funny commercial

Ken and I watched "The Funniest Commercials of 2006" on TBS the other night, and this one cracked me up. I've never seen it on TV other than the show; from the length, I suspect it's meant to be passed around the internet. Consider it passed.

Harris's pizza=necter of the gods

I posted a comment to the last post saying that I was going to make "Everybody has to do their own yoga" as my new mantra. Yeah, that's been replaced. Maybe "replaced" is too strong a word. For certain situations, my new saying is so much more enjoyable. First, a background: last night, Ken and I went to a Christmas party at a friend's house. The husband, I'll call him ... "C", has a wicked sense of humor. He's great for metaphors--last year I came home with the gem "She's like a radio that's almost on the right station, but not quite. She's a little off." I still gotta work that into a story somewhere, and I guess that's really a simile and not a metaphor, but whatever. The point is, last night he said about his wife, "She's always got one pedal to the floor, full speed or dead stop. There's no in between. You gotta drive it like you stole it." So that's my new thing. "Drive it like you stole it." Genius.

Yesterday we also visited Ken's family for Christmas. It was good, with Harris's Pizza and Christmas booty. Our niece and nephew are in high school and they're getting so grown-up! They were in our wedding, for crissake, they aren't supposed to be driving and snuggling on the couch with their boyfriend. Aaargh!

Christmas time is here ...

Got most of the Christmas shopping done and put up the Christmas tree yesterday, so I'm finally getting some Christmas cheer. Seeing the in-laws on Saturday and my parents next weekend, so there is some good Christmas booty in my future. Tonight I'm wrapping gifts, watching a Christmas movie, and reading. I'm not going to feel guilty about not going to the gym and not writing. Though, I got another rejection today, so I have to resubmit it somewhere tonight. I can do that.

Why is it when I read a good hook or idea or something that someone else has written, my first thought is "Damn, that's good, I so want to read this book/story" and the second is "All of my work sucks, I can't do as good as that. Maybe I really should throw in the towel?" Why can't I get it through my head that just because someone else is talented, that fact does not make me untalented? Stupid writing angst.

Ta-da!

Here's pictures of the kitchen, as promised. In the pictures it looks pink, but it's more of a pinkish-brown. That's such a chick distinction to make. The dining room--which you can see in the second picture if you squint--is a burgundy/cranberry color, and our living room is tan, so the kitchen flows a lot better than it did. Before last weekend, it had yellow walls, blue curtains, and yellow/blue accessories. I still need to buy towels and a sheer to go over the kitchen sink. Right now I feel a litte exposed at night.

Yesterday I received a rejection for the first book of my trilogy. Bah. Though, the rejection letter said, "while there was much to recommend the writing," it wasn't for them. Onward. I've been adding to my short-story idea log for the next year, and the current book is coming along nicely. I've lost a pound or two, and I've actually started Christmas shopping instead of just talking about it. Life is good.

Last night Ken and I had a "couple date." We went out to dinner with a co-worker of mine and his wife, and we all seemed to hit it off. These things only work if all four people click--one wife can't hate the other husband or worse, the other wife, that sort of thing--and I think we did. Afterwards, we went to their house to play games. We played the variation of Uno with the contraption that spits cards out at you, then two rounds of Pictionary. They actually wanted to play Pictionary first, but we chose Uno, and I found out after we left Ken had the same reasoning I did: Pictionary was the game we played with Bridget and Jimmy, and we didn't want to make any new Pictionary memories. They really wanted to play after we got done with Uno, though, and we couldn't protest without looking like idiots, so we did it. We had fun, but it was a little bittersweet for us, I think. For the record, we played Uno with B and J too, but it was old-school Uno, and so playing the new kind didn't seem like such a betrayal to me. Perhaps "betrayal" is too harsh a word. It's close, though.

this and that

Friday night Ken and I saw a Lotus Elise in our hometown. The license plate read "UOMERNT", so we figured it was one of the super-rich rental property owners that populate our college town. It immediately made me think of the scene in Pretty Woman, when Richard Gere's character pulls over for Julia Robert's character, and J.R. says to her hooker friend, "That's a Lotus Esprit" and Laura San Giacamo's characters says, "No, that's rent."

This weekend I got no writing done because I repainted the kitchen. I wanted it to look sort of like an italian villa, and I think we pulled it off. I'll post pictures once it's all back in order. Now all of my muscles hurt, as well as my hands and feet. I'm tired. I'm going to shower and lay around and veg for the rest of the day.

influences

On the Wyrdsmith's blog there's a discussion going on now about which authors influenced the writers. I thought I would give it a go. Here they are, in semi-cronological order:

Laura Ingalls Wilder
The various authors of Choose-your-own-Adventure books. I don't remember anyone specific, but I loved those books.
The Encyclopedia Brown books
Paula Danziger
Judy Bloom (what self-respecting girl would leave her off the list?)
Phyllis A. Whitney
Agatha Christie
Edgar Allen Poe
Stephen King (he's one of the bigger influences, I'll admit)
Dean Koontz
J.K. Rowling
Robert Jordan (I know, I know, but I can't help it. Just because he's dragged the story on for six books too long doesn't mean he didn't create a kick-ass world.)
Steven Brust

What's the common thread with these authors? Off the top of my head, I think Danziger, Bloom, King, Rowling and Brust write characters you want to give a damn about, while Whitney, Christie, Poe, and Jordan weave a fine tale. Not that King's storytelling is lacking or Jordan's characters suck, but this is what sticks in my head when I think of these authors. Mostly, they entertained me/scared me/made me think, and that's why they resonate with me. Ah, to do that for somebody else. Someday.

an addition or three

I've added a link to Paul Genesse's website, a link to the book I'm reading for the suburban-housewife book club, and a new Word of the Week. This word, pulchritude, makes me think of Vicki Sharrow and the fifth grade. Our class had to put together a newsletter during a journalism unit; our job was to do "man on the street" interviews about a vocabulary word. We went to my house, sat at my kitchen table, opened up the dictionary, closed our eyes, and pointed. Pulchritude was the winner. Of all the people we stopped--I don't remember how many--only one man that lived next to Vicki knew what it was. Funny, the things you remember.

Insanity

When I filled in my submission spreadsheet just now, I noticed that F&SF has had really quick turnaround-times for my last two submissions. This means either one of two things: 1. They recognize my name, think, "Hey, maybe this one we'll buy" and read it quick or 2. they recognize my name, say, "Crap. Not another one from her. Let's get this over with." and read it quick.

Or maybe they're just having a slow time of year.

I've gotta stop thinking about this. I'm going to bed.

Love note from F&SF

Thank you for submitting "Sudden Death," but I'm going to pass on it. This tale didn't grab my interest, I'm afraid. Good luck to you with this one, and thanks again for sending it our way.

On to "Realms of Fantasy."

I swear you have to be a little bit insane to want to do this for a living.

Winter Storm

We've survived the first winter storm of the year. Actually, in my neck of the woods, we got off pretty light--a little freezing rain, a little ice, a few inches of snow. Our power did go off during the ice storm, though, and stayed off for about 20 hours. That sucked.

Second round of vet visits for the kitties. Kahlua had to go back and get three rotten teeth pulled--poor kitty--and Moonshine and Bailey went for their shots. Actually, only Moonshine ended up getting her boosters. The vet heard a heart murmur/arrhythmia in Bailey, and she had also lost 3 pounds, so the vet was concerned. She drew some blood work to check for hyperthyroidism and liver/kidney function. Turns out she has some kidney issues. Next week when I take Kahlua back for his post-op appointment I'll talk with the vet about low-sodium food for Bailey. At this point I don't know how serious it is--will the special food be enough to resolve the issue, or is this basically the beginning of the end? I don't even want to think about that. Bailey's 12 years old, and I can't really picture life without her. I know it will happen eventually ... I just don't want it to happen quite yet.

The other day Ken pulled a word--accouterments--out of nowhere. He called the cats his accouterments, and it ispired me to make a "word of the week" feature for the blog. I was going to do a "word of the day," but who am I kidding? That's too much pressure. Let's shoot for "word of the week" and see how it goes.