Carnival of Harlequin, Joan Miro

So, today’s post is by my very good friend who shall remain nameless, guest posting incognito, who discovered that starting up her new iMac meant more than plugging it into the wall and hitting the ON button. There were issues…

ISSUE NUMBER 01:  The Mac power cable is only about 6 feet long which was about 2 feet shorter than how I wanted to configure it.  So I went to Target, fought my way through their parking lot, hunted down their surge protector power bars (why it needed to be next to shampoo, I’m still puzzling over), and, between the two models they had, chose the one with the 6 foot power cable, because You Never Know.  Fought my way out of the parking lot and went home.  Hooked everything up.  Took me 30 minutes to find the iMac ON button; okay, I had to resort to the manual as everything on the computer is designed to be transparent visually and tactilely.  And it didn’t turn on.  Brief meltdown while I thought that I had to repack the computer and get it to the Apple store.  Since I bought the power bar model without the ON button and light, I hooked up Boeing PC and it didn’t turn on either.  Time out for some cussing.  I returned to Target, fought my way through the parking lot, after a brief skirmish with someone unhelpful nabbed a 2 foot bus with light and ON switch, took it to Returns and made the clerk test it although she wouldn’t till the exchange was made, fought my way out of the parking lot and returned home.  iMac powered on immediately and joyously took me through a few profiling procedures, and then we arrived at the next snag.

ISSUE NUMBER 02:  A video screen appeared and showed an unflattering video of a woman who had ‘tired from Fantasy Con and November Novel’ bags under her eyes, hair in all directions from trying to tear it out over the power bus, and a wild look in her eyes from skirmishing with Target personnel and bad parking lot drivers.  Took me a minute before I realized it was Me.  Then iMac told me brightly it wanted to take my picture.  After four very bad takes, I allowed it to take a picture of the back of my head and we were finished.

Other than these two major issues, the installation was a breeze.

You are The Moon

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery – when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

literary geekery

My darling niece knows her aunty too well…sent me this via Facebook.

Rules: You have received this note because someone thinks you are a literary geek. Copy the questions into your own note, answer the questions, and tag any friends who would appreciate the quiz, including the person who sent you this.

Don’t bother trying to italicize your book titles, even though we know you want to…

1) What author do you own the most books by?
Jane Austen, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and J.K. Rowling—yeah all 7 hardbacks.

2) What book do you own the most copies of?
Well—I did have two copies of Twilight at one point.

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
No; I’m with Lewis Carroll on that.

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
The vampire Asher, from LKH’s Anita Blake novels

5) What book have you read the most times in your life?
It’s a tie: The Great Gatsby – 4x, cause I love the writing, and The Wind in the Willows – 4x, cause I love that book!

6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
The Wind in the Willows

7) What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?
The Glass Books of the Dream Weavers—plot like a disjointed train.

What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?
Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight – a kick; damned good story; loved the characters.

9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
Oh I wouldn’t do that.

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for literature?
Michael Ondaatje

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
I like books as books always—movies rarely capture the story or the essence. Look at what they did to The French Lieutenant’s Woman!

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
Any of Dan Brown’s.

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
Once wrote a short story in a dream; it was good too!

14) What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult?
One of those Dresden File novels, first and last time—blech!

15) What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?
Gormenghast—dense and labyrinthine, very much like the castle itself.

16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you’ve seen?
There are obscure Shakespeare plays!?

17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
Actually, I’m rather fond of the Russians.

18) Roth or Updike?
Updike- I read The Witches of Eastwick.

19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Have not read either one.

20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Shakespeare, but I’ve got a soft spot for Milton too.

21) Austen or Eliot?
Yes please.

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

23) What is your favorite novel?
Like asking me to pick my favorite vampire; I love them all.

24) Play?
Much Ado About Nothing

25) Poem?
It’s a tie: The Walrus and the Carpenter, Lewis Carroll and Andrew Marvell’s To His Coy Mistress

26) Essay?
Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own

27) Short story?
Love short stories, but none of them stick with me like a good novel.

28) Work of non-fiction?
Guns, Germs & Steel

29) Who is your favorite writer?
Oh come on! English major here! But if you held a gun to my head–Jane Austen

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Dan Brown—will not read his books; couldn’t get through The Da Vinci Code.

31) What is your desert island book?
A complete volume of Shakespeare’s plays or Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell –I’d take either one.

32) And … what are you reading right now?
Neuromancer by William Gibson (almost finished)
Life
Dreams From My Father (halfway through)
Barchester Towers
–Life’s too short to read one book at a time.

nightmare

Dolce far Niente, John William Waterhouse

OMG, I would’ve had to be sedated and carried off the plane…

“Spare me”

addendum

To the prompter readers who think they’re journalists and to the news writers who should know better, what does the pilot’s gender have to do with that tragic plane crash and the death of fifty people? Do any of you ever think about what you’re saying?

too much fun!

13,119, A Lamentation of Swans. What I did for fun in 2008:

Books Read

• Bel Canto, Ann Patchett
• The Dive from Clausen’s Pier, Ann Packer
• Inferno, ed. Ellen Datlow
• Veronica, Mary Gaitskill
• Plainsong, Kent Haruf
• Throne of Jade, Naomi Novik
• Working for the Devil, Lilith Saintcrow
• Dead Man Rising, Lilith Saintcrow
• The Devil’s Right Hand, Lilith Saintcrow
• Saint City Sinners, Lilith Saintcrow
• The Butcher’s Boy, Thomas Perry
• The Smartest Guys in the Room
• Parasite Rex
• Cocaine Chronicles, ed. Gary Phillips and Jervey Tervalon
• Saint-Germain Chronicles, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
• A Dangerous Climate, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
• Midnight Harvest, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
• Twilight, Stephanie Meyer
• New Moon, Stephanie Meyer
• Eclipse, Stephanie Meyer
• Clockwork Phoenix, ed. Mike Allen
• Beast of Desire, Lisa Renee Jones
• Betrayals, Janet Quinn

Movies Seen

• Twilight
• Burn After Reading
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Dark Knight
• Quantum of Solace
• The Bourne Ultimatum
• Prince Caspian
• Wanted
• Brideshead Revisited
• Michael Clayton (Netflix)
• Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (Netflix)
• Perfect Creature (Netflix)
• The Guardian (Netflix) (Ick!)
• In Bruges (Netflix)
• Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (Netflix) (delightful)
• Shoot ‘Em Up (Netflix)
• Mrs. Brown, Queen Victoria (Netflix)
• An Ideal Husband (Netflix)
• 30 Days of Night (Netflix)

Favorite Stuff of 2008

Favorite Movie: Twilight. (I just loved it! Loved it, I say!)

Favorite Book: Twilight (I’m going to read it again.)

Favorite Movie Sequence: vampire baseball in Twilight

Favorite Vampire: Edward Cullen (Don’t worry, Saint-Germain. There’s still room for you. Oh yeah, and you too Jean-Claude, and Asher; Oh yes, and Angel. Okay–so it’s hard for me to pick a favorite, favorite vampire.  I love ‘em all. Y’all have to share, okay?)

Favorite Superhero: Batman

Favorite Anti-hero: James Bond (‘Though Jason Bourne runs a close second.)

Favorite Actor: It’s a tie between Christian Bale and Daniel Craig.

Favorite TV Show via Netflix: Supernatural

Favorite Heroes: Dean and Sam

Favorite dvd discoveries: Rome; The Tudors

damn straight

 

A Stitch in Time, John William Godward

Having worked my way through college as a waitress, sales clerk, and assistant manager in retail, I absolutely agree with violentacres. I don’t understand the loss of courtesy and respect that rages like a virus in current society. It makes me sad, and angry too, and I wish I had a portion of violent acres’s backbone.

Although I must say, years ago one night when I worked the graveyard shift at a coffee shop, a group of guys came in for coffee and pie. They sat at the counter. I was alone that night and slammed, but I introduced myself with a smile, got their coffee and pie slices and hustled out to wait on new customers who’d just walked in, giving me full tables all around.

While I was busy, busy with the new folk one of the guys at the counter apparently finished his coffee, and as I came back with my orders and grabbed the freshly-brewed pot to make my rounds, he rapped his coffee mug on the counter. I headed his way with the fresh pot and refilled his mug. As I poured, I looked him in the eye and told him the next time he rapped that mug on the counter he was going to be wearing it. His buddies laughed, and when he was ready for another cup again, he called me by name and made a polite request for a refill the next time I trotted round the counter after carrying out an armload of food.

I wouldn’t have minded if he’d raised his hand or called over to me as I rushed about. Rapping the mug (or whistling or snapping the fingers–must give him credit for not doing one of those) was a no-no. (Yes, this is why I do not work with the public.)

I was raised to be polite. I tip generously, don’t huff and puff when something goes wrong, and I do not treat other people like they were born to serve me.

dean and sam

SUPERNATURAL! As I mentioned in the previous post, I’ve fallen in love with this show. Last night I got disc 5 of Season 2, watched episodes “Roadkill”, “Heart”, and “Hollywood Babylon.” There’s one more but I had to go to sleep! All are good, but I loved “Heart”, a lycanthrope story. One of the things I really like about this series is the good writing that lock character arc and storyline together, and Dean and Sam are a delight to watch. Dean, especially, is a kick. Having spent his formative years demon-hunting, he’s confused when a girl gives him her myspace address; Dean asks Sam if it’s some kind of porn site. Sam laughs at him. Sam, too, has his moments. For me, this show keeps getting better and better, but I’ve got one more Season 2 dvd coming, then I’m SOL until Season 3 hits Netflix.  What am I gonna do!?

I used to write at night, but I finally stopped because, well, the brain was fried and as soon as I focused on the page and maybe got down a few lines, the synapses jumped to INSTA-DOZE, so I gave it up, changed my schedule to mornings and weekends, and now only write at night when something is hopping about and screaming at me and the brain is going DO IT NOW!

 

four

Lady Agnew of Lochnaugh, John Singer Sargent

Wynn challenged me to the Four Things meme, so…

Four Jobs I’ve Had:
1. Waitress
2. Assistant buyer
3. Sales clerk
4. Administrative Assistant

Four Places I’ve Lived:
1. Louisiana
2. Germany
3. Nebraska
4. North Dakota

Four People Who E-Mail Me Regularly:
1. Michelle
2. Devon
3. Adrian
4. Wynn

Four Television Shows I Watch –don’t watch TV, but here’s 4 I used to watch from years ago:
1. La Femme Nikita
2. LEXX
3. Star Trek
4. Mission Impossible

Four Places I’d Like To Be Right Now:
1. At home
2. Anguilla Island
3. Paris
4. Santa Barbara

Four Favorite Foods:
1. Boiled crawfish
2. Cherries
3. Bread
4. Sushi

Four Places I’ve Visited:
1. New York City
2. Whidbey Island, Washington State
3. Einhoven, Holland
4. London, England

Four Events I’m Looking Forward To This Year:
1. Finishing the second draft of Sweet Taboo
2. Writing a new book during NANO 2008
3. Summer time
4. My writing retreat weekend in Santa Barbara

**Tag to anyone who wants to play