The Week between the Worlds

Isn’t this a strange week? I don’t remember if I thought it was when I was a child; I probably just rolled around eating candy and playing games and reading and wallowing in being Out of School, exactly like my children do. But as an adult, this week feels so strange to me, it’s so tinged with in-between-ness, almost like being in between lives, or worlds. Like the corridor between the houses, and the Wood between the Worlds in THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW! That’s what this week is like.

As you can tell, it fills me with mulling and pondering and thinky thoughts. And this morning I thought I’d write a mulling sort of post. Or a writing-centered one — I’ve been trying to get started on a new manuscript, and reading a lot of interesting stuff about marketing, or thought-provoking things like moschus‘s recent post about women and power and money. Which makes me feel like ooooo, I should write a thinky, thought-provoking post.

But as much as my mind is dreaming and mulling, I can’t find the spark to write about it. Maybe in part because Santa brought a Kinect for our X-Box and WHOA! This is such a fun piece of gaming technology! Before we got one, I thought it was just a slightly ramped up version of the Wii, but no. Having the game scan in your body for you to use as the controller is very different and MUCH cooler and more fun.

Plus I got new books for Christmas! (even though I haven’t finished the haul from WFC, mmmm, books) And there’s movies to see. And way too much food to eat. And some work to get back to. So that’s what I’m doing–rolling around overeating and playing video games and writing and reading.

Ha! I guess the more things change the more they really do stay the same.

Hope you’re having a wonderful, strange week, too.

A Day Early and A Day Late

I’m driving up to World Fantasy Con tomorrow!! Eeeee! But that’s my “a day late.” It actually starts today. I am so intrigued to find out what it will be like. I’m sure it will as exhausting as every writing conference I’ve ever attended, but I have hopes that it will be more fun than usual (sorry SCBWI.)

And I’m a day early for the Friday Five. Even though I’m unsure as to whether I have five things. Should I count the previous para? I think so! In which case,

2 — I forgot to mention that we did make it to the RennFaire. On the last day. It was totally fun, even if we did get a few frowny looks when people saw my eleven year old carrying his souvenir –

3 — The Metropolitan Opera in HD at the movies is awesomesauce! I can’t wait to go again. The music was spectacular. The visuals were impressive, but I kept wishing they would zoom out– way too many intense closeups. And these people are opera stars, not movie stars.

4 — This one is mostly a self-reminder: I have to post soon about the costume my son is making for Halloween. He’s going as Master Chief from Halo and he’s made it out of paper and it’s one of the most inspiring, impressive things I’ve seen.

5 — World Fantasy Con tomorrow! In addition to bogwitch64 (SO excited to meet her and get her book) I just found out that someone I only recently discovered in this LJ neck of the woods, writer stinabat is also going to be there. Coolness!

I’ll try to post something at least once from the event.

Eeeeeee!

Back from the Land of Cleve

Home again, home again, jiggety, ji–whooee, it’s-a-lot-warmer-down here. It’s still OHIO. But up in Cleveland I was wearing jeans and a jacket and as soon as I got back to Cincy, I had to change into shorts.

Isn’t that a fascinating opening paragraph? I’ve risen to the level of talking about weather. Oh my.

The conference was good! I’m so glad I went. I simultaneously felt like my previous writing/conference going life happened about a decade ago, maybe in Colorado or, or Nevada or Canada or someplace far away– and also renewed. Like I really am living a new chapter.

The speakers were great. Well, generally. I did get stuck in a session that was clearly marked for Beginners on the conference application, but both I and brian_ohio had somehow overlooked that important sentence and we were . . . not fascinated.

It was great to meet him in offline life, even if it was disturbing to find out he really is a giant eyeball.

And hey bogwitch64! I met another writer who’s going to WFC. Although . . . come to think of it, I didn’t see her again after introducing myself . . . mebbe I skeered her.

I’ll post my conference notes soon, for those interested, over on my other blog.

Even though the conference ended on Sat. evening, I stayed that night. In part because I’m always so tired at the end of these things, in part because I somehow turned into a wuss who’s afraid to drive on the highway at night, esp. if it’s raining, and in part to go up to the Cleveland Art Museum on Sunday. I haven’t been to that museum in a lonnnggg time. And they have some stunning works of art.

Like this one, although sorry in advance for poor phone-camera quality:

Happy Easter . . . . Wednesday?

I might be feeling better and ready to come back and chat, but holy cannoli! this time management thing is an insoluble puzzle! I have no management skillz! and not all that much time, either!

Three times I’ve checked in on LJ, reading your posts and fully intending to reply and then . . . bampf! I was suddenly forced away from my laptop by ALL THIS OTHER STUFF. In fact, I just now sat down and started reading posts and got interrupted a few times and gah! I thought I would stop reading and write a post of my own. Which I fully intended doing on Sunday.

See, I even took a picture of some of our eggs for you:

Because nothing says renewal like the “snikt” of Wolverine’s adamantium claws.

But soon I think I’ll be able to manage this new life of mine better. I’m starting over in so many ways– I haven’t gotten the hang of this crazy thing yet.

In random news:

I love my new job, even though it contributes to the insoluble time management problem.

I am loving the new eps of Chuck, even though whooeee, did I get sick of the Chuck/Sarah LUV romancey stuff. But there’s been a satisfying amount of Jeff, Lester, and Casey. And Morgan is growing on me.

I am still pecking away at my revision, although still without much verve. But I think perhaps a big wave of verve is swelling up somewhere close by. In the basement?

And now I have to go help small people with bedtime. Will I return to comment on YOUR posts? I hope to, but am filled with doubt.

“It’ll be a day to remember,

as long as no one gets dismembered.” Ha! A very amusing line, or aksherlly a paraphrase of it, from a romance-themed episode of The Penguins of Madagascar this morning. I thought it was a good Valentine’s Day sentiment.

Speaking of the Special Day, I almost completely forgot about it, because my little girl came down with croup yesterday. Apparently, my life is not eventful enough, and needs regular spicing up with things like appendectomies and croup. We had a few scary moments last night when I thought I’d have to take her to the ER, but lots of steam helped, and she’s much better today.

This post is clearly veering into random territory, so let’s just go for that.

I’m sad that it looks like two of our household’s fave kids’ middle grade series, Percy Jackson, and the How to Train Your Dragon books (by Cressida Cowell) look like they have lame film adaptations. At least, the trailers look lame.

And speaking of Valentine’s Day (heh), if you’ve never seen Capn’ Wacky’s Unfortunate Valentine’s Cards, wherein old-fashioned cards are posted, with very funny text commentary, you must go look. I got the link from hummingwolf and am so glad she drew my attention thither. I especially savored the Batman one. I’ll let you find the card, but here’s the accompanying text:

Hello, I’m Batman.

When I was just a child, my parents were murdered right in front of my eyes. I made a solemn vow that day to commit my life to fighting crime. I’ve sacrificed my childhood and any efforts toward personal enjoyment. My nights are spent in deadly combat with everything from common street thugs to grotesque psychopaths. What little sleep I ever get is usually interupted by horrible nightmares and my waking up soaked in sweat. I fight a war that can never be won. I strive toward a goal that can never be reached. I am haunted. I am relentless. I am tortured.

Won’t you be my valentine?

Holiday musings

I feel a thinky post coming on.

I love the holiday season, all the way from Halloween through New Year’s. But I’ve realized lately that a lot of what I love is ideas, or small moments, or brief fun. Not the actual days themselves very much. I grew up in a ridonkulously dysfunctional family and don’t have many good memories of actual Thanksgivings or Christmases. But I still love this time of year.

Due to my pending D-I-V-O-R-C-EEEE, I spent this past Thanksgiving alone. Well, for the most part– the children’s dad didn’t get them until 11:00 am. I had some trepidation about the day, since it’s a HOLIDAY, and I was going to be ALONE. (echo: alone . . alone . . alone) And I’ve only spent one other Thanksgiving alone, when I was in grad school.

But it was a wonderful day. Very calm and relaxing. Soothing even, I felt refreshed by the end of it. I’ve had so many clamorous demands to deal with, and hideous paperwork to do, I was in desperate need of a tranquil day of reading by the fire, and taking the dog for a long walk, and eating pie. Oh yes, there was pie. Mmmmm, pie.

Where am I going with this post? Something about “there is no holiday either good or bad, Horatio, except thinking makes it so.” (sorry) It’s just fascinating to me lately how much of our experience of events is a direct result of what we think about them. Or maybe it’s feel about them. Not so much the actual event itself.

So whatcha been watching on the TEE VEE?

While I was away, contending with my family crisis, I didn’t have much time for TV (or movies, or even books, for that matter.) Although I did catch up with all of Leverage, courtesy of Netflix, and that show was just perfect for cheering me up. Total fun. And I also discovered The IT Crowd, which was more uneven, but also intensely fun.

I tried the new version of The Prisoner on AMC the other night, and gah! Blech! Didn’t the people who worked on this version understand ANYTHING about what made the first one so compelling and entertaining?

I caught one episode of V, and it seems worth watching again. But the only shows I make a point of catching are 30 Rock and SNL currently.

Are you hooked on anything? Any new favorites? Huh? HUH?

Our ice cream truck sells pickles!

I just noticed this today– giant dill pickles or giant Hot ‘N Spicy dill pickles. What the what?! I said, “Pickles! Do people buy pickles from the ice cream truck?” And the Ice Cream Truck Man replied, “Oh yeah! They love ‘em! I sell a ton of pickles.”

Huh! I shall have to try one of each next time.

He also sells candy cigarettes, which I didn’t realize existed anymore.

In other random news, while I was outside on the back porch this morning, sipping my coffee in the early morning light, a neighbor down the street called his dog to come in, “Stella! Stella! Stellllll-laaaaa!”

Ha! Do you think they named the dog that for that very reason? So they can go out in the back yard and shout, “STELLA!”

And in random TV notes– do any of you watch or have watched those Real Housewives shows on Bravo? I was surfing the other night and came across one, I think it was Housewives of NJ, and even though the premise is completely unappealing to me, I watched for a few minutes. And those are the kind of women that make me feel like I am not one. They seem so utterly different in so many ways– how can we be the same gender?

And are akamarykate and I the only ones watching the TV show, MERLIN? It’s awful— oh, the things they’re doing to the Matter of Britain. I missed the first ep, but caught the next two this past Sunday and I was all, “I guess Arthur isn’t in this because that prince can’t be Arthur . . . Oh. Well, that can’t be Nimue because she wouldn’t . . . oh. Did he call her Gwen? As in Guinevere? But she can’t be Guinevere because Guinevere was . . . oh.”

And yet, it’s fun to watch. Any show with John Hurt as The Voice of The Dragon has something going for it. Plus, Tony Head is Uther Pendragon! Which– internets, how can you have failed to mention Giles is on Merlin? Especially considering that some of you have probably written fics where Giles is ON Merlin. But perhaps you mentioned it and I missed it because summer is wreaking its usual havoc with my days.

I like Giles’/Uther’s scar.

I just ate a whole entire key lime pie!

All by myself. Well, over two days, but still– no one else got a single bite.

::cackles::

Mmmmmmm, it was good. Pie is good. Mmm, pie. I NEEDED THAT PIE. My husband has been away for months and months. Well, since Sunday anyway. And I am here with these clamorous PEOPLE who have all kinds of DEMANDS and it’s like I’m supposed to take care of them, or something. Not to mention, regarding my last post, that I started revising a manuscript and am also writing a new one, both! at almost the same time! like a nutball.

A pie devouring nutball!

Random Tuesday, wait! It’s Wednesday, isn’t it?

THAT is the kind of day I’m having. I was having one yesterday too, and the upside of a crazy-busy, or bad day is supposed to be that the next one will be easier. Isn’t it?

ISN’T IT?!

So our laptop died this morning. I think. I’m usually able to breathe life back into it, but there’s a rattling noise and I think it might really be dead. I have a cute little netbook–that I’m typing this post on and can barely read because of the wee font, ow! my eyes–so I’m still good for writing and the tubes but now the children and their father will be waging battles for computer time on the desktop. Let the games begin! Four hundred quatloos on the teenager!

Did you know it’s summer? It’s June, even. I’m a little stunned that it’s June. I usually make summer plans, but have few to none so far. Except that I’ve been playing Guitar Hero 2 again, having not yet beat that one on hard, so I’ve made that a June goal. Yes, the fabulous kellyrfineman is brushing up her Shakespeare, writing well-researched and fascinating posts this month, but I’ve set a video game goal. That I’m dubious of achieving because Psychobilly Freakout is too freaking hard on hard.

Speaking of movies, ha ha! See what I did there? It occurred to me the other day that books are not the only neglected thing in this age of so many fun things to do. Movies are too, although to an admittedly lesser degree. Way back in the day, when I was in high school, we saw every movie, or almost, when it was released. I just realized that my son and his friends are very take it or leave it about new releases. Almost nothing is a big deal to them. In fact, I can’t think of a single release that they were very excited about. And they never go more than once while it’s in the theatres. That is such a huge difference from my generation. If we loved a movie, we saw it over and over. And there was NOTHING else to do, so we saw all kinds of crap, like Krull and The Island (the Michael Caine crappy Island, not the Ewan Macgregor one.)

It’s snowing!

Snow! Fat fluffy flakes drifting down on my sweet lilacs and gold daffodils.

Ohio iz weird.

More random observations: I hear certain songs on the iPod or radio, and have a sometimes-irresistible urge to play them on Guitar Hero ASAP.

When I read certain new books, I think thank goodness so many kids dislike reading.

For our family movie night, I made the family watch High School Musical 3. Back in the day (which probably feels eons ago to them) the boys enjoyed the first two, and we all had to watch. So I made them watch the final one, even though they no longer desired to, because I needed HSM closure. And it was a hoot. Highly entertaining, if in an MST3K kind of way.

Speaking of entertaining, if not strictly “good”, movies, I also watched St. Elmo’s Fire recently. A movie I avoided when it was originally released because I suspected I would hate it. And younger me was right, twenty years ago, I would have LOATHED those characters. But now I find they provide much entertainment pleasure. Rob Lowe’s hair alone delighted me every time he was onscreen.

Sunday driftwood

iTunes now has “Mexican Radio” by Wall of Voodoo, which it didn’t when I first bought my iPod, and even though it’s not nearly as good a song as memory told me it was, when it plays I’m filled with memories of my twenty-something self, back when she moved to NY to become an actor, and walking-walking-walking on the sidewalks in springtime with loud funny friends and making pitchers of margaritas out of tequila and frozen limeade, so I like it.

. . .

Here’s a quote I came across over the weekend, from The Human Comedy by William Saroyan:

But try to remember that a good man can never die . . . The person of a man may leave–or be taken away–but the best part of a good man stays. It stays forever. Love is immortal and makes all things immortal. But hate dies every minute.

. . .

So from skimming my f’list tonight, it looks like the last ep, (maybe the last two?) of Dollhouse was actually good. I had given up on that show. But now I suppose I’ll take another look.

. . .

You need a big ol’ mountain of self-esteem as a parent because children say things to you like, “you know that stuff you put on your face? to help make you look better? I don’t think it works?”