darkspires

Just as well.

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:33:29 GMT

Just as well I hadn't planned on doing any yardwork today. There is the mother of all storms going on outside with thunder and lightning and now hail. Oh, that reminds me. I had better go check all the windows are shut.

One of those days

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:30:32 GMT

I had hoped to get a lot of writing done this week, being as I took vacation just for this purpose. However, the dh has been sick the last couple of days so I didn't get the time I wanted, particularly today. He decided we would get our passports renewed just as I came out of the shower with wet hair. Sigh.

Normally, it is a 30 minute run into Edmonton, but it is summer and the oil-rich Province, in its infinite wisdom, is going on another road building splurge. This means many delays to get to the heart of the city and Canada place. Having been hurried and urged into the vehicle with still damp hair, I had managed to make time to check my papers and make sure I had all the ID I needed. Anyhow, we get there and get into a lineup to get a number. We even get to the wicket where the numbers are issued and the doc and supports are checked. That is when things started to go wrong.

R is very smart. He is a Bsc, M. Inst Phys, C. Phys, C. Eng, C. Scientist and an Industrial PhD with a paper to his name. Sometimes he just isn't that swift. Why he didn't just use the form I can't fathom. Why he printed off the pages from the web I can't fathom. Why he forgot to bring the page with his guarantor is well beyond me. Anyhow, he went home to get this, leaving me waiting for my number to come up, which it duly did and my passport is on the way.

I am waiting so I eventually get something to eat at the food court there. (Not very nice). I also bought a trash magazine because it had a crossword. Halfway through through the crossword he phones to say he has now arrived at the major traffic works and is nearly there. He arrives, is processed again and comes out just as I have finished the crossword. He neglected to put the passport number and expiry date of his guarantor on his papers, despite me giving this to him as she didn't have the info when she filled in the rest and phoned me one evening with the info. Now he has to phone up our daughter at work to go home to find this for him and to phone him. In the meantime, he is now hungry and we got to the dreadful food court so he can find something to eat. Yes, I did warn him off where I went. I also reminded him that he might need to feed the meter where he had parked. Apparently, this was no problem despite that he had parked in a tow-away zone. Ok hon and shut up me.

This time around he succeeded, once very nice daughter had obliged, and we were on our way out! Yeah. He had parked quite close to the building. Close enough for us to see the traffic cop writing a ticket. Fortunately, we arrived before the tow truck. $50 lighter, or we will be when he pays, we are now on our way home. The day is over. All of the day except the evening. Sigh. Not the swiftest sometimes, but I love him all the same.

Does Ecstatic Happy Dance.

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 02:34:22 GMT

This is the first day of my writing vacation and I have actually managed to finish a chapter from my WIP. I have posted. Yeah!

I also did a couple of very thorough edits on previous chapters to enable this to occur. Thanks, many thanks, to all the people who contributed to this.

Day two means another chapter. I want at least three new ones written and two of them posted. I also want to start editing a finished book and get it done squeaky clean sans the purple prose and other niggling glitches.

Hooks

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 05:00:52 GMT

Just wondering what everyone thinks as there are two schools of thought on this one. What makes for a great book? Is it more connecting with the characters as they grow through adversity, or is it thrilling action sequences that they endure until they overcome the adversity? Yes, I know there is much of both to make a really riveting read, but what is more important?

World Fantasy Convention

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 05:50:01 GMT

Who is planning to go to the Calcon? I don't see many familiar names. I shall be attending with the Flashme team and would really like to meet up with more friends.

Facebook disabled at work.

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:12:18 GMT

All our pcs have been locked out from access to facebook. Apparently our IT guy found a nasty virus getting into our system from it. He said it asked you to download something to prevent spyware and this is where the spyware is coming from. It will also reinitialize itself once in. This is a very new virus. Anyone else had a problem?

Strange thoughts

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 14:43:57 GMT

I was thinking about Shakesperes Scottish play this morning. The bit about Sleep and the Unravelled Sleeve of Care. I think it came to me because I actually did manange to sleep for a few hours last night and feel so refreshed.

Yesterday was a bad day. I didn't sleep and a week of not sleeping sort of hit me. Added to this the temp was extremely hot and humid so it was a case of hiding indoors with the fan on after we had done some essential shopping. Then came the storm that terrified the poor cats into snuggle with us mode. It did cool everything down about fifteen degrees so that made for a more comfortable night.

Now I am going to try to work on my next chapter. I was hoping to finish it during the week but was too wiped when I got home from work. So if I can just get time today ...

Grumble

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 04:16:24 GMT

I see there is a warning about Firefox. So I guess I can't use my laptop to post if I want to put stuff behind a cut. Grumble. I have now removed the cut from the previous post. Sorry guys. I really would like you opinion on this when you have the time. Glares at Firefox icon and thinks bad thoughts.

My sunsign is Aquarius so this figures

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:02:35 GMT

What Planet Are You From?

this quiz was made by The Autist Formerly Known As Tim

Theft!

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:39:54 GMT

We had to go into the city yesterday to get some more memory for the pc. While we were there I made a point of getting a longer leash for one of our cats. He huffs and grunts when trying to jump up to a window so you would think he wouldn't manage a six foot fence with chicken wire at the bottom to prevent any tunneling activities, but no, so a harness and long leash it is. Feeling a bit mean at what I was doing I just happened to snag a little treat for the boys.

Ok so we get home and unpack but for some reason I left the treat on the counter. A while later, when we were sitting downstairs in the family room, we notices a certain strange noise coming from the kitchen. On investigation, my guess proved correct. One of the boys, Meowser, had jumped up and stolen the treat all by himself. It was organic catnip in a ziplock baggie and you wouldn't think they could smell it through there but they did. After Meowser finished killing the ziploc baggie, about an hour later, he lost concentration and Frank stole it off him to have his own hour long session of killing the baggie. We had to take it away from them in the end as it was starting to leak. I took it up when I went to bed and shut it in my office. Just guess where both of them were parked this morning?

Interesting new toy.

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:21:38 GMT

The dh got himself a new laptop because he had run out of space so I got his old one for writing in the evening. I have my tower in my home office but don't touch it after supper because it would take me away from the family. This is a huge bonus. The keyboards have improved! I can actually touch type on it without feeling cramped.

So far so good. I didn't write this evening as I was getting the hang of it but I did crit, although I haven't posted as yet. I rather think I am going to enjoy this.

What was really funny was his surprise when I started typing something. He never really get to see me type so it was a bit of an eye opener. Him, how do you go so fast? Me, this isn't really fast because I am wearing one splint. I can go a lot faster without it. Him, so how fast is that? Me, about as fast as I can think. Him, unrepeatable.

Well that when good.

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:20:32 GMT

The first hurdle is over. Now I have a full day with the visitors. I think everything is in order and I am smoozing big time.

I will be so glad when this whole thing is over and I can have my life back. It is worth it in the long run. The look on our outside guys faces when I had them stand up and get public recognition for their exceptional work ... priceless. People matter.

People Watching

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:43:48 GMT

I am just about to head out as Town Representative to greet and entertain some official guests. I coordinated the event so it is my responsibility to make it seemless. Naturally, I am terrified. Every year I do this I am terrified.

Funny how things all happen at once. I now get the ghastly vision returning of someone throwing a hissy fit and behaving like a very rude, selfish and self-centered teenager when that someone is much older and should be a heck of a lot more mature. Maybe these things are happening at once so I will be sort of numb. Mmm, there is a thought.

Just looking at this from a detactched perspective, I can understand why agents run a mile from anyone with a suspected ego problem. Given the choice, I wouldn't want to work with the 'I am the next best thing since sliced bread' brigade, either.

Pamper mode.

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:47:26 GMT

I have had a shitty few months so I decided to treat me. I took myself off to a spa after work. Oh yeah! I virtually never spend money on me and I don't count the clothes I have to have for work. Those are essential in a business environment. I was meaning the fun stuff, just for me.

I had fun. Oh yeah!

Adorable Antags

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 01:32:59 GMT

I have had a huge block for the longist time and it isn't because I don't have active WIPs. Nor can I entirely blame my eye problem. The fault lies within. Anyhow, I had reverted to doing some edits on my trilogy and I think I know where the problem now lies.

It was the antag. I had so much fun with a most revolting, anti-social antag. I actually got people turned around to the point where they were hoping I didn't kill him off. He had feelings and little creature wants and needs, personality quirks, the whole nine yards.

So the current WIPs are lacking because the threat factor isn't ramped up to the enormous extent it was with my Adorable Antag. I don't necessarily need a repeat of him, that would look too obvious. I do need some viable and devastating threat factor to totally shite up my characters lives. Mmmm ... who can I kill? Who needs to suffer? I think a glimmer commeth onto the barren landscape. Maybe I have to let the character be totally happy and content before I take everything away. Rubs hands together. Looks around for pen and notepad.

Hot and humid

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:20:03 GMT

I am trying to write and it isn't happening. I have figured out the problem, though. Yes, I can still see to write but the blurriness doesn't allow me to lose myself in the story. So back to editing for a bit.

On another note I got rid of our old fridge freezer today. It has been infesting our garage all winter since it got booted out when we started the renos. There was nothing the matter with it except the rust starting on the front door. Well a collegue mentioned he was looking for a deal for a beer fridge for his deck at the lake and his lady was out looking at Home Depot. So I said he could have ours. Beer and barbeque stuff in the bottom and ice on the top. He could rub it down and paint it if he really wants but it is going to stand outside anyway. Yeah! They came for it today. He is happy, we are happy and the area of landfill it might have gone to is happy.

Tomorrow is for golf with the kids. We are booked in for 1:00pm so I hope it doesn't get too hot. These last few days have been up to 30 degress celcius and very oppressive. There was a huge storm last night that, of course, knocked out most of the tv channels including the weather network so if they had tornado warnings displayed then people here wouldn't have been able to see them. The local channels were all toasted, too, so no possibility of warnings there, either. Anyhow, lots of noise and a light show and pleanty of wind but that is all.

OMG

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:16:04 GMT

I am editing, or should I say amputating? I seem to have been inflicted with a huge dose of comma diarhea. There are millions of pointless punctuations. Arrrragh! I am also searching for the last vestiges of any purple prose. These things shall be found and destroyed. I have spoken.

Hallucinations?

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:43:50 GMT

I had that ultrasound on my carotid arteries this afternoon. Not a long wait, five minutes in fact, but was with the technician for about thirty. Here is where the weirdness starts. It may have been because she was pressing really hard on the vessels. In any case, I didn't say anything in case someone decided I belonged at the funny farm.

First of all I couldn't see what she was doing as I had to look away from her. When she wanted the other side then things got weird. It looked as if she were lying on her back in a seat chair and the screen was right over her head. I don't recall any movement, but the next time I noticed she was sitting normally, and then parallel with the floor again. I did try to make a conscious effort to see movement and failed. When I went to stand up I had to lie back down for a minute to get my bearings. It was like I was looking at a ten foot drop at the end of the bed. Of course there was a ten foot gap between the end of the bed and the wall and I had to figure this out logically before the room went to rights.

Does anyone know if those ultrasound thingys do swivel in that way? I didn't see any evidence of hydraulics and I would really have loved to see some. It would beat hallucinating.

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 20:06:30 GMT

Your result for The What Middle Earth race do you belong to Test...

Wizard

You scored high in morality and intelligence, but lower in physical strength and aggression, which means you're probably a Wizard. Counted among the very wise and (with that one exception) good creatures of Middle Earth are the Wizards, or Istari. Though they appear as old men, the Istari are actually powerful Maiar spirits sent from Valinor to Middle Earth to act as caretakers of the land and guides to men and beasts. Their supernatural heritage means they're also the only line of defense against rogue Maiar like Balrogs. Though only Gandalf, Saruman and Radagast are named through the novels, there are two other Wizards at large in Middle Earth, quietly working to bring tranquility to their surroundings.

Your polar opposite is the Urûk-Hai.

Take The What Middle Earth race do you belong to Test at HelloQuizzy

Eye Spy

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 14:48:04 GMT

Someone making a huge amount of money off other people's woes. So I goes to the retinologist for a 2:40 appointment. The waiting room holds around 30 people and is full. So we waits and waits. The dh has gems on his phone and plays that while I read a book. A minute passes, and then another slow minute drags by, followed by a clump of minutes lost to my book. Checks watch. 3:45. My name is called at 4:00.

So I follow the help and get stuff put in my eyes, a photo of my retinas taken yet again, as they haven't received the ones taken two weeks ago from the other specialist, and get seated in a second waiting room. This room holds around 30 people and is full. (Sound familiar)? Then there are the tertiary waiting rooms where abandoned souls wait in the dark for the main guy to visit. I timed the tertiary rooms and a person would be sitting for about 20 mins before a visit.

Around 5:30 my dh finds his way into the second waiting area to see what is happening. Um, nothing hon. He now has to share with me the excruciating pleasure of enduring the whining of a miserable bag sitting behind us. She holds forth at great length how she used to live in a street she calls 'widows alley' because all the guys died prematurely and how it was so unfair for her to lose her dh at 64 from a heart attack. (Well hello. Did you pay attention to his health and make sure his diet was good and you didn't feed him fatty trash? Did you encourage him to exercise? Get regular check ups?) Having exhausted dead husbands, she then holds forth on how unfair it is that she has to move to Alberta from BC. BC is beautiful compared to Alberta, but there are no jobs, apart from hospitality and tourism.

I get tired of people being so darn negative. Each Province is beautiful in its own unique way. Having visited most of them I can put my hand on my heart and say this with conviction. Also, BC might have hospitality and tourism as its main industry and yet what about power plants? People need to live in houses, so who does renos, fixes plumbing, puts up fences? Who works in a water treatment plant to deliver tap water? Who cures the sick and injured? Are there no lawyers? No police? No municipal workers? No vets? The list is fairly endless.

Unfortunately, I start to suffer from acute attacks of facetiousness when I am bored beyond reason. Around about six the nurse-type person calls a guys name and I swear it just popped out of my mouth. I sort of said he probably died waiting. Funny thing, but I got stuck in one of the rooms by myself immediately after that little lapse.

I got five minutes with the 'great man', in which he determined that yes, I do have a membrane growing at the back of my right eye. No, it doesn't need an operation yet. No, it wasn't responsible for my temporary vision loss, which is mostly back to almost normal, excepting I do have worse eyesight in my right eye now. He is now in the process of shunting me back to the other specialist and starts muttering about blood supply to the eye and possibly painless migraines. Huh? Don't have migraines. Anyhow, I have to go have an ultrasound of my neck now.

So go do the math. Each person gets five minutes with this guy and it is obvious he is beyond overbooked. His nurse-type people tried to tell people this was because of emergency patients coming in. Yeah right. The nurse at the hospital made a point of warning us to take food in with us when she gave us the appointment card and she knew the appointment time was between lunch and supper. So emergency patients? I sorta lost my ability to suspend disbelief. Oh well, if money is that important to a guy that he appears to be riding a pogo stick, then I guess he can't mind the brain-numbing pace.

Distraction

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:26:42 GMT

I suppose I want to think about anything else while I wait. The typical ostrich behavior when threatened. Anyhow, mind free and floating, I began to wonder about the U.S election.

First, I should say I know absolutely nothing about U.S politics and am not caught up in politics in general. Working for the government means impartiality seeps into a person's psyche. What has fascinated me this time around is the unique candidates. There is Obama, promising to become the first African/American president, and Clinton, for a while promising to become the first women president. On the other side appears to be McCain, who is more of a background figure for the press, although I have just found some public gaffs of his.

What is the difference between Republican and Democrat in terms of major policies and why is McCain being ignored? Do the press choose the president? We heard a lot about Clinton and Obama, so why not McCain? Again, just curious and not rooting for anyone, although it would have been amusing to see the first woman president in office and be able to laugh from across the boarder.

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:30:11 GMT

I get to go see the eye specialist today. This is a different one from last time. He specializes in retinas. I guess I get to find out.

MIA

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:30:17 GMT

I might be gone for a few days. I have to go see an eye specialist today. I got a problem yesterday and my doctor got me an appointment for today. Gimped R Us.

oh shit

Tue, 27 May 2008 04:50:59 GMT

My daughter is recovering. It is undecided if she needs surgery at this point in time.

My Town is in panic mode because of no staff. I therefore will be working two jobs for the next while. I have to jump start outside planting and I also have the newspaper to run. Not to mention the website. Kill me now. I haven't had a vacation since April of 07. I will now be working sixty hours a week again.

I will try to keep up with online commitment as and when I have the time. How long I stay outside will depend on when my hands give out. Both thumb joints are unstable. I am not whining about this; it is a fact of life. They are going to pop out sooner rather than later. Whatever. This is a know factoid about sending me outside again when I said I was done. I just hope they last long enough that I can complete my tasks. Wish me luck.

Update

Mon, 26 May 2008 14:29:55 GMT

The daughter should now be meeting with the surgeon so I may get to hear something in the next hour or so. The dh is with her.

So I sit here worrying and I am idly picking through stuff so I don't have to think and guess what I found? Two of my concepts from Project Arthur have been used by another writer after reading the whole book. One of them wasn't so bad but the other is concerned with people being eaten by other sentient beings. The beings doing the eating were getting a definite sexual high from the procedure and so were the characters in this book and since this book occurred directly after the reading then it is fairly obvious where the ideas were taken from.

Notes to self. Must make huge push to get PA out the door and hopefully find an agent tout suit.