A verry merry unbirthday to me!

Step-mommy is in town, so tonight she, Pablo, Fernando and I went to see Indiana Jones for my slightly early birthday celebration. (Closure on the Marion Ravenwood story - yay!) I thought it would be appropriate because I usually watch Star Wars movies for my birthday--close enough.

As per tradition, I baked my own birthday cake. One layer one banana cake, a second layer of chocolate cake, and vanilla icing with walnuts.

My brother gave me a gelaskin for my laptop (which will soon really be Mine, because we're buying Pablo's desktop off him for Fernando to WoW-ize on.) I got to pick it out myself from a beautiful variety at the web site.

I liked these ones:


I chose this one -- the tea party from Alice in Wonderland.



Pablo bought himself this one:

From Left to Right (if I can remember which is which)

I woke up today experiencing... ennui.

It took an hour or two to realize that I know This Ennui. I have seen it before. It's the way I've always gotten since teen years, when I need to write fiction. It usually comes hand in hand with watching movies (just watched Broken Flowers and High School Musical.) I'm already seeing my non-fiction reading slowing down, as my brain shifts from one half to the other. ;-)

So after doing some cooking (I try to make a big slow cooker pot full of something before my work days) I decided to catch up on my writing blogs. I'm still plotting Henry V, and it's far from the writing stage; but the real thing I need to do is write up a few synopsi (of varying lengths) for my last novel, and give it one last edit while I'm at it.

So prequel to that, I'm finishing up the research I started last summer on potential agents, and what they want in the way of query letters and synopsism. Most of the writing blogs I've RSSd are from agents, and you get all the in-between-the-lines advice you don't get from the books.

BUT. That doesn't mean I don't have time for QUIZZES!!

Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz The higher of these two numbers below indicates which side of your brain has dominance in your life. Realising your right brain/left brain tendancy will help you interact with and to understand others. Left Brain Dominance: (13) Right Brain Dominance: (11) Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz

What Be Your Nerd Type?
Quizzes for MySpace

The Poor Starving Artiste

From a published writer's article: Unasked-For Advice to New Writers About Money. (Someone needs to send this to My Favourite Blogger. I won't. Because then he'll know someone reads his blog.)

"Lots of wanna-be writers wax rhapsodic about how great it would be to ditch the day job and just spend all their time clickety-clack typing away. These folks are idiots. Look, people: someone is paying you money and giving you benefits, both of which can support your writing career, and all you have to do is show up, do work that an unsupervised monkey could do, and pretend to care. What a scam! You’re sticking it to The Man, dude, because you’re taking that paycheck and turning it into art. And you know how The Man hates that. You’re supposed to be buying a big-screen TV with that paycheck! Instead, you’re subverting the dominant paradigm better than an entire battalion of college socialists. Well done, you. Well done, indeed."

En attendant la step-mommy

Some of us are looking at the stars?

Most searched for topics in the New York Times online: India, Myanmar, China, Iraq, Israel, Obama, Clinton, Bush, immigration... and modern love.

What's with all the disasters! Sadness.

When 9-11 happened, the sight of people jumping from windows was pretty horrible; but what really horrified me was the idea of people buried alive, slowly dying.

The New York Times has published a story about a Chinese couple buried in rubble from the recent disaster, but luckily they were rescued the next day. Their story provides a First Hand Account of this particular horror--though with a brighter ending.

*
SHIFANG, China — At the moment of greatest despair, Wang Zhijun tried to kill himself by twisting his neck against the debris.

Breathing had become harder as day turned to night. The chunks of brick and concrete that had buried him and his wife were pressing tighter by the hour, crushing them. Their bodies had gone numb.

Then there was the rain, sharp and cold, lashing at them through the cracks.

“I don’t think I can make it,” he told his wife, Li Wanzhi, his face just inches from hers, their arms wrapped around each other.

She sensed he was giving up. “If God wants to kill us, he would have killed us right away,” she said. “But since we’re still alive, we must be fated to live.”

yaaaawn... what was i saying?

I feel a writing mood coming on... but I can't start until my apartment sorting is done. I've only got 2 shifts scheduled at work so far this week... maybe I'll stick to that, and leave more time for cleaning and organizing. Sigh.

Wow. I'm sleepy. Must rush to take advantage, and get my sleep schedule back on track...

No news is... you know the rest

Hmm haven't had much to say lately, about my day to day life.

Cooking: tonight, quinoa and chick peas from Dreena Burton
House cleaning and organizing: today, painted window frames, washed windows and curtains
Work: schleppin' books
Fiction: finally The Eight is getting good
Non-fiction: almost done The Omnivore's Dilemma
TV: very much into the Numb3rs and House reruns
Music: James Bond songs, Nina Simone, Peter Paul and Mary
Library: Doh! I think I had stuff due today
Movies: Still watching Henry V over and over, thinking about my story
Writing: Doing some plotting for Hen, but haven't gone Full into writing mode yet... trying to get my home in order first
Job Hunting: nothing to do right now
Buddies: Hanging with Pablo, and gossiping with my Work Husband
Real Husband: Mostly we're bickering... I think school has ruined my marriage. Better get it worked out before the 10 Year Anniversary next month.

Litter Land

I like these kinds of fun cat box ideas... but if we cover our boxes, they would need a second exit. You can't let a cat get trapped in a multi-cat household. Bad etiquette.

Composting Dilemma Part 2! Oh the drama of it all.

The Greening of Miss Mabel continues on my Practically Moral page. Tune in to find out the exciting conclusion to my compost problem!