2007: Let's Do This

I'm supposed to be back in town today. Due to some unforeseen delays in the manufacture of a nightguard for my teeth, I'm out for another week.

It's been a good vacation, involving lots of sushi, gambling, and movies. A couple of our holiday traditions: 1) my mom and I like to hit the after Christmas sales at the department stores and compete to see who can receive the greatest percetage off a sale item. (I came in at fifty off a wool coat, and my mom came in at seventy-two off a pair of shoes.) 2) Marathon video game sessions among my brothers and my cousins. Previously, the game of choice was Starcraft. This year, it was Wii Sports. Both my brother and I can semi-consistently throw turkeys, which is inexplicable and thrilling. I'm highly anticipating the next iterations of Mario Golf and Madden, and I don't give a shit about golf or football, which can only mean that Nintendo's mojo is surely working its magic.

But now that January is here, I've got to go back to work, especially if I want to hit my next milestone, which is the first draft of my new script. Working from Dallas is difficult but possible; I competed much of my outline while my mom was in the hospital recovering from surgery. But Dallas requires a superhuman kind of discipline, since my brain is hard-wired to shut down when I'm in Collin County. And given how this county voted in the last several elections, mine isn't the only one.

Here's the plan for the week:

• coordinate with travel partners on our forthcoming sojourn to Japan and China
• daily meditation
• spend at least a few hours every day kicking the outline around
• go running every day
• visit the dollar theater (why don't they have these in LA?!) at least two times
• get my dry cleaning done