Eye Candy

Okay, you'll probably have to click this to make it large. I love these mind games!

What's the Opposite Of Writer's Block?

I've been in a writing sprint, but for how rushed my brain is going (thank goodness I'm not working now) I'm simply running out of things to work on that don't take some serious research, which I don't feel like doing. So... blog time!

I'm trying to seriously jumpstart my writing career, looking into getting a publishing agent to help out. I have one bookmarked, sounds like a real good group, not just some lawyer who likes to read contemporary stuff. They're in Oregon, so when we move up there, it'll work out great. Then they set me up with a publisher, do all the legal work that I'd have no clue where to even start. In return: 10%. Yikes. But then again, earning 90% of something is better than 100% of nothing, and I really don't feel like learning lawyer-ese just to publish this damn book. I'm getting a bit frustrated with it (I've been saying that for, what, eight years?).

Well, it's getting closer to being finished. I'm avoiding the research by jumping ahead to a later chapter. I hate doing that, it makes me confused with continuity. But... I really am in a fingers-flying-frantically-fast-fury feeling.

Woo! Say that three times fast!

Downing a cold cup of coffee in four seconds doesn't help. Wish me luck!

2006 - Better Days

It's 2006. I give a wish out to the world, and Johnny Rzeznik summed it up best:

I wish everyone was loved tonight
And somehow stop this endless fight
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days.

So take these words and sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again.

May everyone take this new beginning and make better days for the whole world.

Peace!

Back In The Game

Hey, been a long time since I posted anything serious. I got married and all that, just a tad busy. Everything turned out great!

That's our engagement picture to the right, taken in Laguna Beach by Matt's dad. He's an awesome freelance photographer. Everyone thought it was some store-produced professional job, not US!

I don't have pictures of the wedding on my computer yet, but I'll put some up when I get around to it.

So, lately I've been playing wife. We've got a nice little one-bed apartment in the downtown area, but it's not too bad of an area. We just spent our first Christmas together as husband as wife. Not too much. We went to his parents' house, had a great dinner, and got some nice gifts, mostly more stuff for the house.

Get Beat

Just wanted to post this comic. I love Get Fuzzy, maybe because my husband (oooh sounds so neat to use that word!!) has a SharPei and I once had a cat who lost a tooth... and had an attitude like Bucky. She was the Queen!

Wedding Preps

Well, one month before the big white dress day. Wedding jitters haven't hit yet, but I'm expecting them to any day. Matt and I will be going up to Portland for our honeymoon, checking out our new home, then a trip down Hwy 101 and the raw beauty of the Pacific Coast.

I know I won't have time to keep this updated, although there will be lots to talk about, I'm sure. I'll start back with posting after the wedding is over.

Rascally Wench of the RenFaire

Well, I finally got around to attending a Renaissance Faire, after obsessing over them for years. It's always been too far away, but now it's just over the hill. So, I donned my dress and Matt wore his new kilt. We made quite a dashing couple!

One thing that caught my attention was the bawdiness of the songs. In history class you don't get the true feel of what the Ren times were all about. You hear about castles and knights and artists and playwrights, but there's little for the senses. You don't smell the Renaissance times (and trust me, it was so hot and dusty, by noon there was quite a smell). And you don't hear it. There's a sound to Renaissance faires. Not just the language. There's the harp and pipe, the nasal of the sackbut, the strumming of the lute, the drone of the bagpipes, and the bouncing lyrics of the songs... songs that are risqué while still presuming to be peasantish and simple.

I have a favorite group called the Brobdingnagian Bards. They're in Texas, so I've never seen them live, but I caught their music on download.com and instantly went wow! Please, if you want to know what Renaissance music is like, check them out. I have some of their CDs, and they have free songs to download, too. Now, whenever Matt wears his kilt, I start singing "Donald, Where's Your Trousers."

Another great RenFaire music group who I saw yesterday was The Merry Wives of Windsor. These girls (and guy musicians) are not only lovely and talented, they made me laugh until my corset hurt! You've gotta love songs called "The Bartering Whore" and "I Live to Give My Husband Grief." I warn you only this: these songs are not something to play to your children!

Then there was of course the beer, the sonorous language, meeting the Queen, working on my genuflect, drinking beer, the jousting, the jugglers, the beautiful costumes, someone dressed at Captain Jack Sparrow (and damn good!), the tasty beer, the magicians, the gypsies, the who-needs-bloody-utensils food... did I mention the beer?

One lesson I learned, and a hint to anyone thinking about dressing up for the RenFaire: corsets are not for the faint of heart! I've worn corsets before, but this was pure torture! It reached over 90 degrees yesterday, and I thought I was going to pass out. I had to keep sitting to catch my breath.

Everything was great otherwise. Matt got some training in sword mastery. I just wish I had thought about pulling out my camera, catching a shot of him swinging around that huge claymore! He was in heaven! I couldn't help but think of medieval phallic symbols and hum one of those Windsor wenches tunes.

I'm definitely going again next year, even if it's bloody hot again.