Action

In college, when I would start to fall asleep in a class, I would start to get really warm.  I put out a lot of heat normally, but when I sleep, this goes up a LOT.  I learned, eventually, to realize that I was getting warm, and thus yank myself out of falling asleep.  This has proven useful to me today at work.

Wonderful, crazy, psychotic, beautiful things are happening.  Always, when it comes down to making a decision, I stop thinking and just make it.  has never seen this before, and she was amazed.

So, now it’s all about action.

Remote control.

Last night, I got completely frustrated with the fact that the VCR remote is -still- missing.  I searched all over the living room, to no avail.  So, during commercials (because I couldn’t fast-forward) of StarGate SG-1 and Atlantis, I straightened shit in the house.  Gaming shit, laptop stuff, stacks of papers and paperwork, etc.  I didn’t get a ton done, but I got enough to make me feel good.  I called in my perscriptions the day they ran out, instead of waiting a week, like usual.  Then I won the ebay auction for the replacement battery for my laptop, and that upped my mood.

Today, bills are written, checkbook is balanced, old product registration forms are ready to be mailed out, and I feel more ordered and stable.  Today after work I’m going to work out.  Three days a week once more, and it can only do me good.  doesn’t get out of work until 11, so I’ll be able to work out, come home, and start dinner before I go and pick her up.  She will have a feast!  This, I declare! :)

Good read.

I just finished a book called Killing Molly.  It was reviewed in the Ann Arbor Paper, was self-published, and was available at the Shaman Drum bookstore in Ann Arbor.  I picked up a copy, and just finished reading it.

It reminds me a lot of and .  It has errors in spelling and grammar scattered all the way through it, but drew me in completely.  It’s the kind of story that they would come up with, too.  I couldn’t find it on Amazon.com, so I can’t link to it.  However, if you can get to Ann Arbor, I highly recommend picking it up.

Writing Professionally, Pt. 3

The Ann Arbor News told me no.
Pop went under before it started.

Let’s give The Ann Arbor Paper a shot.  Resume, writing samples, and (anti)cover-letter are sent.  I read their August issue, and was highly impressed by the writing quality and topics.  Way impressed.  Now I hope they want me.  :)  *crosses fingers*

To Whom it May Concern:

Let me begin by saying that I despise cover letters.  This letter is supposed to effectively communicate to you nearly all of my experience, talent, skill, creativity, and/or other aspects that you are looking for in a writer.  There’s an accepted structure to these things, and in looking for jobs I’ve become intimately familiar with how limiting and two-dimensional the information in a “proper” cover letter becomes.

I could list my talents, tell you how familiar I am with your company, and inform you in bland corporation-speak exactly why I’m perfect to fill the open position.  I could have barely glanced at an ad in an online job site or newspaper, gathered a minimum of information, and filled out a perfectly vague form letter.  Then I could have hoped desperately for a positive response amongst filling out tens of the same for other positions.

Instead, I’m letting you in on the frightening world of my personality, wit, and occasionally offensive nature.  Up to the present, I’ve been a computer geek, both personally and professionally.  I’ve become restless and dissatisfied, realizing that no matter how much you know, how many books, languages, and operating systems that you’ve mastered, you will most likely end up right back in telephone technical support, telling a customer to check and see if they’ve plugged their unit in.  With that in mind, I’ve decided that my hobby should become my profession, and my profession should become my hobby.

My first novel is completed, and is being edited before I send it out to prospective publishers.  I’m turning some serial fiction that I’ve written into a comic book, with the help of several artist friends of mine.  Then, I learned that the Ann Arbor Paper was hiring writers.  After some agonizing about whether or not I was good enough, I am contacting you in the hopes that I will be what you need.  My goals in this are straightforward.  They include professional writing experience to aid me in my other writing endeavors, supplemental income, and exposing readers to something that is probably fairly unhealthy for them to read.  Don’t worry, it’s only step one in my plot to take over the world.

As requested on your web page, I have included two writing samples that I feel are appropriate to the open position.  I’m interested in writing a regular column that addresses obvious, and possibly unsolvable, quirks in the life that I see around me.  I’ve even thought of encouraging and replying to responses, basing future articles around feedback from readers.

I can be contacted at my cellular phone at (734) xxx-xxxx, and have voice mail if I’m unable to talk.  I can also be e-mailed at crampto3@…….. Any feedback that you can provide would be well-received.  Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Dave M. Crampton

Horoscope

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): To hint at the potentials of the coming week, I’ll appropriate the words of avant-garde music composer and author, John Cage. In describing his work, he once said, “I have nothing to say/ and I am saying it/ and that is poetry.” Here’s an altered version, Taurus, created especially to suit your current astrological needs: You have nothing to do/ and you are doing it/ and that’s your genius.