Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
ha-HA! 1602 is delightful.  There was no way I could have waited 8
months to read it.  Now, please God, let me be able to get to the
comics shop 7 more times so I don't miss an issue.  It's the Book of
the Week at Chicago Comics. 

Davey, that e-mail was hilarious.  Thank God you sent it, because the
little nippers have been *begging* for a drill......
  

    
Just to let you know I'm all still alive and stuff (and I don't have
to haul a carload of meat anywhere tomorrow morning at 8!). Burning Man
is eating up most of my free time (so that I don't remember what it's
like to have free time). Work is eating up the rest.  Foregoing sleep
just to post this 'cause I miss y'all.

Thank you for the loverly words on the quilt. Neil's posting of the
page on his journal nearly crashed my daddio's connection for a few
days, but he secretly enjoyed it. But Daddio, well, now he's miffed at
Neil (and I use the term in the most adoring fashion) because it made
him realize how slow his little connection was. Now he's investing in a
bigger and better connection and will be down for something like 3
days sometime soon. Poor baby. <rolled eyes>

Also, car thing is pretty much wrapped up, which is nice because we're
making do with one car and money from totalled car is being used to
pay off bills... and will help for that month I'm about to take off of
work. (Yep, it's time for unpaid leave of absence, or I'll start
killing people for being stupid at work) On the plus side, it'll be
like a very long and much needed holiday. On the down side, it's
UNPAID, so it'll be a very local holiday. Eh, it gets me away from the
tourist hoardes downtown for a bit.

Sounds like you New York folks had a blast! If I were more awake you'd
be getting the squinty eye of doomey jealousy instead of the sleepy
eye of needing-sleep. Yay for thingie/WELL sillies!

Um... I had something interesting to say here, but I don't remember
what, so instead I'll just post this, tell you that I'm about 25%, and
go to bed.  Nite!

http://www.innergeek.us/geek.html

-squeaks

p.s. Ooh, I remember!

Maure (oh, I'm so giggling while typing this) - You'll be happy to
know that your name really *is* quite unusual. I was starting up a new
character on EverQuest with the boy a couple of weeks ago and had
troubles coming up with a character name that hadn't been chosen
already. As a lark, I typed in Maure and it was available. To make
matters even better, the boy keeps pronouncing it funny, so I have to
correct him; "No, it's <correct pronunciation here>, like short for
Maureen." If you're curious, she's a kitty-bard. Okay now I'm delirious
and really must sleep.
  

    
LOL!!  One of the questions under "I WANT..." is:  Jeff Goldblum!  How
did these people get inside my mind!?

Hey, Michelle, if you see a guy at Burning Man just giving out bottled
water for free, tell him someone from the Cornerstone fest said hi!

OK, now I'm also delirious and really must sleep.  Unfortunately, I am
at work at the moment.

P.S.  I keep wanting to pronounce the "e" at the end of Maure.  But
don't mind me, I only _studied_ Gaelic.  ;)
 -Lark
  

    
24.06312% - Geek
  

    
Fat Jack's was sold out of 1602 before 4:30, so I had to go to the toy
store that think its a comic store to buy it.  So, you've gotta move
fast.

In unrelated news, I got my Endless CD in the mail last night.
  

    
wheeeeeeeeee
  

    
Running away to Cabo San Lucas, now, for some serious beach and
margarita therapy.

WHEEEEE!!!!

*smooches to everybody*
  

    
Mary, I'm also sorry you missed the conversation Laurel and I had at
the next WisCon after that was published, a very earnest philosophical
consideration of parental protectiveness vs. a goldfish's natural right
to self-determination and the privilege of making its own mistakes...
  Of course, a little caution regarding power tools is usually a good
thing--let them have a drill and maybe a power screwdriver, and next
thing you know they'll be on TRADING SPACES.

29.19132%, Total Geek. Well, duh.
  

    
Loved the first issue of 1602, very nice to see Neil not making some
of the easy choices when it comes to what's parallel and what's not. 
Way too many "Elseworlds"-type projects come out reading like fanfic,
IMHO.  _Really_ curious to see how Captain America develops; I'm a
particular fan of the character, and observation indicates that he's
fiendishly hard to write well, or even really _get_.

As I see it, Captain America is the representation both of the best
aspects of America and of the best qualities of a human being.  He's
the ideal that his nation and its people can aspire to; that's his
whole job.  A line in one of John Ney Rieber's issues of his title
captured it pretty well: "Regular people could do a lot of the stuff he
does, if we cared as much, and if we tried as hard."

This makes Cap a hard character to write well, and we've got decades
of mostly-mediocre issues to prove it.  I'm on tenterhooks to see how
Neil rises to the challenge.
  

    
It's the last day of term... been running around like a chicken with
its head cut off, but it'll be over soon! Then I'll need to clean like
a crazy person, as my apartment has in the mean time dissolved into a
big pill of Mess and my sister is arriving this afternoon to visit for
a few days. After that, Hong Kong! For 2 weeks! *falls over*

Wow, really glad to hear that people in New York had loads of fun last
week... Hope everybody made it through the black out all right.
Sending warm thoughts until everything's up and running again.

Pam -- You sure are livin' it up, aren't you? Have fun!

Michelle -- Hang in there and get some rest! ;)

For everybody's amusement:
NASA sent a spacecraft out in 1999 to encounter a comet (projected
date 2004) and collect cometary material back. As a public outreach
program, they've collected over a million names to put on 2 sets of 2
microchips to be taken on the flight (one set will come back to Earth
with the return capsule, and one remains in space with the space craft
body).

The spacecraft is called STARDUST, and Neil's name is on it! :P 

Check here to see if your name's on it:
http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/overview/microchip/index.html   (My friend
Wynne's name is on there, and she pointed the whole thing out to me.)

Happy weekend, everybody! And a translation for the curious to follow.
^_^;
  

    <hidden>
  

    

For those of you who don't read Neil's journal, this is a must-see:
http://www.hootisland.com/cgi-bin/victorian.cgi
I am so incredibly amused.
  

    
Squeaks,  that may be the oddest thing I've been told this week. I am
thrilled to have my name lent to a kitty-bard.
  

    
Well, my name is not glued to a comet-interceptor (which is a bit of a
relief, as I'm sure it will hit very hard) but I note that "Ford
Prefect" is there, which raises significant doubts about what the
selection criteria were, if any.

I am sorely tempted to go looking for "Aragorn," "Frodo," and "Mary
Poppins" (she was there, flying umbrella CAP against the Nazguls) but
it's a very long list.
  

    
Email from Holley:

47.34% Super Geek.

Will not be painting my bedrooms. Am packing instead to move.  I made the
mistake of telling my landlady who was a friend of mine that IF she was
desperate for money ever that I would not hold her to the lease if she
needed to sell the 2 condo units she owns to have enough money to live. I
told her to give me a few months warning if she decided to do so and I
could get the money together. So, she ran out and got a real estate guy
who found her a man who wants to buy my unit and if he buys it, I'll have
30 days to move. Now. This makes me angry. And, yes, I have already told
her that I can't leave in 30 days and will leave when I've got the money
together. In other words, when I'm good and ready. I DO still have a
lease. I know she's not short of money right now - unless the 1 year old
Mercedes SUV she bought recently has sapped her cash flow. [note heavy
sarcasm] I know she hasn't looked into any other ways of making money if
she is a bit short. I know she isn't putting the other condo unit she owns
up for sale. The woman there always pays late with checks that bounce so
she decides to kick out the one that pays on time and has never bounced a
check. So all my work to get my unit the way I want it is now wasted.  I
swear. I will NEVER rent from a friend again. I end up feeling sorry for
them and not wanting to cause trouble by requesting things that are my
right. And I'm trying very hard to not hate her because she took advantage
of my feeling sorry for her during one of her moan sessions to screw me
royally. Needless to say, she's not invited to the little dinner party I'm
doing Sunday for my real friends. I've already started packing up the
bedrooms but will wait till after Sunday to start taking apart the front
area. I wanted my friends to at least see the work I did on the place.  
Sigh.

On the good side... For the money I'm paying for this place, I can
actually get a better place than this. Maybe not as large. But I can get
washer/dryer connections (which SHE said when I moved in she'd install and
never got around to). I can pick a place a little better lighted. And
closer to work. A patio with sunlight. Neighbors that have always lived in
apartments that don't call and complain when they can hear me breathing.
Gyms a part of the complex.  Swimming pools with Jacuzzis. The renters
market is very good right now.  This area had a glut of apartment building
so the complexes are half full and the rent and the special deals are very
good. If my regular weekend headaches stop when I move, I'll know it was
the condo. I won't have the constant knocking sound (I hope). I can again
just call the management if any problems come up with no worrying about my
friend who might not have the money.

I do know how to do temporary decorating. And, say, you know, people like
me like the challenge for a new scope for creativity. Soon's I move I'll
get out my craft tapes where I've collected all the ideas from craft shows
and see if there's any I can adapt. Yep. Gonna have fun.

I'm hiring a professional for the moving.

So. Off to a new adventure. Looking at apartments. Packing again. Dear me.  
All those books and collections. Sigh. But I'm also getting rid of stuff I
don't particularly want. The good part of moving. Lightening up a little.

I'm having Spaghetti on Sunday. It's the only thing I still know how to
cook well that I'm not allergic to. I'm so excited. I've never entertained
in my own place before. Yay.
  

    
More email from Holley:

For anyone looking for a copy of 1602...

Bedrock City (www.bedrockcity.com) in Houston, TX has plenty. I just spoke
to them and put my copy on hold to be picked up tomorrow. I think they do
mailouts and they have email and phone numbers up at their websites. The
guy told me they had ordered lots and lots cause they knew their customers
would want them and since they are wunnerful suppliers of Myself, and
since I know my copy is being held for me already, I thought I'd pass the
info to y'all if you can't find a copy anywhere.

My public service message for the week.
  

    
Mike: *laugh* Yeah, my friend put her own name in, but I don't think
there was any real criteria. (I don't suppose that G'Kar is wandering
around here and decided to submit his name to NASA.) I just think it's
nice that Neil's name is zipping around up there somewhere on a
spacecraft called STARDUST. In fact, there is a new thing where you can
put your name onto another spacecraft that's going to collide with
comet. Check: http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/sendyourname/  (And it
*is* fun to dig around to see what names are on the list. :P)

1602: I walked into a local comic book store and bought my copy today.
There were still around 10 copies left on the shelf. Don't know if
they do mailouts like Holley's store... they're a pretty small hole in
the wall. They're called Comic Odyssey, in Pasadena, CA.

Wolves in the Walls: I *finally* have it in my hands. Dave! The man
blew me away. I mean, I've heard the story and I love it, but this is
the first time I've seen the pictures... the blending of photographic
and painted/drawed elements is just phenomenal.  The way they
interacted had my eyes playing selective focus on all the right spots
on the page, and the designation of how/in what blend things are
portrayed (people vs. wolves etc.), and the color palette and how it
shifts, and, and...! *dissolves into jibbering mass* If you haven't
gotten a copy, go check it out!
  

    
OK, so it takes me a whle to get around to some things, but a friend
and I went to Katsu for dinner tonight.  Jill Thompson & Brian
Azzorello took Neil there when he was here for Horrorcon last year.  He
raved about it, and it's right around the corner from my house, so
I've been meaning to get over there ever since.

Oh.  My. God.  When Neil recommends a sushi place, go.  Just go.  It
was terrific!  I'm not a huge sushi fan, or at least I wasn't before
tonight, but the food was wonderful, and the service superb.  We
actually had grilled salmon, and just a little sushi, but have decided
to go back & eat at the sushi bar, 'cause there was so much stuff to 
try.  Yum.

Well, I got a terrific new job, much closer to my house, at a larger
school with lots of great music & drama programs, yesterday (they
offered me at the interview after about 10 minutes, which made me feel
really great), and then lost it 2 hours later when my current principal
refused to sign the transfer papers to allow me to transfer.  I really
*needed* a great dining experience tonight.  <<sigh>>.

Dodge--*so* sorry to hear about your apartment trauma.  That sucks! I
went through something similar a few years back, and then had the rent
raised on my last apartment so many times that I had to move.  Frankly,
I'm now so insecure that it's ridiculous.  I've been here 2 years, and
there are several boxes that have never been unpacked, and *many*
things not hung on walls. What's the point?  Somebody will just screw
it up again.  I want to own.

Time to go buy that Lotto ticket.........

Mary (off to the Indiana Dunes tomorrow with Alia & DebbieandChris)
  

    
Mary, so can you transfer without his permission?? I'm so sorry that
that isn't working out. Have you heard of the Choir Academy? It's a
charter school on the ... er, south side, I think. I have a friend who
teaches there (it's primarily a music school), and he says they're
hurting for teachers (he even told me I could get a job there like
*that* as a co-teacher, despite not having a certificate or anything,
so I'm sure you're more than qualified). I don't know what they pay (he
said pay is "decent"), but according to my friend, the kids are just
wonderful and it's a great job. Have fun at the Dunes, and give Chris a
big noogie for me..

Holley, very sorry about the apartment situation. How disappointing
and frustrating. But then, it sounds like you've got a great chance 
for a much better place, so maybe the headache will be worth it.
  

    
Mary, what the hell? Your principal can refuse to let you take a new
job? That doesn't make any sense to me. That's got to be a labor
infringement or something. Are you under contract?
  

    


From Holley Nowell:




Monday

Maure: Hoping so. The greatest disappointment is not the having to move (I
actually don't mind that) it's the fact it's a long-time friend of mine that
has done this to me! You just don't expect your friends to pull stuff like
this.

The dinner went off very well. Introduced my son and grandson (cutie pie 4
year old) to my oldest and bestest friends. Showed off my house. Got to use
my American Sweetheart dishes and my good silver plated settings and even
used the tablecloth and matching napikins and napkin rings and everything.
Had spaghetti and - did you know they now have in the stores garlic and
butter bread? Instead of having to make it and get the French bread and all
and pour it all on it's all ready to just stick in and bake. Cool! - and, um,
garlic bread. And I even used the proper sherbet cups from the AS set and
served sherbet. It was great. In all the time I've known these friends,
they've never seen my collection stuff unpacked. Sigh. At least they have
this once.

Oh, when I picked up my 1602 from the place I mentioned above, Bedrock
Comics? They said they have a whole department set up for mail order clients
so you can call the number on that website and they can send it to you or
send them an email. They did say that the website is mostly set up for their
golden age comics but you can still get to them via the email and telephone
on the site so don't get confused by the lack of listing for 1602. If I'd
been thinking, I'da gotten the card for the proper contact stuff but I
didn't. Beat me with a wet noodle.
  

    
Well, in the Chicago Public School system, there's a window in the
summer when staff can change schools, and all that has to be done is
some paper work.  But once that window closes, the principal has to
sign off on an academic transfer.  And school starts in 2 weeks.  So
she is within her rights to refuse to sign, as she wouldn't have the
time to replace me.  I'm just paranoid now, because she has been known
to stab teachers in the back, and I'm not "assigned" --CPS speak for
"real teacher" as opposed to a highly paid sub. I could be reassigned
to Board of Ed, and have to travel to a different school every day.

I love politics.

Mary (rereading Sandman in preparation for Endless Nights)
  

    
Okay people, onelook.com has finally failed me.  I'm readin A Thousand
Nights and One Night and have just finished the tales of the three
kalandars.

Can anyone tell me what a kalandar is? Why do the shave their beards? 
  

    
Advertisement:

Will pay serious bounty in gold* for photographs of Neil disguised as
a washerwoman. 



*fish


Mary (reading Dream Country)
  

    
Hey, *I'd* still like to see a picture from the
Growing-His-Hair-Out-for-American-Gods era.  Anyone know of a link to
Neil as Hippie?