My blogging frequency here dropped dramatically when our group stopped blogging for Game On, a semi-professional video games blog based in Madison, WI.  I used ICKYWMB to not only get out my non-gaming related thoughts, but to keep in practice for my “professional” posts.  Concerns with our host environment lead to a blogging sabbatical which then lead to us giving up on it entirely.

And yeah, there’s a new look and feel here.  I changed the theme after watching my friend Erik change the theme of his blog this past weekend.  It seemed like a good way to breathe a little life into the blog and signify a fresh start.  While I spent way too many hours on the previous theme’s custom header and PHP code to make it all look and behave exactly as I wanted, it no longer felt right.  This theme is just a standard Wordpress theme, with a few very minor tweaks to it.  It’s not as personalized as the old one and doesn’t behave exactly how I’d like it to, but it looks nice.

So, with Game On gone for the near future, I’m left with only ICKYWMB and a desire to write creatively about my life, observations, pop culture, and video games.  Let’s see if I can get back to writing on a regular basis.

Saturday, November 14th
9:00 PM – 10:00 PM Central Time

Listen live at TalkShoe

The show will also be available for download (presumably at the same link) after the fact if you can’t listen live.

I could write something else funny and original or maybe thought provoking, but nope.  I want to share a picture and/or a video with you and now that has put my brain into a special kind of writer’s block where all I can think of is that picture and that video.  At least they are both pretty cool.  It’s a nice place to have my mind stuck right now.

Just:  I use the word ‘just’ way too often.  Most of the time I use it correctly, but I use it where it’s not necessary.  In fact, I had to fight myself not to use it in that last sentence.  Usually, I don’t need the added emphasis that the word provides.  It’s just filler; a tick in my writing style.  I have been working hard to limit it’s use and save the word for when it’s actually providing some real benefit to the sentence it’s in.

Got:  I have destroyed this word over the years.  I use it far too often and unlike “just”, I generally use “got” incorrectly.  There is almost always a better, more preferred word that could be used.  While “got” may be accepted in many of these cases, it is quite often grammatically wrong.  One of the situations where I catch myself utterly failing with “got” is when it’s just redundancies.  Take this sentence: “I’ve got to see that!”  Expanding the contraction changes the sentence to: “I have got to see that!”  The word “got” is just not needed here.  “I have to see that!” is all that’s required for it to be a clean sentence that makes it’s point.

I realize now that this was likely a very boring entry.  Who wants to read about grammar?  I’m sure that some people might want to, but those people probably aren’t coming to this blog to get their grammar fix.  Maybe this particular entry is a little self-serving.  By writing about these two things I’m working on, I’ve forced myself to think about them more.  Also, it allows you, dear reader, to know what I’m trying to do and call me out on my missteps in the comments when I make these “mistakes” in future blog entries.  Consider that your free pass to tell me that I’m wrong.  But please, you got to promise to just do it when I use “got” and “just”.

Switching gears, last night I saw “A Perfect Getaway” in the theater.  I knew I wouldn’t like it as much as I liked “District 9″, but I didn’t expect to not enjoy it.  Unfortunately, that is what happened.  The movie never felt like it really took off.  The last 15 minutes or so are okay, but it’s a long, slow journey to get there.  I’m not even sure I can recommend this movie as a rental unless you’re really into thrillers and can be patient with a slow-moving one.

Maybe tomorrow will bring the update.  Unless I forget, yet again, to edit the photos.  Then you’ll have to wait another day.  Or maybe even longer.  Maybe I’ll forget about these photos all together or be too lazy to edit them.  The world may never see them.

Look at all the fake drama and fake excitement for 2 photos that are most likely not deserving of it.

This little desire of mine has been around for many years, although I rarely act on it.  About 17 years ago when I was in middle school, I wrote a story for “Back to the Future – Part IV”.  It was 22 double-spaced pages in length.  Barely even a short story, but by far the longest thing I had ever written.  Sadly, it may still be the longest thing I’ve ever written.  I think I only asked three people to read it.  One thought it was okay, but didn’t really like it.  One had practically no comment at all. Finally, the third person never actually read it.

Since that story, I have only once attempted to write anything long-form.  Last summer I had planned to write a piece about the S/S Norway (formerly S/S France) ocean liner that was being scrapped in India.  The idea was that I was going to write about how I came to know of the ship and then write about it’s terrible, controversy-filled demise.  I had planned to put this piece up on my old blog, split into about 10 segments.  I wrote a nice, detailed outline, but never  was unable to get going on the actual writing.

Someday I still want to write something more long-form, but the desire to this is not nearly as strong as my other desires to spend time with loved ones, play games, watch movies, or read what “real” authors have already written.  Maybe this is why I enjoy blogging so much.  It gives me the opportunity to flirt several times a week with the writer in me without sacrificing any of the other things that I would never sacrifice for the opportunity to write.

A couple months away from long-form blogging was all it took for me to realize how much I missed it.  The community at Mindsay was great, but I liked having a place where I could release my creativity upon the world.  And that’s how this blog came to be.  Head to the About page to learn more about me and where my domain name comes from.  I know it’s a mouthful, so feel free to use the acronym, ICKYWMB (pronounced Icky Womb).

Subscribe to the RSS to get my thoughts, my observations, and hopefully more.  I have grand ideas for the future of this blog, some of which may never happen.  My thoughts include everything from daily photos, videos, original comics, and maybe an occasional return to audio. If you know me from my time at Mindsay, you might have an idea what that last one means.  And feel free to comment.  And tell your friends if you find me amusing (the more the merrier).  And make yourself at home.

Sir, please put your pants back on.  I don’t care if that’s how you lounge around at your home, it’s not what I meant when I said you could “make yourself at home”.  All right, fine, you can keep your pants off.  Just don’t dance… much.