Better Than Dead

A lot of medical stuff going on this week.  Mostly not scary, just time consuming.  Real post soon, I hope.  In the meantime, here’s the news…

A “pay me now or pay me later” weekend dealing with boxes I was in too much of a rush to sort and throw stuff away when moving 5 yrs ago. 14 Feb

Had no choice but to do it now since we need the space for med supplies. Cramming books/trash into every nook and cranny in the house. 14 Feb

Venice library, et al., are also going to be making out like extreme making out things. 14 Feb

This has been a long damned afternoon.  15 Feb

The prank that would not die–now a movie! http://tinyurl.com/4ku94nu 15 Feb

justinemusk Retweeted by pj_thompson What not to say about Lara Logan http://shar.es/3c42N <– this is the year 2011. Let’s try not to BLAME THE FREAKING VICTIM. 15 Feb

The world never ends when you expect it to. Just in case, though, I set up the DVR for my shows… 16 Feb

debkalin Retweeted by pj_thompson via @splinister @jimchines astute analysis of LA Weekly’s coverage of Lara Logan’s attack: http://bit.ly/ij1P0g 16 Feb

In all my 1st draft novels 1 or 2 body elements that get way the hell overused. Last 1 it was all kinds of weird stomach things going on. 16 Feb

In the current rewrite it’s weird wiggily spines and blushing. What is up with all the spastic spines and hot faces? 16 Feb

The naming of Pyreka has gone the way of all flesh. Oh my darling, I loved you so, but it’s time we parted ways. 16 Feb

I guess if you expect to have a heart attack, you don’t. Kind of like watched pots never boiling. 16 Feb

Blah blah blah blah blah. 16 Feb

mrbrown Retweeted by pj_thompson Facebook’s new settings lets ZOMBIES eat you while you sleep! Go to Accounts—Home—Invasion Settings—Cannibalism—Brains, uncheck “Tasty” box. 16 Feb

Worked on a short today. Broken, I know exactly where/why, but no idea how to fix. Beginning and end are good, middle goes wayward. 17 Feb

It’s some of my best writing. I’d love to do right by it. 17 Feb

Mom drove herself to medical treatment bcs she wanted to & I’m trying not to feel guilty. It’s a fine line betw protective/infantilization. 10 Feb

Our $7500 plumbing job began today. Come on, Lotto! 10 Feb

Mom survived the wilds of Inglewood on her own. My guilt is temporarily assuaged. 10 Feb

The story that 1st inspired me to write this novel also got cut. Strange how revisions sometimes go, how necessary becomes superfluous. 10 Feb

I feel tingly and godlike. Richie & Divonne LaRue hit the cutting room floor, gone from my WIP! Well, into my OFF file anyway. Just in case. 10 Feb

Let’s hope the Egyptian army justifies the peoples’ faith in them. 11 Feb

God bless the Egyptian people! 11 Feb

jadewalker Retweeted by pj_thompson Spread the calm. Do nothing for 2 minutes. No really. Take 120 seconds for yourself and just relax. donothingfor2minutes.com 11 Feb

In other important news: all they had in the cafeteria this morning were banana nut muffins. Blech. I ate one anyway. 11 Feb

I spent the entire weekend cleaning up messes. Tired, fragile, hormonal so I’d best hide under my desk today. 14 Feb

Neil Gaiman: the writer as rock star. I mean that with utmost respect. He’s unique and awesome. 14 Feb

Vicarious happy! Happy happy happy!! 14 Feb

Our $7500 plumbing job turned into $8000 over the weekend. 14 Feb

These are arranged chronologically now.

Bouncing around from idea to idea bcs I’ve been so distracted. Maybe I should stop trying to write new for awhile and stick to revisions. 6 Feb

Good day, sunshine, currently 53 degrees here in Westchester. 6 Feb

Do not let me near your microwave. Burned 1 up last month and burned the mini quiches just now. 6 Feb

lilithsaintcrow Lilith Saintcrow RETWEETED by pj_thompson The best curse is, “May you live in interesting times.” The second best? “May you get exactly what you want…” 7 Feb

I’ve held off on revisions for the last WIP bcs there’s a central plot point that has to be changed and I haven’t had a clue how to fix it. 7 Feb

This morning I got an inkling on how to fix it, but I still have no idea how to get there from here. 7 Feb

Maybe I’ll just start driving and hope the road holds out, or magic flowers start growing by its side that whisper the right direction. 7 Feb

Spent the afternoon revising one thing and another. Being in that cold-eyed revision mode, I think I made good progress. 7 Feb

Eat now? The ginormous cranberry muffin I wolfed at 9:30 won’t hold me til 5, but def not hungry now. Just have to get hungry, I guess. 8 Feb

Ick. I just took a Promark poll and I feel so slimy. Prolly skewed their demographic way Leftie though. 8 Feb

JoshMalina Joshua Malina RETWEETED by pj_thompson “Gnomeo and Juliet” looks pretty cute, but Disney’s “Lawn Jockey Othello” strikes me as racist. 9 Feb

I feel zero envy for people who’ve lived privileged, sheltered lives. In fact, I feel kind of sorry for them: they miss the nuances. 9 Feb

I do, however, resent the hell out of them telling other people how they should live their lives. 9 Feb

Word nerd! @pj_thompson scored 522 in The Times #WordNerd test. Discover your score at: http://thetim.es/word-nerd 9 Feb

You, Madam, are a douchebag. I’m so glad I don’t work for you, but I hate having to listen to you deal with the people who do. 10 Feb

Tonight’s viewing: The Social Network or DVR’d movies/shows? Hmmm… 5 Feb

Bioshock much more intense shooter game than I thot it would be. Fascinating and–did I say intense?–but just bloodier than anticipated. 5 Feb

@[NameRedacted] No worries. At this point, I don’t trust Life enough to totally unclench.  5 Feb

So this is what relaxed and unclenched feels like. I find that I like it. 5 Feb

@[NameRedacted] George brings many nuances, non-Biblical info about Lilith and “dark” goddesses in general. Very eye opening. 5 Feb

@[NameRedacted] Mysteries of the Dark Moon Goddesses by Demetra George a great resource for Lilith. 5 Feb

SteveMartinToGo Steve Martin Retweeted by pj_thompson Got some great pictures of paparazzi today. Man, they UGLY! Went through their garbage too. Found my own garbage in their garbage. 4 Feb

Mom is back in her room having juice. 4 Feb

Have moved on from coffee to hot chocolate. Really not bad for machine stuff. 4 Feb

I always bring so much stuff to distract me while waiting but am too distracted to use it. 4 Feb

Mom is in recovery though still out of it. Everything went well. We got in early and done early. 4 Feb

In sympathy with my iced in friends I scraped a thin coating of ice off my windshield this morning. 4 Feb

The coffee at least is good. 4 Feb

I have spent way too much time in waiting rooms and hospital cafeterias this year. [12 month period vs. calendar year.]  4 Feb

“You want the Haggis? You can’t handle the Haggis.” #FamousMovieQuotesMadeBetterWithHaggis 3 Feb

JillCorcoran Jill Corcoran Retweeted by pj_thompson For all of you querying agents…. RESEARCHING AGENTS: http://bit.ly/6WFMMT 2 Feb

MJMcKean Michael McKean Retweeted by pj_thompson Hey, fans: shooting begins next month on Indiana Jones and the Early Bird Special. 2 Feb

I’ve edited out the stuff already covered in this week’s blog.  It’s for the best.

Someone in the next hallway is barking like a dog. Either that or their speaker phone is freaking out. Cool either way. 2 Feb

I really must stop assuming people are friends when at best they are tolerating me. Not as emo as it sounds. Just a statement of fact. 2 Feb

Moral victory tastes like…ash and sod. 2 Feb

I finally remembered the name of those hiking boots I bought I long time ago that I loved. Merrell. Went to website, acquired same. 2 Feb

Ha. Made him look. A moral victory if nothing else. 2 Feb

Sometimes I wish I really could Hulk out. Especially on the commute. Not boring old road rage but rip car in half rage. 1 Feb

Not helping with my self-inducted imposturage mood. 31 Jan

We have motion sensor lights in the hallway. Several people moved from this section so as I sit here periodically all the lights go out. 31 Jan

I think I need more coffee. 31 Jan

Is an imposture someone faking bad posture? Prolly for sympathy. A self-induced Munchhausen. 31 Jan

Such an imposter I can’t even spell it. 31 Jan

Yeah, I’m definitely in a “Who am I kidding?” kind of mood. Imposture syndrome is my boon companion.  31 Jan

Either I’m writing too much blog or not enough.  Where’s the balance?

Since I haven’t anything important going on today I decided I might as well post chapter 2 of The Numberless Stars on OWW.  27 Jan

Doctors: you can’t live with them and you can’t live without them. 27 Jan

Think I nailed down chapter 2, or at least good enough that I can progress to chapter 3 with a clean conscience and wait for revisions. 26 Jan

And so to lunch and the third try to nail the opening of chapter 2 of The Numberless Stars. 26 Jan

RETWEET: StephenAtHome Stephen Colbert by pj_thompson: I don’t want Sharia Law messing with our constitution! That’s the job of Scalia Law. 25 Jan

A word of warning: do not type “scars” into Google Images if you have eaten recently. 25 Jan

The Social Wetwork: An Assassin’s Dating Service #comingsoon 25 Jan

Life is a perpetual field of banana peels. You just never know when you’re going to step wrong. 24 Jan

I do plan on writing a real blog post again some day—I’ve been cogitatin’ in that general direction—but things have been rather hectic.  The blog still resides mostly in my brain.

Otherwise, the penne with tomatoes, basil, and Italian turkey sausage was splendid. :-/  24 Jan

As was reinforced for me in last night’s dinner: there’s a fine line between carmelizing your onions and burning them. 24 Jan

Chocolate chocolate chip muffin you are mine! I’m sure we’ll be so happy together. Until I eat you (not in a good way). 24 Jan

Jack Lalanne’s motto (as stated at 95): “If man made it, don’t eat it. If it tastes good, spit it out.” Yeah. Right. 24 Jan

Perspective is everything I say. 23 Jan

Cable guy here to see about the horrible tragedy of no modem. 23 Jan

TMI? Mom: Who pooped on the paper? Bird: Bird. 23 Jan

Go Jets! 23 Jan

Too much singing for Min, though. She left the room. 22 Jan

I loved it, but then, I’m a romantic slop bucket. Acting was much better than I expected. Good thing they didn’t let Pierce sing much tho. 22 Jan

All right, I confess. I’m about to watch Mamma Mia. 22 Jan

Fortunately utter tragedy has been avoided because of Mr. Droid. I call him Edwin when it’s just us. 22 Jan

This afternoon my modem went bellyup. No bigscreen internet until at least tomorrow afternoon. So stunned to get a service call so fast. 22 Jan

That was supposed to be “but bwoogity. We’re wimps” but spellcheck is cursed. 22 Jan

This morning we took Bird to have her toenails clipped and her beak Dremeled. We could do this ourselves but velocity. We’re wimps. 22 Jan

Apologies for having so many tweet posts this week.  It’s been a busy/distracted time and I seem to only have to brain for short infoburps.

And….scene.  21 Jan

My quest for chocolate chocolate chip muffin foiled again this AM. Had to settle for a cranberry scone. As a second, it was right up there. 21 Jan

Done that RT @literaticat:When should authors on submission keep their traps shut? Well, almost always, actually. http://tinyurl.com/4cxthyh 21 Jan

I think the clock is standing still. I am really convinced of it. 20 Jan

We’re even. 20 Jan

Earlier last eve she scared the bejabbers out of me by making me think she’d gotten out of the house, hiding, & not answering when I called. 20 Jan

I think Min was trying to tell me something last night: she kept slapping the Droid as I was reading email. 20 Jan

Ha! My friend, Artur, tells me I got spammed in Russian for “high quality porn”! Someone will be getting acquainted with the banning club. 20 Jan

if I can’t picture the place I’m writing it seriously messes up my pantsing. And research shows the image template I had isn’t correct. 20 Jan

I’ve really jacked myself up with the research. Part of me just wants to write and worry about making right later, but… 20 Jan

That last statement has many parallels to “I can see your house from here” or “My sister used date the roommate of FamousGuy’s cousin.” 20 Jan

Huh. I just learned I went to high school with someone who lived on the same street as the famous “The Entity” haunting house. 20 Jan

Anyone speak Russian? I just got Cyrillicized in a comment over on LJ. 20 Jan

What is Microsoft’s problem? Instead of improving their product they reinvent Word each and every version. Idiots. 19 Jan

I must remind myself not to fall too much in love with the research. Too much is as bad as too little, I think. 19 Jan

I can’t find my research notes for the novella I’m currently turning into a novel. Which means I’ve had to start all over again. *sigh* 19 Jan

And so, another story committed to the winds of fate. Or editors, which is almost the same thing. 19 Jan

Looks like the Poe Toaster is gone for good, alas. http://tinyurl.com/yccv9tx 19 Jan

Happy birthday, Edgar Allan! 19 Jan

The worst part of this AM’s NPR tribute to Don Kirshner? I’ve got “Honey, sugar sugar, you are my candy girl…” earworming thru my brain. 19 Jan

Alas, I had to settle for poppyseed. 18 Jan

Time to go see if there are anymore chocolate chocolate chip muffins left in the cafeteria. 18 Jan

I long for the days when I can play Fallen London again. Mostly these days I’m just too tired. 18 Jan

Yes, positive signs. Story revised & ready for sending, Chapter1 finished and posted to OWW, Chapter2 1/3 done. Feels so damned good. 14 Jan

The tortilla chips however are chewy not crispy. One cannot expect miracles from cafeteria food. 14 Jan

Sat outside on patio last night with a beer & noticed the peach tree loaded with buds. 2 early blossoms had already produced tiny peachlets. 14 Jan

Chocolate chocolate chip muffins: I live for you. 14 Jan

The good, the bad, and the ugly, except without good. 13 Jan

After misreading headlines all morning, I think I’ll leave work now to take my elderly mother to a doctor’s appointment. 13 Jan

Positive signs of life: I’ve started writing again this wk for the 1st time since November. I hope Life settles down enough to continue. 12 Jan

Happy 101st birthday to Luise Rainer. 12 Jan