All right. I have packed everything I can possibly think of, up to and including my swimsuit in case I take it into my head to jump into the 60 degree lake and go for a swim. (Yes, this is pretty likely.) I have enough food for two of me. I have a blanket and my good pillow and a toothbrush.
Most importantly, I have the THUNDERBIRD FALLS manuscript and Little.
I will stop at Sears on the way out of town and pick up a little space heater.
From what I've packed, you'd think I was going on a two week excursion, not a 3.5 day one. It's completely ridiculous.
As of this posting, I will be completely incommunicado until sometime on Thursday. Try to be brave while I'm gone. :)
miles to Mount DOOOOOOM: 14
Ha cha cha!
I'm going out to my aunt's this evening, and I will stay there until Thursday morning when Ted comes to pick me up. I believe I will have the TBF revisions complete or nearly complete by the end of that time, and if they're complete I might have also accomplished some other things.
I find it vexing that in this world of instant gratification, stores still sell seasonal goods. (How alliterate of me!) Aunt Eileen suggested I bring out a small electric heater, as the cabin has no heat (it /does/ have electricity, and a little Coleman stove, so I can make hot food), and while it's only a one room cabin and my own body heat will warm it up some, it's also in the 50s and rainy, so it won't be all that warm. However, nobody seems to be carrying small heaters, because it's July and of course no one could have any need for a heat-creating source in July. I found a perfect one online, and when they open, I will call Sears to see if they happen to have it in stock.
But a friend suggested I bring a heating pad if I couldn't find a heater, and that's a very fine idea. I *have* a heating pad. :) Also, she suggested I bring a hat. I wouldn't have thought of a hat, though I was planning on bringing my fuzzy with a hood. I'll do both. :)
I'm going to go work on painting the cupboards now, because I now know I will have 3 days of dedicated writing time, so I feel as though it's okay to deal with house stuff.
miles to Mount DOOOOM: 10
I have just come up with a perfectly brilliant Plan.
I have emailed my aunt to ask if I can go out to their tiny one room cabin by the lake for two or three days next weekend so I can *work*. No interruptions, no needing to make bread or do laundry or walk the dog, just me, a manuscript, and my laptop.
This is what I did last year when I had Urban Shaman revisions to do, except I checked into a hotel that time. And at this time of year it's way, way too expensive to do that, so if I could go out to their cabin that would be so perfect. The only flaw is I'm not sure it's got electricity, but I'll find out. Boy, I hope I can do that. I'd get *lots* done.
thinks to do today:
1. bread
2. laundry
3. book
4. walk
5. paint
6. eat well
7. clean desk
Sky High, btw, was totally cute and very enjoyable. We hope they make another one. :)
*collapses*
lower cupboards painted, except the insides of the lazy susans. most of them need a second coat to make me satisfied, so i'll probably just double-coat all of them. easier that way.
two gallons of raspberries picked, washed and put up to freeze.
my back is killing me.
we did not go see marge to get stuff notarized. dammit.
we did not go to the post office.
i have not walked the dog (or myself) in two days.
exhausted. starving. going to go see "sky high" and eat junk food. just try and stop me. *glares warningly* -.-
Holy Mary, mother of mirth.
We got nearly everything on the Thinks list done. Haven't yet washed cupboards, and we're not going to a movie because it sounds like too much work, and I forgot to get boxes at the store so no packing for the PO, but everything else plus a few things. Like:
Ted got stuck at work for lnonger than expected, so after I opened my SEP-IRA (which was ridiculously easy), I went shopping (!) and bought a very cute new lil' jeans jacket. Short-rib cut, 3/4ths length sleeves, and it's not all big and baggy, which my old one is. I'm really into not big and baggy at this point. Go fig. :) And then I went over to Nordstroms and bought a new pair of walking shoes, because mine are pretty dead. I ended up with New Balance instead of Merrill, which I'd been getting, because the Merrills now all have this handy arch support thing that cuts right into the overdeveloped muscle on my feet. And even in men's shoes, I /still/ wear a wide width. Hrmph.
Then we went by the comic shop and I was forced to discover and buy a new Gambit statue. But where's the Rogue to match, dammit?! I can't even find a hint that it's on the way! I can't find a matching Rogue for Jim Lee Modern Era Gambit, either, which is v. annoying! V.! (Actually, that one goes very nicely with the Sentinel series Rogue, and as I have not yet replaced my Sentinel series Gambit that the wretched CATS DESTROYED, they're, like, you know, fine together. But still.)
There's an upcoming new Rogue, but it's awful.
So I've managed to spend a lot of money today. :) And that's not even including the things we went forth to spend it on!
thinks to do today:
1. bring Audi to the shop. AGAIN.
2. go to credit onion
2a. go to bonk
3. go to financial advisor/go to work
4. have lunch
5. get passport pictures taken
6. make a shopping list
6a. shop :)
7. decide on & buy paint
8. wash cupboards
9. go to a movie
10. pack up a few things for the PO
11. get glasses fixed
12. chiropractor
I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting some things, but those are the ones I can think of today. Then, tomorrow:
1. paint cupboards
2. go to post office
3. go berry-picking
4. anything else that comes up :)
Every time I go outside, it starts to rain.
I don't think there's an actual cause and effect there, but it's been happening a lot. I get a quarter mile out the door and it starts spitting. Ptooie! Ptooie!
Fascinating little discussion just came up on Too, regarding authors who "who write women characters as men with breasts, and the other way round."
To me, the "man with breasts" approach suggests that the *idea* of a female character is inherently weak, and that a strong woman presumably can't be anything other than a man with breasts. Harold promptly wanted to know if Joanne Walker was a man with breasts. Well, let's look at her:
She's a woman in a traditionally male field (both as a mechanic and as a cop), she's not particularly comfortable with her emotions and would rather clam up than deal with them, and, at almost 6 feet in height, she's physically imposing. She also shoots well, drives fast, and can't cook.
Yes. If you define her in those ways, or define masculinity in those ways, sure, she's a man with breasts. Image's response was that, according to that description, except for his profession, he was evidently a woman with a schlong.
Exactly. I think it's a specious argument. If the intended point of the "man with breasts" concept is that a reader thinks a female character is acting in too masculine a fashion because that character isn't in touch with her emotions (or a male character poorly because he is), or because she acts first and thinks later, or (insert your favorite masculine stereotype here), then I suspect what is lacking from the story isn't a female character, but clear motivation and behavioral consistency.
And those things can be *really hard* to do. They're one of my own weaknesses. I'm getting better at them, because I'm aware of them now, but it's really hard for me to work in enough motivation and explanation without feeling like I'm bogging down.
I seem to have a lot to say on this, so perhaps I'll do another post about it later. But for now, I've been totally sidetracked me from my original post, which was just going to say things like, "I made an appointment to set up a retirement fund; don't I feel all adult," and, "Yay, I called Atlas," and things like that. :)
It's clearing up. Do you think if I go out to bike, it'll begin to rain again?
miles to Mount DOOOOOOOOOM: 7
miles to Isengard: 374.5
Best fictional character to . . .
. . . be at your side after the apocalypse: Methos
. . . be at your side fighting a war: Methos
. . . take over the world with: Met
let's try this again :)
. . . be at your side after the apocalypse: Buffy
. . . be at your side fighting a war: Richard Sharpe
. . . take over the world with: The Brain
. . . run your country with: Jack Ryan
. . . be stuck on a desert island with: Methos
. . . marry, grow old and have children with: Corlath
. . . wander the wilderness with: Strongbow
. . . sail the seven seas with: Sinbad
. . . be your mad scientist: Barbara Gordon
. . . ride off into the sunset with: Inigo Montoya
(I took Richard Sharpe from the people I got the meme from, but I gotta say, I can't improve on him, so.)
I have just reached Rauros Falls, in my Eowyn Challenge walk! I'm now on the last leg of Frodo and Sam's journey, which is from Rauros Falls to Mount Doom, a 470 mile trek.
I have walked 1310 (easily recordable) miles since April 2003.
When I've reached Mount Doom, I have to decide if I'm going to reboot back to Rauros Falls, which is where everybody split up, and follow individual tracks to different places, or ... what. :) I think I'll probably do that, but since I can't imagine getting to Mount Doom this year, it's not something I have to think too hard about right now. :)
I've also just decided to break my bike journey from Minas Tirith back to Hobbiton into the 3 legs of the journey the Eowyn Challenge site has set out, because otherwise it's just too depressing. It's much more cheery to be 365 miles into the 535 mile trip from Minas Tirith to Isengard than 365 miles into the 1625 mile trip all the way straight through to Hobbiton.
I'm really getting a lot of mileage (no pun intended!) from this Middle Earth walking stuff. I'm not even a Tolkien fan, so I haven't got a clue why it's so satisfying, but it certainly is. I expect I'll do all the walks they've got, in time. That would be a total of, let's see. 7,816 miles. I've got a long way to go. :)
miles to Rauros Falls: 389! Yay!
miles to Mount Doom: 1
Just a quick note before I get to work. Angie called last night. *laugh* She's so much fun. :) We talked for almost an hour, and today she is supposed to email me to tell me if she went on her walk! *looks expectant*! Anyway, that was cool, and she, like a lot of other people, complimented me on weight loss, so thank you to her and to *everybody*, because the cheering section is very encouraging.
*stares vacantly at the window* There were a couple other things I was going to say, but they seem to have escaped my teeny little brain, so I guess I'd better get a big glass of water and go to work.
thinks to do today:
1. call B&N
2. call Atlas
3. package up stuff to mail
4. walk
5. revise, revise, revise
6. go biking
7. buy paint
Vanity posting! :)
Me at my sister's wedding 3 years ago, and today:
And reward!
*dances around happily*
miles to Rauros Falls: 382
Today I am skinny!
My official weigh-in day is not for 3 days, so anything could happen, but this morning the scale said 155, which is 50 pounds lost, and which my not-very-awake brain just couldn't comprehend. It was on a longer tick on the scale, and all I could think was that meant it said 160, and I couldn't figure out how I'd gotten to 160 when yesterday I was 156. :)
(Sorry I keep nattering on about weight loss. I'm a little obsessive right now. Hopefully I'll stop being obsessive in another 13 pounds or so.)
This means I can put a Rogue stripe back into my hair ANY TIME I WANT! (That's my 155 reward. Do I want?)
In _other_ news, got email back from the editor at eHarlequin, who liked the lil' synopsis I wrote up, so now all I have to do is write the story. o.O :)
Ted and I went to see "The Island" last night, and enjoyed it more than we expected to. Ewan Macgregor is a cutie, and he does accents well. And I like Scarlett Johansen, because I think she looks and dresses like a movie star. Her and Charlize Theron. (This really means "looks and dresses like a 30s and 40s movie star, but dammit, that's what I think movie stars ought to look and dress like.) I could've done with a little less hand-held extremely jolty camera movement, but overall, I enjoyed the movie.
What else? We went to look at paint for painting the kitchen with, but we had to go to the movie before we got any mixed. We'll go get some tonight. We have no idea at all how much paint we're going to need, so we figured we'd start with a gallon and get more if we needed it.
See, I'm just a real live wire. :)
miles to Hobbiton: 365.5
I have an absolutely irrational desire for a pair of the new Oakley Thump sunglasses. They've got a 256 or 512mb MP3 player built in. Want. Geek. Toy. O.O
Went to HHGttG with Emily and Coby last night. It's still cute. Zaphod is still All Wrong, but it's still cute. :) And I biked 18 miles yesterday, and worked on my book, and... I'm a real party animal, aren't I? :)
Oh, crap, the bread.
miles to Rauros Falls: 379
miles to Hobbiton: 352.5
I'm a Kit of good cheer today. Exchanged some email with Ebear, who said she'd "heard several good things about Urban Shaman at Comicon, sort of in passing. *g* There was a Kelly Armstrong book on the Bantam table, and people were like "Oh, I just read this other book--"", so that made me terribly chipper. :)
I've gotten through the first half of TBF in my first revision pass. This pass is mostly "re-read the book, find out what happens in it, take notes where they strike me, either to myself or in response to things editor/agent commented on, and change words around". If history repeats itself, the next two reads will be along the lines of, "Agh, gawd, crap, how the hell am I going to change these things, I can't see where to fit new things in, agh, gawd, crap," followed, finally, by, "Well, I can probably manage a bit here... and a bit there... and..." Although it might go a little faster than that, because I'm getting better at this. :)
There is Enormous Construction going on down our street. I discovered this yesterday when I went out to walk the dog and my walk route had been torn up sufficiently that it was pretty much impassable. Lots of disgruntled drivers turning around. Disgruntled me turning around, too. I was put out because there's no walk through the neighborhood that doesn't use that route, so in order to walk the dog I was going to have to go out on the coastal trail, which required bug dope I wasn't wearing. Never did give her a really good walk. Feh. This morning I doped up and went out on the coastal trail, where all manner of Terrifying Things, including a man playing a banjo, made Chanti try very hard to run back home. *Weenie* dog. *God*.
Gaming last night was lots of fun. Poor Ted, though. We're not very focused gamers, and his colorful NPCs don't get enough admiration. Although we all started mimicking the crazy man we met, so we do notice! We had a good time, and that's the last time we game until September, 'cause Jack's going to be gone for some training thing for the next six weeks. Bah.
I had fun biking last night, too. A train was coming into the depot, and I was racing it. :) I won, too! I got far enough ahead that I could pull off the trail to watch it catch up, and I waved at the engineers, and they waved back. :) *Everybody* on the trail stopped to wave or watch the train, and everybody was full of smiles and greetings. Guess it was too beautiful out for anybody to be dour; I usually see plenty of dour faces while I'm out there. But not last night. It was invigorating. :)
Ok, shower to de-bug-dope, then back to woik.
miles to Rauros Falls: 374
miles to Hobbiton: 334.6
Yesterday my agent called.
*pause*
You have no idea how fun it is to say that. One of my family's catch-phrases when I was growing up was someone would come home and say, "Did my agent call?" We would always say, "No, not today," in response, and we all thought it was funny. So actually having an agent and being able to say, "My agent called," makes my whole family laugh.
Of course, it makes it a bit complicated to come home and say, "Did my agent call?" because having one means there's a chance she might have, and then rather than the joke being on, instead it's all, "Were you expecting her to? Why? What's up?" So it's different. :)
Anyway. :) Yesterday my agent called and said, "Harlequin would like to know if you'd be interested in writing a 10,000 word paranormal story for their Online Reads program."
Not being a great fool, I said yes.
It's a paying market, so it's the first short story I've ever sold. Hee hee. :) Work for hire, so I won't own it, so it's going to be stand-alone and not in the Walker Papers universe. 10K words, 8 chapters, paranormal but not necessarily romantic (a very short Luna, in other words) to be posted over an 8 week period. They'd like it to tie in with the WINTER MOON idea a little, because they'll be using it to promote the anthology, and because it'll be posted over Halloween, something kind of seasonal would be cool.
I wrote up a 600 word synopsis for an idea last night and shipped it off to the content manager at Harlequin, and will see if I get any feedback on it. I think I have a pretty fun little idea that I'll enjoy writing, so that's very cool.
And, er, did I mention it's due August 15th? So are the TBF edits. I know .exactly. what I'll be doing the next three weeks. :)
We also went and got out taxes done yesterday. That was a lot of fun, as we're friends with our tax person, so we spent about two hours there chatting and getting the taxes done and generally enjoying ourselves. And we're getting money back, which we didn't expect, so that's *extra* cool! Yay!
While we were out I got another pair of size 8 jeans, which I genuinely thought wouldn't fit me, but I figured they'd fit in another five pounds or so. I tried them on this morning. They fit beautifully. *boggle*
Yesterday was another very good day. :)
miles to Rauros Falls: 369
And. AND. BESIDES fitting in all my clothes, we went out last night and we saw someone we hadn't seen for probably a year, and he said to me, "Have you..." And made shrinking motions with his hands. :) And he was very impressed and asked how I'd lost all that weight. :)
AND THEN!
*Then* we went over to Barnes & Noble and there was only one copy of the book on the shelves, and I asked how many they'd sold and they said FORTY and that they had TWENTY-FOUR MORE on order, and would I please come do a book signing!
I had a good day yesterday. O.O :)
I've been feeling skinny the last few days, so today I thought I'd do my bi-monthly "try on everything in the closet and see what still doesn't fit".
Nothing doesn't fit. I no longer own any clothes that are too small for me. I even tried on the size 8 jeans I accidentally bought a couple of months ago, and THEY FIT! My favorite dress EVER *fits* again. My wedding dress fits better than it did the day I got married. My *high school letterman's jacket* fits, for heaven's sake. I have a really cute *very* soft warm pullover that one of Ted's relatives gave me for Christmas years ago, and I've never been able to wear it--now I'm all looking forward to winter, because it FITS! My pinstripe suit fits (and my, don't those shoulderpads look very 80s now!)! WOW!
*runs around SO excitedly*! Size 8! I haven't worn a size 8 since high school! And I've still got 13 pounds to go before I hit my weight loss goal!
EEEEE! *runs around and around and around*! EEEEEE!
Also, I'm about 2 pounds away from having lost 50 pounds since my fattest. I think I should do something celebratory when I hit 50 pounds lost, but I don't know what! Any ideas? Preferably not, "Go out to dinner" ideas? :)
EEEEEEEEEE! *runs AROUND* EEEEEEEEEEE! SQUEEEEEEEE!
miles to Rauros Falls: 367
miles to Hobbiton: 325.5
I just got a look at myself in the mirror and thought, "Huh, I'm having a Nicole Kidman kind of day," and then thought, "What the hell does that mean?" and then thought, "It means my hair is in my face."
This is all Aberdeen's fault, somehow.
It is waaaaining and waaaaining and waaaaining here. Ok, actually, it's stopped now, but when I got up it was waining and waining, and I thought I'd be stuck in the house all day. Instead I shall be forced to go walking and biking after all. But not until I've printed out TBF to get started on revisions.
I finished ebear's SCARDOWN last night. There was one line that was so cool I had to stop halfway through the book to email her to say how cool it was, and another one that was 100% pure Cassieclaire geek that made me laugh out loud. :) Aside from those pure recognizeable geek moments, though, it was simply a terrific book, with more than one heart-wrenching, awful, perfect moment. I was very, very pleased with it, and am really looking forward to the final installment in the trilogy.
This morning my mouse randomly stopped working, so I had to go get a new one. And a new printer cartridge and a pen for signing books, because the paper in US makes all the pens I've got stop working, and some paper because I didn't have enough to print TBF on.
It's not quite 10:30 and I'm starving. Meow. Meow. Meow.
There. Site's back. Much better. Combination of a failure to change my email address with the host and forgetting which card the payments were on. Oops. And thank all nine or so of you who told me the site was down, although really, I knew that. It's my main email, and my homepage. :)
The following exciting things have happened in my absence:
I finished and submitted the AAs on "Banshee Cries", which means that book is officially put to bed. I won't see it again until I get copies of the anthology. Two down, three to go!
The )(#*$) Audi stalled on me, sending me into a sheer panic, when I was on my way to the movies yesterday. I will not be driving it again until it's looked at again. And at that point I might just sell the mother fucker, because I've Had It.
I saw Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. As Melissa said, "Johnny Depp wasn't Willy Wonka any more than Gene Wilder was, but it was a much better movie." At least for her and me. We didn't like the Gene Wilder one At All. There were things I wouldn't have done with this one (why on earth did we need a Wonka backstory?), but overall I was happy with it. It made me laugh. It made Aberdeen laugh even more. :) I don't think Ted would've liked it much, though, and Shaun would've hated it.
I started reading Elizabeth Bear's SCARDOWN. I believe I will go finish reading it soon. :) Ted is reading the new Harry Potter. It's a hard life!
I talked to my Mumbly and Dadbly. They're enjoying Ireland. They spent the weekend driving around with Deirdre and Gavin and the boys, visiting different villages and seeing the countryside. Apparently every time they go into a town Dad says, "I like this town!" Dublin, in their opinion, is fine, but everywhere else is actively likeable. :)
We think this B&B would be nice to own. Would anybody like to invest in a nice Irish B&B? You'd always have a place to stay in Ireland! *bright, encouraging look* (It's actually a ridiculously good deal. If only the money fairy would visit us.)
I think that's about everything, then. :)
miles to Rauros Falls: 365
miles to Hobbiton: 312.5
thinks to do today:
1. swim
2. do the thing that i did that i won't mention
3. bake bread
4. laundry
5. walk dog
6. finish reading CHANGER OF DAYS
7. BC AAs
8. sand cabinets, if there's time left
Swimming was good for me. I was very tired before going, and now I'm more pleasant sort of tired, so that's good.
Last night I took Chanti for a 3 mile walk, because I wanted to see if the new lift for my shoe made any difference in longer walks. Mile and two mile walks aren't long enough to really tell, and so although we'd gone for a mile walk earlier, I decided a longer one would be good. Besides, despite the smoke, it was beautiful out.
And it made a *significant* difference to the good. Usually if I walk 4 miles, somewhere around 2.5 miles I start feeling it in my ... well. 5th lumbar on the right side, technically. I more think of it as like "upper right hip near the spine" or something, if I put words to it. Anyway, I didn't have that jolting feeling in there, which was quite astounding and magnificent. I'm going to have to get a couple more of the little lifty things so I can just put them in all my shoes and not have to switch the one I've got around.
Ok. Bread-baking, lunch-making, laundry and reading. :)
ytd yards swum: 24,400
miles to Rauros Falls: 358
Boys will probably want to skip this entry. It's all about bras.
...okay, maybe that means you want to read it. I donno. :)
So I get this biking gear catalog from Terry Bicycles. I was flipping through it the other day and found this sports bra that nobody could resist: it's called Damn The Torpedos. It is specifically made for Women With Boobs; they advertised it as being designed for C and D cups.
Naturally, I bought one immediately.
It has a zip front and velcro adjustable straps to ratchet up the squish factor with. It arrived today, and if it weren't so smoky out, I'd go dashing out for a bike ride to give it a real test run. It is smoky, though, so I just spent several minutes bouncing around in the bedroom, during which time I determined that it is probably the most comfortable sports bra I've ever put on, and furthermore that it seemed to do an excellent job of reducing bounce. It clearly works under the "flatten and squish" principle rather than the "lift, separate and squish" principle that some sports bra manufacturers go with. It's possible the latter works if you're not a C cup or better, but in my experience, "squish them flat" is about as good as it gets when you're looking for a bra that will prevent you from having to clutch your chest to run up stairs (or anywhere else).
The other one I bought (in a large) claims to be wearable from 36A through 38B, and while the ribcage measurement is just fine, the actual cup size does not accomodate a C cup and so is not to be recommended. For an A or B cup, though, who wants a sort of casual sports bra thing, it'd probably be very good--it was comfortable, overlooking the slopping over the sides bit.
They also have another one I want to try, but I have to wait til they get my size in. Hrmph. And there's another zip-front sports bra which looks a lot like the Damn the Torpedos bra, but doesn't have the keyhole back and doesn't claim to be specifically made for C&D cup women, so rather than trying it I think I may just get myself a second DtT bra.
You all now know far more about my bust size than I'm strictly comfortable with, but that's something I'm just going to have to live with, in the face of sharing information about good bras. :)
There's a fire somewhere and it's blanketing the whole Anchorage bowl in smoke. V. smelly. Emily was commenting last night that the sky was weird, and lo: it was, because of the smoke coming in. We just didn't know it was the smoke, last night.
Emily and Ted and I went to see The Interpreter last night. Emily had her suspension of disbelief broken once, and Ted thought it was too long (it was, compounded by it getting increasingly hotter in the theatre), but I enjoyed it a lot. More than I thought I would, in fact. Sean Penn is a very good actor, and it was the first thing since Moulin Rouge that I've liked Nicole Kidman in. I wish she'd go back to being a redhead and put on about eight pounds, but she was very good in it. And, as Emily said, there were *consequences* for peoples' actions, which made us both happy.
Ted and I also went to the chiro to get x-rayed and crunched yesterday. My spine is not nearly as alarming to look at as it was 3 years ago when I first went in. It's still uneven, but only by about 1/4 inch, instead of 3/4s. Now I have a little lift to put in my shoe to see if it'll even me out. I feel uneven when I'm using it, at least at first. :) And Ted's upper back apparently goes _--_--_, so Dr. Lee is going to make it go _______ again. :)
The Fuji apples we got at Costco last week range from fine to insanely good. I think we have to go get some more. :)
miles to Rauros Falls: 354
Ted's mumbly and dadbly have headed back to Fairbanks, as Gary is doing just fine. We're all very glad of it. :) Pretty weird, that you can have heart surgery via an incision in the hip.
Jai and Emily and I saw The Upside of Anger last night, and enjoyed it very much. I'd intended to do a double-header and go see The Interpreter, too, but the website seemed to indicate that such a thing wasn't possible. Upon arriving at the theatre, it proved to be, so fnrt. Anyway, I'm hoping to be able to catch it sometime this weekend.
Weighed in this morning and finally actually saw a loss, which was nice. I didn't eat all that well this last week, so I'm going to have to be more careful this week if I want to maintain (or better yet, improve on) that loss. Need to go back to swimming, too.
But I'm nearly to Rauros Falls. This will make the first time I've managed one of the legs of the Rivendell journey inside a calendar year, so I think that's kind of cool.
If you're having any trouble with the mizkit.com layout, reload it.
Oh, and there's an excerpt from Banshee Cries posted now.
miles to Rauros Falls: 352
Everybody should now be able to read the main page at mizkit.com. Sorry for that last design. :P For those of you who asked, it was different versions of IE which failed to work and I don't remember what all they were, but for God's sake. As a coworker of mine used to say, "It's as if, if your television show was filmed using a Sony camera, it can't be watched on a Panasonic TV."
The artwork to the left there is Chance, from the comic book I'd like to write someday. It's a rendering by Jerry Minor, who does really beautiful stuff. I own one of his originals. Also, I want to look like that. :)
I got both permission to post chapters from THE CARDINAL RULE and "Banshee Cries" and author alterations (what the rest of the world apparently calls galleys) on "Banshee Cries" this morning. I got the AAs and thought, "Due the 19th? No problem, that's lots of time." Then I looked at the calendar and was AUGH TODAY'S THE 13th. I've lost about a week, somehow. I'm still in the first week of July while the rest of the world is halfway through the second.
So I'm going to go for a walk, have lunch, and work on my AAs before movies with Emily and Jai.
I feel flat as a pancake.
Gary ought to be home this morning, so that's good. Ted was reading all the comments last night and said, "You have nice friends," to me, so thank you all for the good wishes and good thoughts. Very much appreciated. We have pictures of Gary's heart, now. It's sort of like magic!
Our neighbors have put their house on the market for $219K. We're waiting with fascination to see if it sells at that, because it's identical to ours, except they have much less land than we do. We paid $169K for ours (though admittedly, we got a deal). Wouldn't it be nice to turn a $50K profit in just three years? o.o
Going to a movie with Jai and Emily tonight. That should be fun.
Need to make chiro appointments.
US popped back up into the 1700s on Amazon this morning. I have absolutely no idea what that means. I just thought I'd mention it. :)
Pancakes sound good. *sigh*
miles to Rauros Falls: 348
Well. Ted's dad's gone in for angioplasty this morning. He woke up about ten days ago with chest pains, which proved not to be a heart attack (thank goodness), and Fairbanks had to send them down here because they don't have a cardiac unit up there (buh), and yesterday at the hospital here they determined that the back artery to his heart is 99% blocked.
So they're fixing that today. o.O
10:20am, ETA: Gary's out of surgery and it went perfectly. Yay!
There is something satisfying about a big fat stack of still-warm paper with your words printed on them. Even if you never want to look at those particular words again. :) Fortunately, by the time it's time to, I'll be ready to again. Amazing how that works.
Book well and truly done, in other words. It'll go in the mail this afternoon, and after I go for a walk I'll start on the proposal for PHOENIX LAW.
And then I will do revisions on THUNDERBIRD FALLS.
And then I will write COYOTE DREAMS.
And somewhere in there I will work on the kitchen.
And get Ted's paperwork done. And call about the taxes.
Argh.
I Have A Dream.
My dream is that someday I'll be done with all the edits, all the revisions, all the this and all the that, and I will be able to spend a week or two doing the webpages that I've got on my list of thinks to do.
This is not that week.
Next week isn't looking good either.
Man. I'm as done as I'm going to get, tonight. I've got one more scenelet to write and a couple more sentences to add here and there, and do another spell check to make sure I didn't miss anything, and then I'm printing it and putting it in the mail tomorrow afternoon.
whew.
miles to rauros falls: 340
I've just added it up. I've exercised (in a quantifiable fashion) 144 out of the available 190 days so far this year. Why aren't I thin yet?
It's vurry nice out. Biked 15 miles. Can't decide if I'm starving now or too full of water to eat, or both. I think both.
Halfway through the edits on FD. Going pretty well. Ted's parents'll be here tonight, and I'll be a horrible daughter in law because I've got to get this thing finished and out the door. :/ (Actually, they're very understanding about the whole working from home thing. Good peoples.)
Hee. Deborah apparently read IMMORTAL BELOVED, which evidently prompted in her the urge to go watch lots of Highlander. Her husband was pained by this urge. :) She also had all the right reactions to the story. (People generally seem to.) I really do love that book. It could stand a good editing (which it will probably never get) but I do love it. :)
Shower now.
miles to Rauros Falls: 338
miles to Hobbiton: 286.7
Been a nice day. We went to see Fantastic Four, which made me laugh out loud any number of times, so hey, I was happy with it. Picked up the Audi, which seems to be running beautifully now, a mere one year after we bought it. Ted ordered contacts and I got my new glasses, and everybody in the house was obliged to take a nap during the hot afternoon, and then we gamed. Gaming was good; we actually completed this story arc and killed the major bad guy (woo! go us!), and we have 2 more weeks of gaming before Jack goes away again for something. So that's cool. And I got my revision letter for Thunderbird Falls, which I haven't read yet, but I've *got* it, and so now I don't have to panic about only having 2 weeks to get the revisions done in, because I have 5.
Weekend is over. Tomorrow it's back to work doing edits and revisions on Firebird Deception. Mom suggests I merely sand and repaint the cupboards, which I'll probably do, because while I think it would look a lot nicer with natural wood colors, it's not worth screwing up my back. :P
Gonna go to bed now, I guess. G'night.
miles to Rauros Falls: 336
I've been extremely on-edge all day for some reason. It is wearing.
Paint stripping has had an unintended consequence. My back is more screwed up than it's been in a long time. I'm not really doing all that badly, but I'm the worst my current chiro has ever seen me, and he got a bit wild-eyed about it and started talking physical therapy and doing another x-ray to see what kind of shape the bones are in (which is acceptable to me because 1. I'd been thinking it a few minutes before he suggested it, and 2. he's doing his twice-a-year special so that people without insurance can actually afford x-rays). I told him that the condition I was in is *nothing* compared to where I began, or where I was the last time I had a bad spell, but it's still the worst he's seen me, and frankly, if it jars him into pointing me toward a PT who can give me exercises to strengthen these muscles so this fucking well stops happening, then I'm glad. I am *tired* of being broken. I have been dealing with this for three years (and didn't deal with it for over a year before that). I want it *fixed*.
OTOH, as soon as the novocaine wore off I forgot I'd had a cavity filled, so that's something, anyway. I mean, literally as soon as. Ted and I went out for dinner and afterward I was like, "Oop, I was supposed to be careful of chewing on that side of my mouth, I forgot." Fortunately, we went out for Chinese, so the food was pretty soft anyway. :)
I also accidentally bought a new pair of glasses today. I'll pick them up tomorrow and take a picture. They are SASSY.
In high school I exercised 10-15 hours a week almost constantly. I'd like to get back to that. The last 4 months I've averaged 8 hours a week, which is pretty good, but not where I want to be yet.
Jai asked if I had any big plans for when I hit my weight loss goal. What I've wanted to do since, oh, 1992, was if I ever managed to get below 150, to then hire a personal trainer for 6 weeks or 3 months or whatever it took, and to get into Linda Hamilton T2 shape. I would like for once in my life to be in just that sort of *insane* shape. I think it would be really cool. I'd like to go to a trainer and say, 'ok, this is what I have accomplished on my own, I want to lose 8 more pounds and look like Linda Hamilton' and then work my ass off (quite literally) to do that.
Possibly I have a very bizarre idea of a reward system.
The mechanic called and they have fixed, or are fixing, the Audi. Wonders of wonders. We'll pick it up tomorrow and drive it around and have two cars and I can get my damned license. Wonders, as I say, of wonders.
Also, the Young Dubliners will be back up here in August for the State Fair and apparently some other gigs, although the Bear Tooth is not yet booked on their gig list. I must ask the Bear Tooth if they will be there. Either way, we're goin' to see them at the fair. :) (Ted said, "You can wear your red bodice again and they'll be sure to remember you!" Except I undergrew it and gave it away already.) Yay Young Dubs!
And Coby hunts for an Urban Shaman.
Ok, that's all. Really. Promise.
miles to Rauros Falls: 334
My, stripping paint is hard work. I don't know if it would be easier if the paint wasn't latex and inclined to ball up nastily, or if non-latex paint would be equally difficult in a different way. So I'm gonna get one small section done and see how it looks and decide if it's worth the effort of doing it everywhere. I also determined that it is a *morning* job, not an afternoon job, because it's hot work anyway and by afternoon the sun has come 'round and is boiling the garage.
Kudos to Emily for helping me with the nasty work.
I was *bushed* yesterday. Biked 5 miles, swam 2000 yards, walked 2 miles, and sheesh, I was just all worn out. Got some, not a lot (re: not enough) edits done on FD, and worked on stripping paint. Made dinner (rockfish, which Ted expressed surprise over being good; I looked vaguely, or perhaps slightly more than vaguely, offended, but he views rockfish rather like I view salmon, which is to say, if someone puts it in front of me I'll eat it, but I don't anticipate the experience with any pleasure), and eventually watched a couple episodes of Dark Angel. It's still not a great show, but I think the writing got better.
I am not losing any weight. Sigh. I am maintaining like a sommonabitch, but not losing. Today is 9 months since I started losing weight, and I've lost 30 pounds, which is the same amount I'd lost a month ago. I would really like to lose 15 more by October 7th. It's not an insurmountable amount, except the part where it's NOT COMING OFF.
(Really, the scale had a couple of lower-weight days this week, so I'm probably just looking at water weight and whatnot, and next week there will be some loss, but argh anyway.)
Today is a v. busy day. I get to have a cavity filled (whee), I need to go to the chiro, Ted's brought the frelling Audi over to see if somebody can fix the short that makes the battery drain all the freaking time, we need to shop, go to the bank, pay bills and strip some more paint. And go to a movie tonight.
miles to Rauros Falls: 331
miles to Hobbiton: 271.1
I got PAID!
Having been paid, it strikes me that I have 3 more payments due before I have no more payments due, and one of those isn't due til sometime after March. This is an absurd way to try to make a living, just in case anybody was wondering. It's the best job I've ever had, but as a money-making venture, .not. practical.
Yesterday in a jolt of unpleasantness I realized there was a character whose name got changed in "Banshee Cries", and that I was pretty sure there was one place where I'd forgotten to change his name. I checked my version of the copyedits and indeed, it did not appear I had changed his name. In a panic, I emailed my editor to ask if it was too late to fix that, and she emailed back this morning to say she'd forwarded the email on to the proofreading department, so all is well. I praise her from on high; she is an angel among editors. I'm terribly relieved about catching that. o.O :)
(I also had a dream that she reassured me that the name change had not happened in Banshee Cries at all, but rather in Heart of Stone, which she's got for consideration, and I was desperately confused about that, because HoS wasn't due to be *published*, and besides, I was *sure* the change had been in BC...)
I didn't read last night. I was obliged to play some CoH with the boys. O Woe Is Me. :)
I dreamed last night (~I got on a boat to Heaven! And by some chance I had brought my dice along!~) that there was some kind of (presumably) alien invasion set on decimating the world, and people were in a panic and dying all over the place, and it appeared to be me and Chuck Norris who were keeping our heads, although I wasn't so much keeping my head as obliged to because everybody else was freaking out. I discovered in short order that if the situation was the world ending, I had no problem with becoming totalitarian in order to ensure the survival of the human race. So much for my high socialist ideals. :)
I'm such a slacker! Emily and Jai BOTH walked SIX miles yesterday, and I only walked FOUR. Perhaps I should go walk another couple miles tonight so it all evens out.
*looks at the *absurdly* beautiful weather* Y'know, that might not be a bad idea. It is soooo gorgeous out. I could do that before I went to take a shower, so the bug dope would continue to do me some good. I wonder if the dog would like to go, or if she's too exhausted. Right around 3 miles she starts looking really pooped. :)
Biked all the way out to Kincaid Park today, too, though I decided not to do the entire coastal trail 'cause I was going for a walk later. I think that was wise.
Plan for tomorrow: edits on FD, swim, walk, and ... read something, if I can fit it in around Emily coming over in the afternoon and us starting to strip paint off some of the cupboards. Although if I did one of those tonight I'd have some idea of whether we're going to do that or whether we're just going to scrub them really thoroughly and touch up the paint where it's needed.
Clearly I had best go for another walk now, and then read something. I think I'll start with Jim's Codex Alera books, the first of which I've had for what, a year, without having had time to read it.
(Then I will read Alma Alexander's books. And the Bujold fantasies. And all the Lunas I haven't picked up yet this year that I want to read, and THE LAST LIGHT OF THE SUN, which has been languishing for 15+ months, and DEAD WATER which ooh I might read that tonight instead, yeah! and maybe some Carol Berg although that series isn't finished so I donno and the Jennifer Fallon can tempt me but I will be STRONG because she's a really good writer and I wanna be able to read it all at once and they're not all out in this country yet and LOTS OF OTHER THINGS. I'm SSSSSSSSSSSMOKIN'!)
ETA: walked one more mile. close enough. :)
miles to Rauros Falls: 329
miles to Hobbiton: 265.9
ytd wordcount: 149,000
I have what, maybe 1500 words to go, but man, the writing, she is like pulling teeth this morning. Mostly, I think, because it's VERY BEAUTIFUL out and I wanna go out and play rather than stay in my dull dark little corner and write.
600 more words and I can do that.
(Except in 600 more words I ought to be feeling like I can just finish up real quick before doing other things, but don't tell my brain that, ok? I'm trying to trick it.)
600 more words and I can go *biking*.
*looks encouraging at her brain*
I have finished the epilogue, the last chapter, and the penultimate chapter. Now I just have to finish the penpenultimate chapter and I will be done. About 8 pages to go. I cannot quite decide if my brain is jello or not. But I think I'm going to go clean a section of the living room before I write some more, because whether my brain is jello or not, my butt is definitely numb.
Lucy, who I viciously put off my lap after the last hour of writing, is now meowing bitterly about it. Poor kitty.
Ok. A bit of housecleaning, then maybe a little more work before Jai and Emily arrive and we walk.
miles to Hobbiton: 250.4
*tud* all tired out!
Wrote about 1500 words this morning (yay!), most of them on the final chapter. Or maybe the penultimate chapter. But I haven't written most of the pen, or maybe the pen-pen, ultimate chapter, so still need to do that. anyway. writing was good. yeah.
then I got on my bi-cy-cle and rode downtown, where I met the fabulous Wen Spencer for lunch, and we hung out and gabbed for about three hours. That was lots and lots of fun. She and her family did the inside passage cruise and are in anchorage for a few days, so we got to meet up, and *beam* that was great. yay!
i came home barely long enough to get ready to go to a movie, and then trundled myself down to bear tooth, where I watched "dear frankie", which is a *completely* charming scottish movie.
and now i hafta go play video games with the boys :)
miles to rauros falls: 320
I'm reading this book that Emily lent me, THE GUN SELLER. It's by actor Hugh Laurie. I'm about four chapters in. Thus far it's rather like what I imagine Douglas Adams would have written, if he wrote murder mysteries instead of science fiction. Huh.
miles to Rauros Falls: 314.5
I gritted my way through the end of a chapter this afternoon, and it didn't really turn out like I expected it to (I like how it turned out better than how I'd envisioned it) and now suddenly I think I have one chapter left. Maybe two. The story is ending in the same place I thought it was going to, with all the cards where I wanted them to be, but the details are turning out differently. So whoops, here I am, almost done.
Thank God.
I got very funny email from my friends Pat and Melissa last night. Melissa first, at about 8pm:
I am having a cat moment.
We got your book in the mail on Tuesday. Pat got to it before me. He is selfishly reading it. He occasionally giggles. I have read a John Connolly book and am now reading Margaret Atwood. But I "want what heee's having". Dammit. Should have ordered two. Humph.
Followed by Pat, at around 10:15, an email that read rather like free-form poetry:
And on the third day the last sentence was read and it was declared good.
Good it was declared on the third day of reading.
A house was not worked on, no tree was turned to sawdust.
An ass groove in a La Z Boy was made deeper.
Blood was not able to get past elbows and fingers grew numb.
Eyes grew bloodshot and tired.
The only thing that was accomplished was a mowed law.
only out of desperate need, and only half assed so there would be more
time for the book.
My life was put on hold.
I'm not liking you much right now :)
Maybe if I would've taken the effort to turn on the lights my eyes
wouldn't hurt so much.
I didn't want to put the book down to turn them on though.
But now they are watering too much to finish typing this and i don't
have the strength in my hand to type properly so my wrist and forearms
are starting to hurt,
so a spell check and goodnight.
ad a thank you for writing such a good book.
more please.
And then again from Melissa, at a quarter to one in the morning:
dammit. He finished it at 9:30. I picked it up, abandoning Margaret to the dining room table. I was going to read a little while having a cigarette and then go to bed. It is 12:30. I'm half way through. Damn you :) (with all the love and admiration in my sleepy little heart). NOW I'm going to bed!
PS. IZ GOOOOOD...
There's not much better than people bitching that they stayed up way too late reading your writing. :) It's right up there with your agent telling you she forgot she was supposed to be working, when she was reading your manuscript, or an editor saying you're a dangerous writer 'cause she forgot to be looking for problems with the story while she was reading the proposal for it. :)
I'm gonna go walk the dog now. :)
Today was the sort of writing day where, after spending three and a half hours at the computer, I triumphantly achieved 14th level with The Blue Bandolier, my Freedom server blaster on CoH.
*pause*
What? I was at the wrong computer? Why does no one TELL me these things?!
Back to work tomorrow, though, since the Weekend As Defined At The Murphy-Lee-Sandness Household is over.
Emily has returned to Anchorage, and we celebrated by feeding her dinner and then going to Hot Licks, where I ate a very large, very yummy sundae. Now I feel so full that I think I shouldn't need to eat until at least Monday, and would someone please explain to my body that I really think that's a reasonable way to go about it? It just seems wrong that eating too much doesn't keep you full for, you know, a couple of days, instead of you just getting hungry again in the usual amount of time. I want an upgrade.
miles to Rauros Falls: 312.5