Goofing Off!!

So, I barely ever do this, but yesterday, I spent the entire day off the phone and internet and even away from work, and just relaxed, read, watched, and played. I guess the stuff I was doing was slightly related to work, but was done for fun. Just an impromptu day of remembering why I do what I do. Kinda recharges me.

I watched "The Secret of NIMH," which was a childhood favorite. Such a great story about a mother trying to protect her son. Don Bluth = genius! Love the work that went into it. Found out it was based off of a book titled "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH." I'll have to track that down. The DVD I've linked to for that has a crappy new cover on it. Don't know why they did that. Makes it look all cheesy when it's a pretty dark and serious film (like the one to the left kinda portrays).

Finished reading "The Chronicles of Narnia." This was a milestone in my life. I was lucky enough to catch the BBC Movie of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" on tv when I was home sick one day in about third or fourth grade. I fell in love. But, for over a decade, I couldn't find anything about them, and no one seemed to know what I was talking about. So, this is my first time reading the series all the way through. Love the way it ended. Great, great storytelling. Oh, and the collection had a really cool essay by Lewis in the back about Writing for Children. Here's an awesome quote, "When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." I love that, and I'm totally going to use it when people pick no me for my tastes.

... Went for a bike ride. ;o)

Played a couple of games on my new Sega Plug and Play. Not much of a gamer anymore, in fact, this and the Gameboy Advance that I never use are the only game systems I have any more. But, I was a game fanatic as a kid, which is why I got this. It has one of my all-time favorites on it. "Altered Beast!" a game that the local C-Mart had the Arcade machine of back in Smith Center when I was a youngin'. I'd ride my bike clear across town everyday (just about) and play, eat mini-pizzas, candy, and suicide slushies. Fond childhood memories. Anywho, it also has 5 other games, including Sonic, Kid Chameleon, a tetris-like game, Golden Axe, and a weird one called Flicky. Pretty amazing that they can get 6 awesome games on one little box now. Times'a changin'.

Watched a Jack and the Beanstalk cartoon by Michael Palin (Monty Python). Actually, it was more like a children's book that's narrated to music, because nothing was animated, it just moved around on illustrations. Which was great. It was a suprisingly well done production. Loved the sketchy pen drawings by Edward Sorel. Fun stuff and pretty inspirational. I even drew an ogre in that sketchy style. I'll have to scan that sometime.

Watched a Goosebumps DVD. Episode: "The Werewolf of Fever Swamp." I've always been a big fan of R. L. Stine's (and I'll site that C. S. Lewis quote once more, naysayers. ;o) He tells fun stories in interesting locations with unique characters. Yeah, they're a bit formulaic, but they're also surprising. Anyway, I loved the TV show after school when I was a kid. Plus, I'm getting into the Halloween mood.

... Ate a cheese and chicken quesadilla lean pocket. That was tasty.

I read a short story in "The Best Horror Stories from the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Vol. 1" by Brian W. Aldiss, titled "Poor Little Warrior!" Very weird, but really interesting style of writing. Very flowery and loaded with metaphors, but it works.

Watched a little cartoonage and went to bed.

All in all, a really great day that helped inspire and recharge me. Don't get to do that often, so I enjoyed it immensely.

Today, I'm back to writing, working out, drawing, emailing, blogging, calling, etc. Though, I think I'm also going to watch "The Silver Chair" DVD from the Chronicles of Narnia collection. And tomorrow, I'm going to see "Corpse Bride," which I'm really excited about. But, then on Monday, I'm back to full-fledged workin' like a dog (who works from home ... and doesn't actually do any manual labor).

Peace out, Napoleon. ;o)