Happy Punkin Day

Yes, I know it's been about eighty years since I've updated. No excuses, just acknowledgement. Not that I'm going to vow to update regularly from now on, but I'm updating now. What more do you want?? Geez.

Anyway, tomorrow NaNoWriMo begins! Exciting! I have most of my plot worked out (kinda, sorta) and I'm gung-ho to get started. I guess technically I could begin at midnight tonight, but I won't be doing that because I will be watching the Ghost Hunters LIVE! Halloween special on SciFi. I can't help it. I love that show.

In other news, my arm is still in a sling, physical therapy hurts and there's a cat living under my bathroom floor. Discuss.

Stupid phishing bastards

Stupid phishing bastards (mentioned above) cracked Holly Lisle's website and screwed up her affilliate program/shop. I still HIGHLY recommend her books on writing, even though I had to delete the links in my sidebar. I think (hope) she'll have things up and working again soon, so check with her often. You should be reading her blog anyway because she rocks.

Update: It looks like you can still get her books here. I guess it was just the affiliate portion of the show that was cancelled.

Dessert

After dinner, in the car, on the way to Coldstone.

Me: I guess I could just get ice cream and you could NOT get some because your stomache hurts.
W: And then I can sit there and watch you eat it in front of me?
Me (enthusiastically): Yeah!
W: Or... Why don't I get some, then you can eat my ice cream in front of me.
Me: Even better! Why didn't you get me THAT for my birthday?

The triumphant return

Well, the return anyway. After a summer of lolly-gagging and shenanigans, I find myself blogging it up yet again. It's not that I meant to take the summer off, it just worked out that way.

While I was away, I...

• Passed two classes
• Scheduled shoulder surgery
• Turned another year older (blarg)
• Got lost numerous times in the wilds of Delaware (I didn't think it was possible, but apparently it is. For me.)
• Procrastinated a lot
• Slept even more (We're talking until 5pm some days, people. That is just pathetic.)
• Discovered those Cinnamon Melt things from McDonalds
• Attempted to swear off those Cinnamon Melt things from McDonalds
• Enjoyed a visit from my family
• Walked on the beach (and in an attempt to stop a HUGE fly from biting my leg, kicked myself so hard in the shin I had a huge purple knot for days)
• Saw the Liberty Bell (...twice)

The Goods

The Art Star Craft Bazaar was awesome. It was like Etsy exploded and rained down its Etsy goodness all over Northern Liberties, which is a very cool neighborhood, by the by. Every other table I was saying, "Ooooh, I saw this on Etsy!" The only problems I had with the whole thing, other than the freaking HEAT, were the prices. But maybe that's my own fault for being so poor all the time. (I really must stop doing that.) I could have left with five or six (dozen) items, but my wallet just wouldn't let me. I did pick up a few things which I covet tremendously:


Best. Mousepad. Ever. I believe the artist is Susie Ghahremani from boygirlparty.com, but don't quote me on that.


Spiffy little pocket mirror from myfavoritemirror.com. Artist is Susie Ghahremani.



Purtyful wool is blue faced leicester (quite soft!) from woolarina.com.

I picked up a business card from in-hope.com, but I can't remember why, other than there was something I really liked but probably couldn't afford. Also, I don't know if you're anywhere near New Jersey, but if you are and you are into making things, you have to check out petersvalley.org! From what I hear it is like summer camp for adults. I so would like to take a class or three there. Who knew such a place existed around here? Certainly not I.

In other news, I finished spinning up the fiber I was working on. I even plyed all of it except for a tiny bit. I'm kind of stuck at that point. I'll have to consult the interweb to find out how to ply a single skein all by its lonesome. Anyway here it is, clutched in my claw-like grasp. It turned out pretty okay. I kinda like this spinning thing.

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.)