God Broke My Finger With A Dodgeball

Yup. A dodgeball, people, thrown with a nasty locked-curve. My pinky, too. Poor little guy. He has five weeks to heal, or else I will be giving the world's first one-handed ragtime concert on April 13.

And regardless of what the Blogger spell-check thingy says, dodgeball is one word, one sport, one dream. Ye have not lived lest ye has dodgeballed. I could break ten fingers and I would still play every week. I'd wear oven mitts and catch like a seal catches penguins: with extreme prejudice.

Hi!

I've been good. Very good, actually, which is why I haven't been getting drunk and writing to you about how mean the moon is. Manic-depressive Martin is good fun for about a week, and then it just gets really, really old. It was scary for a time, though; I felt like I couldn't write anything good unless I was drunk. This post may be proving me right, but I'd rather have less to talk about and a thinner waistline than more to say and be Chubs Magee for the rest of my life. My little foray into self-destruction actually gained me six pounds. Leave it to me to find a way to take up smoking and GAIN weight.

So, I stopped smoking. And drinking. Mostly. The rule of thumb has been: Doing one makes you do another, so cut it out, shmuck. Which has worked pretty well, though the sea is unpredictable and storms brew quickly. So far, so good.

I had to realize that there was nothing interesting about being self-destructive. I think a lot of people, myself heartily included, confuse "tortured but brilliant" with "lonely and overcompensating." It's easy to be fascinated by conflicted people; they're like going to see a movie about mobsters. It's a relatively safe way to experience something dangerous. Because, really, we are all capable of picking up a gun and firing it, but those that actually kill people? Wow, man. What kinds of other crazy shit are they capable of? What are they going to do next?

Anyways, so I've been good. Working at Apple. Trying to get a movie shoot together for the weekend of March 24. I started a new screenplay. I'm developing a documentary on young Pittsburghers. Making a CD. Preparing for the concert. Finishing applications to grad school.
Jessie said to me tonight, "Wow. You're actually busy," which was very liberating to hear. Busy is progress. Busy is good.

I hope you're well. Haven't heard from you in awhile. Hope you're staying busy, too.

your
martin