I believe I ended my last entry with “Sure wish it would rain.” Yep, that’s what I said. So, it did rain yesterday, but that’s nothing compared to what we might get tomorrow when TS Eduardo makes landfall (20% chance it’ll be Hurricane Eduardo). The beastie sprung up uninvited and unannounced in the northern Gulf and has been making a beeline for the Houston ship channel ever since. We’re well north of that, so I suspect all we’ll get is some rain and a few wind gusts. The rain is much needed and welcome, but I’m going to have to watch what I wish for in the future.
I finished up S1 of Mad Men on AMC onDemand, and caught up with the first two episodes of S2, which I am amused to note are sponsored by Viagra. Given the amount of screwing around the characters do, it’s a little ironic. S1 was sponsored by BMW, and the intro ad was a classic example of exactly the kind of campaign the ad men would have loved. Story driven. The first season had some interesting twists at the end, especially concerning Don’s secret identity and Peggy’s unrealized “ailment.” I find it interesting that at least two of Don’s coworkers now know much more about his past than his wife does. Last night’s episode was interesting, as the ad men tried to decide how to go about capitalizing on a catastrophe, especially once it became known that it affected one of their own directly. Good show.
I also caught up on Burn Notice. No real forward motion in the overall story arc, but it was a good change-of-pace episode that guest-starred the guy who played Mikhail from Lost. Law & Order: Criminal Intent had some good twists and turns but ultimately relied on the doer’s hubris to close the case. If the kid hadn’t boasted and goaded his father, there didn’t seem to be enough evidence.
I started working on a review of Natsuo Kirino’s Real World and read some more of The Last Patriot and Haruki Murakami’s running/writing memoir. I also did another polish of the recent crime story and did something I rarely do: completely revamped the ending. I noticed one sentence where I attempted to explain why something unlikely was happening. Then I realized that was a bit of a cheat, and renovated events so there wasn’t anything that required hand-waving. I’m much happier with the outcome, now, as it seems much truer.
I also drafted this month’s Storytellers Unplugged essay and ran it past a few friends to make sure I wasn’t coming off differently than I intended.
I was going to start a new short story this weekend as well, but every time I stared at the Word document, I didn’t know what to write. I did some location research, but came to the conclusion that I’m not ready to start the story yet. I don’t know enough about the characters or the basic situation. However, another story came to mind this morning in the shower, based on an anecdote I heard recently that I think could be twisted into a creepy little story that won’t be terribly long but has possibilities. I haven’t started it yet, but it’s been rolling around in my mind all day.
