• Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Rss
  • Mail

Adam J. Nicolai

  • Home
  • Books
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

Archive for category: Commentary

My son’s school hates me

December 7, 2011
December 7, 2011

You ever play Tetris Attack? 

It’s this awesome SNES game released in the mid-90s where you have to clear the blocks from an ever-rising stack to prevent them from reaching the top of the screen.  If they reach the top, it’s game over.  The basic idea is fun enough (similar to a million other games, yes – Tetris, Bejeweled, etc.) but what sets it apart is the Vs.  mode.

In Vs., whenever you clear a significant number of blocks at once, you drop a big block on your opponent – the bigger your clear, the bigger the thing you drop on them.  This block is uglier than the normal ones, and much more difficult to clear the bigger it is.

Where am I going with this?  Bear with me.

My friends and coworkers warned me before Isaac started school.  They said we’d be overwhelmed with all the extra-curricular activities and last-minute school needs and general frantic pace of everything.  I figured there was some truth to that, but I don’t see my son enrolling in a ton of different after-school activities, so I took the warnings with a grain of salt.

We are three months into Kindergarten, and the amount of stuff that comes back in that backpack of his is just mind-boggling.

Handwriting practice, hand-drawn pictures, random scribbles, and paper “toys” are the best of it.  Then on top of that there are countless solicitations, fundraisers, book orders, notifications of upcoming meetings or events, PTA grubs, homework, and other assorted crap.  A lot of it comes in an official-looking manila envelope, which requires one of us to sign.  The sheer volume of the stuff is overwhelming.

It’s been a busy year already, here.  We have a ton of stuff to manage.  I worked at home today, furiously coding all day, and after I got done with that I dove into stuff for Alex – managing my ISBNs, re-formatting my Smashwords document, etc. (part of which was much more painful than it needed to be – but that’s another post).

When my wife and the kids got home, I went upstairs, not just ready but desperate to relax a little – and here comes Isaac’s backpack, overflowing with reminders and homework and grades and papers to be signed.  It was a stack of stuff at least half an inch thick.

I felt like a character in Tetris Attack, getting whallomped by a gigantic brick 7 blocks high.

We trudged through it and got it more or less under control (it took half an hour).  In Tetris Attack, when the characters get slammed by the giant bricks, they just fall on their backs, loll out their tongues, and sputter.

Next time, I think I might just try that.

0 Comments/in Commentary /by Adam Nicolai

The maiden post

April 8, 2011
April 8, 2011

Forgive me in advance for the rambling nature of this post.  Or, you know, don’t.  I’ll find the strength to survive. 

So awhile back I started a blog on Livejournal.  After having two updates in a row devoured alive by LJ’s ravenous hatred of successful posts, I opted to look for another host, and here I am.

So far, when I hit enter, the cursor doesn’t actually move to the new line.  Everything else seems good, though.  Maybe that’s just a visual thing. 

Okay, so – about me.  Or more appropriately, about this blog.  I’m expanding my horizons.  I originally set out to create a writing blog, dedicated solely to logging my startling revelations regarding the craft.  I’m still having those, though I do think most of them have been had before, by millions of other people over the years.  Nothing wrong with that; I’m an author – albeit an unpublished one – so it’s still important for me to get my thoughts down.  But I was also sort of tippy-toeing around doing anything too opinionated since the blog might end up being my “professional face”, perused by agents, publishers, or any number of other influential people who might decide they hate me without reading my material.

I’ve decided, fuck that.  I’ve pretty much settled on Kindle publishing my first book, which I’m discovering makes me a lot less nervous about coming off “wrong” to any prospective agent who might look at my blog (for whatever bizarre reason).  In that vein, I figure there are two other topics – in addition to writing – that I’m likely to want to mouth off about: politics, and games.

I’m a life-long game lover.  I’ve loved games of most stripes since I was old enough to watch them played.  The notable exceptions are traditional card games, including gambling, and sports – but everything else – collectible card games, video games, role-playing games, board games – I love.  I think there is something sacred about the act of playing a great game.  I want to explore that idea a bit more.  I may use this space to do it.  I may also just use this space to bitch about getting my ass nailed to the wall in Super Street Fighter 4.  No one said I had to be eloquent. 

I’m also a practical progressive (to steal a term from my wife).  Like many, I find my political outlook skewing slightly right as I get older, but it would be wrong to say I have much in common with the Republican party’s platform.  In fact, they infuriate me on a daily basis.  Sometimes, I need to bitch about it.  Sometimes, I need to bitch about the democrats.  I may use this space for both of those things, too.

Oh yeah, and I’m writing my second book.  I’m a little over halfway done with it.  The working title is Alex.  I’ll be posting updates on my progress on that here, too.  Along with whatever comes afterwards.

In any case, it’s writing night.  So I’m switching over to work on Alex now, but if I manage to hit “PUBLISH POST” and actually see this post appear without it getting devoured, I’ll most likely be back to post again.

1 Comment/in Commentary /by Adam Nicolai
Page 3 of 3123

Connect with Adam

Meet Adam - Biography, interviews, appearances, media coverage and more. Connect with Adam on Facebook Connect with Adam on Twitter
No eReader? No problem!
Popular
  • “The New Alex Cover” – or, “Why...February 16, 2013 - 1:51 am
  • The Good, The Bad, And The… Well, Just The Good And...September 1, 2012 - 6:54 am
  • Total Control! Wait, Is That a Good Thing?January 18, 2012 - 3:25 pm
  • Mandatory IndoctrinationDecember 30, 2011 - 11:12 pm
Recent
  • All Good ThingsMarch 22, 2018 - 8:17 pm
  • Black PantherMarch 13, 2018 - 3:02 pm
  • The Burden Should Be OursFebruary 20, 2018 - 4:55 pm
  • Next timeFebruary 15, 2018 - 2:27 pm
Comments
  • Adam NicolaiI fail to see what that has to do with anything, but - ...January 21, 2018 - 6:24 am by Adam Nicolai
  • KrisThank God we have Bill Clinton to make us feel better.January 18, 2018 - 3:22 am by Kris
  • Bobbi NicolaiFrom a friend: http://www.businessinsider.com/kristi...July 26, 2017 - 6:09 pm by Bobbi Nicolai
  • Adam NicolaiThanks for reading! I suspect there are a lot of screwed-up...February 28, 2017 - 3:31 pm by Adam Nicolai
Tags
Alex atheism children Children of a Broken Sky criticism deconstructing woodlawn depression parenting perspective Rebecca secular review woodlawn movie woodlawn review

Read Older Posts

Pages

  • About Adam J Nicolai
  • Blog
  • Books
  • Contact
  • Home

Recent Posts

  • All Good Things
  • Black Panther
  • The Burden Should Be Ours
  • Next time
  • Thoughts on Al Franken

Read Posts About…

  • Atheism
  • Book News
  • Commentary
  • Interviews
  • Resources
  • Uncategorized
  • Writing Life
© Copyright - Adam J. Nicolai - WordPress Premium Theme by Kriesi