Also home to The Special Ed Mechanic
Updated 2-16-08
So Steve... what's been going on since the last time you got off your lazy ass and updated this page?
Okay, okay... so everyone has a South Park likeness of themselves on their blog, website or MySpace page. How original Steve... what's next-- you gonna put up a an animated sparkle gif of your name? I use this image for two reasons: One, it's much more attractive than an actual picture of me and two, this picture reflects an important change in my appearance. After wearing my hair shoulder-length or longer for most of my life, I shaved my head in April of 2007.
After quitting my management job in May of 2006, I really let my hair grow out and I grew a beard. The long hair and beard looked pretty cool-- as long as I combed it and wore a hat to cover up the massive bald spot on top. After screwing up my courage for months, I shaved my head completely and trimmed my beard down to a goatee, going from the Deranged Street Person look to the Rapidly Aging Gen-Xer look.
It's amazing the way a simple change
in your appearance can change the
way people treat you. After going to this look, more women smile at me and
men are more likely to share a passing word or two-- probably because I no
longer look like a person that eats every meal out of a can and composes
stunningly bad poetry inside truck stop bathroom stalls. I can put on a
shirt and tie and look at home in any board room and I can also put on jeans and
a Harley t-shirt and blend in to any bar scene if I so choose. The look is
extremely versatile if nothing else.
Just compare with my previous South Park likeness at the right... the new image has been aged (ie the wrinkles around the eyes) and the dress has been updated. I do need to go back and add more grey into the goatee, however. The cigarette is omnipresent as always, but I decided to nix the dead cow.
The one thing that has not changed, however, is that I am still writing as much as always, perhaps even more as I now have a legitimate freelancing assignment. I have put the Special Ed Mechanic book on hold for now, as I am working on a serious novel which I hope to finish by the end of the year. I will put up a few new stories in the next few weeks despite what I said last year about not doing any more online publishing, so stay tuned.
An audiophile reborn, lost youth recaptured
Last year
my wife and I decided to do away with our landline phone and go exclusively to
using cell phones for our communication needs. Jenn really didn't care one
way or the other what kind of phone she ended up with, but I did-- I wanted one
loaded with gadgets, and I wanted it free. I found both when I decided on
Sprint as my new service provider. I got us a pair of LG Fusic phones with
a still camera, video camera and the all-important mp3 player. I also
ordered a pair of 1 GB micro SD cards so that we would never be short on tunes.
In the process of finding music for
my phone, I also rediscovered my
love of music as I ripped my library of CDs to wmvs and mp3s. More
specifically, I re-discovered my lifelong love of KISS. Their music
provided the soundtrack to my early years. So, I started searching the
Internet for a KISS community I could join up with and reminisce about the
music. I ended up on the
KISS Detention Hall and
found a home there... you couldn't ask for a better bunch of guys.
Everybody there is respectful to one another without being boring and most
importantly everyone there is intelligent-- a true rarity on the Internet
these days. The forum is hosted by mykisslfe.net and also features an
informative and entertaining series of podcasts and there's a music section
featuring KISS covers performed by forum members. If you're a KISS fan, I
urge you to go check it out.
Musing and Meanderings
As a special treat, I thought I'd give you an insider's view of the creative process that goes on behind my stories. First, I root out an idea and inspect it carefully. Then I chew on it for a while to see if my readers will swallow it. After a careful fermentation and digestion process, I serve it hot and steaming to you, my readers. (All four of you.)
Just my way of saying thanks for reading my shit all these years.