New favorite personalized plate, seen on the highway yesterday: OMGWHEE

I can't think of a freakin' opening line for a possible short story (I think I may have a plot, if it stays short). As with other "short stories" I've done in my 'verse, it was part of the larger whole, but not important to the main story, so pulled out to stand by itself. I hope.

The cat who lives in our yard but never lets anyone near him (I call him "Smudge," because he's grey and just a little smudge of a thing) has gotten to where he doesn't run away when I walk by, but just watches me warily. I felt compelled to put out a small bowl of water for him and his companions, since it's so hot outside. He hissed at me, but stayed in the garden in his shady spot, glaring at me for daring to enter his space. Ho. Cats.

Haven't had a review to do in months, now suddenly have a bunch coming up. Finished Roger Wallace's "It's About Time" today (and it is - five years since his last disc), will be doing the Boxmasters and Bellamy Brothers next week, then Ricky Skaggs and Billy Bob Thornton's most recent release (it's been out a few months, but I just discovered it). Famine to feast. Whew.

I meant to do many things today and didn't do a single one of them (other than finish that review).

Back to staring at a blank screen waiting for inspiration to strike.

Not that I wanted one. Going back to work this morning, I stopped for gas ($25 bought me SIX gallons) and noticed that my right rear tire was a little low. It's had a slow leak for a while, so I thought nothing more of it and just filled it, then bopped to work.

About 10 or so, Security called me to let me know my tire was flat -- as in FLAT, totally, pancake, empty of air, it was a non-tire now. So come the end of the day, after an hour overtime, I struggled to get out my spare only to find that when I bought my new tires, lo these many years ago now, apparently when they chose the best of the PREVIOUS bunch of tires to be the spare, they must have neglected to put my jack back. So I am jackless. Fortunately, a nice guy from claims volunteered both his strength and his own truck's jack, and he got the truck up and the spare put on in about twenty minutes or so (I know his face, of course, after all these years I know most everyone by sight, but I'm not sure of his name; he wasn't wearing his badge anymore). I drove up the garage ramp to fill the spare the rest of the way (we have an air pump on the roof of the garage for the fleet cars), and got home just around six.

Now, my OWN UNIT, my so-called "teammates," all asked me what I was going to do, but none volunteered to help. One fellow, my cube-mate, even, said he'd do it, if he were only wearing jeans. (The claims guy was in slacks.) I saw karma work, however, as his son called to say HE was stranded--with a flat tire. Heh. At least my cube-mate got the irony of that one.

But the tire, now... a few weeks ago when I had them checked and rotated, I was told I could probably make it until July. Not to much. There's a LOT of tread showing. I may take the bus for a while until I can afford tires, 'cause I'm willing to bet all of them are getting that bad. I'm just glad it happened at work and not on the freeway -- it was 112 degrees today, and will be 113 tomorrow. That does mean curtailing my plan to get back to the gym, though. *sigh*

( Here is my blurb, for those who wish to read it )

to write a blurb for my own writing...

200 words. I know I've read book blurbs a million times, but I never wrote one before...

Today they were running a retrospective on the assassination of Robert Kennedy, and because I love "what if?" scenarios, I started to ponder on whether it's possible that this action was one of the most important, and pivotal, in my lifetime. Think on it - it was a fair bet that Kennedy was going to be the Democratic nominee; it's a pretty good bet that he would have gone on to be President. This would have changed the history of the 70's in one major way: No Nixon. No Nixon, no Watergate, no Ford, no Carter; Kennedy likely could have served two terms and then left the White House to his VP (whoever that might have been), who may or may not have served one or two terms. Would then have Reagan come into the WH in 1982, or...? Now, I'll admit that foreign policy probably wouldn't have changed much, or world problems. The rise of Muslim extremists would have happened, and it's probable that Iran would have seized the embassy anyway. And Kennedy very likely wouldn't have gone to China. Vietnam would have probably ended just as badly. I know it changes nothing, but I love thinking about things like this. I once tried to work up an alternate world history based on Jack Kennedy surviving back in November '63... (I ended up sticking more or less closer to this world history just 'cause it's easier and then I don't have to do a lot of exposition.)

Icon Sqee Meme

1. Reply to this post, and I will pick five of your userpics.
2. Make a post and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon squee.

The ones that typographer asked me to explain are behind the cut.

( Squee! )

Speaking of cats, they need to shut up. Either Cairo or Cuervo (they tag-team) think that 3:30 am is the time for us to be up and feeding/petting them. One night it might be Cuervo, the next night Cairo. It curtails my sleep... and has for three days. First it was Cuervo, then Cairo, and last night it was both of them.

The most exciting thing that's happened in my life is the arrival of my own 4-port USB hub shaped like the TARDIS from England (part of that questioned order I mentioned a while back; with luck the rest will trickle in eventually, too). Now, while any ol' hub would be fine, this one has a glowing light on top and makes the TARDIS engine noises when you plug things in. What's not to love?

And so goes my exciting life. I has a TARDIS, and I've been keeping up with most of my friends' journals. This is an accomplishment!

I went (or am going through) another crisis of "why the hell do I even bother?" in regard to my writing, but I dutifully have hunkered down and critiqued the others in my writers' groups (or at least, I got many of them done, I have a few more to go) and will post more. At least beta readers are readers! One of them helpfully informed me that he worked with a friend on a self-published release, and even with all their friends spreading the word they still only managed to sell 500 copies. And I thought, "Well, that's 500 more people reading than I have currently." I really don't want (or expect, really) to make money as an author. I know I'd have to be John Grisham or Stephen King to do that. I just would like people to read my work and say, "I enjoyed that." (Without the added "you need to fix X, X, and Y." I like criticism, I do, but...) I think that's why I hung around RSI as long as I did, despite the lack of real money and the real lack of any respect (or gratitude) from my employers.

Dang, Bo Diddley passed away. :'( Now, I understand why he (and other great black artists of the 50's) get a little uptight about Elvis being mistakenly credited with the "invention" of rock-n-roll. But Elvis himself never said that, and I believe never would have; what Elvis DID was allow black music to be played in white households, which was absolutely unheard of in those days, and he broke the black/white barrier in music. It's a shame Elvis gets painted with a negative brush that wide when all he wanted to do was bring music he loved to everyone... There isn't anyone who wouldn't admit that Bo Diddley's beat was/is the backbone of rock music.

My arm is really hurting again (or still); I was doing a lot of reading about rotator cuff injuries and it doesn't seem like it's severe, despite my pain, because I have full range of motion and it doesn't hurt when I stretch it up (in fact, that feels really good). What DOES hurt is lifting, pushing, pulling, and twisting. So anyway, I downloaded some exercises, and I've gone back to low weights, etc.

A brief moment to meme, snicked from canarynoir:

( Here )

Non-PC thought of the day: Obama is winning because, even these days, America is still more likely to vote for a guy than a gal, even a black guy.

Best thing about the TV season ending: I'm finally watching some of the DVDs I bought.

Okay, I know there's an easy way to suppress page numbers on page one (start on page 2), but I can't figure it out. When I set it to "start on page two" it sets page 1 AS page 2 and "starts" there.

Errrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think my "final" version of the novel is on my jump drive. Yes, I'm entering another contest. Why the hell not? I can't get any AGENTS to like it...

Enough of the feeling sorry for myself.

Quick weekly television rundown:
I'm glad I stuck with Moonlight. Looking forward to the finale next week.
Lost is delightful and filled with OMG WTF mystery.
Doctor Who was a good concept that sort of fell flat.
Ugly Betty remains good, but I'm saddened by the current turn of events.
I MISSED THE SCRUBS FINALE!!!!! I have to check iTunes and see when it's available for download. On the other hand, hooray, ABC picked it up for an eighth season. I be happy. Of course, they'll probably put it on Monday night.

Today is the eleventh. I have to figure out Word's peccadilloes by the 15th to enter this contest. On the other hand, since they want entries in .rtf format, maybe I can work on these things in WordPerfect, which would make me very happy...

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.

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.

( 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).

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've missed two workouts already this week because my cat will not let me sleep through the night, so when the alarm goes off, I want to SLEEP. This he barely allows, what with jumping and hopping and nudging things off the bureau... Gad, I'm tired.

And then I see that because I didn't read LJ last night, everyone I know posted at least once, several twice or three times. So I hastily skimmed this morning, after finally dragging myself out of bed almost a half hour after my second alarm went off.

I keep reminding myself I'm too young for menopause, but I'm still having hot flashes at night. It's been quite cold here for Phoenix (don't laugh at us, you folks with snow - I know we're wusses), so we have the flannel sheets on and a couple of blankets. I wake up broiling in the middle of the night and have to cool off - this, of course, is likely why the cat decides it must be time for me to be up.

I would have liked to have worked out this morning, I have a pinched something in my shoulder I need to ease out (since I can't afford massages anymore). In trying to figure out my expenses for the next month or so, I'm thinking I won't have disposable income again until maybe August. Maybe. Remind me again of how gorgeous the dining room is and that yes, we do like that goofy old dog...

And speaking of pets, the last two days Silly has begged for his food then promptly gakked it up somewhere on the carpet (and once on the tile, fortunately). SIGH. I do love these animals, I do...

I got an offer from ( Amazon: )

And now Silly sits on me and purrs, giving me that "I adore you" upside-down head look. Dang cats. I love 'em.

I never seem to post good news. I'm always feeling melancholy when I have a chance to post anything. It's not like I expected anything to come of the Amazon novel contest, but still, getting the "sorry, you're not a semi-finalist" has made me all "kick the can, what's the point, why am I kidding myself with this writing thing anyway?" *sigh*

It's not like I don't have good things happening, after all. Things are going well at work (I'm expecting a nice raise), we're all nicely in the black when it comes to money (or will be, when I pay off the Christmas stuff, not counting the new mortgage, which is counted as "good debt"), we has great kitchen, I have the best partner in the world, I just installed my brand-new surround-sound DVD/CD theatre system (my tenth anniversary giftee from my office), it should all be good.

Yet I'm all weepy. No wonder Vulcans eschewed emotions.

It may also be the whole writer's strike thing. I want my shows back. All I'm watching are talk shows (Craig Ferguson and Ellen). Of course, there were new shows last night, but I TIVO'd them since sillymagpie couldn't be here, so I'll probably watch 'em on Friday.

And one of my favorite independent singers, quite possibly the greatest country singer alive today (because I have no problems at all with putting him in the same category with Hank Sr., Johnny Cash, and Lefty Frizzell), is FINALLY getting some mainstream acknowledgement, with his newest video going into rotation on CMT (and believe me, he puts the country back in that station identification): Dale Watson's Hollywood Hillbilly. I don't know if it's worth sitting through any CMT for, but the video is at YouTube. (I've been able to embed a You Tube video once successfully, but I'm too tired to figure it out again right now...)

And speaking of indie singers, Dave Insley's new album will be coming out in March, featuring some of his best stuff from his live shows.

So I should be happy. I will be. Dang it. I have a Torchwood to watch, after all (probably tomorrow).

Someone on rahirah's F-list sent us some Mighty Fine cookies. I'm not sure of your LJ name, but if you read my journal, as well, then thanks! They're YUMMY!


ETA:
( I meant to save these articles... )

Another rejection. With some reasonably nice commentary, most of which boils down to it's lame, amateurish, and I suck.

*heavy sigh*

I'm not sure where to go from here. I've already sent to all the best prospects I had.

*pets cat*

Okay, in the first three days of NaNo, I've had approximately four hours or so to write. This is because I have a full-time job and I'm remodeling a house, plus I have friends and a significant other and basically a life. Still, I'm at

4992 words

I think I'm doing pretty well. Before the NaNo board site crashed (at least, I assume that's what happened; I haven't been able to access it all day), someone posted that they were already finished.

Wibble. I guess some folks can actually take time off to NaNo.

Anyway, it was a very busy and productive day. We have our washing machine hooked up but on first attempt to do laundry, got our first water leak on the new tile. Called the plumber back in - they said they'd be here at 1:30, but didn't get here until nearly 4:00. Still, he fixed the problem (apparently, something as simple as no washers in the hoses), and even removed the old reverse osmosis tanks that have been sitting on our back porch since we moved here (and never, to our knowledge, worked). So that was taken care of. We wandered through Bed Bath & Beyond and got some lamps for the Mom, then came home and started putting things in cabinets. Despite looking small, these cabinets are EXCEPTIONALLY roomy. Boxes are emptying!

And my foot hurts. I'm going to take some allergy medicine (I couldn't breathe when I woke up this morning) and go to bed. Maybe I can write a little more tomorrow.

I will say it's kinda fun.

And other autumnal holidays. Actually, Dio de los Muertes is tomorrow, but I'm getting a jump start; I wore my happy skull shirt and jewelry today.

Hope everyone had a happy Halloween. We went over to visit with tiirz and edgedancer, since there's construction equipment and boards and nails and such all over our front walk - we figured a little dangerous for tots. However, we left here at 6 p.m. and there wasn't a kid in sight anywhere as far as we could see. I don't know if anyone even tried to come to our door.

In any case, it was a fun day. We dressed as zombie doctors and entered the costume contest at the office - don't know if we won anything yet, though. In some of the recent contests (United Way, the start of football season, other office-type shenanigans), I won a cooler filled with snacks and tickets to an ASU game at Bingo, and our decorated pumpkin won first place. My unit is just brimming with office spirit. Truly, high school never ends.

NaNo: I got started this morning, but how does anyone do this stuff with a full-time job? Only 1,062 words, and almost 49,000 to go.

I can do it.

Oh! And there's an opening in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest, and I've been accepted. I have six days to get my submission ready. It pretty much is already, so I'm going to submit that over the weekend. I haven't heard from the last agent I sent it to - if I win (knock wood), and the agency accepts, wouldn't that be something? I could present a new agent with a book that's gotten a contract from Penguin Books!

Whoo. I have to get my act in gear.

The cabinets are in. They look mighty spiffy. Now we need the countertops and floor - but oh, it's looking so good! Of course, there still aren't doorknobs, so Sam can just push open the back door and walk in - we blocked it with a box of cookbooks, which has made him VERY unhappy. "What? I can't just walk in and out as I please? What horrible punishment IS this?"

I spent the day moving things around a little to make it easier to get by for the next few weeks - moved the microwave, got to the coat closet (as it's suddenly getting a little cold in the mornings, and I wanted my jackets), did some cleaning, etc. Some accomplishments there. Went out to get a present for our nephew, who will be turning five this week - I chose the My Father's Dragon series, since I think he should be old enough for it and he LOVES dragons as well as books (he wanted to read since he's been big enough to toddle around with a book in hand). Both Barb and I adored those books as kids, so we hope he will like 'em, too. It'll be a few years before I'll send him Narnia and Harry Potter, unless his folks or doting grandparents get those ones for him first.

I had to stop and get a mailing box, since my empty boxes are buried in the back of this room, and has anyone else discovered Ferrero Rocher DARK ("Ferrero Rondnoir")? I had to TRY... now I have to stay away from them at all costs, since I think I could eat one of those big boxes all without stopping. But on the whole I've been good - since getting back to my workout, I've dropped all the weight I gained caused by 3 months of overtime, a Vegas vacation, and surgery. Now I'm back where I was before and ready to get that snail going on the downward slide again.

Allergies have been doing me in, though; I took antihistamine last night and as a result slept until nearly ten this morning; managed to finally crawl out of bed and did get some stuff done (as already chronicled). Also wiped out a week's worth of the NY Times, cleaned out my email, and wrote of some character information for the lady of Sean Patrick's life through the 60's and 70's.

Why is it my female characters are so difficult to define when my male characters come to life so easily?

I was watching the exact, perfect sweater jacket I'd been looking for on eBay, and then forgot to sit on the end of the auction. I lost it. I'm so dumb. I did find a pretty decent pattern to knit my own - but I don't know if my knitting is sufficiently advanced to accomplish the pattern. I'd have to read the instructions, but it's one I have to order. On the other hand, it's not really expensive to just get the PATTERN. *ponder*

I need a ring box that will keep my silver rings from tarnishing. (Great gift idea!)

Foot is nearly healed, but I still can't wear most shoes. I tried to put on my wide leather sandals this morning but I couldn't slide it on; probably could with nylons on, though. Mostly, it's healed, though. I can walk well. So there's that.

And I still haven't heard back from the most recent submission on my book, which I submitted over a month ago. *sad face* That was one of the reasons I NEEDED to check that old email box from my desktop computer - to see if there was a response sitting there (there wasn't). Ah, well.

But before that, I have to admit when I'm wrong, and I was wrong about my computer. I successfully changed the battery, and now it doesn't ask for me to reset the date and time before going to start up Windows and then crashing.

miertam tried to be helpful over the phone (for which I am eternally grateful), but I'm a little too thick to follow such instructions. So I'm still on tiny ol' laptop. rahirah wonders if it's because the new Windows XP I installed could not be activated (the code that came with it claimed to have been used too often; this was a possibility, I knew, since I got it from a friend who said it may or may not still be valid. Anyway, I am sad - a new computer might be all well and good, but this is MY COMPUTER, it has all my stuff on it, and I just re-installed so many things... but someone - a kind, wonderful someone - out there dropped a big hint that I might get a new computer, anyway, for which I will be grateful, but I hope there is understanding about the whole my computer thing. I know where all the nooks and crannies are. :-)

Oh, and that jumping in? I is officially insane:



50,000 words? No problem. Time to write them down? Eep.

And all my notes are on my other computer. So are all my pictures.

Work has finally settled - we got moved into the new building on Friday, and for some reason, this week we're finishing again. Everything seems to be back to normal, which is very much of the good. But I still don't understand why it's so difficult for some people to understand... I told myself that, perhaps to these folks, this job is to them the same way that, say, nuclear physics is to me - and I view them with the same impatience that a nuclear physicist would view me if I tried to do HIS job.

But man, it's NOT nuclear physics!!!

As stated in sillymagpie's journal, I've formed a pact to keep to a low-cal diet through the month of October (although I assume this will be suspended for the day of tiirz's Halloween party) - so I'm back again; the scale at the gym claimed I actually gained 4 pounds; I knew the scale at home was a little suspect. I haven't had a chance to weigh in at work, because I can't wear my boots yet (which I have always weighed in). Now, I suppose I do know the boots weigh about 5 pounds, so I could make some adjustments, but we're also in another building now from where Medical is, so it's not as easy to get to that scale.

But I am going to approach this seriously, and this time, for sure! 25 pounds, ho!

It be Talk Like A Pirate Day, and for once I remember (thanks, fenchurche). Not that I'll likely do much piratical talking at work, mind, but it's nice to remember in advance and not well after the fact.

rahirah is quite sick, and I hope she feels better before this afternoon, when we go shop for kitchen stuff - not to mention she's going to pick up Sam, who underwent his surgery yesterday and is, according to the vet, awake, aware, and doing fine. Whew! We shall see how it goes. He'll be wearing the usual cone when he gets home, and knowing the moving cyclone of disaster Sam can be without a cone around his head, this should be interesting. Anyway, I hope my sweetie feels better. I'm the sick one around here, it's very disconcerting when she's down for the count!

As for me, I have one more week in this boot, and I'll be glad to get rid of it; it's starting to bother me when I'm sleeping, so for the last two nights I've shed it so I can get some sleep. I realized some of the pain I was having from the last two weeks was after the dressing was changed - my skin is so sensitive that the tight gauze has irritated it, and pulling it off and replacing it with new was causing yet more irritation. The skin was raw and red, so I changed the dressing myself and put on a lot of lotion, let it air for a while, then used antiseptic cream over the whole. Much better this time. The surgery area itself seems fine, toes wiggle, all that good stuff.

I realized I haven't been writing at all. I've been diddling with edits on Book Two, but not actually WRITING anything. I hope to use a prompt from nanomowhinging to get my game back on.

Our new temp at work asked if he could read my book. I told him "vampire romance," he answered with the "oh, glutted market," I agreed, and we got to talking. He said he doesn't like TV much, but he enjoyed Serenity, then when I said I'd liked Firefly quite a lot, he asked if I were a Browncoat. Ah ha! Only fellow fen, even in the closet, would know THAT term.

Gak, it's already 6. Where does the morning go?

I am terrified to get back on the scale when this boot comes off. I should take it off and weigh in, anyway. I made a deal with sillymagpie to actually lose some weight before Halloween (and therefore, Thanksgiving and Christmas) - we can do it!

So I overdid it again yesterday, fired up the grill, and made a very tasty dinner which included grilled steak (to perfection), with fire-roasted yams and beets. We had a salad and all was proclaimed delicious.

I woke up from the pain in my foot every hour on the half-hour from 11:30 until just before the alarm went off.

*headdesk* I is so dumb.

So today I stay seated and let rahirah cook.

1. Go to Career Cruising: http://www.careercruising.com
2. Put in Username: nycareers and Password: landmark.
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions.
4. Post the top ten results.

Like sillymagpie, I found all 40 answers interesting, so: ( behind here there be my top careers, apparently )

( I found this article fascinating )

There were some other articles I read I wanted to save, but I've forgotten what they were, now.

I meant to post this a while back - a reviewer friend of mine took this picture on a trip to China - I liked it so well I asked if I could save/show it:



You know, I never have gotten those donuts...