NEW JOB!!!!!

I'm so excited! A week ago, I interviewed for a newspaper job and last night I received a phone call from the editor. Can I start Thursday morning? Yep!

There's some nervousness about it...it's a little of a drive, and I'm on for a 45-day trial basis. Lord willing, with a little hard work and a little confidence I can make this work.

Getting back to my true love--fiction

The past few days, as far as writing goes, have been split. A big chunk of time is spent on getting freelance assignments completed while I'm also working on some fiction projects. One is a novel, working title The Game Show, in which I'm about 2/3 completed on the rough draft. There are also short story ideas I'm getting some ground work laid down on. One looks to be a combination of two ideas.

I'd rather not divulge too much details, but I do like the Twilight Zone-style suspense and twists. Often, I ask myself, "What if?" and start writing.

Slight change again

The orange-on-royal blue didn't work as well as I wanted. For now, I'm trying a yellow-on-royal blue. Normally, I don't like the darker colors, but I've really liked using the dark blue as a background color since it provides great contrast. We'll see what happens.

Royal blue and yellow is one of my all-time favorite color schemes, along with royal blue and light blue and then kelly green and gold. But for this blog, I'm looking for schemes that provide great contrast--making it easier to read--while allowing some aesthetic appeal also.

Experimenting with colors

Have decided, for the time being, to move away from the light blue-on-dark blue that I had been using and experiment with orange-on-royal blue. Am curious to see how it works.

I have a love/hate relationship with orange. Aesthetically, I don't really like it. It was my high school color. Burnt orange I hate, but I have grown to see bright orange as a pragmatic and not-too-ugly color. Besides, blue and orange are the original colors of my favorite baseball team the Houston Astros. I'd like to seem them return to those colors and ditch the hideous black, brick red and sand they currently have.

Don't know how long this color scheme will last...might be changing it again as the blog evolves. We'll see.

The Zowie family's origins

The Zowie family got its start in America around 1899 when my great-grandfather, Sebastian Zahnweh, immigrated to America from Mötzing, a little Bavarian village in southeastern Germany. Mötzing is located about 33.9 kilometers (or about 21 miles) southeast of Regensburg and about 154 kilometers (or about 95 miles) northeast of Munich.

Here is a link to show you where Mötzing is on the map. According to a census done two years ago, it has just under 1,500 people in it.

Richard Zowie, animal rescuer

One of our neighbor's ducks got out of her pen the other day, and the way she was walking around and quacking, I could tell she wanted back in. So, I went over there, was able to catch her (she probably thought I was going to make her my Sunday dinner) and got her back in. It was a very nice, tender moment. I thought of trying to quack to her to calm her down and reassure her I wouldn't hurt her, but that seemed too bizarre even for me.

The Decline of American Comedy: Kevin Smith

Back in 1996 while stationed in the Army at the Presidio of Monterey, Calif.'s Defense Language Institute, I got my first taste of the tasteless filmmaker Kevin Smith. A friend had rented Clerks. It's a brilliant film about a convenience store worker, I was told.

Fifteen minutes later, I got up and left. The movie was incredibly boring and had enough profanity and vulgarity to fill several films.

A month or so later, I sat down and watched about half an hour of Mallrats. Same result: boring, disgusting film.

I haven't seen Clerks II or Dogma, since I feel you don't have to repeatedly whiff a pile of garbage to know it smells bad. So, it goes without saying that I won't be seeing his new film, either.

Smith, according to the AP, recently--at a comic book convention--featured a clip of his new film Zack and Miri Make a Porno. (The movie stars Seth Rogen of Knocked Up, which tells me this movie will be utterly unwatchable). Smith also mentions having a hearing to get the film an R rating: currently, the Motion Picture Association of America has rated it NC-17 despite Smith's numerous edits.

No worries, Kevin: just make it R-rated and then feature your cut on the DVD.

I love to laugh, don't get me wrong, but why does the world insist on trying to get humor from smut instead of getting humor from irony, off-the-wall scenarios and great timing?

Ahhh, the joys of writing satire

A few months ago, I posted an article about a famous rock star on my satirical blog.

The website, again, is 100% satire.

Nevertheless, I have received four angry e-mails from that blog from angry readers. One threatened me with physical harm.

The fictitious, tongue-in-cheek article merely pokes fun at the musician's entrepreneurial ways. Nothing more. I actually have a lot of respect for him, but apparently these readers didn't bother to read the "This is satire" disclaimer at the top of the page.

News for today

Will make this quick since I'm very tired and want to watch an episode of Northern Exposure before going to sleep.

Job interview today went very well. It's for a reporter position for a northern Oakland County (Michigan) newspaper. Editor liked my resume and writing samples. Said he'd call in about a week. We'll see what happens.

Will be meeting a Detroit Tiger tomorrow

Lefthanded pitcher Bobby Seay, who will be making an appearance at the Davison, Mich., Kroger. Am a little nervous. Will have to make sure my camera batteries are good to go.

Ahhh, the fun finances of writing

In my ventures as a freelance writer, I've run into these scenarios quite a bit:

1) Website tells you that for a fee of x dollars per month, they'll give you access to thousands of freelance jobs. One site that I subscribed to for a month gave me access to maybe 20 jobs in a month. Talk about a tax write-off. There are legit sites out there, but this one wasn't one of them.

2) Other sites will give you work, but to get the work, you must pay a service fee per month. I pass on these and if ask, I'd say, "No, you don't understand: I don't pay you to work. You pay me."

John McCain's running mate...who will it be?

We know it won't be Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal. He has ruled it out and says he wants to focus on Louisiana's problems. (As someone who was born and spent the first year of their life in The Pelican State, I can respect that).

Some say that Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty has the inside track. Mitt Romney, of course, is still a strong possibility.

Hurricane Dolly hits South Texas

This is a concern for me, since I'm from South Texas. Looks like it'll miss my family (which lives inland and further up the Coastal Bend in Beeville while my mother-in-law and her husband and son (they live near McAllen) might have to be more careful.

Around 15 inches of rain with winds around 85 mph. Hopefully that'll be the worse of Hurricane Dolly.

Who will be Barack Obama's running mate?

Will John Edwards once again serve as a potential brides' maid? Will Georgia's Sam Nunn serve? Will it be Hillary Clinton?

Doesn't really matter to me, since I won't be voting for B.O.

I will say this: IF Obama does get elected, expect him to blame all his mistakes or problems on the Bush Administration.

Paying to work

If ever my life settles down, I would love to busy myself--when not writing--by acting in local productions. There's always been the thrill of getting on a stage and pretending to be someone you're not. I remember taking a theater arts class my senior year in high school and regretting not taking it my freshman year.

Sometimes, I'll see ads for movies being made near my area. Had a chance to go to a casting call for a horror film about an ominous town, but due to the gasoline money and the subject matter, I decided not to go. Other sites offer an opportunity for anyone to work as an extra. Sounds great, right?

One problem: you have to pay a nominal fee for their services.

A friend from college who has worked as an actor tells me that no reputable company connected in the entertainment industry will make you pay for the opportunity to gain access to possible jobs. The only payment a true agent would do is a commission after you've already secured work.

In the meantime, a few actors I've spoken to say the best way to get in is to get training, work in local productions and go from there. One actor said this to me: if fame is your goal, don't even start.