throw another bear in the canoe

and i have to get to texas, i have to get to texas

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 02:19:08 GMT

8:00 pm
Monkey: Oh dear. I seem to be suffering from a miserable allergic reaction to something. I think I will take some benedryl, go to bed early, and skeep it off.

9:00 pm
Complaint Department: Monkey?
Monkey: Shhh. Sleeping.
Complaint Department: Monkey?
Monkey: Shhh. Sleeping.
Complaint Department: Monkey? But I need scritches.
Monkey: Huh? Scritches? Okay. Now can we sleep?
Complaint Department: *purrs*
Monkey: Shhh. Sleeping.

11:00 pm
Giant Ridiculous Dog: *barks at random noises*
Monkey: Oh, god, go to sleep, dog.
Giant Ridiculous Dog: *barks at people on the street*
Monkey: Oh, for the love of baby jesus, go to sleep.
Giant Ridiculous Dog: *barks at dust particles*
Monkey: Don't make me get out of this bed.
Giant Ridiculous Dog: *barks at air molecules*
Monkey: The house had better be on fire because it caught from the welding torch the serial killer was using to break in, is all I'm saying.
Monkey: *gets out of bed*
Giant Ridiculous Dog: *silence*

12:00 am
Monkey: *sleeps*
Complaint Department: *jumps over Monkey's head*
Monkey: *hides head under covers*
Complaint Department: *walks on Monkey's hair*
Monkey: *pretends to sleeps*
Complaint Department: *jumps over Monkey's head*
Complaint Department: *again*
Complaint Department: *and again*
Monkey: Cat, did you notice that you are on Valium?
Complaint Department: I love it! It makes me so perky!

2:00 am
Giant Ridiculous Dog: *barks at random noises*
Monkey: Oh, god, go to sleep, dog.
Giant Ridiculous Dog: *barks at people leaving party across the street*
Monkey: *reads script from earlier*
Giant Ridiculous Dog: *barks at dust particles*
Monkey: *skips ahead to the getting out of bed part*
Giant Ridiculous Dog: *silence*

4:00 am
Complaint Department: *barks at random noises*
Monkey: ...

6:00 am
Alarm clock: *Pachelbel's Canon!*
Monkey: No.
Complaint Department: *walks on Monkey's hair*

8:00 am
Monkey: *gets up*
Monkey: Cat? Where are you? You need your pill and your treat.
Fearless Kjitten: Treeeeeeeeeeet?
Complaint Department: *evaporates*

9:00 pm
Monkey: Gosh, why am I so tired? I slept twelve hours last night!

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 21:34:17 GMT

So the eggnog is made and the tree is up and waiting to be trimmed.

Where's my snowpocalypse?

i recall the moment when you ruined me for other men

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:50:27 GMT

Tea today: linden chamomile
Teacup today: quityerbitchinandwrite

Just finally settling down to get some work done on "The Unicorn Evils," after yoga, weights, grocery shopping, eating something before I fell over, putting the groceries away, and putting all the bones in the freezer into stock pots to become stock so I had room to put away the frozen veggies.

Also, the bread is in the loaf pan. I hope it rises sufficiently to be baked tonight or tomorrow, because I want to eat it. With butter and harissa and sardines, because--god knows why--I am craving sardines lately. And other fish. And fresh orange-carrot juice. And harissa. Maybe I need vitamins and fish oil, to counteract the looming lockdown of winter.

I'm surprisingly pleased with the way TUE is shaping up so far. It's giving me lots of good, juicy ideas and character stuff, and it's only going to be better once Emma gets her teeth into it.

Yay for work we love!

The Complaint Department seems to be adapting to her new pill regimen pretty well so far. At least, no obvious personality change, but she does seem calmer when something mildly stressful happens, like being picked up by her monkey or a Kjitten! Attack! (Which we have with appalling regularity around here.)

(One diazepam for the cat; one for me... nah, they'd catch on to that.)

To-do list shrinking slowly.

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:25:18 GMT

Thirteen things left on the monster to-do list. Calling it a day and taking off to eat dinner with friends. Probably back at it before bedtime.

Now I'm getting compulsive about finishing....

gotta get behind the mule in the morning and plow

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:31:21 GMT

Still chugging away at that to-do list. Will be taking a break tonight to go have dinner with netcurmudgeon and ashacat.

Just about to start invoicing things. If I could have one wish, it would be a paperwork fairy. I could be so much more productive if I didn't have paperwork.

I am minded of Henry in The Lion in Winter, ranting that he could have conquered all of europe if he hadn't had women in his life. I wonder what the women of the world would have accomplished over the years if it hadn't been for men, babies, and paperwork?

Tea today: Upton Chai
Teacup: Teddy bears

In addition, some of britgeekgrrl's friends are running a charity auction for her. I'm offering a copy of the uber-rare out of print impossible to find limited edition of New Amsterdam (with chapbook). If you wanted one and didn't get it, here's a chance to do a little good and fulfill that acquisitive urge.

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:50:30 GMT

Man, listen to the wind howl out there.

And yet, it is in the sixties.

Winter has apparently been canceled this year.

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:31:57 GMT

1576 words today, some on a blog post for Tor.com; the balance on "The Unicorn Evils."

I've donated a tuckerization to the TAFF fan fund auctions. Yes, you can win naming rights to a character in something I am writing--for charity!

Auctions close on the 7th, and I am not alone!!! There are more here.

My review of nojojojo's forthcoming first novel The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is here. (as is the rest of a new issue of Ideomancer. I have some reservations, but overall, a very fine first novel.

My review of Fantastic Mr. Fox is here, at Tor.com. Likewise, some reservations. But who would I be if I had none?

In other news, the honeydew never ends.

Crap, this week, what IS is?

Rest of the week:

pay phone bill
call vet
and pick up script
write year in review thingy
think about Secrit Project email from kyle
tax paperwork
stuff for ROF
wash charred stuff out of self-cleaned stove
make bread dough
fold laundry
invoice!
package other books
write rec letters
podcast contract
lift weights
bake bread
grocery shop
convert bones in freezer to stock: duck, turkey, lamb

~~clean refrigerator (TBRE says she will do this yayz!)~~

brush dog
record some more "Knock on Coffins"
post office
write "The Unicorn Evils"
swim
yoga (~~x3 x2~~ x1)
climb?
run (x2 x1)

make miso (friday)
make something in an alfredo sauce (saturday)

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:51:33 GMT

Good climbing night, for all I walked in out of sorts and sore. Floundered on a 5.8 I have sailed up before, but then nailed the next one and got a new one in the corner/in the chimney, a balancy stemmy route that's all opposition, and which includes some freaking cheerleader splits at the top. There is one actual handhold that's not a palm on the whole route.

Then I did some easy stuff, a nice 5.6 in the front corner and a new 5.6 on the slab, which I then downclimbed and did no hands. Go me!

And that was enough.

The Nice Dr. Pomper called--my mom talked to him; I was (obviously) out. He says there is nothing wrong with the PC... physically... so we are happy about that.
And now, back to the to-do list, this time in bed with tea.

i found an old dog and he seems to like me.

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:15:20 GMT

Seven things on the to-do list became eight. Meanwhile, tomorrow's to-do list is filling up with all kinds of stuff. Argh! Email is a curse and a vexation, but at least I don't have to answer the phone.

A brief pause in our insane schedule today to pass out on the couch with the dog.

Giant lapdog is giant.

Dog hugs make everything better.

And now dog break is over. Back on your heads.

the blood on the ice ran down through the years

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:23:41 GMT

For all the hockey fans in my life. And everybody who is not particularly good at remembering his or her role.

Hang in there, tigers.

and i don't mind dying but for the love of you

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:41:46 GMT

Complaint Department: I shall nap in this sunbeam, and all shall be well.
Monkey: *sneaks*
Complaint Department: Fear! Fire! Foes! Sherpa Bag! MURDER! MURDER MOST FOUL!
Monkey: Sorry about that, but it's Rabies Shot Time. Also, we're going to have a little talk with that nice Dr. Pomper about cats who are inconsistent about using the litterbox.
Complaint Department: You wouldn't dare.
Monkey: Try me.
Complaint Department: It's a recognized form of social protest.
Monkey: And this is why the Soviets instituted Gulags. Come on, into the car.
Complaint Department: *complains*
Monkey: *drives*
Complaint Department: *complains*
Monkey: *parks*
Complaint Department: *complains*
Reception Monkey: My, she's certainly a vocal one.
Monkey: We call her the Complaint Department around the house. She has a complaint.
Complaint Department: *sings arias of complaint*
Reception Monkey: I can see that.
Complaint Department: You can see how I'm being treated! And now I'm LOCKED IN A BOX in a ROOM with DOGS and OTHER CATS. Don't you know who I am?!
Monkey: They have your chart. I'm sure they do.
Reception Monkey: Complaint Department, room 3. The nice Dr. Pomper will see you now.
Monkey: There, see? All safe and quiet now. Would you like to come out of that box?
Complaint Department: *emerges hesitantly*
Complaint Department: I smell dogs.
Monkey: So do I.
That Nice Dr. Pomper: So what do we have here today? Rabies vaccination and checkup?
Monkey: Yes please. Also, we have this little... social issue.
Complaint Department: Oh, no, you don't.
That Nice Dr. Pomper: Peeing outside the litterbox, are we? How old is she?
Monkey: Fourteen or fifteen. She's a rescue: we can't be sure. But old enough that I'm concerned about diabetes and liver function. As well as, you know. Evil.
Complaint Department: I can't believe you're discussing my medical details with a total stranger.
Monkey: He's your vet. And I'm going to go home and tell the Internet, anyway.
That Nice Dr. Pomper: Well, I agree with your diagnosis of evil, but that's not acute; it's chronic. Well, we'll take some blood and a urine, and if that's all clear, we'll figure out what to do about the behavioral issues.
Monkey: Already tried moving the litterbox, moving her food to where she was peeing, adding another litterbox, making sure she had quiet time away from the other animals, excluding her from the room she was peeing in--
That Nice Dr. Pomper: Well, there's always valium. It works very well in stubborn cases.
Monkey: Hear that, CD? Kitty Prozac is on the horizon if you don't shape up.
Complaint Department: 0.0
That Nice Dr. Pomper: Right. Just going to shave her throat and draw some blood here--
Complaint Department: 0.0 0.o
That Nice Dr. Pomper: Oh good, I can palpate some pee in there. And now we'll take a sterile urine sample with a hypodermic--
Complaint Department: !!!!!
Monkey: She will bite.
That Nice Dr. Pomper: So would I. There, that wasn't so bad, was it?
Complaint Department: I hate you all.
Monkey: You did this to yourself. I tried to warn you.
That Nice Dr. Pomper: Results should be back in a couple of days! See you outside!
Complaint Department: I'm a celebrity. Get me out of here!

ain't no rest for the wicked, until we close our eyes at last

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:12:27 GMT

Thank you, Earwormmonger stillsostrange. And congratulations on finishing your draft!

alankria, a longtime member of this community has alerted me to another fandom rescue project. A friend of hers in the Philippines is in dire need of assistance, or will find herself homeless through what seems to be no fault of her own. I urge you to read and consider if you can help.

Alex, dancingshaman, died last night while so many of you were being so generous to his wife and best friend, britgeekgrrl. Not quite ten years ago, I was a witness as they renewed their vows in a small private ceremony the day after I married kit_kindred. Kit and I are no longer a couple, of course, but--I guess what I want to say is thank you all for making this easier for Johanna. Alex was much beloved by many, for good reason.

Grief is private; compassion is grace. Thank you.

Up this morning in time for ball-throwing for sunrise again, which is less of an accomplishment this time of year than, say, July. There was frost on the grass today, and the town has finally come to vacuum the leaves. I guess I will be putting off further recording until tonight when it's dark and still. Unless there is another round of Dog Telegraph.

Tea today: Gunpowder Green
Teacup today: My aged University of Connecticut mug, old enough that it has the old UConn logo on it. However much of it is left.

And now, to drink some of it, eat a muffin, and beard that to-do list.

Ahh, the glamorous life of the writer!

Actual text of actual work email just sent by me to an award-winning editor.

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:56:09 GMT

Attached please find one (1) very long .mp3 of me reading "The Horrid Glory of its Wings" to my cat.

I think I edited out most of the neighborhood dog noises.

Hope this works.

You know, I kind of like my job.

i got the moon. i got the cheese. i got the whole damn nation on their knees.

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:26:37 GMT

Right. Only two things left on that to-do list, and they can be done in bed while drinking Chartreuse. I think I'll get right on that.

523 words on "The Unicorn Evils."

So tomorrow's to-do list is....

blog about Lovecraft
bio and photo
make sponge for bread
work on "The Unicorn Evils" or Grail
cat to vet
bank
post office
buy replacement bulbs for holiday lights
clean kitchen
sweep floor
mop floor
fold laundry
yoga
climb
record some more "Knock on Coffins"

...fall the hell over.

Ongoing to do:

clean refrigerator
make bread dough
bake bread dough
fold laundry
write rec letters
invoice!

I have too much cream left from Thanksgiving. I need to make something in an alfredo sauce.

This would be one of those social networking call for assistance things.

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:45:13 GMT

ETAJo has enough money to cover the funeral and hospice care for the next few days.

Thank you all so much

This is my dear friend, Johanna, with whom I have been friends since I was in college and she was in high school. She's a member of Who fandom and a costumer and a lot of you probably know her from around the internets or the convention scene.

Her husband, Alex, is dying. Pretty much, right now.

He's been fighting cancer for years, and as you can imagine, their funds are pretty much exhausted. They've moved in with family, and times have been hard.

Jo is asking for financial help to cover the funeral expenses.

You know, if you can chip in, it would be--well, not nice. Nothing about this is nice. But it would be a worthy and charitable thing to do.

Her paypal address is johanna_mead@yahoo.com.

i bargained for salvation and they gave a lethal dose

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:15:35 GMT

Today I must:

~~make shepherd's pie~~
make carrot cake cupcakes
package up books for mailing
do lurking paperwork
work on "The Unicorn Evils"
record podcast of "The Horrid Glory of Its Wings" for Tor.com
record podcast of "Knock on Coffins" for Shadow Unit
take dog for walk
~~clean basement~~
put away dry laundry
hang up washed laundry
wash unwashed laundry
feed shoggoth and start bread
eat breakfast
yoga

...that's probably enough things.

Yeah, I got up at 6 am and that's all I have done. (Actually, it's not, there was dog outs and showering and doing dishes and finding the recording equipment and stuff in there too.)

Breakfast was my Sobas Inautententicos, which is to say, soba noodles in Swanson chicken broth with whatever veggies are kicking around the fridge (pearl onions, tomato, green peas) and garlic, ginger, chili pepper, lime, soy sauce, and a little Thai roasted red chili paste. Inauthentic. But delicious.

Tea today is Upton Vanilla. Teacup is The Songbird Neighborhood Watch.

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:55:25 GMT

Subterranean Press is offering 50% off pre-orders, which I can only assume includes Bone & Jewel Creatures.

Also, if you write as much as I have in the past five days, after two days spent cooking an enourmous holiday meal?

Don't expect to be any good on the climbing wall. Just saying.

i kissed your lips and broke your heart

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:25:37 GMT

3360 words on "The Unicorn Evils" today after all. I skipped ahead and worked on the climax, basically leaving all the no fun bits for Emma. Because that's just how I roll, baby.

Mean things: broken promises, stubbing your toe in the dark

Now it's almost time to go climb.

one should never fall in love with things that last

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:47:55 GMT

739 words on "The Unicorn Evils" this morning, which seems to be all I have in my head right now. So here I am, drinking tea and staring aimlessly, and contemplating whether I should do some of this Other Work that's staring at me from my to-do pile, or try taking a nap instead.

The work wouldn't take too long if I did it, but right now it all seems incredibly onerous, and I am incredibly tired.

Right, more staring aimlessly, then.

skip the last train home go underground

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:17:09 GMT

Radio Paradise has been on a roll this week, I have to say. Stuff I like and stuff I suspect I will grow to like in equal proportions.

Today? More work on "The Unicorn Evils," which stands at 11,400 words, and then eventual climbing. I'm up, fed, showered, yogaed, beteaed, and the dog has been watered, fed, and run around the yard. He's very adamant about being on the sofa today: the floor must be cold. Or maybe he's hoping I will forget that I didn't finish brushing him last night while we were watching Zodiac. (I already knew how it came out, but I enjoyed Robert Downey Jr's pornstache and the incessant seventies porn. I don't think the seventies looked that much like the seventies, if you know what I mean.)

Tea today: Stash Crepe Fair
Teacup today: Gahan Wilson, sometimes the monsters hunt you. (The Jeff and netcurmudgeon refer to this as the Short Form Cthulhu Game.)

In other news, batwrangler has uploaded photos of the infamous Very Deep Deep Dish Apple Pie to her flickr account. So you can see just how impressive this thing actually was.

Here are my photos of its assembly, for context.

I'm afraid I can't offer a recipe, because I used the Boston Cooking School Cookbook pie crust recipe (doubled) and the filling is sort of my own--about six pounds each of Greenings, Northern Spy, and Macoun, cored, peeled, sliced, and par-cooked with limited quantities of brown sugar, vanilla, real (Indonesian) cinnamon, lemon juice, a little butter, and a little salt.

Then I drained off the rendered fluid and reduced it to a syrup, thickening with a few shakes of arrowroot at the end.

Line a springform pan with pie crust, fill with filling, top and seal, bake for over an hour in a medium-slow oven. (call it three hundred degrees, though I bumped it up at the end to get some browning.)

trust me when i tell you i'm not good enough for her

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:21:06 GMT

4019 words on "The Unicorn Evils" today, in a steady seven hours of work interrupted only by snacking and sending the dog outside.

Man, why can't the novel put out like this?

But now TBRE has come home and made me a hot cocoa which I suspect is spiked with something, and I'm going to call it a night and go read a book or something.

Mean things: flashbacks, still more jurisdictional disputes, political meddling
Reason for stopping: end of scene and end of rope

through the flicker of my candles i can see my mirror's cracked

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:29:02 GMT

I contemplated taking TBRE and The Jeff up on an offer to go hiking today, and decided that what I really needed was a people-free day in which to be productive. So I'm here on the couch with the dog, about to get cracking on "The Unicorn Evils" again.

It's nice to be eager to work on something, and to have lots of ideas for it.

Tea today: green jasmine

Teacup today: green Japanese

Time to get to work.

you know I never could say anything in twenty words or less.

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 05:49:13 GMT

2050 words on "The Unicorn Evils" tonight.

Mean things include jurisdictional disputes and mass murder.

Sleep now.

i know it's unkind but my own blood is much too dangerous

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:06:18 GMT

I have been a mighty, mighty bear tonight. 3080 words on "The Unicorn Evils," and 700 words on a review for Tor.com.

Darling:

It wasn't that Solomon Todd hadn't seen this sort of thing before.

It was that he had.

Phew. And I get to get up in the morning and do it again.

down in your hotel room she lies waiting

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 23:07:04 GMT

By the way, if you have been meaning to start reading Shadow Unit and haven't gotten around to it, now is an outstanding opportunity to catch up before season three starts in February.

We have a very special holiday episode upcoming in December, and of course the past two seasons worth of narrative is available online. Very Soon Now we expect announcements regarding hard-copy collections of a lot of the content, and of course there is and will be swag. (Wait until you see the S3 limited edition shirt.)

There's a very handy fan page here, providing a suggested reading order (and recipes). And if you finish that, you can go to the character livejournals for interaction and backstory (and recipes), and the message board for community and speculation.

And recipes.