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MissMelisshttp://www.missmeliss.com

Sunday Salon: Henna and Holmes

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Sunday Salon

I haven’t done a Sunday Salon post in the better part of a year, and when I have done them in the past, I’ve always hosted them over at my book blog, Bibliotica, but I felt like talking about what I’ve been reading, and I felt like putting it here.

Over the last month, I’ve re-energized Bibliotica thanks, mostly, to TLC Book tours and Pump Up Your Book. Both companies are women owned/women run, which is something that matters to me. Whatever are personal opinions about politics, religion, fashion, or the perfect espresso drink, I believe it’s important for women to support other women.

In any case, Bibliotica has at least three posts a week already scheduled through mid-November (and I’m booking December and January now).

I read quickly, and I find time to read in between doing other things, when I have to, because not-reading makes me cranky. I read in the bathroom, in the bathtub and during meals if Fuzzy and I aren’t eating together. I read in bed, I read out by the pool…you get the idea.

There are some books that I enjoy and never think of again, and some that stick with me. Of the latter type that I’ve read in the past few months, Michael Perry’s Visiting Tom: A Man, A Highway, and the Road to Roughneck Grace is a favorite, because Perry’s memoirs are always incredibly vivid and honest.

Dora Machado’s The Curse Giver was a beautiful, lyrical fantasy with a great balance of romance and action.

Painted Hands, by Jennifer Zobair is a great glimpse into the life of the modern Muslim-American woman, shows us that there is such a thing as Muslim Feminism, and taught me that some women hide their hopes and dreams in their henna tattoos when getting mendhi on their hands for weddings.

For the last week, I’ve been immersed in The Displaced Detective series by Stephanie Osborn, which gives us a new version of Sherlock Holmes, set in a time and place that is essentially our own (and includes references to Stargate, and the Eleventh Doctor, among other lovely details.)

Those books won’t be featured until next week, but they’ve not only kept me vastly entertained, they’ve also rekindled my ever-present-but-often-dormant love of all things Sherlockian, and a little more Holmes in one’s life is never a bad thing. (Actually, Tabz gets some of the credit for that, as well.)

Today, I’m finishing a book about having a healthy voice (that’s for tomorrow’s review) and puttering around the house. I might catch up on Project Runway. I might just play with the dogs or do some laundry. My eyes are still really tired – I scratched my right cornea early last week, and was essentially offline Wednesday and Thursday because I couldn’t see – and I’m trying to limit computer time on weekends, because there’s such a thing as being TOO plugged in.

I love puttery Sundays with no real plans, almost as much as I like soaking in the tub while listening to NPR on Saturday evenings, and frou-frou coffee.

Speaking of which, I talked about all of those things in this week’s Sunday Brunch, which is subtitled On Being a Fan.

Happy Reading, and Make it a Great Week.

We All Float Here

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Under the Tub It may be a first world problem, but for someone who styles herself The Bathtub Mermaid, it’s a personal tragedy: my bathtub is broken.

Early last week I was taking a bath, and I overfilled the tub. When I pulled the drain plug to let some water out, instead of just the plug coming up, the whole drain came out of the tub. Upon investigation, we learned that the elbow joint meant to connect the drain to the drainpipe was on the ground under the tub.

We called the home warranty company, and they sent a plumber who said we had to remove the ceramic tile step at the end of the tub. We tried, but there’s no way to do that without breaking into the actual floor. However, when we cut into the drywall half-wall at the back of the tub we saw that the pipe is NOT under the ceramic tile, but under the tub.

So now we’re waiting for the plumber to come back.

Meanwhile, there’s a gaping hole in the fake wall at the end of the tub (Fuzzy has put his dremel case in front of it, so a) I don’t have to see it and b) the dogs won’t explore it and c) no creepy-crawly things emerge from it) but I’ve clearly read too many Stephen King novels, because every time I see the expanse of exposed pipe, or catch a glimpse of the drain hole in my tub, in which the drain fixture currently is not, I keep thinking of Pennywise the Clown from It.

I’m really glad my neighborhood doesn’t have old-style gutters with metal grates, because, as it is, every time I enter my bathroom I hear a filtered version of Tim Curry’s voice growling, “We all float here.”

DCC Fan Days is Coming

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DCC Fan Days

Just a quick update to let people know that I’m covering Dallas Comic Con Fan Days (Website: http://www.scifiexpo.com/DCC/fandays.html) the 4-6 of October. I’ll be doing this in my role of editor-at-large for All Things Girl.

Last year, we attended as ‘just fans’, and I enjoyed it, but I didn’t spend as much time as I wanted to engaging with the actual comicbook (one word, per Stan Lee) artists, so this year my focus will be on that, and on the fan experience in general.

Fall in Love

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An excerpt from a letter to a friend’s daughter:

Fourth, fall in love. Fall in love hard. And often. Enjoy it, because love – real love – is messy and exciting and kinda scary. But don’t get married. At least, don’t get married until you’re over 25, have seen Europe, have lived on your own for at least a year, and have experienced at least one TRULY TRAGIC love affair.

You can hear the whole letter, and a wee bit more in today’s entry for the Dog Days of Podcasting.

Link: DDoP #16 – Unsolicited Advice.

Dog Days of Podcasting: Steeping

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Steeping

I wrote a cafe vignette called “Steeping” yesterday, and recorded it for today’s entry into the Dog Days of Podcasting project.

Here’s an excerpt:

“I can’t believe you lingered here long enough to let espresso go cold, as busy as it is in here today,” Sarah ventured once they were alone again.

“I was working on a poem,” David confessed.

“I had no idea you were a poet. Are you published? Can I read your stuff?”
“I am, when I’m not wearing bike pants and delivering documents around town,” David answered, taking each of her questions in order. “I’ve published a couple pieces here and there,” he continued. “And as to reading it…the stuff I’m working on right now needs to steep a bit.”

“Poems steep?”

“Just like tea,” David said.

You can listen to the whole piece at SoundCloud or click play in the applet below:

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/107408428″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Dog Days of Podcasting

Dog Days of Podcasting: Sunday Brunch – Mail Call

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Is it technically Sunday Brunch if I record it at 6:30 PM? Do I really care? The answer to both questions is NO!

The piece itself is the Sunday Brunch piece from 26 August 2012. You can read it, listen to it on SoundCloud, or play it in the applet below.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/107216257″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Dog Days of Podcasting

Dog Days of Podcasting: Darmok and Dogs

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Dog Days of Podcasting

This episode really should be called “Swimming with Morgan,” but it’s not. It’s just a ramble. I’m tired and my throat hurts, and it just struck me that if I’d finished any of the three things I had started to write, I would have had a much shorter entry.

Eleven minutes on Darmok and Dogs.

Accompanied by Teddy Bear on the Rawhide Chew, if you hear weird chewing sounds

Listen at SoundCloud or click below:
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/106974070″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Dog Days of Podcasting: 13 Minutes of Dog Babble

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Dog Days of Podcasting

Tabz suggested I ramble about dogs. Hemingway suggested we should write drunk and edit sober. I’m NOT drunk, but I had a beer with dinner and a benadryl about half an hour ago, so I’m not really as together as I should be, and tonight’s DDoP entry proves it.

I’m skipping the “edit sober” part.

Listen at SoundCloud, or click below:

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/106777526″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Dog Days of Podcasting: At the End of the Day

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Dog Days of Podcasting

Yes, it’s morning, which for most of us is the beginning of the day.
Yes, this is a catch-up post from last night because I spent all day yesterday in the state of mind that Jo March would have referred to as a “vortex” and I call “extreme writey-ness.”

So, listen at SoundCloud.com, or just click the play button below:

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/106671572″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]