Author: Matthew Groff

  • ODDS and ENDS: Getting Started, Oh Tottenham, and Bloody Mary Brunch

    (Forgetting her’s the nature of my flight…)

    Boy, do I suck and starting something new. And I also suck at just getting back to good habits. I say this because I have found a way to completely, and in the most air-tight form of rationalization, not go to the gym for a month. Even this morning, I was ready to not go to the gym, and I made sure that I did not go. Do I feel good about this decision? Absolutely not. Will I go to the gym on Monday? Odds are that I will not. Yes, indeed; I have found a way to squander the entire month of September. To a degree, I have impressed myself. You may think that this is easy to do, but it is not. Okay, okay, okay… Tuesday of next week; I’m going to the gym.

    Wow! Tottenham Hotspur sucks this season. Really sucks. They suck in a way I thought was impossible to suck. There was no way they could get worse than last season. No, no, they found a way. And they spent a shit ton of money, and somehow they suck even more! They are at the bottom. Completely at the bottom of the Premiere League table. Sitting at #20, with two points. Incidentally, their two points is equal to as many goals they have scored this season. Just… wow. Now, as a Cubs fan (and the Cubbies did get eliminated from the playoffs recently) I know what it’s like for your team to be at the bottom. And normally I would say that there is only one direction, and that’s up! But in the Premiere League, there is relegation, so we might not have hit bottom yet.

    Saturday, I have brunch plans, which sounds fancy, and a little pretentious… All of that is true. But it also means morning/day drinking in a very socially acceptable way. Happy weekend to all, and to all a good drunken afternoon nap.

  • My Story Won’t Work, But That’s Okay

    I have been working on this one short story, off and on, for like four months now, and the thing just won’t work. I’m on my fourth draft of it, which also means that I am attacking it from yet a new direction. I would like to say that fourth time’s the charm, but at this point, I would just be happy with a glimmer of hope that I am moving in the right direction.

    Which brings me to this question; When should I throw in the towel on this story?

    But as soon as I asked that question, it made more sense to invert the question; Why haven’t I given up on this story?

    Well… I think it’s funny, and original. I think there is a kernel of truth in it, which needs to be shared. And I like working on it, though it does feel laborious at times.

    Now, I do write stories which, I know while writing them, are complete pieces of shit, or when I finish them, confirms they are pieces of shit. I’m not being hard on myself, these things are garbage, but I know the exercise of writing a story is important too, even if no one will ever see it. And sometimes I have to get a story out of my head so I can move on to the next thing.

    Not this story… it keeps poking at me, and won’t let me leave it alone. I hate rewriting, but it keeps pushing me to take another crack at it.

  • Earworm Wednesday: You know, That Music They Play, the “Curb” Theme

    Not to get too political, but has anyone seen that video of Katie Britt, the Senator from Alabama, where they zoom in on her face as she figures out that they made a huge, embarrassing mistake in trying to “trap” Jack Smith over an Atlanta Hawks game he never attended? Its this video:

    Ever since I saw that video, I’ve had the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme playing in my head on repeat.

  • Three Days of Rain (Unedited)

    The news sure did make a big deal of the Nor’easter that we got up here this weekend. I’m not making light of the people who did lose power, and experienced flooding. For those of us in Upper Manhattan, Harlem especially, it was just rain, for three days. And it wasn’t a heavy downpour of rain. More like a steady drizzle, with occasional light rain. The wind, on the other hand, was gusty, with an added howl for character.

    What I would have enjoyed was to stay inside while the storm raged around us. Wasn’t that lucky, though. No, this was the weekend that I had to go out in it; to run the errands, drop the kid off, pick the kid up, get dinner, get school supplies, buy the last-minute school clothes, and of course walk the dog.

    I was damp for three days.

    With everything going on, I didn’t have the ability to enjoy the best part of a constant rain storm; which is to lay in bed and listen to it. Maybe read a book, possibly take a nap, but I just wanted to be lazy and listen to it come falling down and ping/prattle off my fire escape.

    Early Autumn rain is moody, and low key dramatic. It needs to be appreciated and valued for the sulky atmosphere it creates.

  • The Day Went Sideways

    But for a good reason.

    Enjoy your weekend.

    Talk to you on Monday.