Been a while since I’ve put one of these little Broken Thought Process gems together. Hold onto something and prepare for the barrage of random topics about to hit you like a heat wave in Phoenix in August. Wait…never mind.
Hockey
Even the very mention of this tiny six letter word makes me sad right now because a ten letter word has stomped on it and kicked it to the side with blatant disregard for the little guy who suffers due to the inactivity. That ten letter word is management. Sort of.
Failing to agree that the players are right…cough, I mean, um…move at all on the talks over player's split means that all games up to the end of September are now cancelled. That’s pretty much all of preseason.
And with players like Seguin and Crosby hauling-ass over to Europe somewhere, it’s not all that encouraging that we’ll see the guys back on US soil, er, ice, anytime soon.
At least Dish got their heads out of their butts and didn’t charge us for the Center Ice package (like they said they were going to do regardless) so that’s great but Dish Network isn’t the one who suffers. The people who suffer are the ones no one thinks about.
A dude sells you a pretzel. That person has a job that helps pay their bills and they’re probably making minimum wage. Now maybe they work every event the arena sponsors so they have full time work. Knockout 3 games a week and Peter Pretzel Guy just went to part time. And he probably lost his benefits in the process.
It isn’t just Peter – Jack the Janitor, Zelda the Zamboni driver, the Ice Girls, mascot, security guards, ticket takers – EVERYone suffers from a loss of revenue. And for what? A measly 10-ish percent of the revenue split? Please.
For teams like the Coyotes a lockout could be the difference between sticking around or leaving the desert. They just started to build fan momentum, don’t kill that now. Not to mention I don't have the benefit of other levels of hockey anywhere nearby other than the ASU Sundevils (season opener is tonight at Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe, game starts at 8:30 and is against Texas A&M).
And while college hockey is nice (because it is hockey after all) I didn't go to ASU so I can't really get behind supporting them. Not to mention my sister would probably kick my ass for not rooting for the UofA Wildcats (who open their season tomorrow night against NAU up in Flagstaff).
There's no minor league team in Phoenix, the Sundogs moved to Prescott. So what's a fan to do but hope these NHL big-wigs can get it together sooner rather than later?
Health
Despite the fact that I want to be lazy I’m doing pretty good about sticking to a 3-4 day a week workout routine. I do what I feel like doing with no pressure. Some weeks I might do nothing but yoga, others straight up cardio and sometimes it’s a mix of the two. But I’m feeling better and even though it’s only been about a month I’ve lost around 4 pounds. Baby steps but I’ll take it.
Work
I think most of you know that I abandoned my second manuscript about the divorced 40 something who experienced more dating disasters than any one person should ever have to go through. When I shelved it I did so because I had an itch to write something with more punch, something adventurous.
So I did. I just finished the first draft of my very first Romantic Adventure. Think Romancing the Stone as an example of what I mean. But my story is nothing like that one; they’re just in the same basic genre.
The first draft was completed at the beginning of September, edits just wrapped last week. And now I’m supposed to be doing re-writes but I can’t seem to get myself to sit and work on it. But it has nothing to do with a lack of motivation or disinterest in the story. My issue is that I think I need to stop working from home.
I spend countless hours by myself clicking away on a keyboard or scribbling furiously with my red pen but this time around I think I need to inject the pace of the world into the book.
My main character is a Writer, a novelist, and a pretty successful one at that. She’s not the type to sit all day long inside writing without any other human contact. I need to find a place I like and start going there a few times a week to work on completing this novella. Because in the late fall I’m going to have to start working on the next MS – the first full-length book in the series about this character.
Oh and I’ve changed the title of the novella. Work In Progress sounded too youthful and not adventurous enough a title. Now I do admit it’s still “me” in that there won’t be too much blood or guts and you know it’s going to have a mostly upbeat ending too. But the title wasn’t working for me at all.
I hope to reveal the actual title within the next few weeks along with the cover art.
My goal was to get this out in October as an eBook with print copies available for purchase online but it looks like it might be sometime in November. Oh well, I don’t have an Agent yet so it is what it is. That’s the beauty of being a self-pub, you get to renig on deadlines that weren’t there in the first place. I guess you could say it’s the plus/minus of my work.
Now why did I have to go and say plus/minus?
I miss you already hockey…
9 comments:
I miss hockey too. I blame Gary Bettman for most of the stale mate. The players have agreed to lower there revenue from 57% to 53% and he won't budge from 49%. (Who brings the fans to the game?)
Also losing income are the businesses surrounding the stadiums -- restaurants, bars, parking lots, etc. It's an extremely sad situation!
Look forward to reading your next work. If as good as your novel, it will be amazing. If you need to do something to ignite the fire, that's cool too. How can you write if you don't live?
oops - that should be *their revenue, not there
You got that right - about fans coming to watch players. I mean some people probably attend in luxury boxes in efforts to close business deals or whatever, not even caring about the game at all. I get that, it exists & does nothing for the revenue in some cases. But 99.8% of people in those arenas on game nights are there as a direct support of the game at hand. I'm with you on blaming Bettman only now I'm even more pissed because he's locking them out for a lousy FOUR FREAKING PERCENT??? Last I heard he was down near 46 or something. Screwing with the paycheck of people who can't afford to lose 6 months of pay over a measly 4% when the players already moved 4% is like Bettman slapping all those people in the face. And I mean the support staff, not the players though they get the shaft too. Sux.
I miss watching it but my livelihood doesn't depend on it like some people. Sad day indeed. They're already the lowest paid pro athletes (some making a year what some NFL players make per game!) and they play their damn hearts out every night. They deserve the 4%, just get this thing going again geez.
Thanks for the encouragement & compliment on my writing, I think I'm going to the library to work starting next Monday. Like you said, gotta live! :-)
My disjointed comments
Hockey - well, you know I couldn't care less. They all get paid far more than teachers, the people training the future citizens of this country.
Health - sounds great. BTW, how is Matt doing?
Work - working at the library sounds like an interesting idea, and certainly you could do some research using paper materials that won't send up red flags to any...well you know. I'd suggest changing it up though, some days at library, some at coffee shop, some in a park outside, etc. But that's just me. I hope you figure out what works best for you. Maybe you'd like to do some painting? ;-)
Love you, Mum
The NHL obviously didn't learn their lesson a few years back. Everyone but the hardcore faithful just said, "OK, there's football, basketball, or I can just go out and do something on my own." It took them a year and some speed-up-the-game rules changes to bring most back into the fold. There really are some true dopes running that league.
You covered several bases here in your grand slam. :D
Wish I could get on even the tiniest health kick, but lately all I can see is an endless stream of unfinished projects begging me for attention.
Your new manuscript sounds delightful. :)
Some of those teachers you mention could have part time jobs as waiters at restaurants near the arenas and use that job as secondary income to support their families. With no games less people come in to eat, tips & revenue go down, hours need to be cut, teacher loses PT job. Or a kid who just graduated college maybe was hired to work on the medical staff. No games, no paycheck but they can't just leave. They're contractually obligated but not being paid. Like I said, the reach of the loss of revenue for each particular city where the sport is not being played will have a larger impact than just the players losing out on their salaries.
Matt's good, will fill you in when we talk in person.
NO PAINTING lol. I just need a change of venue & I'll take my laptop with me when I go!
And they get dopier everyday. The real issue is that this whole thing is going to rear its ugly head again in about 5 or so years when this CBA that hasn't even been agreed on yet expires again. I don't understand why the upper management is so adamant about hurting the collective of people who are involved in the sport they all support. Players can go overseas to play and make a paycheck, not all of them will of course but there's an option to give that a shot and support their families, etc. The ice girl who was using that paycheck to pay for her books for college? Yeah what's she supposed to do now when the economy is already precarious enough and jobs are scarce?
Thanks Anna! I look forward to pulling it together really soon and just getting it out there. The more I read the more I understand that I give my all to everything I write/release. Sadly the same can't be said for everyone but I'm enjoying reading as much as I can to teach myself how to blend quickness with quality :-)
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