Wine, Vinegar, and Regret

Last night was the lowest I've felt in a while.

I've never been much of a wine guy. When folks start blathering about the hints of apricot and birch in their wine's bouquet, and looking down their noses at those of us who tend to see wine as overpriced alcohol with a strange tendency to produce crippling hangovers whether you got yourself properly soused or not, my mind looks for a corner of the ceiling to crawl into and die.

Busy January

January is usually a bit of a lull for me as a freelance writer, but this year is proving to be an exception. While certainly a good thing for my checkbook, this fact makes finding spare moments to work on other pursuits difficult, especially when variable chunks of time disappear into keeping the driveway clear of the white stuff I loved as a kid but have now come to dread.

Hopefully it's just a matter of figuring out how to budget my time a bit better. Much as I enjoy not waking up to a damned alarm clock every morning, I wish I didn't require quite as much sleep to feel like a sane human being. At the very least, the Sandman could do me the courtesy of letting me remember my dreams.

Network

I don't know how I managed not to see Sidney Lumet's Network years ago, but I rectified that situation tonight. There are certainly aspects of the 1976 film that date it — the lack of omnipresent cell phones and computers is particularly jarring, and infuses an inadvertent "period piece" feel 30+ years later — but the problems we face as an easily distracted technological race aren't among them.

Time to Write

Though I tend to seal myself off from the outside world, and by turns both luxuriate and fester in the cocoon I've created for myself — neglecting to respond to emails from people I care deeply about in anything resembling a timely fashion is symptomatic of this — I've struck a bargain of sorts with my oldest and dearest friend in the world.

Three... Extremes

Ever since I saw Park Chan-wook's Oldboy last year, I've been renting what of his oeuvre I can get my hands on. Though I also particularly enjoyed Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, none so far have affected me in any way comparable.

Take My Money? Please?

You'd think by now online merchants would have some clue how to run their businesses.

You'd be wrong, though.

Preferred Pursuits

Despite my best intentions, I got virtually nothing of consequence done today.

Armchair Alethiology

In preparing to start the new year with a new blog, one of the things I needed to think about was what I was willing to share with the world in this space. Would I be completely open about every thought and feeling, spilling the beans about every last little dribble of hope and doubt, success and self-pity? Or would I choose to censor myself, sculpting a public, if seldom read, persona to match as closely as possible what I wish to be, rather than what I am?