OK, I'm starting to get a feel for how I'm going to do this blog thing. Here on my personal domain blog I'm going to put stuff that would probably have a more limited audience, folks that are interested in the stranger or sillier aspects of she who is Dawno.
That said, I found this meme while surfing the blogiverse. "Look back at the top 100 songs from the year of your high school graduation... and find the songs that wouldn't inspire you to change the station" The blogger gives a quick link and directions on how to get the top 100 list. If you want to do the meme you'll have to go to his site for your list. My list is below the cut. I've put an asterisk beside the ones that wouldn't inspire me to change the station - or jam a sharp stick through my ear drums as the case may be. I've also put a few editorial comments after the titles of some of them. Thus you have another insight into my youthful influences.
Some quick observations about my reaction to doing this list. First off I graduated in 1975. Yes, this year is my 30th reunion year. The music I listened to was cool. Just trust me on that, ok? Apparently the tastes of whomever determines the top 100 were overly influenced by TV. Captain and Tennille had the #1 hit? And Rhinestone Cowboy was #2. Now I'm ok with 7 and 9 but of the top ten those are the only ones.
And of course as an adult the music I listen to most is "Classic Rock" preferably from the 60's and 70's. I did get a bit of an education in what kids today listen to because every morning when I'd drive my daughter to school she'd turn to one of "her" stations. When there was nothing on she liked we had a classical music station pre-set but no way she'd listen to NPR. It was a short drive but I'd hear a song or two and some of them I liked. I have no idea who the bands were or what the titles were -- we never heard those that I can remember. There was one song that I always tried to figure out the lyrics to -- something about birds in trees? It was very hard to understand. I liked it though, I'd give it a 72 -- it's got a good beat, Mr. Clark.
1. Love Will Keep Us Together, The Captain and Tennille
2. Rhinestone Cowboy, Glen Campbell
3. Philadelphia Freedom, Elton John
4. Before The Next Teardrop Falls, Freddy Fender
5. My Eyes Adored You, Frankie Valli
6. Shining Star, Earth, Wind and Fire
*7. Fame, David Bowie
8. Laughter In The Rain, Neil Sedaka
*9. One Of These Nights, Eagles
10. Thank God I'm A Country Boy, John Denver
11. Jive Talkin', Bee Gees
*12. Best Of My Love, Eagles
*13. Lovin' You, Minnie Riperton
14. Kung Fu Fighting, Carl Douglas (seriously??? what was wrong with people in 75?)
*15. Black Water, Doobie Brothers
*16. Ballroom Blitz, Sweet (this one just has camp value)
17. (Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song, B.J. Thomas
18. He Don't Love You (Like I Love You), Tony Orlando and Dawn
*19. At Seventeen, Janis Ian
20. Pick Up The Pieces, Average White Band
21. The Hustle, Van McCoy and The Soul City Symphony
*22. Lady Marmalade, Labelle
*23. Why Can't We Be Friends?, War
24. Love Wont Let Me Wait, Major Harris
25. Boogie On Reggae Woman, Stevie Wonder
26. Wasted Days And Wasted Nights, Freddy Fender
27. Fight The Power, Pt. 1, Isley Brothers
28. Angie Baby, Helen Reddy
29. Jackie Blue, Ozark Mountain Daredevils
30. Fire, Ohio Players
31. Magic, Pilot
32. Please Mr. Postman, Carpenters
*33. Sister Golden Hair, America
34. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Elton John
35. Mandy, Barry Manilow (OMG!!)
36. Have You Never Been Mellow, Olivia Newton-John (and OMG!!! #2)
37. Could It Be Magic, Barry Manilow (sigh, why bother with the OMGs anymore?)
*38. Cat's In The Cradle, Harry Chapin
39. Wildfire Michael Murphy
40. I'm Not Lisa, Jessi Colter
41. Listen To What The Man Said, Paul Mccartney and Wings
42. I'm Not In Love, 10cc
43. I Can Help, Billy Swan
44. Fallin' In Love, Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds
45. Feelings, Morris Albert (wwooohhh oohhhho oohhh Feeeelings - ack ack gag)
46. Chevy Van, Sammy Johns
47. When Will I Be Loved, Linda Ronstadt
48. You're The First, The Last, My Everthing, Barry White
49. Please Mr Please, Olivia Newton-John
*50. You're No Good, Linda Ronstadt
51. Dynomite, Bazuka
52. Walking In Rhythm, Blackbyrds
53. The Way We Were / Try To Remember, Gladys Knight and The Pips
*54. Midnight Blue, Melissa Manchester
55. Don't Call Us, We'll Call You, Sugarloaf
*56. Poetry Man, Phoebe Snow
57. How Long, Ace
58. Express, B.T. Express
59. That's The Way Of The World, Earth, Wind and Fire
*60. Lady, Styx
61. Bad Time, Grand Funk
*62. Only Women Bleed, Alice Cooper
63. Doctor's Orders, Carol Douglas
64. Get Down Tonight, K.C. and The Sunshine Band
65. You Are So Beautiful / It's A Sin When You Love Somebody, Joe Cocker
66. One Man Woman-One Woman Man, Paul Anka and Odia Coates
67. Feel Like Makin' Love, Bad Company
68. How Sweet It Is, James Taylor
*69. Dance With Me, Orleans (this one is kind of an anomaly but I liked it)
70. Cut The Cake, Average White Band
71. Never Can Say Goodbye, Gloria Gaynor
72. I Don't Like To Sleep Alone, Paul Anka
73. Morning Side Of The Mountain, Donny and Marie Osmond (I wish the morning side of the mountain had fell on them)
*74. Some Kind Of Wonderful, Grand Funk
75. When Will I See You Again, Three Degrees
76. Get Down, Get Down (Get On The Floor), Joe Simon
77. I'm Sorry / Calypso, John Denver
*78. Killer Queen, Queen (boy I hope this was higher up in some other year)
79. Shoeshine Boy, Eddie Kendricks
80. Do It (Til You're Satisfied), B.T. Express
*81. Can't Get It Out Of My Head, Electric Light Orchestra (I'm not sure I remember this one but I liked ELO)
82. Sha-La-La (Makes Me Happy), Al Green
83. Lonely People, America
84. You Got The Love, Rufus
85. The Rockford Files, Mike Pos (uh, a TV theme song? I mean, it was good but who'd buy the single??)
86. It Only Takes A Minute, Tavares
87. No No Song / Snookeroo, Ringo Starr
88. Junior's Farm / Sally G, Paul McCartney and Wings
89. Bungle In The Jungle, Jethro Tull
90. Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance), Leo Sayer
91. Someone Saved My Life Tonight, Elton John
*92. Misty, Ray Stevens (I have a weakness for Ray, sorry, and this was kinda fun to listen to)
93. Bad Blood, Neil Sedaka
94. Only Yesterday, Carpenters
95. I'm On Fire, Dwight Twilley Band
*96. Only You, Ringo Starr
97. Third Rate Romance, Amazing Rhythm Aces
*98. You Aint Seen Nothin' Yet / Free Wheelin', Bachman-Turner Overdrive
99. Swearin' To God, Frankie Valli
100. Get Dancin', Disco Tex and The Sex-O-lettes (seriously? the Sex-O-lettes? You'd think I'd remember that...)
I created a Blogger account today and have a new blog there. I hope that those of you who are also on Blogger will consider linking to me there as well as adding me to your list of folks who can comment at your blogs. I'm not sure whether or not I'll continue to write on this blog. Maybe I'll duplicate post some of the stuff from there to here. *shrug*
In my daily (shoot, often hourly) perusal of a number of blogs I've gotten addicted to, I come to Bitch.Ph.D. Today's topic is Chick Lit: Bane or Glory and it links me to a blog where an anonymous guest writer is criticizing ChickLit. I think I may have read some ChickLit. Does The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank count? I liked it. I don't recognize many of the current crop of authors they mention. I recognize Helen Fielding and Nora Roberts (although I'd not put Nora in ChickLit, she's one of the Romance Royalty, right?). But that's it so I probably don't read ChickLit. Oooh -- I've read all of Esther Friesner's Chicks in Chainmail, etc. short story collections...they probably don't count, huh?
Anyway, over in this blog "Eight Reasons Why Chick Lit Authors Aught to Be Kicked Until They're Dead" there are some stellar comments. Lots of good back and forth, snark, and outright bile. I love a good fight, don't you? If so you should read them.
So I go back to Bitch.Ph.D and read the comments there. One in particular stood out: "This is what I don't get about the way intelligent women talk to each other. If we talk about how much we love stereotypical stuff like shopping and boys and our periods, we're dumb chicks. If we talk about things other than shopping and boys and our periods, other women call us misogynists. What the hell? Elise asked a question, and I answered it, truthfully, from my own perspective of what literature I choose to read, and immediately I am accused of misogyny.
carrie | Email | Homepage | 08.21.05 - 1:54 pm | # " I hope carrie doesn't mind me quoting her.
I think I'd like carrie. I have no close personal real life friends and perhaps I should be thankful rather than sad about that. Apparently grown women are no different than the girls I knew in High School? God, I hope not. But reading some of this stuff makes me think that maybe we've not come such a long way baby. Let's for just a moment forget about all the stuff that men do to us and think about what we do to each other. We need to honor each other and the choices we've made. If we can do that and role model it for all the daughters out there then we'll be ready to take on and defeat the sh*t men want to dump on us.
Back to the comments and I may be mixing up the ones from Bitch and the other site, sorry. Someone (maybe more than one) said that anything that gets people reading is good and another said that we (women) should all be thrilled that more women are getting published and making good money from it. I say amen to both.
I've really tried to read literary fiction. I've bought the stuff that has one or another prize winner/honorable mention/nominee for some big award blurb splashed across it, stuff that was reviewed in the NYT.
Many times I've not enjoyed the book at all. That's because I have my own tastes. And other people all have their own tastes. I adore all science fiction, Stephen King (even at his worst I love him), Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I might enjoy chick lit -- IF it transports me into a fun and funny 'other world' even though that other world is probably modeled closely after the real world that somebody endures daily. The point being that it doesn't resemble MY world at all. It's escapist. I'm ok with that. I need escape. And because I get that my tastes won't always be the universal arbiter of what is a good book I don't criticize what's popular or what other people like. You like ChickLit? More power to you.
Of course that also means I shouldn't criticize someones criticism, huh? Dang.
Over at Making Light there is a post about Teresa Nielson-Hayden's forebears going back to Plymouth (I think) and it is amazing how many people commented on that post -- everyone loves talking about where they come from. I didn't feel compelled to come out of lurkdom to talk about my ancestors there but I'm not so shy here.
After my mother passed this January, Dad and the sibs and I went through her things. A green spiral notebook was found that had a handwritten account from 1969 by my great-grandmother about her life. I have transcribed it and would like to do more with the text by researching some of the history of the area where she was born and raised to fill in many of the gaps. The transcript comes to only 15 pages; there's a lot of missing detail. I can fill in some family gaps because I inherited the Bible in which she kept many clippings and notices of births and deaths but nothing about what was going on in that part of Ohio at the times she was writing about.
Gramma was adopted by a family that had taken her father in when he was a struggling youth. When his wife died leaving him two young children that he could not care for he put them in an orphanage but the treatment there was so poor he took them out and placed my great-grandmother with the same family that had taken him in. Her older brother went to live with a relative of the deceased mother. My great-grandmother did not meet him until they were both in their 80s if I recall correctly.
Somewhere at my father's house is a geneological report of the Corwin family. My great-grandmother married a Corwin. I remember my mother telling me that she had gotten this and that the Corwins first came to America in the late 1600's -- a Dr. Corwin from Wales was the emigrant.
Family stories also tell that the Corwin who served as Millard Fillmore's Secretary of the Treasury, a governor of Ohio and a member of the US Senate from Ohio, was an ancestor as well as the Shelby who served as the first governor of Kentucky (my grandmother Anne Pearl Corwin married Howard Shelby). I can trace the right Corwins back to the late 1700's on the internet. I need the documents at my parent's house to know the rest of the story.
On my paternal side we don't have much information but as it is Irish and mostly settled in one or two towns in central Kentucky it is likely they came over in the mid 1800's during the famine from Western Ireland. When we were in Ireland in early July, Dad got a print-out from Bunratty Castle that I believe alleges we are related to the family who were the original Irish occupants of said castle.
So, that's what I know of my family tree.
I don't usually write 'political' stuff in my blog. Frankly I'm shy about it since I'm not a liberal but neither am I a neo-con right winger. In many ways I guess I'm mostly Libertarian although I do believe in a bit more government than a lot of them. But today I have to talk about something kind of political.
I get CNet news alerts in my email daily. I feel a need to stay on top of certain techie news because of my job at a high tech company. Today I got a news alert and the headline was "Blogging to be Free" by Curt Hopkins, director and founder of the Committee to Protect Bloggers.
I found my self nodding my head when I read, "Newspapers, even individual Web sites, are relatively easy to shut down. But what can't be shut down is a self-perpetuating system like the blogosphere. What our experience has shown is not that a single organization, the Committee to Protect Bloggers, is a threat to tyrants, but that blogging itself is. Blogging's culture of sharing, quoting and linking has created a radical redundancy for powerful ideas." I've mentioned here and there about my fascination with the communities of interest being built in the blogosphere and even though my circle of online acquaintances, i.e. my community, might be somewhat small they have online friends who blog who have online friends who blog, etc., nearly ad infinitum.
It's an article well worth reading. If you are anything like me, you take your freedom of speech pretty much for granted. Then something comes along and pokes you in the brain making you realize all over again how precious and fragile that right is. It comes as no surprise to me that bloggers in Iran or China or other very authoritarian societies might be repressed, arrested and even imprisoned for having an opinion that isn't in line with the government. What we should all be worried about is the potential that those freedoms can be erroded here in the US or in England, Austrailia, France, Japan, etc.
Cases of bloggers who are fired for blogging about their jobs are examples of the erosion. I've seen arguments about this but bottom line in my "I am not a lawyer" opinion is unless I've signed a contract or sworn an oath to my employer that compels me to silence about some or all aspects of my work it is my right under the First Amendment to speak about it without fear of retribution. Now if they want to fire me because I'm blogging *at* work on their nickel that's another story, they have the right to ask me to give them an honest day's labor for a paycheck. Or if I reveal trade secrets or proprietary intellectual property, I've signed an agreement that I won't do that so they have the right to fire me if I do. But if I write something negative about the environment or culture, that to me is no cause for termination and should be fought to the Supreme Court.
You'll note that I'm not saying anything about the current state of affairs vis a vis the Patriot Act, etc. In two years there is going to be a change of adminstrations. I think there will be some changes in 2008 if not leading up to it as politicians try to smooth the runway for a good takeoff. I'd like to see the system work this time around. If not, well, there will be plenty of blogging about it.
Got in last night late, plane was delayed an hour into San Jose so we were an hour later to Las Vegas. I think a lot of planes got delayed and all landed at the same time because the baggage claim was full of people and the wait for a taxi line was like Splash Mountain in July...long, looping on itself 4 times.
We are staying at the Embassy Suites again this year. If you read about last year's trip you'll recall that at first I booked us into a place that makes a Turkish Prison look cozy and we moved to Embassy the next day? This time I book us there from day one. Oh, and day 4 is free because I have enough Hilton Honors points. Good thing, I lost the equivalent of one day's stay at slots today.
Anyway, we've got a very nice room right outside of the 3rd floor bar. We got up just in time to grab breakfast before it shut down this morning, ate, stopped at the convienence store next to the hotel for Dayquil for Dawno who thinks she might be coming down with a bit of a cold and then walked a couple blocks to the Monorail station. The Monorail station has been adopted by Nextel. There's an actual Nextel store there. And a wireless lounge. Weird. First stop of the day was the Hilton to check out the day's Star Trek events. Nobody we were dying to see today. Saturday and Sunday we'll be coming back and one of those days we'll visit the merchendise floor.
I decided that today would be a shopping day. We hopped back on the Monorail (Glenn bought 3-day passes for us so we'll be travelling a lot via Monorail) and took it over to the Paris stop and hung a right at the Strip to Aladdin where they have a lovely shopping area. I bought two belts at the Brighton store. My shorts have belt loops and I like tucking in my shirts so I needed belts!
After that we crossed the street and went to Caesar's Forum shops and looked around. Didn't see anything I had to have there. At the Santa Fe shop, where we go every year since we found my turquose and gold (vs. silver which is pretty common) jewelry, I found a very nice Kokopelli paperweight for Glenn. Kokopelli is a symbol I've adopted since I was a flute player when I was younger. Glenn now collects his own Kokopelli stuff as well.
I was getting pretty hungry by the time we finished the Caesar's shops so it was back on the Monorail and back to the Hilton for lunch at Quark's. After that we did a bit of shopping in the Star Trek themed shops (if you're a DS9 fan then calling it the Promenade works, otherwise it's confusing so I spell it out). Didn't buy anything today but probably will before we go home. At least a bottle of Klingon Blood Wine.
Then it's back on the Monorail and time to see if there are any cars to be won. I'm able to get Glenn to sit down at the slots with me if there's a car as the ultimate jackpot. Last year there were cars everywhere. This year they're hard to find. We didn't win a car...yet. We decided to hit the MGM because last year we ran out $20 at the win a car machine for quite some time. Decided it'd be fun to do that again. They still have some win a car slots but not in the same place as before. Last year there was a piano bar, this year they've re-done the area and there are two large Poker rooms full of people playing no limit Texas Hold 'Em.
After losing more $ not winning a car I tell Glenn I think he'd be good at Black Jack (he's the math genius after all) and that I'll stake him. He takes me up on it and we find a table with the nicest gal dealing. Glenn plays my stake for over 2 hours. About midway through (and this is his first ever Black Jack game) he's up around $230. The cards went bad after that, though and he played out the stake till he went bust. I really enjoyed watching him play, the other people at the table were really nice as well. I think we'll give it another try tomorrow or Sunday.
After that we grab some McDonalds, get back on the Monorail and head over to the Imperial Palace stop because that's the last one on that end of the Strip and we want to go see the new Winn property. It's a bit of a walk, well past Treasure Island. It's very nice. No win a car slots there. I decided I didn't want to walk back to the Monorail so I paid for a cab to bring us back to the hotel and here we are.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow's day at the con. Should be some interesting talks.
This time tomorrow I shall be in Las Vegas, I hope settling in to my room. I haven't started packing yet but I have all day tomorrow.
There is a really cool auction that will occur on eBay in Sept. to benefit the First Amendment Foundation. As readers and writers this is a cause we should consider supporting.
Please go to Neil Gaiman's blog to read the details. Here's why you should click that link - there are a lot of great authors who will put the winning bidders name in an upcoming work. Stephen King, Lemony Snicket, for example, then details are in Neil's blog.
Anyway, Neil asked his readers to post the info in our own blogs, so I have. Hope you will too.
Mac got me thinking again. (yes, I'm grateful for that, *not* complaining! sheesh)
I'm going to put it below the cut, it's longish...
OK, you bravely decided to read on. Thanks. BTW, I think this is a work in progress, I will be coming back to re-read, re-write, etc...in case of additional thoughts should I post them in the future dates and ref back? Makes sense.
First of all, you need to go read Mac's entry if you're not already a fan. You should comment, too. I know you have good stuff to say.
Here's what I've been thinking about as a result of her entry which had to do with her cultural experiences and gender associations and other heavy stuff, just in case you didn't go read. This is by no means a response to the entry. It's what thoughts and associations came to mind as a result of reading it. It wanders a bit very much like my mind.
What is culture? Got this from Wikipedia: "The word culture comes from the Latin root colere (to inhabit, to cultivate, or to honor). In general, it refers to human activity; different definitions of culture reflect different theories for understanding, or criteria for valuing, human activity. Anthropologists use the term to refer to the universal human capacity to classify experiences, and to encode and communicate them symbolically." hmmm. I should have taken some anthro classes. I don't think I quite get it yet. Later on it speaks of people more-or-less sharing the same set of values and conventions. Ok, I may be getting closer.
How are my cultural experiences different? I'm thinking, is it really cultural experiences or is it ones unique personal experience or really more personality-type distinctions (in the formal psychological mode, Meyers Briggs, that stuff) Since we're talking about relating, or not, to other women, is it because there's a culture of gender thing going on -- I mean at times I've felt like I'm not from the same dimension as some women I've met; they make me want to check and see what side my shirt buttons are on. (Don't get me started on cheerleaders and cheerleader moms.)
Somehow I don't have the same frame of reference and can't 'get' what makes them tick. Here's where the sharing norms and values come in. I certainly have different values than a lot of people I know. I usually think it's because I'm the one who's weird due to my strange life and upbringing and multiple character flaws. Can we say self-esteem issues? At least I know I have them and admit it. Is there a program?
This whole sense of gender norms must develop over time from early childhood, when one finally understands that male and female are different. I was a child in the 60's so there was still a lot of "girls don't grow up to be (fill in the blank). My parents didn't actively espouse that, they pretty much raised us to believe we could be or do anything. What gender specific conditioning went on was either subconscious or very subtle. I know it must have happened but I really believe it was never overt. I'll boil it down, I knew intellectually that women can do anything they set their minds to do yet I was always a bit surprized that they actually did it. Female jet pilot, sure, why not. When I finally met one I realized I hadn't really believed in my heart that it was possible.
One of the strongest cultures and one that really has profound impact on many people (all? how about you?) is the teen culture -- especially the one centered on High School. It may start younger now, but up until High School for me it was easier to avoid conformity. But if you want to be popular, etc. as a teen - and I believe that's a life and death proposition for many, you'd better work on conforming, even if it's just within a small sub-culture (band or choir or drama are good hangouts for non-conformists). I have scars 30 years later but I can't wait to go to my 30 year reunion. Possibly to gloat as I've done pretty well for myself contrary to predictions.
I will say that I drew the gender pressure line at home ec. classes. Back when I was in school there was still an actual formal club called "Future Homemakers of America". They all hung out at the home ec room when they could and sewed and baked and probably had a mystic baking powder cabal for all I knew. *That* was an alien culture to me. Oh, and by the way, I was raised on an Air Force Base. You can imagine for yourself what that was like. I'm not writing a novel here. Yet.
Skipping ahead there have been a number of jobs I've had each imposing a different culture and changing the way I related to the world. Maybe I'm just too easily influenced? It's a wonder I didn't join a cult. Well, I was a Baptist for many years. Nevermind that.
Suffice it to say, being an insurance adjuster really skewes one's view of humanity. After a year or two you're convinced that everyone is a con man and all injuries are psychosomatic, I don't care what the x-rays show. I've also been a teacher, worked in a number of postions in staffing companies and now I'm a non-techie working in an IT department. Working at a technology company in post dot com Silicon Valley is very interesting.
One of the most enduring influences for me has to be the experience of motherhood. With that comes the cultures of infant moms, toddler moms, school age moms...moms of teens and soon, the empty nest. If you're lucky enough to go through these phases in one place with one set of peers then it's a continuum and probably represents a strong culture. For me it was separate phases with separate maternal colleagues or none at all. I don't have any close friends who are the moms of late teens and on the precipice of the empty nest (as well as peri-menopausal *sigh*) I believe I am a woman without one fixed culture. What cultures I am a part of are the one at work and a new one, the internet community. I want to write a great deal more on the latter; that will have to come in a later posting. For now, I will disclose this, my online community is dearer to me than most people I know in real life and I actually don't think that's sad or pathological. It's where I am now and how I cope. Tomorrow could be different.
Do all of these things comprise cultural experiences or are they just personal experiences? I think if I was thinking straight I'd say a mixture of both. I'll come back to this and see what I think of it after a good night's sleep.
Every now and then I say to myself, "Self, you should write something." I'm well read, I have a good vocabulary and a pretty good grasp of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Where I mess those up a proof-reader will help. I'll find one.
James Macdonald posting in his thread "Learn Writing With Uncle Jim" said "I promise you: If you can write two consecutive pages of grammatical English with standard spelling you are already in the top ten percent of the slush heap. (This shouldn't give you too much hope, because the sales come from the top one percent, but still....)"
This is far from discouraging. What is discouraging to me is that I'm 48 and I've been out of school for 27 years so I feel like I've fallen behind and might not ever catch up. When I was in school all my writing was critiqued and graded. I was an English major and my days were filled with books, writing, reading and thinking about same. Doing combinations of same. Since then up until recently writing was not a componant of my work. Only recently has that become more important in the world of email and PowerPoint presentations to management. Still, there's nothing very creative about that kind of writing and there's a void.
Now I have to start studying all over again. I am reading things with a critical eye. I am studying texts about writing and lurking around writers where I can find them online. I could just start writing, couldn't I? Well I've tried but I keep stalling out. So I'm filling the time-between with self inflicted homework.
What do I think I could write? I love research. I've got a couple areas of expertise gathered in the last 27 years earning a living, raising a family, finding a real career instead of just another job. I might be able to do freelance articles. I'm reading about how one does that.
In the few times I've just said f---it and started typing stuff what I was writing was pretty much molding itself into the Romance genre - a heroine and a hero, their conflict, resolution and happy ever after ending. I like those. People who know me know I prefer romantic comedy movies -- even ones that are pure treacle. So I'm now studying that genre. Reading series fiction in a couple different subgenres and books about writing Romance. Might join RWA. Heck, will probably join before long.
The other book I'm reading is Jenna Glatzer's Outwitting Writer's Block. I've got a nearly terminal case I think. Last time I tried to write I got to about 4000 words and froze. That was about 7 months ago.
There are ideas out there. Today I read a fascinating article posted in Yahoo science news on My Yahoo headlines about consciousness -- there are a lot of ideas in that article alone begging to be turned into a Science Fiction story. There are all kinds of discussions and prompts at Absolute Write Water Cooler. And lastly I'm surrounded by strange and interesting people doing weird and cool things -- a lot of it on the cutting edge of information technology.
Yeah, I should write something.
More truth about Publish America
Don't be scammed!
I was reading a blog called Stones in the Field written the other day (or was it night?)while the author was somewhat sleep deprived. This sparked a vague remembrance of something cosmological I read in the Stephen Baxter "Manifold" trilogy. Mr. Baxter and I share a birthyear as well.
All this started me on one of those research trips that take a number of what are nearly stream of consciousness twists and turns that only Google, embedded hyperlinks and Wikipedia can give one while still lounging in the comfort of one's home.
I am now completely fascinated by the anthropic principle and the "Carter prediction" or catastrophe - that one was a bit hard to track down as Google kept hitting on Jimmy Carter stuff. Turns out this is a pseudonymous theory by one Brandon Carter who is better known for his work on the properties of black holes and the anthropic principle. At this writing I haven't found much more on the Carter catastrophe unless it's something to do with Jimmy Carter and that rabbit.
apropos of almost nothing, but saved by being in one of the anthropic articles I read, is this Hawking quote I came upon which delights me "Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?" (Hawking, 1988)."
I decided to put some more mundate things here below the cut. I worked from home today because we received a notice from the house painters that they wanted to paint our front door. There was a sign up sheet. I looked at my schedule and this morning seemed the best time to choose. I asked my boss if I could work from home all morning. He was fine with that.
The painter came bright and early (the schedule was for a 2 hr window from 7:30 to 9:30 and he showed up at 7:30) and did the front door. Then he asked me to open the back door as he was going to paint that as well. It didn't seem to matter since the doors would both be dry enough for me to leave around noon. When he finished he said he would have to come back and do another coat. I asked when. He said tomorrow? I said no, I was off today so when *today* could he come back and he said noon. I sent an IM to my boss saying I'd have to work from home all day. He was ok with that as well.
Noon passed, then 1 then 2 then 3. A bit after 3 the painter and two others from the painting crew walked down the sidewalk looking like they were done for the day. I asked the painter who did my door when he was going to do the back door second coat. He said "Noon tomorrow" I reminded him we'd agreed that he needed to do it today as I could not stay home from work tomorrow and had already stayed home all day today. He was very nice and came back to do the back door. By 5 pm the door was dry and we closed it much to the relief of our cats who had been shut up in the master bedroom all day.
For anyone who's interested I've had some bad days where I smoked either 8 or 10 cigarettes. Today was an 8 day. It's too easy to get up and stand outside to smoke here. *sigh*