Writin' on a Sunny Day

It's been a long bunch of days since I finished the last Mythos chapter. I spent one night at my son's high school helping the freshmen decorate their hall for spirit week. I did this until I realized I wasn't needed and then wound up going home and working (the actual stuff I get paid for) until I had to pick him up again. On Friday, my wife set off with some friends to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at Giants Stadium. That was kind of last minute, so the kids and I were on our own. This, of course, calls for dinner at Friendly's. Friendly's service being what it is, we were there for a couple of hours.

I finally got around to starting the next chapter somewhere around 10pm. Although Friday tends to be one of my more prolific writing nights, I'd almost fallen asleep in front of the TV during my time with the little kids. Coffee was in order. A mug of steaming Flavia later, I set out to write. I fired up MS Word, grabbed my character notes and Sasquatch notebook, which has all my plot ideas, and gazed up at the screen.

I believe I tweeted the word, "crap" at that point, because I came to the realization that my outline had a massive gap between the end of the last chapter and the next major plot development. After a change in musical accompaniment on VH1 radio, I began scratching out some ideas in the ol' green Sasquatch. Eventually, I buckled down and managed to scratch out 800 words. Not bad, considering I didn't think I had two paragraphs in me.

Saturday morning, I realized all I'd written belonged at the end of the prior chapter.  Phooey.  Okay, that chapter had been a little short.  Still, I've got some good stuff for the next chapter or two. There's another Zydeco/Magenta scene coming - really needed to build up their relationship some more. And then there'll be a funny scene with Zydeco and Blaine and Blaine's pad. Blaine lives with a family of former gnomes. I'm aiming for Monty Python. We'll see how it goes.

But wait, there's more. And it's not writing related. Well, maybe it is. I  joined my wife at the next Springsteen concert Saturday night. Since they're taking a wrecking ball to Giants Stadium when the football season is over this year (huge stadium next door being built for Giants/Jets), Bruce is playing the last set of concerts (5) at the stadium. Some highlights for you....

When there's an enormous (an 80,000 seat) edifice in the middle of what used to be primary parking for a football stadium, parking basically sucks. It took us 20-30 minutes driving at 3 mph through the parking roads until they got us into a lot. The tailgating was as good as any football game though. I only wish I'd had seats like these for the last Jets game I went to. 45 yard line, 30th row lower level. Dang. The music was, of course, awesome. This was the night to perform the entire Born in the U.S.A. album, and I got into Bobby Jean and No Surrender.

People watching - okay, there appeared to have been more beer consumed at the concert than at many a pre-season football game. At $8/8.50 a beer, people were drinking 4 - 8 per person. Jeez. We had a group of four couples behind and next to us (in their early 50's I'm guessing) who were royally toasted, and this one woman was dancing in front of her husband, basically dry humping him for about an hour and a half until they disappeared somewhere.  Actually, 3 of the 4 couples left, and only 2 of the women came back. One appeared as if she'd consumed and/or smoked something not fit for conscious beings. She swayed slowly with her eyes closed and a goofy smile on her face, nearly falling down once or twice.  Oh, and speaking of falling down...

A guy rolled/tumbled down the steps next to us. I'd say he fell about eight steps and took out somebody in the next aisle before stopping and getting to his feet. It took him a minute, but he seemed to get hold of himself and climb back up the stairs. No idea what happened to him.

Let's see. Oh, yes. They had these boom cameras scanning the crowd and projecting on these enormous screens on either side of the stage. There was a group moment of zen as a woman lifted her shirt and flashed her sizable pair for Bruce and 50,000 fans to see.

What else? Bruce brought a ten-year-old girl up on stage to sing a bit of Waitin' on a Sunny day with him. She sang right into the microphone, got a couple hugs and a picture with him. The girl is from our town - and is a friend of my daughter's. Heck, I even coached her in softball. This is like two or three degrees of separation, right? LOL.  Anyway, way to go Sarah! You done great!