Okay okay ... yes, I've neglected this blog. It's been, what, six or seven months since the last time I came around here? I'm not going to toss out any bullshit excuses either. The truth is, I got wrapped up in my work at the time, and the longer I went without updating the blog, the less I thought about it. Hell, I'd almost forgotten about the blog (I said "ALMOST"). Anyway, I'm back, and I figured it's time to run a quick update by you guys and catch you up to speed on what's going on these days before, hopefully, getting back into the swing of things here.
Okay, so one of the first things to happen towards the end of last year involved my dad. I'd recently helped him move to GA for a new job and he was making a pretty good salary. Then, out of nowhere, he called me up and said that he'd lost his job. Just when you think the economic problems aren't affecting you, they hit close to home. It threw both of us for a loop ... he went from making over $75k/year to drawing $250/wk in unemployment. Making matters worse, he's been a specialist in his field for years, and while he's one of the top color matchers in the country dealing in plastics and textiles ... there's just not a major call for it outside of his specific industry, and right now everyone in the industry is getting hit hard. Places want to hire him, but they genuinely just can't afford it right now as they're laying off staff. So, with that happening, he decided to move down here and he's staying with me temporarily in the house here while looking for a new job. On the upside, he's at least closer to family than he has been.
So, in the midst of that initial turmoil, I was still cranking along writing daily news stories over at Crispy Gamer, pushing news hard and spending good chunks of time every day making sure that the news was both up to date and still a good read. I was also doing the work at a low rate to help out as much as possible, which meant I also had to grab a second "normal" job for a while too to make up the difference. Then, just a little more than a week ago, I'm at the other job when I get an email from news editor with the subject "Bad news". Now, I'll admit it ... my first thought was that someone had an issue with a story. Just the day before, I'd posted a story about a television news report warning parents against Animal Crossing, after having gotten a hold of the station's news director. The response the KMIZ news director gave me ended up being the "company line" about the piece sent elsewhere too, though with some convenient edits on the KMIZ news director's part. My guess is that the TV station had a bit of a black eye after the piece aired and was trying to rush into some damage control. Anyway, I thought that might be what the email was about ... after all, the piece was getting a lot of traffic, more than a lot of the Crispy news stories. Well, I was wrong. The email wasn't about the story ... I was being let go.
I'll admit that I was more than a little stunned. Just a couple of weeks earlier, I had been talking with the news editor and made the joke that after the situation with my dad, I wake up every day thinking it'll be my last. We both laughed and he assured me that as long as he was around, I was safe. After all, he didn't want to tackle the news alone. Then, out of nowhere, in an editorial meeting, he was told that the news needed to be handled solely in house ... meaning he'd have to tackle it alone anyway. Meanwhile, I'd be "officially" gone from the news at Crispy on April 1st ... ironically enough, my birthday.
So there I was ... seeing a situation eerily parallel to what had just happened to my dad. Luckily for me, though, I do have the "normal" job ... plus I'd just started writing again for Play Magazine's website (check out my interview with Jimmy Palmiotti here.) I've also got a few more possible options in the works. Plus, I've got a little more time now to work on a few of my own projects, including doing an overhaul of the blog here and also trying to get back into the swing of doing regular updates.
Of course, for the CliffNotes version of things, you can always follow me on Twitter.
Well, I've gotta run for the time being, but I WILL be back. Hasta la bye bye.
Oh yeah ... "End of line."
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