Okay, I Think I'm Back Now...

My recent absence can be explained by several factors. First of all, until late last week I had no home computer. My last computer, a donation from work, suddenly developed gangrene, and its hard drive had to be amputated. I have done everything in my power to get my data off this drive, but I've concluded that it's a lost cause. Fortunately, I hadn't had this computer for long enough to build up a great stock of irreplaceables on it--some kitten pictures and a few revisions to my business plan are about the extent of the loss. Since I need a computer for work, they gave me another hand-me-down laptop, which I finally got set up to my liking last week.

I'm still blogging at work, though, because all my home time has been taken up by a new writing pursuit. I've confessed many times my abiding love for reality TV, which extends to websites where shows are recapped and discussed. Television Without Pity is one of them, though I lost my taste for their message boards a while ago. Another one, the first one I ever started reading in fact, is Reality News Online. They're less snarky and more factual, but still fun--and they recap shows you can't find anywhere else. Well, at the end of one of their recaps a few weeks ago, they mentioned that they needed a recapper for one of their shows, and I volunteered. I didn't get the show I asked for--and in fact, "The One" went off the air soon after--but the editor-in-chief, David Bloomberg, offered to give me a try, since there was another new show they needed a recapper for. And so I am now the official recapper for "Gene Simmons Family Jewels". Not necessarily my cup of tea, television-wise, and I can't stand Gene Simmons, but I'm so happy to get a chance to put my writing out there that I'd have recapped "Desperate Housewives", if he'd asked me to. (Okay, maybe not; even I have standards.)

Anyway, my preview article has already scrolled off the front page, and I can't seem to find a link to it in my history,(update: Here it is--Thanks, Google!) but here's my first episode recap. The second episode recap went out last night, so I would imagine it should be up soon (update: here it is!).

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about this. I didn't realize, though, how time-consuming it is to write one of those recaps. I taped both episodes Monday night, and watched them, taking notes, at the same time. Then I re-watched them a day or two later, making more notes. I did the first draft of the first article, then went back to watch the episode AGAIN, this time to check the accuracy of all the quotes I'd used. (Or rather, the INaccuracy; my reportorial skills are evidently QUITE rusty, and almost everything I thought was a quote was actually a paraphrase. The meaning was correct; the words, though, were usually off.) Then, back to the computer to make the changes; an out-loud reading to see if the rhythm was okay and if I'd added or left out any words; a little polishing for format and punctuation, a last-minute run through the spellchecker, and I was done. It took about four hours to recap a 30-minute show, and that was just the FIRST episode! I've got a whole new level of respect for the people who recap three or four one-hour shows every week. Maybe it gets easier once you've done it for a while.

Oh, and incidentally? I still think Gene Simmons is a misogynistic butthead. He's got some great kids, though.

Now that I'm back online at home, I'm hoping I'll be able to spend more time blogging; I've had a few good ideas while I've been away. I also have to get caught up on my blogroll reading; at least three of the blogs on my blogroll have either changed names or faded into the mists of blogdom. I'm amazed at how long it's been since I've been able to just sit and go down the list, catching up with what all of you have been doing. Sorry to have been so neglectful; it's nothing personal.