Aw MAN...

Second Life HAS me!!!

This week-and-a-half off from my day job was supposed be be about seeing what life would be like if I were a proffessional writer: Writing during the day and relaxing during the evening.

Well...

I accomplished 2/3 of that today.

First, I woke up to oven-baked pizza (one of my favorite meals in and of itself) and pasta salad and a strong cup of coffee. While I cooked -- "heated", actually; the pizza, not the pasta salad -- and ate and drank my coffee I read a recent speech given by Michael Crichton about our fear-based "information" society. (It was BRILLIANT! Look for the section with his speeches at his official website, here. It's the most recent one.)

I already has a coupleof assignments that need my attention. One is this great half-hour audio story with 2 male characters, so Brian and I could record it on a weekend! I thought about what I wanted last night before bed, and maybe an hour and a half later I have most of the important parts of it, ready to be fleshed-out!

So that, or the other assignment that's on the front burner, were what I was supposed to do after breakfast.

Only I got this vision about how to make this specific item inworld (one of the main objects of Second Life is to create stuff) and I HAD TO log on and see if I could actually pull it off.

I did!!!

But it took me 6 or so hours.

By the time I had completed my project my bro was home from work, and there were 2 documentaries I wanted to watch with him. (Both subject matters that we're both interested in.)

The flicks were, respectively, THE ARISTOCRATS (about the craft of comedy) and THE LIFE OF BUDDHA (who has a profound take on spirituality). (Also, interestingly, Buddha was a cat who could have appreciated the spiritual aspect of the craft of comedy in society today.)

And I spent my creative energy inworld, so I've just been listening to some X MINUS ONE (some really good episodes!)...

Don't get me wrong, this was a GREAT day!!!

Just not as productive as I had imagined it would be.

Still -- as Brian generously pointed out -- I've got the rest of the week, the weekend, and half of next week. The work'll get done.

In fact, Buddha might even point out to me that if I didn't write today, the story probably isn't ready to be finished just yet.

Do You Have A Second Life?

Oh NO!!!

I have been introduced to yet ANOTHER distraction!!!

Yesterday Tommy told Brian and me about Second Life! And it's FASCINATING! I just spent, like, 4 hours in-world! (I'm still on Help Island, the place where you figure the world out and discover what all you can do.)

I'm struggling to figure out how to get my avatar -- the virtual "me" -- to just the way I want it to. And then I'm trying to figure out what I want to build.

You can build things inworld AND ACTUALLY SELL THEM! The SL money -- $L, or "Linden" -- has an actual $US value!!! So if you build something in there that other people want, you can sell it to them, AND ACTUALLY MAKE MONEY!

Now, this is wierd for me, because I'm a storyteller. I don't build things, I write about them, or shoot them flying off a cliff, or being possessed by demons. I don't think like a physical craftsman.

And I still don't have a clue what I might build just for myself, so I don't have to buy it from someone else inworld.

Am I sounding like a geek here?

The whole concept of Second Life is just amazing! You can buy land there, but you really don't have to. You appear inworl when you log in, then disappear after you log out. So you can spend your "second life" just wandering around and talking to people.

That's the other thing: You're talking to real people online! You're not interacting with sims, you're in this world with other people!

I've never really been part of an online community, much less a VIRTUAL one! So this is all new and exciting and addicting to me!

And, of course, that's what I DON'T need right now: A new addiction. I need to write and shoot and edit and create. And yet I find myself drawn to this new world.

Blah.

Anyway, if you've got some time on your hands, go check it out! You'll log in and it'll be hours past your bedtime before you know it!

RIDIN' THE CLOCK...

I am 1 hour 35 minutes away from 12 DAYS OFF!!!

Straight UP!

See, usually I take vacation days off so I can travel. And don't get me wrong, the trips always RULE. But I'm a cat who is not affraid of stillness. Where as many, MANY people I know seem to have to keep moving at all costs, for fear that their Inner Selves might catch up with them or something, I can really ENJOY me some silence!

I really welcome some Down Time at home!!!

I mean, my weeks are about working, then writing at work or at home whenever I can, and trying to squeeze in some Tomb Raider and/or movies -- and even the occasional BOOK! -- and then maybe some sleep every now and then. My weekends are partial recovery, partial work days.

And that's cool. That's how it'll be when I'm pro, to be sure. (Except that I may have nights free for a social life. And perhaps the money for one, also.) But I believe BOREDOM is the mother of creativity. When I get bored, that's when ideas come to me.

So I'm going to TAKE THIS WEEKEND OFF -- from ALL work!!! -- and then see what happens on Monday. My hope is that by Friday or Saturday I'll have done all the cool stuff I don't usually have time to do now (it's been a while since I've played RESIDENT EVIL 2 or RESIDENT EVIL CODE: VERONICA...), then gotten some new ideas for one of the projects we're working on, then actually get some writing done!

And now, I'm just 1 hour and 11 minutes away!!!

Went to sleep last night and woke up to some Season 3 of THE TWILIGHT ZONE! Now THAT'S livin'!!! Rod Serling lulling me to sleep with some eerie tales of man's failings and inherent beauty!

I've been watching some behind-the-scenes video from www. clerks2.com and that's sort of got me wanting to re-watch the CLERKS animated series.

And then there's the OTR cds I'm expecting in the mail! That can kill a couple of days, easily!


Ooh... and I've got a movie from Neflix that I'm eager to see: SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER... AND SPRING. It's a Korean flick that seems like it'll be very contemplative and enlightening. Like Kurosawa's RED BEARD! Or, like... what? There really aren't many contemplative movies. Or, I don't watch them, anyway.


Anyway, I'm looking forward to watching it!


Okay, I've got 52 more minutes before vacation. I'd better make sure I didn't overlook something here at work. Hate to get a call in the next week saying "Yeah, uh, don't bother coming back."

WE GOT A MINI-DV CAM!!!

This is TOO COOL!

Brian and my digital camcorder came Tuesday!!! It's a Panasonic PV-GS150, and it's actually BETTER than what we were looking for! (Also, we got it for less than the listed price!)

And Monday night I found a premise that should inspire many sketches! Keep us shooting and editing for a while! I wrote 3 sketches so far that Brian has approved.

And we'll have plenty of time to shoot. I had some vacation days left over from last year, so after Friday I'm on vacation for 12 DAYS STRAIGHT!!!

Life is sometimes just TOO sweet!

Am I a little overly enthusiastic?

Who cares! Life has ebbs and flows, AND I'M FLOWIN' RIGHT NOW, BAY-BAY! (And if you can't turn that statment into a dirty joke you should be ASHAMED of yourself!)

Also been listening to some Old-School radio sci-fi! I listened to an episode of DIMENSION X that adapted Bradbury's THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, and that was cool, and an episode of X MINUS ONE (which was sort of a revamp of the DIMENSION X series) called "Mars Is Heaven" and it was pretty cool, too. (Bit of a Mrs theme goin' on there.)

Then today I listened to an episode of this South African radio series from 1968 called SF68. The episode was "Andover and the Android". It was pretty okay. Kind of cheesy. Largely standard science fantasy fair. (Or is that "fare"?)

I've got, like, 13 more episodes to listen to. I started on one, called "Space Cow"! And, of course, the titular space cow doesn't look at all like a cow, but more like a giant lizard!!! It's the humans that discovered this creature that named it "space cow"... Why didn't they call it a "space lizard" or "space dragon"? And the funniest part is that as I'm listening to the show, it occurs to me "If this were BAD sci-fi the 'space cow' would be reptilian." And then, a line or two later, one of the characters describes the way it looks and -- guess what! It's a lizard!!!

The problem is that the series borders on being good. It may have a couple of funny sci-fi cliches, but it's not so bad that it's PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE bad. Ya know? Like SPACE PATROL! That's a funny show! They communicate via space-o-phones!!! I kid you not!

But sometime this week -- maybe today! -- I'm getting 1,164 episodes (that's 260 hours) of the SUPERMAN radio series!!! As well as 129 episodes of X MINUS ONE (54 hours of sci-fi goodness)!!! And to cap it all off, a Halloween sampler disc of Old Time Radio shows, inculding some INNER SANCTUM, some SUSPENSE, 2 MERCURY THEATRE episodes, some DARK FANTASY, some WIERD CIRCLE and Halloween episodes of several shows INCLUDING 2 JACK BENNY EPISODES!!!!

If you don't know about Jack Benny and you like to laugh, DO YOURSELF A FAVOR and track down his radio show!!! It ran from, like, 1932 to 1957-ish, and it's STILL FUNNY! I mean, you know, there are some gags that are just too naive for a 2006 audience, and comical references that are just too out-dated to get. But Benny is famous for hiring the best writers of the time and treating them well and paying them WELL. Plus, with 25-plus years of shows, there's TONS of material to enjoy! I recommend mp3 discs, like these from OTRCat. You can just load up your ZVUE or iPod and go!

Ooh, and I've got 1 MORE Narnia story to listen to and I've heard the entire series!!!

And that's a cool series! I spent, like, 9 1/2 hours over 2 or 3 days converting them to mp3s so I could listen to them anywhere, and I believe that was TIME WELL SPENT!!! Seriously, I HIGHLY recommend you grab THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA RADIO THEATRE collection (if you're impatient, like me) or the individual radio adaptations, starting with THE MAGICIAN'S NEPHEW, if you'd rather not blow that much all at once. (Though, to be precise, you do end up saving money if you buy the collection, rather than buying each story seperately...) Lewis create a great world to hang out in, and the radio productions are just TOP NOTCH!!! There's something about being surrounded by the sounds of a world that really help you BE there! (Don't believe me? Watch your favorite scene of one of your favorite movies in digital surround sound, then immediately watch it again in stereo or mono and see for yourself! OR, buy one of the NARNIA radio shows and listen to it with headphones on, or in a car with a good sound system!)

Blah.

Okay, I should go away for now.

Livin' Lovin' Learnin'

Had myself a great week!

I've been doing some research to give Brian's SKIP SPACEFLYER a faux history. Been researching the origins and eveolution of THE LONE RANGER, FLASH GORDON, BUCK ROGERS and SPACE PATROL.

Did you know that the comic strip (it's original form; 1934) FLASH GORDON was actually created to compete with the BUCK ROGERS strip (1929)? Did you know that "Buck" Rogers began life in pulp magazine (text, not pictures) called "Armageddon 2419 A.D." Or that his name was originally Anthony, and "Buck" was his nickname, because of a 1920s cowboy character? SPACE PATROL was this REALLY BIG DEAL from 1950 to 1955, with a daily TV series and a live Saturday morning TV show AND a half-hour radio series! AND... the stars played their roles in all versions!!!

Fascinating stuff!

...IF you're a creator and you're into how other creators do their thing, and have done their thing throughout history...

...anyway...

So I've been having a good time.

Last night Brian and I watched the unrated versions of -- get this -- THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE and THE DUKES OF HAZZARD.

What a combo, right?

It was actually great, because we watched them in THAT order. So we watch some deep, philosophical horror, then watch the making-of featurettes, then watch some flat-out horse-play comedy, then watch the making-of featurettes for that!

And naturally, when you're watching good filmmaking (and I don't care if you liked THE DUKES OF HAZZARD or not, it was a well-made movie and accomplished EXACTLY what the filmmakers wanted to accomplish), and listening to the people who made the flicks talk about what they were trying to do and how they attempted to do it, the conversation's ALWAYS going to turn to the projects you're currently working on, and how these insights apply to those projects.

That's the cool thing about creating -- be it writing, directing, eiting, creating a performance as an actor, whatever -- is that you're ALWAYS working! Even when you're playing, it enhances your work. You're in a perpetual state of observation and learning, and so EVERYTHING YOU EXPERIENCE makes whatever you're creating just a smidgeon better.

OOH! OOH! Brian and I have a dvd! It's called CREATIVE SCREENWRITING PRESENT JOSS WHEDON: THE MASTER AT PLAY, and it's a recording of Joss's interview at the Expo 4!!! OUR EXPERIENCE WITH JOSS IS ON DVD!!! Almost every word! (Deffinitely everything I took notes on!) Which is really helpful, because his insights and observations were just LAYERED with wisdom! I'll be able to watch this dvd 10 years from now and it will still have new stuff to tell me!

Oops. Time to put my laundry in the dryer.

Bye for now!

A BEAUTIFUL Day!!!

The last 3 days have been fantastic!

First off, all weekend I've been glutting myself with Carlin comedy! Brilliant, insightful, painfully profane and -- most importantly -- hysterically funny! Thanks to eMusic I have 6 albums, and one is George Carlin On Comedy!!!

But still, my most of my weekend was rough because I was behind on the -------- project Tommy and Brian and I are working on...

...but today the three of us worked out a new process for development that allows Tommy to work on the scripts, me to polish as he writes them (effectively giving us 2 drafts in the time it takes to write a single draft) and Brian and get to move on some projects silmultaneously!

Brian has a short he wrote and is going to direct, that is close to being in shooting shape! So I did a polish on his script Sunday and Monday. We still have a smidge more work to do, then we're location scouting. And if this works out well, then we just ask Tommy to take a weekend of 2 off from his writing to get the production and post-production, and then he's back to -------- and Brian and I are onto the next thing.

This way, the 3 of us should have a lot of things for folks to see and hear (more on that later) in 2006! The way we were working it, we thought we could focus on the main project, THEN do these smaller projects. But the way it is now, we do BOTH AT ONCE!!!

And I don't believe I've been more inspired and enthused in a VERY long time! (Maybe never!)

I feel like I am living the lifestyle I wanted to be living when I was a teen! (Well, there would be a few more starlettes and supermodels than are currently in my life, and a bit more money... But not MUCH more... of EITHER!)

Plus, Brian and I made a deal with Mom for a business loan to purchase a digital video camera -- for reasons which will be clear around mid-summer. We were prepared to settle for a consumer grade cam. Mom went for it and I called Kelly and Brian IM-ed Tommy for some tips on what we do and don't want...

...the long-and-short of it is that Tommy hooked us up with a pro-sumer grade video camera!!! (It's actually pro grade -- it's FCC broadcast quality -- but it doesn't transfer to film like Hi-Def does. Which is BETTER THAN FINE for our purposes!)

And we got to spend most of the day at Tommy's with his young'un, Amber! (a.k.a. Sweet, Sweet Amber!) We talked some shop, had many adventures with the squirt, and got to chug pizza when Tommy's wife got home! Then the menfolk went outside and played with our RC cars on the sidewalk for an hour or so -- while talking shop. (Mine's an Astin Martin... 007!)

GOOD TIMES!!!

DUDE!!! I feel REJUVINATED!!

Tons of work ahead of us; all of it FUN!!!

Ice Is NOT A Propper Medium For A Shower

The above statement may seem self-evident, but in case anyone out there had doubts and was, perhaps, considering exploring it: Don't bother.

A pipe burst at my apartment complex, aparently, and I woke up to an absolutely FRIGID shower!!! I remember the showers at Summer Camp being warmer than the shower this morning!

The apartment manager said it should be fixed by the time I get home... We'll see.

DUDE! George Carlin has a website!

I mean, I guess I should have assumed that he would, but still...

He also has "a small interest in" a site called laugh.com, which is a site dedicated to selling us the best of the best in comedy albums!

I also discovered that eMusic has a wealth of Carlin albums, INCLUDING Class Clown, which wraps up with "Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV"!!! (I've been looking for that bit for a long time!)

Um...

OH! On the way to work I was listening to Fresh Air on NPR and the interview was with Tom Blanton, who is the head of the National Security Archive, which gets secret documents declassified for public historical edification. The interview was fascinating, and leds me to track down this site, featuring this article!!!

Seriously! National Security Archive website... HOURS OF FUN!!!

TRIPPING THE RIFT Is Fun

Bought and watched the ENTIRE first season last night!!!

Thank you, Best Buy Gift Certificate!!!

It's a funny show!

My friend, Dave The Genius, tells me the computer animation isn't the greatest all the time, but I can't see any problems. (He IS a computer animator, so he sees stuff I don't.)

Before I picked that up, Brian and I were finishing up a ROSWELL, Season 3 marathon. THAT was COOL!!! The last season of the show is now 4 years old, and it's STILL BRILLIANT!!!

I discovered to day that I have a week-and-a-half of vacation time left-over from last year!!! (That is IN ADDITION TO this year's 3 weeks of vacation time!!!) Better still, I am encouraged to take it before the end of February! So I'm just coming off a Holiday vacation, AND I GET ANOTHER ONE!!!

Life sometimes just works out NICE!

I'm looking forward to experiencing a week as though I were a professional writer: I get up, write for 5-10 hours (5 screenplay pages a day), then kick back during the evening!!! HOW COOL WILL THAT BE?!!

Okay, maybe I'm geeking-out a little here, but I'm really excited about the prospect!

Ooh! And I finally tracked down my daily calendar for 2006! Every year I get a Hottie Calendar and a Daily Calendar. FHM -- with Kristinna Loken on the cover -- provider the T&A calendar for this year. Border Books provided the other...

TROPICAL ISLANDS!!!

How cool is that?! Everyday I'm greeted with some gorgeous pic from a tropical island and some soothing quote! Today is a view looking out to sea from a Hawaiian beach, a single palm tree standing behind 2 deck chairs. And the quote: "Here beside the calming sea, Take the time to simply be."

How can ya have a bad day when you wake up to THAT?

I mean, okay, yeah, I'll probably have a few bad days this year. Even with the calendar.

BUT STILL!!! Very cool, yeah?

I was torn for a while between that and a Simpsons' Trivia Calendar... But I decided to go with the Tropical Islands one. (I have 7 seasons of Simpsons on dvd, as well as a Tour of Springfield cd-rom and a Homer Simpson edition of the game Operation. I've probably got all the Simpsons I'll ever need. Until the next season is released on dvd, that is.)

Okay, I'm putting myself to sleep here. Bye for now.

HAPPY 2006!!!

I had a GREAT Holiday!!!

Tuesday I drove up to Dallas to see my friend Laura!

I couldn't get to sleep until 4a or 5a -- my normal bed time -- so I didn't get on the road until about 3:30 pm.

On the drive up I listened to the Focus On the Family Radio Theatre production of C. S. Lewis's THE HORSE AND HIS BOY (the 3rd Narnia book, chronologically), and I have to tell you THESE ARE GREAT PRODUCTIONS!!! Seriously, these radio shows make EXCELLENT uses of the medium!!! They really put you in Lewis's world!

Laura and I had dinner at Terilli's. Neither of us was really hungry, so we has some Italchos -- Italian Nachos -- which were FANTASTIC! Laura had to give me a hard time about the direction of my life and why I haven't made all my dreams come true yet (a service we provide for each other, to keep us both honest). She's doing well right now, so I didn't get to harass her.

After that we drove around looking at Christmas lights and catching up.

After she went to bed I watched an episode of the super-viloent ELFEN LIED... Some nice images to stick into my subconscious before I close my eyes and surrender myself to its mercy for the next 8 hours...

Actually, I fell asleep listening to the radio production of THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE -- I watched the movie Christmas day, but I still hadn't listened to the radio production -- and woke up around 2:00 am, when Tisha text-message-ed me. We had a short conversatio, and I was asleep again a little after 3:00 am.

Wednesday, I woke up a little after 7:00 am, when the sun hit me full-on in the face! It wasn't annoying, though; it was REALLY pretty! But I wasn't fully awake, a drifted back to sleep until around 11:00 am.

Breakfast was this HUGE homemade waffle and bacon and sausage and some good coffee, compliments of Laura's mom!!! Now THAT'S the way to wake up!!!

Then Laura and I did lunch with her friend Paul. He was cool!

Then I accompanied Laura for some post-Christmas returns. I got to cat around some simi-posh stores that I would never normally go inside. (I'm a Walmart-at-3-am kind of guy...)

Then we went to Plano to a Christmas party with some of Laura's friends -- a handful of whom I had met before on previous visits to Dallas and New York. All GREAT people!!!

On the way home, we searched for a good pic of the Dallas Ball. I'm sure that's not the ACTUALL name for the thing, but if you look at a bunch of postcards from Dallas, some of them are going to have this elevated, lighted ball. That's the ball I'm talking about.

Then, after Laura crashed, I watched another episode of ELFEN LIED and fell asleep to Seal.

OOH! I also worked out a doable schedule for the first draft of the first script of the -------- project! That should be done on or around February 13th! (Wish me productivity and luck!)

Then Thursday was all Laura and me!

First, we drove to Fort Worth. She took me to the Kimbell Art Museum for an exihibit of Gauguin's lost impressionist work. Apparently, before the work that made Paul Gauguin famous, he explored impressionism. And this exhibit did an amazing job of showing this exploration! In fact, there were sometime 2 or 3 paintings of a single subject matter -- say, the view of a French village from a low hill -- that allow one to see 3 takes on it from the same artist! VERY COOL!!!

Plus, now, if I ever find myself at a party and the conversation turns to art, I can actually and genuinely utter the phrase "Although Gauguin isn't my favorite, I really like his Impressionist work." I mean, if pressed I'll have to explain that I like the landscapes and the pretty colors, which will loose me Cool Points, but that's okay.

After the Kimbell, she took me to The Modern, a GREAT Modern Art museum. Now, I'm not into Modern Art. A lot of the stuff that get media attention seems, to me, to be the hack work of people who are so afraid of putting THEMSELVES into their work that they contrive these lame "approaches" that offend or merely baffle non-Art-World-"intelligencia". I believe that REAL art moves even the un-informed. If one has to hear this big long explaination of what the artist is trying to convey, the work is crap.

And stand by my assertion, PARTICULARLY after seeing the Heaven and Earth exhibit of German artist Anselm Kiefer's work!!!

THIS CAT ROCKS!!!

All these Art-World cliches popped into my head as I viewed his exhibit, only Kiefer makes them TRUE!!!

First of all, "A reproduction doesn't do the original canvas any justice!" TRUE with Kiefer! Many of my favorite paintings of his are the size of one the livingroom walls in my appartment. Not exaggerating.

Secondly, he uses texture, in addition to color. I'm not talking brush-strokes, I'm talking additional materials. But it doesn't feel contrived in the slightest! It feels like the piece ISN'T COMPLETE with out it!

Then, his 3-D work (sculpture and such) just isn't the same when you're looking at it on a postcard. When you're in the room with the piece... DAMN! You know? Just DAMN!

An example of this is here at The Mordern's website for the exhibit. That winged book just looks small, and a little pretentious, in the pic. But when you're standing in the room with the thing, and it comes up to your chest (I'm 6' tall, or close to it) and the wing-span is easily longer than you are tall, IT'S PRETTY IMPRESSIVE!!!

More than that, when you're looking at the texture, and compairing it to Kiefer's other works... DUDE!

This guy has the darkness that's attractive on some level -- at least, to a horror fan; Laura wasn't as interested, but she has a brighter, more vibrant artistic sensibility -- contrasted by a strong sense of spirituality! THAT'S EVERYTHING I'M ABOUT!

In the 1980s and 90s when horror filmmakers (the hacks) were all obsessed with bringing HR Giger's look to their films, they could have been stealing from Anselm Kiefer's palate and had films that look FRESH and ORIGINAL!!!

I'm sorry, I know Giger's revered by many -- particualrly horror fans -- but he's kind of a one-trick-pony, isn't he? I mean, black and jointed. That's kind of IT.

But Kiefer...!!!

Seriously, you won't be able to get a really good sense of the actual peices without seeing them in a museum, but take a glance at his colors and textures. Seriously, this guy's got some stuff on his mind!!! On his soul!!!

Anyway, I'm no art critic. But the cat excited me!

After the museums we had lunch in Fort Worth, then drove back to Dallas and caught a movie -- KING KONG!!! -- before I drove back to Austin.

On the way back, I listened to PRINCE CASPIAN, the 4th book in the Narnia series!

Then, um...

Friday I spent most of on Brian's computer, re-loading my ZVUE. That night I had me a 21 JUMP STREET Marathon (Season 2)! I discovered that it's Season 2, Episode 10 when JUMP STREET started getting good. The Season 1, and the first 9 episodes of Season 2, are more about potential than actual successful exicution. Starting with Episdode 10, the execution catches up with the potential! (The guest actors actually start reining their performances in and begin ACTING, rather than merely chewing the scenery and sweating with a cigarette in their hand while they drag the other hand through their hair contemplatively!)

NEW YEARS EVE!!!

Brian and I watched KISS: ROCK THE NATION LIVE!, followed by SMALLVILLE "Lexmas" and ROSWELL's New Years Eve episode "A Tale of Two Parties"!!! That was fun! Got to count down the New Year on the phone with Tisha!

New Year's Day was spent with Mom, and then Brian and I had a ROSWELL, Season 3 Marathon. Brian made it through 6 episodes and I made it through 7.

And now I'm at work. And you're caught up. (Possibly more thoroughly than you would have WISHED to be...)