The first thing that was absurd about this was that they always said, “Macleod, like the highlander?” There seemed to be some suspicion that I would surprise the world, and English spelling, by saying “No.” Of course Macleod like the damned highlander. It was, in fact, spelled the same way.

The second thing that annoyed me was that they always seemed to want me to gush about the movie or show. Now, while they’re hardly high art, there are certainly worse things that humans have produced. But that doesn’t mean I’m a particular fan. I don’t own the DVDs or any of that. So it baffled me why people always seemed to expect me to gush about the Highlander franchise. As if I was somehow expected to be grateful that my surname was somehow lifted from obscurity to the heights of stardom. But it’s really the “no relation” category that’s supposed to bother you, so Highlander being fictional, it felt like I was not allowed to be annoyed. While there are plenty of at least marginally famous Macleods out there (many spellings) none of us seems to have risen to the point that I have to declare that I don’t know them. (I checked on Wikipedia by the way, it seems that there are several Macleods writing science fiction, several politicians, and one female Macleod who’s greatest claim to fame is being topless in Snakes on a Plane. Thank god that movie didn’t do well at the box office, Highlander was annoying, I’d hate to have to answer “Macleod, like the lady who got her tit bit in Snakes on a Plane?”)

You can imagine that I’ve enjoyed the franchise’s slip into relative obscurity.

There are many men named Ian. It was once one of the most popular names for boys in Britain.

But I was informed by my sister in law this holiday season that “Uncle Ian” is the villain in Alvin and the Chipmunks. My nieces and nephews apparently love that franchise. So now, sharing baldness with the villain, it appears I’ve got a new piece of cultural detritus to live with. Other Ians, please become more famous. I need you to overshadow some chipmunks.

Two nights ago, I picked up my bass guitar for the first time in at least a month. I had done scale work when I was highly stressed during finals, but this was the first time in a long time I had picked up the instrument purely to enjoy playing it. It was as close to revelatory as you can get without actually experiencing a revelation. I found myself wondering why I had voluntarily subjected myself to this kind of self abnegation.

I’ve also pushed through several books without feeling guilty. More on that later. It’s a great feeling, a feeling of freedom, a little fear over the debt that’s looming. But it was a reminder, I think I got out fairly close to unscathed. But in this economy, people talk about the debt you can take on going back to school. There are other things you can lose. I should have considered that more closely.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Continuing on that front, I think I have been getting a lot more boring recently. At least, if my recent purchase history is to be believed. I have it on good authority that Americans are best defined by their recent purchase history. No one has ever failed to follow through after buying those running shoes.

That said, spending just above my comfort level has always been one of the ways that I motivate myself to actually get over the initial hurdle on some challenges. When I wanted to deal with my fear of heights? I bought climbing shoes. Shortly thereafter I was getting up on the rope. I still have overgrip problems, but I wasn’t looking to become a world class climber.

So what would you know from the recent purchases? And here’s where things really start to sound like a Jeanie Teasdale op-ed. I got a bunch of nice pens, and have been practicing my handwriting. Yes, I’m working on penmanship. Apparently I’m not happy with the cheapo pens that come in twelve packs anymore. I would have hated this in the past. Why bother, most of the stuff I do is typed. But like a time bomb, the heckling that my handwriting drew at one of my first post college jobs appears to have finally tipped my over the neurosis threshold into trying to do something about it. While I was working on edits for the past few weeks, I was also carefully working on my print letters. Now I’ve got a cheap fountain pen and have started on cursive.

I read somewhere, and I think I’ve used this quote on the blog before, that “people like to buy books because they think they are buying the time to read them.” I wonder if I like buying pens because I think I am buying the time to write my own projects with them.

Teenage Ian would have wanted to kick my ass for this. Fortunately for me, even if someone invents a time machine, teenage Ian wasn’t so big on climbing, biking, or generally staying healthy. I had more of a cola and video games lifestyle back then. I could probably take seventeen year old me in a fight.

Finals was what it was, and I think I now have some idea of what I’ll need to do in law school to survive. Hopefully this means more time to do a few other things, and work on some of the interesting projects that organizations like the NEDC. In the sort term though, I’ll settle for posting once a day and getting back to writing, at least until school starts up again.

Making matters worse is the fact that I’ve seen this happen to other people before. I know better. Always turn off the computer as soon as you can after something spills on it.

And now, here I am, without the stuff I was working on, with the old computer back out, and wondering what to do next.

After that we went to a bar called “The Chalet.” While there, I had the worst burger on earth. It was a mushroom swiss burger. The mushrooms were clearly from a can, and surrounded by some sort of goo or pulp. These had been superheated, so much so that I burned my face bringing the burger up for the first bite. I wondered why this was, but when I actually got into the burger, I found out that it was because they melted the cheese that way. The meat was a little cold, and had a sort of Styrofoam texture to it. It bounced a bit and fell apart in my mouth, but not in a good way.

When I got home, K had the perfect idea for cleansing the taste buds, banana cream pie ice cream from Sebastian Joe’s. Someone, an ice cream genius, over there got the idea of making banana ice cream with nilla wafers in it. I cannot explain to you how delicious this is.

I am spoiled. The odds of finding that in Portland feel small right now. All of this is not increasing my written output for the day. Whining does not count.

Anyhow, yesterday was my last day at work, and now I’m taking some time off before school to finish up writing projects, finish the wedding preparations, climb, and get some other stuff in order. My financial aid situation is still not where I want it, in a big way, so that will have to be taken care of.

I don’t want to promise that this will lead to more posting. Pretty much only my friends read this space, and it’s nice to have a way to let you know if something interesting happens, but I’ve been bad in the past and probably will be in the future. There’s a lot of writing and only a little less than four months to do it. But I’m going to try, in as much as I find that I have interesting things to say, to keep posting here. One of the other things I want to do is to finally put some more short stories on the second page. Look for one in two or three weeks.

I’ll be moving to Portland, OR for school and hopefully I’ll see some of you who’re out on the west coast. I’ve lost track of too many people, and if you aren’t coming to reunion I hope to see you soon.

That’s all for now.

I’ve been strangely hungry the whole day too. I have a sneaking suspicion that you don’t get the full one hundred and twenty calories listed in the nutritional information.

Tomorrow I should get my last letter back from a law school. Given the time it’s taken, I’m guessing the response is a forgone conclusion.