NOT-OK COMPUTER

Christmas Eve I sufferred the nightmare of a hard drive crash. My notebook computer locked up on me and then refused to restart, informing me that the operating system could not be found. A little time on tech support with the manufacturer only informed me that everything was gone, the repair discs they supplied me with would not work, and since my warranty with them was kaput, they could charge me $40 to continue the call and still not have it fixed. So, I have to take it back to where I bought it, as I still have two years left on my warranty there.

Still, I was ill-prepared for how devastasting a loss this would feel like, and what a ridiculous act of timing it was to not be able to do a single thing about it because of Christmas. I actually didn't lose that much in the scheme of things. I backed up the novel when it was finished, though of course I had not backed up everything else recently enough. I lost almost all the work I did on my novella over the past couple of weeks; it was the second draft, though, and I have a printout of the first. I also have a prinout of what was to be this month's "Can You Picture That?" but I won't be able to post it anyway. I lost some personal journal writing that is a bit sad to say good-bye to; that's the only sort of stuff it's hard to recreate. My e-mail is gone, too. Completely.

So, I'm going to be hard to get ahold of electronically for a bit. My back-up computer started to refuse to get on the internet last summer, and I haven't solved that problem yet. The old link I had to get to my confessions123 mail via the web isn't working, either. golightly@gmail.com is likely your best bet, but I am not sure how much I will be on the net for the time being.

So, if you e-mailed me later than Friday at 6:00 (Barry, you were the last guy I replied to), now you know why you haven't heard back.

YOU'RE A MEAN ONE, MR. RICH...

For those of you who are going out to do some last-minute shopping today, please be kind to the poor shlubs who have to work to compensate for your poor planning. If you aren't kind, I hope you have a rotten retail experience and an even worse holiday. You've no excuse. It's not like they sprung this on you. It happens the same time every year, you maggot!

And to those of you working behind a cash register today, I hope that customer you have a crush on stops by. Come on, I know everybody in retail has one. Well, except maybe comic book retail...because really, what customer would qualify?

Merry Stinkfist, suckers!!!

And don't forget, I do have an Amazon wishlist!

Current Soundtrack: The Boo Radleys, Wake Up!

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website

I STARTED A JOKE

From this week's New Yorker (12/23-27/2004):

That is so Lance Scott. Like, nutshell time.

Current Soundtrack: Low, A Lifetime of Temporary Relief disc 1

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2004 Jamie S. Rich

IS HE DEAD? (is he dead?) IS HE LIVING? (is he living?)

No, I have not been updating. Yes, I have been alive, and I have been working.

Besides the strange twists our lives always take after Thanksgiving, in this ridiculous time we have created to turn our worlds upside-down and max out our credit cards, I think I have a little post-partum depression in regards to The Everlasting. It makes me anxious, and it has made it difficult to transfer my energies to other work. However, since its completion, I have:

* Completed my first draft for the full-length graphic novel I am doing with...Christine Norrie. (There, I said it.) It's called 12 Reasons Why I Love Her, and it will be out, maybe, in 2006. No more secrets. (Sorry, Butterbear.)

* Turned in the scripts for Legal Drug volume 3 and Gravitation volume 12. The latter was turned in today, a week ahead of deadline.

* Secured a deal for a project due to be published in May, which I am now in the midst of rewriting. It makes me anxious, too. The publisher--someone we all know and love--will make an announcement soon, once all the final details are hammered out. This means I will likely be doing a comics convention or two this year, too. (It's not comics, however...but it's also not The Everlasting, which I have not yet begun to shop.)

* I got Guy Davis' inks for our story in The Dark Horse Book of the Dead, and I am really knocked out by them. His line work is more liquid than I normally expect from him, and it's really lovely. Guy drawing zombies and samurai...think about it!

I presume these are good enough reasons not to blog.

Current Soundtrack: The Music, Welcome to the North

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2004 Jamie S. Rich

I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYONE...EXCEPT MYSELF

Someone I don't know randomly said "Merry Christmas" to me yesterday.

To people like that, I only have two words in response. "FUCK YOU!!!" Go bother someone you actually know, if they aren't already sick of you, too!

Current Soundtrack: The Beautiful South, Gold Diggas Head Nodders & Pholk Songs

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2004 Jamie S. Rich