Author Archives

MissMelisshttp://www.missmeliss.com

Cribbed from

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Your Life on Battlestar Galactica by bookwormdarlin
Your name
You hail from CapricaPiconTauronSagittaronIconArilonTrevorGeminonVirgonCanceronLeonisScorpia
You live to Be the greatest viper pilot everSlaughter every last cylon without mercyPreserve your way of lifeHave sex with as many crewmates as possible before you dieDuh – find Earth….who knows, all my joys were destroyed by the bloody Cylons
Starbuck admires your Viper skills
Baltar was heard whispering You look hotter than Six
Adama always calls you the last person he would ever sleep with
Apollo wishes you would stop sucking up to his dad
Tigh once drank to your Karaoke skills
Your Call Sign is Trigger
Your chances of being a cylon: 54%
Your chances of reaching earth: 30%
Quiz created with MemeGen!

Do YOU NaNoWriMo?

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After a false start on the first of this month, registration for NaNoWriMo 2005 is up and running once more.

If you've ever thought about writing a novel, or even attempted to write one, but failed to finish, this event is for YOU.

Come find other insane scribblers who are committing to the attempt to write a 50,000-word novel from start to finish during the month of November.

If you decide to come along for the ride, be certain to say hello to Zoetrope on the boards there. (That'd be ME.)

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HEAR THIS: Michi Regier

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I found her while searching for a piece by Julian Lloyd Webber. No, really, I did. You see, Mr. Webber once recorded a funky syncopated version of Paganini's Caprice No. 24, simply called “Variations” (it's a theme that flows through his brother's musical Song and Dance) and while I used to have a copy of it, the tape has long since disappeared.

Not that I even own a cassette player any more.

But I digress.

I was surfing eMusic.com when I found a violinist called Michi had recorded it. Admittedly, I saw the name and imagined some incredibly studious Asian prodigy. Instead, after following chains of links, I found a young woman from Colorado who fuses classical violin pieces with a Celtic and folk sensibility and also composes her own stuff, when she's not playing in bluegrass bands.

I was instantly entranced, and, since I still had 90 free downloads available, grabbed her whole album, Curved Space, and immediately added it both to my Napster list and my Zen.

I love her interpretation of the Paganini piece, but what I like even better are the Ukranian (I think) folk songs she's included in the collection of nineteen songs. She's a versatile player, switching from haunting allure to jaunty dance tunes laced with mischief on this disc, and would be a great introductory artist for people who think violin music is stuffy and boring. (Actually, my cello-bias has always made me feel that violins are too shrill, but she plays without any annoying shrillness at all.)

In her blogger profile, Regier refers to herself as a âœfiddle-in-istâ, and articles I found on the web intimate that she calls herself either a fiddler or a violinist depending on what she's playing at the moment. A true gypsy, she's played everywhere from Carnegie Hall, to the L'viv Philharmonie, to renaissance faires in Colorado, and performs reguarly in pubs and coffeehouses in the Denver area with the band DjypsyGrass.

Curved Space can be purchased from cdbaby.com or downloaded from eMusic.com.
Michi Regier's website can be found at michimusic.com.

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Breaking the Self-imposed Silence

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I’m not struggling for words, so much as for time in which I have the energy to write. As September wound to a close we had a blissful day of fall weather, followed by a new pattern of overcast morning skies and toasty afternoons, with the evening low still hovering in the 70’s – cool enough for evening coffee in the back yard, but not cold enough to turn off the a/c at night (our bedroom gets extremely hot during the day.)

Still we’re using the a/c LESS. It’s a start.

In other news, my new gig has gone live.

And finally, with the turning of the month, and the ritual flipping of the calendar page, comes the return of Pumpkin flavored foods, and Halloween decorating. A few of my neigbors have already decorated their lawns for Halloween. I think one should wait through the first week of October. If you have thoughts, feel free to share them.

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Lavender, Wax, and Rain

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As if it was necessary to make a dramatic entrance my Muse returned tonight, borne aloft on cold winds from the northwest, and bringing with her hail, rain, violent wind, and a two-hour loss of power that occurred just at the high point of tonight's episode of LOST.

While we had many gadgets that were charged and ready, without net access or light with which to see, using them was rather pointless, so we lit tons of candles, and snuggled on the bed reading (him) and writing (me). I'm so used to the seemingly incessant background hum of electrical paraphernalia, that when it actually, well, ceases, I find myself distracted by a house, indeed, a neighborhood, gone suddenly still.

I went out several times to watch the storm: breathing in the cool air (which, admittedly was about 80 degrees, a number that only falls into the 'cool' category after a humid Texas summer), and letting myself be amazed by the way lightning was strobing across the cloud-thick sky.

It was only when the heavy rain stopped and the air settled that I realized that the night was far less silent than I'd thought – neighbors were calling across the street, and over back fences – making sure that the power company had been called, and that it wasn't just THEIR house. In the back of my mind, and later in an IM with a friend, I mentioned that I love how interactive my neighborhood is (witness: there's a children's concert in the park on Saturday), and how cozy.

The whir-click-hum and sudden illumination that signified the return of modern technology were jarring, both in their relatively swift arrival (two hours for an entire zip code is pretty impressive, I think), and in the way they shattered the restfulness and peace of the night, which I had finally wrapped around myself, as one would do with a cozy shawl or cotton blanket.

Now, at half past midnight, I find that the house seems over-bright, though it's still filled with the scent-symphony of hot wax, lavender scented candles, and rain.

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