Progress Report: February 2021

Hello, friends!

February is already a almost two weeks old and I’m only now getting to the blog. That’s my bad, it’s been a crazy month over here. We’ve been house hunting for the last five months (and let me tell you, it’s nowhere near as fun as they make it seem on HGTV), we’ve been prepping for a COVID wedding (which is somehow both less stressful and more), and still working our regular jobs.

But hey, the world moves on, and there are still exciting things happening. Let’s take a look at what’s going on for February.

- I’ve resumed work on Underground Rhapsody, the project I started last May during quarantine while participating in a free online novel writing course. I had paused it in October for NaNoWriMo prep, but now I’ve got ideas for how to continue and I’m ready to work. Stay tuned for more.

- I also joined a new writing group started by a good buddy of mine, Thom Carnell, whose 2020 anthology, Tuxedo Junction is the next thing on my reading queue. It’s been a while since I’ve done a writing group, and it’ll be fun to connect with other writers again, especially at a time when everyone is so isolated.

- The Super Bowl was last night, and someone whose name is a swear word to me and all Jets fans won himself another ring. The fix was in and the refs ensured that the narrative remained whole, but hey, I’ll be a grownup and offer congratulations for… I’m sorry, I can’t do it. F*** that guy.

- The Knicks currently sit at 11-15 on the season. It’s not blowing any doors off, but they’re a full seven wins better than they were at this point last season. Much of that is due to hew head coach Tom Thibodeau instituting a no-nonsense defense that has slowed other teams’ scoring juggernauts. It’s also bolstered by the revelation of Julius Randle as the team’s star, the continued growth and improvement of RJ Barrett, and the electric rise of rookie Immanuel Quickley. The Knicks are in every game they play down to the last five minutes, and after multiple consecutive seasons where the games were won or lost by the middle of the second quarter, hope springs again in Knicks Nation.

- Spring Training is coming up in a week, and baseball will soon be back in its full, 162-game glory. The Yankees find themselves in an unexpected retooling year as club stalwarts Brett Gardner and Masahiro Tanaka are no longer around. We did re-sign DJ LeMahieu, trade for Jameson Taillon, and sign Corey Kluber. LeMahieu is about as close to a sure thing as you can get in baseball that’s not Mike Trout, but Jameson Taillon and Corey Kluber are both coming back from significant arm injuries. If they resemble anything of their pre-injury selves, those two pickups are game-changing. If not, we still have a ton of pitching depth for the back end of the rotation.

- I’ve gotten back into the gym, now that it’s open without time restrictions and all that. I’m keeping my goals small right now—use the membership that I’m paying for consistently—but once I can knock that goal out, I can worry about bigger goals throughout the year. Because you can only eat an elephant one bite at a time.

Anyway, February is usually the low point of the winter, but keep your heads up. Spring is around the corner. I know that sounds a little trite, especially to my Northeast people out there, digging themselves out of a mountain of snow. Trust me, though, once Spring Training starts, the days move fast, and it’ll be shorts and t-shirt time before you know it. Make sure you mask up, protect yourselves and others, and we’ll all get to enjoy it this year.

Love y’all.