Paid and accepted

The new Big Brother is an interesting twist on the old standard. Instead of sixteen individuals vying against each other, this time they paired up strangers who were matched as if by a dating service. They have to compete as teams, win HoH as teams, get evicted as teams and have to share the same bed. The twists: two of the contestants are a real couple (though they weren’t paired up for the show, which will lead to some conflict, I’m sure), and two others are a broken couple (he cheated on her) and they were paired up with each other.

One woman, a former model, is about 20 years older than most of the other contestants. She got paired up with a big hulk of a guy and she went into histrionics over it. It didn’t help that he got off to a bad start by calling her “Mom.” Should be interesting. My opinion: the dating couple should let their new partners in on the secret so they can form a tight foursome. The broken couple is in an awkward situation, especially since he doesn’t seem to get it that she is still very hurt by his actions.

Last night I finished up my Storytellers Unplugged essay and produced the podcast version, which is always fun and a good test drive of the essay. I always find awkward passages and poor flow when I record the essay.

Yesterday I received my paycheck for “Change of Plans,” which is in the current issue of the new online magazine Nossa Morte. I also had another short story accepted for publication in an anthology that is scheduled to come out near the end of ’08. The 1300-word tale is called “The Illusion,” and was originally written for the Hellnotes “Wee Small Hours” contest. I revised it extensively for this new market and submitted it on Christmas Day.

I have a couple of interesting promotional items up on eBay, because they’re cluttering my desk:

• Duma Key promo tennis ball, new in case, unopened
• From a Buick 8 fuzzy dice, never dangled from a rearview mirror

I hope they find a good home.

Since I’m an early riser, I rarely watch TV after 9 pm. So, I have Jericho and Boston Legal on tape from last night. I was glad when LOST moved back to 8 pm Central.