Was sick on Friday so they sent me home from the day-job early. Super tired and run down and sore. Saturday was homecoming at my alma mater, wherein I was welcomed:


Had to leave Ann Arbor by 8am to arrive nearly by 9:30am. The alumni ass-kissing was exceptional. Tons of students and staff checking in to make sure I was comfortable, if I needed anything, and then just asking me stuff about writing and getting published. As usual, my assistant was awesome. She even wrote down all the things I was agreeing "to do sometime, no rush" so I wouldn't forget. I ought to have her start writing down the names of people I met; I swear I don't remember half of them--which sucks because everyone always remembers my name.

Anyway, there were lots of people I was delighted to see, including one of the few professors I love who are still on campus.


Hung out at the house for a bit. For those who don't know, "the house" refers to the home of Alpha Lambda Epsilon which is where I pledged when I was a student. If you think pledging is only for assholes, it's because you've not met the fine men and women (Yup, co-ed house) of ALE.

Every pledge class makes a plaque with their names on it, a motto or phrase that reminds one of the pledging experience. As it happens, I designed, carved and painted out plaque, except for the names. I used to be quite handy with a set of tools.


If you're wondering what that bizzarre series of letters is after my name, it's the second name I had as a kid--technically belonging to my dear mater's second husband. It's also the name I used for the longest...so far. We'll just see how long I live. *snerk*

And finally, here's me and NYT best selling author Scott Sigler, who is more famous than me...and still a damn nice guy. It was nice to see him, and to sell more books than he did--because he didn't bring any. Ha!


Even though the party went on until well after 9pm, we left before 3pm because I was feeling so damn sick and tired. Everybody talked about how happy I seemed, and how happy they were for me. Then one of my sisters came out this way and crashed at my place. Somehow, it never occurred to me to take a pic of her. Ultimately, I had a nice time and sold enough books that I didn't lose any money on the trip.

Woke up this morning with a completely empty humidifier dish in Ye Olde CPAPe. As such, I had no voice whatsoever. Sucks too, since I was kind of awake at 6am. Drank a bunch of tea and went back to bed on heavy humidity. 5 hours later I'm feeling okay and can talk, though the high notes may not be back until later.

Finally, This is my favorite song at the moment.

Had a pretty busy week of visiting and socializing and doing work stuff. My dear friend Miss Grete was in town last week, so we hung out Saturday and then again on Weds. Had an awesome time.
Last night an old college classmate came by for a visit. Considering how nervous I get when I hang out with churchy types, it was a fun visit. I have, as you might imagine, a very poorly calibrated filter for what I say or do NOT say. I seem to have 2 settings: work, and free-for-all. That doesn't always sit well with religious types seeing as how part of my background inner-monologue is that we'd all get along better if we didn't blame our weaknesses or bigotries on supernatural shit. Last night, for example, I asserted that if somebody is Christian, they should at least be aware that the men who wrote the gospels did not live at the same time as Jesus. Sadly, the person I was with had learned it differently.
D'oh. But I digress.

This weeks ZZN interview was with the guys at Zombie go Boom! which is an awesome mythbusters-style YouTube series testing out different anti-zombie weaponry. Good stuff!

Today I'm at the day-job until 5pm. Then home to make a quiche with a mashed potato crust. I've never done a potato crust before, but one of tonight's guests can't have white flour. I also have to change the catbox before everybody arrives. Tonight's party is for one of my coworkers who is moving to London soon. If I don't make him a nice party, he might not send me anything cool from merry old England. LOL Considering how many friends and fans I have out that way, it's kinda surprising that I don't get more stuff. ;-]

Speaking of stuff. Me wantee Kindle. In fact, I'm sick to death of not having one, and am boycotting the buying of giant books until I get one. Hear THAT, George RR Martin? How about YOU, Stephen King? I have a hardcover of Under the Dome, but trying to read it exacerbates my carpal tunnel. Kindles are cheap now; about $140 for one that isn't constantly running ads. And there are TONS of free classics I am dying to read. Hello Project Gutenberg!!!

Wrote another article for Associated Content. People seem to like it, but I'm still not sure how to get strangers to find it, see it, read it, etc. It doesn't do me much good to write awesome articles that are only seen by a couple hundred of my closest friends. Applied for another writing gig, then did some research and found out that tons of writers complained about not getting paid. I need a writing gig that would actually allow me to quit this gig.
No dice.

A note about the Economy: Bill Clinton left office with a record budget surplus.
A RECORD. BUDGET. SURPLUS.
Dub-ya raised the debt ceiling 8 times to fund his crazy-pants, they-tried-to-kill-my-Daaaaaaaaaaddy war.
But somehow the current debt crisis is the fault of Obama?
Really?
Can anyone explain this mindset?
Anyone?
Bueller?

And finally, Livejournal, you suck. Could you at least wait until this latest DDOS attack is under control before telling me (again) how much I might enjoy a paid account?
I'm not paying you another damn dime, LJ. You've ruined yourself worse than Mtv.
Okay, I take that back. LJ is not as bad as Mtv, but it's still ruined.

And no, I'm not talking about Rik Mayall's unfortunately cut character in the Harry Potter movies. No...I'm talking about the things that other human beings do and say that make me think they should be the first to go when out Ape Masters reclaim the planet.

#1. Cut-and-paste status updates. If you can't bother to come up with your own sentence that succinctly explains your feelings on an issue--you can't possibly know much about it. So, plz, STFU.

#2. Knee-jerk reactions to complex issues. The sex offender registry does not keep anyone safe. Humiliating your kids in public does not teach them a lesson (unless the lesson is, my parents are douchebags). Mosques (and other places of worship) should be left the hell alone unless they are being used as sanctuary for law breakers. And please, I beg of you, stop trying to make your silly-billy, centuries-old church doctrine the law of the land--or if you must insist, please do not cherry pick which versus you love to follow. Anyone who thinks we should all live by the bible will not have my attention until they sell all their belongings and give the money to the poor as the bible commands.

#3. Saying songs on GLEE are better than the originals. Stop it. Just, stop it. While I have no quarrel with remakes per se, they have to bring something pretty spectacular to the party to make them better than the original when said original was completely new.

#4. Writers who don't read.

#5. The idea that asking for facts to back up a statement is mean, biased, or otherwise rude. Don't say stupid shit if you can't back it up with logic and/or facts.

#6. The idea that our entire economy should be based on the idea that some people are lazy slobs and we need to make sure they don't get anything they don't deserve. Some people are also money grubbing assholes. We could use a system that doesn't give the richest 400 people in the US more money than everybody else put together--then maybe some people wouldn't feel so hopeless that they don't even try.

#7. "What ever happened to loyalty to one's company???" It went out the fucking window when people lost jobs, pensions, pay, benefits, so that CEO's could further line their pockets. Any business owner who wonders where loyalty is needs to look at who they hire and the way that they treat them. Owners who treat employees well are more likely to inspire loyalty than those who say "You should feel lucky just to be working."

#8. The Smurfs movie. Smurfs in New York? Fuck you. Seriously.

#9. Anyone who did not RSVP to Saturday night's gathering. It's tomorrow, you slags. And I don't drive. Might have been nice to know how much food to make while I still had time to go to the store. (Chris Schwab is excused since I inadvertently left him off the invite list--sorry darling)

#10. Medical bills. One thing people don't seem to mention when discussing health care is that we have a system that allows regular (read: uninsured) people to be charged upwards of $400 a month for a single prescription, and nearly $2,000 for an emergency visit). How anyone can look at a fact like that and respond with "Hey, it's not my job to pay for other people's pills" instead of realizing that the whole system is broken--it's truly beyond me. Insurance companies have ruined medical care in this country. Just as TV news should not have commercials, insurance should not be a for-profit business.

#11. This annoying chick at my work. God DAMN she's annoying. Whiny voice. Unfunny jokes. No sense of what's going on in the world. Plus, I have this inner block wherein I am instantly disdainful of anyone who tries to win my approval. As Nelson Muntz would say: You WOULD like me, Loser!!

#12. SDCC. I hate it because I'm not there. But if I was there, I'd probably have a shitty time. I hate heat, crowds, and standing still for hours on end.


On a completely unrelated topic, have any of you ever hired a marketing service? How did it work out? How much should I be paying, and what should I be getting for it? Do they really do things I couldn't do myself? My SEO skills are for shit, and my site needs some tweaking.

Drawn by the lovely and talented Alex Heberling at BODYSLAM!

I have been told that my faith is not a "religion" because I don't actually worship anything. IMO, religion is supposed to act as a guideline to help me figure out moral and emotional quandaries. It has little if anything to do with kneeling and pretending I'm not as important as a (to quote flemco boogums in the sky. That is why I am, first and foremost, a follower of Crowley, and Thelema's first law:

Do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.

Not ten rules, not 3-fold this or that, no jumping through sacramental hoops to reach the finish line and make it past the big gates. It's very simple, decide what kind of person you want to be. Then aspire, every day of your life, to be that person. I do my best to follow this rule, and typically it leads to me having a good life, and/or feeling pretty good about the life I have.

Example: I have to work with someone I don't like. They drive me nuts. Not that bright, not especially kind or interesting, personable, or engaging. I had been cold to this person, willfully ignoring them--thinking that I was protecting myself from having to be annoyed. But really, the fact that I don't like someone does NOT relieve me of my responsibility to be a kind person. Bummer, since I'm really good at being bitchy and it's kinda fun. Sure enough, when I stopped being rude to them, I felt better. This is not just because I was taking the so-called high road; but because I don't want to be mean--if for no other reason than I hate it when bitches are mean to me.

Second thought for the day: I am really really good at knowing just what to say in a given situation. Great with words, getting my point across, and leading people to where I want them to be.
Why then, do I have no fucking idea when to keep my fool mouth shut? I have always been terrible about saying too much, being too honest, or just plain blabbing shit that is best kept private. I recognized this about myself over 20 years ago, yet I've made basically no headway.
Yeah...it's a puzzlement.

Leslie Neilsen died, which if you're on the Internets, you probably already know. Sad, as I recently wrote an article about Creepshow for Zombie Zone News. He didn't even get a chance to comment on it. Frown.

My 40th birthday party was wicked awesome. I'd love to regale you with pics, stories, and tales of all the awesome people, gifts, foodstuffs, drinkables, and etc that went down. However, my corpal tunnel is out of freakin' control. Despite wearing my braces religiously, it hurts to type. In fact, the only really comfortable position for my hands is curled into a loose fist. Also, my pinkie fingers occasionally go numb even if I'm just resting my hands. Need to get an ergo keyboard for my laptop immediately. I am terrified of hand surgery, and tend to freak out about medical shit long before my doctor actually tells me what's going on. Seeing the doc on Weds. I'm so worried, I'm going at 9:25am instead of waiting a week.

The party was awesome though. All the food turned out great. It was our largest crowd ever, with many of my favorite peeps in attendance. Some came from far and wide just to be there. I got some beautiful gifts-- like a cool dream-catcher, a thing or two off my wish list, some lovely and/or hilarious cards. The outpouring of genuine affection was indescribably amazing. I'm not one to use the word blessed, so I'll just say I am fucking lucky. Here is me and just one of the incredible gifts I got:



Also had no voice to speak of *heh* when I woke up. After drinking tea all day, it's a bit better. So I'll have to go to work tomorrow, unlike today.

This sucks. It's one of those Monday mornings that shows up and you're like Really? But I didn't even get a weekend! I was at work Friday and Saturday; Sunday I was up by 9am so we could grocery shop in time for me to come home and cook a nice meal for my brother--who visited yesterday. People over all day Sunday, no time to relax much less get any work done. Taking a break from the podcast for the month of November, I think. Perilously close to burnout and will be doing the NaNoWriMo again. Might even post a short story this week since I'm so short on both energy and time.

Working all day today AND tomorrow. Training today, which means nonstop talking and being annoyed and frustrated all afternoon. *sigh* Plus I bought new band-aids to cover up this grossness on my forehead. They are too big and I have to get new ones--which means an extra trip to the store. Sometimes I actually wish I *could* drive. Life would be much simpler.

It was good seeing my bro, as always. Our conversations remain fairly superficial, which is not what I'd prefer--but dealing with those Private types has never been my strong suit.

JoJo is basically back to his old, terrible self. He still needs to put on more weight; but his personality is back and none of his wounds got infected. We are also past the danger time for rabies--so he appears to be free of that as well. Thank Bastet for small favors!

Still no sign of JoJo. My neighbors thought they saw him, but there is actually another black cat running around the complex without a collar. I suspect that's who's been eating the food I've been leaving out. I am sad, and quickly running out of hope. He's been gone since Monday night. It's freakin' Friday now. I can't stop thinking that something terrible has happened to him even though I know it's just as likely that he's out there having a swell old time. Fucker.
Everyone I know has a story about a cat being gone a long-ass time and coming home once all hope was lost. I imagine they all also know 3 or 4 stories when a cat runs away, never to be seen or heard from again. I will presume he was taken in by a new family if I don't ever hear anything. I've called all the vets and shelters in the area, and have an ad on Criagslist and a few local places. Plus I put a ton of flyers on people's cars.

Going out of town tomorrow for a book signing at my alma mater, Olivet College. I haven't been on campus in, I think, about 10 years. Maybe a bit less. Facebook keeps me in touch with several classmates, some of whom I'm stoked to see this weekend. Plus I'm hoping to sell a lot of books, hype the podcast, and get people fired up for my big Kindle release at the end of the month. We're leaving A2 at 6:30am in the hopes of being there by about 8:30. We'll be hanging out at Longman House for a bit--I predict we'll split outta there early as my assistant will not really know anyone.

Just found out that the anthology I'm in is going to be available in hardcover. Fancy! I don't expect any of you to pony up $23 for a hardcover book just to read one of my short stories--but you should feel free to do that if you want to. The publisher on this is a pretty nice guy.

Finished season 4 of Dexter and hope to catch up on season 5 this Weds. Whoa, you think it's gonna be the same formula they've been doing all along--and then BAM! A thing happens. I can honestly say that while it was logical and utterly plausible, it was totally unexpected.

New South Park. Meh.
We also gave up on The Event. We decided we just didn't care.
Caprica premiere was great though. It's a really strong show.

Holiday shopping is underway. H is getting some kickass stuff once again this year. I know people rail on about making the holiday too commercial, but it is well established that I think it's fun to buy cool gifts for people I like. I also enjoy baking food and giving it away. So there.

Despite the fact that I haven't posted in a week, I really do enjoy having a Livejournal. I started this thing in 2002 (with an invite code--'member those?) at the persistent insistence of my dear friend uterdic. It was great fun then, and slowly more and more of my friends made their way over here, making it even more fun. I started joining comms and meeting more people, and before I knew it, I'd met a great many people here who I've become actual friends with. There's an even larger circle of people I'll probably never hang out with in RL, but whom I love keeping up with.

Whenever I, or my cats, needed something, Lj peeps were there. You guys shared in my sorrow when I lost my job, and when I lost Clarence. You shared in my happiness when I got married, and got published. You followed the saga with my family that continued with me actually having a relationship with various family members. I can honestly say without fluffly, wanky drama, that I really do love and admire a great many of you. (This is one of those rare cases when I probably AM talking about you *snerk*)

So it is with heavy heart that I announce (I opted to forgo the press conference) that am packing up this thing and moving to Dreamwidth. I will probably feed some unlocked posts over here. I cannot allow my locked posts to run the risk of ending up on Facebook, or worse yet...turned into *gak* Tweets. I plan to stop by and read the half dozen or so of you staying here, but this place is a freakin' ghost town anyway. I'm not giving another penny of my dough to a company that doesn't give a rat's ass about my privacy. True, internet privacy is an oxymoron, but if I can't at least pretend that my secrets are safe, I won't be able to sleep at night.


In other news, I'm battling my social anxiety by going to a party tonight where I will ONLY know the hosts. Someone I've never met before (a friend of the hostess)is giving me a ride. Many people don't know how terrifying I find many social situations because I'm usually the one having the party. I'm fine in my own element, but take me out of it and surround me with strangers--it's a recipe for intense nervousness and being downright ascared.
So...you know, wish me luck with all of that.

Because if you do, this may be the funniest thing you've ever seen.
My good buddy uterdic hipped me to this, and I'm telling everyone in the whole world.

Be sure to let it load all the way, because if it stops to buffer you may miss some of the genius.



You're welcome.



In the mean time, Criminal Minds is an enormous time burglar. I'll be going to bed early tonight so I can get up at a reasonable hour and get some podcast editing done tomorrow.

Hoping to go see my friend from work in a marimba recital at U of M. Not sure if I'll get to go as I may not have a ride. But I'm hoping so since this guy is both great personally and talented musically. Plus, he's a Simpsons fan.