My kitchen sink is leaking. This morning I was awakened by the sounds of breaking glass and a lot of people yelling. 4AM. There's glass all over the hallway carpet, blood splattered on the walls of the front stairs, a broken window, and a broken light fixture.

Ah, holiday weekends!

( A letter. )

I need to do something productive.

I think it is something about Tuhina hitting me upside the head and the general feeling of the house - I just need to get out. I can't stand it. I can't believe

Fuck this. I need to kill. I need to gather herbs. I need to do something and sitting here isn't doing it. It would make more sense to support Juni, I suppose, bu

The Shadow calls. Outland calls. I have work to do.

Tags: masamba, samba

The mail came late yesterday, so I didn't get it until this morning. In it, I found a package sent by earthenwood. It contained a small box and a note from Ferrett instructing me to retrieve a letter hidden in the house.

The letter left me with tears streaming down my face. It explained that during each of the six weeks he is gone, a beautiful piece of art will arrive in the mail. It's a token of his love, a reminder of how much I mean to him during this time when he is so busy and expanding his horizons so vastly.

Within the box was this goddess elemental tile:


It's beautiful, and I'm already considering how to mount it. Of the goddess elemental tiles Melanie makes, he chose air because of the wings. He gives me wings so I can fly.

The ribbon tying the box is a work of art itself:


The ribbon is a lovely green and brown cording, and the pendant is a spiral goddess:


I am wearing it now, a reminder of the love that my sweet weasel has for me. I am a lucky, lucky woman.

Current Mood: loved

elfs iz funnee

and wee!

Tags: akombe

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/07/then-tomorrow-was-another-day.html

Yesterday I did a panel with Richard Price, and then I signed for (according to the newspapers)about six hundred people for five and a half hours. Normally I try very hard to be as nice to the people who've been waiting for hours as I was to the people at the beginning, but I think I may have been ordering the people at the back of the line around a bit just to make sure I finished before the Tom Stoppard talk started at seven. (I finished with 25 minutes to spare.)

The crowd was lovely, and all amazingly good-humoured given how long they were standing around.

Anyway. Five and half hours, which is about five hours and ten minutes longer than anyone else here, which meant that I was being peered at suspiciously, as if revealed as some kind of odd alien being, by other writers with whom only that morning I was sharing jokes and food. I think they have now forgiven me.

After the Stoppard panel, which was marvellous, like a master class, (I'm typing this on the computer in the hotel lobby, and was just tapped on the shoulder by a Newspaper photographer who wanted me to come and pose for some shots, and seemed a bit baffled when I pointed out that I was working) I went to dinner with one of my Brazilian publishers. I hadn't really eaten since breakfast over twelve hours earlier, and discovered that when you are given a very large passionfruit caipirinha after a five and a half hour signing and on an empty stomach, you know it's working because your feet go numb. Possibly they simply went away. Luckily, my feet returned before I had to walk back to the hotel, but it was extremely odd.

Today it's the end of FLIP and the Desert Island Books panel, and I will read a bit from James Thurber's The Thirteen Clocks.

I haven't quite reached my birthday yet, but just for living as long as I have people have been giving me stuff. Really nice stuff. Mainly a full copy of Bone by Jeff Smith, an absolutely lovely new Intuous 3, and a full version of Painter. PAINTER. Holy hells, I should not die more often. I'm both really looking forward to trying it out, and completely intimidated by the new learning curve. Aka "This isn't Photoshop what's going on I'm lost and there are wolves after me aaaahhh!".

Cleaning for Zephyr visits keeps getting put off in favour of colouring and being sidetracked by looking up Ctrl+Alt+Del after the latest Zero Punctuation debacle. Ohhhh snaps. The forum talk eventually just devolves into bickering about contraception, and then I had to get the heck out of there.

Maybe it was stressing about a really rough project at work, but I nearly ran into the business end of a panic attack the other night. Ehn! It's been so long that I'd forgotten how goddamn terrifying they are. Doubly so when they come out of nowhere, and even a few days later it's still bothering me more than it should.

Also why am I still awake!

( Also also scribbly bits, including really hack tent drawings. )

If I were to switch from french press to a drip coffee I think I'd have to get a Hello Kitty coffee maker.

I stumbled on that abomination because it's reviewed on a blog that talks about an on old book of mine. One of the auto-google functions shot me the heads-up. Once, a long time ago, I bought a Hello Kitty vibrator as a gift. I would like a Hello Kitty coffee maker.

My night in Seattle was a blast. A bunch of us played drunken scrabble and drunkener Rock Band.


Even with a hangover I loved the Sci-Fi museum. I was bugged at all the 'fan built' stuff. Seems like they coulda/shoulda gotten original Storm Trooper/R2D2 outfits.


Seeing the original Star Trek uniforms gave me a thrill. As did seeing one of Neil Stephenson's hand written books which was inexplicably placed in front of E.T. You aren't supposed to take pictures inside the museum hence my blurry sneaky from-the-waist snapshot. The gift shop was on par with a dealer table at a third rate sci-fi show. I'm their target audience and I didn't want to buy anything. I thought they'd at least have a good selection of post cards. They had nothing. I should have snuck more pictures of my own.


I liked the sculpture garden.

Seattle feels more metropolitan than Portland though I'm told that Portland has taken the lead in hipness.


I did go to a great party in Portland on the 4th where we set off illegal fireworks and participated in underage drinking.

I need to get on more PR for my book. It's starting to hit stores.

San Diego Comic Con is coming up soon. In addition to books I'm going to try selling a lot of original art.

Since finishing my big project, and completely exhausting myself in the process, my sleep pattern has been totally whacked. I slept all day Friday, slept in late yesterday, and then collapsed yesterday afternoon and slept into the evening. So now I've been up all night because I couldn't sleep. Despite the vague tug of sleepiness now, I'm staying up all day and getting to bed at a decent hour so I can get myself back on schedule.

I also have to confess a serious fall off the bandwagon. I discovered the free games on yahoo, and they have been eating my life. I am such a junkie. Oy. Must stop playing them as of today. I have no self control.

So, on my feet to do something productive, like clean up around the house. I must get back on schedule of being my usual organized self as of tomorrow, and that will be easier with a clean house.

Current Mood: determined

First - ever see a male peacock in a tree? Was a first for a bunch of us - plus the added wondering how the heck we didn't notice we were walking under a peacock. :) (no good pics 'cause it was dark)

A baby Flamingo I took 2 weeks ago (there are 3):


I really thought this little guy was adorable. It'a ( Pigmy Falcon )

Maybe more later...

i had someone quit their job via text message today

i kept calling him because he never returned after lunch but he just would not call me back

finally i got a message that read "i resign from convergys..."

well, i guess that's that

Tags: convergys, quitters, text messages, work

http://postsecret.blogspot.com/2008/07/sunday-secrets.html

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people
mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard.












-----Email Message-----
Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2008 12:07 AM

It's interesting - though you tagged this photograph as "I'm ready to love everything" and to me it looks like "I'm ready to lose everything," I wonder if in fact these vastly different phrases would still translate to the same meaning...




-----Email Message-----
Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2008 9:52 AM

I just showed this to my husband and he said "Thank God." It took us 6 months and we felt like failures.
























-----Email Message-----
Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2008 9:15 AM

When I walk by a black person I'm afraid they will think I am racist if I do OR if I don't look at them.



-----Email Message-----
Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2008 12:36 PM

for the record, we minorities don't notice whether you look at us on the street or not. we're thinking about politics, the weather, and what to make for dinner - just like you.





-----Email Message-----
Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2008 3:09 AM

Hi Frank,

At 26, my first wrinkles have just started appearing on my forehead. At first I was upset, but then I realized it was due to the expression I make when I am interested or curious.

Now, I hope they only get deeper, because I would hate to loose that sense of wonder. Thanks for posting it so that I could remember how important it is to love something more than my appearance.



-----Email Message-----
Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2008 4:35 AM

Being an EMT made me question my faith in god, but my coworkers gave me faith in humanity.





-----Email Message-----
To: Frank Warren

I was reading PostSecret today and I happened to scroll down to the end of the page, and saw a photo of Kristin - a childhood friend that lived around the block from me in Florida. I did hear when she died, but I was very surprised to see the suicide hotline with Kristin's picture on it.

After researching how the Kristin Brooks Hope Center was founded I had to pass along to Kristin's husband, Reese, that the love he has for her is overwhelming. His devotion to her memory is remarkable, and I just wanted him to know that a friend who knew Kristin a long time ago was proud that she married someone like him. Their child is blessed to have parents like Kristin and Reese.

Thank you for all you do to help people in dark places find their light.





-----Email Message-----
From: Reese Butler [Founder, Kristin Brooks Hope Center]

The ability and opportunity to connect with one of Kristin's childhood friends was a miracle and a gift from the PostSecret community.

After Kristin's death I desperately tried to reach out to all the people she grew up with. It was important to me that people who did know her learned what happened to her and how they can prevent others from falling to the same fate.

For over 3 years the PostSecret community has helped people learn that they share some of the deepest and darkest secrets and are not alone

Thanks for this miracle.



-----Email Message-----
From: Frank Warren
Subject: Struggling to meet a July 9th deadline

The Kristin Brooks Hope Center needs your help today.

Become a member of the 99 CLUB. Call Reese directly to arrange for a larger donation 202-669-8500 (yes, that is Reese's direct phone number, please be respectful). You can also make a quick and easy PayPal donation.

All donations are fully tax deductible and 100% of your donation will go directly to HopeLine.





-----Email Message-----
From: Reese Butler [mailto:reese@hopeline.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2008 9:49 AM
Subject: the campaign is working!

Dear Frank,

Over $10,000 in 8 hours and we have over 500 new donors. You must read some of the comments from the PostSecret Community donors. We also have 55 [update: 60] members of the 99 CLUB. That represents a pledge of $275,000(!) [update: $300,000]. I will keep you posted as we make more progress.

Best always,
Reese

I have just moved to the Bay Area (to work on a raptor migration project, in fact.) I don't really know anybody in the area, nor have I seen very many western birds. I was hoping you guys could refer me to some good birding groups I could join up with around here.