Today's Word: String

Small fragments of words. Lining the journal. Blasts of thoughts. And the author. Too afraid. To. Put them together. He felt. Satisfied to write. Them down. But left them to die without. Nurturing.

First chapter undergoing a washing and waxing. My darling and loving wife tells me I'm obsessing. I know she's right, that there's a point on the assembly line when you tighten the bolts just a little too much. Or, for my foodie readers, you cook the thing until all the nutrients are out of it. It's supposed to be a beta draft anyway. It gets a lot done, but my instincts tells me it could be a little too overheated. Rayelle comes off like a bullet-proof ninja in the proceedings instead of the street rat I'm hoping for.

But I don't think it sucks. That's a relief. It'll be the first time in a few weeks that I'm not dreading going into class. Reading the syllabus, the next few weeks look light, which means more time for me to write (the novel) and revise (for contest). I gave my wife my copy of "Battlefront" for Xbox to hide at her work for time being. I need to prune the distractions from now until the contest conference in July. If I get half the book done by then, I'd be okay. Three-quarters with the ending written would be better.

Oh, and this is for Mrs. P. I don't get a lot of inspiration for gaming, although "Battlefront" (my precious) did give me some ideas for a graphic novel I'd kill to do. Usually, I game to just game. I consider my Xbox and Gamecube as my play areas and my laptop my work area. I've been a gamer since I was about 7, and the advent of the Atari 2600. I read a lot of insider gossip on video games, and I'm very selective about what I play. It also doesn't hurt that I live in Seattle: Cradle to Nintendo of America and home of Microsoft. I go through fits and spurts of loving and hating the industry, usually coming down on a modified Sturgeon's Law that 90 percent of video games are the same old crap in a market dominated by sequels and cross-market licensing. I'm floating into LoveLand now, curious about the upcoming video gamegasm trade show, E3. Next year is going to be the roll out of the next generation of consoles, and I'm interested if there's going to be real innovation (Nintendo's Revolution) or if it's just going to be prettier candy (Xbox 2, PS3).

I like gaming more than television. Sometimes I wish the industry would grow up and take more risks. Would like to see more mature titles that don't revolve around gore or nudity. Less sequels, more innovative concepts. That said, I'll always stop and pick up a Star Wars title or the latest in the Legend of Zelda series.

My hypocrisy always gets me in the end. At least my wife (casual gamer, at best) likes to watch me murder pixels.