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Author Archives: Tim Elhajj
Unstoppable
Here is my synopsis (with spoilers):
Wha, wha, whahhhhh! (Doppler effect)
“The train is out of control!”
“Millions of people will die!”
Chug, chug, chug. Whoosh!
“We must stop the train!”
Wha, waaa, wahhhhhhh! (Doppler effect)
“We can’t stop the train!”
“Damn fool kid!”
KABOOM!
Wa, wa, waahhhh! (Doppler effect)
“No! Ahhhhh!”
“Jump you pussy!”
“Yes!”
But really. This movie is totally badass.
I loved all the shots of rural Pennsylvania and its mill towns. I thought Washington and Pine were excellent together. Tony Scott studiously avoids any sort of deep, thoughtful stuff, but offers instead a tense, situational thriller that hits a lot of the right notes, with the usual cast of characters (Old Timer, New Kid, Stupid VP Bean Counter, Smart Boss).
The few obviously stupid parts (we can’t afford to make Chris Pine a dirty rotten wife beater) are more than overshadowed by how well it all comes together as a whole. Go see!
Got Junk?
Holly and I are collaborating on an online literary magazine called Junk. From the press release:
Tim Elhajj and Holly Huckeba have joined forces to bring you Junk, a literary fix at http://www.junklit.com. We’re a nonfiction literary magazine that focuses on addiction, but you don’t have to be an addict to submit to us.
That white elephant (pictured) is Whitey, our mascot. When it comes to memoir about addiction, Whitey is the (literary) elephant in the room that no one talks about (shhhh).
We just published our first official issue, a touching story from Elizabeth Westmark called Detritus.
Holly and I have some work posted, too. Check it out. I’d love to get your feedback. This is something I have always wanted to do and I’m so pleased it’s finally coming into its own.
I have always felt very strongly two things: 1) our creativity is one of the most powerful forces each of us has for creating good in the world; 2) memoirs about addiction and addicts are legion, but for some reason this work only appears in the same predictable ways, time after time. Junk is an attempt to bring these two ideas together and have some fun.
But mostly have fun.
I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that Holly has agreed to work with me on this. I love working on creative projects with her but only realized this a few years ago, when Holly signed up to create memory books for the entire fifth grade as our kids graduated to middle school. It was early in the school year and she asked if I wanted to be part of it.
I laughed. “No way,” I said. “Count me out.”
Of course the plan for the memory books expanded. Then it contracted. Some of the fifth graders were confused. Others were prolific. Finally we came upon zero hour: it was the weekened before the memory books were due. Holly had so many stacks of art work, a few lists of names, and a lot of ideas.
“Are you going to help,” Holly said.
What could I say? Of course I would.
We ordered pizza for the kids and temporarliy lifted all TV and video game restrictions. We took all the art work to my office and spread it out on a ping pong table. The coffee machine clucked to life. We started trading ideas. The copiers and printers began humming. We got out the sicssors and started doing layouts. The paper cutter made its chop chop noise. We sent out for Chinese. Finally, in the middle of the night, those memory books started coming to life. I had no idea it would be so much fun.
This weekend before last, Holly and I were at it again. We scoured our little corner of Washington to capture a photograph to go with Elizabeth’s fine story. What fun!
We posted the press release on the blog for the journal, where we post updates about research, all types of addiction, or literature that strikes our fancy. Our goal is to use the blog to create a community around the journal and see what happens.
Won’t you join us?
Fish and Cheese
My kids love this stuff. Sounds terrible, tastes great. Try it!
Ingredients:
- vegetable cooking spray
- 2 pounds talapia
- 2 Tablespoon butter
- 2 Tablespoon flour
- 1 1/2 Cup fat-free Half & Half
- 2 teaspoon lemon pepper
- 3 Cups grated cheddar cheese
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and coat a long baking dish with cooking spray.
- Pat fish dry with a paper towel and place in a single layer in baking dish.
- In a small saucepan melt butter over medium heat.
- Add flour and cook for one minute.
- Add Half & Half, lemon pepper and bring to a boil, stirring constantly until thickened.
- Spoon mixture over fillets.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
- Remove fish from oven and sprinkle with cheese, continue baking for 10 minutes more or until fish flakes easily with a fork.
Calories 264; Protein 26 g; Fat 11 g; Carbs 5 g; Sugar 0 g; Sodium 325 mg
Adapted from Linda’s Eating Well, Living Thin
The Car is Making a Funny Noise
All week Holly tells me that the car is making a funny noise.
This morning I drive it a bit and don’t hear anything until I am about a few miles from our house and then it sounds like normal engine noise, but louder, like the muffler is going bad. Then I hear a clunking noise that grows louder until it culminates in the sound of parts falling off the car and hitting the road.
I pull over. I put the flashers on and find this laying in the road behind the car:
Pop the hood and everything looks fine.
No idea where the part came from, so I toss it in the car, finish my errands, and head back home.
Coming round the corner to my house, I hear a dragging noise. I think some piece of the exhaust system is dragging. I pull the car into my drive way and look under the car:
Holy crap! — That doesn’t look like the exhaust system!
Pop the hood:
Not sure if you can tell by this picture, but the whole damn engine is seriously listing to the left about 10-15 degrees.
It looks to me like the head of one of the bolts may have snapped off. I can see the threaded bottom part sticking up from a spot where it looks like the piece that I retrieved from the street ought to go.
I’m just glad the damn engine didn’t drop into the street.
The tow truck driver was surprised that it still ran. I laughed because, aside from the dragging noise, it seems to run a little better than it did before. We had it in the shop because the engine light kept coming on, but that problem seems to have been solved (although if you’re having a similar problem with your engine light, I don’t recommend you try knocking out the motor mount on your car).
Crazy!
Dopefiend Forthcoming from Central Recovery Press in October 2011!
I signed a contract with a book publisher!
Dopefiend* is forthcoming from Central Recovery Press in October 2011. I am so excited and pleased.
Central Recovery Press first contacted me in early spring. I signed in late September. In-between was much book publishing drama. It’s nothing like what I imagined. I say that, but I am no longer even sure what I imagined. I just know I agonized over everything.
You always read about these wonderfully talented writers who were poor business people and ended up dying penniless and lonely in some terrible place. I was determined not to let that happen to me. I asked about print runs, wholesale and retail prices, and means of distribution, but the person I worked with—a kind soul from upstate NY named Tom Woll—liked to answer these type questions in general terms. I could never tell if he thought I was somewhat slow or if he was just trying to protect me from myself.
Probably a little of both.
In the end, I had to reach out to all my writer friends and acquaintances for help. That’s what really turned the tide and helped me understand what was going on. It’s one thing to see yourself as a promising new voice. No matter how many rejections come, you’re always able to shrug it off. Writers get rejected. This is just what we do. In a sense, we’re manufacturing rejection. But being asked to deliver on a vivid and engaging manuscript is another story altogether. I didn’t see it right off, but now I realize I was overwhelmed, intimidated, and mabye even a little frightened.
Fortunately I had a host of writers and friends to rely on for everything from sanity checks to encouragement. Much thanks to: William Bradley, Dinty Moore, Matt Briggs, Rachael Brownell, Diane Diekman, Karna Converse, Carter Jefferson, Grace Skibicki, William Pitt Root, Tom Catton, Ira Sukrungruang, and I am sure a few others who I am forgetting as I write this.
And many thanks to Holly—a wonderfully talented writer in her own right, and my best reader and favorite critic—for putting up with me all summer long and for cleaning out some room in the house where I can write. I realize that I have been offered a wonderful opportunity, one that not many writers get.
Now my job is to write the best book I can produce.
*Dopefiend is the tentative title. I agreed to come up with a new title, but I haven’t found anything I like just yet.
Post-a-day Marathon at Caroline’s Cause
My brother Tony asked me to help him raise awareness about Rett syndrome this month and I’ve agreed to do it.
We’re hosting a post-a-day marathon to raise awareness about Rett syndrome on Caroline’s Cause, the blog where we organize charity events to benefit Caroline.
Come check us out at Caroline’s Cause. Or give us some facebook love.
October is Rett-tober for Rett Syndrome Awareness Month
October is Rett Syndrome Awareness month.
Raising awareness about Rett syndrome is important to me because my seven-year old niece has Rett Syndrome. It’s a terrible developmental disorder that affects mostly little girls.
The children who get it start to do this hand washing motion and then pretty soon they stop looking you in the eye.
And then, it gets worse. Much worse.
They get seizures. They lose the ability to swallow, talk and walk. In Caroline’s case, her body started to go haywire almost immediately, so she never learned how to do these basic tasks.
My brother Tony (pictured) asked me to help him raise awareness about Rett syndrome next month and I’ve agreed to do it. We’re hosting a post-a-day marathon to raise awareness about Rett syndrome on Caroline’s Cause, the blog where we organize charity events to benefit Caroline.
Tony is an amazing person.
As you can see, he is (literally) a giant among men. In high school, he ended up in the same senior class as me as a result of some strange (but banal) circumstances. Tony and I couldn’t have been more different seniors. I was quickly expelled in the first six weeks. Meanwhile, Tony went on to win the Pennsylvania AA unlimited weight class wrestling championship in 1979.
And this is in Pennsylvania, a state notorious for having some of the best high school sports programs in the entire US. Pennsylvania, the home to huge farmer boys who wrestle hogs and cattle for lunch. Dude, Pennsylvania! Who would have guessed that such a big imposing guy would end up being tasked with such a huge nurturing life challenge?
I encourage you to visit the blog now and during the month of October.
I’ve been writing these stories up for the last few days now, and I’m so excited. If you’re like me you expect the worst from most people and you’re usually not disappointed. But I’m just amazed at the remarkable people in Caroline’s life, like Vicky the firebrand physical therapist or the wonderfully unreserved Dr. Caso, Caroline’s pediatric dentist. I’m sure there will be some sad bits, and some stuff to make you think, but I predict you’re going to really enjoy hearing about these people.
Plus it would just mean a lot to us to see some hits.
So come check us out on the Caroline’s Cause blog. Or give us some facebook love.
Tim Elhajj Interview With Back to Back Announcements
My friend and fellow writer from the land of rain and fir trees Deanna Hershiser posted an interview we did together on her blog.
I’m discussing the risks involved with writing memoir and even a little about my writing process and some thoughts on work life balance. Somehow I end up revealing to her two announcements that have been in the works for a while now, but for some reason haven’t made it to this blog yet. I’m sure I’ll post both of them eventually, but why wait?
Go on over there and check it out now: junking with Tim Elhajj.
End of Summer
This is the last day of summer and what a summer it was. The kids really came into their own this year, especially with water polo. I didn’t realize it, but water polo is a vicious sport. Most of the really violent action takes place under the water, where unsuspecting parents can’t see.
After one match, Aaron admitted to biting another boy who had been choking him.
He was standing poolside with both Holly and I, and we were both taken aback. Holly said she thought biting might get you expelled from the game, possibly even the tournament. Aaron’s eyes got big.
She suggested he find the boy and apologize. Aaron, always a good egg, readily agreed. Just then he grabbed a little blonde boy who was walking past and said, “Did I bite you?”
The boy grinned and nodded his head and Aaron quickly apologized. It took about ten seconds. They congratulated one another on the outcome of the game and then the boy walked on. When he was clear, I scrutinized Aaron.
“Did I bite you,” I repeated. I gave Aaron a skeptical look.
I was glad he was willing to take responsiblity for his behavior, but what kind of apology was that? He was acting as if he were completely unaware of his own behavior. Yeah, hey — the coaches are telling me that I bit you out there! My God—can you believe it?
Aaron looked at me blankly for a minute. “He’s a twin,” Aaron said. “I wanted to make sure I was apologizing to the right one.”
Ha! I knew that. My little man.
Water polo was especially good for Kennedy this year.
She really got more aggressive, really getting in those boy’s faces, which is huge for her. The kids are twelve and both played in the fourteen year old tournament this year. The picture at the top is her doing battle with the fourteen year olds.
Holly says most of the girls drop out after they hit twelve, but I am hoping Kennedy will continue for another few years.
We also went to A-champs, the big senior competition for swim team in our area. The kids had only gone to B-champs in past years, so this was a big deal. They are both turning into fine swimmers.
This was also the summer we went to Texas, which was really hot.
And Holly and I went to Portland with Pace for our 14 wedding anniversary.
Present Tense 
