Thursday, June 26, 2008

Lots of writing (but not the blog kind...)

So I’ve been writing a lot lately and unfortunately it hasn’t been on this blog. For that, faithful readers, (all two of you), I apologize. The truth of the matter is that I have been consumed by the desire to write short stories (and I actually started on a novel, which should be fun).

And I know what I just said sounds like pretentious crap (and you’d probably be right to think that), but I recently got over a long bout of writer’s block and I’ve just been glad to celebrate by doing all sorts of sporadic wordsmithing.

So, in honor of my happiness and joy at my rediscovered writing inspiration, I’m going to go a little bit out of my comfort zone (and my element… I looked for a video clip for the scene in the Big Lebowski and couldn’t find one…) by posting one of my previously-written poems relating to this specific subject.

I don’t plan on making this a habit (unless this poem jumps my readers up from like 6 to about 1,000…or if the six of you that do read it give me an overwhelmingly positive response), so if you don’t care for it, just come back for the next blog post and things should be back to normal.

I plan on getting a post up about my musician friend Joey Ryan soon (he has a new band, which is awesome), amongst other posts waiting to be written and read. For now, read this poem and let me know what you think, good or bad. But just so you know, I’d prefer good.

Here it goes:

Writer’s Blocked


My writing’s blocked by writer’s block

and the tick-tock on the clicking clock

tactlessly’s distracting me

from going on my writing spree.

Unlikely that I’d like the write;

excuse me, writing (sounds more right)

if what I’m writing isn’t right.


So, still, I cannot write tonight

or write today, what I’m to say

on pages lit by light of day.

Did I say “say?” I did mean “write;”

“saying” words onto paper is not quite right.

Unless the reader’s lacking sight

in which case saying’s the best write

(or way to write, as I should say)

so that my words are on display

to those who might be out of sight.


Not to say they can’t be seen,

but, their eyes can’t see a scene

unless said scene is painted, see,

with words and sounds of imagery.

And so the job is up to me

to help the blind to better see

and help their minds run blindly free

and send them on a seeing spree.


And now I see it seems to be

my writer’s block’s become a spree.

Creativity’s come back to me;

my once blind eyes, again, can see.


-Mike Billeter (written 5-7-2008…and add an intellectual property claim or copyright or something like that to the poem too)


So that’s my poem. I’m not always inclined to share my writings with a public audience, and usually my stuff isn’t this lighthearted, but I’m in a good mood so I figured it was worth throwing out there. Also, this should be plenty of material for your ever-heartwarming comments that you’re looking forward to leaving, Jason.


-“I’ve been in the poem of many a poet and I reside in the art of many an artist…”


Thursday, June 12, 2008

Finally! My Final Four...

I’m going to be honest – I genuinely cannot decide how to differentiate between the final four distractions on my Top 10 Distractions list. I literally (not figuratively, but literally), sat for about 20 minutes on my computer and debated this one (rearranged the list, reworded descriptions, etc.) and no competitor is distinguishing itself/themselves as a clear cut winner out of my final four. So I’m just going to give them to you as potential candidates for first place (just saw this for the first time the other day…it’s awesome if you look up the back story) in no particular order, and we can decide which one wins based on everybody’s comments.

P.S. – I’m hoping to make this the last of my overly, insanely long posts. I just could not decide how to break it up. But this should be the end of those. I almost promise. And I'm going to start adding more pictures. And possibly some embedded videos too, now that I can do that. So much excitement!

P.P.S. - No matter how many times I've tried to re-edit and fix this post, it still shows up as one big jumble of paragraphs with no spaces depending on your browser. I apologize, but it appears I've been defeated. But this is the last time Google Blogger defeats me!


(potential) #1: Wikipedia/IMDB/YouTube
Ok, I know you know about these websites. If you don’t, you soon will. Basically, I can get lost for hours on any of these three sites. For example, during finals week this past May, I spent TWO HOURS bouncing around on Wikipedia so I could read about 1950s actors and actresses. I thought, I don’t know enough about them so I should read up... Then I realized I had wasted 1/12 of my day. With the Internet Movie Database, you can spend hours reading trivia bit after trivia bit and reading hilarious quote after hilarious quote on your favorite movies and TV shows. And if you don’t know about the stuff you can watch on YouTube yet, then I’m just so sad for you. I’m going to list five videos that have made me laugh (or made me happy) recently…and this isn’t even a Top 5…just five that I’ve recently enjoyed. They are here, here, here, here, and here. Then all you have to do is spend the rest of eternity looking up video after video and you can see why it’s distracting. Like you don’t already know that though.

(potential) #1: Twittering/Blog reading/Facebooking (p.s. – that’s not actually me)

Of these three, Twitter has really moved into the primary spot for my distracting. In fact, I’ve sort developed a nervous twitch (eerie, considering “twit” is found within the word twitch) that results in my checking of Twitter every ten minutes to see the updates. If you don’t know what Twitter is yet, go ahead and watch this informative video. In an effort to keep the middle portion of this distraction sandwich short, blog reading is what you’re doing right now. And I do it a lot. With other people’s blogs. Since I basically only check Facebook these days to read my wall and write on my friends’ walls, it’s pretty much a version of Twitter with more friends on it for me. I also play Scrabulous though, so maybe it’s worth it to stick with Facebook awhile longer. Needless to say, I spend a lot of time socially networking. And I get distracted due to this social networking. Fortunately, as a blog writer for my real life job (not this blog, but a different one), this is almost not a bad distraction.

(potential) #1: Video Games (I know it’s not the actual game, but it looks like fun)

I play too many video games. Instead of listing the reasons they distract me, I’ll just list what my roommate and I share right now and you’ll hopefully understand the level of distraction these things bring into my life. Here is what we own with which to waste time in our apartment: a regular NES, a Super NES, a Nintendo 64 (same clip, still funny), a Playstation 2, a Playstation 3, and a Wii. We have all of the Guitar Heroes, Rock Band, the Mario Karts that matter (64 and Wii), and so many other things. It’s basically a buffet of video games. Which is why I’ll start playing Rock Band with my roommate Andras and my friend Cole at 8:00 pm and end up playing until 1:30 am. It’s a guaranteed disaster for productivity.

(potential…and final) #1: Television Shows on DVD

What do my roommate and I do when we aren’t playing video games (or being social and actually hanging out with people)? We watch hours of television series(es)… on DVD. This really began in the dorms sophomore year, when one of us would want to watch an episode of Family Guy. We’d say “just one Family Guy” in order to convince the other roommate to stay up a little later. And, of course, this would turn into four or five episodes of Family Guy and our hours of sleep would consequently decrease. Fortunately, we eventually evolved into more intelligent beings as time went on, and we quickly converted our addiction to shows like Arrested Development (check the headline link) and Entourage. And, don’t worry Miles and Holli, Lost is a part of that list as well. Watching just one of these shows is like trying to stop watching ESPN’s Top 10 Plays after the first one they show. Why stop when you know they are only going to get better? And that’s why they’ve distracted me time after time.

So there you have it. My final four of distractions. Now that this post is FINALLY done, I can move into blogging real life events in which I’m sure you’ll be much more interested. And I’ll try not to keep you hanging in suspense for such a long time. And I’ll definitely try to start making these much, much shorter. Thanks for your patience, all.

And please comment on what you think is your biggest distraction. Is it one of these? Is it something unique to you? Is it legal? Do you have pictures? Feel free to answer any and all of these questions.

Well I be done seen about everything, when I see a elephant fly

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