Jim mentioned the other day that I say, "Yeah, but..." a lot. As in this type of exchange:
"I'll be so glad when I don't have to practice cello every day."
"Yeah, but you'll have to practice every WEEK."
"Movie prices are going up."
"Yeah, but I don't mind that as much as the concession prices."
He has proceeded to tell me, every day since, how many times he, himself, has said it. And I realized just about any topic can lead to a yabutt.
So here are some Yabutts for today.
Main News Story: Family sits by bedside of daughter in coma, only to discover it isn't their daughter after all.
It's easy to understand how this happened. The coroner's office accepted the identification of acquaintances of the two girls who got mixed up. No tests were done to confirm identity, and the parents of the girl who died didn't want to see her battered body.
Yeah, but how can parent sit by the bedside of this girl, touch her, look at her, and then watch and hear her for several days after she wakes up, without knowing it's not their child? She'd been in the coma for several weeks, so most of her external wounds should have healed enough that once her eyes were opened, once she started struggling to communicate, they should have figured it out sooner.
Of course, it's always easy to say something like that from way over here. I mean, I joke that when my daughter is playing soccer, the only way to distinguish her from three other players on the field are her pink shoes and the number on her back.
Yeah, but that's at a distance with them moving. Close up, even battered, there's NO WAY I'd mistake them. Even at 10 years old, my kid has scars and moles that make her unique.
TIME magazine reports this week that the personal savings rate in 2005 was -.04%, the first time since 1933 that the average American's spending exceeded disposable income.
Yeah, but it's not that "the average American's spending" etc. It's that "the average of all Americans' spending." Half the people made more than they spent. I hate misleading statistics.
TIME also reports that there were 726 gay and lesbian members of the military discharged in 2005 for breaching the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy.
Yeah, but it's estimated the U.S. spent $200 million to recruit and train replacements for those discharged members.
*Crickets*
I just don't know what to say about that. Its stupidity seems outrageously obvious. Our soldiers don't have armor or enough bodies to fight this war in Iraq, but hey, at least no one is staring at their asses!
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Monday, May 29, 2006
Championship Mentality
My oldest daughter played travel-league soccer for the first time this past year. Before that she played recreational (rec) soccer, a very different animal:
Rec: no scoring, no standings
Travel: scoring and standings (which are likely most important to the parents :)
Rec: play local teams
Travel: play teams all over the region, half at home, half away
Rec: t-shirts
Travel: cool uniforms
She also faced going from eight on a field to eleven. From having "offense" and "defense" to positions like forward, sweeper, stopper. Lots of big changes.
The team had to adjust, too. Most of the girls had played together for a few years, but they had to accommodate some new players. In the fall, we did fairly well, landing in the middle of the pack at the end of the season.
This spring, we didn't do so well. We have had a solid defense, and a good offense that can move the ball but just...couldn't...score. We played with the ball. Tapped it toward the goal. Failed to show any aggression or hunger. You can't score if you don't shoot, and you can't win games if you don't score. So we didn't.
Not that the girls seemed to care. They still came off the field singing at the top of their lungs, "Everywhere we go, people want to know, who we are, so we tell them, we are the Thundercats, the mighty mighty Thundercats." They played hard because they love to play, and the end result didn't matter much.
So this weekend we played in a tournament. We had played all spring with a short team, most of the time with no subs, even a couple of games down a player. This weekend we had all our players plus a new player. So we had subs. We had our normal rotating offense. We could rest, and everyone could settle in to their positions.
But we also had Rachel.
Our players are tough. We don't give up on the ball, and are never afraid to get into the mix. We trust each other. The girls trust their teammates will be in position, and get the ball to them. We pass well, and we back each other up without fail. We're full of hustle. We can easily and consistently move the ball downfield. But then we always seemed to not know what to do with it.
Rachel is one of those players who's been blessed. She has extraordinary speed, and huge confidence. She's not afraid to take a shot, even if her positioning isn't quite right. And she, too, trusts her teammates, and knows how to use them.
The fabulous thing is not that Rachel is a better player so she won the games for us. The fabulous thing is that she elevated the play of the entire field. Our offense suddenly had that confidence, that aggression, that we'd been dying for them to develop. They fed Rachel the ball, accepted the ball from her, knew where to be when, and weren't afraid to rush the goalie for a rebound or a dribbler.
We had that championship mentality.
We scored. So we were suddenly ravenous to score again, and did everything we could to do it. We tied our first game, 2-2, and won the second, which put us in second place coming into our game this morning.
It was gonna be a tough one. They'd already lost to this team twice in the spring season, and they were undefeated both in the season and in the tournament. They had every reason to win again. But they didn't. We won 1-0 on the strength of our very solid defense (did I mention we have a good defense? {g}). That put us in the championship game.
Aside: Dakota is usually one of the last players off the field, but today of all days, she was one of the first. So we went home, and came back at 12:00 to prepare for the 12:30 game.
That they had moved up half an hour. They were already playing when we got there. I was mortified. They had told the parents that remained at the field, and told the parents who were in the parking lot, and thought they'd gotten everyone. We and one other family had already left. What a horrible start!
Didn't matter. The other team triple-teamed Rachel, and poured on all of their energy and drive and determination. And we won, 3-1. It was a sweet victory, and exactly what we needed. They will be different players come fall.
I can't wait.
Bragging Parent Edit: All the players had tremendous moments, whether it was stopping a goal, making perfect passes or steals, or assisting on a goal. But there was one moment I am particularly proud of. One of our defenders and the goalie were tangled up in front of the goal with an opposing player. It was the kind of situation where you just know the ball is going to squirt out and roll into the goal. But out of NOWHERE flew a defender, who came soaring in and punched the ball out to the sideline, where a teammate corraled it and passed it upfield. Of course, that player out of nowhere was Dakota, who often respects her teammates and stands back to let them do their job, but in this case recognized a need for an assist and did it. It was a beautiful sight.
Rec: no scoring, no standings
Travel: scoring and standings (which are likely most important to the parents :)
Rec: play local teams
Travel: play teams all over the region, half at home, half away
Rec: t-shirts
Travel: cool uniforms
She also faced going from eight on a field to eleven. From having "offense" and "defense" to positions like forward, sweeper, stopper. Lots of big changes.
The team had to adjust, too. Most of the girls had played together for a few years, but they had to accommodate some new players. In the fall, we did fairly well, landing in the middle of the pack at the end of the season.
This spring, we didn't do so well. We have had a solid defense, and a good offense that can move the ball but just...couldn't...score. We played with the ball. Tapped it toward the goal. Failed to show any aggression or hunger. You can't score if you don't shoot, and you can't win games if you don't score. So we didn't.
Not that the girls seemed to care. They still came off the field singing at the top of their lungs, "Everywhere we go, people want to know, who we are, so we tell them, we are the Thundercats, the mighty mighty Thundercats." They played hard because they love to play, and the end result didn't matter much.
So this weekend we played in a tournament. We had played all spring with a short team, most of the time with no subs, even a couple of games down a player. This weekend we had all our players plus a new player. So we had subs. We had our normal rotating offense. We could rest, and everyone could settle in to their positions.
But we also had Rachel.
Our players are tough. We don't give up on the ball, and are never afraid to get into the mix. We trust each other. The girls trust their teammates will be in position, and get the ball to them. We pass well, and we back each other up without fail. We're full of hustle. We can easily and consistently move the ball downfield. But then we always seemed to not know what to do with it.
Rachel is one of those players who's been blessed. She has extraordinary speed, and huge confidence. She's not afraid to take a shot, even if her positioning isn't quite right. And she, too, trusts her teammates, and knows how to use them.
The fabulous thing is not that Rachel is a better player so she won the games for us. The fabulous thing is that she elevated the play of the entire field. Our offense suddenly had that confidence, that aggression, that we'd been dying for them to develop. They fed Rachel the ball, accepted the ball from her, knew where to be when, and weren't afraid to rush the goalie for a rebound or a dribbler.
We had that championship mentality.
We scored. So we were suddenly ravenous to score again, and did everything we could to do it. We tied our first game, 2-2, and won the second, which put us in second place coming into our game this morning.
It was gonna be a tough one. They'd already lost to this team twice in the spring season, and they were undefeated both in the season and in the tournament. They had every reason to win again. But they didn't. We won 1-0 on the strength of our very solid defense (did I mention we have a good defense? {g}). That put us in the championship game.
Aside: Dakota is usually one of the last players off the field, but today of all days, she was one of the first. So we went home, and came back at 12:00 to prepare for the 12:30 game.
That they had moved up half an hour. They were already playing when we got there. I was mortified. They had told the parents that remained at the field, and told the parents who were in the parking lot, and thought they'd gotten everyone. We and one other family had already left. What a horrible start!
Didn't matter. The other team triple-teamed Rachel, and poured on all of their energy and drive and determination. And we won, 3-1. It was a sweet victory, and exactly what we needed. They will be different players come fall.
I can't wait.
Bragging Parent Edit: All the players had tremendous moments, whether it was stopping a goal, making perfect passes or steals, or assisting on a goal. But there was one moment I am particularly proud of. One of our defenders and the goalie were tangled up in front of the goal with an opposing player. It was the kind of situation where you just know the ball is going to squirt out and roll into the goal. But out of NOWHERE flew a defender, who came soaring in and punched the ball out to the sideline, where a teammate corraled it and passed it upfield. Of course, that player out of nowhere was Dakota, who often respects her teammates and stands back to let them do their job, but in this case recognized a need for an assist and did it. It was a beautiful sight.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Lost in a Different Kind of Way
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be a tease. At the time I posted those big red letters, I was absolutely certain that everyone in my blogosphere would have been watching Lost and would know exactly what I was talking about.
But now reason has returned, and I realize that probably wasn't the case. And I didn't post again right away, which is highly annoying.
So.
If you are a Lost fan and watched the season finale and have any level of interest in my thoughts, you can keep reading, and I encourage you to post--I don't have nearly enough people in my life to talk about this with.
If you are none of the above, you probably want to stop here, unless the way I connect words, combined with my passion and occasional wit, compels you to keep reading. As I'm sure it must.
Oh, wait! Everyone read this, it's very self-deprecating and funny. And features Jim, who just adores being the center of attention on my blog.
Lost was starting, and he said something about, "Oh, great, two hours of your chatter" or something, he wouldn't use the word chatter, but it was along those lines. And I insisted I wasn't going to say a word. He tried to bet me, and that if I talked I had to bring up his laundry (and trust me, that's a penance that would keep me working all night). I wouldn't take the bet, not because I didn't have confidence in myself, but because there was no corresponding prize on my end besides smugness. And I could have that anyway.
The first minute of the recording is the commercials before the show starts. Then we have about 30 seconds of recap, that this time segued perfectly into new footage. So we're probably about 17 seconds into the new episode when...
"Oooh, Sayid without a shirt."
Yeah. I lasted 17 seconds. But that was okay, because really, at the time I made the assertion, I didn't know they would be showing something THAT shocking and surprising.
And then Sawyer took off his shirt, which is more amazing, but not surprising. He does that as often as possible. :)
Okay, now on to the show.
I don't know where to start. Man, so much happened. I'll just comment as thoughts come back to me.
Claire and Charlie! I couldn't believe she kissed him, but it was a great way to end that portion of the show. Finally, maybe we'll have Good Charlie back again.
I can't believe Claire would even CONSIDER injecting her child with that unknown vaccine. They've been on the island "60, 65 days" according to Locke, and NO ONE HAS GOTTEN SICK. Doesn't that debunk the whole sickness fear? Though they didn't show her actually using it, so maybe she wouldn't/won't/didn't.
Love Desmond. More Desmond, please, more more more. He's a great character, so complex and appealing. I have a feeling he's one of the more noble characters, as far as his past goes. Maybe not, maybe he's more like Lincoln on Prison Break (guilty of all kinds of things except the one he's in jail for). But you all know I'm a sucker for a good love story, and it appears Lost may ride on one!
Drove me nuts wondering how we knew Pen, until I realized, YESTERDAY, that she recently played Charlie's old flame on Numb3rs . So I have to watch the show again without that distraction.
Connections:
Libby gave Desmond the boat. (Who's David?)
Desmond saw Penny at the stadium where he also met Jack.
Kelvin rescued Desmond from the beach and was also one of Sayid's handlers way back when he was embarking on his "tortuous" journey.
Who was Kelvin's partner? Have we seen him before?
Total tangent: Connections are one of my favorite parts of the show, which is why I'm very interested in the new show Six Degrees this fall. :)
Let's see...when Michael and Walt left in the boat, I expected him to get out to sea, steer on a bearing of 325, look up...
And be staring at the island.
Jack and Kate and Sawyer! What will happen with them! They can't be considered "good" ones, so why haven't they killed them? Unless they are so resourceful and determined they want them to join their group.
Desmond and Locke and Eko? What became of them when the EMP went off? I know they're not dead, they just can't be. Three of their most intriguing characters, all at once? No way.
Speculation: The pneumatic tubes. Was there ever a direct purpose, or was it always going out into nothing? I didn't see any signs of a building or anything ever being there. And if none of those carriers ever went BACK to The Pearl, how did they get new carriers? How much of the Dharma Initiative was experiment, how much was real, how recently did it "end," did it ever really end, where is Dharma now?
People keep asking how Danielle never encountered the Others in her 16 years on the island, but I think they are very crafty and made it very important that she not find them. She also has a healthy superstition and respect for certain barriers, so maybe she hasn't ventured far enough or banished her fear enough to stray across their paths. It's easier to avoid one person than it is to avoid 42 plus a dozen. Or maybe it's something else entirely and it will be another shocker when we discover it.
So, Desmond took down the plane! If that is electromagnetism, where does it get discharged to when they push the button? Why can't they set up a mechanism to do it automatically if they had the technology to create it in the first place (because I don't profess to be any kind of an expert, but you can't have electromagnetism without applying electricity to a magnet, so it had to be done deliberately)? EMPs usually affect technology but not humanity (or so I learned from movies like Ocean's Eleven {g}), so everyone should be okay after the "blast" but why wasn't the boat's engine killed, a la War of the Worlds?
What thoughts/questions/ideas are spinning through YOUR head?
But now reason has returned, and I realize that probably wasn't the case. And I didn't post again right away, which is highly annoying.
So.
If you are a Lost fan and watched the season finale and have any level of interest in my thoughts, you can keep reading, and I encourage you to post--I don't have nearly enough people in my life to talk about this with.
If you are none of the above, you probably want to stop here, unless the way I connect words, combined with my passion and occasional wit, compels you to keep reading. As I'm sure it must.
Oh, wait! Everyone read this, it's very self-deprecating and funny. And features Jim, who just adores being the center of attention on my blog.
Lost was starting, and he said something about, "Oh, great, two hours of your chatter" or something, he wouldn't use the word chatter, but it was along those lines. And I insisted I wasn't going to say a word. He tried to bet me, and that if I talked I had to bring up his laundry (and trust me, that's a penance that would keep me working all night). I wouldn't take the bet, not because I didn't have confidence in myself, but because there was no corresponding prize on my end besides smugness. And I could have that anyway.
The first minute of the recording is the commercials before the show starts. Then we have about 30 seconds of recap, that this time segued perfectly into new footage. So we're probably about 17 seconds into the new episode when...
"Oooh, Sayid without a shirt."
Yeah. I lasted 17 seconds. But that was okay, because really, at the time I made the assertion, I didn't know they would be showing something THAT shocking and surprising.
And then Sawyer took off his shirt, which is more amazing, but not surprising. He does that as often as possible. :)
Okay, now on to the show.
I don't know where to start. Man, so much happened. I'll just comment as thoughts come back to me.
Claire and Charlie! I couldn't believe she kissed him, but it was a great way to end that portion of the show. Finally, maybe we'll have Good Charlie back again.
I can't believe Claire would even CONSIDER injecting her child with that unknown vaccine. They've been on the island "60, 65 days" according to Locke, and NO ONE HAS GOTTEN SICK. Doesn't that debunk the whole sickness fear? Though they didn't show her actually using it, so maybe she wouldn't/won't/didn't.
Love Desmond. More Desmond, please, more more more. He's a great character, so complex and appealing. I have a feeling he's one of the more noble characters, as far as his past goes. Maybe not, maybe he's more like Lincoln on Prison Break (guilty of all kinds of things except the one he's in jail for). But you all know I'm a sucker for a good love story, and it appears Lost may ride on one!
Drove me nuts wondering how we knew Pen, until I realized, YESTERDAY, that she recently played Charlie's old flame on Numb3rs . So I have to watch the show again without that distraction.
Connections:
Libby gave Desmond the boat. (Who's David?)
Desmond saw Penny at the stadium where he also met Jack.
Kelvin rescued Desmond from the beach and was also one of Sayid's handlers way back when he was embarking on his "tortuous" journey.
Who was Kelvin's partner? Have we seen him before?
Total tangent: Connections are one of my favorite parts of the show, which is why I'm very interested in the new show Six Degrees this fall. :)
Let's see...when Michael and Walt left in the boat, I expected him to get out to sea, steer on a bearing of 325, look up...
And be staring at the island.
Jack and Kate and Sawyer! What will happen with them! They can't be considered "good" ones, so why haven't they killed them? Unless they are so resourceful and determined they want them to join their group.
Desmond and Locke and Eko? What became of them when the EMP went off? I know they're not dead, they just can't be. Three of their most intriguing characters, all at once? No way.
Speculation: The pneumatic tubes. Was there ever a direct purpose, or was it always going out into nothing? I didn't see any signs of a building or anything ever being there. And if none of those carriers ever went BACK to The Pearl, how did they get new carriers? How much of the Dharma Initiative was experiment, how much was real, how recently did it "end," did it ever really end, where is Dharma now?
People keep asking how Danielle never encountered the Others in her 16 years on the island, but I think they are very crafty and made it very important that she not find them. She also has a healthy superstition and respect for certain barriers, so maybe she hasn't ventured far enough or banished her fear enough to stray across their paths. It's easier to avoid one person than it is to avoid 42 plus a dozen. Or maybe it's something else entirely and it will be another shocker when we discover it.
So, Desmond took down the plane! If that is electromagnetism, where does it get discharged to when they push the button? Why can't they set up a mechanism to do it automatically if they had the technology to create it in the first place (because I don't profess to be any kind of an expert, but you can't have electromagnetism without applying electricity to a magnet, so it had to be done deliberately)? EMPs usually affect technology but not humanity (or so I learned from movies like Ocean's Eleven {g}), so everyone should be okay after the "blast" but why wasn't the boat's engine killed, a la War of the Worlds?
What thoughts/questions/ideas are spinning through YOUR head?
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Testing...
More on this in a little while.
Based on this, I'm running a little experiment.
I'm inviting anyone to post the following in the comments. I will buy one book per paycheck and review them here. Promise: I will get through them all, eventually. Warning: I will be totally honest in my review, though not mean.
Okay, what to post:
Your name and/or pseudonym
A ONE LINE description of your book/story.
ONE SENTENCE about why I should read it.
A link to purchase (publisher direct preferred, Amazon is okay as a second choice)
Readyyyyyy...... GO.
Based on this, I'm running a little experiment.
I'm inviting anyone to post the following in the comments. I will buy one book per paycheck and review them here. Promise: I will get through them all, eventually. Warning: I will be totally honest in my review, though not mean.
Okay, what to post:
Your name and/or pseudonym
A ONE LINE description of your book/story.
ONE SENTENCE about why I should read it.
A link to purchase (publisher direct preferred, Amazon is okay as a second choice)
Readyyyyyy...... GO.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
No More Alias
This is kind of going to be stream-of-consciousness. Be warned.
No major surprises with this finale, but then, how could there be? They'd kind of done them all. I would have been happier if they'd brought back Will for one final flashback, but oh, well, can't have it all.
I liked Nadia much better dead. LOL
I was going to be furious if Jack died. Especially after he was shot. I was prepared for a substandard revelation, like a non-dialogue scene where Sydney is told and collapses, or music-over montage of him being airlifted and undergoing CPR or something and dying that way.
But then, he didn't just die. He wasn't a victim. He went out on his own terms, taking Sloane with him (mostly--he hadn't resurfaced in that flash-forward, so I'm sure he was pinned there for eternity, quite fitting). So I couldn't be mad.
And they had the "I love you" moment that was so important to the arc of Syd and Jack's relationship that was the core of the whole show.
I loved that Isabelle was doing the puzzle at the end. Unsurprising, but it had to happen. I kinda wanted Sydney to see her doing it, but liked the mild suspense and foreboding and bittersweetness when she didn't.
I loved that they weren't completely out of the game, and that Sydney was the one being called back. She is the ultimate kick-a$$ heroine and always will be. True balance in that character. Heart and strength.
I loved that Sark reverted to a low-brow accent in the stress of being about to commit genocide, and that he was conflicted but said straight out that he just always wanted to wind up on the winning side. It was almost as good a moment as when Sydney hit him and smashed his face into the bar in the earlier episode.
I only have a few minor complaints. Irina's finale wasn't as well-rounded as it could have been. I buy that she always needed power, but ICBMs? That seemed a little extreme, even for her, and her softer side was completely eliminated in this episode, which I suppose was in character becuase her "softer side" in the past had still always been to further her own ends. I still felt something was missing. Though the fight between Syd and her mom was excellent, it was cliché for her to go after the artifact and die chasing it.
The other complaint was the travel/time factor. Okay, they always played fast and loose with travel realities. But how far is Ixtapa from LA? Seems like it would have been too far for Sloane to go from there to threaten Sydney and back there, and then for the APO team to get there in time to save Rachel and Marshall.
Oh, but back to the love! How awesome was Marshall? He always had that core of strength that he didn't usually have to test, but when it was tested, it was always diamond-hard. And then his gushes over Rachel's escape: "cool like Empire Strikes Back." He's always been the most consistent, most perfect character.
And Carrie! How awesome was she? God, seasons four and five would have been SO much better with her on the show instead of Nadia or Rachel.
Bottom line? Not tautly suspenseful like Prison Break, not mind-bending like Lost, but satisfying enough to make me happy, exciting enough to make me sad to see it go.
No major surprises with this finale, but then, how could there be? They'd kind of done them all. I would have been happier if they'd brought back Will for one final flashback, but oh, well, can't have it all.
I liked Nadia much better dead. LOL
I was going to be furious if Jack died. Especially after he was shot. I was prepared for a substandard revelation, like a non-dialogue scene where Sydney is told and collapses, or music-over montage of him being airlifted and undergoing CPR or something and dying that way.
But then, he didn't just die. He wasn't a victim. He went out on his own terms, taking Sloane with him (mostly--he hadn't resurfaced in that flash-forward, so I'm sure he was pinned there for eternity, quite fitting). So I couldn't be mad.
And they had the "I love you" moment that was so important to the arc of Syd and Jack's relationship that was the core of the whole show.
I loved that Isabelle was doing the puzzle at the end. Unsurprising, but it had to happen. I kinda wanted Sydney to see her doing it, but liked the mild suspense and foreboding and bittersweetness when she didn't.
I loved that they weren't completely out of the game, and that Sydney was the one being called back. She is the ultimate kick-a$$ heroine and always will be. True balance in that character. Heart and strength.
I loved that Sark reverted to a low-brow accent in the stress of being about to commit genocide, and that he was conflicted but said straight out that he just always wanted to wind up on the winning side. It was almost as good a moment as when Sydney hit him and smashed his face into the bar in the earlier episode.
I only have a few minor complaints. Irina's finale wasn't as well-rounded as it could have been. I buy that she always needed power, but ICBMs? That seemed a little extreme, even for her, and her softer side was completely eliminated in this episode, which I suppose was in character becuase her "softer side" in the past had still always been to further her own ends. I still felt something was missing. Though the fight between Syd and her mom was excellent, it was cliché for her to go after the artifact and die chasing it.
The other complaint was the travel/time factor. Okay, they always played fast and loose with travel realities. But how far is Ixtapa from LA? Seems like it would have been too far for Sloane to go from there to threaten Sydney and back there, and then for the APO team to get there in time to save Rachel and Marshall.
Oh, but back to the love! How awesome was Marshall? He always had that core of strength that he didn't usually have to test, but when it was tested, it was always diamond-hard. And then his gushes over Rachel's escape: "cool like Empire Strikes Back." He's always been the most consistent, most perfect character.
And Carrie! How awesome was she? God, seasons four and five would have been SO much better with her on the show instead of Nadia or Rachel.
Bottom line? Not tautly suspenseful like Prison Break, not mind-bending like Lost, but satisfying enough to make me happy, exciting enough to make me sad to see it go.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Tough PEOPLE
I hate generalizations. If someone makes a sweeping generalization with no qualifiers, I find myself arguing the opposing view, no matter how valid the generalization may be as a whole.
So tonight I was reading an article by Jacqui Wilson about "Tough Chicks: Heroines in Today's Market." It's an article that interested me more than a little, as I write tough chicks. And it was very well done.
But there was a "however" in there that bugged me. It talked about responsibility to not portray a heroine unrealistically, i.e. doing things that can't really be done. Because apparently, if I watch Sydney Bristow it will make me think I can do a tornado kick to the head.
*snort*
First, I resent the implication that I, or any of my readers, is stupid enough to read some action in a book and decide that even though I'm nothing like that heroine, I can do the same things without the training or specialized circumstances or, hey, the fictional world in which she's portrayed.
Secondly, I resent the implication that no man watching Tom Cruise dangle out of a speeding car would think he could do the same thing, but a woman watching Lara Croft rappel upside down from the top of a cliff would think "oh, hey, let's go do that on Saturday."
An author has a lot of responsibility to her reader. Thinking for her isn't one of them.
So tonight I was reading an article by Jacqui Wilson about "Tough Chicks: Heroines in Today's Market." It's an article that interested me more than a little, as I write tough chicks. And it was very well done.
But there was a "however" in there that bugged me. It talked about responsibility to not portray a heroine unrealistically, i.e. doing things that can't really be done. Because apparently, if I watch Sydney Bristow it will make me think I can do a tornado kick to the head.
*snort*
First, I resent the implication that I, or any of my readers, is stupid enough to read some action in a book and decide that even though I'm nothing like that heroine, I can do the same things without the training or specialized circumstances or, hey, the fictional world in which she's portrayed.
Secondly, I resent the implication that no man watching Tom Cruise dangle out of a speeding car would think he could do the same thing, but a woman watching Lara Croft rappel upside down from the top of a cliff would think "oh, hey, let's go do that on Saturday."
An author has a lot of responsibility to her reader. Thinking for her isn't one of them.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
The End of Alias
Tomorrow is the Alias series finale, and for any show that has a group of dedicated fans, those are very sad words.
For me, the appeal of the show can be summed up in one bit of a scene last week. Sydney was deep undercover, making contact with her boss/father. She asked where he was.
"I'm with Isabel."
Actually, he was standing in his impeccable suit, staring at his granddaughter as if she might be a spy from a rival agency.
"She's smiling. Apparently, I'm funny."
So much is said in those words. Jack Bristow is the most humorless character on the show, yet the way Victor Garber plays him cracks me up every week.
"She's never done that before. That's a first."
All the things Syd's missed out on in her life are in those few wistful words. She doesn't want to miss them the way her father did, and that's indicative of the heart her character brings. Sydney is such an effective warrior because she cares so much about everything and everyone.
"Of which there will be many."
Brisk yet tender, this line evokes the balance Jack and Sydney have sought in the last five seasons. They went from being people who ached for a relationship they'd never been able to build, despite their intense love, to a father and daughter who finally know who the other is. Now Jack is not only someone willing to DO anything for his family, but someone willing to SAY it, too.
The relationship between Syd and Vaughn has been the focus of much of the show and much fan discussion, and the outcry when Vaughn's character was removed was huge. But I assert that the show, which did suffer this season (not only from Vaughn's absence but also from the pregnancy, the addition of yet another whiny, ineffective female and a male we never got to know, and the loss of Weiss), would have been a disaster without Jack Bristow.
I tried to avoid spoilers about the finale, but I did catch one that seemed to be saying someone was going to die, and speculation that it might be Jack. I will be extremely disappointed if they pull a father sacrifice/deathbed declaration of love, especially if Jack is sacrificing himself instead of Vaughn. It was barely acceptable in Armageddon, eye-rolling in Poseidon, and will positively ruin the show if it ends Alias.
Feel free to post your own disagreements, elaborations, or other thoughts on this upcoming finale!
For me, the appeal of the show can be summed up in one bit of a scene last week. Sydney was deep undercover, making contact with her boss/father. She asked where he was.
"I'm with Isabel."
Actually, he was standing in his impeccable suit, staring at his granddaughter as if she might be a spy from a rival agency.
"She's smiling. Apparently, I'm funny."
So much is said in those words. Jack Bristow is the most humorless character on the show, yet the way Victor Garber plays him cracks me up every week.
"She's never done that before. That's a first."
All the things Syd's missed out on in her life are in those few wistful words. She doesn't want to miss them the way her father did, and that's indicative of the heart her character brings. Sydney is such an effective warrior because she cares so much about everything and everyone.
"Of which there will be many."
Brisk yet tender, this line evokes the balance Jack and Sydney have sought in the last five seasons. They went from being people who ached for a relationship they'd never been able to build, despite their intense love, to a father and daughter who finally know who the other is. Now Jack is not only someone willing to DO anything for his family, but someone willing to SAY it, too.
The relationship between Syd and Vaughn has been the focus of much of the show and much fan discussion, and the outcry when Vaughn's character was removed was huge. But I assert that the show, which did suffer this season (not only from Vaughn's absence but also from the pregnancy, the addition of yet another whiny, ineffective female and a male we never got to know, and the loss of Weiss), would have been a disaster without Jack Bristow.
I tried to avoid spoilers about the finale, but I did catch one that seemed to be saying someone was going to die, and speculation that it might be Jack. I will be extremely disappointed if they pull a father sacrifice/deathbed declaration of love, especially if Jack is sacrificing himself instead of Vaughn. It was barely acceptable in Armageddon, eye-rolling in Poseidon, and will positively ruin the show if it ends Alias.
Feel free to post your own disagreements, elaborations, or other thoughts on this upcoming finale!
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Keeping the Internet Equal
What is a more equalizing entity than the Internet?
Everyone has access to it, whether via home computers, laptops, mobile phones, library computers, cybercafés, schools--no matter who you are or how much money you have, there is a way you can use the Internet.
The Net is blind. It has no idea who you are when you access it. Pages load just as fast for you as for everyone else (everyone who is using the same technology, of course). No one sees your color or your gender or your spiked hair and lip ring. We can all, in the U.S., read the same information.
The blind part will always be true. The equality part may not. Major telecommunications companies are threatening the Internet as we know it. I recently signed a petition and contacted my senators. Here's a response from Rick Santorum, which describes the bill and its purpose very well:
As you may know, on March 2, 2006, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon introduced S. 2360, the Internet Nondiscrimination Act of 2006. This bill would prohibit the interfering with, blocking, degrading, altering, modifying or changing traffic on the Internet. S. 2360 would also prohibit the creation of a priority lane (tiered Internet system) where content providers can buy quicker access to customers, leaving those who do not pay the fee in the slow lane. The Internet Nondiscrimination Act of 2006 aims to ensure that network operators can continue to protect subscribers against unwanted spam, spyware, viruses, pornography and other programs. S. 2360 also provides provisions to help network operators respond to emergencies and court-ordered law enforcement needs.
S. 2360 has been referred to the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation. As I am not a member of this committee, I will not have the opportunity to vote on this bill in its current form. However, should this bill come before the full Senate for a vote, I will be sure to keep your views in mind.
That last line makes me mad, because it could be interpreted to mean "bills change by the time they get to the floor so I can't comment yet" but it could also be interpreted to mean "I'm against it."
Wanna learn more? Wanna get involved, so it doesn't take forever for this page to load because your neighbor is surfing Target and they paid?
Check out the Save the Internet Coalition, where you can see Moby and REM come out in support of the bill, and find easy ways to support it yourself.
Everyone has access to it, whether via home computers, laptops, mobile phones, library computers, cybercafés, schools--no matter who you are or how much money you have, there is a way you can use the Internet.
The Net is blind. It has no idea who you are when you access it. Pages load just as fast for you as for everyone else (everyone who is using the same technology, of course). No one sees your color or your gender or your spiked hair and lip ring. We can all, in the U.S., read the same information.
The blind part will always be true. The equality part may not. Major telecommunications companies are threatening the Internet as we know it. I recently signed a petition and contacted my senators. Here's a response from Rick Santorum, which describes the bill and its purpose very well:
As you may know, on March 2, 2006, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon introduced S. 2360, the Internet Nondiscrimination Act of 2006. This bill would prohibit the interfering with, blocking, degrading, altering, modifying or changing traffic on the Internet. S. 2360 would also prohibit the creation of a priority lane (tiered Internet system) where content providers can buy quicker access to customers, leaving those who do not pay the fee in the slow lane. The Internet Nondiscrimination Act of 2006 aims to ensure that network operators can continue to protect subscribers against unwanted spam, spyware, viruses, pornography and other programs. S. 2360 also provides provisions to help network operators respond to emergencies and court-ordered law enforcement needs.
S. 2360 has been referred to the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation. As I am not a member of this committee, I will not have the opportunity to vote on this bill in its current form. However, should this bill come before the full Senate for a vote, I will be sure to keep your views in mind.
That last line makes me mad, because it could be interpreted to mean "bills change by the time they get to the floor so I can't comment yet" but it could also be interpreted to mean "I'm against it."
Wanna learn more? Wanna get involved, so it doesn't take forever for this page to load because your neighbor is surfing Target and they paid?
Check out the Save the Internet Coalition, where you can see Moby and REM come out in support of the bill, and find easy ways to support it yourself.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
That's Why
I've been lucky. No one has ever asked me why I write trash, or when I'm going to write a real book, or pooh-poohed romance. The one time someone referred to romantic fiction as trash, she was expressing delight to find out that I write it.
But there's still, in the back of my mind, a part of me that feels a need to justify my choice of career. It's a frivolous career. It isn't a noble minimum-wage job I work hard at just to feed my kids. It's not a noble service career where I'm working hard at a low-paying job to help abused wives and children, or applying my medical prowess in countries ravaged by civil war. It's not even writing to expose the truths of human existence.
I write to entertain, and there is nothing more frivolous and meaningless than entertainment.
But is it, really?
I was just listening to The Signal, a podcast dedicated to getting more Firefly TV and/orSerenity movies made. The 5/3 episode contained a conversion story that is unique beyond bearing.
Most of us Browncoats have similar converstion stories. I missed most of the TV show because of Fox screwing around with the schedule and not airing the pilot and blah blah blah. I saw The Train Job when it aired in 2002 and The Message on the Sci Fi Channel right before the movie came out, and they were okay episodes. I saw the movie, and immediately, the next day, bought the TV show DVDs. I loaned them to friends after watching all the episodes but was sorry I did because I wanted to rewatch them, and that has never happened with any other TV show. I bought nine copies of Serenity when it came out on DVD and gave it as Christmas and birthday gifts, converting at least half of those people to Browncoats.
Anyway, this man on the podcast had a similar, though less immediate conversion. He was in the midst of it--had achieved movie fandom but hadn't watched more than the first episode of the TV show--when he got word his three-year-old niece was dying.
Through their vigil and in their subsequent grief, he shared Firefly with his middle-aged, Hispanic aunts and uncles when they needed relief from the unimaginable pain of watching a child die.
And that's why I write what I write. Sure, I want people to read my books even when their lives are happy and going well. I want to entertain purely for entertainment's sake. But I want to write books, too, that will help people of all ages and races escape from the stresses that life brings us. If I can ease one person's pain for one day...well, isn't that just as noble as feeding the poor?
But there's still, in the back of my mind, a part of me that feels a need to justify my choice of career. It's a frivolous career. It isn't a noble minimum-wage job I work hard at just to feed my kids. It's not a noble service career where I'm working hard at a low-paying job to help abused wives and children, or applying my medical prowess in countries ravaged by civil war. It's not even writing to expose the truths of human existence.
I write to entertain, and there is nothing more frivolous and meaningless than entertainment.
But is it, really?
I was just listening to The Signal, a podcast dedicated to getting more Firefly TV and/orSerenity movies made. The 5/3 episode contained a conversion story that is unique beyond bearing.
Most of us Browncoats have similar converstion stories. I missed most of the TV show because of Fox screwing around with the schedule and not airing the pilot and blah blah blah. I saw The Train Job when it aired in 2002 and The Message on the Sci Fi Channel right before the movie came out, and they were okay episodes. I saw the movie, and immediately, the next day, bought the TV show DVDs. I loaned them to friends after watching all the episodes but was sorry I did because I wanted to rewatch them, and that has never happened with any other TV show. I bought nine copies of Serenity when it came out on DVD and gave it as Christmas and birthday gifts, converting at least half of those people to Browncoats.
Anyway, this man on the podcast had a similar, though less immediate conversion. He was in the midst of it--had achieved movie fandom but hadn't watched more than the first episode of the TV show--when he got word his three-year-old niece was dying.
Through their vigil and in their subsequent grief, he shared Firefly with his middle-aged, Hispanic aunts and uncles when they needed relief from the unimaginable pain of watching a child die.
And that's why I write what I write. Sure, I want people to read my books even when their lives are happy and going well. I want to entertain purely for entertainment's sake. But I want to write books, too, that will help people of all ages and races escape from the stresses that life brings us. If I can ease one person's pain for one day...well, isn't that just as noble as feeding the poor?
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Double Feature
It's been a while since I got to a movie, so tonight I invoked Mother's Day Weekend priviledges and went to two.
WARNING: SPOILERS ABOUND
Let's start with the mild disappointment first.
I didn't have high expectations for Poseidon, and it was a good thing. The movie was actually really well done. The effects were nearly seamless, even though I knew most of the disaster was CGI. The tension was consistent, with a few breaks so we could breathe, followed by long sequences of urgency. There were enough deaths that you never knew what was going to happen, and with one exception, the acting was excellent.
Mia Maestro was the exception. Some of you are quite familiar with her as Nadia from Alias. She was even more annoying and worthless in this movie. It was the role she was given, and she played it fine. I just don't care for her, and the role combined with the way she acts was far too grating for me.
The problems with her role really hang on the major problem with the movie as a whole, and that was the writing. I wish big-flick producers, directors, and screenwriters would get that through their stupid heads. All the good acting and expensive effects in the world can't overcome a poor script.
And this one was poor. Every disaster movie cliché was present and accounted for, the biggest being the disapproving dad/defiant daughter/earnest fiancé triangle, which played out so exactly like the same triangle in Armageddon that for a minute I thought Emmy Rossum was Liv Tyler.
Then there were plot devices. The number of explosions got to be a bit much. The reactions of certain characters, particularly Josh Lucas's, over Mia Maestro's death were way unbelievable and out of character. At that point I started rolling my eyes a lot. Jacinda Barrett did a nice job as the single mom, but for some stupid, unexplained reason her son took off--despite clinging to her for the last 45 minutes of film and with no good reason--and got himself into a locked room with no way to get to him, which was totally impossible and ruined the drama of the moment, which again was a total cliché. Put the kid in jeopardy so the hero can be a Hero.
The most courageous performance was given by Fergie of the Black-Eyed Peas, who died with smeared, caked, ugly stage makeup that she probably would never ever EVER be seen in if she weren't getting paid for it.
Okay, now on to the good movie.
Have I ever mentioned that I worship at the altar of JJ Abrams?
The man is not without his missteps, of course, he's only human. But I just adore a man who can write kick-ass women so damned well. And believably. When Michelle Monaghan kicks ass at the end of M:I 3 (the first part of my double feature), it's very true to her character. She doesn't suddenly turn into Sydney Bristow.
Who I missed. In the beginning, when they did the frequently used Alias device of starting at the end and jumping backwards, and Tom Cruise was pleading with the bad guy, I longed for Syd's wryness, her "E. M. E. T. I. B. Now reverse it." But I got over it.
I'm not a fan of Tom Cruise. Not for years. But I do like the kinds of movies he does (War of the Worlds being the brightly glaring exception). I see them despite him, and I usually grudgingly admire his performance. He's a good actor who has just gone insane in real life. I can't appreciate his arrogance and stupidity in some of the things he's said and done over the last year, but he did a good job with this film.
M:I 3 was well worth seeing as long as you're not the kind of person who can't ever suspend his or her disbelief. There's a lot in this film that could never happen, but it's not ridiculous stuff. The story as a whole is pretty tight, with no glaring holes or issues. I was surprised by the twists, some more than others, and greatly amused by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ving Rhames. I loved Kerri Russell's role and wished it was bigger. Michelle Monaghan was far too creepily like Katie Holmes, but I got past that, too.
Some random thoughts:
Cool stunts. I want to do them.
Tom Cruise is the most amazing runner I've ever seen. He has this really straight-backed, machine-like movement, with flying arms and legs like pistons. No extraneous movement sideways or up and down. It's all oiled.
Jim, don't read the following paragraph, please, for the sake of our marriage
How hot is Jonathan Rhys Meyers? I'm moving Match Point to the top of my Netflix queue. I loved him in Bend it Like Beckham, with his gorgeous eyes and lilting accent, but he hasn't done much since. In this movie, he's pure melt-in-your-mouth beefcake. He beat Tom in the shirtless contest hands down.
Favorite line: "You did that? Huh." Or wow, or hm, or some innocuous word I can't remember. But it was a very nice touch.
Bottom line: Poseidon, C, save your money and Netflix it; M:I 3, A-, get there
WARNING: SPOILERS ABOUND
Let's start with the mild disappointment first.
I didn't have high expectations for Poseidon, and it was a good thing. The movie was actually really well done. The effects were nearly seamless, even though I knew most of the disaster was CGI. The tension was consistent, with a few breaks so we could breathe, followed by long sequences of urgency. There were enough deaths that you never knew what was going to happen, and with one exception, the acting was excellent.
Mia Maestro was the exception. Some of you are quite familiar with her as Nadia from Alias. She was even more annoying and worthless in this movie. It was the role she was given, and she played it fine. I just don't care for her, and the role combined with the way she acts was far too grating for me.
The problems with her role really hang on the major problem with the movie as a whole, and that was the writing. I wish big-flick producers, directors, and screenwriters would get that through their stupid heads. All the good acting and expensive effects in the world can't overcome a poor script.
And this one was poor. Every disaster movie cliché was present and accounted for, the biggest being the disapproving dad/defiant daughter/earnest fiancé triangle, which played out so exactly like the same triangle in Armageddon that for a minute I thought Emmy Rossum was Liv Tyler.
Then there were plot devices. The number of explosions got to be a bit much. The reactions of certain characters, particularly Josh Lucas's, over Mia Maestro's death were way unbelievable and out of character. At that point I started rolling my eyes a lot. Jacinda Barrett did a nice job as the single mom, but for some stupid, unexplained reason her son took off--despite clinging to her for the last 45 minutes of film and with no good reason--and got himself into a locked room with no way to get to him, which was totally impossible and ruined the drama of the moment, which again was a total cliché. Put the kid in jeopardy so the hero can be a Hero.
The most courageous performance was given by Fergie of the Black-Eyed Peas, who died with smeared, caked, ugly stage makeup that she probably would never ever EVER be seen in if she weren't getting paid for it.
Okay, now on to the good movie.
Have I ever mentioned that I worship at the altar of JJ Abrams?
The man is not without his missteps, of course, he's only human. But I just adore a man who can write kick-ass women so damned well. And believably. When Michelle Monaghan kicks ass at the end of M:I 3 (the first part of my double feature), it's very true to her character. She doesn't suddenly turn into Sydney Bristow.
Who I missed. In the beginning, when they did the frequently used Alias device of starting at the end and jumping backwards, and Tom Cruise was pleading with the bad guy, I longed for Syd's wryness, her "E. M. E. T. I. B. Now reverse it." But I got over it.
I'm not a fan of Tom Cruise. Not for years. But I do like the kinds of movies he does (War of the Worlds being the brightly glaring exception). I see them despite him, and I usually grudgingly admire his performance. He's a good actor who has just gone insane in real life. I can't appreciate his arrogance and stupidity in some of the things he's said and done over the last year, but he did a good job with this film.
M:I 3 was well worth seeing as long as you're not the kind of person who can't ever suspend his or her disbelief. There's a lot in this film that could never happen, but it's not ridiculous stuff. The story as a whole is pretty tight, with no glaring holes or issues. I was surprised by the twists, some more than others, and greatly amused by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ving Rhames. I loved Kerri Russell's role and wished it was bigger. Michelle Monaghan was far too creepily like Katie Holmes, but I got past that, too.
Some random thoughts:
Cool stunts. I want to do them.
Tom Cruise is the most amazing runner I've ever seen. He has this really straight-backed, machine-like movement, with flying arms and legs like pistons. No extraneous movement sideways or up and down. It's all oiled.
Jim, don't read the following paragraph, please, for the sake of our marriage
How hot is Jonathan Rhys Meyers? I'm moving Match Point to the top of my Netflix queue. I loved him in Bend it Like Beckham, with his gorgeous eyes and lilting accent, but he hasn't done much since. In this movie, he's pure melt-in-your-mouth beefcake. He beat Tom in the shirtless contest hands down.
Favorite line: "You did that? Huh." Or wow, or hm, or some innocuous word I can't remember. But it was a very nice touch.
Bottom line: Poseidon, C, save your money and Netflix it; M:I 3, A-, get there
Friday, May 12, 2006
12 of 12
I read this guy's blog, and he came up with this cool idea where he has people take 12 photos on the 12th of each month and post them, and then he links to us. This is my first time doing it, and thought it a good idea given that it's my last 12th at my current job. Next month I'll post what my new job as a full-time fiction author looks like. (Speaking of lives changing, congratulations to Chad Darnell for landing his dream job!)
Blogger's driving me nuts, it uploaded all my photos out of order, and their movement is not cooperative. So here's my day in a jumble:
The long walk to bed. I dread taking it.
My writing buddy.
The view from my desk, around noon
NOT my self-portrait. I crashed hard against a wall, after a rug slid out from under me, around 4:40 this afternoon. This was taken about 4:42. Look NEXT to the picture, and you can see the nasty bruise better on my pasty shin.
Any day I get copies of my books is a good day.
6:00 p.m. soccer game with kindergarteners and first-graders. Always pure entertainment (and my kid, second from right, scored three goals)
I love 7:15 p.m. in the spring. Driving with the moonroof open. Bliss.
My morning commute. I took this to make Chad jealous, 'cause he's in LA and I doubt most of his highways ever look like this.
The crystal clock was a wedding gift, so even though it's clearly broken, I can't get rid of it.
What I take to work.
First duty, when the animal-feeding-in-the-morning kid is on her class trip to Williamsburg.
I loved this image, with the dew on the flower. Might make it my new desktop image.
Self-portrait, 'cause I painted my toenails this morning to match my shoes, and as my youngest said, "that's just not like you."
Blogger's driving me nuts, it uploaded all my photos out of order, and their movement is not cooperative. So here's my day in a jumble:
The long walk to bed. I dread taking it.
My writing buddy.
The view from my desk, around noon
NOT my self-portrait. I crashed hard against a wall, after a rug slid out from under me, around 4:40 this afternoon. This was taken about 4:42. Look NEXT to the picture, and you can see the nasty bruise better on my pasty shin.
Any day I get copies of my books is a good day.
6:00 p.m. soccer game with kindergarteners and first-graders. Always pure entertainment (and my kid, second from right, scored three goals)
I love 7:15 p.m. in the spring. Driving with the moonroof open. Bliss.
My morning commute. I took this to make Chad jealous, 'cause he's in LA and I doubt most of his highways ever look like this.
The crystal clock was a wedding gift, so even though it's clearly broken, I can't get rid of it.
What I take to work.
First duty, when the animal-feeding-in-the-morning kid is on her class trip to Williamsburg.
I loved this image, with the dew on the flower. Might make it my new desktop image.
Self-portrait, 'cause I painted my toenails this morning to match my shoes, and as my youngest said, "that's just not like you."
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
OMG I'M SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Remember back here when I posted that my TiVo screwed up and didn't record Prison Break? Apparently, no one cares about the suffering I go through when an obsession is interrupted.
Remember when I called Fox The Big Screw-Up Network? I totally take it back. They still get to keep the name for their treatment of Firefly, which is paying them back for their betrayal by being their #5 DVD title for the first quarter of 2006, two and a half years after it was released. So there.
Well, one obsession has fed another. While reading Whedonesque, a Joss Whedon (creator of Firefly) web log, it mentioned that Firefly episodes are now available on iTunes.
'Cause Fox is now participating in iTunes.
YAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
I actually screamed. I am now the proud owner of "Tonight," the episode of Prison Break that I missed. Which I can't watch tonight because I have to get up at 4:45 tomorrow morning and should have been in bed an hour ago. But I'm TOTALLY there tomorrow night. Or here. In front of my computer. Watching TV. Heh.
Are two totallys in one blog post too many?
Remember when I called Fox The Big Screw-Up Network? I totally take it back. They still get to keep the name for their treatment of Firefly, which is paying them back for their betrayal by being their #5 DVD title for the first quarter of 2006, two and a half years after it was released. So there.
Well, one obsession has fed another. While reading Whedonesque, a Joss Whedon (creator of Firefly) web log, it mentioned that Firefly episodes are now available on iTunes.
'Cause Fox is now participating in iTunes.
YAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
I actually screamed. I am now the proud owner of "Tonight," the episode of Prison Break that I missed. Which I can't watch tonight because I have to get up at 4:45 tomorrow morning and should have been in bed an hour ago. But I'm TOTALLY there tomorrow night. Or here. In front of my computer. Watching TV. Heh.
Are two totallys in one blog post too many?
Monday, May 08, 2006
Music Dork
I'm a music dork.
Not a music geek, which would be someone with a strong interest in music and a freaky ability to name that tune AND the artist AND the album in six notes or less. Or whatever.
No, I'm a music dork in that I like some songs, and may or may not know who sings them, and I own a few CDs, and that's it. I don't recognize titles when people say them (or post them on their blogs), even though they are probably songs that cycle through my head all night.
I have an iPod, but probably 75% of the memory is non-music: podcasts and audiobooks. Much of the music is movie soundtracks, especially scores with no lyrics. I was listening on Shuffle this morning and thought it would be amusing to share a sample of what's on my iPod:
Save Me, Remy Zero, Smallville: The Talon
This song was my constant companion through February and March. Couldn't get it out of my head. Maybe because of the four episodes of Smallville I was watching every night.
Anduril, Howard Shore, The Lord of the Rings: The REturn of the King
I own all three soundtracks, probably the first instrumental ones I ever bought. LOTR, as many of you know, was my first BIG obsession.
It'll All Work Out, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Elizabethtown, music from the movie
I didn't know how much I liked Tom Petty until this soundtrack.
C Roll, Nancy Wilson, Elizabethtown original movie soundtrack
Nancy Wilson is the wife of Cameron Crowe, writer/director of Elizabethtown, and formerly of the band Heart. But that's not me being a music geek. That's me being a movie geek.
Telephone Waltz, Nancy Wilson, Elizabethtown
Hm. I don't like it when it doesn't shuffle more variously. Let's move on.
Don't Be Stupid (You Know I Love You), Shania Twain, Come On Over
My one and only country album. I hate country, except Shania Twain. And an occasional individual tune that's catchy.
Going For A Ride, David Newman, Serenity
This is from the second sequence in the movie Serenity, and it's very evocative, as all the music on this soundtrack is.
Song Sung Blue, Neil Diamond Collection
There you go. Proof. Total dork.
Big Bar Fight, Greg Edmonson, Firefly Original TV Compilation
This is from the digital downloads Fox sold last fall in response to Browncoat demand. I have not yet bought the actual CD, which has additional music.
Bad Day, Daniel Powter, Daniel Powter
No idea where I got this one. Maybe a freebie from iTunes song of the week.
The interesting thing is that when I did Shuffle this morning, I got a Signal podcast and a piece of a Harry Potter book, and this time, I got duplicates of songs from the same albums, and some songs that I already listened to this morning. I don't use shuffle all that often, but if it is going to be this repetitive, I guess I won't!
So, how dorky are you?
Not a music geek, which would be someone with a strong interest in music and a freaky ability to name that tune AND the artist AND the album in six notes or less. Or whatever.
No, I'm a music dork in that I like some songs, and may or may not know who sings them, and I own a few CDs, and that's it. I don't recognize titles when people say them (or post them on their blogs), even though they are probably songs that cycle through my head all night.
I have an iPod, but probably 75% of the memory is non-music: podcasts and audiobooks. Much of the music is movie soundtracks, especially scores with no lyrics. I was listening on Shuffle this morning and thought it would be amusing to share a sample of what's on my iPod:
Save Me, Remy Zero, Smallville: The Talon
This song was my constant companion through February and March. Couldn't get it out of my head. Maybe because of the four episodes of Smallville I was watching every night.
Anduril, Howard Shore, The Lord of the Rings: The REturn of the King
I own all three soundtracks, probably the first instrumental ones I ever bought. LOTR, as many of you know, was my first BIG obsession.
It'll All Work Out, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Elizabethtown, music from the movie
I didn't know how much I liked Tom Petty until this soundtrack.
C Roll, Nancy Wilson, Elizabethtown original movie soundtrack
Nancy Wilson is the wife of Cameron Crowe, writer/director of Elizabethtown, and formerly of the band Heart. But that's not me being a music geek. That's me being a movie geek.
Telephone Waltz, Nancy Wilson, Elizabethtown
Hm. I don't like it when it doesn't shuffle more variously. Let's move on.
Don't Be Stupid (You Know I Love You), Shania Twain, Come On Over
My one and only country album. I hate country, except Shania Twain. And an occasional individual tune that's catchy.
Going For A Ride, David Newman, Serenity
This is from the second sequence in the movie Serenity, and it's very evocative, as all the music on this soundtrack is.
Song Sung Blue, Neil Diamond Collection
There you go. Proof. Total dork.
Big Bar Fight, Greg Edmonson, Firefly Original TV Compilation
This is from the digital downloads Fox sold last fall in response to Browncoat demand. I have not yet bought the actual CD, which has additional music.
Bad Day, Daniel Powter, Daniel Powter
No idea where I got this one. Maybe a freebie from iTunes song of the week.
The interesting thing is that when I did Shuffle this morning, I got a Signal podcast and a piece of a Harry Potter book, and this time, I got duplicates of songs from the same albums, and some songs that I already listened to this morning. I don't use shuffle all that often, but if it is going to be this repetitive, I guess I won't!
So, how dorky are you?
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Let Them Drink Milk
They were talking on the radio this morning about how Coke and Pepsi have apparently agreed not to sell sugared sodas in about 87% of the country's public and private schools. But they will still sell diet sodas and "juices" (that are usually sugar water) and bottled waters.
One of the personalities said, "well, they have to drink something."
Excuse me?
Hel-LO! Water fountain! That's all I had growing up, and all I needed. Except the MILK they sold at lunch.
One of them said, "shouldn't it be up to the kids?"
Obviously, he's the one who doesn't have any kids.
My children rarely drink soda, and when they do, it's non-caffeinated. My oldest starts middle school next year, where they do have vending machines, and do I believe for a minute that she won't choose to drink Coke if it's available? Not even for a second.
She'll make the same choices I did when I was her age. I hated the school lunches, so I bought Fritos on credit on the way home instead. My mother used to talk about how I'd have a bowl of broccoli for my afternoon snack--that's because I felt so guilty about eating junk all day. The only reason I wasn't as fat then as I am now is because I walked two miles to and from school every single day.
We do all we can, as good parents, to teach our kids which choices are the good ones. They won't always make them, especially when the consequences are so far down the line, they haven't even lived that long yet. So please. Keep the vending machines away.
One of the personalities said, "well, they have to drink something."
Excuse me?
Hel-LO! Water fountain! That's all I had growing up, and all I needed. Except the MILK they sold at lunch.
One of them said, "shouldn't it be up to the kids?"
Obviously, he's the one who doesn't have any kids.
My children rarely drink soda, and when they do, it's non-caffeinated. My oldest starts middle school next year, where they do have vending machines, and do I believe for a minute that she won't choose to drink Coke if it's available? Not even for a second.
She'll make the same choices I did when I was her age. I hated the school lunches, so I bought Fritos on credit on the way home instead. My mother used to talk about how I'd have a bowl of broccoli for my afternoon snack--that's because I felt so guilty about eating junk all day. The only reason I wasn't as fat then as I am now is because I walked two miles to and from school every single day.
We do all we can, as good parents, to teach our kids which choices are the good ones. They won't always make them, especially when the consequences are so far down the line, they haven't even lived that long yet. So please. Keep the vending machines away.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
It's a HOLY CRAP night all the way
First, Alias.
Didn't blow me away the way Chad Darnell said it would. But Sloane killing Nadia accidentally was a surprise. I was more interested in the glow of the Rambaldi symbol on page 47 right before he yanked it from the fire. But I knew he had to go evil again--fully evil, not justifiably motivated by the love of his daughter. He's gonna die.
So then Rene gets killed, and that was a bummer. I'd just been thinking how much I liked her, and how I wished they'd do another season because Tom is just growing on me, and Rene is cool, and I want Will back one episode wasn't enough how can they do that to me.
But THEN.
Holy crap.
Lost. Didn't see it coming. Not a whit. Loved that Ana Lucia got herself a piece of Sawyer, Mr. Lounging Like a Playgirl Model (not that I know what a Playgirl model would look like). But oooohhhhhh, Michael! How could you kill Ana Lucia!
I guess now we know why it was no big deal for Michelle Rodriguez to turn herself in for a jail sentence.
So I'm sitting there with my mouth hanging open, going "Holy F***ing Crap" over and over, and Libby walks in to see Michael with the gun--and then SHE gets blown away!
And Michael shoots himself in the arm!
Anyone who believes Michael is not acting under the instructions of the Others, please stand up. Now go away. You're not worthy of the show.
It's obvious he's under orders or something. Walt's being threatened, or they told him they'd let him go or something, if he tells this really fake story about what the Others' camp is like and who is there, and does whatever he has to do. I thought something was odd about the way he launched right into his "I found them" tale as soon as he woke up. And given what we've seen and heard in past shows, I knew his story was off. But I thought maybe they'd misled him.
They say "she's dead" in the previews, so maybe Libby can make it. Maybe the blanket deflects the bullets enough that her vital organs aren't too damaged or something. Poor Hurley.
Oh, speaking of shocking shows. My TiVo went on the fritz and didn't record Prison Break, and since Fox is still The Big Screw-Up Network and is not associated with iTunes, I can't get the May 1 episode. Anyone who has it recorded and would be willing to send it to me, please let me know. I'll pay for the tape and shipping, of course.
And now, a moment of silence for the four deaths and the impending end of the TV season...
Didn't blow me away the way Chad Darnell said it would. But Sloane killing Nadia accidentally was a surprise. I was more interested in the glow of the Rambaldi symbol on page 47 right before he yanked it from the fire. But I knew he had to go evil again--fully evil, not justifiably motivated by the love of his daughter. He's gonna die.
So then Rene gets killed, and that was a bummer. I'd just been thinking how much I liked her, and how I wished they'd do another season because Tom is just growing on me, and Rene is cool, and I want Will back one episode wasn't enough how can they do that to me.
But THEN.
Holy crap.
Lost. Didn't see it coming. Not a whit. Loved that Ana Lucia got herself a piece of Sawyer, Mr. Lounging Like a Playgirl Model (not that I know what a Playgirl model would look like). But oooohhhhhh, Michael! How could you kill Ana Lucia!
I guess now we know why it was no big deal for Michelle Rodriguez to turn herself in for a jail sentence.
So I'm sitting there with my mouth hanging open, going "Holy F***ing Crap" over and over, and Libby walks in to see Michael with the gun--and then SHE gets blown away!
And Michael shoots himself in the arm!
Anyone who believes Michael is not acting under the instructions of the Others, please stand up. Now go away. You're not worthy of the show.
It's obvious he's under orders or something. Walt's being threatened, or they told him they'd let him go or something, if he tells this really fake story about what the Others' camp is like and who is there, and does whatever he has to do. I thought something was odd about the way he launched right into his "I found them" tale as soon as he woke up. And given what we've seen and heard in past shows, I knew his story was off. But I thought maybe they'd misled him.
They say "she's dead" in the previews, so maybe Libby can make it. Maybe the blanket deflects the bullets enough that her vital organs aren't too damaged or something. Poor Hurley.
Oh, speaking of shocking shows. My TiVo went on the fritz and didn't record Prison Break, and since Fox is still The Big Screw-Up Network and is not associated with iTunes, I can't get the May 1 episode. Anyone who has it recorded and would be willing to send it to me, please let me know. I'll pay for the tape and shipping, of course.
And now, a moment of silence for the four deaths and the impending end of the TV season...
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Embarrassment
I'm revising a book for about the third or fourth time. I wrote it targeting Bombshell (one revision on initial creation), then rewrote it as a single title (full revision, then read-through). It was rejected by the agent to whom I submitted it, but revisions were suggested so I did those. Now I'm doing the final read-through to make sure those revisions flow and are consistent.
And oh, lord, the typos.
I pride myself on clean copy. When I proof my galleys, I tend to find only a couple of errors, and usually they're not typographical. So I'm mortified at feel instead of fell, and the extra "the" and way too many more.
"So what?" you say. You're proofing now. No one saw those.
Yeah, you'd think. But no, these errors all seem to be in text that existed in the very initial form of the manuscript. No WONDER it keeps getting rejected!
And oh, lord, the typos.
I pride myself on clean copy. When I proof my galleys, I tend to find only a couple of errors, and usually they're not typographical. So I'm mortified at feel instead of fell, and the extra "the" and way too many more.
"So what?" you say. You're proofing now. No one saw those.
Yeah, you'd think. But no, these errors all seem to be in text that existed in the very initial form of the manuscript. No WONDER it keeps getting rejected!
Thursday, April 27, 2006
20 Things I Know About My Writing
Mary said "Now You" so I'm taking my turn. It's a pseudo-tag. :)
1. I don't have a process. Each book gets written a different way.
2. I'm the Queen of the two-book trilogy. Reference:
Against the Rules, Second Chance at Forever, and about 10 pages of a book never completed and now never going to be completed
Soul of the Dragon, Soulflight, and 1/3 of the third book in the series, incomplete because the first book hasn't sold yet
Kira's Best Friend, Sophie's Playboy, and now Brianna's Navy SEAL kicking my you-know-what so hard it may never be finished.
3. My narrative often starts out pretentious, mainly because I'm trying not to sound like everyone else. It gets its ego popped in rewrite.
4. Dialogue is a strength. At least, people used to tell me that, and I evaluated and decided they were right. Since then, no one has told me that.
5. I may be getting the emotional thing, finally. But then again... Many of my rejections used to say the story lacked emotion, and my critique partner used to write all over the place, "what is she feeling here?" She doesn't say that anymore, mainly because she doesn't critique me anymore. Too busy.
6. I love love love action-adventure romance (as Bombshell calls it) or romantic adventure (as St. Martin's labels the Crusie/Mayer collaborative results). I was writing it YEARS before it hit the mainstream romance market. Rare plug: My first published adventure romance, Black Widow, will be released by Inara Press later this year!
7. I am happiest with a book when I write it fast. When other commitments or fatigue or daunting revisions interfere with my productivity, the book as a whole suffers.
8. Criticism and praise, failure and success, get equal treatment from me. A strong emotional reaction (good or bad), with immediate swing back to baseline. Because the rejections and bad reviews are unavoidable, the contest finals (Kira's Best Friend finaled in the More Than Magic contest!) and good reviews and nice e-mails from readers are necessary.
9. Whenever I take a left-brain/right-brain or personality test, I come out almost exactly even between creative and analytical. Obviously writing is my creative outlet. Spreadsheets are my analytical application to my writing. I have a spreadsheet for each book, with a worksheet for characters and their details, a worksheet to keep track of chapter length, etc. I also use the Kresley Cole tracker that she and her husband designed that keeps track not only of how much you've written, but how much you have left to do, and how much you have to do each day to make your deadline. I do spreadsheets for a basic to-do list and a all/winter/spring/summer/total writing plan to keep track of my productivity on multiple projects.
10. I write a lot of characters. Hence the worksheet listing characters.
11. I like hard-sounding names. A high number of my heroes and heroines have names starting with R, K, or M. I'm branching out into S and D names. I'm not talking about stuff like Ryxanstulpx or anything. More like Rogan and Kennedy. Even my non-R/K/M names have hard sounds in the middle, like Alexis.
12. I get bored easily, so I write complicated plots.
13. I'm a pacifist. Kind of. I can make people fight, but I can't kill anyone. Well, that's not true. People die in Black Widow. But I have a hard time killing important, good-guy characters. I've half decided that will be my thing. Romantic adventure that's safe. LOL You won't find "I'm a leaf on the--" stuff in my books.
14. I hate writing longhand. But when an idea has been percolating for a while, or I'm working on the next stage of a book in my head, it often surges forth when longhand is all I can do. So I have random slips of paper all over my office about different projects.
15. Despite my analytical nature, I am terrible at keeping my book materials organized. I do not have boxes or binders full of my manuscripts and all support materials. About as close as I come is individual files on my computer and the published books on the shelf.
16. I have two muses. One is a wooden frog standing on his hind legs, "hands" on his belly, looking at me askance. He's Frank, and he's for my non-paranormal books/stories. The other is Merlin, beard flying, staff raised, ready to work some heavy magic on my brain. He's obviously for the paranormal stuff.
17. I write to near-exact page count. I target 320 pages--I hit 320 pages. I target 400 pages--that's what I hit. Occasionally I go two pages under or five pages over, but I'm very good at hitting the target right on.
18. My endings sneak up on me. Even though I know it's close, and I know what needs to be written to finish, I always think it will take another day or two and then suddenly...it's done.
19. I have written...geez. A lot. Check it out:
16 short stories and novellas that are published or about to be published, plus one that's available on my web site for free (check out the home page), plus a few others that didn't go anywhere (even a couple of confessions!).
11 complete novels, 7 of which I have sold for publication
5 official partials (a synopsis and 3 chapters) which have not garnered interest or been shopped yet
6 started novels, 3 of which will never go anywhere, one that should achieve publication by next year at least, and two waiting their turns.
20. Even with all of that...it's not nearly enough.
1. I don't have a process. Each book gets written a different way.
2. I'm the Queen of the two-book trilogy. Reference:
Against the Rules, Second Chance at Forever, and about 10 pages of a book never completed and now never going to be completed
Soul of the Dragon, Soulflight, and 1/3 of the third book in the series, incomplete because the first book hasn't sold yet
Kira's Best Friend, Sophie's Playboy, and now Brianna's Navy SEAL kicking my you-know-what so hard it may never be finished.
3. My narrative often starts out pretentious, mainly because I'm trying not to sound like everyone else. It gets its ego popped in rewrite.
4. Dialogue is a strength. At least, people used to tell me that, and I evaluated and decided they were right. Since then, no one has told me that.
5. I may be getting the emotional thing, finally. But then again... Many of my rejections used to say the story lacked emotion, and my critique partner used to write all over the place, "what is she feeling here?" She doesn't say that anymore, mainly because she doesn't critique me anymore. Too busy.
6. I love love love action-adventure romance (as Bombshell calls it) or romantic adventure (as St. Martin's labels the Crusie/Mayer collaborative results). I was writing it YEARS before it hit the mainstream romance market. Rare plug: My first published adventure romance, Black Widow, will be released by Inara Press later this year!
7. I am happiest with a book when I write it fast. When other commitments or fatigue or daunting revisions interfere with my productivity, the book as a whole suffers.
8. Criticism and praise, failure and success, get equal treatment from me. A strong emotional reaction (good or bad), with immediate swing back to baseline. Because the rejections and bad reviews are unavoidable, the contest finals (Kira's Best Friend finaled in the More Than Magic contest!) and good reviews and nice e-mails from readers are necessary.
9. Whenever I take a left-brain/right-brain or personality test, I come out almost exactly even between creative and analytical. Obviously writing is my creative outlet. Spreadsheets are my analytical application to my writing. I have a spreadsheet for each book, with a worksheet for characters and their details, a worksheet to keep track of chapter length, etc. I also use the Kresley Cole tracker that she and her husband designed that keeps track not only of how much you've written, but how much you have left to do, and how much you have to do each day to make your deadline. I do spreadsheets for a basic to-do list and a all/winter/spring/summer/total writing plan to keep track of my productivity on multiple projects.
10. I write a lot of characters. Hence the worksheet listing characters.
11. I like hard-sounding names. A high number of my heroes and heroines have names starting with R, K, or M. I'm branching out into S and D names. I'm not talking about stuff like Ryxanstulpx or anything. More like Rogan and Kennedy. Even my non-R/K/M names have hard sounds in the middle, like Alexis.
12. I get bored easily, so I write complicated plots.
13. I'm a pacifist. Kind of. I can make people fight, but I can't kill anyone. Well, that's not true. People die in Black Widow. But I have a hard time killing important, good-guy characters. I've half decided that will be my thing. Romantic adventure that's safe. LOL You won't find "I'm a leaf on the--" stuff in my books.
14. I hate writing longhand. But when an idea has been percolating for a while, or I'm working on the next stage of a book in my head, it often surges forth when longhand is all I can do. So I have random slips of paper all over my office about different projects.
15. Despite my analytical nature, I am terrible at keeping my book materials organized. I do not have boxes or binders full of my manuscripts and all support materials. About as close as I come is individual files on my computer and the published books on the shelf.
16. I have two muses. One is a wooden frog standing on his hind legs, "hands" on his belly, looking at me askance. He's Frank, and he's for my non-paranormal books/stories. The other is Merlin, beard flying, staff raised, ready to work some heavy magic on my brain. He's obviously for the paranormal stuff.
17. I write to near-exact page count. I target 320 pages--I hit 320 pages. I target 400 pages--that's what I hit. Occasionally I go two pages under or five pages over, but I'm very good at hitting the target right on.
18. My endings sneak up on me. Even though I know it's close, and I know what needs to be written to finish, I always think it will take another day or two and then suddenly...it's done.
19. I have written...geez. A lot. Check it out:
16 short stories and novellas that are published or about to be published, plus one that's available on my web site for free (check out the home page), plus a few others that didn't go anywhere (even a couple of confessions!).
11 complete novels, 7 of which I have sold for publication
5 official partials (a synopsis and 3 chapters) which have not garnered interest or been shopped yet
6 started novels, 3 of which will never go anywhere, one that should achieve publication by next year at least, and two waiting their turns.
20. Even with all of that...it's not nearly enough.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Be Careful of Living the Dream
Crusie/Mayer, deep in the throes of a long, exhausting book tour, have been posting about the pros (meeting wonderful people, selling lots of books) and cons (exhaustion, being together too much, being ill) of their success. There is a statement/response they keep making that is very funny in context:
Him: "Living the Dream."
Her: "Bite me."
The woman who writes the blog at amalah.com has an infant son and just decided to quit her job, pull him from day care, and be a working-at-home mother (WAHM). She's been posting about the comments she's been getting, and how most of them seem to be giving her backhanded compliments that imply she was a Devil Mother for not making that decision in the first place.
At Ciar Cullen's blog, her MIL is doing fun psychic readings. I asked if the upcoming big change regarding my writing career and family life will be what I hope it to be. She said "Madam Philomena says you already know the answer to this question (sorry, I hate those answers too). The changes will be what you make of them, and you control how you see them. If you choose joy, the outcome will be joyous. *Philomena wants to understand why you are not comfortable embracing your own successes. She suggests you do so externally (for show), but aren't internalizing your true accomplishments. Only when you admit you are a success to yourself will you find peace."
I know there are people out there who have unrealistic expectations. Or maybe they're incomplete expectations. They want something, and think when they get it life will be perfect, but then they DO get it and they find everything is not all wonder and joy. There are bad things. Not fun things. It's just as hard as it was before.
I'm not one of those people. I know that come June 8 (well, June 12, I'm giving myself the weekend to celebrate!), it will be all up to me to make sure my choices lead to success. I know there will be hard work involved, and some things that are not fun, or not enjoyable. My writing career is no different than any other career. All careers have pros and cons. They all have stressors. But THIS career gives me more fulfillment than any other. There's more reward than a paycheck every two weeks. So I'm more than willing to take on those cons. I know they're there, and they won't suprise me.
I'm making this choice, to be home with my kids and be a full-time writer, because it's smart, not because society says it's better. Logistics allow it, and make it more attractive than continuing to work in the job I'm working in. See my previous post about my kids--being in day care has done them not ONE iota of harm. They've probably been MUCH better off not being with me full time. I know I have been.
*It's funny that Madame Philomena would say this. The "reading" is done all in fun, but this is pretty insightful. I just found out today that Kira's Best Friend is a finalist in the More Than Magic contest. My first response was excitement (well, actually, my first response was dumbfoundedness, because I forgot I entered). Then I checked out my talented co-finalists, and decided this is as far as I'll go. I don't expect to win.
So is that the same thing? Am I uncomfortable embracing my successes? I always just considered myself a pragmatist. I love my successes. I hug them and squeeze them and love them and call them George. And then I set them on a shelf and seek the next one, while explaining why the success is not such a Big Deal.
Maybe part of it is that pseudo-Catholic upbringing that taught me you don't toot your own horn, you hide your light under a bushel, you don't brag, you don't boast (yeah, I like TOAST!--sorry, unless you listen to a lot of drive-time radio, you won't get that part). I'm certain that part of it is pragmatism, though. I am content with this success, and the success that will be mine on June 8, and all that will come after.
But I don't think striving for more success and being content are mutually exclusive. I'll always be striving for bigger and better successes that give me more of what I want, both materially (I must have NFL Sunday Ticket!) and personally (the joy of writing is purely internal, as is the joy of recognition of that writing).
I guess what I'm trying to say is: Bring me that Dream. I can take it.
Him: "Living the Dream."
Her: "Bite me."
The woman who writes the blog at amalah.com has an infant son and just decided to quit her job, pull him from day care, and be a working-at-home mother (WAHM). She's been posting about the comments she's been getting, and how most of them seem to be giving her backhanded compliments that imply she was a Devil Mother for not making that decision in the first place.
At Ciar Cullen's blog, her MIL is doing fun psychic readings. I asked if the upcoming big change regarding my writing career and family life will be what I hope it to be. She said "Madam Philomena says you already know the answer to this question (sorry, I hate those answers too). The changes will be what you make of them, and you control how you see them. If you choose joy, the outcome will be joyous. *Philomena wants to understand why you are not comfortable embracing your own successes. She suggests you do so externally (for show), but aren't internalizing your true accomplishments. Only when you admit you are a success to yourself will you find peace."
I know there are people out there who have unrealistic expectations. Or maybe they're incomplete expectations. They want something, and think when they get it life will be perfect, but then they DO get it and they find everything is not all wonder and joy. There are bad things. Not fun things. It's just as hard as it was before.
I'm not one of those people. I know that come June 8 (well, June 12, I'm giving myself the weekend to celebrate!), it will be all up to me to make sure my choices lead to success. I know there will be hard work involved, and some things that are not fun, or not enjoyable. My writing career is no different than any other career. All careers have pros and cons. They all have stressors. But THIS career gives me more fulfillment than any other. There's more reward than a paycheck every two weeks. So I'm more than willing to take on those cons. I know they're there, and they won't suprise me.
I'm making this choice, to be home with my kids and be a full-time writer, because it's smart, not because society says it's better. Logistics allow it, and make it more attractive than continuing to work in the job I'm working in. See my previous post about my kids--being in day care has done them not ONE iota of harm. They've probably been MUCH better off not being with me full time. I know I have been.
*It's funny that Madame Philomena would say this. The "reading" is done all in fun, but this is pretty insightful. I just found out today that Kira's Best Friend is a finalist in the More Than Magic contest. My first response was excitement (well, actually, my first response was dumbfoundedness, because I forgot I entered). Then I checked out my talented co-finalists, and decided this is as far as I'll go. I don't expect to win.
So is that the same thing? Am I uncomfortable embracing my successes? I always just considered myself a pragmatist. I love my successes. I hug them and squeeze them and love them and call them George. And then I set them on a shelf and seek the next one, while explaining why the success is not such a Big Deal.
Maybe part of it is that pseudo-Catholic upbringing that taught me you don't toot your own horn, you hide your light under a bushel, you don't brag, you don't boast (yeah, I like TOAST!--sorry, unless you listen to a lot of drive-time radio, you won't get that part). I'm certain that part of it is pragmatism, though. I am content with this success, and the success that will be mine on June 8, and all that will come after.
But I don't think striving for more success and being content are mutually exclusive. I'll always be striving for bigger and better successes that give me more of what I want, both materially (I must have NFL Sunday Ticket!) and personally (the joy of writing is purely internal, as is the joy of recognition of that writing).
I guess what I'm trying to say is: Bring me that Dream. I can take it.
Duh
Natalie
&
Jim
&
Jim
89% Compatible
♥ Natalie and Jim have been romantically-together for a long time. That alone demonstrates a degree of compatibility. Their shared faith will help form a bond between them. They both abstain from drinking, so that helps compatibility. Both are also sports fans, and that can bring people together. Jim may complain that Natalie is too sloppy. Their astrological signs are in harmony, though, which is a plus. They share a favorite season, and that is good. Their common love of animals is another good thing. And their views on children are similar. Overall, Natalie and Jim are highly compatible. They are capable of having a beautiful relationship together. ♥
The Dating Compatibility Test by Dating Diversions
The Dating Compatibility Test by Dating Diversions
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Isn't That Nice
The problem with these things is that my REAL answer for almost every question was "none of the above" and that wasn't an option. Would Firefly have given me a higher age than SpongeBob (which I only picked because I never watched any of the other choices)? Would "I wouldn't tell anyone the secret, ever" have made me older?
Anyway, nice to see I skew younger.
Anyway, nice to see I skew younger.
| You Are 31 Years Old |
 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax. |
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
TV High
I am pathetic.
I admit it, willingly and proudly. There are worse things than being high as a kite because of a TV show.
It is the pinnacle of cruelty that they give us our show back--OUR show, the season-one-quality show--with only five episodes left.
I speak, of course, of Alias.
In analysis, the show wasn't without its flaws. I'm not as invested in the Tom Grace thread as I want to be...yet when I think about it, my brain starts clamoring to know who The Cardinal is, and what Grace's agenda is, and if he's a bad guy, if he's involved with Prophet Five or on another super-secret black op. Ron Rifkin (Sloane) seems diminished, a frail old man operating out of desperation. I liked him best when he was powerful and clever, with devious motives tempered by his love for his old friend Jack and his daughter. And Rachel still bugs me to high heaven.
But we had WEISS, for a few minutes, and he was PERFECT. Marshall got to go on a mission and be funny. Dixon has braids. Sidney and Spydaddy and Spymommy displayed their amazingly complex family dynamics, and Daddy came out on top--indeed, he never fell off the top. Sydney's trust of and love for her father are the polar opposite of where they started, and I'd be satisfied if this was where it ended.
But it's NOT. Will Tippin and Anna Espinoza come back next week! Sydney will be far enough postpartum to kick some serious ass. And we start the journey toward Syd and Vaughn's reunion. I may cry.
I am so frickin' happy.
Isn't it pathetic?
I admit it, willingly and proudly. There are worse things than being high as a kite because of a TV show.
It is the pinnacle of cruelty that they give us our show back--OUR show, the season-one-quality show--with only five episodes left.
I speak, of course, of Alias.
In analysis, the show wasn't without its flaws. I'm not as invested in the Tom Grace thread as I want to be...yet when I think about it, my brain starts clamoring to know who The Cardinal is, and what Grace's agenda is, and if he's a bad guy, if he's involved with Prophet Five or on another super-secret black op. Ron Rifkin (Sloane) seems diminished, a frail old man operating out of desperation. I liked him best when he was powerful and clever, with devious motives tempered by his love for his old friend Jack and his daughter. And Rachel still bugs me to high heaven.
But we had WEISS, for a few minutes, and he was PERFECT. Marshall got to go on a mission and be funny. Dixon has braids. Sidney and Spydaddy and Spymommy displayed their amazingly complex family dynamics, and Daddy came out on top--indeed, he never fell off the top. Sydney's trust of and love for her father are the polar opposite of where they started, and I'd be satisfied if this was where it ended.
But it's NOT. Will Tippin and Anna Espinoza come back next week! Sydney will be far enough postpartum to kick some serious ass. And we start the journey toward Syd and Vaughn's reunion. I may cry.
I am so frickin' happy.
Isn't it pathetic?
Monday, April 17, 2006
What a Dork
I am the BIGGEST dork.
The other night I had a problem with my monitor. All the USB ports stopped working. I spent the better part of three hours trying to fix it, and luckily I did. (Thank you, Dell forums, even though you didn't answer my question I'm good at intuiting stuff.)
So tonight I'm working along, and all of a sudden, my spacebar goes nuts. It's constantly spacing. Won't let me switch programs. Won't shut down, because the spacing is holding it at "Stand By."
I shook the keyboard upside down. Popped off the space button. TOOK OUT THE BATTERIES. Nothing worked.
I shut the machine down and powered it back up, and it worked okay for a while. Then my IMs s t ar t e d l oo k i n g like t hi s.
So I shut down again. Then I realized, and I felt SOO STOOPID.
I have an Alphasmart. It was plugged in.
Those of you who are writers or in the education profession know exactly where this is going. For those who aren't, an Alphasmart is a word processor. You type your text into it, then connect it to your computer via a USB cable and hit SEND and it "types" all your words into your document or e-mail or whatever.
The thing is, when you connect the Alphasmart, it has a message on its screen that says, "Attached to PC, emulating keyboard."
Uh, yeah. Emulating keyboard. As in, you can use it as a keyboard. As in, if you type on it, what you type will appear in your document.
As in, if a heavy folder is resting on the space bar, it's gonna screw you up.
Sheesh, I'm a dork.
The other night I had a problem with my monitor. All the USB ports stopped working. I spent the better part of three hours trying to fix it, and luckily I did. (Thank you, Dell forums, even though you didn't answer my question I'm good at intuiting stuff.)
So tonight I'm working along, and all of a sudden, my spacebar goes nuts. It's constantly spacing. Won't let me switch programs. Won't shut down, because the spacing is holding it at "Stand By."
I shook the keyboard upside down. Popped off the space button. TOOK OUT THE BATTERIES. Nothing worked.
I shut the machine down and powered it back up, and it worked okay for a while. Then my IMs s t ar t e d l oo k i n g like t hi s.
So I shut down again. Then I realized, and I felt SOO STOOPID.
I have an Alphasmart. It was plugged in.
Those of you who are writers or in the education profession know exactly where this is going. For those who aren't, an Alphasmart is a word processor. You type your text into it, then connect it to your computer via a USB cable and hit SEND and it "types" all your words into your document or e-mail or whatever.
The thing is, when you connect the Alphasmart, it has a message on its screen that says, "Attached to PC, emulating keyboard."
Uh, yeah. Emulating keyboard. As in, you can use it as a keyboard. As in, if you type on it, what you type will appear in your document.
As in, if a heavy folder is resting on the space bar, it's gonna screw you up.
Sheesh, I'm a dork.
Saturday, April 15, 2006
I got TAGGED!!!
Woo hoo! For the first time ever, I've been tagged! Thank you, Misa Ramirez! :)
FOUR THINGS~
4 movies you would watch over and over
Would? Try DO
Galaxy Quest
Princess Bride
Lord of the Rings
Serenity
4 places you have lived
South Ruislip, England
Agawam, Massachusetts
Delaware, Ohio
Long Beach, California (for two weeks)
and many more!
4 TV shows you love to watch
Firefly (even though it's been off the air for three years)
Lost
Alias
Prison Break
4 places you have been on vacation
Killington, Vermont (last summer)
Dallas, Texas
Williamsburg, Virginia
Misquamicut, Rhode Island
4 Websites you visit daily
Reiss's Pieces blog (New England Patriots info)
Chad Darnell
Meankitty.com
He Wrote/She Wrote (crusiemayer.com)
4 of your favorite foods
popcorn (my way, with real butter and salt)
ice cream
spinach pesto over angel hair pasta
my family recipe macaroni and cheese
Hmmm. Not such a good thing that they're all carbs, is it?
4 places you would rather be right now
On the ocean, whether that be beach or ship
At the movie theater, alone with my husband
On a carpet of moss in the woods
A bookstore filled with only the kind of fiction I love to read
Tag 4 Friends you think will respond
Who can I tag that hasn't done it? Maybe...
Megan Hart
Jody Wallace
Karmela Johnson
Shawna Moore (who doesn't have a blog but now has to get one)
FOUR THINGS~
4 movies you would watch over and over
Would? Try DO
Galaxy Quest
Princess Bride
Lord of the Rings
Serenity
4 places you have lived
South Ruislip, England
Agawam, Massachusetts
Delaware, Ohio
Long Beach, California (for two weeks)
and many more!
4 TV shows you love to watch
Firefly (even though it's been off the air for three years)
Lost
Alias
Prison Break
4 places you have been on vacation
Killington, Vermont (last summer)
Dallas, Texas
Williamsburg, Virginia
Misquamicut, Rhode Island
4 Websites you visit daily
Reiss's Pieces blog (New England Patriots info)
Chad Darnell
Meankitty.com
He Wrote/She Wrote (crusiemayer.com)
4 of your favorite foods
popcorn (my way, with real butter and salt)
ice cream
spinach pesto over angel hair pasta
my family recipe macaroni and cheese
Hmmm. Not such a good thing that they're all carbs, is it?
4 places you would rather be right now
On the ocean, whether that be beach or ship
At the movie theater, alone with my husband
On a carpet of moss in the woods
A bookstore filled with only the kind of fiction I love to read
Tag 4 Friends you think will respond
Who can I tag that hasn't done it? Maybe...
Friday, April 14, 2006
Can't Do Nothing
There are far too many atrocities in this world, every day. It's overwhelming to face, and the helplessness good people feel can lead them to do nothing.
Not this time.
When Nazanin was 17, she and her niece were attacked in a park. Three men tried to rape them. She fought, and stabbed one of them. He died. Now she's been sentenced to death. If she'd done nothing and allowed the rape, she could have been imprisoned, flogged, or stoned for the act.
Go here to sign the online petition. It's easy. And it may help save a young woman's life.
Not this time.
When Nazanin was 17, she and her niece were attacked in a park. Three men tried to rape them. She fought, and stabbed one of them. He died. Now she's been sentenced to death. If she'd done nothing and allowed the rape, she could have been imprisoned, flogged, or stoned for the act.
Go here to sign the online petition. It's easy. And it may help save a young woman's life.
Math Tiles
Part of the curriculum in my kids' school has them doing math tiles. D, who is in fifth grade and doesn't have them anymore, misses them. For M, it's the very best part of the week.
In math tiles, the student gets a card with math problems on it. Some numbers are filled in, some are blanks. They get tiles numbered 0 to 9 and they have to fill in the blanks. Each number can only be used once, and all blanks must be filled in.
When D first brought one home to do, I gave it a try. These were the first card of the first set. 2+2=4 level stuff.
I couldn't do it.
Granted, I gave up after the first try, when I had one tile left and it didn't fit. I said, "hey, I left first grade a long time ago" and handed it back to my kid.
So this week we had parent/teacher conferences, and M has finished set 3. Here are two cards from that set. Card 7 is the last addition card in the set; card 15 is the last subtraction card in the set. See how you do (you will have to write them out to line the numbers up right):
Card 7
__73 + 4__8 = 96__
439 + 2__3 = 71__
758 + 1__5 = 92__
__46 + 25__ = 8__5
Card 15
__0__ - 1__7 = 177
9__3 - __26 = 7__
60__ - 2__8 = 307
8__0 - __52 = 158
Warning: Insufferable Parent Bragging Alert (It's my blog, I can be insufferably proud if I want to)
The amazing thing about this math tiles achievement? My kid is SIX. And it's not just math (though she wrote "I'm all about math" on the back of one of her papers). She can spell "meteorologist" and read "compassion." She's well-behaved in class and has a ton of friends, who all so far seem to be really good kids (she's lucky, the teacher says she has a great class this year). She is excelling at soccer, which admittedly isn't hard when you're nearly 7 and have been playing with your older sister for three years, and are now being forced to play with kids in kindergarten who are just starting out. But she'll make a cut, and the whole crowd will go, "Ooh."
So far, none of this has gone to her head. She doesn't seek attention or have a superior attitude in class. When she scores a goal in soccer, she just runs back to her spot on the line; when a teammate scores, she jumps and cheers. Her teacher pointed out that she is humble, and it's a trait she will need. Our job, now, is to make sure she STAYS that way, while still striving to excel and be challenged in everything she does.
Lest anyone who has bothered to read past the Insufferable Parent Bragging Alert thinks I'm playing favorites, let me tell you about my fifth-grader. The one taking ALGEBRA next year. She's obviously not the only one in her class, but algebra wasn't even offered until I was in eighth grade. I'm thrilled that she gets this opportunity. She was the first kid in her class to top out on the school's computer math program, and is exploring some online programs to get her through the last two months of the year. She has straight A's, including in clarinet and cello (which she will play in a solo next month), and managed, in one class where she was the sole dissenting opinion, to convince half her class AND her science teacher to change their minds.
She plays soccer, too, and has been improving drastically on the field as well as in her interaction with her teammates. Her swimming instructor has said she'd like her to teach once she's through the entire Red Cross program.
Are my kids perfect? Hell, no. The other day, M said "oh, crap" when I scored a basket, then lied about it. D has a tendency to spend six hours cleaning half her room, taking a "break," and rebounding within days to being twice as messy as before. They're not prodigies, heading for college at age 12 or the symphony orchestra or professional soccer. They are typical siblings, bickering until Mommy goes insane, arguing when I say "no," offering one-word answers when asked about their day. And we're not into the teen years yet--I know we're in for a whole different relationship when we get there.
What they are is really good kids, with well-rounded interests, a drive to succeed, and respect for themselves and those with whom they interact. I am so thankful, every day, that I get to be their mom.
In math tiles, the student gets a card with math problems on it. Some numbers are filled in, some are blanks. They get tiles numbered 0 to 9 and they have to fill in the blanks. Each number can only be used once, and all blanks must be filled in.
When D first brought one home to do, I gave it a try. These were the first card of the first set. 2+2=4 level stuff.
I couldn't do it.
Granted, I gave up after the first try, when I had one tile left and it didn't fit. I said, "hey, I left first grade a long time ago" and handed it back to my kid.
So this week we had parent/teacher conferences, and M has finished set 3. Here are two cards from that set. Card 7 is the last addition card in the set; card 15 is the last subtraction card in the set. See how you do (you will have to write them out to line the numbers up right):
Card 7
__73 + 4__8 = 96__
439 + 2__3 = 71__
758 + 1__5 = 92__
__46 + 25__ = 8__5
Card 15
__0__ - 1__7 = 177
9__3 - __26 = 7__
60__ - 2__8 = 307
8__0 - __52 = 158
Warning: Insufferable Parent Bragging Alert (It's my blog, I can be insufferably proud if I want to)
The amazing thing about this math tiles achievement? My kid is SIX. And it's not just math (though she wrote "I'm all about math" on the back of one of her papers). She can spell "meteorologist" and read "compassion." She's well-behaved in class and has a ton of friends, who all so far seem to be really good kids (she's lucky, the teacher says she has a great class this year). She is excelling at soccer, which admittedly isn't hard when you're nearly 7 and have been playing with your older sister for three years, and are now being forced to play with kids in kindergarten who are just starting out. But she'll make a cut, and the whole crowd will go, "Ooh."
So far, none of this has gone to her head. She doesn't seek attention or have a superior attitude in class. When she scores a goal in soccer, she just runs back to her spot on the line; when a teammate scores, she jumps and cheers. Her teacher pointed out that she is humble, and it's a trait she will need. Our job, now, is to make sure she STAYS that way, while still striving to excel and be challenged in everything she does.
Lest anyone who has bothered to read past the Insufferable Parent Bragging Alert thinks I'm playing favorites, let me tell you about my fifth-grader. The one taking ALGEBRA next year. She's obviously not the only one in her class, but algebra wasn't even offered until I was in eighth grade. I'm thrilled that she gets this opportunity. She was the first kid in her class to top out on the school's computer math program, and is exploring some online programs to get her through the last two months of the year. She has straight A's, including in clarinet and cello (which she will play in a solo next month), and managed, in one class where she was the sole dissenting opinion, to convince half her class AND her science teacher to change their minds.
She plays soccer, too, and has been improving drastically on the field as well as in her interaction with her teammates. Her swimming instructor has said she'd like her to teach once she's through the entire Red Cross program.
Are my kids perfect? Hell, no. The other day, M said "oh, crap" when I scored a basket, then lied about it. D has a tendency to spend six hours cleaning half her room, taking a "break," and rebounding within days to being twice as messy as before. They're not prodigies, heading for college at age 12 or the symphony orchestra or professional soccer. They are typical siblings, bickering until Mommy goes insane, arguing when I say "no," offering one-word answers when asked about their day. And we're not into the teen years yet--I know we're in for a whole different relationship when we get there.
What they are is really good kids, with well-rounded interests, a drive to succeed, and respect for themselves and those with whom they interact. I am so thankful, every day, that I get to be their mom.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Dear Devon
Dear Devon,
I’m on a plane, my usual location these days when you’re on your way home. I don’t know why it’s so hard to face you.
Maybe it’s the tension you carry, as if any second you expect me to leave you. I hate making you feel that way, but I don’t know how to assure you when I can’t assure myself.
Uncertainty is driving me, and you know how I am. I can’t stand it. You tell me you love me, and I wonder if you really do, or if the magic just makes you believe it. It shouldn’t matter what compels it. I should just be satisfied with what is. But I can’t, especially because when I say it back, I don’t know if it’s any more true for me. What happens if the bond fails?
Cowardice is not my way. Agents don’t get far being cowards, and I’m one of the best agents The Guild has. That’s why they keep sending me on assignment, why I’m always winging it somewhere else, even when you’ve just done a Chicago-London turnaround in three days. At least I can pretend it’s not fear.
I’m going to flush this down the toilet in a minute. They say writing down your feelings is supposed to make you feel better.
It’s not working.
I love you, Devon.
I think.
Maggie
Maggie and Devon from Elemental Passion are struggling with the compulsion of the bond that identified them as soulmates. Find out how they handle it in A Matter of Choice, released this week as part of the Prying Eyes AmberPax.
I’m on a plane, my usual location these days when you’re on your way home. I don’t know why it’s so hard to face you.
Maybe it’s the tension you carry, as if any second you expect me to leave you. I hate making you feel that way, but I don’t know how to assure you when I can’t assure myself.
Uncertainty is driving me, and you know how I am. I can’t stand it. You tell me you love me, and I wonder if you really do, or if the magic just makes you believe it. It shouldn’t matter what compels it. I should just be satisfied with what is. But I can’t, especially because when I say it back, I don’t know if it’s any more true for me. What happens if the bond fails?
Cowardice is not my way. Agents don’t get far being cowards, and I’m one of the best agents The Guild has. That’s why they keep sending me on assignment, why I’m always winging it somewhere else, even when you’ve just done a Chicago-London turnaround in three days. At least I can pretend it’s not fear.
I’m going to flush this down the toilet in a minute. They say writing down your feelings is supposed to make you feel better.
It’s not working.
I love you, Devon.
I think.
Maggie
Maggie and Devon from Elemental Passion are struggling with the compulsion of the bond that identified them as soulmates. Find out how they handle it in A Matter of Choice, released this week as part of the Prying Eyes AmberPax.
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Reading Update
Blogger isn't letting me upload pictures right now. So I'll just refer you here and here to take a look-see. You should go there anyway.
So this year a friend encouraged me to keep track of all the books I'm reading, or attempting to read, this year. So far I've completed 18 novels and 2 novellas, and attempted 8 that I didn't complete. I rate them all, 1-10, and the average is 7.14 (higher than I expected!). I have one 1, and until this past week, I had one 10.
Now I've added two more!
These two books are very different. The Gate to Eden is a historical western, not my usual choice of reading. Don't Look Down is a romantic adventure, my preferred genre. Both have stuck in my head.
I'm not great at reviewing books. They're like art to me. I read them and like them, or not.
Analyzing them, breaking them down and telling what I like, is difficult. But these two deserve it, so I'll try.
(No blurbs. I can't summarize my own books, never mind someone else's, so go to those links I posted above to get the gist of the stories.)
The Gate to Eden
I like modern heroines, which is probably why I don't read a lot of historicals anymore. I hear many of them now contain willful, independent heroines, generating complaint that they are anachronistic. I'm happy to say, TGTE contains an independent heroine who fits perfectly in her time period. Maddie and hundreds of other women and children have been thrown into a terrible situation, and she will stop at nothing to improve it. Everything she does is well-motivated and believable, and I found myself rooting for her to marry Scott and make her life easier. Scott's backstory is well structured to feed the conflict yet make the outcome inevitable. It's a well-crafted story that will make you surprised to see modern conveniences when you finally look up from the page, and emerge from their world.
Don't Look Down
This book had a lot to live up to. I've been a fan of Jenny Crusie's for a long time, and jumped on her blog the minute she opened it. I've been following the evolution of the Crusie/Mayer collaboration almost since it started. Those two share a brain, I swear. They are the funniest couple who isn't a couple, and a pair of talented writers. But when you "live" with them every day, peering through the portal of their blog into the portion of their lives they share, it can be easy to have high expectations. And mine were light-years high. But the book definitely lived up to them. I laughed out loud often enough to exasperate my coworker, my kids, and my husband. I told my father-in-law, who will love this book, all about it. I also told my mother-in-law, who never reads anything more than People magazine. The worst part is that I have to wait a whole year before the next one. At least I have their blog.
So go now. Check out these two books, and buy them. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.
So this year a friend encouraged me to keep track of all the books I'm reading, or attempting to read, this year. So far I've completed 18 novels and 2 novellas, and attempted 8 that I didn't complete. I rate them all, 1-10, and the average is 7.14 (higher than I expected!). I have one 1, and until this past week, I had one 10.
Now I've added two more!
These two books are very different. The Gate to Eden is a historical western, not my usual choice of reading. Don't Look Down is a romantic adventure, my preferred genre. Both have stuck in my head.
I'm not great at reviewing books. They're like art to me. I read them and like them, or not.
Analyzing them, breaking them down and telling what I like, is difficult. But these two deserve it, so I'll try.
(No blurbs. I can't summarize my own books, never mind someone else's, so go to those links I posted above to get the gist of the stories.)
The Gate to Eden
I like modern heroines, which is probably why I don't read a lot of historicals anymore. I hear many of them now contain willful, independent heroines, generating complaint that they are anachronistic. I'm happy to say, TGTE contains an independent heroine who fits perfectly in her time period. Maddie and hundreds of other women and children have been thrown into a terrible situation, and she will stop at nothing to improve it. Everything she does is well-motivated and believable, and I found myself rooting for her to marry Scott and make her life easier. Scott's backstory is well structured to feed the conflict yet make the outcome inevitable. It's a well-crafted story that will make you surprised to see modern conveniences when you finally look up from the page, and emerge from their world.
Don't Look Down
This book had a lot to live up to. I've been a fan of Jenny Crusie's for a long time, and jumped on her blog the minute she opened it. I've been following the evolution of the Crusie/Mayer collaboration almost since it started. Those two share a brain, I swear. They are the funniest couple who isn't a couple, and a pair of talented writers. But when you "live" with them every day, peering through the portal of their blog into the portion of their lives they share, it can be easy to have high expectations. And mine were light-years high. But the book definitely lived up to them. I laughed out loud often enough to exasperate my coworker, my kids, and my husband. I told my father-in-law, who will love this book, all about it. I also told my mother-in-law, who never reads anything more than People magazine. The worst part is that I have to wait a whole year before the next one. At least I have their blog.
So go now. Check out these two books, and buy them. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.
Friday, April 07, 2006
Super Fears
I just got the new issue of Entertainment Weekly. The cover features Brandon Routh as Superman, and I gotta tell you, the image has me afraid. Very afraid.
It's not that he doesn't look the part. He's fine. I have no idea of his acting ability so obviously that judgment will wait until the movie comes out.
I saw some of the first images from the movie, and I thought, "Ugh. Did they have to give him the CHEESIEST COSTUME EVER???!!!" I mean, he looks WORSE than the 1970s Superman, and that's not what updating a classic is supposed to be about.
This cover does nothing to dispel that. It heightens my fears. My first thought on seeing it was "Christopher Reeve." That in itself isn't bad, of course. Nothing against Christopher Reeve. But evoking images of Superman IV? That's bad.
The plastic-looking curl on his forehead is bad. I only occasionally read the comics when I was a kid, but I'm pretty sure Superman didn't whip out the hair gel and curling iron when he was in the phone booth.
The rosy cheeks and glossy lips are bad. There's a reason X-Men the movie skipped the spandex. Some things don't translate well from page to screen. I'm hoping this is simply cover artist overenthusiasm and Superman won't need an hour in hair and makeup before each urgent rescue.
Put it all together, and I'm ready for the worst. In my adulthood, we've had two Clark Kents who are competent, interesting men, not stumbling, bumbling fools. I flipped to the inside article, and the image of Routh as Clark Kent doesn't ease my concerns any.
Add to that Kevin Spacey's lack of menace (or the right kind of menace, anyway) and Kate Bosworth's overwhelming sweetness, and this is not the movie I'm holding my breath for this summer.
I've been surprised before. Maybe I will be again. I am not giving up hope.
It's not that he doesn't look the part. He's fine. I have no idea of his acting ability so obviously that judgment will wait until the movie comes out.
I saw some of the first images from the movie, and I thought, "Ugh. Did they have to give him the CHEESIEST COSTUME EVER???!!!" I mean, he looks WORSE than the 1970s Superman, and that's not what updating a classic is supposed to be about.
This cover does nothing to dispel that. It heightens my fears. My first thought on seeing it was "Christopher Reeve." That in itself isn't bad, of course. Nothing against Christopher Reeve. But evoking images of Superman IV? That's bad.
The plastic-looking curl on his forehead is bad. I only occasionally read the comics when I was a kid, but I'm pretty sure Superman didn't whip out the hair gel and curling iron when he was in the phone booth.
The rosy cheeks and glossy lips are bad. There's a reason X-Men the movie skipped the spandex. Some things don't translate well from page to screen. I'm hoping this is simply cover artist overenthusiasm and Superman won't need an hour in hair and makeup before each urgent rescue.
Put it all together, and I'm ready for the worst. In my adulthood, we've had two Clark Kents who are competent, interesting men, not stumbling, bumbling fools. I flipped to the inside article, and the image of Routh as Clark Kent doesn't ease my concerns any.
Add to that Kevin Spacey's lack of menace (or the right kind of menace, anyway) and Kate Bosworth's overwhelming sweetness, and this is not the movie I'm holding my breath for this summer.
I've been surprised before. Maybe I will be again. I am not giving up hope.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Flashes of Lightning
I think one of the hardest parts of being a parent is knowing the right thing to say at the right time...or avoiding the wrong thing.
My mother once asked me to stop singing in the car. I learned years later that she'd only meant not to sing then, but "don't sing" has given me a phobia for life. I won't do it if the music isn't loud enough to drown me out.
My parents divorced when I was seven. When I told my father I was getting married, he didn't expect to walk me down the aisle. His easy acceptance of our relationship as adults made it possible for us to have one.
Last night we had a serious thunderstorm, and my daughter, who will be seven in a few weeks, was frightened. It's instinctive for us, as parents, to reassure our kids, to try to soothe their fears by telling them they are unnecessary. But that wasn't working, and I felt I was making things worse by making her feel bad for being afraid.
So I told her it was reasonable to be afraid of lightning, it can be dangerous. I talked about why, and why it's unlikely to harm us, as dangerous as it is. I talked about my father getting me out of bed when I was little so we could watch the storms, and watching them in the record-setting heat of the summer of 88, when I lived next to a farm and had wide sky to watch the lightning. A sharp cloud-to-cloud bolt streaked in front of us, and I awwwed at it.
Within seconds, my daughter was doing the same. By the time we got home, she was begging me to let her stay up late so she could watch.
So what part worked? Was it my reassurances? My endorsement of her fear? My stories, or the beauty of the lightning itself? Or was I incidental to the whole change? Was is my daughter's own ability to adjust, or even the natural adaption to the circumstances, i.e. comfort grows as exposure continues?
I'll never know for sure, but whatever it was, it made me proud to watch.
My mother once asked me to stop singing in the car. I learned years later that she'd only meant not to sing then, but "don't sing" has given me a phobia for life. I won't do it if the music isn't loud enough to drown me out.
My parents divorced when I was seven. When I told my father I was getting married, he didn't expect to walk me down the aisle. His easy acceptance of our relationship as adults made it possible for us to have one.
Last night we had a serious thunderstorm, and my daughter, who will be seven in a few weeks, was frightened. It's instinctive for us, as parents, to reassure our kids, to try to soothe their fears by telling them they are unnecessary. But that wasn't working, and I felt I was making things worse by making her feel bad for being afraid.
So I told her it was reasonable to be afraid of lightning, it can be dangerous. I talked about why, and why it's unlikely to harm us, as dangerous as it is. I talked about my father getting me out of bed when I was little so we could watch the storms, and watching them in the record-setting heat of the summer of 88, when I lived next to a farm and had wide sky to watch the lightning. A sharp cloud-to-cloud bolt streaked in front of us, and I awwwed at it.
Within seconds, my daughter was doing the same. By the time we got home, she was begging me to let her stay up late so she could watch.
So what part worked? Was it my reassurances? My endorsement of her fear? My stories, or the beauty of the lightning itself? Or was I incidental to the whole change? Was is my daughter's own ability to adjust, or even the natural adaption to the circumstances, i.e. comfort grows as exposure continues?
I'll never know for sure, but whatever it was, it made me proud to watch.
Friday, March 24, 2006
Dream
I tend to dream in features. You know, very detailed, intense, full-color, full-emotion, full-sound dreams. High production values.
Unfortunately, it's usually in the few hours (hour?) before I wake up, and I end up feeling more tired than when I went to bed, even if I got eight and a half hours of sleep, like last night.
But it's no wonder. I mean, take this morning's dream. Megan was in it. A lot. She was about to celebrate her 10th anniversary by renewing her wedding vows. In her house. Which meant cleaning. And I noticed a spot on the wall and cleaned it. Which made--you've got it. A clean spot. So I spent half the dream cleaning her wall. Spraying and scrubbing. And trying not to mention the huge water stain in the wallpaper that meant her roof was leaking. She had enough to worry about.
There was a lot more going on, but the only other thing I remember is the male MS claimant. I never meet the claimants I do short term disability management for. And I can remember ONE male MS claimant in four years. But he was right there, in his wheelchair, demanding my time. And when he wasn't there, his paperwork was, staring me in the face, taunting me. Even after my alarm went off, I dreamed his paperwork was on my nightstand under my alarm clock.
Gotta go to work now. Pray there's no new claim on my fax machine for a male MS patient.
Unfortunately, it's usually in the few hours (hour?) before I wake up, and I end up feeling more tired than when I went to bed, even if I got eight and a half hours of sleep, like last night.
But it's no wonder. I mean, take this morning's dream. Megan was in it. A lot. She was about to celebrate her 10th anniversary by renewing her wedding vows. In her house. Which meant cleaning. And I noticed a spot on the wall and cleaned it. Which made--you've got it. A clean spot. So I spent half the dream cleaning her wall. Spraying and scrubbing. And trying not to mention the huge water stain in the wallpaper that meant her roof was leaking. She had enough to worry about.
There was a lot more going on, but the only other thing I remember is the male MS claimant. I never meet the claimants I do short term disability management for. And I can remember ONE male MS claimant in four years. But he was right there, in his wheelchair, demanding my time. And when he wasn't there, his paperwork was, staring me in the face, taunting me. Even after my alarm went off, I dreamed his paperwork was on my nightstand under my alarm clock.
Gotta go to work now. Pray there's no new claim on my fax machine for a male MS patient.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
It's the Characters, Stupid
I was reading this morning, while I dried my hair, a TIME magazine article about the way Hollywood makes movies (i.e. film versus digital).
One aspect of the discussion was that directors think the audience wants more technically advanced movies, and the best way to deliver that experience is by making all the theaters convert to digital, and making all the filmmakers switch to digital, and using better and better special effects so we want to see their movies on the big screen.
I don't know how the purported geniuses of the industry can be so damned blind. If you look at the top-grossing movies in history, there are two common elements. The moviemakers are apparently seeing that the top-grossing movies of all time have award-winning special effects. What they fail to understand is that we didn't shell out record amounts of money because of the sinking ship (Titanic), exploding volcano (Return of the King) or flying dragon (Goblet of Fire). We spent that money because of Jack and Rose, and Frodo and his friends, and HARRY. Because of their relationships, and their flaws, and their journeys.
If it was all about special effects, movies like Fantastic Four and The Island would be in the top 100. They're not. Forrest Gump, a movie with the kind of special effects you don't notice and a much, much higher weep quotient, would not be well above War of the Worlds.
2005 was a bad box office year, yet they're still talking about creating better images when what we really want are better stories.
One aspect of the discussion was that directors think the audience wants more technically advanced movies, and the best way to deliver that experience is by making all the theaters convert to digital, and making all the filmmakers switch to digital, and using better and better special effects so we want to see their movies on the big screen.
I don't know how the purported geniuses of the industry can be so damned blind. If you look at the top-grossing movies in history, there are two common elements. The moviemakers are apparently seeing that the top-grossing movies of all time have award-winning special effects. What they fail to understand is that we didn't shell out record amounts of money because of the sinking ship (Titanic), exploding volcano (Return of the King) or flying dragon (Goblet of Fire). We spent that money because of Jack and Rose, and Frodo and his friends, and HARRY. Because of their relationships, and their flaws, and their journeys.
If it was all about special effects, movies like Fantastic Four and The Island would be in the top 100. They're not. Forrest Gump, a movie with the kind of special effects you don't notice and a much, much higher weep quotient, would not be well above War of the Worlds.
2005 was a bad box office year, yet they're still talking about creating better images when what we really want are better stories.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Yes, That's Me You Hear Screaming
In total contrast to the happiness of the previous post, I am in total meltdown. Depression layered over anxiety with disgust and confusion mixed in. Life as I know it will never be the same.
Adam Vinatieri signed with the Colts.
Never mind that his 10-year career has been "berry berry good to [him]" (you have to be old enough to remember "Rodney Dangerfield Host the 9th Annual Young Comedians Special" on HBO to get that reference).
Never mind that he was making top money for a kicker in the entire NFL already.
Never mind the loyal fans who ADORE him.
Jerk.
Adam Vinatieri signed with the Colts.
Never mind that his 10-year career has been "berry berry good to [him]" (you have to be old enough to remember "Rodney Dangerfield Host the 9th Annual Young Comedians Special" on HBO to get that reference).
Never mind that he was making top money for a kicker in the entire NFL already.
Never mind the loyal fans who ADORE him.
Jerk.
Dirty Cheater
FINALLY. The incomparable Megan Hart has done it.
Not that she hadn't already done quite a bit. I mean, take a look at this. That's nearly three dozen somethings. (This one is my favorite. But maybe that's just 'cause I'm in it. {g})
But now she's gone a step above--a three-book deal with Harlequin Spice!
The first book is currently called Dirty, and it's really really good. Megan has a rich, lyrical style that's totally made for this imprint.
Cheater is the second book, and I haven't gotten to read any of it yet, but the premise is very intriguing.
I like my erotica with hefty plot, and these books epitomize the ideal. If this is the kind of stuff Spice is buying, they are going to do well.
Not that she hadn't already done quite a bit. I mean, take a look at this. That's nearly three dozen somethings. (This one is my favorite. But maybe that's just 'cause I'm in it. {g})
But now she's gone a step above--a three-book deal with Harlequin Spice!
The first book is currently called Dirty, and it's really really good. Megan has a rich, lyrical style that's totally made for this imprint.
Cheater is the second book, and I haven't gotten to read any of it yet, but the premise is very intriguing.
I like my erotica with hefty plot, and these books epitomize the ideal. If this is the kind of stuff Spice is buying, they are going to do well.
Monday, March 20, 2006
Harry's World
One of the things I think is coolest about the Harry Potter Phenomenon is the wide range of people who read and love the books. Ten-year-old girls to 16-year-0ld boys to 35-year-old married couples to 70-year-old grandfathers.
I was listening to Pottercast this morning, and they were interviewing the aforementioned 16-year-old boys who do Mugglecast and help run Mugglenet. When asked about book 6 and what he expected out of book 7, Ben Schoen's first comment was that he liked how the characters matured and that Harry started thinking about what would happen if Ron and Hermione got together and the kissing scene with Ginny...
Yes, one of the first things a teenage boy admitted to liking was the ROMANCE. I love it.
Gotta set one thing straight, though. I'm a writer, so words are important. And no matter WHAT happens, Severus Snape is not good. At most, he is working on the side of good. There's a huge difference.
Yes, I happen to believe he is working for the Order of the Phoenix and honestly trying to stop Voldemort. But that alone doesn't make him a good person. The reason he is able to do such a thing is because he is NOT good. He can be believably evil because he embraces the part of himself that is evil. But take away all the Voldemort stuff, look at just his everyday treatment of the kids in the school and the adults he dislikes (pretty much all of them, actually), and he is not a good person. I think that makes him one of the most interesting characters in the series, actually. But I won't be sorry when he dies.
I was listening to Pottercast this morning, and they were interviewing the aforementioned 16-year-old boys who do Mugglecast and help run Mugglenet. When asked about book 6 and what he expected out of book 7, Ben Schoen's first comment was that he liked how the characters matured and that Harry started thinking about what would happen if Ron and Hermione got together and the kissing scene with Ginny...
Yes, one of the first things a teenage boy admitted to liking was the ROMANCE. I love it.
Gotta set one thing straight, though. I'm a writer, so words are important. And no matter WHAT happens, Severus Snape is not good. At most, he is working on the side of good. There's a huge difference.
Yes, I happen to believe he is working for the Order of the Phoenix and honestly trying to stop Voldemort. But that alone doesn't make him a good person. The reason he is able to do such a thing is because he is NOT good. He can be believably evil because he embraces the part of himself that is evil. But take away all the Voldemort stuff, look at just his everyday treatment of the kids in the school and the adults he dislikes (pretty much all of them, actually), and he is not a good person. I think that makes him one of the most interesting characters in the series, actually. But I won't be sorry when he dies.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Wild Weekend
Yesterday, my plan went from:
9:40 D's soccer game
10:45 Brunch with family
12:00 Husband take D and M shopping, while I write all afternoon
5:00 Dinner and a movie with sister-in-law
To:
9:40 soccer game starts
9:59 we are winning 3-2
10:00 D collides and falls with an opponent. Gets ball away from her goal anyway.
10:01 D gets subbed and comes off the field
10:01.5 I start to head toward D to tease her for nailing the ref in the gut with the ball
10:01.6 D looks at right hand, notices pinky sticking out to the side, starts crying
10:20 Arrive at emergency room with D and her broken pinky
1:50 Leave ER with D and her newly set and splinted pinky
The cool thing about this? D said, as we lingered in the unusually quiet ER waiting to get an x-ray, that she's glad she at least got hurt doing something she loves.
'Cept now she's in a splint and can't play soccer for several weeks. Or clarinet. Or cello.
At least her team won the game for her, 6-3
I still got to do the dinner/movie, and Failure to Launch was cute enough to be worth seeing (mainly for the secondary characters, though we got plenty of Mr. McConaughey's chest {g}). I really enjoyed seeing my sister-in-law, sister of my heart, who's far too busy for me now. It took me, like, six months to nail her down to go out.
So okay, that was yesterday. Today, J (husband) went out shopping. He's driving through a nearby downtown and sees a car parked askew on the side of the road, and some guy is trying to force a woman into the car. She clearly doesn't want to go. J pulls over and honks, and the guy sees him and takes off. J notes the license plate and make and model. He offers the woman a ride, and of course she won't take it, but did ask him to follow her home.
Damned if the guy doesn't come back four times. The second time, he almost hit the woman with his car, trying to block her. J called the police, who were there in moments, just as the guy came back the fourth time. He spent an hour giving his statement to the police, who arrested the guy for aggravated assault.
My husband is a hero.
9:40 D's soccer game
10:45 Brunch with family
12:00 Husband take D and M shopping, while I write all afternoon
5:00 Dinner and a movie with sister-in-law
To:
9:40 soccer game starts
9:59 we are winning 3-2
10:00 D collides and falls with an opponent. Gets ball away from her goal anyway.
10:01 D gets subbed and comes off the field
10:01.5 I start to head toward D to tease her for nailing the ref in the gut with the ball
10:01.6 D looks at right hand, notices pinky sticking out to the side, starts crying
10:20 Arrive at emergency room with D and her broken pinky
1:50 Leave ER with D and her newly set and splinted pinky
The cool thing about this? D said, as we lingered in the unusually quiet ER waiting to get an x-ray, that she's glad she at least got hurt doing something she loves.
'Cept now she's in a splint and can't play soccer for several weeks. Or clarinet. Or cello.
At least her team won the game for her, 6-3
I still got to do the dinner/movie, and Failure to Launch was cute enough to be worth seeing (mainly for the secondary characters, though we got plenty of Mr. McConaughey's chest {g}). I really enjoyed seeing my sister-in-law, sister of my heart, who's far too busy for me now. It took me, like, six months to nail her down to go out.
So okay, that was yesterday. Today, J (husband) went out shopping. He's driving through a nearby downtown and sees a car parked askew on the side of the road, and some guy is trying to force a woman into the car. She clearly doesn't want to go. J pulls over and honks, and the guy sees him and takes off. J notes the license plate and make and model. He offers the woman a ride, and of course she won't take it, but did ask him to follow her home.
Damned if the guy doesn't come back four times. The second time, he almost hit the woman with his car, trying to block her. J called the police, who were there in moments, just as the guy came back the fourth time. He spent an hour giving his statement to the police, who arrested the guy for aggravated assault.
My husband is a hero.
Friday, March 17, 2006
Now They've Done It
I never really feel old. Certain moments--like realizing my nephew is about to turn 15--highlight the passage of time, but that doesn't translate into recognition that I'm "old."
I feel the same way I felt when I was 20 and an intern at National Geographic; 24 and a pregnant new employee at my current job; 30 and the mother of a kindergartener. I always feel like other people are older. Sometimes a lot older, sometimes a little, but rarely just my age or younger.
I'm not sure why that is. Maybe because I was 4 when I started kindergarten and didn't turn 5 until halfway through the school year, so until I graduated from college (a semester early and therefore not yet 21), I was always the youngest of my peers. It startles me when I learn the parent of a child in my kids' class is much younger than I am. But it never made me feel old.
So now I just learned that these two guys are turning 35 this month:
Alan Tudyk's birthday was yesterday, and Nathan Fillion's is March 27. They both turn 35 about three months after I did. I thought they were both much older than me..."much" meaning one to five years. But they're YOUNGER.
And for some reason, that bothers me much more than knowing my youngest is about to turn 7, or that my husband is nearly 40, or that I'm two years from my 20th high school reunion.
I feel the same way I felt when I was 20 and an intern at National Geographic; 24 and a pregnant new employee at my current job; 30 and the mother of a kindergartener. I always feel like other people are older. Sometimes a lot older, sometimes a little, but rarely just my age or younger.
I'm not sure why that is. Maybe because I was 4 when I started kindergarten and didn't turn 5 until halfway through the school year, so until I graduated from college (a semester early and therefore not yet 21), I was always the youngest of my peers. It startles me when I learn the parent of a child in my kids' class is much younger than I am. But it never made me feel old.
So now I just learned that these two guys are turning 35 this month:
Alan Tudyk's birthday was yesterday, and Nathan Fillion's is March 27. They both turn 35 about three months after I did. I thought they were both much older than me..."much" meaning one to five years. But they're YOUNGER.
And for some reason, that bothers me much more than knowing my youngest is about to turn 7, or that my husband is nearly 40, or that I'm two years from my 20th high school reunion.
Friday, March 10, 2006
View of an Office
Inspired by Michelle Hauf, I thought I'd share my work space with you.
Let's start with my crazy obsessions. This is my Lord of the Rings collection.
Amazingly, they are all standing. Maya hasn't gotten to them again yet. She conquers them regularly.
Yes, that is a Gandalf bobblehead on the second shelf. He was free.
Next to the Obsession Shelf is the fancy bookshelf I treated myself to after my office flooded the third time. I got rid of a bunch of mismatched, overpacked smaller shelves in favor of this:
You can see some of my Lord of the Rings posters, too. The one hidden to the right of the bookshelf is Orlando Bloom back when he was jailbait. A friend gave me that poster, I had nothing to do with it.
More obsession. The standee was a Mother's Day gift.
Now, to the writing. A too-dark, too-close shot of my fabulous 19-inch monitor. The better to upload photos to my blog with. I mean, the better to view multiple pages of my manuscript with. :)
My muses. Merlin rules my paranormal romances, and Fred my contemporary, or "normal" stuff, though he's gotten kinda crazy with the action-adventure.
Fred was a Christmas gift from the same husband who gave me the Legolas standee. Does he rock or what? The husband. Though Fred does, too. The photo is me kissing my brother on his wedding day. He has a similar shot, reversed, taken on my wedding day.
The rune stone says "breakthrough."
This is my office's usual state:
And here is Inspiration Central, where my stories take me away on an adventure that...oh, forget that crap. It's where I write.
And spend far too much time reading e-mail and writer and agent blogs.
Note the talking Legolas on the windowsill, the requisite box of chocolate (Whitman's Sampler, the dark chocolate variety), and what appears to be Entertainment Weekly, for when pages are slow to load.
And finally, what office would be complete without the requisite cute kitty? This is Maya, Fellowship Conqueror (when she's tired of Army Guys).
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