Me, Lately:

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Here Endeth the Hiatus

I won't gush about how its been SOOO long since the last time I posted, nor will I make any promises about when I'll post again next.  I think it's safe to say that there is hardly anything safe to say when it comes to that sort of thing.

All that being said, here is a list of what's been keeping me busy this summer:

• Graduate Thesis, or, more accurately, my "Thesis Proposal" for what will one day be a collection of short stories.  Or so I'm told.  Or so I keep telling myself, anyway.
• Going to Hawaii.  Mostly Kauai, to be specific, which happens to be one of the most beautiful places on earth.  And also Oahu.
• My wife's sister getting married in LA.
• My sister getting married in Alaska.
• Family Reunions...ish...es.
• Reading books.  Unfortunately, not as many as I would like.  I've read about 25ish books this year--woefully short of my goal (around 60).
• Getting ready for Renovation--my first Worldcon, which I'm pretty excited about.
• Starcraft II.  For the swarm, indeed.
• Watching Alias.
• Getting a new computer.  (Which I'm hoping will up my productivity--or, again, so I keep telling myself.)
• Teaching freshmans how to write good.

So there you have it.  Will I post again in the near future?  Only time will tell.  I may talk about my first year of grad school.  I may talk about how my writing is going.  I may talk about Zerg strategies in SC2.  I may even talk about ballroom dancing.  Until then--keep it real, and keep it simple.  Keep it real simple.

In case you've been wondering . . .

. . . why I haven't posted in more than a week, just have a look-see below.  Its because I've been at the beach in southern California for the past week, watching sunsets like this:

And building things like this:

Or, from another angle:

And enjoying the general scenery right outside our back door, including but not limited to:

...as well as doing a whole lot of writing, sunning, a variety of aquatic ocean-related activities, hours upon hours of Scum (the card game of course, although there was some questionable filmy stuff around some parts of the ocean . . . they told us it was "algae" but you never know . . .), and lots of lazing around in general.  With family and friends.

Be jealous.

something awesome with Jane Austen

So, thanks to Mark Charan Newton I came across this:





And, if you're interested, here's the original Fight Club trailer for comparison--its even more funny after watching both:

weekend hiatus (part 1).

It's been a few days since I've blogged.  That's because I've been doing some ridiculously awesome things, like this:

(thats me catching a tree that nearly fell on me while hiking in Zion National Park this weekend, and then heaving it off the trail.  true story.)

And also, this:

(thats me nearing the top of Angel's Landing and looking over one of its many heart-squashing cliffs.)


And hiking things like this:

(Angel's Landing is that giant cliff in the background . . .)


And through things like this:

(The Narrows)


. . . check out the next post for more . . .

weekend hiatus (part 2).

So, as I was saying . . .

And I did some cool things like this:

It was fabulous.  I may not have gotten a lot of writing done, but it was good, ah, research . . . and worth every minute.  If you'd like to see (my first attempt ever at) a slideshow of more pictures, go here, or check out my wife's blogpost on it here.

Otherwise, happy trails . . .