Diehard2

Oh God, reader.  I’m not sure I can remember a Friday where I felt more thankful that it was Friday.  Maybe back when I was a kid in elementary school or something.  Only back then, it was more of a pure high – a genuine thankfulness for the weekend for what it was: two consecutive days to do nothing but sleep over at a friend’s house, where we could stay up late and watch Die Hard 2. Back then, it was about something more than simply trying to enjoy some fleeting, sometimes drunken escape from my soul-sucking job.  It was about forgetting everything. Doing nothing. Relaxing. Sleeping in.

Anyway, right now, it doesn’t really matter how that old Friday feelin’ has changed; I’m just abundantly glad the next one’s here.  I could use a couple of days to de-stress, and it seems that everyone in my life could use the same.  Do you feel that way, like everything and everyone around you is just a little on edge right now?  Is there something strange in the air this January or are all Januaries like this and I just repress the memory every year? 

Whatever, reader.  It’s Friday.  I’m done thinking about it.  I’m done with this infernal week.  Come 5 o’clock, there’ll be no more of this incessant typing for at least the 63-hours that follow.  Tomorrow, I get to enjoy the sweet release of my off-day from P90X, too.  Yippie ki yay, Mr. Falcon (the payoff on this link is at the very end).  Jeanette and I are headed up to her hometown to hang out at her friend’s place for the weekend, so that’ll be a good time.  Come to think of it, it’ll be the closest thing I’ve had to a sleepover since I was a kid.  Sweet!

Alright. I’m gonna get back to doing what we all do on Fridays: anything but work.  As promised, I’ve got a couple of items to help you in that pursuit today.  First, have a look at the latest character sketch, this one outlining the leader of Pittsburgh’s own River Delta Strike Force, Geppetto “Jeppy” Reynolds.  He’s a real fireplug.  I’m sure you two’ll get along plenty well.  The second is a revised version of Chapter 2.  Many of the revisions are subtle, but if you read the first version, you might notice a substantial change near the middle.  In short, I changed Dub’s motivation for going along with Gayle’s demands from blackmail over skin cancer to blackmail over the embarrassing manner in which Dub broke his hand.  I like it much better now, and I hope you will, too.

Happy Friday, Mr. Falcon.  Try to do as little as possible over the next two days.  I’ll see you back on the hamster wheel on Monday.