Sunday, March 31, 2013

My Darling Wife

At the moment my darling wife is at the beach for a bachelorette party leaving me here home alone. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm glad she's having a good time and I enjoy a little alone time, but I do miss that woman dearly. If you've met my wife you know that the term "handful" was coined with her in mind. But I've come to realize that she possesses an abundance of positive qualities. Chief of which is her fierce and unwavering loyalty. She is also a very driven woman. As the good books says "A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies." I'd say that applies to my wife.

It's not easy being married to a band director. I suspect the only thing worse would be a coach. In the fall there's marching practice, football games, parades, and contests. In the spring there's winter guard, concerts, after school practice, and of course contests. Add church choir director on top of that and what do you get? A wife who spends a lot of time home alone. Now, a lot of ladies would take this opportunity to go their own way and honestly I couldn't blame her if she did. Instead she has spent considerable time helping me with whatever I am involved in. I've lost count of how many hours she has spent slinging nachos in the concession stand. Standing in as DJ at a valentine dance. Chaperoning trips. Or just generally keeping me sane. More than once I have come home ready to throw in the towel. What does she do? Go get a six pack of Abita Strawberry and juicy steaks.

Now, if you know me you know that I have a hard time sitting still. I really like to workout, shoot bows, guns and tinker with numerous projects. My wife has gone to great lengths to try my many hobbies with me. First we went to the gun range. Let me tell you, she's a pretty nice shot. Put a revolver loaded with .38+p in her hand and she can kill anything that threatens her, me, or our loved ones. I will NEVER come home with lip stick on my collar. The logical next step was to get her her own weapon. Be afraid. Be very afraid. From there we moved to my first love. Archery. L&M, sadly closed, supplied us with a nice little PSE recurve that she handles quite well. She is also pretty hot wielding it. I wish I had a video of her trying my longbow though. That was interesting. But if the electricity ever goes out a la Revolution we got this.

Her newest hobby though is Crossfit. Hannah was always very athletic and is highly competitive. Shocking I know. Our lives have stayed so busy lately that getting exercise in has proven problematic to say the least. A few months back she told me that she wanted to try crossfit. I, being an encouraging husband, told her to go try it out. So she did. At 5:00 in the morning! And of course I've been drug into it now. She has kicked butt too! Between that, our garage gym that's coming together, and a quasi paleo diet we've dropped about 13 pounds a piece and our performance levels have gone way up. Words can't describe how proud I am of that chick. And thats why my wife is cooler than yours. Even if she is a La Tech alum.


Fun fact of the day. The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog." uses every letter of the alphabet!

"Music is the art which is most nigh to tears and memory." ~Oscar Wilde

"True it is that every man willingly followeth his own bent, and is the more inclined to those who agree with him. But if Christ is amongst us, then it is necessary that we sometimes yield up our own opinion for the sake of peace. Who is so wise as to have perfect knowledge of all things? Therefore trust not too much to thine own opinion, but be ready also to hear the opinions of others. Though thine own opinion be good, yet if for the love of God thou foregoest it, and followest that of another, thou shalt the more profit thereby.”

Excerpt From:“The Imitation of Christ.” Thomas a Kempis













Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Writing Update

So, in addition to being a terrible blogger I am a painfully slow writer. Some of that has to do with just how stupid busy I stay with work. Being a band director, especially for a program that's being rebuilt from the ground up, is not a five day a week job. There is not really a lot of down time to spend with my wife much less pet projects like writing. The fall is the worst time for me. Every Friday night is football in the south. Luckily for me Hannah is both a sport fan and doesn't mind helping in the concession stand. Well, I say doesn't mind. I'm told I owe her something shiny.

Where does all this leave me and my meager attempts at writing? Well, it leaves me with a host of unfinished first drafts. My biggie is short fantasy novel named The Blackthorn Knights. Hopefully it will be the first in a series. I've got it out being edited right now and hopefully the cover will be done soon. It combines several of my favorite things including my love of archery. In the meantime I'm putting together an anthology of shorts. I've got a few shorts that were previously published that I'd like to polish up and re-edit. I've had another short or two bouncing around for awhile that I just haven't finished up yet. Plus two new ones just for this set. Eta? No clue. It goes in fits and starts. I'm about 8k words or so into a little zombie short. The ending, if there ever really is an end to zombie stories, is still eluding me. I have put some touches on a second draft sci if vignette. I put it up on my tumblr account if anyone wants to check it out. I've also got an idea for some fan fiction that's rolling around in the back of my head. Why fan fiction? About what? Well, it's a Star Trek fan fic. Yes, I am a nerd. You should know this by now. Apart from being kinda fun I think it could be good practice for original works.

If you've made it this far into my ramblings then your life is even more boring than mine is. But, hopefully soon there'll be some new stuff up for your entertainment. When that time comes help me buy my wife something shiny. She needs something to keep her company while I'm at a festival or making a drive to a winter guard competition.