WRITER'S BLO(G/CK)

My original plan was to write a post about Max Headroom back on April 3 rd .   Because Max made his television debut on April 4 th , 1985.   So my post about Max would have been the day before the character’s 37 th birthday.   Happy (belated) birthday, Max!   But instead of doing that, I instead didn’t post anything for a five month stretch.   Oops.   Sorry about that.   BIG EXCITING NEWS! Instead of holding the BIG EXCITING NEWS for the end of this post, I’m opting instead to lead with it.   I didn’t want to take the risk that you’d become bored reading me gush about Max Headroom and not make it all the way to the BIG EXCITING NEWS.   So, here it is… On July 29 th , 2022, Deadline.com broke the news that there is a Max Headroom reboot in production at AMC.   Matt Frewer is returning to play Max.   The adaptation is being written by Christopher Cantwell (co-creator, executive producer, and co-showrunner of Halt and Catch Fire .   The show is being produced by Elijah Wood and

The post that kicked off this whole blog was 22 Things To Do In 2022 .   That post outlined my goals for this year.   The sixth item on that list (which was in no particular order) was Participate in SHIPtember .   So, with the beginning of the event kicking off in just a few short days, am I indeed going to participate this year?   [Spoiler Warning:   No, I’m not.   Hence the phrase “Missed Opportunity” in the title of this post.]   Month-Long Build Challenges Today’s post is about one of the month-long build challenges for the AFOL ( A dult F an O f L EGO) community.   Sometimes the challenge is to build a MOC or MOCs ( M y O wn C reation, to differentiate an original model from a set mass produced for sale, complete with instructions) within a certain theme.   And sometimes the challenge is to build one comparatively large MOC within the confines of the month.   I know that there is at least one month-long build challenge for every page of the calendar, but I don’t know t

On March 6 th , I talked about what I’ve all written, fiction-wise.   (That post was titled Autobibliography .)   Now I’d like to talk about who I’ve all written as.   For not having a lot of completed works of fiction under my belt, I certainly have a fair number of pen-names.     Mike Snethen All right, I suppose that technically “Mike Snethen” doesn’t qualify as a pseudonym as it’s my actual name.   But it was the byline that I started out writing stuff under.   All my early stuff was “written by Mike Snethen”.   Two-part story in the 8 th grade school newspaper.   Six installments of an unfinished serial and a monthly column in Matrix Extracts (the newsletter of the local Doctor Who fan club).   Along with a few other odds and ends.   Then, one day, I was musing aloud about how great it would feel to walk into a bookstore, go to the science-fiction section, and see my name on the cover of a book.   Dad was there when I was talking about this, and what he said to me is

On February 16 th , I posted a piece to the blog entitled “Insomnia”.   I was really hoping that my doctors would find a treatment or better yet cure for my problem.   I was hoping not to need to write a follow-up to that post, but… here we are.     Prelude to a Sleep Study The day after Bricks Cascade 2022, I had an appointment at the Willamette Sleep Center here in Salem.   A consultation to schedule a sleep study.   I’d had a sleep study conducted on me once before, back in the late 80s or early 90s, when my CFS was still undiagnosed, and they were busily eliminating medical conditions that I ‘might have had’.   I did not care for it, and was really not looking forward to another one.   When I was called back into one of the doctor’s offices, she explained to me just what a sleep study entailed.   We talked about the medical reasoning behind why I might have sleep apnea.   We talked about some of my other medical problems.   And I brought up the fact that I sleep sitting upr