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Below are the most recent 25 friends' journal entries.

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    Saturday, November 7th, 2009
    dravon
         		1:44p
    dravon
         		1:27p
    dravon
         		1:02p
    Friday, November 6th, 2009
    dacuteturtle
         		9:10a
    The Heroes Journey?
     No talk of fantasy literature is complete without Joe Campbell, and there's the problem in a nutshell.

    Let's talk about the Hero's Journey.

    I watched a random episode of Seinfeld, the I successfully applied to the Hero's Journey concept to it, and BEHOLD, the episode was laden with meanings of mythic proportions.

    Do you see the issue? The Hero's journey is a useful concept, used in context, but we don't keep it in that context. We overapply it. We connect it to every journey and every revelation in every possible context. That's a sure recipe for trainwreck, which is what I consider the theory of the Hero's journey in modern useage. When every Seinfeld episode is a possible Hero's Journey, we have a problem.

    In context, the Hero's Journey is one particular form of a narrative, containing specific actions, while avoiding other actions. Compare that to a saint's journey, which contains many of the same actions, but also contains different actions, leading us to a different place. Then let us compare this to a flood story, which contains some elements of those things, but also leads us somewhere quite different. Each of those story structures could be confounded into one structure, but that would not serve us, as we labeled these story structures differently to make them different. These distinctions help us to better identify those stories which are hero stories vs. those that aren't.

    In over-applying the idea of the Hero's Journey, we confound all those structures back into one over-arching structure, making it seem as if the hero's journey is the only journey, applying equally well to Lord of the Rings, the Ring Cycle, the Ring film series, and Ring Ring (the Abba song). That confounding makes us poorer, rather than richer, in our stories.

    So when thinking about your story, think about the structure. The Hero's Journey is one structure among EQUALS, and those many equals may just contain structures that are more useful to you.
    anaidiana
         		7:30a
    Friday's to-do and results.
    To-do for today:
    -call mom and wake her up
    -Tidy House
    -Make Bed
    -Put Laundry away
    -shave (legs)
    -put contacts in
    -*bonus! neaten up brows!
    -get dressed
    -get Clair Pruett stuff together
    -get directions to studio (again)
    -eat breakfast
    -TD bank to deposit cheques
    -Clair Pruett to FINALLY design wedding album (10am)
    -Cookies
    -put hair in curler thingies
    -hang time with Marybeth
    -makeup/hair/find something suitable to wear
    -go to swankified cocktail party to keep MB company & chill with Rebecca a wee bit more
    -home
    -shower
    -crash

    Things I forgot to add to my accomplishments of late: my Mafia Wars and Restaurant are pretty bangin', if I do say so myself. And I gave myself a mani/pedi on Wednesday.

    I'd say that's a pretty good day. Time to get a move-on!

    [edit] - The Clair Pruett appointment was painless (even though I totally went the wrong way on Kennett Pike for 5 minutes, got done in an hour and a half (when most clients take 4 hours, apparently) due to excellent prep, so woo for that. I think our album is going to be BANGIN', -and- we do get the copyright  and can reprint photos to our hearts content for scrapbooking - we had the proof CD, will get a higher res copy without all the watermarks before Christmas....so yay.

    The cookies are AWESOME. I am ten shades of excited...the pumpkin ones taste like pumpkin, the regular ones came out mostly OK (one tray was slightly more well done than the rest of all the cookies), and the chocolate ones are to die for - the batter was a PITA to work with, but they taste like brownies. Sorta dry brownies, but omg, brownies in cookie form. omnomnom.  FSR peeps best be lovin' up on me on Sunday in the AM...lol.

    MB is on her way over now, I think I'll just curl my hair with the hot iron, it's better than those damn curler thingies that I don't have enough of to make it all the way around my head, even with shorter hair. Bah.

    I tried on some of my 'cocktail-esque' dresses last night and am highly saddened by the weight i've put on since the wedding/since i last had an opportunity to wear said dresses. Wii Fit starting on Sunday, here I come. Can't use the gym until the frame and mattress pad for the sp. bedroom arrive so we can get the mattress and boxspring (woo Kate and Wes!)  out of there. Well. I -can- get to the bowflex. But I don't like the bowflex. Boo bowflex.

    And now....to relax a wee bit before MB gets here.

    ~*D*~

    Current Mood: bitchy
    Thursday, November 5th, 2009
    deepthink
         		10:42p
    Your moment of zen.

    Because I get silly after a long evening with the 'shop.

    Also, the jacket and pins turned out nicely after all.
    dravon
         		2:57p
    Tournament of the Phoenix 2009
     Tournament of the Phoenix 2009 photos and a couple of the longer videos are now uploaded to my Flickr account!

    I had a lot of fun this weekend. It was October 24-25 and [info]hsifeng asked me to provide some backup in terms of keeping people all appropriately attired. That pretty much translated to me doing a wee bit of point tying on Sunday morning, a small amount of untying both evenings, and watching the tent so she wasn't trapped there the entire time. Saturday was hotter than Sunday, but neither day compared to the ugly heat of last year's Tourny!!! Thank goodness for that.

    All in all, it was a LOT of fun, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. M had fun doing his sword demos, more the second day than the first, and he's looking forward to doing it again next year. I'm glad I was able to get his pleated gown finished, but I have to rip out the hem and redo that, plus rip out the pleating and redo that as well, before it can be worn again next year. Not bad though, for throwing it together in less than a week. Also need to rip of those sleeves and replace them. They are utterly crap!!

    Anyway, there was one particular jousting pass that I need to call out. That was the pass in which both knights were unseated and hit the ground. I have the crappy camera which can't really zoom in all that well, but I was able to capture the image right after the hit. I used the Flickr comment to describe the events so I won't repeat them here. I was also able to get a lot of video, but Flickr only allows 2 video uploads per month for non-paying users, plus there's a 10MB limit. I got a good 45 seconds of the melee combat in which one knight came off and another got his armour stuck in the saddle as he attempting something and partially came off. I'll have to figure out how to get the video up somewhere. The video that I'm linking to was taken on Sunday and shows one of the more fun horses as it takes off charging down the list. The camera's zoom feature is very slow and gets funky, so I apologize for that part of the video, but at least you get a flavor of the event. I don't know where the second video went. Maybe I'll need to re-upload it...

    There was a fun moment on Sunday, where Luke was presented his steed before the Joust and said steed was a tiny pony. It was very funny, and he stood on the mounting block gamely allowing for a cute photo op. The comment goes into more detail somewhat, so I'll leave you to read that.

    I think, before next year, it might be prudent to invest in a REAL camera. This one is adequate for costume post-mortems, but not for good action shots. We also have a video camera that we have to figure out how to use. No sense in having something if it's never used!

    And that was this year's Tournament of the Phoenix in Southern California. Be sure to come to next year's event!!
    dacuteturtle
         		4:18p
    Revising
     Revising is that monster that doesn't exist to the newer writer.These days, I consider revising part and parcel of the writing process. You can not think of writing without revising.

    As far as I'm concerned, the point of a first draft is to get your basic idea down onto paper. The purpose of revision is to spot the strengths and themes of that work, amplify the strengths, prune the weaknesses, and rearrange whatever needs to be rearranged.

    At this point, I would say to NEVER underestimate the revision process. I just added the best 1500 words that I've ever written to my novel, all in the name of revision. Quite honestly, I could not have thought of what I just did without the basic work being under my fingers.

    So while writing your NaNovel, don't be determined to get everything right. You don't need to do that. Get what you can knowing that you are always stuck with revisions.

    Also, don't get stuck with linearity. If you are ready to write a section, then write it. If you like starting with the end, then start with the end. If you like to write lots of snippets, then assemble them, then do that. It's the rare human that can sit down at a typewrite and bang out a story, page 1 to page end, in one draft, and call it a publication. Even Clemens couldn't do that. And look at Shakespeare, he kept refining his plays through his entire career. So do what makes sense for you and have no shame about it. idiosyncracity rules!
    anaidiana
         		12:11p
    The past month or so...
     ...I've been keeping busy.

    Firstly, as I'm sure you can see, I've been updating my journal (which I haven't done since before the wedding, really). After this post,I finally get to cross 'LJ updates' of fmy to-do list. Yaaay.

    I've kept my lessons scheduled/rescheduled them at home, and almost all of my families came back, which was awesome (considering I had cancelled lessons on them like, 2 weeks in a row towards the end of my tenure at CA).

    I've hung out a lot with Christy and Amee lately...Kate's been busy with her work and school, and Wes's been busy with his school and broken kneecap. I've cleaned my house a few times, baked (...a lot), and gotten many things done...got pictures framed and hung, took care of Loki, did some stuff for SAI (and there's more on the list, yet), and joined Wittman's community band.

    Loki is apparently allergic to half the world. We started him on allergy injections back at the beginning of September, and he's not really been doing any better...he's still allergic to food to the point of scabrous breakouts, but we did get him to stop making messes downstairs on the good rug. Lily's just been a little bundle of energy, and they play, wrestle, and fight daily.

    Scott and I also finally got a piano - for free XD. The only things we had to pay for were the moving and the tuning, which is pretty good, all things considered.

    I performed last weekend at UD's homecoming, and that was full of fun. A lot of people said we sounded better than the baby band, which I think was pretty awesome. Saw a lot of people I haven't seen in years, and that's always fun. Straight after the game, Jerry dropped me back home (carpooled with him, Kelly, and Amy) and I started getting ready for Amee's Halloween party. Christy came over and I helped her with her hair - we were going as some of the charaters form the Wizard of Oz - Christy was Dorothy (and I french-braided her hair), Amee was the Tin man, and I was going as Elphaba/The Wicked Witch of the West, all three of us sexified. It was full of win and we got some really cute pictures. Scott went as a cowboy and Amee's husband Ran went as Maverick from Top Gun. Much fun was had by all.

    We've had a few SAI meetings, and the next one will be next Saturday, to perform at Forwood Manor. I may have gotten Amee and Christy sucked in to SAI-ness, which is awesome. I almost got Amee into FSR, but she'd never run before and the music proved a wee bit too challenging, but that's OK, she may try again later when it's not so Christmas-Pressure-y.

    Job-wise, I'm in the process of being reinstated as a substitute teacher through Kelly Services, but I may have another lead to go work at Dickinson. Right now, they've only one teacher for band and chorus, and she's been there a while. She also reputedly has a lot of pull, to the point where if she says she wants/need something, she has a good chance of getting it. I'm in the middle of finding a time when we can meet and talk, and am crossing my fingers most wholeheartedly. I was almost scammed on Craigslist - .gmail.com address wanted me to send them a copy of my credit report. Went WTF and didn't send. I'm not that stupid. Bah.

    I've been very 'good'...I haven't touched the PS3 once since being home...but I kind of want to, now. Maybe later today or tomorrow. We'll see.

    Here's the rest of what needs to be done (hopefully today):

    -Update FB/MS pages to reflect change in job status
    -SAI Yahoo Group - finish compiling and sending invites (1:44pm)
    -clean bathrooms
    -clean laptop
    -tidy closet
    -eat lunch
    -make cookies (FSR is performing at all 3 services on Sunday morning...I figured I'd bake since I had time to bake).
    -shower
    -Sophia Lesson (3:30-4:30)
    -Skype date with Chrissie (5:00)
    -make dinner (Scott ended up making it for me)
    -Community band (7:30-8:45)
    -Grey's (with Kelly and Christy)

    tomorrow:
    -finish whatever wasn't done today
    -TD bank to deposit cheques
    -Clair Pruett to FINALLY design wedding album (10am)
    -grocery store (pumpkin pie ingredients)
    -hang time with Marybeth

    Saturday:
    TBD.



    aaaaaaaaand that's it. I am now officially completely caught up on my life from the past six months.

    Whew!

    ~*D*~

    [EDIT]  I have officially found a cat toy in my shoe. Oi.

    Current Mood: accomplished
    anaidiana
         		11:54a
    The beginning of the 09-10 school year...
     ....Was very rough.

    For starting my 4th year there and thinking I knew how everything worked...you'd think I would have felt more prepared with all the preparation I (and Kelly) had done to get geared up for the year. Maybe because it was such a short summer, I felt like there just hadn't been enough time? I don't know. But the schoolyear felt very forboding, and that wasn't cool.

    Kelly had finally gotten approved for her new folder cabinet (double door) because her program had grown so much, and was going to give me her old one. Wenger furniture is awesome, but wicked expensive. She had to show Don like, 5 times what she needed and why before he even went to the finance people and said, 'look, she really does need this'; i think it was sadly awesome when he said 'well, where'd you get the other ones from?' and Kelly told him, 'The school bought them for me'...his reaction was apparently priceless. Nevertheless, the Boosters still had to fork out for half the cost of the cabinet...that's how cheap Caravel was and how little they care to give the program. Yes, they bought the new choral risers (to the tune of $33,000) two years ago, but that was only after begging, pleading, showing them the quality of the new ones (and insinuating that every other school had them, and we must keep up with the Joneses!), and showing the quality of the old ones (which were veritable death traps due to age). The football team gets new uniforms every year (or every other year?) What? And the band's uniforms are pushing 20 years? A kid could be wearing their parent's uniform at this point...which is ridiculous. So, we started a pot for new uniforms (at ~$400/uniform, say we need 75, that's pushing 35k. hahahahahaha.).

    So I finally got Kelly's old cabinet...and choir folders are skinnier than band folders. Crap. So I took it apart, caught up with Mr. Henry, and asked him to cut me new shelves for it, on like, the 2nd day of school. Before he got too swamped with other things (hopefully), and they still aren't there. I asked him like, once a week where they were, how they were coming...and I got zilch.

    Due to that, the 5th and 6th graders never really got 'slot' assignments, so I just started putting the new practice cards on a stand and hoping everyone remembered to grab one. Made life somewhat easier on my student aide (note: I only had one this year) so she wasn't spending half a day putting cards in the slots. Weekly updates were still in use, and I was totally on top of the 4th grade program this year. I had the letters out on the second day of school, they were due back by the third week of school, the open house was planned and ready to go, and the kids were playing by the last week in September. I've NEVER gotten that early a start before, and to top it off, there were 30 kids signed up for beginner band this year, including an oboe, trombone, and a baritone. I was so happy with the way that had gone.

    Marching Band's first two games went well...they'd forgotten the second half of the show by the first game (we spent time on Band Day music since that was two weeks into the year this year), and the first game was a bit of a gyp....we drove 2 hours downstate to Sussex Central only to not be able to play our show. We went straight from the bus to the field, no warmup or anything, and then we'd played one song and were told we were done. It was bad enough we weren't in uniform (jeans and ponchos) due to the threat of rain (which I should've just made them go in uniform because it did no more than sprinkle the whole night...) WTF. There was still five minutes on the clock!! But whatever. And apparently SC and CA were 'big rivals'? (wtf^2, we'd never played them in the past 4 years...) and we were 'blocked' from their stands in case of a fight/rumble. Again...WTF. Band Day was superb as always - this year, we did 'Rescue Me', and 'Bend Me, Shape Me'. Sarv went back to the sixties for this year...hehe. We got front row seats in our skinny little section this year, and it was an awesome day...besides the downpour during pregame. It was sprinkling/spritzing all through rehearsal, it was fairly dry for lunch (we had some parents tailgate and we got subs and desserts and chips and such, charged the kids $5, and everything was better than the jacked prices of the stadium food). But yes...the heavens opened during pregame and we were soaked the rest of the day. Halftime and Postgame performances were fabulous all around, and I went home, Scott had a hot bath and a rum-and-coke waiting for me, and it was Good. The second game at Indian River went MUCH better - I adore Mark Marvel. He's old and hippie-esque, but he's totally awesome. His kids were struttin' their stuff in new uniforms, and they all looked great. We did our show, they did their show, everybody was happy. We skedaddled after halftime due to my favorite "distance vs. 7th graders" equation (and the fact that Band Day was the next day), but the IR game was awesome. So, two long-distance away games out of the way after the first two weeks. Not a bad deal. The next six games were to be home, and that was fine.


    I was staying on top of my grades, Lessons were scheduled and happening, 9 kids opted to audition for instrumental All-State auditions (One Sr. Jazz, one Sr. Band, two Orchestra, 5 Jr. Band), and the next two home games went great. Pencader Charter, we creamed (and they didn't have a band), St. E's was a fairly good game, and again, no band, and then we went to our first 'official' band competition at Appoquinimink High. The kids did very well for their first official adjudicated performance on their field show, and a lot of what the judges had said to work on were things that I'd been saying for months. But, c'est la guerre. It was definitely a learning experience.

    That following Tuesday, the 6th, was Scott's birthday. I send him fruit flowers and got him a Build-a-Bear Wolf dressed in an Eagle's Uniform. Also got him some brain teaser puzzles and a mug and some sour patch kids....and a new 360 since his had hit red-ring-of-death several times, and although he'd managed to fix it a couple of times, it was sad to see him get so frustrated. I had the 360 hidden though since he has a bad habit of guessing his gifts. It was a McDonald's day at Caravel (Prom Promise does a fundraiser with the lower school, lets them order McDonalds for lunch once or twice a marking period), and around 10am, I started feeling not so hot. I'd worn a sweater...maybe that's why I felt too hot? but then I was cold...and I had this pain in my lower right quadrant and my big fear is appendicitis (fact: I loathe vomiting more than anything. Even spiders). so I went all day with this pain (which was steadily growing worse, mind you), and at the end of the day I went to see the nurse. She asked me to jump up and down. I was already bent over in half and said 'I honestly can't,' and she said 'go straight to the ER, do not pass go, do not get $200, get someone to pick you up, leave your car', etc. Poor Scott had JUST gotten to his Dad's (he was expecting me to teach lessons and then have FSR and not be home until 8:30/9:00), and I asked him to come get me and take me to the ER. He totally wins Hubby of the Year award for staying at the ER with me for 10 hours, nevermind the fact that it was his frickin' birthday. So we get there, I check in, we get punted to the waiting room. I go back and give them my insurance information, then back to the waiting room. Then I get taken back for my vitals. Now...my feet weren't supported, this chickie was talking to me, it was very noisy and not-private, and I was stressed and had a sweater on. And she wondered why my bloodpressure was 194/115 [sic]? seriously....and then I peed in a cup and was on my way back to the waiting room when she asked if I'd rather lay down. And I really did, walking around like that really hurt. So they slapped me in a gurney (guerney?) and I stayed in the hallway for a bit. Then my name was called and I was taken to a room. Vitals were taken again, some talking, pelvic exam (ugh), insertion of IV (double ugh, but the tech really was awesome and I didn't feel much of anything), and some more general poking and prodding. They sent me for an ultrasound to get a better look at whatever it was that was causing me pain, parked me in the Purple hallway, and gave me awesome drugs for both pain and nausea (which was caused by the pain meds). life was good. They made me drink more water becasue the ultrasound worked better with a full bladder (ugh), so there I was. I got very angry at the ultrasound experience. So, they started at my uterus (as a point of reference), and discovered some large fibroids. Like, two big ones taking up the top, and a bunch of little ones chillin' in the bottom. Now, I've told my OB several times that I had pain down there that was not normal, and he laughed, brushed me off, and told me it was normal, and that it would all go away when I had a kid. and I told him I wasn't ready to have a kid (this was at least two years ago, mind you), and he said that I'd be fine. I said I still had a lot of pain. And he prescribed me this pain med that I couldn't function on (think vegetative state in bed with dizzies), and I've just been dealing since. I distinctly remember asking him if I could have an ultrasound prescribed just so I could be sure, and he blew me off again. But aha! I'm not crazy! And he was totally fired after that and I see my new OB on this upcoming Monday, Actually. But I digress.
    So they started at my uterus and then worked their way up. Then the tech dug in a little harder (right where it hurt) and was like 'OMG, I've never seen one that big, if that's your appendix, you're going to go into surgery before midnight, how on earth did it get that big and you're still not throwing up' [etc etc ad nauseum], meanwhile I'm in the gurney, bawling because a) she's freaking me out and b) it fucking HURTS because she was digging into right where the pain center was, and I'm like, 'err...could you back off a bit', and she's all like, 'A doctor needs to see this and I don't want to lose the spot..*dig dig dig*". That was one of the worst half-hours of my life, to date. I get rolled back to the hallway. Two different doctors come and poke and prod. One orders a CT, and I now get to drink a Barium thingy to make my intestines glow. Yaaaay. Sucky chalky orange taste FTW!!!!!1!1! [not]. and wait an hour. CT was painless (except for the moving part - it still REALLY FUCKING HURTS to move and get up and down and all). And then I'm sent back to the hallway. And then get taken into a room for more poking and prodding, and then the surgeons come and talk to me about what to expect. And then they turn out the lights and we get some sleep. And then a different doc comes in with 'good news and bad news'. The good news is that no, it's not my appendix (bluh? so the past 6 hours were a big 'JUST KIDDING!!!'???), that my appendix was still pristine MIB, and that it was just a huge honking ovarian cyst. Guhhh....ok. So they gave me another shot or two of really awesome drugs, gave me discharge papers and a script for two days off of work (yay?), took out the IV (triple ugh), and sent me home. In retrospect, I really should've waited for the wheelchair...got VERY VERY dizzy trying to walk to the car and had to wait in the now nearly empty) waiting room. (fact: I also am leery of waiting in close quarters with sick people. I hate getting sick, especially if it could potentially lead to vomiting). Scott drove us home, I got extremely dizzy again just going from the car to the bed, and life was great. Scott stayed home with me on Wednesday (and enjoyed his new 360 while I was zombified upstairs), got me my drugs filled, and was wonderful and sweet with his broken wifey. Thursday was more of the same...cleaned the house, did laundry (albeit slowly), and so on. End of Mandie's Emergency Room Drama.

    Friday was inservice, went to the stupid meetings, talked about stupid stuff, had a meeting with the drum majors to clear up some miscommunications (brought on by their not listening to directions completely), game against Octorara was good (we won, obviously), and life went on. That Sunday was the clinic rehearsal for the following Friday, and things went fabulously - we got through Rhonda (Help Me Rhonda was our parade piece to stick with the Beach Boys theme), the kids learned their drill and how to get there, and it was a very productive rehearsal.

    Monday, I was visited by Don while giving a test to my MA kids - their test had been postponed I don't know how many times due to needing to get stuff done versus being out for being sick. He asked me to stop by the office on my next plan, which wasn't until the end of the day. I went, and was sent home, on suspension without pay until the board could vote on me, whether to keep me or not. In that same MA class, there had been a situation that got beyond my control a few weeks prior. Nobody was injured, and I dismissed the incident as a mistake, but chalked it up to a learning experience. Apparently, some of the students had gotten it on video on their phones, put it on their Facebook pages, and then were watching it in school. The board ultimately deemed it a 'breach of contract' and fired me on those grounds - I got the call that Wednesday morning. I...was stunned. Still am, to a degree. I did make an error, I'm not saying my record is still white and clean....but to just be outright fired was a shock. In the middle of not only marching season, but the first marking period...it was....amazing in a not-good way. My mom wanted to go to the media, but I don't want to be 'that teacher'...once you're on 6ABC, you're going to be known as 'that teacher'. I think they made a mistake in their decision, but I'm also the one who got sacked. It is somewhat cheering to have two lawyers offer me their services, pro bono, because even they thought it was wrong. Yaay warm and fuzzies?

    In retrospect, it probably was going to take something like this for me to have ever left Caravel...I saw myself teaching there until I was old and gray. There's got to be something better out there for me, and this was the kick in the pants I needed to go look for it. It just sucks to be jobless in this economy, with a wedding and a house to pay off. But Dad always said, 'Buddha provide', and so I will just have faith and trust that things will work out as they're meant to be.

    So Caravel started building a new cafeteria after the new year this past year, and 'oh, it'll be ready during the summer', turned into 'oh, it'll be ready by the time school starts', and then 'oh, it'll be done by October', followed by 'oh, it'll be finished by the beginning of November'. yeah. So much for being a company of builders who have no houses to build right now. But whatever. The pancake breakfast is scheduled for this upcoming Saturday, and it's still not done. hahahah. But again, more of their poor planning.

    -fin-

    Current Mood: sad
    anaidiana
         		10:44a
    After the Honeymoon, up through the new school year start...
     So we went and picked up the Kitten from the Forney's. We had picked out the little tortoise-shell calico, the only female out of the litter. We debated for a long time on what to call her. I wanted Pandora, given that she seemed rather mischievious and the name would match up with Loki (Norse God of Mischief). Scott was of the opinion that she was sweet and innocent (and that Pandora was too long a name), so we ended up calling her Lily. got her registered with VPI (after what happened with MiMi, we weren't about to pay out of pocket for a vet bill like that again if we could help it), and got her acclimated to the house. When she and Loki met, there was much hissing (from her), but we kept her quarantined until after her first 'well baby' visit. Worms, earmites, yes yes, got that all taken care of (and was given a dose of ear mite meds to give to Loki when we got home 'just in case'), and she's grown up adorably so far. At the 3 month mark, she got her front claws removed and was made into an 'it', and life's been pretty good so far.

    Otakon was an adventure and a half this year. I went and was staffing again. I checked in around noon, got my badge made, went to sign in at Con Ops (was upgraded from line duty with Spec Ops from last year), and was put to work immediately. I worked all day running errands and learning my way around, then helped with pre-reg lines that just wouldn't dwindle, then helped give 21+ armbands to people. I learned a little bit of everything. I ended up in a co-ed room with people I didn't know, and by the time I checked into the Hilton, they were already in the room. when I first went up, the room was empty but the bathroom was occupied. I tried saying 'hello', but there was no answer. Shrugged it off and went to get my luggage from my car. When I got back to the room, there were five rather indimidating people in the room...four guys and a girl (who took up the whole bed), so it looked like I was getting delegated to the floor because I was the last one in. One of the guys said he was the boyfriend of the chick on the bed, and that he'd clear out at 3am, and two other guys were on the one bed, and one other guy was on the floor. Right about now, Blake texted me (I'd roomed with him, Michelle, and Megan last year, and he was a hoot) and asked where I was...turned out he was right down the hall. I went to visit, and he was in an all-guys room, but after they heard my plight, granted me sanctuary. Scott (not hubby scott) was on the floor due to his back, so I got bedspace. Went back to 'my' room, told them that my friends had invited me to stay with them, (and two other girls had joined the other five people in the room by this time), and so I left and bunked with the gents for the weekend. And it was nice. And I felt safe.

    Con Ops was pretty much relaying information. People would radio to us that things needed fixing or attention, and we would call the people in charge. At the dances and in the video rooms, there were water dispensers for health and customer service...and when the room/dance operators called us to say that they were running low on water, we'd call/radio Aramark (who manages all the food in the BCC) and get some of their people to run more 5gallon jugs to wherever they needed to be. I had the graveyard shift, from 8pm-3am (when the building closed for the night), and part of my job was to receive radio that a room was cleared, then call BCC public safety and get them to lock the room. We also got to get into the marquee system and edit video showings that were scrolling to keep it accurate, which was cool. I think the most interesting thing that happened was a toilet explosion...I'd never heard of that before. As with last year, food was free and it wasn't bad. I definitely liked the Con Ops desk job better this year than the running around exhausted line jobs of Spec Ops last year. Got my deals in the dealers room again (walk down wearing your Con Staff shirt and the dealers cut you discounts). Didn't see Shado in the AA this year though, which made me sad. Overall, spent more money than I should have (again), but not as much as I could have (If i'd had to pay for room, board, and admission).

    ( scary adventurous night - not for the weak of stomach!) )

    Amee and Ryan came down on Sunday (which I had off since I'd worked graveyard shifts the other two nights AND Thursday), and I had some fun running around with them. Finally got to wear my 'costume' too, but nobody took my picture. Overall, Otakon was as fun as ever, and I will most likely staff again next year, but get a private room. Amee said she might staff with me, and then we'll just bring the boys so we can work and they won't be by themselves...they won't even have to go to the con, they can bum around Inner Harbor. And then we'll also only have to pay for half a room *grin*.

    At the end of July (when Lily was at the vet for her overnight surgeries), Scott and I went down to Rehoboth for Jenn and Rideout's wedding. We got down there on Friday in the morning and planned to stay through Saturday so we got a beach day. I felt badly - they got rained out of their 'wedding on the beach', and their reception was not like ours. Rideout totally cried when he gave his vows. Scott wished he had gottena video or audio clip of that, but it'll be on his wedding video :) We were seated at the same table as the Selbys and much fun was had by the four of us. I really got to like Kelly and Dave. We ate, we danced, we had cake, we went back to the hotel room. We spent Saturday morning with the Selbys, Rideout, and his family in downtown Rehoboth, I got to go to Candy Kitchen and the Popcorn store, didn't make it to Nicolas for Nic-o-bolis, but made some memories and got some sun and exercize nonetheless.

    Scott and I also babysat Sam and Matt overnight one weekend so Steve and Cindy could get away for a couple's night out. Things went well and were fairly uneventful. - we watced a LOT of movies. Did get to see Bedtime Stories though, and for an Adam Sandler film, it was really cute. He seems to have really tamed it down since he started putting out films.

    I taught lessons all summer and drew my drill for Band Camp. We prepared our show, 'Surfin' at CA' with a Beach Boys theme. First song was 'I Get Around', then 'Kokomo', then 'Fun Fun Fun', then closed with 'Surfin' USA'. I'd managed to get all of the show music out on the last day of school...still wasn't as early as I had wanted to give it out, but at least they had it to practice. The end of the school year had been very hectic between the trips, the FAFs, my wedding (and subsequent days off around), and the banquets. The end of the year came very very quickly last year. Went shopping at BJs for all the band camp food, made the menus with Sharon and Kelly, officially hired Stacey to teach the baton this season, and things went very smoothly throughout the two weeks of camp. The colorguard girls started something new - 'failboat' (complete with hand motion). And they taught Scott at the picnic. And he's used it on me several times since. Had about a week and half between the end of camp and the start of Inservice, which was spent cleaning the room, putting stuff away, teaching more lessons, and assembling folders and new percussion toys.

    The weekend between the two weeks of band camp, I rang my first funeral service with FSR. Anita's mom died and she (Anita) asked if we would play at her service. We rehearsed on a Tuesday, went down that Saturday, rang the funeral, and then came home. Some people stayed for the luncheon after the service, but I wanted to get home to my hubby who had already not seen me a lot due to band camp.

    The next weekend (after band camp[ was completely finished), I went away with my mom's handbell group to Cape May, NJ for a long weekend where we stayed at Linda's parent's house (which was gorgeous and two blocks from the beach), had lots of nommy food, and performed during the Sunday service with the Presbyterian handbell choir there. The church was beautiful (I'm such a sucker for stained glass...), and it was a great weekend. I played lots of cards with the Koriakin girls and got a really cool bracelet at a craft fair. Spent about an hour on the beach with mom, and she wanted to go into the ocean just once, but was scared she was going to get knocked over and drown. So, I walked out with her. And she got knocked down/lost her footing (screw Jersey Beaches...rockiest damn ocean i've EVER been in...), and I'm trying to brace her and help haul her up and was totally failing. Some poor gent (who was sitting near her) took pity on us and helped her up and she was done/happy/knowing she'd be in a lot of pain from her fall. The drive there and back was kind of cool...my mom grew up on a peach farm in Bridgeton and she knew the super-secret back way to get to Cape May, and it was neat seeing all my mom's old stomping grounds. We even drove by her old house, but it was completely different- all the out buildings grandpa had built were completely gone, the house had been resided, and the peach trees were no more.

    And that was the rest of my summer vacation...Onto...the first two months of school!

    Current Mood: chipper
    Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
    madwriter
         		9:26p
    Longer Than I Meant It, With A Little Yet To Go
     Today I finally managed to drag some music with me to the campus fitness center--the soundtrack to Star Trek, since its variations in music speed matches well with slows-and-fasts on the elliptical for me. I've discovered now that listening to it increases my speed by about 1 mph (to an average of 7 mph) and my heart rate by around 20 bpm, up to the 160s. At some of the faster points of "Enterprising Young Men" I consistently hit 7.6-7.8 mph. Must remember this for future reference.

    PROGRESS REPORT FOR 11/3-4/09


    New Words: 1800 (1000 / 800) on "Five Visions of Aztlan".

    Total Words: Including a bit of cutting today, 11300. Longer than I meant; but as usual, I'll finish the draft first and then cut.

    Reason(s) For Stopping: Work / lunch.

    Mammalian Assistance: None. And I tricked Friday into not banging on the Writing Room door by letting him go down into the basement, which for some reason is a big cat treat.

    Exercise: A one-way walk from campus to home / Fifteen minutes on the elliptical (a little over 1.5 miles) with a five-minute cooldown.

    Stimulants: None.

    Today's Opening Passage:

    Yesterday: It seemed the farther we got from Glen Canyon—from the nexus of Aztlan—the more distant it became in memory and soul, increasingly easy to pass off as a sun-blanched hallucination so common to wanderers in the desert. I felt more wanderer than monk now, or Vicepresidente. And news coming through Wisdom Wind’s shortwave all the way to the Texas Panhandle was as pleasing as a cotton field full of boll weevils.


    Today: The warriors lining the other rim didn’t move except to track our progress with our eyes. “They’re not joining us?”

    “They’ll hear everything they need to,” Seven Stars told us.

    Darling Du Jour: His laugh rose into a wind of its own that echoed across the canyon walls, magnifying into a coyote howl until the maelstrom around us was the wail of a banshee screaming for buffalo meat. Then we were all of us—Aztlan, Indians, Mexicans, Americans—inside a ring of standing stones...no, figures, some human, some animals, and some not quite either, like the wild-haired restless shadows of the Kokopelli, the Hopi spirits who seemed to speak through their flutes.

    (And yes, there is a Hunter S. Thompson reference in the above paragraph.)

    Non-Research / Review Books In Progress: Capote.

    Current Mood: restless
    Current Music: "Enterprising Young Men", from *Star Trek*

    dravon
         		4:28p
    Equine Affair - Pomona, CA - February 4-7, 2010
     I'm all excited now. Equine Affair in Pomona is the first weekend in February and they have their schedule posted. This will be the first year that I'm going AND riding regularly with a hopeful prospect of working with an individual horse to train. That puts a different slant on the event and there are SO many wonderful programs I want to go to! In addition, Tedi agreed to the suggestion of a carpool, so that's a plus. Reduce our individual cost in terms of gas and parking, and give me someone equally horsie to share the event with. The most fun I ever had at the Affair was the year Donna went with me. Just all jazzed about the event now. That's all.
    dacuteturtle
         		2:04p
    Why? How? Huh?
     A book isn't just a book, it's a profit-making venture. You need to understand that first and foremost. No matter how good your book, if the publisher does not see profitability in it, then they won't publish it. This idea exists entirely independent of excellence. If you want a book that's good for a commercial venture, you want it to be 75k+ words (about 300-320 pages). Different publishes have different lengths. It's good to go out there and find out what they want before you get too committed.

    When I began my novel, it began as a novella. I missed the shorter F/SF works of my youth. I have increasingly come to the conclusion that the industry's over-concentration on long works is bad for the genre. (Mind you, I'm not poo-pooing the long works. What I'm poo-pooing is the industry's myopic attention to those works.) To no small extend, that limited the professional viability of the endeavor, so I cast off any idea of this being anything but self-published.

    I have come to recognize two important things about myself since I began the latest work: 1) I am happy writing, but I am not happy writing all day long, and 2) I don't think that I will ever be fast enough for a book contract.

    As for independent publishing (or vanity press, if you like), I am well aware that print runs of 100 are "normal." There's a few success stories out there, but they are few and far between.

    I am also aware that independent publishing is the kiss of death vis-a-vis commercial publishing. No matter how professional you are, independent publishing puts the mark of Cain up you as forever unprofessional for the rest of your life (unless you prove that you can make money).

    For now, I'm still not committed to any plan. I'm exploring Amazon books on demand and Lulu. But first, I need a manuscript that I am happy with.
    time_shark
         		9:44a
    Ah, the caroming of kittens (first thing) in the morning
     Little Persephone likes to sleep right above my heart. One might be fooled into thinking it's warm there.

    Pandora, on the other hand, would rather attack my blanketed feet.


    Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
    whingnut
         		9:33a
    A typical conversation between me and my friend JP...
     8:40amJp
    be nice to Dan

    a friend of mine once said

    Everyone is someone else's loser

    ;)

    not that Dan is a loser, at least not mine :)

    8:41amElle
    Dan's not a loser...I just feel the need to be slightly awful to him sometimes. It's for his own good, you know. It builds character.

    8:42amJp
    his old profile pic didn't help ;)

    8:42amElle
    Plus Dan's built up some hefty awfulness Karma. I want to be (just a speck or two) of that karma. :D

    So what're you up to today.

    8:43amJp
    watching the old "V" mini series

    8:44amElle
    I think we have that on DVD (maybe VHS) at my house. Haven't watched it in years.

    8:45amElle
    Still recovering from the bad guy/snitch(Daniel) ultimately getting sent away to become lunch. Skeevy guy, but skeevy guy getting eaten by giant lizards is worse.

    8:46amElle
    Isn't the chick who is playing the leader of the Visitors the same one who played the "companion" in Firefly/Serenity?

    8:47amJp
    never seen those

    8:47amElle
    never seen which?

    8:48amJp
    Firefly or Serenity

    8:51amElle
    Oh. Eh. You didn't really miss anything, but it has a fairly decent fanbase out there including Danny and my friend Bobbi. It borrows a lot from other genres as well as from other space opera type scifi. Think cowboy rebels in space on the run from the bad government plus cannibalistic zombies.

    8:51amJp
    I forgot just how bad the acting was

    8:51amElle
    On V?

    8:51amJp
    y

    8:51amElle
    It was the eighties.

    That's all that needs saying. ;)

    I've discovered you can't go home again with a lot of those old shows.

    8:54amElle
    Remington Steele was a big fav of mine back in the day, but it is so impossibly cheesy! The joy I get out of watching it now comes from "holy crap! he has a rotary dial phone in his limo! hahahaha!"

    8:55amJp
    ;)

    so did batman

    8:56amElle
    yeah, but Batman was all the way back in the 60's...you didn't expect anything better.

    8:57amElle
    The 80's were all styled, teased, Aqua-netted and glitter-dusted to the nth degree... after all the sparkle, it's weird to go back and see how very little substance there was to support it.

    the shows that I liked but was not fanatically in love with fare a bit better.

    8:59amElle
    Simon and Simon is pretty cheesy, but I can still watch it and get a kick out of it when I run across it on cable. I love sneaky detective shows.

    8:59amJp
    I liked it too

    and Magnum

    9:00amElle
    REALLY?!?!?! almost nobody I talk to even remembers Simon and Simon. JP wins! :D

    9:01amJp
    oh yeah, the hip cool brother and the good ol boy

    drove a big truck

    course so did the fall guy

    big trucks were in

    9:02amElle
    Yeah, but Gerald McRaney (sp?) seemed so much more authentically redneck. :D\

    9:03amJp
    who has a baby in the middle of an invasion?

    9:04amElle
    I can't remember who played the cool brother. I think he's popped up in Lifetime movies here and there, but not much else?

    wth? I think you're having a stroke. That question popped out of nowhere. :D
    are you talking about V again? there's that one chick who gets seduced by an alien and has the cross-breed baby named Elizabeth.Robin...the alien's mom's name was Robin in the series.

    9:06amJp
    ok, I'm not gay or a fashion expert

    but I know that orange pants and an denium blue shirt don't work


    Elle
    JP, you really might be having a stroke right now...I can't connect having a baby in an invasion OR orange pants/denim shirt. Are you watching V right now?

    9:07amJp
    yes

    9:08amElle
    if so, and we're talking about Marc Singer, he's happy they let him have pants instead of running around in a loincloth like in Beastmaster.

    9:08amJp
    Honey, I know the world is under seige, people are being rounded up and resources are getting scarce, but I really think
    its time we have that baby my clock is ticking ;)

    Elle
    But if you don't get knocked up when the world is in crisis, you can't give birth to the scifi standard-issue child of destiny who, through cunning, other worldly intelligence, strength, and derring-do saves the rest of
    us wretches from the bad guys...plus looks good as a three and a half inch tall action figure and on lunch boxes.

    Holly Hobby was just such a hero. That's why I had her lunch box.

    She apparently overthrew Nellie Olsen in the Great Prairie Uprising of 1873...or something. :D

    Elle
    I think I win the non-sequitor award for the day, unless you got someting even more preposterous.

    9:16amJp
    I do

    They just revieled a "star child"


    Elle
    SEE!!!

    9:17amJp
    now this human chick brought someone back from the dead

    9:17amElle
    knocked up during crisis = you get to be the mother of a hero

    Current Mood: tickled
    dacuteturtle
         		8:40a
    My First Bad Novel
     This is not the first novel that I am writing. My first was code named "My First Bad Novel." I eventually gave it the title of "Silence and Rain." The original idea was to place it in the D&D world of Greyhawk. As I wrote it, I eventually decided that I liked something about the whole work, and I shifted it to an "original setting." OK. I changed the names of places, and used the new liberties to make up all kinds of new stuff.

    Sadly, some folks referred to this as fanfic. No, it was not. I won't get into the details of what makes/does not make fanfic. That lies beyond this little post and dwells in the land of endless flamewars. It is not fanfic because I assert that it is not fanfic, and we must leave it at that.

    I did the primary draft of this piece longhand, from 10pm until I got sleepy. I don't remember how long the draft took. That wasn't important. My primary goal was writing something of novel length, but not being TOO serious about it. Thus, I named it "My First Bad Novel" to keep me focused on accomplishment rather than excellence.

    Somewhere along the line, during my first revision, I left off revising and never returned to it.

    The work had serious issues. These days, I refer to this book as "Three Characters In Search of a Plot." The work never really gelled. My cool idea was in exploriing cyclical time, and events that recurred over and over. Unfortunately, Battlestar Galactica used the same theme, independently, so I gave up on the work. At best, others would see the theme as derivative of BSG, then conclude that other bits were derivative, and that the work was just a fantasiation of the BSG series. No, it was just unfortunate timing.

    My First Bad Novel taught me many things. Most importantly, I can't write something once. I must revise and revise considerably. First revisions are for getting the basic idea out. Second revisions are where I take the raw ideas and actually have them make sense.

    Some things I do well, no matter what the draft. If you need a character sketched out and realized, I'm your man. Character is my strongest suit. I'm also excellent at making shit up. Cool shit, at that. Plot and story, on the other hand, there's a problem. It was the primary problem with my first book, and it has been the most brutal part of the current book.

    My first book also taught me that I can't run at a book. Generating a work takes time for me. I can't just slam through writing unless I'm using a particularly verbose style. That greatly helped my approach to my current work, where I knew from going in that story would be an issue, that I would need to revise, and most importantly, I would need development time.

    Having written a book-length manuscript already, it gave me the freedom to really think about and decide how I wanted to write my current book. I found that good. Most importantly, I am writing this work for ME, because this is something that I like to do. I will write books whether I have a publisher or not, contract or not, income or not. This is what I do. This is my pleasure. In the end, I keep up my discipline because I like to write and it pleases me.

    So while you are busy in your NaNoWrite month, think about your pleasure. If writing is your pleasure, then make it part of your life, not just this month, but for all months to come. Make writing a part of your life, not apart from your life.
    jacylrin
         		8:26a
    Halloween Photos Up!
     I have new photos up on PhotoBucket - http://s41.photobucket.com/albums/e257/Jacylrin/?start=360 - including pictures from Halloween. Miriya went as a fairy, Cora went as Abby from NCIS, and I went, of course, as a Fairy Goth Mother.

    You may groan now.

    The kids are doing well. Cora managed to get a paper cut on her cornea last Thursday, but it wasn't severe. The doctors' office used UV dye to look at it, then rinsed it well and put numbing antibiotic ointment in it, patching it closed overnight. Friday morning they took the patch off, saw that it was healing well (and no longer hurt or stung), and gave us antibiotic ointment to use for another day, but that's it. As to HOW she managed to paper cut her cornea, she was waiting in the hall with books and papers held against her chest in her arms, and turned her head, apparently while not blinking in time.

    Both girls are growing like weeds. Or is that Weeds? ;-)

    Miriya's communication skills are progressing rapidly, though this results in her sometimes getting frustrated because she knows what she wants and can't figure out how to communicate it. Still, all in all a very happy kid. Finding shoes for her is, of course, a challenge, but what else would we expect in our family? Wide feet all around. And with Miriya's feet being always very warm, we don't dare put her in vinyl shoes, since they won't breathe.

    Here's a picture of the girls and myself from Saturday. Follow the link near the top for the rest of the pictures.

    time_shark
         		12:07a
    things I've seen
     We saw Paranormal Activity tonight — it's definitely not the scariest movie ever made, but it does enough things right to be worth seeing. The more people in the theater with you, the more effective it will be, methinks.


    Monday, November 2nd, 2009
    madwriter
         		9:29p
    Snatches And Spirits
    PROGRESS REPORT


    New Words: 2300 on "Five Visions of Aztlan".

    Total Words: 9800. Four "visions" down (Taos, NM; Flagstaff, AZ; El Centro, CA; and Glen Canyon Dam, AZ) and one (Palo Duro Canyon, TX) to go. This story is making me remember how much I love the Southwestern U.S. and is cementing my desire for my next multigenerational historical novel to be Arizona.

    Reason For Stopping: Work, and finished the fourth "vision".

    Mammalian Assistance: None. This was written in snatches at work.

    Exercise: Three jogged laps around the gym, stretching, a mile (averaging 6 mph) on the elliptical with a 5 minute cooldown, then Ze Ab Kruncher.

    Stimulants: I think I had a nip of Sprite.

    Today's Opening Passage:

    If you mean literally, I rewrote the story's opening first...

    My name is Lazaro de Tormes--or that's close enough so as not to matter. I am a picaro, a scoundrel named for a scoundrel. I am a sinner, a liar, and a politician, but at least I am not a historian.

    The story I am about to tell you is not a lie exactly, not exactly truth either, but close enough to truth to benefit all of us.

    If you mean starting at the point where I left off on Saturday...

    For all the trip north I wondered what a battle between spirit powers would look like to us mere mortals. Would they be throwing lightning bolts and tornadoes around? For a moment I had the odd compulsion to ask Don Pablo, but cast off that idea as foolish.

    Yet when we got there, we were surrounded by...    Nada.

    It’s the best way I can explain. Nothing moved—there was no one to be seen (with one notable exception), no animals, no wind, no sounds. I was a little bothered by the fact that the Colorado River was completely still. I willed myself not to look at the black specks in the air that too much resembled birds in flight.

    Not quite like other battlefields I’d tromped over.

    Darling Du Jour: “You don’t think anyone will notice us?” I asked Wisdom Wind.

    Don Pablo answered. “When the spirit powers fight, they fight outside of time. You can’t see them but they’re here, all around us, and they let us into their little pocket.”

    I didn’t say,     I don’t like being in anyone’s pocket. Especially not spirits’.

    Instead I asked, “Why are we here?”

    “To witness,” Wisdom Wind said.

    “Witness what?”

    He glanced at an old Elgin watch on his wrist. “Lots of things. The end of a battle. The end of the old world...”

    “The rise of a new world?”

    He smiled almost sheepishly and shrugged. “The spirits will get a rise out of something, one way or another. They always do.”

    Or...

    What stopped my frivolous speaking was the sudden panorama laid out below. It was ours to savor for that moment of timelessness we had been granted: This is Aztlan. Whether or not you believed the Aztecs or Fort Worth adjunct history professors. It could have been eighty canyons or thousands. It could have been dry or filled with mist. The walls were brown and red and their geological lines stacked one on top of the other, or all sight of them blanketed snugly by lush green and filled with trees. It was a hundred different places all at once, giving rise to a thousand different peoples, if not in this physical place then in the vortex of the cosmos that whirled here and sent spirits into infants throughout the ages of human history.

    Non-Research / Review Books In Progress: Capote.

    Current Mood: devious
    Current Music: "Prince Ali", from Aladdin
    dacuteturtle
         		9:31a
    Writing
     First off, congratulations to all those doing nano-write month. * Thumbs Up *

    I'm going to give you some unsolicited advice for producing your work. I've been working on my particular novel now for a few years, and I think that I have something useful to contribute.
    1. You need to say no to things in your life. This is now among your top priorities. Treat it that way. Don't be shy. Just say, "I have a novel due by Nov. 30. I'll be available after that."
    2. You have lots of time. The problem is that you have FINITE time, so you accomplish your priorities or those things that are the most interesting. (I wrote 60k words between 6:10am and 6:40am, 5 days a week, in 8 months. When I say that you need to make it a priority to write, I meant it.)
    3. When writing, you get stuck. You don't have time to get stuck. Don't be a stickler for perfect. "John pulls a plot device out of his head and they solve the problem." Solve your problems LATER.
    4. You are always writing. I get my best writing done while my daughter plays in the leaves. Work out stuff when you aren't typing, and implement your ideas when you do type. Implementing and typing at the same time slows you down.
    5. If you get stuck, jump ahead in the plot. There are usually things that you want there. Once you know what is there, you have cool stuff to write towards. That's fun.
    6. You WILL get bored and disinterested in your writing. Writing a novel is an act of will. There are times when you just slam your head into a wall.
    7. All times are not equal. You are more productive some times than others. Figure out your productive times.
    8. Getting stuck usually means that you are missing something. Once you find something good to put there, the problem gets solved.
    9. Discipline is everything. You * WILL * find excuses to not write.
    10. When in doubt, describe the weather. There's nothing like a good digression for spewing out words.
    dacuteturtle
         		8:57a
    Hers Truly slept impressively last night. She did not nap at all yesterday, then stayed up late last night. This morning, she slept clear past her "normal" bedtime, to wake up just before I went to work. SCORE!!! With DST over, she should now be fairly adjusted to the new time schedule.

    On Friday, Hers Truly went up to visit the grandparents, thanks to my sister. She had a good time visiting, and mom bought her some Matchbox airplanes. This delighted Hers Truly to no end.

    On Saturday, Vanessa and clan came down to visit us. Much good visiting happened, along with much distress as the boys played with Joy's airplane. We also had a rather dramatic incident after we left our local park: Hers Truly had a full-blown, stamping feet, hysterical fit because she did not want to leave the park. That took a long time to wind out of. In the end, I walked her back, let her look at the fire hydrant, then let her wade through each pile of leaves.

    I took an opportunity to upgrade Ubuntu during naptime. At first, the upgrade seemed flawless. Then, the sound was out and video playback was weird. The video playback turned out to be a bad hue setting, which I can't keep fixed, and the sound had something to do with a setting not being updated during upgrade.

    I carved a pumpkin into an airplane. (Photos not yet uploaded.) Hers Truly was absolutely delighted with it, immediately putting her toy people into the plane, then asking that I turn the other pumpkin into a plane, and turning the persimmons into little planes.

    Trick-or-treat went well. Hers Truly wasn't too thrilled at first, but once she got that people were GIVING HER CANDY, she was ALL IN. This year, I could fool her and tell her that we had been to all the houses, by which time she had already eaten every lollypop out of her bucket. Meanwhile, the cat followed us for half the trip. He would hide when we went to a door, then came back and escorted us more.

    Hers Truly wore her fairy costume that Jen made back in the spring.

    On Sunday, I hauled shed stuff to the dump. Yay. I also noted that I had some new paint peeling on the shed, so the shed needs more repair. Boo. Maybe I'll get a dry weekend to work on it?

    On Sunday night, we forgot dinner over at Liz and Phil's, so we hauled out and went over there where they served us very nicely. Unfortunately, we then had a potty emergency, so I took Hers Truly home. We then had bath, and she watched Bang Bang Bang about ten times. ("Bing Bang (Time to Dance)" from Lazytown.)

    To continue this week's whirlwind, Jenny's dad is in town today, so we'll have dinner with him.

    Hopefully we settled back down on our evening routines. That would be nice.
    Sunday, November 1st, 2009
    time_shark
         		10:30p
    zombia galore
     I've finished reading World War Z; an ambitious zombie book if there ever was one. I sort of dread what a movie version will do to it; the sheer scope and multitude of perspectives will have to be jettisoned. On the other hand, since Max Brooks' characters, despite their varying backgrounds, all speak in basically the same tough-front-line-grunt voice, it may not be hard to create a single person that embodies the lot.

    Attack kitten Pandora enhanced my general zombie ambience last night by attempting to eat my face once I tried for sleep.

    Frankly, I still feel like a zombie myself. I hate being old and easily laid low by colds.


    madwriter
         		7:39p
    In Which Ancient Spirits Whisper To Me On Halloween
     I still haven't resumed work on The Great Valley, but I have been writing: A short story (my first and likely only one this year) set in the near future about Aztlan (the version that wants to cut out part of the southwestern U.S. for an Hispanic nation). Actually it's five story ideas compressed into one; Laurie and I were discussing the subject of the Aztlan "historical precedence" argument versus Native American honest-to-goodness historical precedence on Thursday, I mentioned that I'd had miscellaneous story ideas about the topic, then realized I should put them together with one common POV character. The title is "Five Visions of Aztlan".

    Originally I intended this to be a straight-up narrative, but knowing me, I should've known better. By Halloween, when I spent half the day writing, I realized that ancient spirits were whispering in my ear and creeping into the story. In fact Trickster himself had already woven his way into the tale without me realizing it until it was too late to extricate him. (Trickster often gets the better of me, though usually there's little or no harm done. He's probably right that his place in the story makes it better.)

    So what started out as a near-future tale of an America wrecked by a terrorist EMP attack has transformed into a full-fledged fantasy by Vision #4 ("Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell, Arizona"). And thanks to Trickster the only things I need to go back and change in the earlier portions are a bit of foreshadowing.

    I also know better than to fight it--Trickster and all his friends have too much practice getting their way.


    PROGRESS REPORT FOR 10/29-31/09


    New Words: 7500 (1800 / 1700 / 4000) on "Aztlan".

    Total Words: 7500.

    Reasons For Stopping: Chronologically: Work, exercise, hanging out with Laurie, and my first NCIS DVD from Netflix, received at the urging of an addicted friend who shall go nameless at her own request. :)

    Story Year: Near future.

    Mammalian Assistance: None, though Friday was chopping at the door again.

    Exercise: Walking with Laurie and the dogs most nights. A 45-minute hike (carrying a pinhole camera made out of a paint can) around the campus mountain. Most of an upper body workout on Friday, including 1.5 miles plus cooldown, averaging 6 mph, on the elliptical. I still can only do half-bicep curls post-Mysterious Ailment thanks to still-tender elbows (especially frustrating since that used to be my easiest weight lifting), but I did enough lifting so that my upper arms are still sore.

    Stimulants: A 20 ounce bottle of Dr. Pepper on Saturday.

    Today's Opening Passages:

    Thursday: (This has since been replaced.)

    Taos, Nuevo Mexico

    It’s an ancient truism that politicians are great liars, and though I take a wee bit of umbrage at this being a politician myself of no small standing and notoriety, I defend our policies of mis-honesty by virtue of the fact that we are neither the greatest liars nor the most conniving. If done properly, a political lie is a winning situation for all involved. I get what I want, you get what you want, and both of us are satisfied. As for the most conniving liars, however, this honor falls to historians. Most of their accusations are undeniable simply because the participants are dead. They are abetted in this by History herself, most of which happened before any of us were born—and especially dark and cunning are the opening years of any land, when blood and smoke obscures so much.

    Friday:

    Flagstaff, Arizona

    When I started out of Taos it seemed silly to have two miniature flags of Aztlan—which resembled the Mexican flag of an eagle eating a serpent, except for the lightning bolt behind them threatening to fry both of them—flying from the hood of a washed-out blue ’68 Chevy pickup with dry straw blowing around in the back. I would come to be glad for them soon, though, when we were stopped on I-40 by a line of caballeros blocking both lanes.

    Saturday:

    Alurista (formerly El Centro), California

    The history books claim that the first monks were men who achieved spiritual solitude by wandering off alone to the Egyptian desert and living in caves. I will give the historians this one because it is so fantastical a tale no one would think to make it up. But the spiritual seekers of Aztlan who came to El Centro and renamed it after a poet I always found a little…well, never mind what I thought of him. These seekers were somewhat different than ancient monks.

    Darling Du Jour: There were children dancing to the lively tune—including Kristina’s son, bouncing more than dancing with a sweet dark-eyed Aztlan girl who obviously adored him; and nearby was Kristina’s graceful taller daughter, whose long hair swept back and forth while she clasped the hands of a happily bewildered Aztlan boy dressed in traditional poncho and sombrero. All the children were romping in a wide wild circle like the dust that had swirled around Chattiway’s feet a moment ago.

    “I could see more of this,” the Imperial leader said.

    “It would please me too,” I told him.

    “Though I can’t stand that horrible screech they call Scottish music,” he added.

    I beamed and grabbed his shoulders. “You see, amigo? Not five minutes since we talked and already there are two things we agree on!”

    Submissions Sent Out In October: Just 1, again.

    Total Submissions Out Right Now: 5.

    Non-Research / Review Books In Progress: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.

    Current Mood: curious
    Current Music: "Enterprising Young Men" from *Star Trek*
    time_shark
         		6:23p
    Publishers Weekly gives starred review to Best Horror of the Year: Vol. One
     No mention of my little poem, not that I would expect one, but I'm happy to be a part of the book regardless. Here's the source of this review, and here's where you get the book.


    The Best Horror of the Year: Vol. One Edited by Ellen Datlow. Night Shade (www.nightshadebooks.com), $15.95 paper (324p) ISBN 978-1-59780-161-4


    After 22 years of pulling the horror content for the now-discontinued Year's Best Fantasy and Horror series, Datlow (Lovecraft Unbound) goes solo with this stellar start to a new “best of” annual. As in the past, her picks confirm that “horror” is a storytelling approach with endlessly inventive possibilities. In E. Michael Lewis's “Cargo,” a haunting Twilight Zone–type tale, an airplane picks up something otherworldly as part of its latest transport. Euan Harvey's creepy “Harry and the Monkey” turns an urban legend into reality. R.B. Russell's “Loup-garou” is a highly original shape-shifter story with a subtle psychological twist, and Daniel LeMoal's “Beach Head” a bracing conte cruel with a Lord of the Flies cast. In addition to the richly varied stories, Datlow provides her usual comprehensive coverage of the year in horror in an introduction that's indispensable reading for horror aficionados.



    Not to pick a bone with the reviewer, but I just read "Cargo," and I wouldn't call it Twilight Zone-esque. It does involve a haunting on a plane, and there is a grim gross-out moment, but it's more sorrowful than anything else.

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