Ramblings of the insane, and a few reviews.

Last night Mother of Mine and I watched Australia.

I must admit, that when I originally saw the trailers for it... I thought "hmmm looks like something I want to see.. but it looks like something I'd need to be in the mood for"

Which is why it hadn't been watched until now.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a HUGE fan of Baz Luhrman. I do in fact own the Red Curtain Collection, and Strictly Ballroom has been one of my all time favorite movies.
I'm also a huge fan of Hugh Jackman. I mean, heck... I once recorded a PBS showing of Oklahoma! because he was in it. (I managed to somehow not watch it before I accidentally recorded over it, but you still get the point.)

Now, one of the reasons I was meh about watching it, was because I just have to be in a mood to watch one of her movies. I'm not saying she's a bad actress... I'm just saying I tend to have to be in a mood.

But Australia finally came in last night at the library.

Now, the first thing I will say... is if the trailers had actually shown what most of the movie was about... I would have watched it a LONG time ago.

The trailers made it seem that the movie was ONLY about War coming to Australia.
And also, that it was because of the war that Lady Ashely (Nicole Kidman's character) goes to Australia for.

Without giving away the movie.. I'll say, that only about the last half to last quarter of the movie has anything to actually do with the war.

Ironically, I'm glad that I've watched McLeod's Daughters a bit prior to watching Australia, because if I hadn't... I think all the Droving, would have just made me think of City Slickers (you know... Billy Crystal). Which, though there were a few times I snorted thinking about that movie... I was glad my mind was flicking more back and forth between what was on the screen and the droving of McLeod's Daughters. (Mostly, I was just thinking about the "Station House" and how something can in fact have been around for over 100 years, and doing the exact same thing as it was built for originally.)

The movie, very much had Baz's signature flair. OR at least, the very beginning did. There was no doubt in my mind watching the first 30 minutes of the movie that this was in fact a Baz Luhrman film.

The music was very gorgeous, and of course I ended up going to bed having "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" in my head. Which, if you see the movie, you'll understand.

The cinematography was absolutely without a doubt breath takingly gorgeous. And they did such a great job with the Green Screen, that you can only tell it was employed in very few scenes. I don't know how many it was actually used in, but there are some where you could tell. Which, there were obvious reasons for it.

Wicked's vote: I'll own this someday. (And thats saying something!)

Moving along...
I quickly read over the weekend, the latest book by Joanne Fluke.
Cream Puff Murder.



I have to admit, though this book was slightly annoying in the aspect that it was mostly centered around Hannah's waistline and the need to loose a few pounds.
The person who died in this one... I, like others am very glad to see dead.
Mike, one of Hannah's two boyfriends... I have decided I do not like. Originally, I used to be more Team Mike rather than Team Norman. I mean.. who wouldn't want the hot police detective as opposed to the slightly normal looking dentist. Dentists have the highest rate of suicidal tendencies per year. Perhaps I'm the only who thinks about that in the grand scheme of things when it comes to choosing a partner.
Yes, Mike has more danger when it comes to his profession, but is less likely to kill himself when it comes down to it.

Right now, I'm definitely more in the Team Norman camp. I'd kill for his house. lol.

Almost through with Sandman Volume 3 by Neil Gaiman.
Started reading Summer Knight again by Jim Butcher. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it this time before it's due back at the library or one of my other "gotta read this now because there is a waiting list a mile long" books comes in.
That means Sookie has been put down for the moment.


Oh, on completely random news. I got something really cool, and I don't recall if I had talked about it yet or not.

Leslie over at Dv'yne Writes, has a contest every month for those who subscribe to her news letter. As I have known Leslie for years thanks to the Colorado Ren Faire... and I've owned at least one of her notebooks, and have lusted over many more of them.. I of course would be a subscriber to her latest news. I mean, I never would have known about her awesome leather covers for say.. Harry Potter, or the other books she has.. I mean amazing work.
Well, I happened to win this months free journal give away.
It arrived quickly, as well.. she lives only about 70 miles away from me. Ironically, the journal via the post office, would have traveled more than that, because though she lives in Littleton, I'm willing to bet it had to go to Denver (north), then back south to me.
I opened up the box, and was BLOWN away. I mean absolutely blown away by what I found.
I was expecting one of the little soft sided refillable notebooks.. (like the one I have) I mean, it's one of the less expensive books she sells (which is why I have it. I mean I bought mine at least 10 years ago, and I could never afford any of the more expensive ones), and one generally figures that for a free give away, it would not be an expensive one.

Well, the journal I got was a 60$ slightly hardsided non refillable journal.


Sad news is that Leslie will not be at CRF anymore. She officially sold her booth, and is moving on to other things. I wish her luck though, and I don't blame her for wanting to move along. CRF was not a money maker for her in the recent years (I know this due to having a friend who worked her booth for a few seasons) I'm sure she also has other reasons for moving along. She will be missed.

Moving along...

Yesterday.. or was it the day before? I got an idea into my head. This is always dangerous. As I should have been writing or knitting. Not painstakingly editing a photo so that I can maybe make it work in a chart, and then attempt to knit it up.

If this works, it will be FREAKING AWESOME.
If it doesn't work... I will be once again reminded why I do not like socks. lol.

I won't really say what I'm working on yet... but I will say this.. "Wuv... True Wuv"

Hmmm I wonder if this can count as part of my Read/Knit Along? I'll have to see.

Alright. I guess I'm done rambling for now. I guess I should try to write.
Oh, and I must say.. .even though I put down Alex and her world of vamps... they are still talking in my head. Constantly.

Which recently has come up a lot it seems. Marissa commented on her blog, how writing is an acceptable form of schizophrenia. I agree with that statement. (Mind you, I was paraphrasing) It reminded me of the introduction in the first volume of "Comedity", where Garth talks about his friend's experience when it came to being a writer.
His friend had a high paying job (he delivered payroll in his own car, through nasty parts of town.. so he was really really well paid due to the danger involved). He quit his job to become a writer and work on his novel. Well, of course when Tax time came around, he went from reporting a lot of income to reporting 0 income for the year. He of course was audited. He went in sweating and freaking out, and having everything he could possibly have ready to explain his expenses for the last year, and when the taxman asked "so... why did you go from reporting _____ much, to reporting nothing"
Friend: "Well sir. I quit my job to write"
Taxman: "Oh." *scribble and rubber stamp* "We're done."
Friend: "What?"
Taxman: "You are crazy. And this crazy is explainable. Have a good day."

Apparently, per the IRS, writers are insane, as we will willingly go from having high paid careers (ha i wish) to having zero income for a year or more.

(Again, paraphrasing.. but the words crazy, and insane were actually used, and the convo was that short. I'm not willing to dig out my copy of Comedity right now as it is upstairs)

So not only are we schizophrenic, but we per the taxman are also insane.
This makes sense to me. As I remember sitting in my 2nd period class my Sophomore year of highschool working on a play I was writing.. my first one "Just an ordinary day... like no other", and my friend Nikki (not the crazy Irish one, but slightly Hispanic one) asked me how I could write what I was writing. I mean, 70 pages of dialogue? She wanted to know where it came from. I couldn't explain it other than "I just hear them talking." And it's true. It's also the reason I only wrote plays for the longest time.. Because I could hear the voices, but I sucked at the "The color of the mountains at dawn reminded me of a glass of sherry held up to the light coming in from the window." That kind of stuff.. I sucked at it back then. I wrote poems and plays. That was me.
I'm partly still sucky at it, I have to force myself to do description, and thats partly why I end up putting down somethings I'm working on. Actually, that is one of the reasons I had to put Alex down, Denver and it's descriptions were kicking my ass lol. I digress..

Is it insanity, when I clearly hear entire conversations of people who do not exist? If I never put my pen to paper, and I only just spoke of the convos... would I have been forced to undergo meeting with psychiatrists? No, I don't think so. Mostly because I come from a family where we tend to embrace our creativity in all it's forms. (or at least we do now)
I was never a child who had "imaginary friends" or at least none that I remember. I don't consider the voices I've always heard my imaginary friends. Though, these voices in my head tend to be best friends. So, I guess in fact they are the epitome of what one would call an imaginary friend.

Well.. I'm rambling.. so I guess I'll leave it here. But yes, I guess I just confirmed what all of you have thought of me for years. I'm absolutely bonkers. ;-)

I think the only thing that really drives me crazy, is not only do I have Alex, Daniel and Kit talking in my head right now, but I've got my people from my new novel chattering as well. It can get confusing at times lol.

Oh and the final note. My gods... homemade chocolate chip cream cheese rolls.. are just still so wonderful.. no matter how many times I make them.

A Hard Days Bite, book reviews, and happy knitting.

So tonight, I did what I said I was going to do.
I sat down, without anyone around and worked a bit on the miscreant chapter 5.

Well, in truth I only worked on it a little. I worked on the end of it, which is where I was the most stuck.

I've got more I've got to work on in the middle of it, and bridge a few key areas, but the end is what was making me feel guilty- I just didn't have a good feel going on the end of the chapter.

I moved on to chapter Six, which was written months ago... Honestly months ago. Like I had this chapter started before I even finished chapter 1. I might have to tweak 5 a little bit more to make 6 work a little more smoothly, and there are a few kinks, but we'll see what James has to say about it.

It was a quiet evening in, which is what I needed.
Yesterday, I was stuck at the auto shop getting my car worked on. I was a good car mommy, and finally got the O2 sensor repaired. Gee... all in all, I've only got just over 800$ worth of work left on my car for it to be "spiffy". But thats all normal stuff, like I need a new battery as mine most likely won't last me to the summer. Or certainly not next winter. I need my coolant changed, as apparently it is Chocolate milk like right now. And a few other various things, but all in all no big deal. The expensive part is always the "labor" sigh.

Today I went out and bought myself a spiffy memory foam pillow, hopefully my neck won't feel broke in the morning.
Went to the dreaded Walmart to pick up some sinus meds to avoid getting sick *knock on wood* and had a most horrible interaction while there. Seriously, employees were called over, and end result was Mother of Mine speaking to one of the managers to
inform them of how upset we were. I'm not going to go into details, but it's all due to some crazy bitch who even went so far as to bust out and start screaming at me that she was going to "pray for me" WTF?! I didn't do anything other walk past her.
Again, not going into it, but it was just bad.

Came home after that, and just chilled. Started laundry, took a shower, and started watching a few flicks.

Mother of Mine borrowed my car and drove to Denver (Littleton actually), for a Blair supper night with some of the clan members. Which allowed me to work on my knitting, and also work on my chapters.

So, quick little reviews:

Key Lime Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke:
This one seemed a bit odd, as the story went everywhere but the investigation. Yes, there was investigating.. but it just seemed a bit scattered. You got to see more of the real Mike, and also more of Norman, and again I can't seem to want to choose between the two of them. For a while there, I was very Team Norman, but now Mike has shown a side of him that really makes me like him more. The recipes were a little meh... I certainly won't be frying candy bars any time soon, but the book was all in all enjoyable. Though one thing, yes the story seemed a bit scattered.. it didn't seem like "filler" like previous novels.

Midnight Brunch by Marta Acosta:
I had the same issues with this one as I had with the first one. It feels like "wah wah wah. Everyone thinks I'm a slut because I'm Latino." Where in truth, seriously.. if you dress like a slut.. what do you expect people to think?
The reason for her to stay at the spa was so plot contrived it was ridiculous. I don't care how desperate someone is to prove themselves in a working way, if I was being treated like a doormat by some egotistical actor, and practically being blackmailed.. well they could kiss my ass. And for the main character who is supposed to be some "strong female" she did absolutely nothing but cave and give into every whim and demand of every man around her. The story was passable. And I still really _want_ to like the books. I may or may not give the 3rd book a try. It all depends on my mood. To be honest, the only character I have really grown to love is Edna.

The Day I Swapped my Dad for two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman:
Absolutely adorable and fantastic a story.I cannot wait to own it and read it to my future children. Neil Gaiman is once again brilliant with his story, and it was a very endearing story on how sometimes what you have is better than what you think you want, and what you'll do to get what you want. Most certainly a brilliant read for both adults and children alike.


I know i have a few more books that I've read recently, but meh... just ask if you want to know about them.

I've also been watching a few things recently:
I just watched "The Incredible Hulk"
Okay, I actually enjoyed this one. Ed Norton is always meh in my opinion. But the fact that they had a cameo with Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark (Iron Man) was totally awesome. It wasn't nearly the garbage that they did a few years ago. Including a cameo with the original Hulk. Come on.. you gotta love that!
Tim Roth is like as always the best baddie in the world. I love him.

The Journey to the Center of the Earth:
I also enjoyed this one. I only saw it in 2D, but it was cute, and very family fun entertainment.

Get Smart:
Yes, the new one. It was.. surprisingly enjoyable. I was a huge fan of the telly show growing up (and i've got season 1 on my library queue), but honestly, this wasn't as bad as it could have been. Yes there were a few more fat jokes than necessary, but they were actually done in a tasteful way. Anne Hathaway as Agent 99 bothered me, as I didn't remember Agent 99 being such a bitch, or so competitive. So yeah, I was not fond of that.

Rescue Me season 4:
I was shocked at this season, so much happened, but at the same time not. It wasn't like previous seasons where they went for the shock value. It was more... "real" to me. The season finale was also unlike any season finale I've seen in a while as it was just quite, and yes there was something "drastic" but it wasn't the main character in a house fire for once.

Hu$tle season 3:
I love this show, and season 3 was just as good as previous seasons. Seriously if you have not seen Hustle go and see it. Great British tv.

Crap, there are a ton more things I've seen recently but I can't recall them at the moment.

I know I know I've promised a report on Repo. But I want to do it all justice when I type it up.

Knitting news:
I feel very accomplished!
I have successfully mastered Seed Stitch at the moment. YAY! Seeeeeee pretty huh???






I also, have successfully (today even!) completed a swatch of the Moorish Tile pattern. Woooooooot. It's a bitch of a pattern for a noob like me. But I was determined. I'll get photos up eventually.

The good news, is that SquibStitcher (or Pygstiches she's known as one of the blogs I follow here) over at Ravelry is being totally totally awesome for me. She's a dyer. And she's totally willing to play with Bamboo yarn for me to get the nifty colors that are not available in most shops. It's a battle. I guess people don't think that those of us who are allergic to wool and most yarns, actually you know.. LIKE colors, and cool looking yarn. But so she's totally awesome and is going to make me cool yarn. I foresee her getting a lot of my "splurge" money lol.

Well, I guess I'm done rambling for now. Kinda just enjoying watching Ranma 1/2 - I'm so glad they put that on DVD. I love that show.

holy crap. It's 10:10 at night. It's sooo past my bedtime. Sheesh. I'm pathetic. lol.

Well, wish me luck on getting more chapters written, or at least bridging the gap between the chapters I already have written. I do have quite a few chapters already done that fall after chapter 6.

Rambling again.. Sorry.

A Hard Day's Bite update.

So, as a writer.. I've been slacking. Thank goodness I don't yet do this professionally, as I would be well behind deadline etc.

The reason for lack of updates about the novel is because there hasn't been anything to update.

Due to work, work, and work... with a smidge of a life thrown in, I haven't had much chance to write.

I've been coming home brain dead and basically unable to do anything.

Also, I've been doing a 8 books in 8 weeks thing, and so if I'm home and awake, I've been reading.
I took one night off from reading so that I could work on a new kind of knitting stitch. Which lets just say once I figured out allllll the details, it went smoothly. Prior to that.. noo.. it was not going so well.

Well, I'm less than 100 pages away from being done with my 8N8 event, so i can go back to reading at my normal speed.

The only thing I've accomplished recently is I did in fact type up many of the pages I was lacking in digital format.
I need to once over my notebook and make sure I remove any pages I've typed up, and type up the ones I haven't.

Even with the lack of moving forward, I still feel there is progress. My brain is still constantly seeing the scenes, and on the drive into work, I realized I need to start writing down one of the important scenes. This is my next goal. write out that scene, and I'll feel accomplished.

Now, I haven't sent my pages off to anyone as of yet, because I still haven't finished chapter 5. Yes, I know.. I've been working on that chapter for far too long now.
But the truth is.. I haven't touched that chapter.
Maybe I just need to steal the laptop upstairs with me one night, lock myself in my bedroom, put on some of my inspiration music and just attack that chapter. Then I will send it off to James for first edit.

-Yes James, incase you were thinking I wasn't going to have you as my editor, thats not true. I just haven't had anything to say to you, even after I got over hurt feelings time.

Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. I'm finally back to my normal schedule at work, I'm no longer working 12 hour days (hence the not being able to write when I get home and being brain dead), so tomorrow I'll be getting off of work at Noon. woohoo.

Reading update:
Bed Book: 100 pages away from being done with A Breath of Snow and Ashes
Couch Book: Less than 100 pages away from being done with Key Lime Pie Murder

I already have Carrot Cake Murder and Candy Cane Murder waiting for me at home, but I'll no longer be in a rush. I also need to hunker down and read the Hellblaser GN I have at home, as it's just gathering dust and needs to go back to the library soon.

Well, I'm avoiding work. I really shouldn't do that. We finally got caught up after a week of nightmarish work. So... look at me go.. this is me going back to work...

hmm I might have to check Ravelry one more time...

I miss the Dragons...

I miss the dragons.

What does that mean?

Well, imagine it's Saturday or Sunday morning (I can't recall which at the moment, but I believe it is Saturday)... and you hear the noises of the world as the sun comes up.

A few years ago, this sound was "whoooooosh" along the lines of what you would hear from a dragon huffing in his cave. (Obviously, my dragon is a cave dragon)

It was comforting. It was reassuring. It meant the sun was up, and the sky was clear. I knew what the day was going to be like before I even had to open my eyes.

How is this?
Well, when I lived in Boulder, I lived in "Twin Lakes" which meant, quite literally the two lakes across from my house. Of course the view to the lakes (or lake in my view) was mostly obscured by the surrounding trees, but it was still nice. And right near our house was the best field for the Hot Air ballooners to lift off from.
The would only be out on days that were clear, and they would be out there to greet the sun.
Which means, I would hear the whoosh of them filling the balloons and taking off.

Every weekend now, I think of that, as here in Colorado Springs.. I do not hear the dragons.. I instead hear the mighty shrill call of the scavenging beast.
For some reason this great beast hunts in the territory around my house also at dawn... before the hour of 7 even... Which means in winter, before the sun even starts to kiss the sky.

Why the hell does the garbage truck come before 7 am on a freaking Saturday?

This boggles my mind.

The rest of the week, when the mighty scavenger comes around, it's in the middle of the afternoon, and there are days I have to have a territory showdown to get to my parking space. If you show fear, it will attack. Remain calm, calculate just how much you can inch your own mighty steed (or Tortoise in my case) past it's mighty hind-quarters, or wait for it to finish foraging and to move on to the next food stash it has.. all the while of course gnashing your teeth to show that you are not giving in and allowing it to take over your territory, but instead have chosen to not fight that day.

But the Saturday morning I think bothers me the most, as it does not tell me at all how the day is. It does not give that comforting whuffle of a happy dragon. It's call is shrill and annoying...

I miss my dragons.


And this is where I shall leave it today. I am not kidding.. Though I will not discuss those ancient and nightmarish birds that some modern people have named "ghetto birds". Those of course are left for another day.

Off to go read more Key Lime Pie Murder (Joanne Fluke) and also work on my stitches.

I promise, I promise, I will post about Repo soon.

Happy Solstice!

Last night after I had attempted to fall asleep, I was struck with a bit of inspiration.
This was after writing a really cool introduction to a character I rather like.
WOOT. And the best part is, all the pieces work so smoothly. That really makes me happy. It's logical, and is a great way to introduce one aspect I had been trying to figure out how to make happen.

I also have figured out the very important question of what happens to the vampires in my world when they "bite the dust" so to speak.
No, I won't tell you how. But lets just say, it's not the classic-been-used-to-death idea. In fact, I think I've only seen even part of the idea used once. Hmm I guess I can give that away, as there are so many Vampire deaths in The Lost Boys, as who knows which one you'll think it is. Especially with the "no vamp goes out the same way" in The Lost Boys. So no, the Vampy death is not exclusive to any of the ones in The Lost Boys, just one little aspect of it reminds me of at least one of the deaths from that movie. I hadn't really thought yet of how the vamps in my novel would die, as it hadn't fully come up yet, and my brain hadn't kicked in that much. But now it has. Woot.

Today is the Solstice (winter obviously).
Ironically, today I made a decision to change something, to start a fresh, and I hadn't at the time realized it was the Solstice. So it is very apropos.
I went to Whole Foods today, bought a new kind of deodorant. No Aluminum. Also, more importantly, I bought myself some B-12 vitamins, and Omega-3 (Fishy oil). Both of these are mood uplifters, and the Omega 3 will help with joints etc. So, hopefully it will help with my back, and if it does that unto it's self will help my mood.
The B-12 is also one of those ones that help with mood and other things. So we'll see how it goes.

Tonight, I will light a candle for the Solstice, as there isn't much of a chance of having a bond fire.
My hair is cold, still chilled from the shower I took hours ago.
Hopefully today I'll get those pages typed up. If not, mayhaps I'll type them up at work tomorrow while I'm trying to not slit my wrists from boredom (the days will be very slow and dull leading up to Christmas. Thats what happens when you do tech support for the Post Office)

I picked up The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman from the library today. It finally became available. We'll see how that goes. I'm avoiding reading my Joanne Fluke, or the next Charlaine Harris that is available, simply because I am waiting on those until next month. The library is doing a little contest thing of 8 books in 8 weeks. HA. I'll have that done in maybe.. 2 weeks? I'm saving all the Murder She Baked, and C. Harris's for that, as they are quick.

Well, I'm done babbling for now methinks. I hope everyone is enjoying their Solstice, however you celebrate it.