Life after Michael and novel writing

To paraphrase Kermit the Frog, "It ain't easy being Michael."

Today was the first day back to work after "David Being Michael" came about.  In the aftermath, I left many "fans" sorely disappointed.  It turns out that many folks at the Elementary School had anticipated "Michael's" arrival.  I had not known this, so when Emily's classroom party was over, we went home.  MANY people told Shan and emailed/ texted/ facebooked/ etc their disappointment that I did not visit each of the grades at the school.

Another set of "fans," those with whom I work either directly or indirectly, missed seeing me dressed up and thus were not happy that I did not come visit.  I actually had a school visit scheduled for Friday, but other things work-related came up and I could not get there.  I have since been told to re-dress as Michael and come to the school this week.  As tempting as that is, I cannot bring myself to dress as the King of Pop at a school without a true, semi-valid reason.  Perhaps next year's getup will warrant such demand and admiration - or humiliation - whichever.

So, today, I heard MANY shouts of "Hey, There's Michael!" and "Hey, Where's Michael?"  It was flattering and strange all at the same time.  I never understood the "problems" of celebrity, and for a few days, I have had a chance to experience it.  It's great and scary all in one.  The scary part is the folks running up to you.  I'm talking grown adults running up shouting, "I need a picture! Can I have a picture with you?"

In a way, I suppose, it was a chance for some folks to connect with someone that many of us grew up knowing, admiring, scratching our heads over.  Would I do anything differently?  Actually, yeah, I would.  I would visit each of the grades at the Elementary building.  I would have also at least tried to get back a few of the "Michael Moves" just to give folks something to see.  Oh, I did a little side-stepping and moonwalking, but I used to have many of his moves down pretty well (or at least *I* thought so).  I suppose what I am trying to say is that I would have "showed out" a bit more, much like the King of Pop would have done himself.

As weird as it sounds, I did not dress like Michael to make fun of him. Not in the least.  Well, okay, maybe a little.  I mean, it *IS* Michael, after all.  But, aside from his wackiness, he was one of the greatest entertainers of all time. This was my little way of making him, "A Part of Me."

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I am working on my novel, and am on day two of the National Novel Writing Month contest.  I have 8010 words written out of 50000 so far.  I am not sure if my program and their program counts words the same way, so I am hoping to have at least 51000 or so by the time it is said and done.

The "secret," so I have read, is that you can't go back and edit anything. You basically start writing and let the muses sing.  Edit later.  Make inline notes if you have to, but keep writing.  It's harder than it sounds.  In some places, the story takes a weird tangent or you see where a paragraph would work if it were in a different place, but you keep pushing through it.  In just two days, I have asked myself things like, "Am I being too wordy here? Am I not giving enough detail there?"  I have decided that I am going to go way overboard with details.  The story will have more information and description than anyone in their right mind would want to endure.  This serves two purposes: 1) It gives me a better chance of hitting the goal by being so wordy, and 2) You can always cut things out of a story but trying to add stuff in afterward is tough.

I'll keep you posted on and off about my progress, but you can always click the "NaNoWriMo" icon over there on the right side at the top of this blog if curiosity gets the best of you. :-)

Happy Halloween!

I know it has been a long time since I've posted anything, but the week has been filled with getting ready for Halloween and other all-important such stuff. My offering to you is below:

Saturday in the park

No, it wasn't the fourth of July, and well, really, this post is more about Saturday than it is about any park.  Actually, it's not even about a park.  I could have just as easily titled it "Saturday Night Fever," but then that would have sparked a discussion about fevers, of which I have none, so even that would not have been totally accurate.  Are you with me?

Kay and Linda (Shan's Mom and Aunt, respectively) had tickets to attend a fund-raising event for Rep. Mike Ross with special guest President Bill Clinton.  Shan wanted to do some shopping for Emily, so we all piled in the van and headed to Hot Springs (which is then a discussion about Hot Springs National PARK, and thus, there *IS* a park in the post.  Thank you, thank you very much. Uh-huh!).  The event was at the Convention Center, and I had been there this summer for a distance learning conference.

On the way up there, Kay mentioned something about a band.  I said that I had read Jeff Madlock's Facebook post about having two gigs 100 miles apart and wondered if his band was playing for the shin-dig.  Jeff is the technology coordinator for Hope Public Schools, and is one of the most versatile, and crazy, guys I have ever met.  Was it his band?  Read on to find out.

Between the dropping off and picking up, Shan, Emily and I headed for shopping.  First, we made a stop in at Ci-Ci's Pizza for supper.  I am a big fan of Ci-Ci's!  It's been a LONG time since I had eaten there, so we pulled in and grabbed a bite.  If you have never experienced the place before, it is a buffet pizza place.  No menus.  You go in, pay, and eat.  No servers to deal with - just pizza and the best desserts ever!  Hot cinnamon rolls things, brownies... Oh, yeah.  They create all kinds of pizzas, so you never know what's going to be on the buffet and not everything is great (to me anyway).  Shan tried a chicken alfredo pizza that she didn't care for, and I tried a taco pizza that was actually pretty good.  Of course, they had cheese, pepperoni, supreme, and who knows what else - all for the eatin!

While we were eating, we watched the Arkansas Razorbacks on TV score a touchdown.  If you saw or heard, you know that we lost to the Gators by a field goal.  Some would say that is a disaster.  I say that's pretty dang good, considering the Gators are #1 and everyone in the world thought the Hogs would get their butts handed to them.  Instead, Florida struggled to beat us.  It's one of the rare times when you can feel okay about a loss.  At least, in my book.

After we ate, we hit the mall.  Emily picked up some very cute boots with fur on the top.  They also have silver peace signs on them.  Emily is BIG TIME into peace signs.  I hope this doesn't mean she is heading down the path of "peace, love and many groovies."  Basically, I'd like her to steer clear of anything remotely akin to "Jenny" in "Forrest Gump!"

We shopped around some more, stopping by the Hallowen shop to find a costume for Emily.  Somehow she decided she wanted to be Daphne from Scooby-Doo.  Holy crap, she *IS* heading down that road! LOL!  We couldn't fins a costume in her size, but I did manage to find a "King of Pop" costume kit. 

I have ben debating whether or not to dress up as Michael Jackson for Halloween.  I would love to do it as both a tribute to him and for the goofy fun of it.  My biggest problem is one of appropriateness.  Is it right to dress up as a guy with peculiar behavior when it came to children in general?  Then again, people dress up as Jason, Freddy Krueger, and even the clown from Saw, so, why bother going down that road, right?  If I decide to dress up as the King of Pop, I'll be sure to have pictures taken.  If I am going to scare local kids, I might as well scare the rest of you with it, right?

Emily picked up a Bobby Jack sleepover monkey.  She made a deal that if she got the monkey, she would have to sleep in her own bed (she likes to crawl into bed with us during the night).  We gave her a "fre night" for Saturday, but starting tonight, all bets are off.  It is going to be a very tough time for Emily and Shan. Maybe I shold have picked up a monkey for both of them.

We piddled around for a bit and then decided to make our Wal-Mart run while we waited for Kay and Linda to call us back.  Of course, we got the call at about the halfway point in our grocery shopping.  Luckily, they weren't in a hurry to go, but just wanted us to know that they were ready whenever we were.  We finished our shopping and headed back to the Convention Center to pick them up.

Kay got some great pictures, so I am hoping to borrow them and post them here later.  Whether I am fan of Bill Clinton (and/or Mike Ross) or not really has little to do with my wanting to post the pictures.  The fact that Clinton was one of Presidents is the main reason.  Politics aside, I think it is very cool when someone you know gets that close to a former leader.  Of course, Shan has a picture of her with Clinton from his Governor days and she was part of Girl's Stae or some school-related program.  Maybe she was a Page or something.  Well, hopefully, she will enlighten you when she reads this and leave a comment to set me straight. 

And, as for Jeff playing at the Ross/Clinton event.... Yes!  It was his band there.  Kay said she went up to him and asked if he was Jeff.  When he said yes, she asked if he knew my name.  He asked Kay if she was my Mom.  "Even beter," she said, "I'm his Mother-in-Law."  That is funny!  Here is a photo of Jeff I found online, but it pretty much explains it all: