I wonder if Arnold Schwarznegger will have a "Galaxy Quest" moment when he gets to the governor's office in Sacramento.

Galaxy Quest was such a great movie. Remember when the actors had to actually become the people they portrayed in the television show?

Will Arnie soon realize that he's not just an actor playing a governor, he is the governor of the 5th largest economy in the world and he's got to balance the budget without raising taxes and figure out out how to dig California out of its $38 billion deficit hole.

So I turned down the Deacon nomination for church. I came to the conclusion that my opinions are just too different from many of the members on the Deacon Board, and I didn't want to be stressed out having to either defend my opinions or keeping silent about them.

It's only going to get worse in the next three years as well. My church is going through the same thing as the Anglican/Episcopalian church, although we are not quite up to their level yet.

I know I will not support any actions that will split my church from the greater national body. My church did it once for slavery and split the denomination in two, but slavery was a different issue than the ones the mainstream protestant churches are facing right now.

I think I am going to catch a ton of flak for what I did, because I felt the need to explain myself to the person who called for the nomination. I think I will test the old adage of "honesty is the best policy".

I feel fatalistic about this whole issue right now. If I have to leave my church I will. Our sister church has been trying to recruit me for years, and they have a huge membership. It's terrible to think like this, but I don't care.

I hate that my church is becoming like the rest of the country, partisan, intolerant and politically correct. They never used to be that way. My church used to welcome everyone, and tried to stay on the middle ground on issues. But like the rest of the country and I think the world, lines are being drawn in the sand which makes it hell for anyone who likes the middle path.

My life is stressful enough without having the added burden of an ideological political fight happening in my church, and me being in the middle of it.

I ran across a article by a published author, Alex Keegan on writing and rewriting, and here's his take on writing:

"Becoming a writer is harder! I think it was Ray Bradbury who said we need to write at least a million words just to make it to the foothills. Seems like a lot? Not really. 3,000 words a day for a year or 1,000 words a day for three years and you're home free. What d'you mean it sounds tough? It IS tough!

Presume that one million words is a real goal. Write 300 words a day, every day, never miss, and nine years from now, you'll be able to write. That is WRITE, that is, as someone once wrote, you will have eaten your technique, absorbed it until it's in your blood, so that HOW to express your thoughts will be semi-automatic.

And now an old piece of OK advice -- write at least fifty short stories before you embark on a novel, do exercises, snippets, try rewriting great short stories or novel openings, experiment with poetry, flash-fiction, writing to tough word-limits. Burn off the obvious, the commonplace, the too-closely autobiographical stuff early on. (Writing shorts does this). You will learn so much and still be creating pieces worth submitting. "

50 stories! I was so bummed out when I read this. To see where I was on the 50 story scale, I went through my writing filebox which contains a gloriously unsorted morass of writing class notes and assignments since Spring 1998. That's about 5 years worth of paper mind you, for 6 writing classes and a number of one day writing seminars.

Here's my list in no particular order:

1. Playing Catch with Dad – screenplay
2. Spooning with my mother – short story
3. The Crow Priestess – unfinished novel
4. The Taste of Ice Cream – short story
5. Crazy Eddie – short story
6. Following in the Dark – unfinished novel
7. Art is Scary – short story written for performance
8. Bare Trees in Winter – unfinished play
9. Going Home Again – unfinished screenplay
10. Time and Distance – short story
11. Rodeo Spurs on My Heart – short story
12. Mother’s Heart Shaped Diamond Pendant – short story
13. Holding Hands in the Desert – short story
14. Past Connections Lost – flash fiction
15. Are you mad for it? – short story
16. The Princess who lost her voice – fairy tale
17. Princess Sushmita – fairy tale
18. The Forest of Forgetfulness – fairy tale
19. Kim and the Boys on the Beach – short story
20. Maggie and the Crying Freeman – flash fiction
21. A Hot Day in Dallas – short story
22. Theatre Audition: Five Minutes to Strut Your Stuff – essay
23. Dating Your Best’s Friend Ex – short story
24. Rules of Dating – monologue written for performance
25. Baseball was my Life – short story
26. The Secret Playboy Subscription – short story
27. Clasped Hands in the Desert – short story
28. 9/11 Remembrance - published on SFGate.com

Shock of shocks! I was so surprised that I managed to crank out 28 pieces. I think there might be more, but that's all I could find in the box.

I feel a little better now. So what, 12 more short stories and maybe I'll be able to finish a novel.

I heard a bunch of girls saying on the train today, on the way to the dentist for yet another crown adjustment, that they were going to watch the Yankees/Redsox game tonight because of "the fight".

The girls loved the drama of the fight. They so got into watching Don Zimmer cry in some press conference. They loved the melodrama of the whole baseball game, and now they want to see it through to the end.

I guess there's nothing like real life controversy and melodrama to get people to watch TV, and for women to watch a sporting event, huh?