Overextended

With all the media in my life, I often find myself overexteded.

As example, I subscribed to DISCOVER full of good intentions after reading an issue at Christmas. Figured I'd get some ideas to spur my fiction writing and maybe make myself a little smarter--get some tidbits to throw around Cliff Clavin-like at cocktail parties (yes, I know this assumes fictitious invitations to cocktail parties, but it sounds good; let's go with it).

The first issue came in February. I brought it to the gym with me, read one article, then skimmed the issue, saving it until later. At some point, I realized it was under a mound of cleaned-out car debris in my trunk. Since then, new issues come and get piled up next to the bills each month.

What am I doing that keeps me too busy? Netflix queue has over 400 DVDs waiting for me to watch. CINDERELLA MAN has been on my DVR since June, 2006, also waiting for its moment to make synapses fire (DISCOVER callback! subtle). I have over 100 books stacked up--from BANKER FOR THE POOR to WRITING MOVIES to a collection of Flanner O' Connor stories. Then there's the collection of DVDs waiting to be watched that I've bought--THE ROCKFORD FILES Season 2, THE SHIELD Season 4. There's all the web 2.0 connecting--LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace (OK, I don't actually go to MySpace, since the free-form design makes my head hurt), the literary journals, the websites, the Sunday New York Times, Opie & Anthony, Ron & Fez, iTunes, the trade journals for work, the 60-hour workweek, the gym, the classes, the blogs I read.
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Every so often I take stock and figure out where to trim. Today seems like one of those days.