Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
JaNell, Mary, Michelle, and lioness,  thanks for the congrats and the
yays for my brother. He called after the game, when he got back to the
hotel. He was so excited he could barely speak, and kept saying, "Did
you see it?? Did you see it??" It was very cool. I found two pictures
of him, one outrunning the free safety, and the other when he scored
the touchdown, if anyone's interested in seeing them:
http://www.eurydiceunderground.com/new.html#7395807

But enough of football.

Johanna,  I have always had wonderful experiences with Harlan, but
until that last time, I'd managed to go unnoticed. My sister was less
than pleased with all of his anti-youth ranting. She refused to go hear
him speak on the last day of MadCon, and it was the one time he wasn't
rallying against the inanity of youth. He actually read stories from
Mindfields. So she was even more annoyed. Heh. I can't believe he means
any of the lecherous comments he makes, because you can hear how
absorbed in and in love with Susan he is every time he speaks of or to
her. I love hearing him talk to or about her, because he'll be ranting
ferociously, then all of a sudden, his tone warms and softens, and his
entire demeanor changes. It's really sweet, not in the
cotton-candy/stale-angelfood-cake way, but in the most sincere way
possible. When he talks about Susan you see the author who wrote the
aching, moving stories he's written. This is just my perception, of
course.
  

    
I forgot the best part of my adventure... Blame it on getting up at
4:30am yet again... My brain is mush.

In the "Tara's universe is this big (holds hands out in roughly
grapefruit-shaped shere) and has eight people in it" fashion, one of my
fellow volunteers was a Chicago theatre critic who knows my drama
teacher, Larry McAuley, whom I have not seen in years. Nifty, ne?
  

    
Again, thanks everybody for the supportive words and advice.  Believe
me, legal advice is next on my list - a close friend and co-worker is
currently in law school, and one of our company officers is a
practicing attorney.  That's the first thing on the list for tomorrow.

I need to talk to the management company and see what the actual
penalties for early termination of the lease are, as well.  The lease
tries to make it sound draconian, then seems to back off from that.

And she *does* make more money than me (about 15% more, actually) so
alimony is out of the question.  Since that's effectively what she's
asking for (before anything legal happens), it's hard to figure where
my responsibility is in this.

I have ascertained that her name is not on the current lease, so she
is effectively living here at my discretion.  Somehow, I think that
might turn out to be important.
  

    
Just got back from The Front Porch (Cosby, TN), a hippy hillbilly
Mexican place with live music, usually Blue Grass; it was the last
night of the season before they close for the winter...
Standing outside, looking at the stars, much clearer than in Knoxville
because of it being way out in the boonies, plus up in the Smokies, I
saw three shooting stars, all in a row, and probably the tail end of
that big meteor shower...
V. sweet.
  

    
Rick--I am so sorry for all of this.  I think you're getting excellent
advice, and having never been married, I have nothing to add.  I'll
just be sending good vibes your way.

Tara O'Shea's universe is "this" big.  And it does only have 8 people
in it.  I know.  She showed me.

Michelle, Kelly--I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't know diddly
about astrology. (I have been informed by Those Who Know that I am
about as typical a Taurus as you're ever likely to find--whatever that
means).

What is it with pets going for the face?  This morning at the *crack*
of dawn, Berlioz decided to stand on Mom's face & launch himself at the
very loud crow outside the window.  Fortunately a) he didn't scratch
me too badly, and b) he could't get out of the window.  Though I kind
of wanted to feed him to the crow for a while....;-)  I love my
fish......they don't bite if you keep your hand out of the tank.

OK, off to check out Maure's pictures!   M.
  

    
>>nd kept saying, "Did you see it?? Did you see it??" It was very
cool. I found two pictures of him, one outrunning the free safety, <<

Aaw man, those photos are great - I'm going to send them to my Dad
(big football fan). Mars and I both got all teary at how great the
story is, and how proud you sound, and how excited he was,... sheesh. I
barely know you and not him at all, yet I'm sitting here all glowingly
teary and _proud_ - thank you for sharing!  :-)

Mary - another typical Taurus, eh? I'm about as perfect to the T of a
Taurus you can get, apparently. I can't decide if this is a good thing
or a bad thing, really,...  heh.
-Kelly
  

    
rick - Fingers crossed in case such superstition can aid at all in 
such an icky situation. Best of luck to you!

Maure - Great pictures! Tho' I wonder who's beaming more at the
recollection. :)

I've been told I'm a typical Scorpio, and from what little I've been
told, I'm inclined to agree. But then, if you read off what goes for a
typical (fill in the blank), I'd probably agree with those too. 

Ooh, and yesterday I was told that I have a happy negative outlook on
things, that I'm negatively charged like the air after a lightning
storm. That by itself is a little odd to hear, but considering the
source (which is something of a topic of its own), I'm still just
nodding and smiling and assuming it's kind of good. 

squeaks, at least it sounds cool.
  

    
Madman: peeps?

signed,
the one who introduced Jon Singer to peeps jousting,
which was worth it for the look on his face.
  

    
Peeps jousting? Why does this make me think of the spun confection
sugar neon yellow baby chickens and violent pink rabbits popular around
Easter?

Please tell me you're not talking about jousting with large sugar
coated marshmallows? Or, if you are, when you'll be by to demonstrate
this for me,...   ;-)
-Kely
  

    

I have photographs, somewhere, of a peep band I set up once... a chick, with
a toothpick microphone stand, and 3 bunnies behind. The chick also had a
peep sized guitar.
I have a feeling I've mentioned this before, but if so it was 2 topics ago.
  

    <scribbled by dfowlkes Tue 3 Jul 12 10:14>
  

    
Re: Astrology-My mom is real big on astrology.  In fact its pretty
much what she does now!  She also homeschools my little brother, and he
has a class on astrology.  Not many people can say that they took
astrology in high school.  My favorite part of all this is that I get
unlimited use of expensive astrology software for free.  :)  However, I
don't know much about it at all.  My mom is always making comments
like...well, you know she does have SCORPIO in the EIGHTH house...as if
saying this is going to explain absolutely everything.  I nod and say
"I know EXACTLY what you mean" being the smartass that I am.  

Apparently I have a ridiculous amount of Gemini in my chart...

Re: Peeps- With so many of us being the computery people that we are,
I am sure some of us have been to this site, but just in case you
haven't.... http://www.learnlink.emory.edu/peep/index.html   Enjoy!

Angelina.
  

    
Peeps jousting:

Take a paper plate. Set two peeps (preferably the classic chick peep, as
bunnies refuse to stand up and fight like a chick, but instead go on sit-
down, or rather, lie-down strike) on the plate, facing one another, each
armed with a toothpick lance. (Round toothpicks work better than square-
sided toothpicks.) Make both jousters right-handed or both lefthanded. Place
them on the plate so there's about half an inch between the tip of their
lance and the breast of the other peep. Sound effects, challenges, growling
noises, and so forth are optional, but may enhance your peeps experience.
Place plate in microwave. Turn on microwave, standard setting, and watch
through the door....

(spoiler alert - if you prefer to be surprised, don't read this next bit)




As you watch, and as the seconds tick away,  you will notice that one or
both peeps may tremble slightly, as if overcome with emotion or suddenly
afflicted by qualms about this whole jousting thing. This will be followed
by the inflation of both peeps, as if they took deep breaths and decided to
go through with it, and then did the pufferfish thing at each other. As the
peeps swell, their lance-points are advance toward -- and into -- each
other. One peep's lance will strike home first, and the mortally wounded
peep will deflate in a rush of hot, cotton-candy scented air.

Don't leave the peeps cooking for more than thirty-five seconds or so,
depending on your microwave, as the sugar does burn. However, if you pull
'em out after peeps mortality occurs, you can (*very* carefully!) use two
fresh toothpicks to scoop up the molten sugar and pull it kind of like
taffy, holding it in the air for the moment it will take to harden. It's
essentially a piece of roasted marshmallow candy at that point. Don't burn
your mouth -- it's napalm marshmallow at first, so be careful. And the
reason for the paper plate should be obvious, although some folks do prefer
to do it on real plates and then scrub the enameling of molten sugar off
later.

Have fun!
  

    
I think that peep jousting may very well become my new favoirte
passtime.  Thank you!
  

    
*blinks slowly*

Damn, I wish I had a microwave.
  

    
Elise, that is just *so* wrong.

I just got an email from a reporter at the MetroPulse wanting to
interview me about the ConCat cancellation.
Don't know what to do about that, having chronic foot-in-mouth
disease.
Um. Er. 
Aargh.

The other weirdness today is I'm meeting with a woman interviewing
women about stress for a university study. That one's easier; it's
anonymous, and I get paid.
  

    
Maure:  yay for your brother!  I love hearing when good things happen!

Rick:  No, no, there was nothing wrong with your post!  Twas very
nice!  I have the rather dull and socially awkward habit of rethinking
my posts, and then reposting to correct my imaginary (sometimes)
mistakes. And as for the divorce thingy, I agree whole heartedly with
the advice given, so I shan't add anymore.  However, I will offer you
the following proposition:  I, myself, being a happy divorcee - If you
attempt to get married again, I'll hit you upside the head.  if that
doesn't dissuade you, (I am a black smith's daughter) then she must be
perfectly wonderful, and all that....if I try to get re-bondaged, er,
mairried, you must threaten to burn my Neil Gaiman collection.  Now,
hopefully you're sort of smiling, so I'll give you a virtual squeeze of
sympathy on the shoulder, and leave you alone.

OOOH!  Easter can't come fast enough now!  I so have to try the
jousting peeps!  Too bad you cant use foil in the nuke machine, as a
little foil helm would be a cool prop.  How *do* people figure these
things out, anyway?

Dan:  Good luck!  I hope your not actually going to be out of work.

I hope everyone has a really nice work week.  Yeah, I'm going to be
around, but I just felt like saying it.

Ninave 
  

    
<lioness>: *blinks, in stunned awe*  Does this sort of thing get
handed down, like an heirloom, or does it just spontaneously hatch?

Angelina: Loved the website!

Neil: Forgot... congratulations on finishing the Moebius story.  Minor
key lingers.  Is this the notebook that was lost and now is found
story?
  

    
hey JaNell, i wanna get paid to talk about stress!! where do i sign
up?  hehee...

i am so embarassed to admit that i spent Thanksgiving at Disneyland. 
there just can't be anything more whoringly corporate than that.  but
my family is far away and we were waaaay too stressed out to host an
event.  so we went to the Disney Thanksgiving Feast, which was a total
debacle starting when they lost everyone's reservations (we're talking
thousands)and going right down to being serenaded THRICE with "Colors
of the Wind" by what might have been the cheesiest woman on earth.  it
was such horrifyingly great people watching. Disneyland is such a
wonderfully evil place to me. i love it.   

Kelly, you look fabulous in the dress.  and Rick, i'm so sorry.

-Adriana
  

    
wheeeee.  I think I'd better register for BosKone.  Especially if the Flash
Girls get Steve Brust as an honorary guitar player.  fun fun fun.

Too many funny things have gone by for me to comment on them all, but
various things various of you have said have been making me laugh very hard.

and I would like to do some Boston Barking Mad thing at some point, and I
wish Rick good luck with the sticky breakup.

oh, and Neil, thank you for recommending the Avocado of Doom enough times
that I decided to read it. (aloud, and we have no good excuses like small
children for our reading-aloud-in-silly-voices luxuries.)  and now there are
these other four books in the same big fat paperback that we're going to
have to read too...
  

    
Adriana: wondering if you got my email, or if it maybe got kicked out
by your server, because of the pictures?  Just checking.
  

    
abbe -- The pseud makes me giggle.  I'd forgotten I'd said that.
And I love "Avacado of Doom" too.
I finally bought myself a copy of "The Blue Moose" which I haven't
read since I was about 6.  It makes me happy.
  

    
Everyone,  thanks again for tolerating my proud-older-sister-isms. I
get to see him in Virginia this weekend - another long drive (14
hours). It's a good thing I love driving.

Neil (or anyone who knows, really),  which DreamHaven would be the
best one for me to send the book to? Does it matter? I realize that you
were inundated with offers of it, so I figured I'd make sure you
actually wanted it before adding to your mail load.

As for the jousting peeps, I love that someone came up with that (was
it you, Elise?)! I don't have anything nearly as entertaining for any
holiday. Every year, though, Mom gets her second grade class to
decorate styrofoam cups upside down, telling them it's for their party
juice. I collect them all the night before, then heat them in the oven
for a few minutes. They shrink and the edges curl, making a decent
approximation of a leprechaun hat. I fill them with jellybeans and
leave them for my mother's students on St. Patrick's Day. She complains
every year that everything gets blamed on the leprechauns for at least
a month afterwards - the leprechaun stole my gel pens, the leprechaun
ate my snack, the leprechaun wrote all over my desk or spilled my glue
into a puddle in which my pencils and crayons have become stuck . . .
which of course is my favorite part of the whole thing.
  

    
Good news!  Spoke to the apartment management people today, and the
lease termination procedure is pretty reasonable - 60 days notice, and
1/4 of the remaining lease amount (which amounts to 1/2 month's rent). 
I'm giving notice on Dec. 1, and my wife will have until January 31 to
find a new place.  I'm going to pay the termination fee (since I'm the
one on the lease), but I'll get most of that back in the security
deposit.

It seems a workable solution, and has cut the tension in the air
dramatically (though I can tell she's still struggling to somehow find
something unfair in it).  Meanwhile, I put a deposit on a nice little
studio today, and will find out tomorrow if I have it - no reason I
shouldn't.  I'll be moving next week.

Yay!

With all this going on, I forgot to mention that I saw "Amelie" last
night at the Academy of Music in Northampton, MA.  What a wonderful,
delightful movie!  Everybody rush right out and see it now!  I can more
reservedly recommend "Waking Life", which I saw last Wednesday -
visually very interesting, but it drags a bit in the middle.  Still, a
very well-done "smart person's" film, very philosophical and
worthwhile.  The only other thing I've seen recently is "Monsters,
Inc." - I sat in the front row with a bunch of kids, and had a grand
time.  Pixar rocks!

Thanks again to everybody who offered kind words, advice, and sympathy
over the last couple days - it meant a lot to me and definitely
helped.  You're a wonderful group of people, and I'm honored to share
this virtual space with you.  Much as I love Neil's writing, it's the
quality of the people he attracts (and the way he treats them) that is
most special to me.
  

    
Rick- I'm so glad all worked out well for you (well.  Not to jinx it. 
It seems so).  Didn't have much advice in the process, but, now that
you're working through it, very happy for you.

Maure- Good job to your bro!  And good for you, for being the cool
older sister like that.  I always smile when I read your posts, because
it makes me think of my little sister, and how much I love to mention
her.

Like, did I tell all of you that she re-choreographed a five minute
dance number in three minutes, just ten minutes before we were
scheduled to be on television?  She did.  I'm sorry if I already
mentioned it, but, well, I'm still kind of in awe of it.

I *have* to see *Amelie*.  I may even see it before I go see *Harry
Potter* again (<shrug> what?  It's good!).