health issues, even if I had been, I probably would’ve had to cancel.  Also, and more importantly, I’ve decided to stop chasing success as a writer.  I still plan to write and create good stories for the rest of my life, but I will no longer stress over and sacrifice for becoming successful as a novelist.  There are more important things in my life.

Which brings me to my last point for today’s rambling: Today is my youngest’s fourth birthday.  I simply can’t believe that he is four.  On one hand, it seems like he should still be a year old, reaching up and grabbing hold of my pants’ legs for me to pick him up after I got home from work.  On the other, it feels like much more time has passed over the last three years.  Some days, it feels like a whole lifetime has come and gone.  Dagan might understand what I mean about that combination of the blink of an eye and a snail’s pace.  It’s a strange juxtaposition of sensations, one that these words don’t do justice to.

Happy birthday Finn!  Daddy loves you very much, and I can’t wait to see you soon.

General Posts

Thursday Afternoon Ramblings

Leave a comment

Another update: I’ve recently started running again.  It’s been 18 years since I ran regularly, so getting back into it took a major build-up of courage for me.  I’ve never been a good runner, but the workout is really good for my heart and blood pressure.  After just a couple of weeks, I can already make two 1/3 of a mile laps at the park.  I can’t complete them consecutively yet, so that’s why I didn’t write 2/3 of a mile.  Still, I feel pretty good about my progress in such a short time.

My goal is to get back to 3 miles a day.  That’s what I ran back in the football days, and I feel pretty confident that I can get back to that level.  Also, I would like to make it in thirty minutes.  That’s just a ten minute mile, which isn’t all that fast, so I feel like it’s a realistic goal to start with.  Once I make that, I’ll work on getting the time down.

Running will help me get down to my goal weight and get my blood pressure under control.  It’s also a great stress release, so maybe all the stress of dual enrollment and my overload schedule won’t overwhelm me this semester.  We’ll see.

www.thirdaxe.com

General Posts

Tuesday Morning Ramblings

2 Comments

Here’s an update on the farm:  We’ve stopped focusing on clearing land for the time being to work on cleaning out and renovating the building.  Since the farm will specialize in hydroponic production for the vegetables, the building will be the hub of operations.  We’ve made great progress so far and should have electricity back on in the next few weeks.

The goal right now is to get the first hydro unit purchased and installed by the end of this year and do a couple of test crops before spring.  More than likely we’ll start with tomatoes and cucumbers, but we’ll see what is in strongest demand before committing to anything.  Once we see how well the production is, we’ll look into expanding the number of units throughout the spring.

Also, we’re working on the solar panel installation.  If all goes well, we may have that side up and running before too long.  I’m very excited about the possibilities with that.  The start-up costs are tremendous, but long-term, the units pay for themselves within a three to five years.  Also, for the long-term sustainability of an organic farm, renewable energy is a must.

So that’s a more detailed update of what’s going on.

www.thirdaxe.com