There are times when I start a blog entry and then something shiny comes along to distract me and the thing never gets finished. I had, until recently, nearly two dozen such posts in WordPress, just waiting for me to come along and finish them; everything from movie reviews (The Station Agent, Alien Nation, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, 300, The Prestige, Pan’s Labyrinth) to book reviews (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment) and even theater reviews (Spamalot) and short fiction (The Tale of the Ugly Pony, Major Dorque: The Soldier’s Story). I waded through the incomplete posts this morning and deleted most of them, except the short stories and one Game Night recap (yeah, Gus, it’s the one you’re waiting for).

Here’s a sample of what got axed: my started-but-never-finished Origins 2007 recap from way back in July. A lot of fun stuff happened at Origins, but I got hung up on the style I’d chosen for the intro and never got around to actually writing about any of it.

Saturday, 07 July 2007, Oh Early Hundred Hours

As the first rays of sunshine begin to bathe northeast Ohio in their warmth, the MVoD cruises quietly southward along Interstate 271 toward Columbus. Safely ensconced within the sheet metal and fiberglass cockpit, two bearded geeks—unused to being active at such an early hour—rub the remnants of sleep from their bleary eyes and scan the distant horizon for the first glimpse of the Columbus Convention Center, to which thousands of geeks—bearded and unbearded alike—make their annual pilgrimage for Origins, the ne plus ultra of gaming fairs.

“Long has it been since we walked among our people,” declares one of the bearded geeks.

“Indeed,” the other agrees.It is neither pertinent nor especially interesting to distinguish between bearded geeks, for one is as much like the other as to make ascertaining anything beyond the most trivial and minute of distinctions an exercise in futility. For the sake of simplicity, we shall henceforth call them Kris and Chris, and note that even their names are so similar that the human ear cannot detect any significant discrepancy in pronunciation. The two are, for all intents and purposes in recounting this tale, identical.

Unerringly and without hesitation, Kris guides the vehicle toward the Convention Center, while Chris interjects with only the occasional clucking of his tongue against his palate, tsking as one might to a horse who is well familiar with the route but appreciates the subtle encouragement nonetheless.

Now the majestic spires of Columbus are visible, glimmering towers of crystal rising up through the faraway mists, and the bearded geeks are momentarily struck dumb by the magnificence before them. Time slows, the nearness of the destination taunting the weary travelers with a siren call that transcends sound, the shimmering jewel of the city urging them ever onward. And when it seems that the road will ever stretch out in front of the carriage, leaving their mecca unattainable for all eternity, time collapses in upon itself like a spyglass and at last they arrive.