Suffering from Illness

Man, I hate being sick. It doesn’t happen very often but I think I have the flu. Body aches, chills, nagging cough. It sucks. So I am taking a few days off from work to try to recover. I’ve just laid on the couch watching Las Vegas on DVD and caught up on my DVR watching.
The bad thing is that this thing has swept through the store like the plague and has been hitting everyone. Thankfully it is hitting everyone separately as there are only five people in the department. And I was the last one to get hit by it despite my obsession with hand washing and such.

So I am down. No work. No writing. Just rest. Which is probably good in the long run. Going to lie back down…

New York Giants Win SUPER BOWL XLII

Normally this blog is reserved for corny jokes and comic book information but this entry is something special. In case you have been living in a cave on Mars with your fingers in your ears, I have been a fan of the NEW YORK FOOTBALL GIANTS since I was a kid. It has been a long time since the days of Lawrence Taylor and Phil Simms winning Super Bowl XXI and Super Bowl XXV. But all that changed this past Sunday with what is arguably one of the most exciting Super Bowls in recent memories.
The New York Giants traveled a long road to get to Glendale, Arizona and the site of Super Bowl XLII. They entered into the playoff as a Wild Card Team with an impressive record of 10-6. So they marched through Tampa Bay, defeated the Cowboys in Dallas (whom they had lost to twice in the regular season), and then battled the elements in the third coldest game on record in Lambeau Field and defeated the Packers in Green Bay.
And standing in their way were the unbeaten 18-0 New England Patriots.

No one gave them a shot to win the game. Analysts, commentators and such had written the Giants off. Even as a lifelong fan, I knew they could do it but I didn’t know if they would do it.
And then, with the lead changing hands three times in the fourth quarter, the Giants pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history.

It was unbelievable. And yes, you pay a lot closer attention when your team is playing. It sounds strange “your team.” But yes, it is your team, and after suffering such a long drought of championships, it was so nice to see people like Michael Strahan and “Well Dressed” Amani Toomer finally get a chance to wear a ring. And it is a vindication for guys like Eli Manning and the outstanding defense.
I just wish I had put money on the game. I guarantee Vegas made a killing!
So for the next year, the New York Giants are the World Champions—the best team in professional football… And I couldn’t be happier.

A Look into the Creative Process…

“Writer’s are, let’s face facts, a small, sometimes sickly, bunch who do their work in the dark surrounded by Simpsons action figures and only the occasional hours of Wii and Guitar Hero for any kind of break…”
Jon Stewart
The Daily Show
January 7th 2008

So I have discovered something quite strange recently regarding the creative process. J. Michael Straczynski once said (and I’m paraphrasing here) that once you decide to become a writer, you are screwed. And the reason why is because you will see a great movie and think, “Will I ever write something this good?” And you will see bad movies and think, “This is getting made but my stuff sits on a shelf?”
And in my time spent as a full time father, I discovered that in a job such as that, there is never a day off. You are constantly on the clock.
I have recently discovered that with my writing, the wheels are always turning. I think about it during my 9-to-5 job. I think about it while driving in the car. It seems like I am always on the clock, turning over scenes, generating dialogue and thinking about my next project.
But to quote another old adage, you can’t squeeze blood from a stone. A few weeks ago, I was under a deadline that I was terrified of. I was always telling myself, “Let’s write one more page” or “Let’s do one more panel.” And to make sure that I stayed on track, I denied myself a lot of distracting elements. The most notable of this was unplugging my XBOX 360. (Damn Lara Croft and her adventures into ancient crypts!)
But then I discovered something. Writing is not like working a 9-to-5 job. I attempted it on one of my days off from my regular job and after six hours, my brain turned into pudding. I felt like I had just taken the ACTs.
As it turns out, those turns at the XBOX or watching an episode of My Name is Earl is important. You have to take breaks. I think this why progressive and artistic companies like PIXAR have paper airplane flying contests or some companies have pool tables and video game machines in their break rooms.
When it comes to creative jobs, you need stuff like that.
The difference is my XBOX is not a distraction. It recharges my batteries. But this is also why I will be writing at six in the morning and at nine o’clock at night. The pull of that keyboard is way too strong.
Reading a good comic or a book only makes me want to write. It makes we want to do what they are doing. So half an hour spent playing Assassin’s Creed actually brings me back to the computer better and stronger.
And even if that means being on the clock seven days, strangely, I don’t seem to mind.
I guess that is the truest sign of having a job that you love…

Living by the Sword…

There is an old expression that states, “You live by the sword, you die by the sword.” It is an old adage that basically means that you must live and die by the decisions that you make. At the basic core, it means that a person must be responsible for their actions. I have never understood people who have lamented about the hand that life has dealt them. Some people act like the world owes them a living or that fate has somehow given them their crappy life.
I feel that life is what you make it.
Decisions come along in your life and you can look back and say, “This is the decision that took me on my path.” And it is that choice and that decision that you can look back on and often wonder where your life might have gone had taken a different road. If you taken the blue pill instead of the red one. If you had taken what was behind Door #2 instead of what was in the box. Damn you, Monty Hall.
My dad lived a life as a fantastic salesman for various companies after leaving the United States Air Force. And, as business was back in those days, we went where the money was. Which meant I moved from Tulsa to Indianapolis to Charlotte and later to settle in Adair, Oklahoma as part of those business deals. We went where the money and the opportunity was. But in making those choices, we sacrificed certain things—most notably connection with family.
See, my family is scattered across the country with some family in Oklahoma but others are located in Virginia, California, Montana, Texas and I think I have some family in Florida. However, I have barely met the majority of my family.
Then we move to Adair, Oklahoma. In this area, many families stay incredibly close with one another and most family is within quick driving distance. This is an area where cousins are everywhere. It was a bit of a culture shock for me when we first moved here.
However, I know that this is where I was meant to be. I accepted Adair and Northeastern Oklahoma whole-heartedly and with the exception of a small stint down in Dallas to go to school, this is where I have lived and will continue to live for the rest of my life. Even if Amy and I won the lottery tomorrow, we would probably build our dream house right next to our current house.
For me it was an easy decision.
Other decisions are not so easy.
After a greatly successful career in sales selling ice to Eskimos, my dad was given an opportunity to go back into a career with the military, training kids how to fly planes in giant simulators that are the equivalent to multimillion-dollar video game machines. However, to do this, he would have to travel to the opposite corner of the state, which meant a separation from me in Adair.
I was pretty bummed about this, as is to be expected, as my mom and dad moved down to Altus, Oklahoma, which is a good six-hour drive. So, I was a tad upset that my parents left my area but during my trip down to see my dad, my whole perspective changed.
He walked with such confidence as he took me to where he worked. He was in his element. This is what he was put on this earth to do. This was his calling and even more so, he was good at it. No, he’s great at his job.
And on my way back home, I had a sudden epiphany. Who was I to selfishly ask my dad to stay in my area when he had a chance to be in his element and truly enjoy his job? Would I love for him to work in the Tulsa area? Sure, I wish there could have been an Air Force base in Tulsa. But this is how life goes some times.
(Maybe this is why I am so happy that my dream-job—writing comics—allows me to stay here in my low-cost-of-living-Adair and email my scripts to my publishers!)
So while I continued to live my life here in Adair, my mom would eventually move to Sallisaw to oversee the construction of their retirement house. She would finish construction right about the time it was time for Dad to retire. He would move up to Sallisaw and eventually, “Veranda” would become a vacation destination. When my kids got older, they would go down to stay with Grandma and Granddaddy for a week of boats and sea-doos and swimming.
Sure the distance (an hour and half) was a little too long for me but who was I to tell them where to build their house when they were clearly in love with Lake Kerr? And on my few trips down there, I have to admit, it was a tremendous property filled with tranquility. It was a little slice of paradise for my parents.
But certain financial arrangements came along. Dad was making incredible money and the decision was made for dad to continue working and not retire as early as he thought. And clearly, Mom wanted to be with her husband, so the plan was for them to secure Veranda with an alarm system and have Mom move back down to Altus at the end of 2005 until they made their triumphant return to Lake Kerr.
And then my mom got sick…
And this is where the decisions of life come into play. My mom was in terrible pain in October of 2005 and she was forced to move early down to Altus because she could no longer take care of herself.
In mid-November, she was diagnosed with cancer.
On December 28th, she passed away from the illness.
Because of this distance, I was unable to be with my mother during her darkest hour. Too many things were stacked against me. I had to work. My kids were in school. Kids weren’t allowed in the progressive care unit where she was placed. There was the incredible distance. And then there was the small matter of the fact that I refuse to be in the same room with my sister.
So I had to settle for phone calls. Sure I would have liked to have video conferencing and all that but no sense crying about spilled milk.
And with all illnesses of this nature, we didn’t know how much time she had. Initial bouts of dementia were masked as reaction to her pain medication. And then like that… she was gone.
Strangely though, I have never considered my decisions as a source of grief for me. The only one that I look back on with regret is that I let an argument with my sister slightly influence my decision to be with my mom. I regretted that fact because that was the one part of the equation that I could have actually controlled.
Still, I have never wandered about the moors at night crying about how life treated me unfairly and robbed me of my final conversation with my mom.
These were the decision that my family and I had made. And I live by those decisions. How can we live otherwise?
When I write all this out, it seems perfectly logical to me. However, some people don’t seem to share my view.
Some people just decide to live differently I guess.
I pity those people.

Happy New Year! Welcome 2008!

I hope everyone has had a good holiday. As with every New Year, we are offered a chance for a fresh start and new beginnings. I am planning on continuing my plan from 2007 by cultivating the seeds of success that I have been nurturing for the past few years.
Amy and I have been steadily working towards a plan to give us financial security and that plan is finally moving quickly towards fruition. We are taking big strides this year. Amy is beginning her nursing program and I have half-a-dozen books in production with Arcana Studios. Now the plan is to turn those books into financial and personal successes.
I hope everyone faces the New Year with hope and joy. Here is a little wish to hope that you have a great 2008!!!

Happy Holidays, Everybody!

As I like to do at a time like this, I like to wish all my friends and family a Merry Christmas. [I know I am kind of pushing it to the last minute this year.] Given how the post office has become a bit of an antiquated notion in the whole digital age, I chose to send my official hello out via email. I figure what I am saving on postage and stamps alone by using this somewhat impersonal technique more than pays for my Internet service for the month. So let’s get it started.
All and all, 2007 has shaped up to be a pretty good year.
As with most people, our career often defines who we are. I have made my way through another year working in the produce department at Reasor’s to pay the bills. I doubt anyone finds that fact interesting but it is a means to an end until Amy finishes her nursing degree.
However, my regular work in comic books is certainly growing into a potential full time job. Original series, commissions, work-for-hires, I’ve got all sorts of stories in development ranging from vampires to gladiators to Martians to vigilantes. Couldn’t be happier.
Working at Reasor’s is great motivation as it is a stark reminder that I would rather tell big-boobed girls and musclemen in spandex how to fight aliens or demons as opposed to stocking bananas and throwing away out-of-date salad.
Regarding the family, Amy is going to start her official nursing program in January. We are all excited for her to get started. The boys have done well in school this year (their second at Osage Schools) and Lauren is close to finishing up her time at the Big Cabin Headstart. Alex is playing both football and basketball. Jason’s grades continue to be great. Lauren is very much continuing to grow into a little girl.
Amy and I celebrated out tenth wedding anniversary this year.
Despite having to battle two ice storms that left us without power (one in January, one in December), I can now say that I have lived in a Federal Disaster Area twice in my life. Who else can say that? Raise your hands. I notice the people in New Orleans aren’t laughing. We all miss your city but fear not. Loose women will gladly expose themselves for cheap plastic beads once more. If you know those women, send them my email address.
Other things that brought my life joy this year:
I joined the XBOX 360 Nation.
I joined the MySpace Nation.
I had a lot of fun playing Fantasy Football with some guys from work.
Marvel Civil War was awesome.
The Harry Potter novel series concluded and brought sentimental tears to my eyes.
All and all, I would say 2007 has not exactly been a tent pole year for RMF Enterprises but I think I will look back and say what we did this year laid a firm foundation for the success in the coming years.
So for all my family and friends, I wish you a Merry Christmas, A Happy Hanukkah, a Kwazy Kwanzaa, a tip top Tet, and a solemn and dignified Ramadan.
Happy Holidays Everybody!

Ryan Foley

General of the Groove Armada

Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.

As I am known to do from time to time, I like to throw out some recommendations for those that visit the blog.

MOVIES: Two big movies hit on DVD this coming week (Tuesday the 18th). The Simpsons Movie might be one of the funniest movies of the year. Having already seen it in theaters, I’m looking forward to studying the extra features on DVD.
Also coming out on DVD this week is the best movie you have never heard of. Stardust comes out this week and it is getting my highest recommendation because most people probably haven’t heard about it. It is a magical fairy tale that is truly unlike any other movie I have seen before. I love when a movie comes along that I cannot equate to any other because of its originality and Stardust is that movie this year. It isn’t eclipsing 300 as my favorite movie of 2007 but it is certainly going in my Top 10.

BOOKS: With the highest possible recommendation, I strongly advise all members of the Foley Nation to go out and purchase your own copy of Stephen Colbert’s I Am America (And So Can You!) on bookshelves now. Now, I am a huge fan of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report. I believe that it is consistently funnier than The Daily Show, largely in part to the great “character” that Stephen portrays in the book. The book has a laugh out loud moment on every single page and the clever use of comedy in the margins and footnotes only increases the absurdity of the commentary.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. There are just rampant jokes throughout every page, some of which you really have to pay attention to get. I would loan out my copy of the book but Mr. Colbert’s rules on such are very clear. No loaning out. Which is also why you will not find this book in libraries. No free rides.

Thanks to reading this book, I am now 25% more patriotic and I am now one of the heroes. Thanks to Mr. Colbert, just like him, I am now America. Read the book and you can be too!!!

Right now I am also reading R.A. Salvatore’s The Orc King. The adventures of Drizzt Do’Urden continue in this novel. Mr. Salvatore is one of the reasons why I write and going on another Drizzt adventure is always a great joy for me. There is no greater character in fictional literature than Drizzt and Salvatore is one of my “magnificent seven” of inspiration.

Enjoy everybody!

Surviving the December 2007 Ice Storm

Written on December 11, 2007

So life in Northeastern Oklahoma came to a screeching halt this past weekend. We were blanketed with a sheet of ice that downed power lines, snapped trees, and sent the population into a mad panic looking for candles, lamp oil, fuel for generators, and all the other madcap hi-jinks that go along with a storm such as this. Our power went out at 7:15 on Sunday night and as of this writing at 9:45 a.m. on Monday the 11th, we still have no power. (I’m writing this blog entry at work with intentions to post it whenever we get back on-line.)

Here is the ironic thing. On December 10th, the temperature was above freezing for both the whole day and the whole night. You would thing that after last winter’s nightmare storm, our power company would have had things better in hand this time around. I guess that is not the case. So, in theory, this is the last of the precipitation and things should hopefully get back to normal fairly soon. Until then, I am living on generator power and bundled up in heavy sweatshirts when I am at home.

The schools are out but the roads are drivable. Most of the school closings are the result of having no power as opposed to road conditions. With highs supposed to be in the forties for the next couple of days, I’m hoping most of the ice will be gone.
Unfortunately, our front yard looks like a war zone that only a few hours with a chainsaw and several burning brush piles will cure.
So, to answer your next question… Yes, this was the worst birthday ever. My first couple days of being thirty-three years old have not started out very good. But I guess when it starts out this far in the toilet, you have nowhere to go but up.

Written on December 14, 2007
As I reach close to 7:15 a.m. on this day, we are now 108 hours without power. Five and one half days. Admittedly, we are far better off than we were when this happened last winter. I have a generator so we have limited power that basically gives us the bare necessities and some entertainment to get by.
Still having no stove, microwave, or refrigerator is really starting to get old. According to my power company websites, there are crews in our area and they are supposed to be working on individual homes… but still I am not holding my breath. As I learned last time, false hope is worse than no hope.
I think the most frustrating thing is that things are relatively back to normal. The roads are free of ice and were never treacherous and the ice is all off the lines because of several days spent above freezing. So we are much better off than we were before, let progress seems to be just as slow when it comes to getting everything powered up despite what you might call “favorable” conditions.
Oh well…
Yesterday was the first day off that I had from work and I spent the better part of two hours cleaning up my front yard. I have built a brush pile about the size of a full-size pick up. Maybe bigger. And I am nowhere near close to being done.
So as we continue to shoulder on, let me just say: Ice sucks.

Written on December 14th, 2007
God bless Will Smith. He fights aliens, he saves the planet, he delivers us from vampires, and be brings me electricity. Coming out from watching I Am Legend with some friends from work, I was given the good news. Power has been restored!!!

Written on December 15, 2007
What a difference a few hours makes. At approximately 5:20 p.m., 118 hours after this whole ordeal began, we finally have power restored and life is getting back to normal here in Adair.
Right now, in my refrigerator, there is a bag of bacon bits, a block of Velveeta, lemon juice in a squeeze bottle, some Arm & Hammer baking soda, Kool-Aid, and ice. Oh, and some Pepsi. Yeah, the refrigerator is pretty bare, folks. I don’t even want to calculate how meat we had to throw away.
Still I think we were much better off this time around than in January. I keep telling myself that I am slowly going to stock up on essentials like lanterns and lamp oil.
It could have been worse. When the power went out, I just walked out the front porch to start the generator. Last time, we had to scramble to find/buy one.
Now I just have to get the front yard cleaned up and get the house put back together. One step at a time… Or I could spend my day off going to watch Hitman in Pryor. Yeah, screw the yard. I’m going to the movies…

A NOVEMBER TO REMEMBER

I know my blog has been lacking lately but believe me when I tell you that it has been for an outstanding reason! Now, I am not revealing a lot here because of certain confidentiality agreements but I have been hired by an overseas company to adapt a literary classic into a graphic novel. [Graphic novel is the fancy term for a bound comic book.]
I was given a mid-December deadline and I have finished the first draft of that assignment on the last day of November. That’s sixty-four comic pages in about 14 days. I think that is pretty darn impressive considering I am still working my full-time job as well. The money on the project is very good (from my point of view) and it has been a great opportunity for me to expand my base and my contacts. Hopefully, my Arcana Studio mates might even get some work out of this project through freelance coloring and lettering. It could very well be a win/win for everyone involved.
After chewing through the rough draft and completing my page structure and such, I have sat back and relaxed for a few days. I celebrated by hooking my XBOX 360 back up. I passed the script over to my editor to catch all of my spelling and grammar mistakes. I might go back and play with the finer points to really make this a Ryan Foley book. But I was so jazzed after I finished the assignment.
I think that writers—good writers—are always writing. It is in their bloodstream. Over these last few weeks, I have found myself getting up at 5:00 a.m. to write before going to work. I would write on my coffee and lunch breaks at work. I would write when I came home from work. I was writing all the time, telling myself, “Self, let’s just get this one more page done.”
Part of me was doing this because I was terrified of my deadline. (FIFTEEN DAYS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE!!!) This is why my blog has been suffering from a lack of updates!
Now I was writing during the Thanksgiving rush (a pretty busy time for a grocery store) and I went for a pretty long stretch without a day off. And when I finally got my day off, I made a startling discovery. I told myself that I was going to treat it like my normal job and write for eight hours straight and treat it like a 40-hour a week job.
That’s when I discovered that if you do that your brain into pudding in your skull. After that day, I felt like I had just come off the ACTs. And I would rather be physically tired than mentally tired, any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
I think you have to off-set your work with a relaxing break. So I found that unhooking the XBOX was a mistake and I function better if I write for a few hours, take a break by watching an episode of My Name Is Earl or playing a level on Tomb Raider Anniversary.
Of course, it is after that break that I find myself drifting back to the computer to work and when you put all that time together, it probably equals out to a forty-hour-a-week job but you do it over the course of eighty hours.
Still, this is the job I would love to do full time. I wish I could write for a few hours, take a break to clean house and do dishes, write a little more, fold clothes, and then write a little more… I just need to start having steady paychecks coming in.

We’ll see how it unfolds. More news soon.

Perspective, Kingsley, and NOT spending a night in jail…

First of all, I don’t consider myself to be overly intelligent. I like to think that because of past grades and certain standardized test scores, I believe that I am above average when it comes to the old noggin but not too high up the charts to look down on other people. However, rather than getting my learnin’ solely from books and education, I learn a lot from popular culture. And I am confident enough in my self-esteem to admit it. (Yes, I learned about Coriolis Effect and Occam’s Razor from The Simpsons.)
And I had an event yesterday that immediately registered in my mind both of which happened to involve the wonderful actor Sir Ben Kingsley. In the movie Sneakers (with Robert Redford), Kingsley talks about how life is not based on reality but on the perception of reality. (This is also detailed in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave if you want to go the highbrow route.)
And in Lucky # Slevin, Kingsley’s character The Rabbi has a monologue about luck. A brief sample:
The Rabbi: The unlucky are nothing more than a frame of reference for the lucky. You are unlucky, so I may know that I am not. Unfortunately the lucky never realizes they are lucky until it's too late. Take yourself for instance; yesterday you were better off than you are off today but it took today for you to realize it. But today has arrived and it's too late. You see? People are never happy with what they have. They want what they had, or what others have. The grass is always greener on the other side.

Now, I bring all this up because I recently had an epiphany about luck, circumstance, and perspective. Because I was entertained by the stories of a co-worker yesterday morning as he regaled us of his time spent in the Craig County Jail after being arrested for driving with a suspended license. Now, I am by no means a goody two-shoes. However, I can proudly state that:
I have never been in jail.
I have never been in prison.
I have never done drugs.
I’ve never been unfaithful to my wife.
My wife has never been unfaithful to me.
I’ve never beaten my wife.
I’ve never beaten my kids.
I’ve never defaulted on a loan.
I’ve never gotten an angry “final notice” letter.
I’ve never had anything repossessed.
I’ve never had to pawn anything to pay bills.
I’ve never been fired from a job.

I write all this out because I think at times we get so caught up in the rat race and the rigmarole that we often lose perspective. We lose sight of what is really important. A friend of mine (Hi, Ray!) sent me an email one time that had statements like if I’m overweight, it means I’m not starving. If I’m complaining about gas prices, it means I have a car. It is kind of one of those moments like, “I complained because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.”
So when I complain and say, “I have to work until 5:00 today…” I should really be celebrating saying, “I get to work today!” which means I’m making money and that I have a job. Okay, granted, it’s not a great job and the it is not a lot of money, but still I have a job that does pay money.
Honestly, when my biggest problems involve not being able to find the latest wave of Marvel Legends action figures, not getting enough “relations” from my wife, and shaving my head because I’m going bald… suddenly my situation doesn’t seem that bad.
Yesterday, after coming home from an eight-hour shift at an inside job where I stock fruits and vegetables and more often than not laugh with my co-workers, I watched my kids play the latest Mario game on their Nintendo Wii. Then, when they went to practice for their Christmas program at church, between working on my latest comic book project, watching the new Beowulf trailer, looking at boobs on the Internet, and playing Tomb Raider Anniversary on my X-BOX 360, I watched part of a Schwarzenegger movie for story research. Then, when the wife and kids got back home, we watched our DirecTV satellite-fed programs on a 55” Widescreen TV in a house that is completely paid for with no mortgage to speak of.
Then to cap off the evening, I slept in a warm bed with a loving wife in a dark bedroom with a belly full of food.
The biggest problems of the day?
Luke and I missed working with Aaron M. (Sniff, sniff)
I need to get a quart of oil for my car. (Solved today.)
I’ve got too many running backs and not enough wide receivers on my fantasy football team. (Yeah, that’s life and death.)
I need to start saving up money to buy Assassin’s Creed. (That may take a month or two. Oh no, I have to wait a month or two to play a game…)
And I didn’t get to do the hibbity-dibbity last night. (Again, problem probably solved tonight—unless she reads this entry.)
It really all comes down to perspective, boys and girls. Honestly, look around and take stock of your life. In doing so, things may not be as bad as they seem. At least you didn’t spend last night LOCKED in a brightly illuminated jail cell with a paper-thin mattress, no pillow, an open public toilet, and a crappy meal while spending time with a multiple-murderer and a drug-trafficker who are awaiting trial and are probably considering sodomizing you…
It all comes down to perspective, kids. Remember those words.
Yesterday you were better off than you are off today but it took today for you to realize it. But today has arrived and it's too late.
Hopefully, by you reading this, I have made you realize how lucky you are without you having to go to jail or be drug before a crime boss with a shotgun to realize it…
Have a great day. I sure will.