And when I’m depressed, I generally don’t want to do anything, especially write. I’ll think, ‘I need to write. I’m going to write a blog post.’ And then I open up WordPress and stare at a blank entry screen for a while before closing it down and going to surf Tumblr some more.

It’s actually kind of a miracle that I’m writing this post right now. I’m feeling the same way–that I’d rather be goofing off than doing anything productive–but I’m forcing my fingers to type rather than to idly scroll through animated gifs from Merlin.

Aside from winter, I’ve had a lot of other crap on my plate. My great-grandmother is nearing the end of her life. I spent ten days in Las Vegas for a work conference. I’m trying to get my house ready for my family to arrive for a visit… oh my god, tomorrow.

Oh, and the big thing. I’m getting married on the 27th. It’s going to be a tiny wedding, but there is still a lot to do. And I’m not the best at dealing with stress, heh.

So this post is basically an explanation as to why I haven’t been posting much lately. Heck, I’ve even had trouble reading lately, and that’s terrible. What am I supposed to do if I’m not reading?!

I am going to try my damndest to start writing again, and to read stuff to review. I’m hoping after the start of the year, things will calm down. Maybe then some of my inspiration will come back.

And I have to thank my fellow writers here at TDF. They’re awesome, and I appreciate their contributions so much. <3

This is a call to publishers, distributors, stores, anyone who has all ages books they would like to donate.

My name is Jason A. Hurley, my brother and I own a comic shop called Hurley’s Heroes in Joplin, Missouri. This last weekend, Joplin was hit by a deadly tornado that wiped out a huge chunk of town. Several hundred, perhaps even thousands, of families were put out of their homes. Now, hundreds of children are stuck inside huge shelters, and no doubt bored out of their minds. We’ve taken a few books from the store to a shelter nearby, and they were greatly appreciated. I’ve been inspired, and I want to make this effort bigger.

I have plenty of people, mostly my loyal customers, willing to distribute these books far and wide to the various shelters around town. Now, I need books to distribute. If anyone out there has all ages comics that they would be willing to donate to this cause, you can just send them to me, and I’ll get them out to the shelters.

For more information on how you can donate all-age comic books, visit Hurley’s Heroes’ blog. If you don’t have any comics but still want to donate to the Joplin relief effort, Red Cross of the Ozarks is taking donations.

BUTTERBEER:

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup heavy cream
* 2 TBSP powdered sugar
* 24-oz. of your favorite cream soda
* 2 teaspoons vanilla butter and nut flavoring (found at baking stores, grocery stores or online)

NOTE: If buying a concentrated form just use a few drops!

Directions:

Step 1: Start by pouring heavy whipping cream into mixing bowl.

Step 2: Add powdered sugar and whisk briskly (you want consistency to be thickened slightly but still loose). It should act like a foam.

Step 3: Pour in the cream soda into a chilled mug.

Step 4: Add the vanilla butter and nut flavoring to the creme soda and stir in.

Step 5: Spoon on the topping so it floats on top of the creme soda (about 1/2-inch thick). And enjoy!

Found via several people on Tumblr. Except for the me running from the barkeep part.

• I’m going to watch all of the new Battlestar Galactica.
• I’m giving up on the core X-Men titles.
• I’m going to watch season 1 of Buffy: the Vampire Slayer.
• I’m going to reread Lone Wolf & Cub.
• I’m going to write more articles for TDF.

The new BSG. Yup, did that. Finished it by early February, if I recall. Yeah, I liked it, but not as much as maybe if I had been watching it from the get-go and had to wait months in between seasons like the people who watched it as it unfolded. I admit I was very interested in finding out all the backstory I could as I was going through, but the end result was that I spoiled the hell out of myself. I think that contributed to my lack of a sense of awe and being blown away like I would’ve if I had to wait a week between episodes and not been able to “read ahead” as I wound up doing. But don’t be fooled, while I liked all of the new BSG, I still love the cheesy/campy original and, as my signature says, Dirk Benedict will always be my Starbuck.

I did finally give up the two core X-titles, but it took until October to do it. The completist in me still hates the rest of me for doing it, but at some point, you have to cut the cord. I don’t think I’ve read either title for over a year and comics are mostly up around $4 now so to spend that much money on something I don’t even read is ridiculous. I could be spending that money on comics I’d actually read and enjoy.  Not to mention I already have over 20 longboxes of comics that take up a LOT of space.

I watched season one of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You know what? I didn’t hate it, but I really couldn’t see spending any more time with it. I won’t be watching seasons 2-7. There are so many other shows I would enjoy more and are still on my “to watch” list that I can’t see wasting time on more Buffy. There, I said it. Wasting time. I’ll be expecting your hate mail any time. Please send to the usual address.

About my “easiest resolution to make” of rereading Lone Wolf & Cub…yeah. I didn’t get beyond book one this year. I got onto a Pratchett phase and wanted to start reading and rereading the Discworld books, so I sort of did that instead. I’m well known for being a ridiculously slow reader, and there just wasn’t room for both LW&C and Discworld.

And I did write more articles for TDF in 2010 than I did in 2009, though it’s not like I wrote much in 2009 anyway. But I also started a few new features like “Comedians You Should Know” (which will be starting up again in 2011), “Guilty Pleasures” and “Well I Never”.  Expect more of those features and some new ones in 2011!

~*~

Now that that’s out of the way, out with the old and in with the new! It is New Year’s Day after all!

• I’m going to catch up on the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. For as much as I love Discworld, I realized I haven’t actually read that many of the books. Odd, really. So this year, I’m going to finish what I started in 2010 and get current on all the books. I’m currently about 10 pages away from the end of FaustEric, which is number 9 in order of publication. Sir Terry’s up to 38 with 2010′s “I Shall Wear Midnight”, so I’ve got a fair way to go yet. It’ll probably take me all year.
• I’m going to catalog my comics. No mean feat, this. As I mentioned, I have more than 20 longboxes of comics. If you figure that each holds about 300-350 comics (I don’t use boards, I use full boxes to keep them neat) then that’s roughly 6000-7000 comics. I currently have about two boxes input into the Comic Collector software from Collectorz.com and it works well…I just wish it would work with a barcode scanner.
• I’m going to rewatch Lost from start to finish. I gave myself the blu-ray box set for Christmas and, aside from finding and watching the hidden disc, haven’t done much with it. But I have big plans! I’d like to do a feature for TDF called “Lost: By the Numbers”, but I haven’t decided yet exactly what it will be. I am open to suggestions. Lay ‘em on me!
• I’m going to give the US remake of Being Human a fair chance. I won’t lie, this might be kind of hard. I was initially skeptical when I heard they were remaking BH in the US. I consider the British original to be nearly perfect in every way and I love, love, love it. And every time I see new information or trailers or character sketches for the American version, I am demoralized by its very…Americanness. They even changed the names of the characters to be more American! I will give it at least 6 episodes (the length of the first British series) or until Syfy cancels it, whichever comes first, to grab and hold my interest. That sounds fair, doesn’t it?
• I am going to drop cable this year. This might be the hardest resolution to keep. There are only a few shows a week that I watch regularly, but I love having the TV on with just any old thing from the History Channel, History International, the Science Channel, NatGeo…basically my weekends are filled with the background noise of mummies, lost books of the Bible, the Crusades, UFOs, aliens, Stonehenge or space shows. That’s the kind of random, found stuff I will miss. It’s getting easier to get my usual weekly series online or elsewhere without having to fork out big money to Comcast, so why keep spending all that dough? Sure, I’ll keep my Internet (I’m not crazy) but I think it’s time to stop paying for cable.

Have you made any geeky resolutions for 2011? We’d love to hear them! And if you have any suggestions for what you’d like to see in the “Lost: By the Numbers” feature, please let us know!