Splash!

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Borrowed from

You scored as Mermaid. Mermaid: Mermaids are also known as Sirens. These creatures were beautiful women who tricked sailors into becoming completely entranced by their haunting voices and found death soon after. Not all stories of Mermaids are about gentle loving sea people. They are mystical, magical, and extremely dangerous. They have a way about them that brings anyone they are around to seem enchanted. They are very mysterious creatures and to meet one… Would mean certain Death. Let the song of the Sea fill your soul, for you are a Mermaid.

Mermaid
100%

Faerie
83%

Angel
75%

WereWolf
50%

Dragon
34%

Demon
8%

What Mythological Creature are you? (Cool Pics!)
created with QuizFarm.com

Identity

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You would think that I'd have managed this much sooner, as we've been in Texas almost a year now, but it was only today that I managed to make it to DMV while they were open AND their computers were working.

I feel oddly disconnected from myself, as if, in turning in a piece of ID declaring me a Californian, in exchange a piece of ID labelling me a Texan, my actual IDENTITY has changed. (Will my (subconscious) natural mimickry manifest itself in a twang now?)

On the other hand, I'm now the proud owner of a local library card.

Permalink at MissMeliss.com

Validation

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From an email received approximately half an hour ago:

Congratulations Melissa!

I'm pleased to inform you that your story, “Crossing the Mojave,” has placed
first in Toasted Cheese's A Midsummer Tale Writing Contest.

“Crossing the Mojave” will be published in the September issue of Toasted
Cheese.

Toasted Cheese is a literary journal and writers forum. I'll post the link to the actual story when it comes out.

Permalink at MissMeliss.com

Snark Infested Waters

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Because sometimes I like to be snarky, but it's a tone that doesn't mesh well with this blog, and because I've been encouraged to let my dark side out to play a bit, I've started yet another blog. LiveJournal folk will notice that as of yesterday, it's the new blog that is feeding to , which means that hey, you're not getting duplicates of this stuff!

Whether you read LJ or NOT, however, I invite you to take a dip into Snark Infested Waters. Eventually, as I become more comfortable with the tone, the content will become darker and more sardonic, and after the Blogathon (by the way, have you pledged? I'm only $85 from making my goal!) I'll be playing with podcasts as well.

And on that note, I'm off to church. Happy Sunday.
Happy Last Day of July.
Tomorrow, my month begins.

Permalink at MissMeliss.com

Out of Season

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Saturdays, the Sci-Fi channel runs “b” movies, monster movies that are just as cheesy, as anything my parents might have grown up with, and while the monsters sport cgi blurs instead of zippers, at least the underbellies of tumbled trucks no longer read “Tonka.”

Today the theme is “vampires.” I love a good vampire story, but it's JULY – high summer â“ and vampire movies are best suited for dreary drizzly autumn and winter days, when your imagination works with the weather to turn windown leaves skittering across the pavement into the scratching of someone clawing their way from the grave.

Permalink at MissMeliss.com

Duel

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In one corner there is the mosquito, buzzing annoyingly, constantly being batted away from the tender flesh it seeks. In the other corner, a yellow and black argiope spider, beckoning from her zigzag web. What ensues is not a prize-fight, but a duel to the death.

Permalink at Moonchilde.com

Web Spinner

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“The difference between utility and utility plus beauty is the difference between telephone wires and the spider web.â — Edwin Way Teale

Writing Spider

I am the first to admit that my relationship with spiders goes beyond mere sqickishness to full-blown phobia, but even so, when this latest guest arrived in my back yard my first thought wasn't to kill it, but to identify it.

Rana helped me with that â“ it's a black and yellow argiope, an orb-weaver also known as a “writing spider,â and I can't help but wonder if she's here to remind me to write more and angst less.

In any case, research has told me that she'll likely stick around as long as we let her, feasting on ants and mosquitoes, and that she isn't venomous. And yes, she IS a she, the males are apparently tiny.

Legend says that if a name is written in such a spider's web, the person so named will die, but so far, all she's spelled is ZZZZZZZZ. Perhaps this is a reference to the sound of buzzing insects? We can only hope.

It should be noted that I took this picture from about seven feet away. Getting closer would have required stepping on an ant hill, and I'm not inclined to do that. We will, however, attempt some night shots so the flash will illuminate the rest of the web.

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Picture Request

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Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses front doors, please?

I'd really like to be able to include a different front door (they won't be identified) with each of my posts for the upcoming blogathon, so please, take a picture of your front door (or any front door on a house on your street) and send it to scritture@gmail.com, ASAP.

(I won't be doing anything but saving the doors to my hard drive, before the actual 'thon.)

And hey! Pledging is still open!

Permalink at MissMeliss.com