Saw Ratatouille tonight. The 6:30 P.M. showing was sparsely attended, which shouldn't have been a surprise for a "kid's movie."

It was one of the most beautiful things I've seen in a long time.

Today's counterintuitive idea:

The blogosphere is much smaller than we think.

I'm on Facebook now. Brennen recommended it as a convenient way to keep up-to-date with people that one rarely communicates with otherwise. And it does seem convenient in that way.

Lots of pretty little widgets to play around with, too. Which is often a good predictor of a site's longevity.

A few months ago, I wrote up a Renewal Investment Plan (or R.I.P, ha ha). It's a list of significant things I want to accomplish in the next three months. I'm at the end of the quarter, so it's time to review.

Three new skills:

• Drawing heads/profiles, to prepare for my next comic. Done.
• Cooking pasta to al dente every time, no matter the shape. Done.
• Reading and practicing Japanese. Not as often as I'd like, but better than before.

Thirty new people to meet:

• Join Toastmasters. Complete failure.
• Keep in touch with students in my Web Design class. Complete failure.
• Go out on ten dates. I only did two.

Three new major projects:

• Kickstart Project Omega, the game my co-workers and I are designing. Done.
• The Garden Redevelopment Project. This included building a bunch of planters, repainting the fence, and laying down several truckloads of mulch. Done.
• Giant Armors written. Done (wrote the last bit this morning).

One new thing for the resume:

• Firestorm, my side-scrolling shooter for Syllable. Done.

So. I did terribly at meeting new people, which is typical for me. But that's fine. I now know how I did, and can work on that for my next R.I.P.

If nothing else, this has been a great way to keep me in touch with my bigger life goals, the stuff beyond the day-to-day projects that will make me a more interesting, well-rounded person.

Today is Make Day. Thanks to a post on the Accidental Creative blog, I reserved today just to make stuff (and plan to schedule a new one every month).

One of the results: check_syntax, a script that will check the syntax of whatever source code file you give it. Currently supports C, C++, PHP, Perl, Python, and common Unix shells (bash, sh, csh, and tcsh).

Are you an artist?

We're all capable of producing art. Many people compare themselves to world-class art. They look at their drawing or their story or their song, and they see that it's not as good as the artists they see in galleries or read in books or hear on the radio.

But if your goal is to be a world-class artist, isn't that a hollow goal? It might get you there, but you'll never be happy until you are there, and when you're finally there, then what?

Why not just create art? Whatever art you want to.

Tired. Been sleeping poorly. Ate a plate of spaghetti and freezer-burned bread. Took a load of laundry outside, and...

...twilight gilds the windows of the facing condo with pure gold. The garden is full of earthy browns and vibrant living greens. Pink flowers seem to burst from their pots. The doves beneath the bird feeder look at me.

Not a bad day.

Things are usually a lot easier than they seem.

I've been stressing out over a project at work. An influential person needed some data from me, and I had to provide it by the end of today.

But it was easy. It wasn't all easy, but my worries didn't lessen the difficulty. I could have spent the last few days enjoying the challenge instead of worrying about it.

Spent some time today working on Project Omega, the super-secret RTS game that a fewe co-workers and I are developing. And I realized that I spent twenty minutes writing and organizing status and reporting on two hours worth of work. Feels excessive to me.

On the other hand, we're just getting started. Should be faster to update once I get used to it.

We're using Assembla, a free service that hosts code projects. They provide a free Subversion repository, Trac system, mailing list, and Wiki. You can pay for full backups and more storage, but what they provide is plenty for a small project. Highly recommended, so far.

Just back from the first meeting of the anime club that Nick and I are starting. We were the only ones who showed up.

This was not disappointing. Several folks said they couldn't make it, and the others weren't firm. So we chatted and watched a bit of anime, and will organize another meeting for a few weeks from now.

Initial failure means very little. It's persistence that usually wins.

Final reminder: I need your comments on Giant Armors by midnight tonight, if you're going to send them. Thanks!

Strange, really, how I may not blog for days, and usually it's because very little is happening. My two major accomplishments of the past three days were 1. spreading a truck load of mulch around my house, and 2. installing a new garbage disposal.

Not that this is a terrible thing, I suppose. I could use some rest.

If you have a copy of my YA novel to review, please send me any comments by this Friday so I'll have time to incorporate them. Thanks, as usual, for all your thoughts.

Finished watching Bubba Ho-Tep today. Surprisingly fantastic film. Yes, it's cheesy at times—the plot involves the real Elvis, stuck in an old folks' home, who confronts a 4,000-year-old soul-sucking mummy—but like all really good films, it transcends its concept by really examining its concept.

Imagine an Elvis who's old. Way past his prime. Spends almost all of his time in bed. He switched places with an impersonator and lost everything, and now there's nothing left. All of his family is gone. He's surrounded by old folks who've been cast off by their family.

And then he finds out there's some kind of thing that's feeding off the other residents. And he has to decide if he'll do something about it.

Most of the movie focuses on an old man deciding to make something of what time he has left. In some ways, it's an ageless premise. It's also modern as we confront an aging population.

Plus, it stars Bruce "God" Campbell. Can hardly go wrong there. I now appreciate why he's been encouraging his fans to see this film; it's a fantastic role.

No posts recently because I've been caught by a really nasty illness. I'm talking...well, I won't share the symptoms in deference to decorum.

I seem to be recovering, though. That which does not kill me, etc.

(Which always struck me as false. Going into a coma won't kill you, but it sure won't make you stronger.)

Just returned from the writer's group, where I received lots of feedback on draft three of Giant Armors. I have a few minor changes to make now, and will incorporate any changes I receive from other readers by mid-June.

Felt great. They said that this was a significant improvement, and they look forward to reading any other changes. They had excellent advice for how I can tweak it.

Life's good. I need to remember how much I need community.

11:15 P.M. Driving home from the movies. Back country roads. The driver's side window is cranked all the way down, and the cool country night air tousles my hair. The comforting, sweet back-woods smell of evergreens and a thousand nights of decayed leaves is punctuated by sickly sweet honeysuckle and the acrid twang of skunk.

Tonight, as I downshift, life is grand.

You don't get credit for the small stuff.

Mowing the lawn. Cleaning up. Replying to emails. Balancing your budget. Nobody's going to come up and thank you for doing the small stuff.

I'm thirty years old, and I've just realized this. Internalizing it has changed me, for the better. I don't resent the small stuff. I don't get fed up with it. I just get on with it.

And I think that's good.