My friend was having a vegetarian/vegan potluck at her house, a huge brownstone in Bed Stuy where 14 people live in a co-op. My stove is broken, so I went early to her house, bearing bags of groceries and the will to compose feasts. And compose a feast we did, with lots of people in this huge kitchen stumbling over one another, a giant table covered with dishes and cutting boards and ingredients and partially-composed dishes. It was so satisfying and peaceful to be around a bunch of other vegetarians and vegans. Everyone was aware and concerned of each other's dietary choices, but the restrictions posed no obstacles or complicated issues. It was cheerful and celebratory. There's something so comforting about lots of people gathering together to cook a celebratory meal together, each contributing their favorites.
After the feast we made a bonfire in the backyard and sat around in the wet leaves under the bare trees and drank wine and talked and laughed and stared into the flames. There's a primal attraction to fires. Around them people become sleepy, comfortable, ready to talk. It's this tremendous power that appeals to our ancestral memory. That makes me happy.
So it was a lovely day full of delicious food and merry drinking and flickering flames and good conversation with new friends. I've been up and down about New York a lot recently, but that was a good day and somehow I feel like it could only happen here. I'm still content.
- Location:brooklyn
- Mood:
rejuvenated - Music:bright eyes -- reinvent the wheel
Now, when I am going to find time to piece the quilt, who knows. I didn’t want to do a quilt for him that was “bright”, which is my usual preference. The colors of this collection should be “manly” enough for him.
It is 3 AM in the morning. I am up again listening to the wind howl. It has been gusting all night long.
Sita’s cage door was left open this evening so that she could join her sister, but she had not emerged by the time I went to bed. She did keep popping up and looking at me through the slits in the side of the cage as I knit after dinner. We’ll see if she is out of there when I feed them in the morning.
I woke up to a power outage this morning and a grumpy Dearest. Can’t blame him for this since every bleeding appliance now has a blinking clock! A definite PITA.
Sita finally left her cage sometime in the night and is hopefully curled up with her sister. They had fun with some batting for it is all rolled into a ball this morning behind the couch. LOL!
Mugsy is wanting to be fed and is being very vocal so I leave you with these:
Bits and Pieces
Herschel telescope 'fingerprints' colossal star
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/natu
Hammerhead shark mystery solved
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_ne
Shirin Ebadi Nobel Peace Prize medal 'seized by Iran'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/838
'World's strongest' beer with 32% strength launched
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scot
Japanese toymakers develop break-dancing robot
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8383
Want to know more about space? - fun, fun, fun!
http://sky-map.org/
Need a recipe? - a good resource.
http://joyofbaking.com/
The non-existent tags
cooking, cats, beer, animals, robots, Herschel telescope, space, power outage, Sita, SEX, Metro Mirage
Change the world one loan at a time – visit http://www.Kiva.org to find out how
- Location:desk - covered in cats
- Mood:
calm - Music:Pam's World - my own music selections from around the world
The good news is that I topped 50K a few days back. In fact, right now my word count is hovering at about 60K.
Of course, my goal was 90K, so while I've "won" NaNoWriMo, I'm falling significantly short of where I want/need to be.
The bad news is that I've been feeling burned out. I added less than a page on Thursday, and I didn't write at all yesterday. Prior to this, I'd managed to write every day of the month, including while attending Philcon.
I'm feeling a bit more optimistic about this weekend. I've done some catch up with my Paper Golem responsibilities, and I'll have the house all to myself this evening (
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
valverdi is going into town to see Angels in America, with her friend in the lead role). And too, by posting about this here on my LJ (which is read not only by you, but by my editor/publisher too) I'm giving myself an extra push.So, unless I'm a total slacker, I'd like to see another 10K before I run out of November. I'll still be short of my goal, I'll feel a whole lot better.
- Mood:
cynical
We also have auctions for first editions of Orwell's "1984" and John Hersey's "Hiroshima".
In addition, Chris Garcia's fanzine The Drink Tank, issue 231, has been posted with articles by Anne KG Murphy + Brian Gray, and by Frank about our TAFF campaigns. Anne and Brian's article serves as a good introduction about them to everyone!
And, of course, don't forget to actually vote for TAFF!
- 20:00:29: The problem with cooking with bacon is that it takes days for the smell to dissipate in the house.
Tweets copied by twittinesis.com
To my astonishment, I seem to have won the Endeavour Award!
Space Magic was selected over worthy competitors Anathem by Neal Stephenson; Ill Met in the Arena by Dave Duncan; Long Walks, Last Flights and Other Stories by Ken Scholes; and A World Too Near by Kay Kenyon by judges Joe Haldeman, John Helfers, and Sarah Zettel.
Thanks to the judges, everyone who read books for the award, members of the Lucky Lab Rats crit group, mkhobson for suggesting I try to get a collection published, wheatland_press for publishing it, and kateyule for love and support.
The award comes with a $1000 check and an engraved glass trophy. I really did not expect to win it.
Still not king. How is this possible?
Today I figured out why I was stuck on kidnapping the princess--I was supposed to be kidnapping the prince. As soon as I figured that out, it leapt right along.
I also just wrote the start of what may be the healthiest relationship I've ever written. Luckily for them Isyllt has already used the whole book's supply of angst and misery, so they have a shot at a happy ending.
- Mood:
cold - Music:Laibach - Ohne Dich
I have been a mighty, mighty bear tonight. 3080 words on "The Unicorn Evils," and 700 words on a review for Tor.com.
Darling:
It wasn't that Solomon Todd hadn't seen this sort of thing before.
It was that he had.
Phew. And I get to get up in the morning and do it again.
- Mood:
lethargic - Music:I'm a loser at the top of my game.
...for Saltwater Witch for several reasons. One, I love the last set so much I want to do more. Two, Kassandra is one maybe two sets away from getting back in the water, and I'm dying to do some more underwater stuff. Three, Saltwater Witch is now in the Top 10 web comics list at Drunk Duck and on the front page--really excited about this.
Oh, and I'm really digging Ephoros the demon. Here are a couple panels from the set of pages I painted today, Kassandra and her buddy Ephoros, a king among sea demons.
Read it all: Saltwater Witch.
.
Came home from shopping (groceries and hardware store) and was in the middle of putting stuff away when the Gabster horked up twice. I just about screamed, then started with the clean-up while watching her closely. Luckily, it turned out to not be an IBD hork--the Little Miss was way too perky afterwards, chewing on a bone to while away the time until lunch, which she devoured. I think the issue was the paper towel I found in said hork. King can eat paper towel with impunity, but Gaby apparently cannot.
She continues just fine. The giardia/crypto and GI panels both came back negative, making it even more likely that the issue is IBD. The only test outstanding is the allergy panel.
Over a week has passed since I caught the last basement mouse. I knew there was at least one more down there, and I doubted they were of the house mouse variety given that that they had chewed their way out of one plastic live trap and punched up the lid of the other. I had baited a metal trap with peanut butter and waited. And waited.
Finally. Today. I went down this afternoon and checked and found the peanut butter gone and not one but two mice in the trap. Larger than house mice, tan with white bellies. Either deer mice or white-footed mice. Kicked 'em out. Rebaited the trap. I have no idea if there are any more down there, but I will keep the trap down there for the winter, I think.
Blackhawks got their bells rung today by the Ducks. They played like they were ready to come home. I hope they wake up in time for the Kings tomorrow.
- Mood:
busy
Here are today’s stats for the fabulous urban fantasy adventure about a neurotic vampire/thief and her wealthy blind client, now with Bonus! Cuban drag queen and military intrigue:
Project: Bloodshot
New Words Written: 6680 (YES. THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN’ ‘BOUT)
Present Total Word Count: 89,685 words
Goal: 95,000 words by December 12
Things Accomplished in Fiction: Raised a little hell. Not literally. This time.
Things Accomplished in Real Life: Day-job work; further adventures of Thanksgiving clean-up; laundry including bedding. That’s pretty much it, but in my defense, hey — did you SEE that word count? It’s amazing I even had time to brush my teeth.
Reason for Stopping: Time to go get the laundry out of the dryer, make up the bed again, fold all the clean clothes and put them away … and if this all gets done before the hubs gets home, maybe try to write YES A FEW MORE WORDS it could totally happen, you never know.
[Crossposted to/from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]
I took Thanksgiving morning and went up to Vedauwoo, one of my favorite landscapes in the area to photograph in the winter. I made a few nice photographs, and this is one of them.
Originally published at JeremiahTolbert.com. You can comment here or there.
Suddenly it seems a thousand years ago when the G-Men were 5-0 and dominating. What the hell happened? Clearly I can't leave the country during football season. My teams just seem to fall apart without me.
- Mood:
sad
We have a very special holiday episode upcoming in December, and of course the past two seasons worth of narrative is available online. Very Soon Now we expect announcements regarding hard-copy collections of a lot of the content, and of course there is and will be swag. (Wait until you see the S3 limited edition shirt.)
There's a very handy fan page here, providing a suggested reading order (and recipes). And if you finish that, you can go to the character livejournals for interaction and backstory (and recipes), and the message board for community and speculation.
And recipes.
- Mood:
sore - Music:Pearl Jam - Immortality (Live) (Radio Paradise - DJ-mixed modern & classic rock, world, electronica
Really kicked butt with this set--five pages! Very happy. So much so, I posted early!
Check out all of Saltwater Witch here.
coffeeem and I have a draft, Grail (which has the less pressing deadline) has unkinked itself and wants to be written. Besides, I know what the next couple of scenes in TUE are, and Grail appears to need some back burner simmering.Hard to get back in the saddle today--very tired from Turkey Day, and my body is really, really sure it deserves a day off to recover from the holiday.
Sadly, that's not how we roll around here.
- Mood:
tired - Music:Neville Brothers - Yellow Moon (Radio Paradise - DJ-mixed modern & classic rock, world, electronica
calendula_witch I do believe I'm up to visitors today and tomorrow. Also, looks like I may be here til Sunday despite earlier hopes.
Whoa Nelly, it’s a big one this weekend. The Merseyside Derby, Ars*nal versus Chelski, and Villa versus Spurs. These games are big for different reasons. Everton need a win to move into a more comfortable spot in the table, and Liverpool need a win to get a foot back in the top four spots. Chelski need a win to consolidate first place, while Ars*nal need a win to show they can hang with the big boys. Villa need a win at home to show they can challenge for a top four spot; ditto Tottenham. Draws will not be welcome by any of these six sides, so I’m hoping for some explosive football-type action.
My picks: Wins for Liverpool and Villa and a draw for Chelski and the Ars*. Not confident picks mind you, but picks nonetheless. Last week’s “Last Man Standing” pool ended in a push, as I picked Stoke (1-0 winners) and Larry picked Spurs (9-1 winners). No bonus points for a blow-out thankfully, and this weekend we both took Man Citeh over a suddenly resurgent Hull. Since neither of us can win or lose, we chucked this one and re-picked. I took Fulham at home over Bolton. C’mon Dempsey! Grab another brace, son!
Equally exciting is the top o’ the table clash betwixt Barcelona and Real Madrid over in sunny Spain. Madrid is somehow topping the table despite not playing all that well (a close look reveals they’ve played mostly crap teams thus far) while Barcelona is head and shoulders the best team in the world when they’re on their game, yet they have also been falling into cruise control and drawing games they should win.
I kept on eye on both of these teams in the Champions League this midweek and if their form extends to the weekend, I would bet my house and the lives of everyone in it on Barcelona beating Madrid like a rented mule. Barca absolutely shredded Inter whereas Madrid stuttered and herked and jerked against the world powerhouse that is FC Zurich. Los merengues can be frighteningly good when they’re firing on all cylinders with Kaká and that Ronaldo kid looking particularly dangerous, yet too often their play doesn’t result in clear-cut chances. Barcelona on the other hand always end up threading the ball through the fourth dimension, finding players in the box without a soul around them, and they duly stuff it in the net. Seriously, it borders on black magic.
Prediction: Barcelona 3-0 winners.
I’m enjoying the brief calm before the storm of work that starts raining down at midnight tonight when my research writing students submit their final portfolios, followed by my creative writing students’ portfolios on Monday night. I’m reading about 44 draft portfolios, all of which are around 20 pages each, and giving feedback before the final drafts are due Wednesday, December 9th.
‘Tis a lot of work, but hopefully well worth it in the end. The only thing that drives you nuts is when you put in the considerable effort to provide thoughtfully commentary, and that commentary is then ignored and you see a final copy that’s identical to the draft copy in the final portfolio folder. Such is life.
One of my students is writing his research paper on Bob Marley and Rastafarianism. Natty Dread and Rastaman Vibration have been on heavy rotation for the last couple weeks. Happily, Baby Grey digs it!
Current Mood: Is That A Baby Stirring? | 
Originally published at my website. You can comment here or there.
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Page Summary
- crackingdes : hell, i still love you [+0]
- pds_lit : SEX the day after thanksgiving! [+3]
- klingonguy : Tired [+1]
- frankwu : TAFF updatery! [+1]
- kristine_smith : From Twitter 11-27-2009 [+3]
- kateorman : (no subject) [+2]
- davidlevine : Endeavour Award [+30]
- stillsostrange : Ohne dich zaehl ich die Studen, mit dir stehen die Sekunden [+3]
- matociquala : i know it's unkind but my own blood is much too dangerous [+8]
- the0phrastus : Working on another set of pages... [+2]
- kristine_smith : A day for critters [+3]
- cmpriest : November 27, 2009 [+6]
- the_flea_king : November Summit Sunrise [+10]
- grrm : Giants Game [+23]
- matociquala : down in your hotel room she lies waiting [+18]
- the0phrastus : Saltwater Witch - New Science Teacher... [+0]
- matociquala : let me sleep all night in your... soul kitchen [+0]
- jaylake : [cancer] Still in hospital [+22]
- coppervale : For Arizona Locals - One More DRAGONS Book Signing!! [+2]
- burnt_njal : Big, Big Weekend in Football Action and Picks [+0]