Great scott!

It's been almost two weeks since I blogged!  I am shamed.

Actually, not much to report.  Been stressing over school, work and life recently.  No time for writing for fun.  And forget NaNoWriMo.  I have to admit, I get jealous when I see people posting word counts on Facebook.  But then, I just remember that if there is any blame for my lack of production, it is 100% on me and my own choices.  And I'm actually ok with that.

What I am writing is academic in nature.  I did a 1,400+ word essay in a few hours, citing five different sources.  Despite all of the markups my professor put on it (mostly editorial and technical aspects) he really enjoyed the paper, and gave me 10 out 10 points on it.  I'm sure if I were to polish it up it would be pretty darn good.

Today I am starting to write an Academic Book Review on The Spartans by Paul Cartledge.  The difference between an "Academic" review and just a regular review is intent.  With an Academic, I need to make comments and cirticisms on not only the delivery of the author's work, but whether his goal for the work was achieved, and to what degree it succeeded or failed.

Interestingly, this needs to also be about 1,250+ words.  So, as far as length, I'm getting to where I can do that in my sleep.  And even though I haven't finished reading the book yet, I could probably fudge a pretty good review just based on what I have read so far.  I'm fortunate in that I have read certain portions of this book before, when I started researching the agoge and King Agesilaus.  But I do intend to read the whole thing, and will eventually add a copy to my personal library, as it pertains to my main area of focus, Ancient and Classical Cultures.

On a more whimsical note, I am enjoying taking time in the evenings, before the kids go to bed, to play online video games while they play and watch TV (after they go to bed, I try to focus on homework...sometimes I even succeed!).  Lately, I have been really getting into Battlefield Play4Free.  Basically it's a modern warfare FPS.  I actually made a micropurchase and got my character a beret and a MUCH better rifle.  It makes a huge difference.  Plus, as I play more and get better familiar with the controls, I can start using basic infantry tactics.  I'm to the point where, generally, I end an engagement with as many kills as I do deaths.  A far cry from the 1/20 ratio I started out with a few weeks ago.

Last night I also reupped my City of Heroes account, just so I could play with my wife.  She has been playing a couple of years longer than I have, and has some serious time and energy invested in the supergroup (of which she served as leader for quite some time).  We started new characters last night, just to test out the new content for low-levels.  The whole game is really slick now.  Granted, the graphics are still just a little sub-par (especially compared to DCUOnline), but the content, social interface, and character options more than make up for that.  Even the FTP content is better than most games, IMHO.

Of course, that all goes away at the end of next month.  Star Wars: The Old Republic comes out, and I am chomping at the bit for it.  A friend got to play in the first beta last weekend, and he gushed on and on about it in chat today.  I take that as a really good sign, since he is somewhat of an MMO snob, and judges these games with a very critical eye.

With all of this, life is kind of moving pretty fast.  My wife is gearing up for her new business venture that will be taking off like a rocket in about two weeks.  Then there is the AdvoCare business, which is already starting to gain some momentum.  The future looks pretty bright, and the darkness we have been bumbling through lately seems to be lifteing, slowly but surely.