Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!

Yesterday was Awesome IRONMAN. Totally awesome!!!

Today Forbidden Kingdom. Also very awesome, and lots of fun. It's nice to spend money on movies that are actually worth it!!!

Once again I cannot remember what it was I was going to post, and I have no time to think about it since sillymagpie wants to take this meme:

Link: The Which Shakespeare Play Are You? Test written by macbee on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test View My Profile(macbee)

So I hand over my computer.

Skinny, finicky, sheds long hair everywhere except where it gets barfed up as hairballs, but very loving with large eyes.

So, since I started using the laptop most of the time, I haven't sat down at my desk in a few days. But once in a while I need the desktop for something, so I went in to boot up and sat down. The keyboard felt funny. Scratchy. Dry.

As though a cat had hacked up a hairball on it.

*SIGH*

Who knows how to clean cat barf out of a keyboard (short of immersing it or getting rid of it - it's a fairly expensive cordless)?

I guess I need to remember to throw the cover over it before I leave it for any length of time... of course, that won't help all the REST of my desk, the stereo, the stereo remote, the printer stand... Yes, I know I should discourage him from sleeping on my desk, but honestly, unless I stay here and keep an eye on him 24/7, that ain't happenin'. Silhouette is nothing if not persistent - if you take him off something he's not supposed to be on, he will jump right back up - and he will keep that up until you are tired and give up.

I also (ew) need a new address book.

Anyway...

GAH! He's barfing again! (At least on the tile...)

Remind me again why I like cats...

So, I realize this morning that Mother's Day is actually THIS coming Sunday, and not the following one, as I had been laboring under the impression it was. So I raced home to make sure I had a present delivered to Mom by the weekend (it will be delivered Friday), rather than meandering around shopping, as I had planned.

I'd been toying with letting my hair grow long for the cruise, but it's hot and heavy and rather scraggly looking. I think I'll chop it off. (Or rather, have Rick chop it off.)

I don't post every day because my life is not that exciting; however, because I DO put it off until the weekend, or something pressing comes up, I always forget what I wanted to commemorate in glorious print.

I went through a week where I also didn't post because I am trying to avoid posting when I'm feeling sorry for myself, and I was going through a period of feeling sorry for myself most of the past week. Since it had nothing to do with anything, I decided against recording it for posterity. On the other hand, I did have some good ideas and now I can't remember any of them.

I've been working heavily on Book Two (which still doesn't have a title), although there's still no interest in Book One. No, I don't think I can make a living at this - I read the blog of an author whom I think is one of the best writers living and I see the trouble HE has - but like I said, I just want readers who like my work. That's all. (One of the things, of course, causing the aforementioned "I hate myself" phase.) ANYWAY, the work continues apace. I've been getting some pretty good feedback, at least.

( This week in television )

The Diamondbacks won, 10-4, today, making up for yesterday's loss. Go D-backs! We have the best record in the league, 21-9 for the season.

I blame fenchurche for sitting here eating dates filled with cheese and pecans. Yum yum yum! (They also go REALLY well with little chocolate wafer cookies...)

We went to Trader Joe's this morning for our main shopping, then went to run errands and take care of things for Barb's mom. Got most of the laundry done. Don't really know where the day went to - was woken up fairly early, yet somehow suddenly it was past three. In trying to fix the vacuum cleaner (clogged hose, nothing seriously), I pinched my fingertips and now there's a slight bruise under my fingernail and it hurts. I had a hard time sleeping last night, not really sure why.

I made spicy pulled pork for Tres de Mayo, which we ate on tortillas with cheeses and the usual, Barb made guacamole, there's nice Trader Joe's salsa, and we're watching uncut Dexter. It's a good evening.

Slept late this morning; I think I'm still recovering from Tuesday's lack of sleep night.

Friday I went to the ophthalmologist. I have healthy eyes, but I learned that someone with my bank account shouldn't have an eye doctor in the Biltmore. The CHEAPEST pair of frames I could find there was $110.00. So I went to price frames at Costco, where that was closer to the most expensive. Much better. I do need progressive lenses, but it looks like it'll make reading a lot better for me. We'll see if I can afford any other bells and whistles; the lenses aren't going to be cheap, and I am broke. (At my doctor's office, the frames would be covered to $130 dollars, with a base $100 for progressive lenses; I didn't ask about the price of the lenses at Costco. However, Costco DID have a wider selection of frames, since the Biltmore office contained largely Big Name Designer frames which appear to all be heavy thick horn glasses these days, and that is not a style that looks good on me - I need gold-toned wire frames.)

Speaking of money, several months ago when I had more of it, I placed an order at Forbidden Planet U.K. I've gotten other things from them, and while slow, they usually process orders. This time - I heard nothing. I finally checked the site. The order was still just sitting there. I wrote to them and asked. They said they were in the process of filling said order. I saw the charge hit my account, and thought, "Good." The next day the money was returned to my account (a few cents more); and then the day after THAT, I saw a new pending charge for a yet another few cents more. I figured it had something to do with the exchange rate. But now there's no pending charge at all, and it still hasn't cleared. So on the one hand, if that order is NEVER processed, I don't get my silly Dr. Who things I don't really need anyway and there's a little extra money in my account. On the other hand, WTF?

The Diamondbacks and the Padres are tied at the bottom of the 10th. This game has been vaguely annoying in that the D-backs have scored every single time I've left the room, so I haven't actually SEEN any of the 7 runs we've scored.

( I finally found something to like about Mr. Scary-Man Pope Benedict )

My shoulder is hurting again. I don't know why. It's back to hurting like it did when I first injured it, a couple years ago. I haven't been doing any lifting, honest (in fact, I've barely been to the gym at all, lazy-ass me).

Top of the 11th. I had planned to watch a little stuff off Tivo today...

I steam-cleaned the kitchen/dining room floor and am cleaning all the cats' food dishes. They Aren't Happy about this. I haven't finished vacuuming yet. Got my review done Thursday and delivered yesterday. I now need to empty the dishwasher and finish up in the kitchen, then look for some rhubarb recipes (or maybe vice versa). Bottom of the 11th, no score yet.

I cannot, cannot believe I actually seriously considered missing this show for even one second.

I didn't go to the show to review it, I just went as a fan. Which meant I didn't bring anything - no journal to note things in, and no camera... (although, silly fan here, I didn't bring anything new for him to sign); and oh, didn't Dale look amazing! I was regretting the lack of a camera right from the start. Last time he was here, he had the plain vest showing off his tattoo "sleeves." This time, he was decked out as a Texas gentleman. And how could I not review, just a little, one of the best shows I've seen in an age?

Or maybe the best - it's been a while since one of the good ol' honky-tonkers has been around these parts. Since Dave Insley left the valley, the pickings have been slim. (Now, that's not entirely fair or true, but I'm old and picky and work early mornings... and so many places around here only showcase Americana artists on Tuesdays and Wednesdays... excuses, excuses...)

Dale showed up pretty much spot on at 8:30, looking slick in his ruffled shirt and fine black coat (much like the cover of From the Cradle to the Grave), and laid down some fine tunes (he started with "Whiskey or God"), taking requests from the audience immediately ("What'd'ya wanna hear?") and playing for a full hour and a half, interspersing songs with fun chat and stories (he's funny - lifting each shot of tequila with a very sincere, "Now, I don't drink normally, but...") before he took a little break. He signed autographs and posed for pictures (argh! I should have remembered the camera! I could have added another portrait to my collection!), talking with folks for about twenty minutes or so before he took to the stage again, and played ANOTHER hour -

And like all great performers, he still left us wanting more. He wasn't even able to get to his two new singles, "Hollywood Hillbilly" or "And Justice For All" - although he tried to perform the latter, a couple of times, but he was always willing to do whatever song someone called out instead, and before you knew it, the show was over. He was fun, he was personable, and most of all, he was COUNTRY.

Now I know Dale doesn't call his music country anymore to avoid being associated with what they're calling "country" these days, and really, who can blame him? (As he said, he can't tell the difference between Britney Spears and Carrie Underwood or Faith Hill and Celine Dion - boy, ain't that the truth? But to me, country music will always be what Dale does - like a few of the boys out there singing real country music (all his fellow Austinites, like Roger Wallace, and my relocated boy Dave Insley, or Houston shitkicker Jesse Dayton), and I will call it country. They can't take THAT away from me!

I want, need, MUST get to Austin. I want to go to Ginny's Little Longhorn and the Broken Spoke. I want to go where "country music is alive and kickin' every night." I'm so glad the Rhythm Room had a great crowd last night - lots of folks whoopin' and hollerin' (and even some folks who followed him in from Austin).

Dale was a true gentleman and remembered me, even though we've only met twice; but the first time I saw him (at the Cajun House, in Scottsdale), there was no crowd and it seemed like coming to Phoenix was a waste for him. Thank goodness for the Rhythm Room! (I have to note that if it weren't for Dale, I wouldn't even know Dave Insley - opening for Dale that night back in 2002 was a group called Trophy Husbands, who, despite only releasing two albums, remain one of my favorites of all time. One of their number was Dave. I found him just before the release of his first solo album because I was looking to see what they'd been up to.)

Anyway, I really can't run off to these shows without a camera. Man, Dale looked good. And he sounded better. This picture was snagged from Dale's MySpace page - it's pretty much taken exactly from where I was sitting (although not at the same gig); this is the basic view I had:



I really am sorry I didn't bring the camera. Mostly I didn't because we haven't gotten around to getting a new battery (theoretically, it can take plain AA, but that wouldn't be rechargeable), and it doesn't really hold a charge very long anymore.

ANYWAY, if anyone out there really enjoys good music, check Dale out. And if he comes by your place, do yourself a favor and go!!! He's FUN. And good.

I get the next rejection slip.

Seems to be the right time for ( this meme )

And now, I shall go off and see Dale Watson sing, and that should be a bit of a tonic for a troubled soul. Then I have to choose the next agent. I'm rather sorry; I had a good feeling about this one; now I seem to have run through both of the agents who said they were actively looking for stories like mine. Back to the drawing board.

Because I'm kinda tired of posting when I'm feeling all melancholy, but for some reason, the PMS is not fading. I'm sitting here feeling misty reading perfectly wonderful posts from friends. Grrr. If only there were some REASON for feeling blue!!!

It was a great weekend, too. We puttered around a little on Saturday, got some stuff at Costco, roamed around Tuesday Morning a little (didn't find what I went looking for), then had a fun movie night in with framefolly and sillymagpie; the former had never before seen Throw Mama From The Train, which is really a necessity for any writer, and it'd been years since I'd seen it, so we dug out the ol' VHS and had a laugh fest. Sunday we drove out to a closeout store in Mesa, where I found out that Denny's will still cook eggs sunny-side-up (although their breakfast menu has REALLY shrunk, despite their new spate of commercials), and the store itself was not too bad, although since it's new, there wasn't a vast selection yet. I did buy a couple of shirts... now realizing I should NOT have spent any money, because now I HAVE NONE, and it's still five days until payday, and I'm trying to figure out where I'm going to get the $12 to go see Dale Watson tomorrow night at the Rhythm Room. Yes, 12 measly dollars, which would be no problem had I not spent $20 on clothes I didn't need.

ARGH. (It's the little things.)

I do have a jar full of change on my bureau, though.

Not that I'll have anything on Friday, either - I have doctor's bills still from the surgery AND I need new glasses. (I'm not even going to go into what the truck needs done. Hopefully she'll hang on for a while longer.)

Last week while working, a very familiar name crossed my desk, and I learned that the son of some old friends (I guess former friends is the correct term) had been run over and rather seriously hurt. Now, I haven't seen this kid since he WAS a kid, around 6 - he's 22, now, and he was riding a bicycle when he was hit. It gave me a weird feeling. I know these people, yet haven't spoken to them in more than a decade, so what does one do besides feel sorry in the same way one does for any stranger in similar circumstances? It was weird.

I'm tired, I didn't go to the gym today (I hurt my hip stretching yesterday; not really sure how, but it really freakin' hurts), the scale says I put BACK on three pounds (I was not careful this weekend), and I have not so much P-MS as plain MS, since there's no longer anything pre about it (finally - in the realm of TMI, it took FOUR DAYS for the damned thing to actually start). Gad. Grumptastic.

You Belong in the Baby Boomer Generation

You fit in best with people born between 1943 and 1960. You are optimistic, rebellious, and even a little self centered. You still believe that you will change the world. You detest authority and rules. Deep down, you're a non conformist.

I was actually born in 1964; but I had at least one parent from the previous generation (my dad was 42 when I was born), so I guess that's why I tend to fall into the "baby boomer" outlook. It's nice to find a test that DOESN'T lump us kids from the mid-sixties in with the baby boomers anyway; I've never been able to figure that one out. The boom apparently lasted, to those folks, for a full 20 years.

There aren't that many questions on the test. I'm rather startled at the "noncomformist rebel" part - I answered "respected my parents," not "rebelled against authority."

Boring day. Nothing to report.

( Guy Test )

The only trouble with writer's groups: I'm spending so much time reading/critiquingI n other folks' work, I haven't had any time to do anything of my own (including reading lj and my mail, which is languishing since I haven't looked at it in two days). One group is due today and I'm ALMOST done, and the other group is due in a couple weeks, and I haven't even started. So I haven't done any of those re-writes on Chapter One of Book Two at all, although they're nice in my head from the comments I got back last month (which is the GOOD part of the writer's groups in the first place)...

I need a title for Book Two that isn't the title of a Johnny Cash song... (unless I go for a trilogy theme and figure out a good one for Book Three, too).

Woke up about 8:30 or so, and lounged around in bed for a while after letting in the cats, who came to snuggle on both sides (Cuervo on my shoulder, Cairo by my hip), then got up, showered & washed my hair, then started doing things around the house (but first, Dr. Who - lovin' the dynamic between Donna and the Doc, great ep, 'nuff said!).

I finished up all the laundry, including stripping the bed, and got it all hung up. I cleaned nad mopped the kitchen and dining room floor, watered the garden, cleaned the cat box, fixed the screen in the kitchen window so as to open it and allow in the nice outside air (it's warm today, but very nice). I vacuumed and spot-cleaned the carpet, watched a few things on Tivo, seriously went through my t-shirts and got rid of a few old ones to make some space in the drawer for some of the stuff I shouldn't have bought yesterday (we went to Last Chance to find clogs for Barb. I spent $200, and we didn't find a pair of clogs). While I puttered, Barb made a rhubarb & blackberry pie (which will be eaten for dessert this evening).

Then we did some grocery shopping for some staples (milk, eggs, potatoes, Diet Coke), and now I veg here watching The Simpsons, the mainstay of my Sunday night.

Whilst watching last week's Bones, Cairo the Insecure wandered the house disconsolant and eventually did something he rarely does, which was come and lay on my lap for a while. Now he's wandering again, letting out with his sad little "mawp" sounds (he's really the quietest Siamese I've ever met) until I call him, when he'll come running, be petted a bit, and then start the cycle all over again.

I haven't done any writing at all, but I did finish two reviews on Friday evening, making my deadline, and last night we went to framefolly's place for a lovely night of food and movies -- ah, a projector is even better than a big screen TV! I did manage to glance through the NY Times, and found ( this article: )

I guess it's time to go back to the National Parks. I haven't been to Casa Grande myself since Sinji was a pup (which, I believe, was some eighteen years ago).

Now I need to bring in the last of the clothes and make the bed, and that will make for a very productive Sunday, indeed.

The world's laziest weekend doesn't really deserve a post to commemorate it, but where else would I post meme results?

Does anyone out there want to beta a 20,000-word novella I'd like to submit to the Samhain Publishing Tickle My Fantasy Anthology? I'm afraid it has no plot, but once again I'm too close to my own work to tell.

( The meme I mentioned. )

Things accomplished this weekend:

Celebrated Barb's birthday with Sushi (delicious);
Made a tres leches cake (also delicious);
Cleaned the kitchen some (did not finish the floors);
Dusted a little (not the bedroom);
Worked on cutting down the novella to 20,000 words from 23,000 (why is it so much easier to put words in than take them out?);
Watched all the stuff from the week on Tivo;
Realized they've moved House to Mondays, which means I may have to upgrade to a four-channel DVR sooner rather than later;
Sat around letting my cold go away (I caught it somewhere around Tuesday, I think, but managed to worm my way through the week);
Did mostly nothing at all else.

JOY!

Our new supervisor got together with our old supervisor and played a gag on us all. We fell for it, even (told us our new guy was being transferred out and we'd have to break in another new one - considering the general bungee-boss thing, it was plausible!). It was a pretty fun day.

I feel a little crappy, though. Don't know if it's allergies or if I have something; and I strained my back, at the gym yesterday, I think, so it just hurts enough to be annoying when I move (not bad, mind you, just annoying). But on the whole, a pretty good day. A woman at the gym stopped to tell me how good I'm looking (she's a regular, I see her almost every day). That felt good.

There is a chicken roasting in the oven with numerous root veggies.

Today I sent out another query, utilizing some advice I'd gotten on my rather stiffly formal query letter to make it a little less stiff but still professional. I'm down, but not out. I actually have a good feeling about this one (knocking wood, all that superstitious stuff)... of course, I've said that before. I can but hope.

Busy day, which means it went by fast.

I read the other day that Arizona is gaining degrees faster than the rest of the American southwest, which in turn in heating up faster than the rest of the world (Arizona averages now 2 full degrees warmer, with Utah and Colorado up at 1.5 or so, and the rest of the southwest above a degree, and then the rest of the world). It doesn't surprise me, even though we actually had a little bit of winter this year, and there was a good heavy snowfall in the high country.

After Earth Hour they were talking on the radio about how to go about doing one's part - I would love to actually ride my bike to work, if only Phoenix had a safe bike route from Phoenix to Tempe. There is really no safe way to cross the river if you're not in a car - there is a lane laughingly called a "bike lane" on 24th Street, which would take me about three miles out of my way, but nothing else. And having had a near-miss with a bicyclist crossing over the highway at Broadway (near-miss with a heart attack, as well), I don't want to be the one on two wheels in that situation. I used to ride everywhere, back in college, but Tucson is set up for bikes, while Phoenix is not. The new light rail system will not help me at all, since the routes are no where near either home nor work.

And the Phoenix buses recently raised their rates, and did away with transfers, so it's no longer even as not-too-convenient to take those as it was before (adding about three hours to my commute, anyway). I try to be green, really, I do.

( A Brief Political Moment )

I found my passport. I also found a missing bag of yarn I bought at the local Jo Ann's, which is having a store closing sale (sort of annoying, since now the nearest Jo Ann's is way up in Paradise Valley, I think - at least north of the Dreamy Draw). So at least I have made some accomplishments in the last few days, even if they are minor accomplishments.

As usual, I've forgotten other things I wanted to post for posterity. Ah, well.

More of the garden:

Another rejection. At least this agent was fast. And nice. But still, "thanks but no thanks."

My hard drive at work died, leaving me wandering from empty cube to empty cube so I can work - they would have brought me another machine, but we're scheduled to get our new systems in the next week or so (hopefully tomorrow, even), so everyone figured it was less trouble for Tech Services to wait until the new machines are in (apparently, mine is not the only one that's crashed - it seems the upgrades are just in the nick of time). Fortunately (or not), there were four people out sick/on vacation today, so there were plenty of empty cubes to choose from.

I suppose I ought to check and see if I have any reviews due this week. Nope. Good.

I put my hard-won passport in a Safe Place. Therefore, I cannot find it. At least I have a little over seven months before I'll need it.

Allergies! I'm sure everyone else is fighting their own battles with the Killer Pollen. If only the outdoors didn't smell so wonderful, though! Orange blossoms and little snap-dragony-looking things and pretty roses (there's going to be a veritable explosion of roses on the pink bush, I think they're called Carnival, if I remember correctly)... it's a wonderful, horrible time of year. I didn't used to get allergies this time of year, I'd get them in the winter, to the pollution inversion layer. Of course, that never goes away these days, not when the spring comes, because the snowbirds never leave, like they used to do.

I liked the conclusion of Jericho, but I'm sorry they had to rush it so much. I feel a little let down. *sigh* Ah, well. At least new episodes of other shows are coming back.

( Female complaint, avoid at all costs )

Stupidest quote I think I've ever heard in my life:

“At the end of the day, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ makes it possible for even an African-American and a female to articulate the hopes and dreams of America, and do so with the hope of becoming president. Isn’t that wonderful?" -- the Rev. William H. Curtis, Mount Ararat Baptist Church in Pittsburgh.

I very sad that they're saying tomorrow's episode of Jerico is the series finale, although of course I knew it was. *sniffle*

rahirah is making guacamole for me to take to work tomorrow. She's very good to me, and I don't deserve her.

And it's a beautiful day. I was reading that this is the earliest Easter can ever fall (at least in the Western calender, where Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox, which was Thursday, and the full moon was Friday, so) - the last time it was this early was 1913, and it won't fall on March 23 again until 2228. Wow. Apparently the earliest possible date for Easter is March 22, but that won't happen until 2160, and the last time THAT happened was 1818. (Trivia read from Clay Thompson's helpful "Valley 101" column.) To quote, "This all has to do with the moon and tradition and the old Julian calendar and the Gregorian calendar and the Council of Nicaea and some other stuff." For the Orthodox, Easter won't come until April 27.

It is a beautiful day outside. March in Arizona means fruit and flowers on the same tree:



I was taking pictures of many things, so ( here they are: )

I was unable to do this entry on my laptop because something wouldn't let me insert images. So I came in to the desktop and found that when I enter journal entries here, I ALSO don't get that annoying "your clock doesn't match ours" note. I wonder what's up with the laptop?

Anyway, happy day, all!

( Well, crap. )

Yesterday I was nearly sideswiped by a woman who decided she wanted to go straight through the intersection from the right-turn-only lane (I was in the straight-through OR right-turn lane, and figure she was damned lucky I wasn't turning right, because I would have crushed her); she almost shoved me into the oncoming lane (fortunately empty), and I honked at her. She rolled down her window and gave me a wave. I was most irritated. Do people think because I drive a beat-up old Suburban that I'm a) slow or b) invisible? What my truck should imply to people is that I don't really worry about the paint job anymore, and it's made of old-fashioned Detroit steel. I WILL CRUSH.

I don't know why I don't seem to have my cookies on this computer, despite having posted from here before, and is it something new with LJ that you have to correct the date and time every time you post?

Okay, why does LiveJournal not know what time it is in my zone?

Today coming home I got stuck in the fast lane behind a woman in a huge truck driving 45 MPH and talking on her cell phone. Grrrrr. Once I got past her I ended up driving a lot faster than I would have normally.

Remind me, why is it we have cats again?

I still love Eli Stone. The 3/6 episode is making me all weepy (I'm a little behind on my Tivo). I guess it's like Arrested Development, I'm all alone in my adoration of this show. (Of course, it ends with a "the preceding was fictional" disclaimer, which was weird...)

I managed to get some stuff burned to DVD, but I can't play it on my laptop until I get the drivers fixed on it. I'm lazy and I procrastinate, and thus never get anything really done.