Whoo, what a trip. We're absolutely exhausted, but what a great time! Our B&B (Aysgarth Station, hosted by the wonderful Jane and Steve) was fantastic (again), the weather was perfect (only one day over 75, and every day sunny), the park was gorgeous (we hiked Cadillac & Gorham Mts, all the trails on the Schoodic Peninsula, and a lot of easier wanders...), and things were generally just splendiferous.

Wow.

Can't believe vacation is over already.

We're thinking of moving to Maine. Not seriously--not unless we can get a whole lot of very good friends to move with us--, but we did pick up real estate books :o)

Last night, Texas beat Baltimore 30-3. Impressively, they did it without a hundred-yard rusher OR a hundred-yard receiver on offense, and they played defense with only nine men on the field.

Go, Texans!

Yeah, it's early for the 2008 elections. But if you're getting the Politics Jones but aren't yet sure which candidate you support, this is a neat thing. Take a twenty-plus question quiz (easy, just "support/oppose/indifferent" and "how important?") and see how you line up with the current candidates' stated positions:

http://www.dehp.net/candidate/index.php

Apparently I'm a Dennis Kucinich person. Woe is me...

Oddly, I thought that positionwise I favored John Edwards... but according to this poll the closest "major" candidate for me is Obama. Though my weightings and the matchups give Kucinich a decided "advantage."

"Freeing Teresa" is live @ Abyss & Apex.

http://www.abyssandapex.com/index.html

Enjoy!

Even if it's not up yet.

Got the contract from A&A and sent it back. So I'm now a twice-published author. Golly. Soon I'll be a real writer. :o)

Abyss & Apex is apparently going to be publishing my short story "Freeing Teresa" in the July edition!

FT was originally written for the Spirit House compilation I got recruited into working on--to raise funds for the 2005 tsunami victims. It wasn't a huge seller, but A&A editor Wendy D. was one of the principals in SH, and when I resigned from A&A she offered to buy it from me.

I edited the piece down a bit--it was a bit verbose--and I'm pretty happy with it, and very happy that A&A is publishing it. Still awaiting a contract, so nothing's final, but it looks good.

I'll post a link when it's up...

Saw a guy today--not for the first time, but I hadn't seen him for a while--walking down 34th Street wearing a hat festooned with feathers. Every few steps he'd stop, put his hands to his mouth, and let rip a (fairly realistic sounding) birdcall.

People just kept walking around him, of course--what else are you going to do?

Either he has an odd sense of humor, or he's nuttier than a Stuckey's pecan roll. Either way, I wonder what he'd be doing if he -wasn't- crazy:

• Letting a flock of crows know that he's single and available?
  
• Convincing a murder of invisible ravens not to carry off the children?
  
• Warning off the alien invasion as premature?
  
• Asking a passing roc for a ride home?
  
• Rehearsing the soliloquy from I, Egret?
  
• Praying to Crow?
  

This guy has a lot of dust (being from Texas), a couple of cars, and some paintbrushes. The results are solid if not jaw-dropping, until you realize they're in dust, on the back of cars...

http://www.dirtycarart.com/gallery/index.htm

As a writer, I place a lot of value on permanent record of my creations--stories not just written down but preserved for all time in the pages of some publication or another, like publication is some thing worth more than the story itself.

But there's something neat about transitory art like the dust art this guy creates--chalk drawings, or etch-a-sketch art, or a storyteller telling a story aloud to a group of friends. It has a value to it that makes me look at what I do a little differently. Yes, this guy gets some Internet Fame (and maybe some contract work) out of what he's doing, but I think he'd probably be doing it anyway, just for the love of it. Something to think about when I'm slaving over the hot electrons trying to get a story to come out right.

Hrm.

Posted without comment:

http://www.vtwinmama.com/demonic_squirrel_riding_story.htm

Make sure you're someplace where people won't mind the laughing...

So I guess it's been a few months. Here's what's been going on, in no particular order:

1. I've quit reading/editing for Abyss & Apex. It was fun, and educational, and I like to think I've done some good while I was there, but it was time to move on; my drumset (I haven't even had time enough to learn how to suck at drums properly), PS2 and Wii were remaining unplayed, and I haven't done more than one or two writing workshop critiques since I started reading. So, time to mosey on.

2. I've been in a monster creative dry spell. Which may, if the fates allow, be ending. I've outlined not one but two books--one a social commentary horror and the other a probably-too-dark-and-too-long-to-be-YA YA-skewing fantasy. I'm really, really happy with the latter, though it'll require Actual Research before I can write it. (It's set in 1929 New York City.)

3. Work's gotten busy. I'm writing a specification for a documentation "source control and tagging" system that I'm going to then have to code, while new projects rush on and customers ask for document customizations. I'm also helping, here and there, design the user interfaces for our new products--something they should have had me involved with all along, so happy for that. Busy at work is a good thing, and this seems to be the right level of busy--enough to keep me fully occupied without stressing me out. So yay for that.

4. I'm playing softball! It's been a few years, and I'm awful, but I'm playing for Liz's job's team in a very small league that plays a very short season none too seriously. It's been lots of fun. I've missed sports.

5. Went to Florida to visit Liz's mom--went out on a schooner, which was verraverra cool. And now I'm farmer's-tanned. Which is okay, 'cuz I'm too slovenly (and too hairy) to take my shirt off in public anyway, and it's fine if Liz laughs at me.

6. TV Season is almost over! Thank god. There was so much really enjoyable TV this year that we burned out on TV back in February or so but didn't want to miss any of the continuing-storyline shows. Is it me, or has TV gotten much, much more watchable since the 80s?

There's more, I'm sure. But I have a meeting, and then I'm plunging back into work. So it'll do. And it's better than I've posted in the past six months... :o)

So that does it for updates. I guess I'll see ya again in 2008! :p