Spintastic

Last Wednesday I went to a spinning class with Nancy at a spiffy little shop in Chesapeake City, MD called Vulcan's Rest Fibers. It was also their weekly Knit Night, so I met lots of nice ladies who share my affinity to fiber and generally being crafty. I got to use a Louet S10 spinning wheel, which was fun. I did surprisingly well at it. I'd only ever used a wheel once before and that was months ago. Anyway, the point is, I didn't go there with the intention of bringing a wheel home with me. So, of course, that's exactly what I did. (Just a rental, but still... That lady who talked me into it knew what she was doing. I wannit!) Although I bought some fiber at Vulcan's Rest (duh), I haven't spun it yet. This is some wool Nancy gave me to try out. I think it's turning out pretty goodly. No clue what I'll do with it yet, though.

Wanna go!

Coming soon to a Philadelphia near you!



Edit: We're going! Yay!

Aerial Attack

Even Mother Nature hates President Bush.

Ouch

I finally got off my lazy ass to make an appointment with a physical therapist yesterday. I have my first appointment today after work and three times a week for the next month. You see, I have this shoulder issue that totally sucks of the ass. It's been going on for over a year. I have no idea what originally happened to it - I just woke up one day and thought I had pulled a muscle but it never got better. I had an MRI done a few weeks ago, (which by the way is a SUPER fun thing to do when you're just getting over bronchitis and you keep coughing every five seconds) and it appears I have inflammation in my rotator cuff, bursitis and tendonitis. At least the rotator cuff isn't torn so I don't have to have surgery yet (unless the physical therapy doesn't help, which I doubt it will because I already HAD a month of physical therapy last year). I can't raise my left arm higher than shoulder height without pain. I can't put my hair in a ponytail or fasten/unfasten my unmentionable lady garmets without pain, either. Apparently there's some bone up in there that has little pointy bits on it and when I move my arm in a certain way (or, really, at all) the muscles or tendons or something meaty and full of pain receptors gets pinched and it causes inflammation. And did I mention pain? Apparently the cure for this condition is letting strangers yank on my arm and contort it into all sorts of interesting positions until I want to cry or punch said stranger in the neck, or maybe both. FUN!

Ridonkulous

Hah. I'm dumb. See that heart? That heart I was so proud of? Upside down. Look at me! I can't read directions! Start from the bottom? Wha? Dur-dee-dur.

Crafty

I thought I'd post my most recent yarn-related project. This is (supposedly) going to be a cell phone case. The pattern is in this book. Which, I might add, is a great book for beginners such as myself. When I started I had no clue what a garter stitch was or how to do Fair Isle, which apparently I do now. Sweet. I still don't know how to bind off, but there's a section covering it in the book and I have my mom-in-law who is like the Yoda of knitting, so I will figure it out when the time comes. I've yet to actually finish a project, but I think this time will be different. (I didn't even giggle as I typed that!) I picked this one because it is short and sweet and I think my attention span can sustain it.

Edit: Isn't my ignorance charming? This technique isn't Fair Isle, it's Intarsia. Just so ya know.

Shifting Sands

Note: Another SS snippet, different POV. Like the last snippet I posted here, this is not the main POV and may not even be included in the final draft.

Debra sat in a daze beside her husband. Around her the shuttle jostled as it struggled to take off. Lights flickered behind translucent panels running along the wall that curved up over their heads. She clung to Steven’s hand and felt his nails digging into her skin, but she didn’t protest.

His hand was an anchor holding her inside her body. Without him, she thought she might dissipate. She could just let the static in her head take over, push her out. The static muffled everything, glazed her eyes and filled her ears.

She’d seen hundreds, maybe thousands of people die. The Krill had made sure of that. But never had it been by her own hand. Never on purpose. Already she was haunted by her decision, but she’d seen no alternative.

Slowly, she became aware of Steven’s voice. He was saying her name, shaking her arm. Then a burst of white light filled the cabin, bringing with it confusion and pain. She passed out.

When Debra woke there was more pain. Her eyelids felt heavy and it took all of her effort just to open them. She found she was on her side, still strapped into her seat. Large leafy plants surrounded her and she realized she was no longer in the shuttle. She didn’t see Steven or anyone else in her immediate field of vision. She needed to unstrap herself from the seat and find him. She tried to move her left arm, the one that wasn’t pinned down, but the pain made her vision dim and she thought she might pass out. Instead, she groaned and threw up a little onto the jungle floor in front of her.

Fire crackled somewhere and the acrid smell of smoke burned Debra’s lungs and stung her eyes. She didn’t see flames, but she knew they must be out there. And where there were flames, there was likely the shuttle and her husband. She needed to find Steven. She grit her teeth and tried to move her free arm again, determined to unbuckle herself and if necessary, crawl to the remains of the shuttle. The second attempt proved no more fruitful than the first. In fact, this time the darkness won. Her eyes closed.

She noticed the fear and static that had moments ago filled her head were gone. They were replaced by thoughts of her life, her children and Steven. As the blackness enveloped her, she wondered if she would ever see them again.

Paring Down

One person doesn't need 6,473 blogs (that are never updated and no one reads anyway). Truly. I've already quit posting everywhere except here and Scintilla and I think I'll stop with Scintilla. Since I'm participating in Holly Lisle's Friday Snippets (assuming I actually remember to participate) I will just post my snippets here. Gives me some content, anyway.

Speaking of Friday Snippets, I'd like to say that the bit I posted last Friday is not quite representative of the full story (workingly titled Shifting Sands). Not yet anyway. It's just a very small portion that I rather liked. I'm not sure if I will get much new writing done on it in the next week since I'm working on moving it over to Liquid Story Binder and re-working the plot and outline and basically the whole thing. And, oh yeah, FINALS are coming up and work is winding down for the summer. Much the same way a tornado winds through a trailor park, I might add. When May is over, you won't KNOW me from happy. And my parents are coming to visit in June. Yay parents! Yay June!

Irrelevant Side Note: I tried to pare down on my use of parentheses in this post. I had about five sets, but I've narrowed it down to three. So put that in your hat and smoke it.

That reminds me...

W: I told her, "She said you'd know what I want." You being her and she being you.
Me: Could you possibly find a more confusing way to explain that?
...
Moe: Ok here's the plan. This little model car will represent my car, and this olive will represent you.
Homer: (Homer eats the olive) Mmmmm. Me.
Moe: (angry) Oh Great. Now the model car will have to represent you (pulls out toy) and this little toy man will have to represent the car.

Someone somewhere

Monday morning, like most of this week, I was sick and miserable. I dragged myself out of bed long enough to take my husband to class. As I was driving home, a thought came into my head from out of nowhere and made me feel a little better: Somewhere someone is having the best day of their life. Kind of a happy thought, isn't it? I kept saying that to myself and despite rebellious lungs and a disappearing voice, it helped.

...

I had a long, kind of depressing post written out about the tragedies of April, but I deleted it. We've all lived them. We all mourn and remember them. I don't need to rehash them.

Someone somewhere is having the best day of their lives.
I hope it's you!

Wiki-wiki-wiki-whack

I love WikiHow. I'm an expert on EV-ER-Y-THING! And the topics are so random. From the exotic to the mundane. Much as I like the site, though, I can't shake the feeling that I'm the only person there who's not in junior high.

Haiku Friday

Chocolate raisins.
Thou foul and wicked temptress.
Raisins are fruit, right?

Weekends go too fast.
Friday is almost Sunday.
Pretty much Monday.

New Additions

I added Holly Lisle's Holly Lisle's Create A Culture Clinic to my recommendations. Holly has a great way of breaking down something as complex as a culture into easy-to-manage steps. I am a sucker for worksheets and well-organized information.

Also, I just purchased her Create A Character Clinic; I will post my thoughts on it once I have finished it. (Or perhaps along the way. We'll see.) I have been putting off reading this book because most of the other character development tutorials out there are just lists of questions you're supposed to answer on behalf of your character. I hate that. They're like those cheesy surveys that tell you what kind of flower you are or what European city you're most like. Blah. No thank you. I know I need to work on my characters, but I just can't bring myself to use those methods. So here's hoping that Holly's book will show me something different and helpful.

Side Note: I've decided to start spelling "recommend" correctly. It's a bold move, let's see how it pays off.

Two Things...

About Gwen's performance:

1. Chris Sligh was having some clapping issues. Poor guy. He really does have rhythm problems. (And ultimately those problems came back to bite him in ye olde ass, didn't they? So long, Curly Sue!)

2. Akon... his only contribution was the occassional "Woo-Hoo Yee-Hoo" and "Yeah!" and "Make some noise!" Yawn. Oh, and his pants were falling down.

The remote is my razor blade

I've been feeling kind of overwhelmed with work and school and the trials and tribulations of sitting on my ass watching TV when I should be TCB. On more than one occassion I've been just going about my business and suddenly all of my missed deadlines pop into my brain and start wailing at me. A near panic attack most assuredly follows. I was in such a state just now while flipping channels and I stopped on VH1. I don't know why I stopped. "I Love New York" was on and I usually hit the clicker as fast as I can because I don't even want to see one tiny glimpse of New York's hideous face lest I vomit profusely. But I didn't keep going. I fought back the nausea and watched. The manwhores were sliding on some sort of homemade slip-n-slide, then New York's mother was on a tirade, stomping through the house looking for a "buttnekkid ho." (I swear I got dumber just recalling the episode.) When I finally came to my senses and changed the channel, I felt so relieved. The one thing that popped into my head was that THIS is why anorexic teenage girls cut themselves. It was painful while it was happening, but when it was over I felt so much better.

(And on an unrelated note: What the fuck is up with Sanjaya's fucking hair? And why the fuck is he still on the fucking show? Stop it. Seriously.)

Minor Freakout

A big nasty black spider just fell from the ceiling and bounced off my keyboard onto my notebook. Jesus hell! Somehow I contained my urge to scream like a little girl and merely flug the spider across the office. Uck. Now I keep looking up at the ceiling to make sure there aren't anymore and thinking that if I had been typing at that very second that spider could have touched my BARE FLESH. Uck. Uck again. Uck.

Extreme Makeover: Zombie Edition

I was watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition the other day (don't ask me why) and Ty told a mother who had recently lost her son, "We can't bring him back, but we can..." Blah blah blah. I didn't even catch the last half of the sentence (but I'm sure it had something to do with building a house) because I was thinking about what a great show it would be if they COULD bring people back from the dead. People would submit their home-video applications and those with the most tragic, compelling stories would be selected and a Voodoo priestess would come butcher a chicken in their living room, raising their beloved family member from the dead. Yes! I would totally watch that. Of course I already watch it and all they raise is a house. Anyway, just a thought.

Worldbuilding

Here are some links for information on creating your own fantasy world. I have used some of them, but not others. Hope this is helpful.

• Astrofantasy
• Worldbuilder by Patricia C. Wrede’s
• Worldbuilding (and other goodness) by Holly Lisle
• Creating the Fantasy World

Scintilla: A minute amount

I started a new blog where I will post only short stories and snippets of other writing. There's only one story up at the moment, but the plan is to post something new at least once a week. Hey that's almost as often as I update this one. I'm working on it, people. I'm just not that interesting. But I try. Anyway, here ya go: Scintilla

Soap Box

I don't know how many of you have heard about Net Neutrality, but if you're reading this, then you should educate yourself because it directly affects YOU. Net Neutrality ensures you have the freedom to choose what websites and internet applications you have access to. There is no discrimination with Net Neutrality – the internet’s sole purpose is to move data from place to another.

Now I want you to imagine a highway (a superhighway, if you will) and there are two lanes on this highway, but one lane is a toll lane. In this lane, you can go as fast as you want anywhere you want, but you have to pay extra. In fact it costs so much, only people driving Ferraris and Rolls-Royce convertibles are able to afford the luxury of this lane. The rest of us are crammed onto the other lane. It's cheaper, yes, but it's much slower and it doesn't always go where we need it to go.

Big phone and cable companies, who control 95% of all access to the internet, are trying to steer the internet in just this direction. Companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast are spending millions of dollars in an effort to legislatively remove Net Neutrality. If we lose Net Neutrality, we are relegated to a bumpy-dirt-road of an internet while large companies, who can afford the taxes and fees associated with proposed new high speed internet regulations, will be zooming down the fast lane.

The internet will resemble cable television with programming chosen for you. Think about that. When was the last time you had YOUR own TV show where you could express your thoughts and ideas? I don’t know you, but I’m thinking probably never. But how many of you have websites or blogs where you can do just that? In 2004 eight million people had a blog. I can only assume that number has risen since then.

Eight million. That’s a lot of blogs. That’s a lot of ideas. That’s a lot of voices that could be silenced if we lose Net Neutrality. A scary thought. And it may be happening sooner than we think. CNet reports that Ted Stevens, a Republican Senator and the main proponent of a bill to rewrite telecommunications laws, is pushing for a vote on Net Neutrality (among other things) as soon as this week. If he gets his way, you really don’t have much time to let your Senator know how you feel about Net Neutrality. Better hurry!

Related: CNet story, Save the Internet, It's Our Net