tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49228645219886433002011-10-11T02:24:48.097-04:00Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.comBlogger1331100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-83688788898995226812011-05-14T16:57:00.000-04:002011-05-14T16:57:41.866-04:00

Your poem didn't speak to me which was rude I thought— the two of us alone in my parlor. The silence was awkward (to say the least).

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-8792481044547152482011-04-21T22:49:00.000-04:002011-04-21T22:49:31.647-04:00

Dear friend, Thanks for agreeing to take care of our pets!  It's really pretty simple once you get the hang of it. Just follow these instructions exactly. You have entered the FOYER. There is a DOG1, DOG2, and KITTEN. The KITTEN is crying. There is no sign of CAT. >CLOSE ENTRANCE DOOR >CLOSE DOOR SOUTH >CLOSE DOOR WEST >NORTH You are in the SMALL PARLOR. KITTEN is crying. >CLOSE DOOR SOUTH >

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-13543231682987167322011-04-16T13:11:00.001-04:002011-04-17T12:39:50.338-04:00

I'm closing the blog again. Two reasons. First, I  created this blog to let people know that I was okay when I was writing something obsessively, but frankly, I haven't been writing obsessively, and besides there are better tools to do that now anyway. (So, yeah, I'm on FaceBook. I've had an account in heavy stealth-mode for a few months while I tested the defensive shields. I've decided I can

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-59931547907124736212011-04-14T08:56:00.000-04:002011-04-14T08:56:14.198-04:00

Today I need to be grateful... so: The head gasket leak in my car should be covered under the warranty from having this same repair done last year. I brought my car in for its 90,000 mile checkup before the warranty ran out. I have retired friends who can shuttle me around town during the day. I made a habit of saving up money each month to keep my car running.

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-29982822235534231262011-04-08T13:51:00.000-04:002011-04-08T13:51:55.247-04:00

Everybody who wants to write for a living needs to read Karen Maezen Miller's little article "They Don't Pay Us to Write Books." In particular: They don’t pay us to write books... [I]n relative terms we write for free. What they pay us for is to sell books.A writer who doesn't grasp that important aspect of this business will become bitter. (I'm not bitter, by the way. I'm excited to be doing

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-28975572272632630432011-03-30T20:38:00.000-04:002011-03-30T20:38:00.708-04:00

New book contract! New grant-writing contract! Unexpected visits from family

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-21108345716024667652011-03-22T11:36:00.000-04:002011-03-22T11:36:19.585-04:00

Snowbell blossoms in the cemetery A swarm of robins... seriously... like dozens of them...  NEW KITTEN! (*) (*) Technically a kitten is not evidence of spring, especially since he was probably born some time in October. Still... ohmygoditsakitten! Incidentally... new kitten... not so bright. Last night he got lost halfway down the stairs.

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-90108823183139493272011-03-17T20:51:00.000-04:002011-03-17T20:51:51.815-04:00

Do you realize that we live in a world where I can just Google something as weird as a "seitan corned beef" recipe and find 17,800 results in 180 milliseconds? I mean how cool is that? (If you want to be a downer... yeah it also underscores that there is no such thing as an original thought... but I'm okay with that tonight because we're having vegetarian corned beef for dinner.)

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-80138580149964443882011-03-16T15:11:00.000-04:002011-03-16T15:11:30.971-04:00

Well, yesterday marked a full 31 days of documenting reasons-to-be-cheerful. I have a more positive outlook than I did last month, and I'm willing to attribute that at least partly to making a daily habit of focusing on things for which I am grateful (... and not having to sue my ex-employer... for which I am grateful). I intend to continue spurting out little bits of gratitude, but not as the

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-42442694307372238272011-03-15T14:33:00.000-04:002011-03-15T14:33:15.693-04:00

Waking up to sunshine The first geese of the year! Tax breaks for new windows and insulation

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-89569918370968581732011-03-14T15:45:00.001-04:002011-03-15T11:12:29.346-04:00

Day Twenty-Eight More paid work! New Lovecraftian board games Day Twenty-NineUndertow (winner of the audience-choice award for Best Independent Feature Film at the ImageOut Film Festival) getting a theatrical release in the US Lazy days at home Day ThirtyGeeky science chats over breakfast Watching Lost while I eat lunch Neodymium magnets... just too fun

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-5676476789896494142011-03-11T15:37:00.000-05:002011-03-11T15:37:20.649-05:00

Signing for UPS packages Not having to sue my ex-boss Dan Simmons: He's just smarter than all of us, isn't he?

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-28817563227898802902011-03-10T12:43:00.001-05:002011-03-10T12:43:51.404-05:00

Day Twenty-Three Networking Networking Networking Day Twenty-FourNetworking Networking Networking Day Twenty-FiveNetworking Networking Networking Day Twenty-SixFeeling too busy to blog Realizing that I can spare the time to be grateful once a day Guest bloggers Baron & Tybalt: "Having a human at home during the day to operate that tricky door knob."

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-45307621777080487842011-03-06T10:37:00.000-05:002011-03-06T10:37:09.659-05:00

Day Eighteen: Getting my health insurance sorted out (with a lower co-pay!) The crunchy sound of my lumbar vertebrae being popped back into alignment Day Nineteen:Breakfast meetings Rediscovering that I am actually a morning person Finally settling on a name for the new business Day Twenty:Friends with copious website experience A continuous stream of meetings Taking it easy on days when I am

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-3014364912764304162011-03-01T07:46:00.000-05:002011-03-01T07:46:53.359-05:00

Fell off the wagon on this while I've been sick and delirious, so for the past few days I have been grateful for: Netflix streaming video Blue fuzzy blanket Dayquil and Nyquil Being warm enough to attract the affection of my cat Having a good excuse to skip the Academy Awards Today I am grateful for:Waking up to sunshine A return to my normal sub-human body-temperature (*) Getting back on the

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-33467921581702248372011-02-24T23:36:00.000-05:002011-02-24T23:36:57.712-05:00

Making new friends over coffee. Being able to write two pages of fiction in the middle of the work day, because writing is now my job. Unexpectedly running into old friends over coffee. Increasingly artful uses of 3D computer animation (with lemurs!) (*) (*) Brad thought there were too many different animation styles, but I thought it fit perfectly with the "scrap book" nature of the film. I

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-71138259765964055422011-02-23T23:49:00.000-05:002011-02-23T23:49:05.626-05:00

Been traveling, so here's the backlog... Day Seven (Saturday) Subaru all-wheel drive Dogs who sleep in the car, Part I Animal fables Day Eight (Sunday)The niece who still loves math at the age of 16 The niece who has had straight A's since kindergarten The niece who still uses the art easel we bought her when she was 8 The niece who, despite being in preschool, can operate an iPad better than

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-52534027676275347952011-02-19T02:21:00.001-05:002011-02-19T02:22:26.655-05:00

Today (or technically yesterday) I am grateful for... Artistic friends. Songs about monkeys. Twenty-four hour emergency vets. (*) (*) Advice for pet owners: Don't leave a plastic bottle of prescription chewable canine arthritis medication lying about in a forgotten bag because... you know... maybe your smaller, prettier, healthier (but stupider) dog will secretly eat all of it during Bad Movie

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-11133294281959808872011-02-17T22:49:00.000-05:002011-02-17T22:49:21.195-05:00

Being home when Brad gets home from work. Conversations with new friends over coffee. Magic rubber chickens. (*) (*) This probably warrants further explanation.

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-39937471352075673042011-02-16T23:30:00.000-05:002011-02-16T23:30:15.660-05:00

The series continues: The triangular patch of velvet fur where a cat's eyes and nose meet. Gamma World's return to silliness. Brad's education discount on Apple products.

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-48172080044779198942011-02-15T23:19:00.000-05:002011-02-15T23:19:22.334-05:00

Three Gratitudes, Day Three Thing 1: Licensed Massage Therapists Thing 2: Nasopure sinus irrigation system(*) Thing 3: Big dumb dogs jumping through the snow (*) Disgusting, but effective. Don't look at me that way... make your own damn list.

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-84878559862018236002011-02-14T22:57:00.003-05:002011-02-14T23:21:28.549-05:00

Three Gratitudes, Day Two Thing #1: Arizona Statehood Day Thing #2: The Will & Grace generation(*) Thing #3: Ian Dury & The Blockheads' "Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3" (*) The video is a shot-for-shot remake of Taylor Swift's video, but performed a cappella by the University of Rochester YellowJackets. The guys made the whole thing themselves and ended up winning national acclaim.

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-24244074245099636022011-02-14T01:28:00.001-05:002011-02-14T01:35:21.332-05:00

Long story short: I can't separate myself from my job. My life is a long "To Do" list, and while I make an active effort to keep my life balanced, my career takes up over half of my time, and I like it that way. Or I did. About a year ago I discovered that the little start up business that I had poured my guts into for six years was going to be sold, and that my cut of the sale was going to be

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-62232351780657181542011-01-11T23:17:00.000-05:002011-01-11T23:17:20.437-05:00

Lawyer: (noun) a very expensive prostitute you pay to screw with someone else.

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-28687419819052182362010-12-12T23:42:00.000-05:002010-12-12T23:42:41.786-05:00

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-62186335266519386582010-12-04T08:28:00.000-05:002010-12-04T08:28:06.985-05:00

Another thing I like: SkullyFlower I met the artist, Dragon Green, at a not-very-successful art festival(*), and I bought the SkullyFlower books. I suppose the writing could use some polishing, but folks who like NerkyMarg's surreal observational comics will probably enjoy this too. Oh, and Dragon has terrific merchandise. Seriously—If your daughter is not wearing hand-made felt SkullyFlower

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-71427285103090236722010-12-01T22:24:00.000-05:002010-12-01T22:24:37.377-05:00

It's a poorly kept secret that Hedonist Artisan Chocolates of Rochester, NY is offering free 2–3 day shipping on orders of $25 or more placed between now and December 11 if you use the code "HOLISHP10." Lot's of great stuff, but personal favorites include the milk chocolate sesame bark (and I don't usually like milk chocolate), and the holiday truffle collection. The more adventurous might want

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-83812079987453705952010-11-29T22:45:00.000-05:002010-11-29T22:45:35.967-05:00

Critter and I are now officially "domestic partners"... at least as far as health insurance goes. Oh, and I haven't written anything in here in a very long time.

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-60547866178287803902010-05-24T21:07:00.000-04:002010-05-24T21:07:00.369-04:00

I once was asked, if I were offeredthe last book in the worldor the last child, which would I save? I said that I would choose the child. And I would write a book for her.

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-82030740226737941982010-05-15T14:27:00.002-04:002011-04-17T12:52:21.524-04:00

Please ignore the sign over the gate. That is a joke. Every time we scrub it off, some wit spraypaints it up there again. The last thing we want you to do is abandon hope.  We have never needed to advertise, but if we were going to put up a sign, it would be in Dutch, not Latin, and it would say: Wie mooi wil zijn moet pijn leiden. Which is best translated as: "Those who wish to be beautiful

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-53586004477286377122010-05-03T21:59:00.003-04:002010-05-03T22:25:51.254-04:00

The title from Yahoo! News says it all: "Afghanistan Troops Go Gaga With Their Own 'Telephone' Remake." OK, we have two choices here: The US military is full of gay guys. The US military is full of straight guys who love Lady Gaga. Either way, the issue of whether openly gay men would be accepted in the military is officially over. 

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-29181184384242695052010-05-02T09:21:00.000-04:002010-05-02T09:21:27.640-04:00

I'd like to hear what methods and tools folks use to manage their GMail accounts. I just don't feel like I'm using it's potential. Out of habit I treat my GMail accounts just like any other IMAP accounts—I just let them feed into the mail reader on my computer because all of my email organization habits center around sorting things into folders. I don't use the web interface at all. That's

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-72584080344744904782010-04-25T12:43:00.001-04:002010-04-25T12:45:11.867-04:00

It's a dangerous thing to call a particular band your "favorite." For one thing, it's reminiscent of the delicate absurdities of childhood best-friendships (and to this day I still wince a bit when I remember the day Derek Mac informed me that I had been down-graded to second-best-friend.) More importantly, though, in a world full of so much damn fine music, I really have to question the

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-49304667816690461472010-04-22T17:37:00.000-04:002010-04-22T17:37:06.012-04:00

Today I told some kids to get off my lawn. This means I am officially old—more so than the grinding in my knees, the graying (and thinning) of my once-lustrous mane, and the fact that I have been home for two days because of lower back pain. (OK, the "kids" were in their twenties, but the fact that I refer to twenty-somethings as "kids" just makes matters worse.)

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-50085661151202277222010-04-13T01:20:00.000-04:002010-04-13T01:20:22.876-04:00

I'd like to point my photo-geek readers to Notes on Photographs, a new website hosted by the George Eastman House here in Rochester, NY. The site is a curated wiki focusing on print photography, particularly on conservation and authentication of art photography. The project has been under development for about five years, but the Eastman House is just beginning to throw its considerable weight

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-19073225942163660382010-04-03T12:03:00.000-04:002010-04-03T12:03:00.321-04:00

I want to share something personal with you folks, but first I need to digress briefly into my understanding of  the differences between privacy and shame. Privacy is when you conceal something for your own protection. Shame is when you conceal something you know (or think) you've done wrong. Privacy is critical to living a healthy life in a hostile world. Shame is not; in fact, it's detrimental.

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-70361726667182648322010-03-18T23:12:00.003-04:002010-03-18T23:19:37.580-04:00

And now a post from guest blogger, Aleister the Python:  "Fuck you, Groundhog. I'm gonna eat your fat mammal ass."

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-8524695937855238342010-03-01T22:33:00.000-05:002010-03-01T22:33:03.869-05:00

Brad and I just watched the low-budget gamer movie Gamers: Dorkness Rising. The film deals with a Dungeons & Dragons DM, Lodge, who is struggling with the fact that his gaming group has devolved from role-players into rules-lawyer munchkins. (If you've played any role-playing games, you know what I'm talking about.) The situation is complicated when one of the players introduces his ex-girlfriend

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-64484224542973589842010-02-26T09:26:00.000-05:002010-02-26T09:26:35.263-05:00

 Both Brad's general fiction novel (Alice's Misadventures Underground, self-published) and his young adult novel(The Little House in the Dark Woods, unpublished) have made the first cut in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest! For more information, see the contest site. Probability that at least one novel would make it in: 36%.  Probability that both novels would make it in: 4%. So that kind of

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-18628887121496999912010-02-25T23:31:00.001-05:002010-02-25T23:33:21.551-05:00

I swore I wouldn't become a cat-blogger (not that there's anything wrong with that, Two Bad Kitties), but even The Neil does it on occasion, so please indulge me here. Our cat Erasmus was diagnosed with inoperable oral and lymphatic cancer last month. Most folks reading this blog know that Brad has fought off lymphatic cancer before... twice, in fact. So this feels like a real pot shot on the

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-16667263243602539662010-02-03T01:02:00.000-05:002010-02-03T01:02:35.755-05:00

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-39379948345262821182010-01-26T00:54:00.000-05:002010-01-26T00:54:48.656-05:00

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-5049891545676411402010-01-24T02:32:00.000-05:002010-01-24T02:32:18.701-05:00

"Converse Turing Test"

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-28018600855193135252010-01-23T22:13:00.000-05:002010-01-23T22:13:12.855-05:00

NerkyMarg remixed my first comic...

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-2326989823982442352010-01-22T01:25:00.004-05:002010-01-22T01:40:02.464-05:00

"Butch" (Yeah, it's illegible. You have to click on the comic to see it at full resolution.) (Also, yes... this really happened.)

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-28240484493744612262010-01-10T20:00:00.000-05:002010-01-10T20:00:39.426-05:00

I finished reading Soon I Will Be Invincible, and although I was a bit disappointed, I still recommend the book on the grounds that: Austin Grossman (who has a blog, by the way) has a Douglas Adams-y gift for ending paragraphs with terrific gag lines. It's the closest thing you're going to find to The Tick: a novel. Cyborgs! With boobies! For some folks, those three points alone will be

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-80810660592585946962010-01-05T20:09:00.000-05:002010-01-05T20:09:39.995-05:00

Much furor and fuss is being made over a school where Afghan children were brain-washed to be suicide bombers by looking at paintings of heaven while being taught to wire explosives. I would like to clearly state that I am definitely anti-child-suicide-bomb. In fact, despite some of the applications of my research, I am pretty much anti-blowing-things-up in general. But what got me about the

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-45384357303354165382010-01-02T09:59:00.000-05:002010-01-02T09:59:20.268-05:00

On the drive home New Year's Day, the first song the iPod shuffled to was "Not Your Year" by The Weepies. I am soooooo doomed.

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-66512049817916315262009-12-27T19:48:00.004-05:002009-12-29T23:00:37.639-05:00

I'm currently reading and enjoying the novel Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman. I bought the book because of the opening chapter, "Foiled Again," narrated by an incarcerated super-villain named Dr. Impossible. It is unarguably in the vein of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, and (for me at least) that's a good thing. The other half of the narrative is from the point of view of an

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-23716366113868422142009-12-22T22:25:00.001-05:002009-12-22T22:26:57.574-05:00

Paste Magazine has a cool interactive 3D card on their website this year. You can experience it here. (Note, it requires a web camera.)

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-32328729093517452852009-12-18T10:01:00.001-05:002009-12-18T10:01:59.693-05:00

This made me happy today. It combines Critter's love of sappy Carpenter's music with my love of zombies. That's what love is all about, people—finding common ground.

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-18832863675922377012009-12-11T10:28:00.001-05:002009-12-11T15:29:19.594-05:00

This is a true story. Last year, on Critter's birthday, we discovered a tiny brown bat sleeping in our bathroom sink. We were not concerned. Our house is almost 140 years old, and it has had stranger occupants—most notably the dead girl in my closet and the snake-thing in the basement. We collected the little guy, kept him warm, and released him that evening. Today the birthday bat returned. It

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-48490230699997648632009-11-11T22:40:00.000-05:002009-11-11T22:40:28.062-05:00

What do you get for the mathematician hobbyist who has everything except a  Mathematica license? How about a  Mathematica license? Wolfram research has started selling a "Home Edition" of Mathematica for $295, which ain't pocket change, but it's a darn sight cheaper than the commercial retail price of $2495 (which is what we professional's pay). The thing is, the Home Edition is EXACTLY the

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-60102199560101490042009-11-11T09:02:00.002-05:002009-11-11T09:06:02.445-05:00

In case you missed this, Ira Flato's guest on October 30 was Dr. Steven Schlozman, who discussed the neurobiology of "Ataxic Neurodegenerative Satiety Deficiency Syndrome" (i.e. zombies). You can download a recording or read the transcript. Enjoy! (The picture above is from Skulls in the Star's post, "Zombies for Romney.")

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-82251934678092570592009-10-28T00:09:00.000-04:002009-10-28T00:09:23.102-04:00

I just realized that I started this blog on October 27, 2008. I'm glad that I didn't kill it back on April 20, 2009, but I'm also glad that I stopped trying to write in it every day. By the way, if you're wondering why I'm writing in the blog right now, it's because I promised my (potential) editor a sample chapter and book proposal before the end of the month, and that means everything is more

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-86004971939067645772009-10-27T23:14:00.000-04:002009-10-27T23:14:11.459-04:00

cs10 told me about a fabulous new children's book called Half Minute Horrors. They were inviting new submissions, so I wrote one for cs10. *** "File Under 'Friends, Robot — Important Considerations' " Do not say to your robot friend, "There is more than one way to skin a cat," Unless you have more than one cat.

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-58730096600751382132009-09-28T00:17:00.005-04:002009-10-04T21:46:13.566-04:00

I have never cared for the minimalist poetry of William Carlos Williams, and yet, when I am moved to write a poem, the fragile things are rarely more than one sentence long.Life is, indeed, a mystery.---"Shell" (a less self-indulgent rework of this poem)Pressing my earto his lipsI imagined oceansin the void.---"My inheritance"The sum of my inheritancea pair of oil-stained overallsa jeep reduced

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-77890512707716748582009-09-24T00:13:00.003-04:002009-09-24T00:25:38.346-04:00

I just bought a LiveScribe Pulse SmartPen. In brief, it is a clever device that uses optical encoding to digitally record what you are writing and hearing simultaneously. You can then play back the audio by clicking on the notes—great for situations where people are talking faster than you can write. It also records in stereo (the ear-plugs are stereo microphones), so you capture the localization

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-46672925994441520352009-08-24T22:13:00.002-04:002009-08-24T22:20:12.685-04:00

I declare this horse dead and beaten.(And yes, I'm just a touch bitter, for reasons that are known to many of you.)

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-33688009461704349392009-08-23T18:21:00.003-04:002009-08-23T18:44:07.435-04:00

Just wanted to plug Moon, a science fiction film that is making the independent theater circuit. For those who like their science fiction carefully-paced and cerebral (think 2001), this is a movie for you. The film is full of my favorite kind of special effects—invisible ones. There is a lot of very clever camera work and computer graphics, but their purpose is to support the story, not "wow" the

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-27432740149362164902009-08-19T21:59:00.002-04:002009-08-19T22:14:47.767-04:00

I'm going to see a screening of Ed Wood's infamous Plan 9 from Outer Space with a live audio commentary by the RiffTrax guys (i.e. the folks responsible for Mystery Science Theater 3000).Here's a clip of the "riffed" movie:Dr. SkullStars: In the extremely unlikely event that you do not already know about this life-changing event, you can catch the simulcast in Charlotte at the Regal Stonecrest 22

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-31716519255225080422009-07-19T09:33:00.006-04:002009-07-19T10:39:00.115-04:00

Hey Bill,Caught Hamlet in the park last night for the sixth time. (Critter had been playing Osric.) Still love the play, but I think there is room for some improvement. Thought you might appreciate some comments:The play could use some clarification as to why young Hamlet is not crowned king upon his father's death. Having the king's brother take the thrown in preference to the adult son is

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-36956649455877916392009-07-15T20:59:00.004-04:002009-07-15T22:05:28.550-04:00

I just finished watching the Who Killed Amanda Palmer DVD. Tucked at the end are a couple of concert videos. Here, is the video for "Have to Drive."The ending of the video tore me up even more than the "Sound of Music" video I shared back in April. I was absolutely bawling.And I have to ask myself, "Why does that happen?"I don't cry much. It's not a "tough guy" thing. I cry if I feel like it. The

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-33472488950089029682009-07-12T23:50:00.004-04:002009-07-13T00:57:33.525-04:00

The new thing making me happy is Amanda Palmer.You may remember that I killed her. (Don't blame me—she started it, and besides, I wouldn't have done it if Neil hadn't told me to.)The first step to becoming an Amanda Palmer fan is to watch the videos. (I fell in love at "Ampersand." You might have to wait until "Strength through Music," or hell, the opening credits might do you. Then again her pop

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-57150955795020230112009-07-08T07:23:00.002-04:002009-07-08T07:35:32.781-04:00

I didn't mean to let this blog get quite so stagnant, especially as it's where I hold myself publicly accountable for the writing I'm doing (or not doing).Since May 16 I've been slowly working on the book proposal. The book is going to be a popular science book with a narrative thread. (Well... "popular" as in for the populace. Not "popular" as in high school.) It's taken a long time to convince

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-26948556773314620292009-06-20T05:58:00.005-04:002009-06-20T07:10:51.531-04:00

It's probably easier to read about this than for me to explain it.The first "We Killed Amanda Palmer" photo to catch my eye was the one above, taken by Kyle Cassidy. I hammered out a story immediately, but writing "short" is so much harder than writing long. (Ask a poet.) Two months later, here it is. (Thank you, Demon Insomnia.)**********"More"I never knew Amanda Palmer, but I recognized the

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-87192033838120418072009-05-28T22:21:00.002-04:002009-05-28T22:27:15.176-04:00

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer is currently the most reviewed book on LibraryThing.

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-3569226687884463512009-05-26T22:41:00.003-04:002009-05-26T23:07:42.170-04:00

Just a word of advice.OK, more than one word.If you are flying domestically... even if the flight is less than an hour... take at least two forms of government-issued ID.Case in point: I lost my drivers license during my trip to New York City. The only ID I had was a few credit cards, and some membership cards, none of which had a photo of me.Now technically, you don't need a photo ID to fly in

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-80731771242214509512009-05-18T22:58:00.003-04:002009-05-18T23:15:20.957-04:00

I mentioned awhile ago that I was trying to lose some weight. I'm happy to report that I met my weight goal, and I've been able to maintain a BMI of 21.5. I largely credit Lose It! for my success. (That's not exactly blog-pimping, as it's a free application.)[Sorry for the self-serving post. I'll write something more interesting soon. My book research has turned up some unsavory characters in the

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-7401274966553327902009-05-15T07:39:00.003-04:002009-05-15T07:58:09.657-04:00

There are two philosophies about sharing your ambitions. One is that you should keep them to yourself, or you will "jinx" them. The other philosophy is that you should share your ambitions so that you can benefit from the encouragement and criticism of your peers.I have muscled myself into the latter category, although I am far more comfortable in the former. I find that I accomplish more that

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-12560860632454160392009-05-03T22:04:00.004-04:002009-05-03T22:38:37.754-04:00

Just got back from the Skulls in the Stars / Two Bad Kitties wedding. (What will they call the children? I vote for "Skull Kittens.") Above is a photo snapped by Critter. Here's a tip in these tough financial times, folks: if your groomsman happens to be gay, it's like getting an extra bridesmaid... er... bridesman... free! As a groomsman, I corralled missing family members to the photo session,

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-86825873772453239112009-04-24T00:35:00.004-04:002009-04-24T00:52:53.183-04:00

After decades of searching, I finally found and purchased a copy of Edmundo Vasconcelos' Modern Methods of Amputation. Everything I know about unintended irony(*), I learned from this book. I will be making T-shirts.(*) cs10 is welcome to chime in on whether it is linguistically possible for irony to be unintentional. She may also chime in on whether, in her experience, this figure accurately

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-2567578861209118812009-04-22T22:25:00.004-04:002009-04-23T23:26:48.524-04:00

Nerkygrrl's gramma shared this video with me today.It actually chokes me up every time I watch it. Nowadays when I think of a group of people carefully orchestrating a surprise at a train station... well... I think of this. The realization that there are people out there (at least in Belgium), committing senseless acts of joy makes my heart swell and my eyes water. Furthermore, it makes me want

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-53274383264755963762009-04-21T16:11:00.004-04:002009-04-21T16:21:36.335-04:00

The Complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio broadcasts are available on CD in the US at a reasonable price. This includes the two original radio series (which inspired the first two books) and the later three radio series (which were inspired by the three later books. Confused?)Oh happy day!I can finally upgrade from my dubbed cassette tapes that I made from Bryceland's originals back in.

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-14652628893386918732009-04-20T21:21:00.003-04:002009-04-20T21:31:14.759-04:00

As is my wont, I will be shutting this blog down in a few days, now that it has served it's purpose— i.e. it got me writing every day. That's a good thing. A very good thing. Unfortunately, once I actually got in the writing habit, writing the blog started getting in the way of writing the fiction. Since starting this blog, I've written two short stories, joined a writing group, and finally found

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-59663278314330425922009-03-30T23:01:00.003-04:002009-03-30T23:18:26.865-04:00

Sub Pop records is giving away a CD sampler that includes the song "Furr" by Blitzen Trapper (whom I last wrote about here). Get it here from Amazon.On the topic of Sub Pop, one of Critter's former writing students is being courted by said record label. She played at my house Saturday night, during our farewell party for Greg Paul. I guess I'll leave her name out of this, as I don't know how much

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-88793727142693732432009-03-23T22:19:00.004-04:002009-03-23T22:36:35.310-04:00

We have an enormous Victorian clawfoot tub. That is one of the few advantages of owning a house that's over 140 years old. I don't use it often, but last night I steeped myself for about 30 minutes along with a Geo Phyzz bath bomb from Lush.Baths.They are not an efficient way to clean yourself. Unless you shower first, you are basically wallowing in your own filth.Boy, they feel wonderful

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-37538426041341699942009-03-18T21:51:00.004-04:002009-03-18T22:37:42.028-04:00

Today's advise: Do something that you are afraid will make you look foolish.You'll feel better because you made a fool of yourself and the world didn't end.The first singing lesson was a low-key but liberating experience. My teacher (who is at least 10 years younger than I am but sports a beard I couldn't grow in this lifetime) lives in a dilapidated green house in Rochester's "Neighborhood of

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-68252903569127928192009-03-17T23:14:00.004-04:002009-03-17T23:31:11.483-04:00

I'm thirty-seven, and that means it's time to start doing self-indulgent, middle-aged shit. To that end, I am starting vocal lessons. Feeling excited... and a bit nervous... but mostly sort of foolish.As far as mid-life identity crises go, though, this is a whole lot cheaper than a Maserati.I'm taking lessons from one of the guys behind The Varnish Cooks, an old-time country and blue-grass band

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-66931148356497909142009-03-15T22:36:00.004-04:002009-03-15T23:14:24.675-04:00

Today's happiness is the recipe for the lunch I eat on a regular basis. I love the Trader Joe's noodles-in-a-box stuff, but (1) we don't have Trader Joe's in Rochester, (2) the calories and sodium are through the roof if you eat the entire box, and (3) all that extra packaging makes me feel guilty. I came up with a much healthier subsitute that is super-simple to make the night before, and it

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-76187952937485912502009-03-13T01:17:00.005-04:002009-03-13T23:31:00.412-04:00

My friend Gregory Paul's music career seems to be taking off, so he is moving from Rochester, NY to California. I wish him the very best, but I'm going to miss the hell out of seeing him perform locally on a regular basis. I'm embedding a video of him singing "Threadbare Heart", my favorite song off his new album This Side of the Ground.For some reason the descending scale that this song is built

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-61635154422822115352009-03-11T23:20:00.003-04:002009-03-11T23:24:56.057-04:00

"The way I see it, being dead is not so terribly far off from being on a cruise ship. Most of your time is spent lying on your back. The brain has shut down. The flesh begins to soften. Nothing much new happens, and nothing is expected of you."—Mary Roach in Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-85129163898829348052009-03-05T22:43:00.004-05:002009-03-05T23:17:32.055-05:00

TWO bits of happiness to share today.First, via Cheerio Road, I learned that Leonard Cohen's recent New York City performance is available for free from NPR's All Songs Considered. You can catch it here. Enjoy!Second, Critter and I caught the movie Synecdoche, New York tonight. It is unambiguously a Charlie Kaufman story (the first he's directed himself, though)... gorgeous and strange and

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-90473636230657642822009-03-04T21:53:00.002-05:002009-03-04T22:55:52.955-05:00

I love reading Neil Gaiman's journal. Partly it's fun to see inside his world, but mostly it's that almost every single day he digs up some strange treasure from the Internet and lays it at my feet. I had a cat that used to do something like that, except with mouse entrails. Same difference, though.So that's what I want to do for awhile... at least for a month. Every day or so, I'll share one

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-7446909665292377092009-03-03T23:43:00.003-05:002009-03-03T23:52:57.833-05:00

Pssst! You... yeah, you.If you're a Writers on Writing listener, then you know that Barbara ends just about every radio broadcast with Etta James' torch song "I'd Rather Go Blind."For a limited time Amazon is giving that song away FREE as part of the digital EP Chess Records Black History Month. Nab it while you still can...Enjoy!

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-89137833043006726942009-03-01T22:30:00.005-05:002009-03-02T23:06:18.173-05:00

On the way to and from Cleveland this weekend, Critter picked up the audio book edition of Dan Simmons' new novel Drood.Brilliant. Just brilliant.In brief, Dan Simmons sets out to solve Charles Dickens' unfinished masterpiece The Mystery of Edwin Drood, although in this case, the mystery is not so much the unfinished ending as it is why the novel went unfinished. If you've read any Dan Simmons,

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-8538770357647274692009-02-25T23:31:00.005-05:002009-02-25T23:44:04.001-05:00

Yesterday's fortune cookie, just before going to the show:They will be grateful that you cared enough to make it.And they were!**********Do you see how close I am to 14,000 words this month?! Do you see that over half of that is actual work on the actual novel?! I am just busting with pride. Mind you, "pride" is one of the seven deadly sins. Then again, if pride is this much fun and correlates to

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-78175121197339871132009-02-25T00:34:00.004-05:002009-02-25T09:12:31.261-05:00

Went to the Bug Jar tonight with friends. The primary reason was to see my friend Gregory Paul perform, but an added treat tonight was Blitzen Trapper. I adore their song "Furr" (which I first heard via the KEXP "Song of the Day" podcast). I have embedded a video below.

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-90152107572023067622009-02-23T21:29:00.004-05:002009-02-23T22:09:38.539-05:00

I saw a fantastic one act play this past weekend. It is called "Leni Riefenstahl vs. the Twentieth Century", and it just debuted at the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre's Rhubarb Festival (a Toronto fringe theater festival). In the play Susan Sontag and Leni Riefenstahl discuss politics, cinema, and body fascism while playing chess in Purgatory. The show is punctuated by perfectly executed cabaret

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-40439280455477352312009-02-15T18:10:00.006-05:002009-02-15T22:54:13.666-05:00

Last Wednesday at 2:30 AM I was driven out of bed by insomnia. That used to be a frustrating and frequent occurrence... I would snap out of a fitful sleep, my thoughts spinning. It would be great to say that my mind was consumed with some ingenious solution to the fighting in Gaza or to the spreading economic collapse, but these brain seizures never seem to address anything significant... even on

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-22424175053755787332009-02-09T22:56:00.005-05:002009-02-09T23:17:27.981-05:00

Welcome to the world, Sarah Ann. It's a bit of a mess, I know. Sorry about that. We've all just been really, really busy, you know? But we've cleared out a nice space for you, and we know you're just going to love the neighborhood once you get used to it. Most of the people are really nice, and the foods good too. Oh, and I hope you like music. It may seem a bit weird at first, but you'll catch

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-38036240401141277682009-02-08T22:13:00.005-05:002009-02-08T22:37:35.777-05:00

I'm going to use this entry to migrate a comment thread to an upper tier. cs10 and I have been having a long chat in the "Wrapping Up the Holidays" comments, and I mentioned that I am mired in Season Four of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. A very generous friend loaned us the entire DVD collections of Buffy and Angel, and we are finally coming to terms with the fact that we are just not going to become

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-68655037375344719652009-02-05T22:46:00.007-05:002009-02-05T23:35:17.902-05:00

I'm going to commit a cardinal sin and plug a movie I haven't seen. Please, please, please go see Coraline this weekend if you can. I am a huge fan of animation in general, and stop motion animation in particular. If this movie doesn't have a good opening, the small animation studio that made it will probably shut down. That would mean they would never tackle their next film—"a sweet comedy about

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-56121021890910943752009-02-04T21:58:00.004-05:002009-02-04T22:09:36.684-05:00

As I have said before, I love fortune cookies.Yesterday's fortune was:How much deeper would theocean be without sponges?

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-50705186445470090462009-02-02T21:54:00.007-05:002009-02-02T23:24:30.245-05:00

Did you answer one of those "purity tests" when you were in college (or whatever you were doing in your early twenties)? Despite being pretty inexperienced at that age, I tended to score as rather "impure" simply because homosexuality was seen as intrinsically more corrupt than heterosexuality. Apparently things have come a long way. For one thing, "The Unisex, Omnisexual Purity Test"

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-89967461461859004992009-02-01T18:22:00.009-05:002009-02-01T22:56:13.159-05:00

In my previous NaNoWriMo blogs I would post progress charts of my daily word totals. They were pretty popular (well, OK it was only cs10 who commented on them, but we make every effort to content the kill-bot), so here they are again.The graphs are built by a spreadsheet that I use to track my writing totals. It also calculates how much I have to write per day to stay on pace to meet my monthly

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-73152480253573214122009-01-27T23:08:00.004-05:002009-01-27T23:38:13.872-05:00

I've been doing real writing on my novel every day since my PMS rant a few days back. I allow myself to edit the previous days writing for just 15 minutes, and then I move forward with 500 words of new stuff. That pace feels slow, but I've noticed that by limiting how much I write every day to 500 words, the stuff that I'm planning to write simmers in the back of my mind all day long. That makes

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-58260137774419130522009-01-21T22:49:00.000-05:002009-01-21T23:17:19.910-05:00

Not a happy writing day today. Not a happy day period, actually. Not quite sure why. I got enough sleep. I got up on time. I did my usual morning thing of writing and exercising. I even ate a nutritious breakfast. All of those things should have me coasting on perky endorphins. Instead I am irritable and tense. It is exercise in self control not to snap at everyone who crosses my path. To reduce

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-90871461408171055582009-01-19T22:57:00.000-05:002009-01-19T23:28:01.357-05:00

People like my salsa. They ask me for recipes. I never have a very good answer. Salsa simply means "sauce", so there is immense flexibility in making it. There are no fixed ingredients. There are no fixed methods of preparation. For me, it is more of a philosophy than a recipe. I am therefore going to share my philosophy, but first I will share a recipe. This came from my friend, the artist and

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4922864521988643300.post-61493672489038698792009-01-14T10:47:00.000-05:002009-01-14T11:43:16.378-05:00

I submitted the grant proposal this morning at 4 AM... for a 6 AM deadline—not my most shining hour. Regardless (or "irregardless", as my Dad would say), the thing is done, and I can start to catch up on my own writing. There were only a few days this month that I actually did not write, so I'm pretty proud that I didn't let work completely devour my life. Actually, in addition to this morning's

Bittersweet Sagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01663908746162457904noreply@blogger.com2