Random Tuesday Thoughts

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Lately, I’ve become much more of a hermit than is really healthy, but the thing is, when I pull back from the blogverse and the real world, I can actually zoom through pages and pages of writing. It’s as if withdrawing from human society is the equivalent of an herbal acne treatment for my muse, clearing up the blemishes of self-doubt and self-censorship, and allowing the pores to breathe and the characters I create to speak to me.

So it’s not that I’ve got nothing to say, but that I forget to say it, and then I get distracted.

Today I shared with a trusted friend and source of inspiration what my goal is for the novel camp I’m attending in a couple months. I’m not sharing it here, because I need to bottle the energy for a while, but it has me thinking about the difference between a dream, a goal, and a plan.

I’m at a personal crossroads. I feel like I don’t have anything to blog about and that the energy spent here would be put to better use working on my fiction. How interesting is to say, “I wrote six pages today,” if I can’t share those six pages?

Sleep, Silence and the Silver Screen

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I haven’t updated CafeWriting for May YET, and May is more than half over, and I’ve barely blogged here. I’m not sure why. It’s not that I don’t want to as much as that I’m CRAVING sleep lately – I who fight sleep most of the time, am suddenly not able to get enough sleep ever.

This may be a reaction to increased exercise, or summer creeping up on us, or it may not, but I still haven’t found equilibrium, and until I do I’m working on fiction and workstuff, primarily. So, now you know.

Speaking of fiction – I posted this in LiveJournal & Twitter, but not here: my story WASPISH was live at Every Day Fiction earlier in the week. The direct link is here. I think it’s pretty good considering I spent all of ten minutes on it.

We saw IRON MAN with my parents while they were here, and saw PRINCE CASPIAN today. As I write this we’re watching THE WATER HORSE. (An aside: Ben Chaplin is so completely on my freebie list.)

Today as we left the movie theater a car full of teenagers pulled up near us, rolled down the windows, and yelled “We love your hair,” which made me laugh, because honestly, it’s a conservative cut, it just happens to be pink. Very pink.

Our only plans for tomorrow include putting together my bench, and hooking the propane up to the new grill. Yay grills. Yay MEAT.

I Love the Whole World

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As much as I love shows like House, Lost, and Smallville, I’m a Discovery Channel geek so it should come as no surprise that I cannot get their new ad out of my head.

And because I love to share, I’m posting it so all y’all can get it stuck in your heads, too.

Exhausted

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Yesterday:
Dentist
Writing
Cleaning
Writing
Decorating
Grocery Shopping
Waiting
Hugging
Chatting
Tossing
Turning

Today:
Cooking
Washing
Managing
Repinking
Waiting
Spending
Shopping
Driving
Lunching
Driving
Shopping
Cooking
Serving
Washing
Crashing

Zorro-ific

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Changing sheets at 2 AM is never fun, and it’s especially not fun when you’re doing it because your dog just had a mild seizure and voided his bladder on the bed, soaking a comforter, bedspread, quilt, two layers of sheets and the mattress cover, but not (thankfully) the mattress itself.

He hasn’t had a seizure since 2002, and I suspect this one was connected, not to his epilepsy, but to his heart condition, because he started coughing just before it happened, and I didn’t catch him in time.

Note to self: From now on assume coughing means his bladder is full and take him out.

Such a Monday

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I never did get around to making coffee today, though I did make some tea around three PM. I was in the middle of a great dream when the 8:30 AM alarm went off – if that seems luxurious to some of you, do remember that we’re generally up til two or three. Fuzzy hit the button on it, and I snuggled back into the covers, informing the dogs that they were not going out until after the pool guy was done, and convincing myself I could wait to pee, because sometimes even a full bladder has to take second place to soft pillows and warm covers.

It was gray and drizzly finally let the animals, well, animal, out. (Zorro did not deign to leave bed.) And then Monday became everything the name implies. The toilet overflowed, and I rescued the books from the bathroom floor and yelled at Fuzzy to help – he went to the linen closet to find towels, and I yelled at him to take towels that were already dirty.

Fuzzy went upstairs to do his first two conference calls from home, and I settled in to write about cars instead of car insurance for a change (a welcome change) and then around noon I finally realized I hadn’t eaten…I didn’t eat, though, I took a shower, and then I ate, and then I did a mile on the stationary bike, but it was uncomfortable, so I took the padded cover off, and that gave me the two extra inches I needed to reach the pedals better, so I did six more miles, lickety-split, finished my bottle of water, and took the dogs for a mile-plus ramble – we’d have gone farther but it began raining again.

I did more work, and looked up at five realizing I was exhausted, and that the tuna steaks I’d taken out to defrost were still icy. I wandered off to take a nap after feeding the dogs, woke at 7:30, and then called Fuzzy, who was still working. He got home at eight-thirty, and we went to the bank and then got cheeseburgers (and a salad), and came home.

I just wrote tomorrow’s article, and am trying to decide if I want to read, sleep, write, or post the overdue May prompts for Cafe Writing.

And it’s still Monday here…for another minute.

Seen in Fort Worth

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Seen in Fort Worth

Originally uploaded by MissMelysse.


We spent a lovely few hours with Ms. Eclectic and the divine Ms. R. yesterday, were introduced to a truly wonderful Mediterranean restaurant, where I did not order schwarma, after all, because there were other things more compelling, and then tried an independent coffeehouse where the mochas are made with unsweetened chocolate, as they should be.

On the way out, we all noticed the bumper sticker in this picture and shared a moment of geek laughter, while I whipped out my phone and snapped a picture (choosing the phone despite the fact that both my actual camera and my FLIP camera were in my purse, because of ease of posting).

If Janet reads this, she’ll probably appreciate it as well, although she’ll likely remind me I owe her a fic.

I’m working on it. REALLY.

Tired

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I haven’t had the energy to deal with the amazing amount of words spinning through my head, lately, as I’ve been unnaturally tired. Today, I was up at nine, but then went back to bed until noon, and I only now feel human.

As I write this, my favorite comforter is being laundered, so that as soon as I finish dinner I can change the bedding on our bed. What I really want to do is go shopping for new stuff, but I’m going to be good and not do that til after my conference in August, especially since I just ordered a second headset, thinking the one I bought in Feb was having vista issues.

It turned out that I was having Vista issues, but since this one identifies itself correctly, it’s still a better choice.

And now I have a backup. Backups are good.

The rice cooker just flashed from “cook” to warm, so it’s time to but my turkey burger on the grill, so I can eat, finish the laundry and go to bed.

Ah, cool sheets.
I might have to squeeze in a bath first, so I can enjoy them properly.

Peevish

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There are times when, no matter how patient you want to be, little things just annoy you far more than they should. This week, partly due to funky, indecisive weather and an abundance of eye-hurting overcast days, and partly due to not sleeping well, and partly because I’m stressing about Fuzzy’s trip, and my parents’ arrival in a couple weeks, I’m cranky and peevish.

I was going to do a Thursday Thirteen list of “things that have been irking me lately,” but instead I’m going to list a few as a sort of purging measure. Many of these will be related to use of language.

Video Tutorials. Hate them. I am not a visual learner. I NEED words. I can follow the most convoluted written directions with ease, but if you throw pictures at me, my brain explodes. Also, if I’m doing something I require instructions in order to complete, I need to be able to flip back and forth, and video just isn’t a good choice for that – at least, not for me.

The phrase “return back to.” By definition, if returning is reverting to a prior state (of being, of ownership, whatever). The use of “back” in this phrase is unnecessary, and sounds really stupid. “I returned the book to the library.” “Let’s return to simpler times.” I realize that language evolves, but why are the stupid people in charge of the evolution?

Using IM instead of Email. Unless we’re in the middle of a conversation, chances are that even if my computer says I’m online, I’m really not. IM is for immediate chatting. I don’t like it when people use it as an off-line messaging service. I use three different computers all of which use different multi-chat software, on a regular basis, so chances are I won’t see your message anyway. At least five different people have left me messages on IM in this fashion in the last three days. If you know me well enough to be IMing me, you should have my email address.

“People that.” And general that/which/who issues. WHO is for people. THAT is for things and groups. “People who have blogs…” “Blogs that are about language.” (For a really good explanation of this issue (that/which/who) check out this page at GrammarBook.com

Websites, especially blogs, that require one to register in order to comment. With one exception, I refuse. If you’re so afraid of what people might write in your comments, why are you publishing your writing to the web?

“Engage with.” Again, it’s just clunky awkward phrasing. Bad: He didn’t engage the audience. Good: He didn’t engage the audience. (Not that not engaging your audience is ever good, but…)

I reserve the right to add to this list as more things occur to me, but right now I’m tired so I’m going to bed.