Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Christy - Thanks! :) We're mostly better now, thankfully. And still
wating to hear about the job.

Jinx - They told me anywhere from 24 to 72 hours to do the check, so
we'll see. I don't have any dark secrets in my past, though there are
lots of people who would laugh and me in disbelief if I told them that
;)

Bill - It is for that exact reason that we keep Thomas Guides in both
of our cars at all times. Even after 4 years in the Bay Area, there are
still lots of places to get lost. 

Since I may not be around so much this weekend, I'll go ahead and say
Happy Birthday, Neil! :)
  

    
For anyone in needs of laughs, a couple of friends sent me these...

http://www.rathergood.com/elephants/

http://www.rathergood.com/vikings/
  

    
Um.  "In needs..."  I'd love to make some clever play on words on
that, but it defies fixing.
  

    
Ooo, Pamela, those are hilarious.  One of my opera singer friends sent
me elephants as an e-mail a couple of months ago, and I think I've
sent it to everyone I know.
  

    
Rocky, argh! Happy belated, then!

Mary,  whew! Thank goodness you finally got someone who knew
*something* about the fish.

Have I mentioned how much I love Gene Wolfe? Popped into WindyCon
today with Tara on a whim, and he read a chilling and so well-written
story called The Black Shoes, which apparently is going to be in the
anthology for next year's Horror Con. It was wonderful. I talked to him
briefly (all on my own initiative, too, which is pretty impressive for
me, actually -- I'm getting bolder), which made me very happy. He's
just delightful. It makes the coming week of concentrated hell (with
the exception of Tuesday, when I get to hear Jonathan Carroll read)
bearable.

Also met Charles de Lint (He and his wife sang songs! He told us a
story! He signed my books!) and Charles Vess (He signed my books! He
chatted with Tara while I listened!) and the lovely and gracious Lisa
Snellings, whose work I have yet to buy. Avoided the art show
altogether for the sake of my already decrepit credit cards. Couldn't
avoid the dealer's room, though, where I gave too much money to Greg
Ketter, much to the dismay of my inner accountant.

Today was nice, and the weather was grey and overcast, but
surprisingly warm and windy. I love November days.
  

    
Well, when accounting for the time zone...
Happy Birthday Neil!

And good luck in England making the film!
  

    
Gosh, it's 3:00 a.m., so I guess I can say it, too.

Happy Birthday, Neil!  All the very best to you!
  

    

Happy 4x7 Neil!  

Have a safe journey and a very happy return. ;> 
  

    
Thanks, all of you. It's going to be an odd trip to the UK -- I need
to be a normal social animal to be able to make the movie, and also
need to be a recluse to write the story that just took over my head.
Should be a strange mix.
  

    
Um, been thinking 'Invader Zim' too much today, so everything seems to
have 'of doom' in it today. 

meg - The boy has lived here for nearly 10 years and he still busts
out the map sometimes. The bay area just has too many little hills in
it to prevent straightforward being-able-to-find-it-ness.

Maure - Greg Ketter is very bad man indeed to the inner accountant in
us all. 

Rocky - Damn! I always think your b-day is *after* Neil's... Belated
happies (complete with sheepish grin - of doom).

Mary - Thanks. I had fun with it... except when I got mad at almost
the end, but then it got better and it was fun again. :)

Dan and Jinxie - Continued hugs. Even if you don't need them, they're
there to have. 

Oh, random aside. Harlan Ellison was at the Booksmith on Friday. I'd
like to say I've never seen him in such a good mood, but frankly, I've
only ever seen him nice. He didn't even insult anyone (though he did
tell Tom Galloway to 'shut up' once). And my friend James 'got him'
back. A couple years ago Harlan decided to mess with James because
James was wearing his Magnetic Fields shirt - so they started playing
Magnetic Fields over the speakers in the shop. This time James wore his
Invader Zim shirt and Harlan actually gleamed he was so excited about
Zim. 

Happy Birthday Neil.

Okay, back to making the bridesmaid's dress of doom (which is
surprisingly less doomy than I suspected it would be)

squeaks, not entirely doomed
  

    
Squeaks - hugs are always appreciated, and probably always needed...
for one reason or another.
  

    

Happy birthday to the birthdayed.

And Invader Zim rocks. That is all.
  

    
There. Birthday done. Got Windows Ipod working after googling "windows
ipod problems" and learning that there was really good software out
there that worked, it just isn't what apple bundles with the ipod.

Have a strange hankering to head for Northwestern Scotland, if I get a
spare day or so while I'm in the UK. I think I may be writing a new
American Gods story (well, a Shadow story), and that's where he seems
to be.
  

    

New Shadow story... aw, yeah.
  

    
[inserts 'New Shadow Story' woohoo here]

Woohoo!

[currently in CT, wondering why he's here... ]
  

    
Neil - If you've got some specific suggestions/complaints for the iPod
Windows version, or even the Mac version, let me know and I can pass
it along - My sister works at Apple on the iPod QA team, and I know
they always appreciate feedback. My email address should be in my
profile.

A new Shadow story sounds yummy! Wonder what he's up to in Scotland...
  

    

Nothing wrong with CT. Unless you consider the total lack of much of
anything to do. But I did live there the first 17 years of my life.
  

    

Walker?  You're in close proximity?  You ARE stopping in NYC, right?
And where are the pics with the bunny ears?  [..you're here to answer
questions..] ;>
  

    
Two pictures of Walker with the bunny ears (along with the rest of us
in our AiW getups) can be seen at...
http://i.xanga.com/bill_squared/WFC2002009sm.jpg and
http://i.xanga.com/bill_squared/WFC2002010sm.jpg
Costume details available upon request... :-)
  

    

Bill^2 - Thank you so much!  You all look quite..um..festive in a
twisted and demented kind of way. 
[Dear Lord, did Walker really wear those ears?!] ;p 
  

    
Well, Walker I think that everyone wonders why they're in Ct. I've got
the weekend off, and the Boi says he's up for a drive. Let me know if
you need the phone numbers gain.

Shadow in Scotland,....I need to re-read American Gods.

Rocky, I relly need you're snail mail addy, have cool things to mail
you.
  

    
Damn, it's making me wish I'd taken a photo of me as the Mad Hatter.
Unfortunately, my 'insanity' that evening was not part of the act;
thus, I was really not in a mood for photos. The not-entirely-random
fit of screaming that night did suit the costume rather nicely though.
(Serves the 'disco prom queen' right for bumping into me on the
dancefloor and then glaring like it was my fault)

Walker - Because you went there. Duh!

squeaks, ready to get into a big temporary fight with my friend just
so I don't have to deal with any more of her wedding crap until the big
day.
  

    
It was requested of me at work today to mention that Neil now shares
his birthday with a bunch of sea-monkeys belonging to a lady friend of
my friend James (who is rather something of a monkey himself).

So what kind of an omen is that?

-squeaks, off to go investigate Ripper things
  

    
Madman: Well, for some urban yutz from Los Angeles (like me), CT is
pretty downright bleargh. At least there's a Walgreens in walking
distance, and the Mark Twain House is close. (Yay!)

Rocky: I already did an overnighter in NYC with no time to really
hang, sorry. And yes, I wore those ears (ask Bill... or Pam... hell, or
even Neil). When we all went to the club, I even did a little
headbanging with 'em on. They went all floppy-like... hehe.

Bill^2: My pics will be uploaded somewhere once I get to a place that
has a REAL internet connection (i.e. my house), rather than this dialup
stuff.

Jinxer: I'm leaving Thursday morning, the 14th. Drop me an email
(nightwalker at gothik dot org) with the numbers just in case.

Squeaks: Hush, you. Oh, hey... do you remember how the Ultimate
Super-Villian "The Dark Chicken" came up at brunch that day? I can't,
for the life of me.

-- Walker
  

    
To follow up on Walker's post, we BOTH did a bit of headbanging
in-costume. In fact, we were headbanging in mirror image; his left ear
was bouncing while the right stayed steady, and my right antennae were
moving while the left stayed still. Kinda odd.