Well, I figure by now you've all given up on me. Heck, I've pretty much given up on me too. :)

Saw this the other day, though, and thought it was funny. Figured I'd share, since I have no words of wisdom to impart at the moment.

What's in a Name?

Ever since I read Cliff's blog about a story he wrote using a pseudonym he refuses to reveal (the tease), I started thinking about my own nomme de plume. Like Clifford, I've considered branching out into new territory, but would need a new name to go there. (Also like Cliff, said territory will remain unnamed, but let your own imaginations take you where you will.)

I was pondering this dilemma while checking my email when by the grace of God and Spam, two beauties fell right into my inbox: Ernestina Whoppingpenis and Clyde Thunderstick.

Now if only I could decide between the two...

On a more serious note, his idea of a complete, edited and submitted short story per month was a pretty good one. Ambitious, but not impossible. Go, Cliff! :)

Anybody else have writing goals for this year that they'd like to share?

Happy Anniversary

I just noticed that I started this blog in January of last year, so it's now been a year since I "met" Sid, Charles, Stewart, Avery, the Susans, Lana, Jon, Steve, Candice, Sphinx, Wayne, Travis, Donkey, SQT, Ivan, Lucas, Christina, Lindy, Clifford, JR, Etain and the rest.

Time sure does fly when you're having fun. Thanks for hanging out with me. I feel privileged to know you.

And somehow I ended up with a dog...

I'm embarrassed that it's been over a month since my last post, but sometimes life has a way of interfering with fun.

The past couple of months have just been insane with work, transportation and health woes, kid troubles, etc. I started a new job that has been kicking my butt -- going to work before daylight and coming home after dark, with barely enough time to eat, shower, lay out my clothes for the next and start the process all over again. I've been averaging about 3-4 hrs sleep a night, so I'm pretty tired when I get home and not much into posting. I have been reading your blogs, though, just haven't had much energy for commenting.

Anyhoodles, in the midst of all this, my daughter came home one day announcing that we now have a new addition to the family: Kali--a 13-yr old, asthmatic, arthritic Shih Tzu with about four crooked teeth.

How could I turn her away? We're soul mates.

Pithy

SphinxInk said we'd come up with pithy posts at the same time, but I'm afraid she'll just have to go on without me. :)

I felt guilty for being MIA for so long, so I thought I'd drop in to share these few bits of wisdom.

This one would have been better a couple of days ago, but you can retain the wisdom for next year. I, for one, am grateful for instruction on the proper use of jazz hands:

http://www.basicinstructions.net/2007/10/how-to-deal-with-trick-or-treaters.html

And for those of you still partnered, here is some valuable advice on how to apply the laws of physics to your relationship.

http://www.basicinstructions.net/2007/10/how-to-apply-laws-of-physics-to.html

Moving On

I just couldn't let this sit here any longer with nothing but a sorry picture of my desktop on it. I have nothing profound to say, just needed to move beyond the meme.

If you're wondering what I've been up to lately, you can check out my other blog. I just finished updating that one too. Stewart, I'm sorry to say that I haven't written you a vampire story, but I have an excuse. Really, I do. It's um, it's uh... the cat ate my mouse. Yeah, that was it. And by the way, where are the links you promised us? I haven't seen your entry yet.

As for the rest of you, I've been lurking about, reading your blogs. Just haven't had much time lately and blogger doesn't always let me comment. Keep up the good work, folks.

Surfin' Saturday

My original intent to post was to give a hard time to those of you who haven't updated your blogs in a week or so, but then I noticed that my last post was nearly a month ago. (those who live in glass houses...) Hence, I've decided to just give a quick book review.

Just read A MANKIND WITCH by Dave Freer last night. As I read it, I was thinking, hmm... this reminds me of Charles. (Sword fights, fantasy creatures, a bit of romance interwoven into the plot.) :)

I found the book in the Sci-fi section of the library, though I'd hardly call it science fiction - more fantasy/adventure. I didn't even expect to enjoy it--and I'll reveal my bias here--because the cover looked as if it were geared more toward males. Teenage males, in particular. Nevertheless, I liked the title, so I brought it home. (Notice my thoughtful reasoning.)

The book is part of the "Heirs of Alexandria Series" (which I didn't discover until I got it home - also includes collaboration with Mercedes Lackey and Eric Flint) but it can stand alone. In spite of a few anachronisms, a typo and a couple of areas of awkward pacing, I enjoyed it. If you'd like to actually know what it's about, you can go here because I'm too lazy to type all that in. :)

Ok, now that I've updated my blog, what are the rest of you waiting for? Stop selfishly living your real life and understand that there are those of us out here who have no lives, thus must live vicariously through you. Where are you Avery? Susan? Jon? There were a couple of others, but they've posted this past week. Stewart, you're on thin ice. I know it has only been 4 days, but in the Cult of Sternberg, that's like 2 weeks to the rest of the world. Sid's been slacking a bit lately too.

Pondering, weak and weary...

I'ts been a long, long month, folks, but I'm finally back online in the privacy of my own home. Lots to get caught up on, but I'm currently bone weary from moving and unpacking. (The latter is not yet done.)

Nevertheless, great to lay fingertips to keyboard again! Hope everyone is doing well.

I missed you guys.

Taking a Break

After a long week (I was trying to cut back my hours and somehow ended up working more), I've decided to go on a short break from blogs for a while. The dust-bunnies around here are biting my ankles, I still have boxes to unpack that arrived last month (oh, the shame), my day job is killing me and my daughter is sick. Time to get my butt away from the computer and pay attention to real life.
Darn it.
Maybe I'll start percolating ideas again if I'm lucky.
So, I'll see you all around in a week or so. Until then--GO BEARS, and have a great week everyone. I'll miss you. :)

The Color of Blood and Other Stuff

Somehow, I managed to cut my finger just before I got in the shower today. I have no idea how, but I noticed it was bleeding. I didn't want to put a bandage on it and then get in the shower---ewww, soggy Band-Aid (shivers)-- but this made washing my hair difficult as well as painful, so I just kept that arm out of the water and watched blood drip down my hand.

That's when it occurred to me. Blood is not crimson. Maybe it could be called scarlet, but my painter's eye declared Cadmium Red Light. But crimson and scarlet sound sexy, they look sexy when you write them down. "The Cadmium Red Light Tide, for instance, just doesn't flow nearly as well a Crimson Tide does.

Why do I bring this up? No reason other than my finger hurts and I'm risking bleeding Cadmium Red Light all over the keyboard.

But I'm willing to take that risk to add a few new links to this blog: Clifford Brooks, Sidney Williams, CS Harris and Charles Gramlich. I hope they'll forgive me. I've been reading so many interesting and fun blogs lately (most of them via links from Stewart's blog) that I can see that I'm way out of my league here. But I'm having fun, even if my keyboard now sports an odd mix of cad red light and gray, soon to turn a muddy shade of burnt sienna.