It's coming...it's coming...it's coming...it's here!!!!

In 7 days my book is officially released. Its 12:18 AM on February 28, 2006; two days after my 33^rd birthday. Last of the early 30s. After this one I’ll officially be mid-thirties. I’m not having a crisis or anything about it. I’m just saying.

I’m a little high. OK right after I typed that, I got that head rush that makes you admit that you’re more than just a little high. I think I’m going to go get a little drunk. I have two sitcom scripts to finish. I have three letters to write. For some reason I just can’t get myself to focus on the tasks at hand. I can’t stop thinking about the fact that this damn book is actually going to be in stores. Thanks to Amazon.com and a few apparently over zealous Barnes and Nobles, quite a few people have already let me know that they already have their hands on it. It’s out there. Now the task is busting my ass to try and make this thing successful. I’ve already gotten some pretty good press, USA Today ran a piece that was picked up Associated Press style by a bunch of smaller papers. They called the book a “flip but frank take on pop culture and race relations.” Newsday quoted the piece in this story.

And the Hartford Courant was pretty complimentary: “There is plenty of astute commentary on the state of race relations in America tucked into this very funny book. Don't laugh so hard that you miss the serious points he is making.” Maureen at Kensington has already scheduled a ton of radio interviews on shows like NPR’s News & Notes with Ed Gordon and The Air America Network’s “Harrison on the Edge.” Tally ho!

The other night—for the first time, actually—I crunched the numbers to see how many copies I have to sell before Kensington makes back their advance and I start seeing royalties. It’s actually not as much as I would have thought. For a few minutes, I entertained the notion of this book as a money making venture; something I’ve been able to keep out of my mind pretty easily during this entire process. Of course, there were nights when I lay in bed and imagined myself on Oprah with my wife, mother-in-law, grandmother and sister sitting on the front row dressed for the day time Emmy awards. And, I have to admit that I do have my entire appearance on The Daily Show scripted in my head. But all along I’ve mostly thought about this as a launching pad. A stepping stone to other things that might actually allow me to make a living with comedy.

So I have a new favorite show. Not really. The Wire is my favorite show of all time and far and away the best thing on television. When the new season starts I’m going to unleash the full power and fury of my technological capabilities on downloading the entire reason and watching them all in a one day marathon. What’s amazing is that I could pull that off easily and my setup isn’t even that hi-tech. That’s how easy this stuff is. Concerned about me pirating from HBO? Don’t be. I pay for HBO every month and I’ll watch the episodes when they air on TV too. That’s how I roll with The Wire.

So I don’t really have a new favorite show. I have a new show that I really like. It’s called The Thirsty Traveler on the Fine Living Network. The host, Kevin Brauch officially has the best job in the world. Here’s the show, he travels all over the world tasting that country’s alcohol. That’s it. That’s the show. I’d watch that regardless. But it’s even better because it’s well-produced and Brauch actually knows his shit. If I’m ever in Northern Scandinavia, I’d love to get my hands on some Aquavit.