Sunday, May 27, 2012

Balticon 46, Day 3 & me is tiwed now

I over-labeled, I think. 

But I'm running on very little sleep, so this won't be very long, or detailed. 

I'll just say,  I've had a helluva time so far.  And probably will fall asleep with my head on the keyboard in a minute. 

Met some nice authors, scared another with my pirate costume accessories -- enough that said author said "Hi" to me by name every time he saw me* --, scored some free & not so free books, t-shirts, art.  Oh, yeah, still have that auction to pay for, frell! 

And wore two costumes, if you count the Chinese long tunic I wore today, and the mask I bought 'cuz it matched the tunic.

I just had to leave a panel about the probe we (NASA / US government) is building to go the closest one ever has to the sun.  Even though scientists have wanted to do this for 50+ years, only now is technology at the point where we can build what we need in order to protect the instruments from the high radiation of the sun.  I was starting to head nod despite my interest.  So I left rather than start snoring during her lecture.

And I have not had enough coffee to see me through any more panels, despite wanting to hit the science of Wedenesque universe panel in less than 13 minutes.  And the firking, song fest thingie. 

Next time...so, I'm signing off from Balticon 46.  And need to phone home now.


* OK, scared is an (over-)exaggeration.  I did get a "Holy sh!t, better treat this like it's loaded," when he felt the weight hit his hand.  & a "remind me not to piss you off, AC." 

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Ho-lee Shee-it, Batman!

Sunday night, I didn't want to grit my teeth through the one-hour season finale of Family Guy while my S.O.  payed it some attention while conquering the world on a real-time strategy game, so I grab my neglected journal and head upstairs.  After I let the old dogs out to pee and gathered the odd dog bed up for Scully.  We have two dogs and three dog beds.  I'm not sure how that happened.  But one bed travels between the living room, where they stay when we're not home, & upstairs, where they snore louder than my S.O. does, at times.   :P

I am a multi-tasker.  (Why do one thing well, when you can split your attention and do two [or more] things adequately?)  I was icing my shins (frelling shin-splints!), writing my journal entry and compulsively checking my email all roughly at the same time.  


About quarter to 10, up pops an email from a representative of Balticon, informing me that one of the three poems I submitted to their annual Sci-Fi Poetry Contest won third prize, sorry for the late notice, but if you'd like to come and read it at the convention, it won't cost you a thing to get in. (Travel and lodging, not included, of course.)  Paraphrasing here. 

Hoooo-leeee Shee-it, Batman! Robin! Batgirl! (I never understood why they put nipples on the various Batsuits.  And why totally erect ones for Batman and Robin, and only discretely half-erect ones for Batgirl?)  

Anyway, I digress.  I immediately email back that I'm honored to be selected and would love to read my poem at the convention, which, to tell the truth, I'd been trying to figure out how to attend, even though it's less than a week away.  

I call my older sister.  At 10 pm on a Sunday night, I knew she'd still be up.  This is the same older sister who started sending me her sci-fi bookclub books to read when she was in HS in NC and I was a young and immature 11-year-old jr high school student (7th grade).  I went straight from horse and dog books like The Black Stallion series to sci-fi books like Roger Zelazny's The Chronicles of Amber and Jack L. Chalker's weird "I have issues with my own sexuality, so I will write it all out in a fantasy series."*


I really was reading a bit over my comprehension at times.  


More tomorrow.  Me too tired to write more....snore.

* This is just my opinion.  I avoid his books.  Left a bad taste in my too-young-mind.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Pro-Cras-Tin-A-Tion

Sometimes when I try to bring up my blog site, this comes up as no. 1 on the list, and I have to scroll down to find myself.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPZVrmJ2HH8

It's a silly song.  Could be about pot.  Could be about a cat named dog.  Dr. Hook evidently covered it.  Though I have yet to find it.  Hmm.  Just did. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmdHaubofXA

I never walked my cat Kimik on a leash, for fear that he'd rip me a new one.  He was a big cat.  And not very co-operative if you didn't let him lounge on your lap for hours.

I'm procrastinating at the moment.  Or, I should say, just chillin' after a day that started at 0450.  Let's just say my circadian rhythms have moved from night owl-dom to WTF can't I go back to sleep?!?

I've been a bit more productive since I started getting up earlier.  But about this time of day, my motivation is nowhere to be found and I'm thinking a little nap-fu action is called for.   Hmm, pillow good.

How have your rhythms changed lately?

Peace.


Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Mia Culpa

It has been two weeks since my last confession, er, blog post.  But it's been a busy two weeks.  I sent a blog post to my friend, who's trying to get back into the regular habit.  I adopted two soldiers in Afghanistan, plus my nephew in the Navy, and have been writing them -- at least weekly.  Three letters a week.  My Mom could never get me to do this for family when we lived in Alaska.  But I was a snotty little kid and it wasn't fun then.   :)

I've also been to NC and back, to visit my Mom for Mother's Day.  And to catch a little karate fix while I was near one of my instructor's classes.  I barely made the start of his kids class and broke a sweat in there (it's been a looong while since I trained).  The adults class put me on my ass at least a couple dozen times.  We worked different ways of applying one wrist lock, seems like a dozen different scenarios in retrospect.  At least.  But I may have been confused with information overload.  I definitely had an attack of my usual physical dyslexia (Which way do I go?  What way do I turn?  Which hand are we blocking with?  Grabbing with?  That sort of thing. : ). 

I also hadn't planned on participating in any take-downs &/or throws.  Guess I should have told the instructor that my back was already close to spasm-city.  12 seconds after I told one of the lower belts I didn't want to be taken to the floor with the wrist-lock take-down we had just been shown how to do, Sensei grabs me to be the alternate demo-dummy, er, black belt.  I landed oh-so-wrong and right on my already bitchin' SI joint.  It didn't exactly say, "Thank you very much."  More like, "Frell you very much."*

I have a blog post that really should have been put online Thursday before last, but it has been languishing in my unused (of the last couple of days) journal in my messenger bag.  Briefcase, whatever.  Guess I should get a typing.

HOURS LATER:  Guess I failed to type it up.  Will just post this so I can have a half-way up to date blog post.   : )

* You should know what "Frell" means by now.  Ditto for "Frak"***.

**  I take my mission as a Science Fiction Ambassador very seriously.  I must convert the universe!  Resistance is futile.  You will be assimilated, even if it's just by your smart phone. 

*** Battlestar Galactica, not the shale oil fracking, drilling thing getting all the publicity lately.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Es ist Fertig!

Es ist Fertig!

Or, auf English, It is finished!  Done!  Kaput!  Behind me!

April's challenges are done, now I just have to make sure I post all the remaining poems I didn't get to this month on the Poetic Asides comments.  And to go through the Paltform challenges to make sure I did 'em all.   I'm pretty sure I did.

I should be jumping up & down and high five-ing myself, but I still have to send my interviewee my questions, send my guest blog post to my friend so she can put it up on her blog, and check my May editorial calendar to make sure I'm on tract.  

Yes, I know it's on the first of May, but to paraphrase a friend of mine, and one of my Sensei, "The 31st will sneak up onya!"

I did get my second poem for the online workshop written and sent in this morning.* It's scary for me to do this.  They are three poets I've never met in person.  They will only judge me through my work, rough drafts I whip off when inspiration strikes a la April PAD-ing madness.  

 I've taken a couple of workshop classes before.**  So I should be used to it, but it's been awhile & revising has never been my favorite thing to do.

Sigh. OK, my 15 minutes are up.  Gotta post this and get a move on.

* Online workshop with poet Diane Frank at Blue Light Press.

** With Sebastian Matthews via UNC-Asheville's Smokey Mountain Writer's Program in 2007 (& it's a good thing I really didn't know who he was then, otherwise I would've been much more intimidated by him). Last summer with G. Cleveland Winfield III, which has since turned into The Deft Poetry Society, meeting twice a month & sometimes taking advantage of the Inspiration Elevation open mic's he MC's at Java jack's in Tappahannock, Va on the 2nd & 4th Saturdays of the month.