Writing Nights, a followup

I've already been bad and skipped a writing night. Thursday I used the excuse of being whooped from work to not write. Since I'll probably be whooped from work every night until the end of the year, I'd better not keep making that excuse.

On an upnote, I followed Mom's (et alii) suggestion and created direct links to the updates in my monthly update posts at the beginning of the Coera blog. Hopefully that will make more sense when you actually see it.

Next question - is it clear by the subtle change in color where I'm summarizing scenes in A Diamond in Snow, where I've actually written something out, and where I have polished text?

Grave Danger, a followup

I wasn't really sure if Jill was being sardonic or serious with her suggestion that I post screenshots of the World of Warcraft game and post them on my blog. In way, it seems a terrific farce - I use blogs to live vicariously through my friends and family; were someone to do the same with mine, they would be living vicariously through a vicarious escapist outlet. In any case, I decided to do it once just for fun.


Barleybone (my character), standing outside the gates of the largest city in the region.


One of the ways Barleybone makes money and gains experience is through fishing. I was fishing a little too much though, it seems, since my pole broke that evening.


Barleybone taking air transport to Thunder Bluff. For a modest fee, you get a quick trip between cities and some excellent views.


I spun the camera around so you can see Barleybone from the front. He's posing on one of the bridges that span the chasms between bluffs in Thunder Bluff.

Spiders in the windows

One of the up- or downsides (depending on who you ask) of putting blinds in the windows is that you occasionally discover new spiders when you open the blinds from time to time.

This morning while I was talking to Sarah on the phone, I found this orb-weaver parked in the frame of our bay window:




And this little family was hiding behind our breakfast nook:



Somebody's been busy!

A random picture Kim took last night

Hello, Jenny

Jenny arrived safely last night in Atlanta, for all who are following her move across the country. She was a bit thirsty when she arrived home, and she stuck pretty close to me throughout the night, but in general she was happy, energetic, and excited. She certainly enjoyed exploring the yard last night, but I didn't let her wander too far, since the fence won't be in until Tuesday.




In case anyone was worried that this post and the last might have some causal relationship, don't worry. However, Jenny has gone to stay with Mom until Tuesday both since Mom seemed very eager to spend some time with Jenny and to give Kim and I a little time to adjust.

Goodbye, Heddy

Heddy, the oldest of our three cats, died this morning. He hadn't been as spry since the move out to Georgia, and in the last month he lost a lot of weight and started slowing down. Each time in the last few weeks that we took him to the vet in the last few weeks he had improved, but yesterday he started to slow down. Today I took him to the vet while Kim had to be at work, and he stopped breathing while on an I.V. and couldn't be revived. We will miss him much.

Here are a couple of pictures Kim took last night:



Heddy would have been 19 next month. Kim rescued him about 10 years ago - he was at a Petco, and had been saved from a previous owner who kept him locked in a basement and let him drink out of the pipes under the house. Despite all of this, he was very pleasant and well-tempered, and was very hospitable to me when I first met Kim, and to our other two cats when we adopted them.

Writing Nights

Whenever I feel a bit distressed that I'm not doing anything worthwhile, or my time is being filled up with unproductive nonsense, I always coming back to my desire to write, or more specifically, to write that collection of stories outlined on the CoeraBlog. So, Kim and I decided that I needed to set aside some time each week for writing, and Writing Nights were born! I don't have self-portrait Tuesday like my sister Jill, but every Tuesday and Thursday night, you should be able to check the updates on Coera for a picture of what's going on in my head...

I'm in grave danger...

Due to a variety of factors (mild depression, attempting to establish a regular means of time-spending with distant friends, continued barrages of anecdotes from friends and aquaintances), my heavily buttressed barriers crumbled and I bought World of Warcraft. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a computer role-playing game like the kind that I enjoy the most, and it is online, so you play with and against real people. The combination of those two creates a time-sucking blackhole that not even Dr. Hans Reinhardt and the Cygnus could find a way to break from. For those of you who do know what it is, I will accept your sympathy in the form of comments.

Kim has been tasked with keeping me from going crazy, but so far just knowing she's downstairs by herself when she's home and I'm playing keeps me from being too out of control.

For your viewing pleasure...

Warning - mostly bugs!


This is the funnel-web spider I found scuttling around our living room. When I actually tried to catch her - boy, was she fast! And, unfortunately, she wasn't very coordinated, either, as she had very little luck when scaling vertical surfaces. Most spiders I've caught make it out of a cup like this with little difficulty, but she just kept running around the perimeter of the floor until I came back with the camera, at which point she politely posed for me.


This little fellow was unfortunate enough to fall down between the wall and Kim's greenhouse, from whence he was unable to escape. I later found him very well preserved, and thus quite agreeable for photography, of which I did a shoddy job.


This guy was just too good-looking not grab the camera for. I'm afraid he was heading for the same fate as the dragonfly above, though, as he couldn't fly more than a few inches off the ground.


I went to Borders last week with Mom and Wood, and while I got away with only one book (and a bargain book at that), I couldn't refrain from helping myself to their view.


I should probably post a picture of that garden box out front, which I'm still digging up and dismantling. Since I'm moving the dirt to where Kim will have a garden, I figured I'd leave most of the plant mass to mulch until she started planting. This lily, however, despite several weed whackings while out front (you can see the scarred leaves), a lack of rain, and being carelessly tossed about in a wheelbarrow, has been quite happy in the backyard, including blooming several months out of season!

Saturday movie roundup, Oct 1 issue

Yesterday I felt lazy (to be read as, I didn't want to do any yardwork), and suggested that Kim and I spent the day watching movies, so we did just that.

After a hearty breakfast at the Huddle House (our new favorite of the "*-House" breakfast-all-day chains out here in Georgia), Kim and I were off to see Just Like Heaven.

(Pardon the interruption. Eyeore has decided that since I now have a wireless keyboard and can type from the comfort of a lazy chair, with the keyboard in my lap, that my wrists are the ideal place for her to lay).

So - Just Like Heaven, starring Reese Witherspoon and someone very un-leading-man-ish, in my opinion, who was perfect for this movie. Actually, the movie was very good all around, in my opinion - very near You've Got Mail in Romantic Comedy standings. (As you should know, You've Got Mail is rank one in that category, in my list.) I've told Kim she has my full permission to buy the movie when it comes out (not that she needs it). I like that it has a little bit of a supernatural aspect to it, but really the movie was just very well written (with a little bit of the requisite hokey to wade through), acted, and pulled off. I recommend it.

Next we scooted over to the other local movie theater so we could take advantage of their monstrous popcorn and drink sizes (to share), and to watch A History of Violence (Viggo Mortenson, Ed Harris, and a cameo by William Hurt). I had told Kim that the movie was very well reviewed (the truth), and that she was going to come out of it thanking me for taking her (a bold hope). The movie was strange. Not strange like Lost Highway - maybe more somewhere between The Village and Eyes Wide Shut. Strange is not entirely bad, and it added a mood to a movie that might otherwise have fallen a bit flat. It followed the trailers exactly for the first 20 minutes or so, then went off in a direction that now seems entirely natural, but was a surprise while watching the movie. I would recommend it with the following caveat: the R rating is very well deserved, as both the sex and violence were very well deserved. I saw a family with young kids walking out about two thirds of the way through, and can't believe they stayed that long (or let their kids in in the first place... Rated R means even more than it did 10 years ago!, as movie ratings slip). I have a theory that the director and I have similar feelings about sex and violence: that if you have violence in a movie, it should be accurately disgusting to see - not intentionally gory or glossed over, and that the acceptance of graphic violence over graphic sex by movie audiences is bizarre and disturbing. I liked the movie, and Kim thought it was pretty good, but she definitely didn't thank me for suggesting it.

We went shopping for Halloween accessories to bide the time between movies, and discovered that Jo-Ann's (Kim's old place of employment) is lax in their vigilence to make certain that only sale items are stocked in areas where sales tags are displayed.

Our first evening movie was Proof, with Anthony Hopkins, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jake Gyllenhaal. This was Kim's big movie choice, but I've been a fan of Anthony Hopikins ever since 1994, so I was happy to see him in a movie again (plus, it was about maths!). The plot would sound a bit like A Beautiful Mind if I summarized it, but it's really not, and its a pretty good movie in its own right. While it was Kim's favorite movie of the night, I say it's a good, safe movie to see if you're not going to see Serenity or something else big and flashing. Definitely a fine rental.

Speaking of Serenity, Kim and I were thinking of seeing that fourth, but instead decided to skedaddle back home instead and see Starsky and Hutch, a Blockbuster rental we've had sitting around for a couple of weeks. What can I say - good for a few laughs, and about what you'd expect, but withough as much gross-out comedy as usual for a Ben Stiller movie.

Preparing for Jenny

Just like Jenny is preparing for her flight out here, we're preparing for her arrival - specifically, we're planning out the fence. Our original plan (in red on the survey drawing below) was a little grand and overreaching, and the price tag reflected that. However, Kim and I have come to a revise plan (in blue) that will bring us in under budget and not cramp Jenny's style too much. Also, the fencing guys downgraded their necessary lead time, so we should be ready with plenty of time to spare for her!


We're really looking forward to her arrival.