Writing R&R...for football!
Ahhh.
You know what I’m doing right now, besides this? I’m lounging in my retro office chair, watching the Dodgers, and letting a Subway Veggie Delite® (such shitty corporatese) settle in my stomach.
You know what I’m not doing? Writing.
Well, I am writing. But I’m not being literary.
Last night I finished the revision of a personal essay I’d been working on since March. I started the piece in January, so I’ve been focused on it for four months, minus a week or two break I took between drafts. At over 11,000 words, it is the largest rewrite I’ve ever attempted and finished.
Tonight I decided to celebrate by doing nothing — relatively speaking. I’m not being artistically productive, racking my brain for the right word, the right way to turn a line. I still need to create, still need to write, though. That’s who I am. My day is incomplete, unsatisfying, when I don’t write. But after this I’ll really do nothing: sit on my ass and watch the remainder of the Dodgers game. Then, after the final out is made, I plan to turn on my PS2 and play a little NCAA Football.
The 2005 version — 2006 — to be exact. Yep, I’m still playing it — despite the fact it’s almost four years old, predates the newest PlayStation incarnation, and that I have one of its predecessors (2008). I’m stuck on it, forever continuing the coaching dynasty I started in July 2005, a month before beginning my last year of college.
I’ve written about this before, way back in the day when I was a temp (office whore) in Santa Cruz. Not much has changed except the teams I’ve coached. I can’t remember the exact order, but after leaving Washington State I hopped around the country for stints at Boston College, Kansas, Iowa, and Connecticut. My last coaching move was to Ohio; I’ve been with the Bobcats for six or seven season, the longest I’ve ever stayed at any program. (I continued the “three-years-and-out” practice until UConn, where I stayed for five or six years. My coaching rep was horrible because I never stayed anywhere for long.) I’ve turned the little MAC team from Athens into a national juggernaut. I haven’t lost a single conference game, hauled in all the MAC titles since moving to Ohio, and won three straight national championships. I was snubbed by the BCS in the season I just finished, denied a chance to lengthen my reign despite being undefeated.
But I’ve decided to play one last season and try winning one last championship. I have a gifted dual-threat quarterback who is probably the best QB I’ve had in my 2006 coaching career. He throws an accurate and powerful spiral, and has the speed to scramble like nobody’s business. Vaughn is the second coming of Michael Vick — minus the illegal and unethical dog fighting, of course — and I was somehow able to talk him into staying for his senior season (after he won the Heisman, too). His final season will be my swan song as an armchair Kirk Ferentz in 2006.
For the next week or two I’m taking a break from Writing (big W). The plan is to relax, watch the Dodgers, and dominate on the PS2 gridiron.
You know what I’m doing right now, besides this? I’m lounging in my retro office chair, watching the Dodgers, and letting a Subway Veggie Delite® (such shitty corporatese) settle in my stomach.
You know what I’m not doing? Writing.
Well, I am writing. But I’m not being literary.
Last night I finished the revision of a personal essay I’d been working on since March. I started the piece in January, so I’ve been focused on it for four months, minus a week or two break I took between drafts. At over 11,000 words, it is the largest rewrite I’ve ever attempted and finished.
Tonight I decided to celebrate by doing nothing — relatively speaking. I’m not being artistically productive, racking my brain for the right word, the right way to turn a line. I still need to create, still need to write, though. That’s who I am. My day is incomplete, unsatisfying, when I don’t write. But after this I’ll really do nothing: sit on my ass and watch the remainder of the Dodgers game. Then, after the final out is made, I plan to turn on my PS2 and play a little NCAA Football.
The 2005 version — 2006 — to be exact. Yep, I’m still playing it — despite the fact it’s almost four years old, predates the newest PlayStation incarnation, and that I have one of its predecessors (2008). I’m stuck on it, forever continuing the coaching dynasty I started in July 2005, a month before beginning my last year of college.
I’ve written about this before, way back in the day when I was a temp (office whore) in Santa Cruz. Not much has changed except the teams I’ve coached. I can’t remember the exact order, but after leaving Washington State I hopped around the country for stints at Boston College, Kansas, Iowa, and Connecticut. My last coaching move was to Ohio; I’ve been with the Bobcats for six or seven season, the longest I’ve ever stayed at any program. (I continued the “three-years-and-out” practice until UConn, where I stayed for five or six years. My coaching rep was horrible because I never stayed anywhere for long.) I’ve turned the little MAC team from Athens into a national juggernaut. I haven’t lost a single conference game, hauled in all the MAC titles since moving to Ohio, and won three straight national championships. I was snubbed by the BCS in the season I just finished, denied a chance to lengthen my reign despite being undefeated.
But I’ve decided to play one last season and try winning one last championship. I have a gifted dual-threat quarterback who is probably the best QB I’ve had in my 2006 coaching career. He throws an accurate and powerful spiral, and has the speed to scramble like nobody’s business. Vaughn is the second coming of Michael Vick — minus the illegal and unethical dog fighting, of course — and I was somehow able to talk him into staying for his senior season (after he won the Heisman, too). His final season will be my swan song as an armchair Kirk Ferentz in 2006.
For the next week or two I’m taking a break from Writing (big W). The plan is to relax, watch the Dodgers, and dominate on the PS2 gridiron.
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