When I was younger, I always figured I'd never talk about whatever work I had to do. Heck, occupation doesn't define me! Then I sort of parlayed talking about books into a bookish career, & so now I tell my younger self to shove it. Not that I don't have a fair amount of drudgery-- but at least my spreadsheets are about something I like, you know? I have taken Frejya's day off for the rest of the year, which makes me have to cram five days of work into four days-- not my favorite. That, coupled with the teleconferences I've been doing the past few weeks, has left me drowning in piles of paper. I knocked through it pretty hard this week, though-- put together the hi-lo estimates, slammed the publicity into a memo, dug through all the special catalogue & mailing requests, so on & so forth. I am dreading dealing with galleys, though. They are majorly built up. A dark mass, creeping ever forward. Once I get the go ahead from Matt & get the requests for the spring season, it is on. Oh, it is on. Hey! I've been looking at the Mouse Guard roleplaying game, at toughlad's request, & it is pretty cute, but! They really stress the "seasonal" element that the comics use, which-- I just realized that our seasonal book schedule follows that path as well. Hooray for the Guard!

Anyhow, my point, I guess, is that I don't mind being a fuddy duddy. I don't mind that Kirkus closing is a big deal to me. Whatever! I'll talk about whatever I want. Lets see, what else. So far today I have done zip besides play Metroid, & I'm going to play it again before I go to the gym! My goal is to get all the Chozo Artifacts today-- two left. Back to the Phazon Mines! Yesterday we watched Glee-- which, you know, is still not the perfect show, but still is a fun show. We also watched Community & had James & skycornerless watch it with us, since elladorian, fordmadoxfraud, kromelizard, & wolvus don't think it is funny. WELL IT IS. It is kind of brilliant, actually. You know, we had a few beers in us, too. I drank...all week. That is just the way it is. I'm not shy about it! Phew. Okay. I don't know, maybe I'm done trying to remember if I have done anything. The moral is-- not really. Maybe I should make a post about Oubliette 3.0?

Buy my most recent National Novel Writing Month project, Watchtower Gothic. A novel about the childhood of Gillick Bootblack, a boy growing up in The City-- population, one billion-- as a member of The Unity, a sect of militant Utopians. Gillick's fate is to one day become the world's most infamous war criminal-- but only if he can get out of this creepy carnivale! His friends Alizarin Red, Blondie Glass, & Beatle Chimneysweep are there to help him along the way-- as is the grotesque Doktor Tophet. It is only $7.02 for a hardcopy-- & the download is free. & while you are at it, you could buy any of my other NaNoWriMo projects. Now that I'm finished, I can finally get back to having a life! I actually chickened out of a Creative Commons license-- none of them are what I want, which is derivatives-only-with attribution.

I know, I know! It is November, though, & I've been working on my NaNoWriMo instead of doing journalese. I'm at 39k, which puts me near about where I want to be. I've gone back & forth-- I hated it for a while, what I've been outputting, but I have kind of gotten back to a good place. Here is what I've learned-- I like epistolary documents, & I like putting together scraps. Nothing quite so good as the Wil O' Wisp gimmick, but still. Learning. Maybe the next novel is when I use an outline! This one-- is shaping up to be 1/3 of what I thought it would be. Anyhow-- like David was saying, it is about doing the count, getting the job done.

Yeah-- also my life is different lately. James & Emily live with us now. I'm not wigging out about it, but it is weird. Right now I'm by myself-- Jenny at Kira's, James back at his old place, Emily working late. We are renting out our spare room to them for a few months, which is like, a match of moments-- they needing a temporary place, us needing temporary renters. Weird to be a landlord-- I guess I can cross that off of things to do.

Today I saw New Moon today. I liked the first one better. This one had the real problems showing-- Bella is a terrible protagonist, & the FatherHusband fight that Jacob & Edward have is...gross. Still-- the fights were really dynamic-- I liked the werewolves, despite the slightly patronizing "magic injuns" thing. Afterward we went to the Clover Club to have a couple of civilized cocktails.

Another sweet little game. That I shouldn't be playing since I'm lagging on my NaNoWriMo.

Only spit out my 1.6k words today in my NaNoWriMo. Gillick Bootblack, Blondie, & Alizarn Red are at the karnak carnivale going to see Doktor Tophet. The poor dear things. Ugh though I have been damaged! Last night was Sam's game of World of Darkness monster mash, & I played a werewolf (who in human form looked a lot like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) who wouldn't stop talking about Antarctica. I had the soles of the shoes Saint Lawrence "Titus" Oates wore when he walked off into the blizzard in an honorable attempt to save his friend's life! I have a piece of the tent from Saint Birdie Bowens, Saint Uncle Bill & Saint Cherry's Emperor Penguin Egg Expedition! I didn't have any of Shackleton's whiskey, though. There was...a lot of frenzy! It turns out boy do Vampires & Werewolves freak out a lot in each other's company. So today was just trying to mope as much as possible. Get it out of my system. I managed to leave the apartment to get groceries-- I had a salad for breakfast, & grilled cheese for lunch. Also lots of Kix. M tested, M approved. We also watched V. Which is...kind of terrible. Not through the remote at the screen bad, but just that bland kind of boring. Like Flash Forward, which we've stopped watching. Anyhow, the V stuff looks pretty, & Morena Baccarin is very pretty & otherworldly. Plus you know, Alan Tudyk, & that girl from Lost who reminds me of Danielle. I'll give it another chance, but I'm not excited about it. Seems aimed at a lower brow than I'd like, a middle brow. Canned ethics conflict, ahoy! I do like aliens though. & fascists. My other Quest today was venturing out to find bitters. My usual source has been out, & I require frequent infusions of angostura bark. I ended up at "Grab," which is a Bierkraft-like specialty shop, with kegs to fill growlers with arthaus beers, & stinky cheeses, & such. Also netted some Fee's Bitters with my usual Angostura Aromatic Bitters. Oh & hey! Bernie is in town-- he was at game last night, too!

Halloween! Yes, this picture is from the weird camera built in to the computer. I'm trying to be better at taking pictures, but the frank reality is that I'm a terrible photographer. Still, practice will lead to improvement, probably. Also, while I'm talking about taking pictures, everyone is complaining about flickr lately. Okay, tagging is added functionality. You have to click an extra time to "all sizes" to get the html for image hosting. A slight, minor paint, for functionality I don't use. People freaking out about it are-- well, people freaking out about their sense of entitlement to a free service. Or some people are Pro-- I'm Pro-- but still, not a big deal. I will say it is funny, the dichotomy between how Flickr views itself-- as a website to socially distribute personal photographs-- & how it is used. I like that Flickr isn't Tumblr. That said, I certainly use it as a combination sharing/hosting service. You know? A pipeline leading back to here. Alright, enough meta.

Yesterday was a busy day! Hurried up at work to get my stuff done before 1:00, which is when I had my yearly review/lunch. Good stuff, & the obligatory negative was mostly "now that you've been here a year, here are new responsibilities going forward." My boss wrote a simile comparing me to the Death Star & my workload to Alderaan, but his boss nixed it. We went to Old Town & we ended up ordering the exact same thing-- chili, then a bison burger. Mine with munster cheese & onion rings. The rings were of the old school batter type, fat. Acceptable fare, though I confess I probably didn't pay as much attention to my food as I would have were I not being occupationally reviewed. Then I left work early to go to the dentist's office-- another chance to be graded on my performance! Got cleaned up & not too badly yelled at for not flossing. Next time-- "deep cleaning," whatever that might entail. Came home only in time to pack up the dirty clothes & take it to the laundromat. By the time I came home with clean & dry clothes, I was done for. Just sat on the couch miserable, until it was time for bed. At which point I just tossed back & forth. Now today I am going to go help Nick & Rachel move, then to a Halloween party at Kat's. Then Sunday, I am going to see Pamela run in the New York City Marathon, & go to the gym, & start my NaNoWriMo!

Last night was a fun little diversion, that reminded me of a few things. One, I like Jenny better than everyone. Two, that I like going out sometimes, despite that. Three, that I only like to stay out for a few hours, & part of the perks of hanging out with work people is that they have the same time table as me. That is a really nice perk-- if I leave at 8:00 PM when hanging out with most people, they freak out about how early I'm leaving-- or half the time the party hasn't even started yet. Work people though, are like "yeah, I'm heading out too" or the next day are like "yeah, I left about 8:30." See, we've all got to nine to five it in the morning! Unlike these "wake up at noon" types.

Anyhow, it was Nick Courage's day at the bar-- at No Idea, they have a "you drink for free today if your name is ______" & Nick was this Thursday. I've already checked their calendar-- there isn't a Mordicai day. Anyhow, fun synchronicity. On my Facebook, my boss' boss' boss, the VP of my division, is my buddy. Which is all well & fine-- about the most objectionable I am these days is talking in my Balrog voice. Right? So he commented out of the blue that I go to No Idea too much-- which isn't true? He was just riffing on the words in my Facebook status or something. Then I had to go to Nick's, & then I found out that the NYC NaNoWriMo Meet-Up is at No Idea, & suddenly it became true! Well, I went over to the bar with my boss, & we met up with Kat, & a bunch of Picador people. That was a jolly time, but before too long Kat & Matt & I had to bail, to go down to Kat's apartment to meet Jocelyn & Brian. Which we did! Seeing Jocelyn was a big perk of going out last night. I haven't seen her in forever, & had to bail on her birthday for Reasons. So down we went, Kat poured out her troubles. There was a kitten, which I didn't play with on account of Jenny's allergies. Well, I chased it around a little, but that doesn't count, only touching counts. Then when my time was up, I went home to find Jenny sleeping on the couch & tasty squash soup. I put the soup in a bowl & ate it by sopping it up with torn off pieces of bread.

The weekend was what you might call mixed bag. On one hand, I had a lot of fun; on the other, I gave myself food poisoning. So like I said, it was a little left hand, right hand. Friday was another half-day, & I set it aside to go to the gym. I really require gym attendance; psychologically, I mean. Alienation & self loathing aren't quite in full effect, but the liminal edges of those oceans are kept at bay by being awesome, you know? The discipline, endorphins, muscles, whatever. It is a perk that helps me from feeling divorced from the vessel, not to sound too dualist (I'm a nadaist!) about it. So Friday-- the gym. I've been kept from it by a stupid cough, that sort of thing; no more. I'm back on schedule, baby. Then after the gym I came home & made a casserole, at Jenny's urging. Okay, about the casserole. I made enough for it to fit in two crockery dishes; Corningwear! & then we tested one of the dishes, & ate it. I forgot to put the other dish in the fridge before I went to my DnD game, & Jenny fell asleep. See that right there? The fucking culprit; the Other Dish.

I said "my DnD game" but I only meant I was in it; really it was fordmadoxfraud's DnD game, & then after that toughlad's game, since they share a stable of characters. When I say stable, I mean Trials of Hercules style stable, since we are an overflowing pot of players. I was there of course, & equally of course was elladorian, as she does live there. Her friend Erica was there, who I've never met before but have now subsequently seen twice. Both kromelizard & wolvus were there, & James. A big group, though here have been bigger. The session was fun; orcs! I killed an orc riding on a rhino! Also, I smoked a cigarette in a haunted room & got blitzed. I'm an old fuddy duddy, guys. Staying up till 1:30 screws with me; I am not hip at all, or as nocturnal as I'd like to be. I'm a nine to fiver! I get up as early as people's parents! Etc. So wine wine wine. Drunk! Then we got magic items: so this is my character OPERA's new mask:



Saturday I was mighty tired from the previous night. Jenny was at work, so I had the morning to myself. I had a nice big slice of left-over casserole (! infection!) & did some of my nerdery. Sorted through pictures, watched Batman: the Brave & the Bold, maybe half an episode of Big O (I've wrapped around into reruns already, sadly) & played a fair clip of MarioKart. I unlocked the mirror levels! Then eventually Jenny came home & we decided to get lunch at Rachel's, & enjoy their backyard. Which we did, except a squirrel got stuck & was harried back & forth. Skittering across our ankles! Then I caught a slight error in our bill-- I am a numbers genius!

After that was a picnic with Kira & Nino & their folks/in-laws, Robert & Judy. My little tribe! Jenny & I picked up some supplies & met at Kira & Nino's apartment. There was some waiting, some washing of lawn chairs, some preparation, & then voom! Off to Prospect Park. We set up in our usual spot & got to grilling! When I say we, I mean not me at all; between Kira, Robert, & Judy there are enough cooks to feast for 100 years. We whetted our appetites on some snap peas & asparagus dipped in that minty green sauce stuff. The main course was "Vietnamese Sandwich Inspired"...smoked pork with what we affectionately called "garbage salad." Seriously, daikon & whatever makes the slaw that goes on bahn mi smells like garbage to the max, what is up with that? By this point the "iced tea" we were drinking in the park was kicking in; Judy in particular was quite feisty. After the sandwich was shrimp-- well, it was meant to be a shrimp sandwich, but I'd loaded up on greens first.

After the picnic (running around back & forth trying to figure out how to put out the coals) Kira & Nino & Jenny & me were walking to go get a drink when disaster struck. Poisoned disaster! In my belly. I bailed on the three of them & went home to commence with the being food poisoned. Disgusting! Jenny came home & was apparently drunk enough not to realize how miserable I was. She didn't even tuck me in! & I of course couldn't sleep; breaking out in sweats, whines & moans, & getting up every few minutes for the bathroom. Lovely! So in the end I crawled over to the living room floor & slept on the rug out there. So cool.

Sunday I was mostly recovered, but still a bit of a tired, worn out dishrag. I went & got some cereal for us to eat for breakfast, then we watched some Angel-- I didn't realize that was Summer Glau in "Waiting in the Wings!" The day proceeded to Sloppy Joe lunch, & then I had to bounce for play practice. It was a full cast, & a full production rehearsal! We hit Act V a few times then ran through the whole play from start to finish. I think this airplane might just make if off the ground, Wilbur! There were a lot of laughs, & I think I finally crossed my internal threshold to where I can start playing with the character. Came home, drank a beer & thought about my game. Now here I am at work, & Therefore A Cruel Messenger just came, & it looks good! Hooray.

A few swirls, notes. Amazon is listing my NaNoWriMo novel from 2007. That was a flattering email to get. Funny. In honor of it I went through & put Therefore A Cruel Messenger up on Lulu. It is expensive, being full colour & all, but you know. Words of Christ in red. Pictures. All that. I also put together a black & white version which is cheaper. This is the novel I wrote with fordmadoxfraud, kromelizard, toughlad & Christopher. Besides that, I went to Fuertza Bruta with Ryan last night! Now I gotta go to BEA. Conventions!

i punked out on nanowrimo. i don't feel too bad about it; prioritizing my life over the project, you know? still i'm going to be envious of those who are doing it. maybe i'll feel secure enough in my time management to do the nanoedmo in december! which is what i ought to have been doing in the first place, ain't it? or it nanoedmo in january? let me check. oh man it turns out it is in march. so i could be a thousand miles of lazy if i wanted to. darn it; oh well. i've been okay with microprojects lately. i wish i had more things to sort of collaborate on. i should find out about doing things like that with the internet. hey internet, holler at your boy!

yesterday was sort of without concrete anything. my one penciled in plan-- going to the gym-- was shot down by jenny throwing faun eyes at me. she was just getting over being sick, as i've said. so i played some wii-- i beat guitar hero iii on easy from start to finish, for instance. i did it for two reasons: one, i need to develop the skills from the ground up, since midway through medium i can't go any higher. i didn't start medium though-- i was playing on jenny's game. so hopefully this will help. two, i wanted to play a dragonforce song on top of a plinth in hell. i also played some lego star wars & read some of my current book about vampire bats & other hemovores. & picked up pizza, ran into theresa, & watched most of saturday night life. so things happened, just lazy, goodfornothing things. then the most annoying meathead drunks kept us up all night-- one guy kept whoo!ing like rick flair. i think they were playing quarters. seriously, they sucked.

raindrinker: the murderer's march by kingtycoon methuseleh.

i read the first of kingtycoon's twenty-two volume set of kliali succession epics over the past couple of days. i didn't really come here to crow about it; i wanted to have things to say about the story (like developing the golden tower adepts first before jens becomes estrubael) first & foremost; some things about formatting & the like, too. i will say this: "the sanguine witch" is the best short work i've seen the gentleman in question produce. i've been involved with klial only at a distance, barring a one-shot, but i'm happy to have been able to be a thoroughly wicked eno kadat well suited to the eastern border.

kingtycoon was worried about his treatment of women, but he needn't be. his sense of the grotesque is strong here; you might want the relief of great klial & the tree of iron but oh no, more trulks for you! murder, rape, cannibalism, incest-- the social crimes, the great taboos, these are the things that wake kingtycoon in the night, & now, to your misfortune, they might wake you. monsters are less important than animals, who are less important than people, who are less important than witches, who are less important than the highblood. keep that in mind & you'll be able to navigate just fine.

Poll #1271915 name game.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 18

protagonist:

so the more i think about it, the more i'm pretty sure i'm going to use the momentum from this years upcoming nanowrimo to, well, cheat. i think i'm going to take the first draft of wil o' wisps & give it a glossing over, write another 50,000 words for it, bang it into better shape. i have never really edited something (sorry, all academic papers ever!), so even though i guess january is supposed to be nanoedmo, i'm going to, like i said, turn against the true spirit of the project in favor of a better solution. i am sort of tempted to "teen" it up? i don't know. i think enough time has passed though. i'm excited about it, & talking about it here makes it more likely that i will do it & not self-sabotage. i have also been thinking of just setting a generic goal of writing a page of something, not just livejournal, but not just book, a day. i don't know how much day-to-day success it will garner, but as a theoretical goal it ain't too shabby. in other news, the most interesting thing i've heard about this economic situation was in a comment by carolina haze in a recent post by blognigger. to quote verbatim: Years ago, when GZA said "diversify yo bonds, nigga" did anyone listen? Nope, and now look at us.

jenny was chatting on the phone with her mother last night about something on the computer, television was paused, & so in this lacunae of media i picked up my nanonwrimo novel & started flipping through it & hey, that isn't a bad kettle of bones! so maybe i'm forgetting about being sick of it, from sleeping & breathing it for a month, & will go through with a pencil soon. i'm thinking a nice step one would be to divide it into chapters; a straight forward task that would trick me into re-reading it, & give me a chance to write junk in the margins. i don't know, just a little hissing crocodile crawling out of the fire & into the great blue river that leads to the sea. other than that, somehow we drank a bottle of wine without meaning to & oh, i should mentioned that sleeping was totally fucking awful. just terrible.

today i'm...weirdly glowery. about old news. like: i'm the superficial friend? because yeah, i was the one who got dropped like a hand grenade when things got choppy. (note: i am a hand grenade) i stopped responding to emails attempting to talk things out. yeah, now that you think about it, it is all my fault & the best thing to do is to totally drop contact; that is the more "real friend" response. you know? just real conveniently dropped in accordance with new geographic distance. or to put it another way: things fall apart, the center cannot hold, but you arn't even trying? knocking the olve branch out of my hand. annoying. thought we were pals. &c. just, ugh. stick out my tongue.

on the plus side my copies of my nanowrimo book, wil o' wisps just arrived. they look pretty good, too!

buy wil o' wisps (& other illuminated manuscripts) for $7.01. it is a book i wrote last month.

47,716.

in other news, i got a new coat, & some of my bedroom furniture got rearranged, meaning my sword collection moved. also, i have been pushing out 3k a day on the nanowrimo, which means i should be able to make the deadline, assuming i keep that up or beat it. it isn't going the way i expected (i may never get to the humpback whales!) but there are some pretty great bits, & really solid ideas that have come out of it. now, back to it.