Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Ten Minute Wednesdays

Before we begin, you have to read an open letter that Tony Pierce sent to Britney Spears. It's seems that everyone's favorite trailer-part superstar was busted by paparazzi driving around in her gaudy SUV holding her kid who's not sitting in a car seat. (Thanks to Miu for the pic.)

I spent several days on one freelance article. I never do that. Maybe two days at the most including research, but never four or five like I did for a piece for Bluff Magazine. I hope they accept it and I hope they publish all of it and don't cut out too much. It's out of my hands as of 11:43am. I made the deadline by 17 minutes. It would have been sooner, but I didn't wake up until 11:05am.

Since Saturday, I wrote three freelance articles. I have another one due tomorrow afternoon. I start that this afternoon. I spent most of yesterday morning selecting 10-12 photographs from a poker tournament at the Borgata that might be used in the article. I got pics and a title and a deadline... just no article as of yet. But that's why I get paid big bucks.... to make something out of nothing.

My buddy Bruce hooked me up with a ton of Jerry Garcia Band stuff. At first I thought it was just one live show, but he ended up ripping me a DVD with seven or eight different CDs. In one afternoon, I went from having just one Jerry Garcia Band show on my iPod to having several hours of material. Some good shit too. Donna Jean sounds so much better harmonizing with Jerry Garcia Band than she did with the Grateful Dead.

I watched the North Carolina vs. Duke game last night with my brother. I'm a big UNC fan and was not thrilled when they were down 17 points. Alas, they rallied and went on a 22 point run and took the lead with a few minutes to go. But goddamned J.J. Redick went on a tear and led the Blue Devils to victory. I hate it when Duke wins.

Derek has a Carvel store one two blocks from his apartment. I dunno why I don't eat more Carvel. I should I dig soft ice cream and love Flying Saucers. Carvel used to have buy one get one free sundaes on Wednesdays. I wonder if they still have those?

I ate at the three different (well actually four) diners in the last five days. One day I ordered Buffalo chicken wings. The waitress asked me if I wanted "hot" or "Ow! hot." I went for the "Ow! hot." They were hot but hot as hot as I anticipated. I ordered waffle fries with it. Yummy. My meal at the diner with Briana was a difficult one. We have been going through a rough patch. And although we've been broken up since last May, we've been in that grey area or in the DMZ of relationships. When I got back from Atlantic City, we both decided it would be best to take a step back and do our own thing for a while. I'm hitting the road and will be living out of my backpack between now and the end of the summer, and most likely for the rest of 2006. She's heading back to France and is taking trips to India and Kenya later this year. Saying good-bye is never easy. Losing friends is always tough.

I've been reading three different books at once. One if my bathroom book. One is my subway book. And the other is the book I read a few pages of when I need to kill ten minutes.

I played in another Wil Wheaton tournament on Poker Stars last night. I've had one second place finish in December, and another final table appearance but for the most part, his tournaments are fishy... meaning that he gets a lot of inexperienced players at his tournaments who make rookie plays and usually get lucky. Wil was super pissed the other night when a mega-corporation exploited his career as an actor on a popular TV series in the 1990s in order to drive up hits to one of their corporate blogs. Low brow. Poor taste. The same people want me to write for them. They really don't want me per se, just my audience and the traffic I can send them. Can you say exploitation? I have a tough decision to make. Stick to my principles as a writer or go for a quick buck?

Six days before I touch down in sunny Southern California. I feel sick today. Time to OD on Airborne and OJ.

Recent Writing Music...
1. Talking Heads
2. Widespread Panic
3. Jay-Z
4. Jerry Garcia Band with Merle Saunders
5. My Morning Jacket

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