I’m starting to realize that I’m not a summer writer.

It’s hard to keep my butt in the chair when there’s so much to do outside! The air is warm, the sun is out, and life is conspiring against staying indoors and focused. The sun is out until 10:00 PM or later here! How do you compete with that?

But here we are; it’s now June, half the year’s over, and these excuses can’t fly anymore.

***

Two months into the season, and the Yankees are still in first place. It looks like they’re the real deal. Propelled by great pitching from guys who needed to perform (Michael Pineda and Luis Severino) and bats that have come from out of nowhere (Aaron Freakin’ Judge!), this team seems like it’s going to turn some heads this October. I know, it’s only June, and it’s a little early to design championship rings.

But a guy can dream, right?

***

I’m itching to get back into gaming.

It’s been a long time since playing video games was my primary leisure activity. Those days around the Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast back in Brooklyn were some of my favorites, and the wars my friends and I had in games like Perfect Dark, Tetris Worlds, Super Smash Bros., F-Zero X, Power Stone and WWF No Mercy are still stories we tell around the digital campfire today. As an adult, my games of choice are single-player affairs, and I would normally go through the Mass Effect trilogy at least once per year. You can only do that but so many times. I’ve played through the most recent Tomb Raider games.

I miss the rush of getting a hotly anticipated new game, and the subsequent chill time I would spend exploring it. As the last couple of years have gone on, I just haven’t had time for it.

The Nintendo Switch seems like an interesting piece of hardware, and an Xbox One also seems like a solid way to go. We’ll see.

***

June means its four months until my birthday. I’d like to submit my novel to publish by then. I also want to be in the best shape of my life by then.

I’ve put this out into the universe, so it needs to happen.

#2017 #videogames #baseball #writing #humor