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Does anyone have a report of how that new "off" insect repeller works (it is a little fan, that can be clipped on, put on a table nearby etc.?
I don't mind the reason for bug spray, hell I used to spray the dog's tick spray around my ankles down on the farm to prevent the little buggers from climbing on me. I hate the smell and feel of anyting that is petroleum-based on my skin.
I also asked on Facebook.
Thanks.
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My friends Jeff and Mary had us out to the farm that Mary's mother lives on. We picked a nice bunch of very sweet blackberries (with plans to get some for across our back fence possibly), and got some farm fresh eggs that went into our dinner of steak, eggs and hash browns. Yum. Kiyan was delighted with the taste of the berries, and everyone was amused that if you toss them into the cluster of chickens, they'll go after it much like feeding crackers to ducks.
I also scored a bunch of garlic seeds from a patch, which I"m drying out overnight to remove the rest of the extra bits, then I'm going to see how difficult they are to sprout. I've read that it takes 10-12 days to sprout garlic, but it tastes really good especially with other sprouts. My final goal is to make sprout salad with garlic, onion, radish, alfalfa and mung bean sprouts.
Kiyan is exhausted but refuses to go to sleep. Pari doesn't want to go to sleep but she can be told to get her butt back in bed, with a 60% chance she'll actually do it for up to 5 minutes before finding another reason to come out of her room.
Not looking forward to the dishes and kitchen cleaning, so I'll ignore it for just a little bit longer.
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Where was I during the first Moon landing? Sitting sideways in a chair at my parents house staring at the biggest TV we had -- it was a 36" or bigger. And yes, I stayed awake through the full broadcast. I think everyone else in the house was asleep. I may have sniffed a bit at the scene, which had already lived in my imagination for many years. By the time I was 10 I was already pretty steadily reading SF, so this was just part of the future that I expected to see.
The 30 years afterward, not so much.
On the other hand, of course, at the time of the Moon landing the disk drive had not yet been invented -- and I was an English major who had to write all those papers without benefit of a word processor. In that area, the next 30 years was a definite improvement!
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My standard joke about lawn mowing is that if I don't mow pretty soon, I'll need to rent a goat. Turns out, there actually IS a company that rents goats for mowing purposes!! I never guessed.
Goat Mowers is in West Olive, Michigan, and rents goats for $10/ea to "mow" places you don't want to deal with. In practice, this usually doesn't mean your small lawn. Rather, the goats work on hillsides and ditch lines etc where it can be dangerous for people to work with sharp power tools.
I dunno. Just struck me as funny.
X-posted to DW and LJ.
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Got the front and back yard mowed after way too much of a delay due to both backyard work and random rain. I'll get the parent's house next, tomorrow if it doesn't rain again. Good thing I have the new mower, there is no way my old one would have managed some of the patches of growth. It should handle the parents yard, after I change the oil and air filter. That pesky mower maintenance.
We got invited out to pick berries at a friend's place, which will be our destination in about an hour. Right now I'm cooling off from mowing in that humidity. Yuck.
Most of the back yard junk is removed, only a few more things to go. Then we'll move the old plastic slide and playhouse over to Kiyan's preschool probably, since the swingset gives them a new place to play. I'm hoping to turn the little patch where their stuff was into a small paved area for the grill and a smoker, maybe 4'x6' or so. Not too worried about it this year, although I may start initial digging for the foundation (insert laughter if you remember me saying this about the patio foundation that was a mudhole in the back yard for 2 years.)
Trying to space out heavy stuff like cement filled buckets and ancient cracked plastic and cement freeweights for the trash is interesting. I've just started tossing one into each can after trash pickup, and evenly load the trash into them all over the week. They can refuse trash cans over a given weight, they generally don't but I figure no use tempting fate. They were good enough to take the cut up railroad ties without complaining when they usually charge $5/each to haul them away whole.
My Market canopy is flaking badly, I'm thinking about getting a new one. It may make it through the season, but my main thought is that although I might be able to find a replacement canopy (I think the model was discontinued years ago) the cost is more than half of a brand new canopy that is probably easier to pop up, and the new one would come with a roller bag and side walls. I'll keep an eye on the equipment fund and see what happens. We are not quite halfway through the season so I'll have to make a decision sometime soon.
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Finncon is fini. Parris and I have just staggereed back to our hotel room from the dead reindeer party. The party is still going strong and we would love to have stayed longer... till sunset, at least... but we have to be up early tomorrow to catch a ferry to Estonia, where I'll be doing a signing in Tallinn. Then the next day it's back across the sea to Helsinki again, just long enough to set off for Turku, where I've got another signing.
Finncon was terrific. The warmth and hospitality we've found here has completely ruined my image of Finland as a frozen wasteland. Who knew? The sauna was fun too. And then there were all the cute anime girls in costume offering free hugs...
Thanks to all my Finnish friends. Now off to Estonia!
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I don't usually follow tennis, but I noticed this item in a recent news round-up from www.womensenews.org. Is this outrageous, or what? What were they thinking?
Wimbledon event organizers admitted that they purposely scheduled only "pretty" female tennis players, as opposed to some top-ranked competitors, on the Center Court at this year's 123 Wimbledon Championship at the All-England Club in London, reported the Examiner July 8. For example, Dinara Safina and Serena Williams, the No. 1 and No. 2 players in the world, were placed on Court 2, while tall, slender, lower-ranked, blond athletes were assigned to the Center Court, the article reported.
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I leave the day after tomorrow (Tuesday). Burglars, put down your tools--Amanda and Chris will be home, and they are armed and dangerous. Especially dangerous as they will continue to work on clearing out the study while I'm away.
I'm looking forward to this, although I don't promise I'll be checking in or tweeting while I'm there. I don't have a Blackberry or anything like that and while I'll be taking my laptop, I don't know if there will be any wireless available.
Frankly, I don't think it would hurt to be disconnected for a week. Today's Observer has an article in the magazine section about how utterly worn out we all are. "Spent" is the word they use. Speaking as someone who is exhausted more often than not these days, I can relate. Of course, I will be away from the greatest drain on my energy, which is not the net, my work, or anyone in the house. Nor any of the friends I wish I saw more often.
Spending most of a week at a high altitude without fielding a single call from my mother will probably be exhilirating.
I remember going to Denver when I was about four months pregnant. I felt incredibly good the whole time I was there. Laramie is higher than Denver, so this should be interesting (and I'm not pregnant this time; yes, I'm sure).
Anyway, I'll come back ready to add space opera to my repertoire.:)
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I usually have in my head the thought that i know who i am. That i know where i come from. But recently a person said some thing that made me wonder did i really know my self. Is what they think true? Have i lied to my self all these years? The answer is no. You precieve things that i do or say and never really see the reason why i do it. And vice versa, i precieve what you do as some thing other than what it is.
this post is sent out to a person that will not read this live journal (as they don't have one any ways) so don't worry its not you....
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I like contract fu. I enjoy chewing through the intricacies. I enjoy watching ducks line up in logical and reasonable progression. I take pleasure in slinging the lingo to the benefit of all involved. Finding tripwires, land mines, and tail-bites, flagging them, and -- in those cases where I can -- fixing them. The give and take of a good negotiation is like a good conversation. There's even some pleasure, when it's clear that "take" is going to outweigh "give" by an unacceptable margin, in saying "I appreciate the opportunity, but I think I'll pass on this one." And when the scales balance and things are right, there's a great deal of pleasure in being able to say "Yes." I've spent the last several weeks enjoying this particular past-time on a couple of fronts. One in the context of a volunteer organizational position I cover, and one in the context of my working life. Of the latter, there will be news in the near-to-nearish future, and you'll find out why I'm smiling. I'm hoping it will bring smiles to faces besides mine own. I like contract fu. I'm weird. This is news?
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Sf writer Aaron Allston had to have an emergency bypass operation. As you know, they don't give these surgical procedures away. I know you're strapped for cash. I'm strapped for cash. Things are rough all over. But you've got a dollar/quid/euro you can spare. Put it in an envelope. Information on where to send it can be found here.
If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times: this could be any one of us. We all teeter on the brink of disaster. Some of us have the good luck not to topple over. Others don't. We're only one heart attack, one stroke, one head injury, one serious illness, one accident away from ruin. If we don't try to provide the safety net for each other, no one will.
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I mentioned in my previous post that on Friday, I read from my unpublished short story "What Will Come After," which won't be out until March 2010 in my zombie collection from PS Publishing. When I give readings, I prefer using stories as yet unpublished, because I figure that gives those who take the trouble to show up for a reading, who I presume are there because they're already familiar with my work, something guaranteed to be new to them.
Friday night at Readercon's Meet the Pros(e) party, however, 30 people got to read that story. Or at least the first sentence. That's because I contributed those opening words to the annual event.
For those who don't know how Meet the Pros(e) works, each attending professional is asked to provide a sentence from his or her work, and that sentence is then printed on a sheet of Avery mailing labels. All attendees to the party are then given a sheet of wax paper, and set forth to mingle, asking each writer for a label. It's a great idea, because it gives even the shyest member of the con a reason to walk up to any writer, however imposing, without fear.
Here's what was printed on my label, the opening sentence of "What Will Come After":
I am already aware of certain events surrounding my upcoming death -- which, if I'm reading the signs correctly, is not that far off -- as surely as if they'd already occurred and I am merely remembering them.  I'm afraid I didn't mingle as much as I should have, getting caught up in too many interesting conversations (as with Eileen Gunn, above) to remember to play the game. But I did collect 17 of them, which I dutifully share with you here: The thing you don't know about dreams is the thing Marie teaches me as we follow the ambulance.
Perhaps even now it's not altogether too late.
Sifting through the radio noise, looking for miraculous candidate signals.
Beating slowly UpRiver at a mere two knots, or eight Blocks per hour, mainly under sails bellying with a warm, maritime perfumed wind, yet also employing two small supplemental engines, these impellers being the latest invention of Roger Kynard & Progeny, Ingeniators, running on a few hundred watts of beamed power from the Daysun, Samuel
Smallhorne, far from the home Slip of number 42 in the Borough of Stagwitz (Blocks 33,011,576 through 33,011,676 of the Linear City) pulled abreast of the Downtown border of the legendary Jungle Blocks of Vayavirunga at approximately ten AM on May the twelfth.
"Git for home, Bruno!"
The future isn't just one damn thing after another, it's every damn thing all at the same time.
I'm a regular Danger Mouse in the kitchen.
I dreamt John Clute was extolling the virtues of Little, Big to the Queen of England, who responded by disappearing inside her carapace, only to reappear tiny, vibrant fairy-like at the balcony set into the crown of her head.
He watched them drift through the great black portals of the Chrysler Building, whose shape, he noticed for the first time, was exactly that of coffins stood on end.
Ivory beetles bore through the forests of Khao Yai even a cibiscosis sugars, blister rust, and fa'gan fringe bore through the vegetables and huddles humanity of Krung Thep.
Your editor is an assassin; it's not as rare as you think.
I don't care who the Willow weeps for or where the Squirrel King hides his nuts.
"Watch it, Sam, Here comes your very own Kilgore Trout."
Now there was not a waiter-whore in sight, and a kitchen squatted on the stage where living musicians and dancers must once have performed.
"It isn't romantic to be ravished beside a county !ane?" [sic]
It has taken me all my life to learn that time machines do not exist.
Since we were babies we knew about Kari Kari. I can only remember the sources for a few of these. Those two massive blocks of text are from Paul Di Filippo, who couldn't contain himself on a single Avery label. The John Clute dream was from Ron Drummond. Danger Mouse came from David Shaw. As for the others, it will be up to someone else to identify them. And I hope that someone out there has collected a complete set, and will share it with us elsewhere!
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Sometimes, even the most serious martial artists must have a little sense of humor!
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The subject line refers to the number of steps I walked Saturday. It was my first "over 10,000" day since surgery.
I would have walked more if I were at Birds Hill Park in Manitoba for BaggieCon at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, but that's okay. I doubt I would have held up through 26,5XX steps, which is my all time daily record since I started wearing a pedometer two years ago. I set the record at BaggieCon in 2007 after having walked 18,000+ steps the day before.
The entire 127-acre Smith College campus is a botanical garden and arboretum. Gorgeous. I didn't know Susan could possibly walk past even one let alone hundreds of interesting plants without stopping to coo over each one, but she did. Admirably, without complaint or even a comment. There was the rest of the tour group of prospective students, parents, and friends to keep up with.
There any more college tours ahead. July is especially full of them. Susan and Gavi are spending most of the next two weeks here and we have 7-8 more tours on the schedule. They'll then be visiting three more schools on the way home. With luck, I'll be able to join them for Cornell in Ithaca, then a fun day in Corning looking at amazing glass. Fingers crossed!
It will be interesting to compare the tours I'm able to go along on and see how they differ. I thought our tour guide at Smith was fabulous, but Gavi said she was pretty much the same as the tour guides at Carleton, Macalester, and UW-Madison. Wow.
We're building break days into the schedule. We're all looking forward to sleeping in and just hanging out here at Toad Woods all day Sunday. Here's hoping I can plow through a bunch of the items on my To Do list -- the more I can stay on top of my work and other commitments, the more tours I can go along on.
Life is good. I hope the music and fun in Winnipeg is equally so.
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Everyone and his dog were at the market today, which I found annoying mainly because I had gotten up early to buy some Flathead cherries, only to get woefully skunked. Even so, I got some pretty tasty strawberries, tomatoes, basil, lettuce, peas, carrots, bison, bacon, eggs, cheese, butter, onions, cucumbers and potatoes. I picked up other groceries, dog food, and came home -- and promptly collapsed on the couch for a nap. So I didn't get any writing done.
Tonight, I worked on editing, because even though it takes brain activity, it doesn't require me to be creative.
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and we move on. But. we don't.
We're always so busy, always so full of stuff that has to be done "now:!" Friends get set aside, sometimes forgotten in the rush, sometimes remembered but put off until later.
Please, please, please remember that there is a chance that 'later' won't happen. I cannot think of the things that I thought, Julie would like this or that, but now it's too late to tell her.
I was overjoyed to reconnect with Nancy N. at the party/cookout we held for Heather Orth, She's a good friend that I've lost touch with.
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I cleaned the house like a madman earlier - did laundry, cleaned the floors upstairs, straightened the bedroom, re-excavated my studio. Badly needed. The space is much more livable, now. Worked on calendars. Worked on orders - stack of t-shirts and totes and mousepads that is defying structural stability ready to be put in packages and shipped. Printing a page of stickers now, and packing what can go out is my next step. Then, some submissions to sort, calendars to put up for pre-order, and some dinner.
Here are the calendar covers!
( behind this cut... )
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We visited this Central American restaurant last night (Fri 7/10). I thought I'd better write about it before I forget everything (which is getting all-too easy as I get older).
Before I begin, here's what little The Pitch has to say about it. ( I guess I'll tuck the rest of this back here. Not everyone likes food -- or reading about it -- as much as we do. )
X-posted to DW and LJ.
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I had cancelled my plans to attend the Campbell Conference due to health and fatigue. However, Chris McKitterick kindly mentioned that the bookstore had ordered a bunch of my books in preparation for today's booksigning. Like, okay, dangle some bait. So at eight o'clock this morning, I hauled my backside over to Lawrence.
The awards presentations had taken place on Friday, so that was all out of the way. Cory Doctorow won the Campbell for the novel while James Alan Gardner and Ian MacLeod shared the Sturgen for short fiction. The Saturday roundtable, usually one of the highlights of the event, was one of the largest I recall ever, with over 40 people attending. Discussion seemed low-key, focusing on such subjects as "the new space opera," and "the new weird," which honestly strikes me pretty much the same as the old space opera and the old weird, but I tried not to rain on any parades. I did ask someone to define the terms, but all I got was the clever, "Well, it's newer." It might make a good panel sometime, although by next year the "new" will be "old" again. As is usually the case, the discussion veered away from the planned topics to range far and wide. That's actually the way I like it best. I remained mostly quiet, however, trying not to cough my head off and just listen to everybody else. Just when I think I'm over this shit, it comes back again, not as strong, but still annoying.
At lunchtime about twelve of us broke away and headed for an Irish pub called Dempseys for huge cholesterol burgers. Good tasting chow, but I'll have to scrub my arteries for a week. Maintaining some semblance of my current diet, I stuck to iced tea while the others downed beers and Irish whiskies. I'm so proud of myself. Huh.
After lunch - the booksigning. And a very successful booksigning it was, too, which made me glad I went. The Oread Bookstore on the KU campus always does a good job with these signings, and I walked in to find stacks of all three DRAGONKIN volumes, plus a sizable stack of SWORDS AGAINST THE SHADOWLAND. There were considerably fewer of them on the table at the end, and all the copies of volume one got snatched up. Someone also showed up with a copy of ENCHANTER from 1989, which kind of flabbergasted me, and someone else brought a copy of SHADOWDANCE. Naturally, I signed lots of posters for attendees and one large poster for next year's ConQuest auction. Always happy to do that.
After the signing, attendees returned to the meeting room for a short speech by Cory about some marketing innovations he'll be attempting for his upcoming novel, followed by a panel discussion with Cory, Gardner and MacLeod. I'm afraid I left before that really got underway, though, and headed back to Kansas City. I trust the rest of the afternoon and the party this evening will go well. The event continues tomorrow, but I won't be driving back for it.
Indications are that the Campbell Conference is growing. In addition to the large roundtable group, there were perhaps ten or twelve writers at the signing, many of whom I didn't have time to meet. Jim Gunn appears well, and it's always a delight to see Kij Johnson, Chris McKitterick, Nate Williams and Eric Reynolds.
Best,
Robin
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It was interesting, as always -- the main guests were winners of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel, and the winner of the Sturgeon Award for the year's best short story. The morning was a round table, and the afternoon was a panel of the winners discussing what they think the future of publishing will be.
And so many people I knew were there -- I probably knew 1/4 of the folks attending. One was happy to see me because she had gone for a sleep study after being nagged, and her air machine was due to arrive next week. I told her that the best was yet to come -- the day, about a week in, where you wake up and nothing hurts. That is the day it all makes sense. And of course, the manager of the bookstore worked there when I did -- back in 1975, for heaven's sake. She has been in one place for 34 years -- and of course she doesn't look it.
I took pictures, and later I'll put them up somewhere -- Facebook, Flickr, or I'll send them to Keith for the photo archive.
Tomorrow is Julie's memorial, so I won't go back to Lawrence. I could leave now and go to tonight's party, but I think that I've driven enough for today. Instead I'll read and try to stay out of trouble.
:)
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Sold out, 15 dozen at 10:40am. It was so hot and muggy that if you bumped into a stranger you risked sticking. But the bagels were good, and sales were steady up to and including the last half dozen going to one of my regulars.
Highlights of the day include someone apparently from the AM station KLWN saying he was going to try them on air (its AM, I don't know if anyone even heard it or if he kept the promised on air tasting, but there you go), seeing my delighted regulars, passing out samples of chocolate bagel 1.0 (overall approved, although it's agreed that I need to probably up the cocoa powder and drop the chip quantity, be prepared for chocolate bagel 2.0 coming up), and hearing someone reading my bagel flavors in French to her daughter (tomato basil with Parmesan sounds cool in French).
After Market I did a favor for Sister, who joined us for lunch at Jason's Deli and took Pari for a bit. I had a delightful nap that has recovered much of my head but my body still doesn't want to work right now, but dinner needs to be made soon. We got a collection of root beers from World Market that should be fun to work through in upcoming weeks.
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http://firefox.org/news/articles/2885/1/Review-Guiding-Light-Week-of-July-6-2009-quotGoing-Downquot/Page1.html Things didn't go as expected for citizens of Springfield this week. Even loyal viewers of Guiding Light were disappointed when the episode preempted by the Michael Jackson memorial was not shown at a later time and was skipped ....
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And today's recipients of an annual birthday spanking are ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) tlmorganfield--
Have a day filled with all the high-quality shiny awesome you can stand, starting off a year made of pure win, with whipped cream, sparkles, and extra kittens!
And hey--say it with me, everyone!--don't forget to live forever!
And My Wonderful Son, who turns 24 at 20:30, US central daylight time. It's a privilege to be your mom.
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I have two more. Apparently, DW like the calibre of people I bring in.:)
Raise your hand if you want one. First come, first served.
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Officially, the Utah Midsummer Renaissance Faire has a "no pets" policy but in practice, everyone brings their dog(s). And there are lots of dogs of all shapes and sizes...lots of them. I would say that overall, Cedar City definitely favors dogs as pets!
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I had hoped to provide a detailed write-up of my Friday at Readercon 20, but that proves to be impossible. I was on the go constantly from the moment I woke at 6:00 a.m., not crashing until 1:00 a.m. this morning, which meant that the day was so filled with incident that any report would take so much time to write that I would not get to have a Saturday at Readercon and would fill so many screens that you'd never read it anyway.
Also, to be fully detailed, it would have to be a historical document published after the con, thus violating what I call Edelman's Schadenfreude Rule of Convention Reporting—it mustn't be done later, when any journalism would be considered historical, but instead while the con is still going on. Because it's not enough that those of us here be having a good time, others must know we're having a good time and be absolutely miserable that they're not here with us. They have to be tempted to hop in a car, or to catch a plane, and join the party, and be crestfallen when they can't. Schadenfreude can be a wonderful thing.
And so, I will limit myself to the following list of my 10 favorite things that happened during my Friday at Readercon:
1) Showing off my ego: I took part in the 11:00 a.m. panel "Egocentrism and Creativity," during which James Patrick Kelly moderated me, Gene Wolfe, Catherynne Valente, Eileen Gunn, and Gene Wolfe. Not only did we not have to hide our lights under bushels, we were encouraged to be as egotistical as possible, and to explain how that facet of our personalities helped us survive. We were asked to share the most egotistical things we'd ever done in our careers, as well as the most egotistical thing we'd done recently. It was a heck of a lot of fun, and I think we killed (he wrote egotistically).
2) Pinning Jeff Ford:: Jeff and I started the tradition a while back of having lunch together at all cons we're both attending, and we continued that this year. This lunch was different, however, in that I was able to bring him something special—the Nebula certificate and pin I accepted for him while out at this year's Nebula Awards weekend. I'll skip the fact that I should have mailed it to him several months ago so that I look diligent instead of lackadaisical. (Oops, too late!) Catching up with Jeff, a fun guy and a brilliant writer, is always a privilege.
3) Bringing myself to tears: I'd managed to read my unpublished short story "What Will Come After" (due to appear in my zombie collection from PS Publishing, which will be launched at the 2010 World Horror Convention in Brighton) once before without crying, last month at the Stoker Awards weekend in Burbank, and thought I'd be able to struggle through it here as well without problems. But the deeply personal story, which includes references to my wife, my parents, and my son, and, well, my own death, too, hit me hard this time, and there were several moments in which I got too choked up to continue. I was able to keep going, though, until the final few sentences, during which I broke down, and had to pause and gather myself before finishing the story in a cracking voice. I hope that some of that will carry over to the reader on the printed page. Members of the audience assured me that it would.
4) Listening to a Pulitzer Prize-winner: I don't get to witness or chat with Michael Dirda often, so to hear him on the panel "How to Choose What We Read," which also included Michael Bishop, Victoria Janssen, Rosemary Kirstein, Rick Wilber and Chuck Rothman, who are no slouches themselves, was fascinating. I particularly liked him quoting the ending to his review of Judith Krantz's novel Dazzle, which went something like this: "Some readers feel bad for the trees felled to print a bad book. In this instance, I even feel bad for the ink and the glue." He also quoted Oscar Wilde to explain why it isn't necessary to complete books you don't really like: "Only an auctioneer can appreciate all forms of art."
5) Confessing my sins: On the "Hacks Anonymous vs. the Art Police" panel, moderator David Shaw gave Liz Hand, Kit Reed, Cecelia Tan and me dispensation as we shared what we did for money rather than love. Based on his litany of charges, it seems that David felt the worst sin of all was Cecilia's work for the Yankees! I shared how, when I wrote my unauthorized wrestling biographies, it wasn't entirely for the money, though as it turned out there would be royalties aplenty. I also did it to feel connected to all the wordsmiths who came before me, like Walter Gibson and Frederick Faust, writers who turned out books over the weekend and short stories over lunch to fill editorial demand, and even to writers still with us, such as Bob Silverberg and Barry Malzberg, who did the same relatively not that long ago. I wrote them for the thrill of feeling being part of that pulp continuum. And speaking of Barry ...
6) Basking in Barry Malzberg's self-deprecation: Barry's presentation speech as he announced the winner of this year's Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award (A. Merritt—go read) was as hilarious as ever. He went on at length about how the committee searched far and wide to find the person best qualified to give an award to a forgotten writer who was no longer read before finally settling on him, and what it must be like for those writers who just weren't forgotten enough to have won. He said something like, "Sorry, Mark Clifton, someone actually read one of your books last year, so you're not forgotten enough just yet. Better luck next year, when hopefully no one will read you!"
7) Meeting new people: Readercon is so much more than connecting with old friends. There are also new friends to make. One of them was Kristine Dikeman (above). We were having so much fun standing around at the Meet the Pros(e) party discussing zombies (she's working on a novel about them and I can't stop writing short stories about them) that we plunked ourselves down so we could dissect them at length. We also discussed the Brooklyn Bridge centennial and what a cool guy Rick Bowes is.
8) Dinner with copacetic souls: After my reading, I headed off with Resa Nelson and Mike and Jeri Bishop for a quiet dinner of good food and good conversation away from the hotel, which doesn't always happen. Mike had been one of Resa's Clarion teachers in 1985, and I pulled out stories of that year's class from them. We discussed fireworks, first sales, and how Jeri plans to spend Saturday. (It's her birthday, and she'll be heading off to wander Boston with Deb Newton and Joyce Malzberg—re-enacting an episode of Sex and the City I imagine—but if you do manage to see her before she leaves or after she gets back, wish her a Happy Birthday!)
9) Following the reactions of others on Twitter: To the bemusement of some and the annoyance of others, I've been twittering my way through the con. But I'm not the only one! It's been fun hearing what's been going on off in the places I would have liked to have been but couldn't be, since the committee insists on holding opposing program tracks in different rooms, rather than on opposite sides of the same room as would seem sensible to me. So I got to learn that "I tell you I didn't anticipate listening to raunchy gay porn at a sf con" and "Escapism judged by whether you're smarter than the book or the book is smarter than you" and more.
10) Pleased to be nearly the last man standing: When I finally took a moment to flip through the program book, I came across a complex grid which listed every panelist who's ever appeared on a Readercon panel, the cons at which they'd done programing, and how many they'd done each year. When I scrolled down the list, which occupied seven pages, I discovered that other than Eric Van, who doesn't count, because he's a committee member, and also, well, because he's an alien from another dimension, I am the only person to have been on programming at all 20 Readercons. I won!
And there was so much more! But I can't get into that, not if I want to get out of this room for another exciting day.
So please accept my apologies for having failed you all by not having the time to report on my Friday at Readercon! I hope you'll forgive me.
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Frank and I have been beyond stressed out all week, working on deadlines - so we treated ourselves to our third Red Sox game tonight. Of course, the fun for us was rooting against the beloved hometown team. In this video, the Sox scored their first run after 8 innings of no one scoring, and the crowd went nuts!
Frank went nuts with disgust, and continued booing them as he had all night. It was a good-natured, cheerful booing, of course. He is a serious Yankees fan.
I'm always worried some Red Sox fanatic is going to give Frank a little "Fenway massage" with a bat or something. At least he agreed to not wear his Yankees hat!
Bri
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7/12, visitation at 1:30, services commencing at 3:00 p.m.
They're going to be at the Westport Presbyterian Church, which is a little west of Main on Westport.
I have been brokenhearted about this whole thing because she was a truly kind person, who tried to make everyone feel that they were her friend. She did not care about divisions, she tried to make people come together and get along.
I've been searching for something to say at her servide that won't just destroy me. (and make me unable to read it.) The following quote from Thomas Jefferson was shared recently by my LJ friend Pecunium, and is appropriate.
"Time wastes too fast: every letter I trace tells me what rapidity life follows my pen.
The days and hours of it are flying over our head like clouds of windy day, never to return -- more every thing presses on – and every time I kiss thy hand to bid adieu, every absence which follows it are preludes to that eternal separation which we are shortly to make."
- Thomas Jefferson
On the other hand, this is what I keep going back to as music, but won't for the service. Because it makes me and others weep like babies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MODq81_cDKI
I am hoping we will play Dave Carter and Tracy Grammar's song, "When I Go."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imf2GYV0xNo
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Despite a late start on the bagels due to the last day of speech camp and watching the kids sing off-key several songs that are now stuck in my head (the ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah...), the end is in sight. I decided to quit at 15 dozen for market because there is a meetup tonight after the Campbell conference with the authors doing the workshop, and I like to swing by and see people I've done workshop with in the past. I have a 16th dozen for an experiment, the long awaited Chocolate Bagel 1.0. The chips totally incorporated into the dough, so it isn't chocolate chip. I'll take a few tonight and more to Market tomorrow so I can get some feedback.
I'm pondering another modification in the Friday baking rhythm, it would go slightly slower but the bagel dough would be in better condition when I make it (not overproofed, after 2 hours it can loosen up in warm, humid weather pretty fast). It would also give me a little more flexibility for finding a stopping point, and getting the baked goods bagged and tagged in a more timely manner. It also would mean less clutter in my tiny kitchen.
Time for more bagels.
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Ellen Million Graphics
Took a mighty pile of boxes to the post office yesterday, including the two huge boxes for DragonCon. No, not huge. HEAVY. Yay media rate.
Got 1 calendar page finished. Tonight, I MUST work further on them. And the anthology. Must, must, must.
I'll have to check when I get home tonight, but I may be sold out of the 2xl white shirts now.
Printer #2 ran out of toner yesterday mid-shipping label. *sighs* A week to get new toner in, so some orders are stalled waiting for this. Not all of them - I only do bookmarks and magnets and cards on that printer.
Torn World post for today will be the one that I meant to (and briefly thought I HAD) post yesterday... once I scan the sketches for it.
Art and Authoring
I worked for a while last night after my brain pooped out on calendars on a big piece no one's seen yet - that will stay that way for a while. It's big. As big as Roses of Fairyland. And I worked on ACEOs for Annie and Erika, finally.
Nothing scanned.
Health and Home
Stalled on siding. We're not pleased with the professionalism of the quote we got, then got some conflicting information on the product we were planning to go with, so we're pausing and doing some more research.
Dayjob today, and had a nice talk with my boss about hours and workload. I think we're on a good plan of attack to get everything done without unduly stressing me out. The new employee is working out smashingly. REALLY like her.
I still love my car. She likes to GO. And it's delightful to have a decent sound system in a car that isn't full of very loud road noise. I've never had anything so nice in my life.
Planning
Calendars! Anthology! More Dragon*Con/fair stuff! Orders! Broken record!
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Yesterday could be termed a perfect day writing. I actually wrote hot and went for 2000 words, which is about where I had been when my writing faltered. Today, my writing is back to a respectable 1000 words, which means I wrote 4000 words in two days on the novel. Which is pretty awesome. The trick was that I decided to write in the early afternoon instead of trying to write in the evening. I think my brain's creative side starts shutting down then.
The review work is far more enjoyable than I expected. I figure I will average about 20 pages a day when I'm done reviewing, which is good. I'm also going through the edits of Howling Dead and two other books I'm editor on. Eventually, when I get something off my plate, I'll be able to put forth more time to other projects.
Ninja was about as cool as you can get. One of the guys does Dagorhir and is going to a battle in Idaho. So, my sensei decided to train him up a bit on sword, which was way cool. Mainly because I can see the same movements in German longsword and katana. Which means, I actually got practice that would work with both really well. My wrists are a total wreck, but they are improving, which means I must practice a lot to loosen them up. This morning I woke up with pain in my arms, but with some stretches, my arms are behaving themselves.
Today has shaped up to be a busy writing day as well. Which is good.
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We have a thermometer tacked up on the backyard fence. Just after noon today, I checked to see how hot it was:
115 degrees?!?
Well, that was in direct sunlight... but even now, going on 5 in the afternoon, Weather Underground says it's 99 degrees out with a heat index of 107. It's supposed to be just as hot the rest of the weekend. Drink lots of water and stay cool, folks!
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Here are the sessions I'm currently scheduled for at WorldCon in Montreal next month. If you're planning to attend the con, please come to some of my sessions!
FRIDAY, AUG. 7 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. (565; P-511D) The Golden Duck Awards for Children's and YA Science FictionThis award is designed to encourage people to write books that capture future SF fans. Lindalee Stuckey introduces the award, and is joined by a number of current authors for children and young adults for discussion. Ben Jeapes, Catherine Petrini, Cecil Castellucci, Henry
Melton, Janet McNaughton, S.C. Butler, Michèle Laframboise,
Jean-Pierre Guillet, Lindalee Stuckley (M)
SATURDAY, AUG. 8 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. (241; P-512AE) Author Reading
Catherine Petrini, Chandra Rooney, Melanie Fletcher3:30 - 5:00 p.m. (586; P-516AB) How to Pitch Your Novel...And How Not ToYou're an aspiring writer, you've run into an editor or agent in a bar. After buying them a drink, what's the next thing to do? Talk about your just-completed novel? Thrust the printout into their hands? Or...something else? Some advice from those who know. Catherine Petrini (M), Jetse de Vries, Mike Resnick, Sean
Wallace, Ginjer Buchanan
SUNDAY, AUG. 9 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. (855; P-524A) Paranormal Romance for Teens
Who knew romance could be so weird? Meet an author of many of the "Sweet Valley High" books, and other writers who like to romanticize vampires, werewolves, and zombies. (Teen programming track.) Anne Harris, Carole Ann Moleti, Cathy Petrini (M),
Kerrie Hughes, Victoria Janssen
6:00 p.m. (1455) Author Book SigningI'm autographing books! Please come. If you don't want to buy a book, you're still welcome to hang out and keep me company. Catherine Petrini
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