So I FINALLY got my Taylor Swift top hat ornament yesterday, December 9, 2023 after ordering it like three weeks ago right after I got a promotional e-mail from Taylor Swift.com announcing available lines of merchandise available for Christmas. I was expecting an immediate ship-out and get the ornament in a couple days or so. Took wayyy longer than I expected. And a week and half ago they sent me an email with UPS tracking information on it that showed it was still at their facility ready for pick-up. That made me think some started the order, but never fulfilled it and shipped it out. Why. Because when you track with UPS they show you station by station where a given package is. Talking with one of the customer service reps I thought they were blowing me off. BUT as it turns out, happy ending I finally did get my "top hat" ornament. Arrived by UPS truck just as I was getting home from work. That and my first Christmas present bought for one of my brother's kids came it. Some really clothes from Nautica.
This year I did 90% of my shopping on line.
Trying to avoid this:
Hit two stores locally, but only bought from one. Got my mom a really cool folding out, camping style, rocking chair. Got that from Bass Pro Shops on the Tennessee/Virginia border. Went to Best Buy in hopes of getting my brother an MP3 player for work, but the store was so run down, that I pulled the plug on that.
At the end of the month I'm taking my brother and his oldest son, Brycen, to the Tennessee Titans game in Nashville against the Seattle Seahawks. The tickets cost me a fortune. This will be my first time at Nissan Stadium, and I'm kind excited to see what it's like watching a game amidst a bunch of Southerners. The "plan" is to drive to Nashville on a Saturday, spend the night there. Then watch the game on Sunday, and drive back to Kingsport after the game on Christmas Eve to be home and ready for Christmas morning. Know what it's like to watch a game in Seattle, but this will be different. Hopefully special, although this year's Seahawk team really looks a disappointment: had some really bad, blowout losses and are currently (at the time of writing this post) on a three game losing streak.
This the season to be jolly . NOT the season to make excuses!
Creatively, I'm working on a creature-horror spec. It's called, The Otterroid. It's about a hybrid alien who's brought up on a crab pot, then wrecks havoc on an island where a Japanese research and development company is working on creating a better bred of crabs to survive climate change and a warming ocean.
Right now, at 3:30 a.m. on a Saturday I SHOULD be working on The Otterroid instead of writing this post. Talk about your Christmas excuses! I'm already behind schedule on this project, as earlier I had made a goal for myself to have the 1st draft completed by the start of December. And have the project re-written 1 to 2 times, and ended by January 1, 2024. Currently on page 80 of the 1st draft, and snagged over how to handle late ACT II to mid ACT III. Going back over the outline and looking to beef that up. I do that a lot: go back-and-forth from outline to draft. I TRY to use the outline to focus my concerns, chart plot points and hone the logic of a given story.
Still, it's the holiday season, so maybe a little grace is in order. Sometimes you push the creative process to hard. Gotta give it time to grow and expand organically. A lot of creative writing is trial and error. One of my goals (and I think strengths) as a writer is that I'm mentally sound and don't freak-out. I'm really under no pressure to write The Otterroid. Nor have I really ever been under any real pressure by any one in the industry before. No one has ever been "waiting" for me to finish a screenplay so they could film a movie off it.
So relax, E.C.; and just write the best story you can.
Blogwise, sorry it's been over a month since my last post. NO, I'm not thinking of ending this blog. Truth be told between today: December 9, 2023 and October 23 (the date of my last blog post) I got sick. Real sick. So sick that I had to take a week of work. A couple days ago was the first time I felt 100%. When I was real sick I had red-eyes to the point I could barely see, had an intense migrane, and some congestion in my lungs.
Did get well enough to go running on Thanksgiving Day. That used to be a BIG tradition for me. A very long run, before hanging out for dinner and watching NFL football games. Glad to get back into this year, as that's actually an E.C. Henry, personal tradition that I like! :) In times past I used to collect all my change and cash it in and give the proceeds to a blind guy I knew in Washington, but since I moved to Tennessee I felt it was time to move on from that. I've since learned that guy is getting remarried! God is good! Even in your 50s, God can still surprise you. The blind guy I used to give money too was a quasi-friend I met through church. At one point he had a beautiful wife and had two kids with her, but she ended up divorcing him. Anywho... Life change and isn't stagnant.
So moving on, I'm so glad I've got most of my Christmas present shopping done. Over the next week or so they should be arriving, knock on wood. Work-wise I'm being asked to work five 10-hour shifts, so that cuts into my writing time. Also hoping to get more connected at church. Lotta pretty girls there.
Faith + hotties
"Make a wish, E.C. ..."
Why not?
Sure I'm 54 now, but that doesn't mean I'm dead! God can do amazing things. The power of life and death is in our tongues. So stay positive and breath LIFE into yourself and those around you. Being filled with God's Holy Spirit is the key to that. So much of the Christian life was never meant to be handled soley on willpower alone. So ask God into your heart, and ask Him for His help in making you an adequate servant for His higher purposes. To God be the glory!
My next post will probably be on that: how we glorify God. Such an interesting aspect to focus on; how the common man or woman can life their life to glorify their Creator. Do you have a God conscious? Or do you think this life on Earth is all there is? I'm here to tell you, that this life isn't all there is. Whether you believe Jesus is Lord or not, there is a SPIRITUAL COMPONENT in every man woman and child so NO EXCUSE --
Have a Merry Christmas everyone!
