Writing resolve
Filed Under Writing, New Year's Resolutions
I missed my last convenient calendar rollover a few weeks ago, but I shall not miss this one. So, the resolution that will hold me for the next couple months is:
In the month of November, address Workplan section I. Thereafter proceed to section II. The goal is (at least) three polished bits by the end of December.
(And yes, that makes sense to me. It doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else; you don’t have to do any work.)
|
Permalink | Trackback |
2 Comments
Liveblogging Halloween
6:16: It’s now legitimately dusk. We’re expecting kids any minute.
When I came home from work a half hour or so ago, I passed kids hanging out in the street, some on bikes, none in costume. This afternoon, Larry put all the candy in our Totoro bag. It’s very heavy, but it doesn’t take up as much space as I’d expected/hoped.
Yes, I have eaten some of the candy. Snickers, Nestle Crunch with caramel, Mounds, Hershey with almonds, Heath. I haven’t eaten too much, however; at least one of each, just to keep things pleasingly symmetrical. Kiko (very stealthily) grabbed a Hershey bar, but I took it away before she had a chance to do more than gnaw the corner of the wrapper.
I gave it to Larry to eat. Because we couldn’t give a dog-gnawed candy bar to a kid, now, could we?
6:28: Larry is filled hooves with cheddar cheese spread, and we’ve now shut the dogs up in our bedroom.
Last year, Kiko got out a couple times and added to the chaos in the yard. This year we are going to be more careful about keeping them inside, particularly Charlie since he’s not as good about boundaries, personal space, and understanding his own size.
6:36: Silly Larry, not liking Mounds.
6:42: Kiddies! Please come! Eat my candy!
6:54: Maybe there was a memo, and everybody’s off someplace else. If we had kids, maybe we’d've been on the distribution list. Larry speculates it might be a daylight savings thing. In either case, this is weird. We always get a lot of kids here.
6:56: Somebody screeched. That’s a good sign.
6:59: The dogs are barking, and there are voices outside.
7:05: The first batch, six or seven kids, including such traditional favorites as pirates and princesses. Unlike Larry, I am not a stickler for the social contract (e.g. one must say “trick or treat” before being given candy). The kids were adorable and polite, the thanks perhaps a bit belated initially but then offered in waves.
And ooh, Twix. I forgot about the Twix.
7:10: Here’s the next kid; this one’s Larry’s.
7:11: Another crop, including a scythe-wielding Death, a she-devil, a witch, Spider-Man, and Darth Vader.
7:14: A small boy in a Transformer-themed outfit enthusiastically shouting “Trick or treat” at Dad’s prompting.
7:18: Poor Charlie is making unhappy noises.
7:20: Another (older) boy and Dad. Charlie still sounds pathetic.
7:34: A little pirate lad, with Mom waiting at the top of the driveway.
7:37: Larry’s taking the candy outside, on account of Charlie’s newest pathetic noise (which Larry considers taun-taunesque).
7:40: When I let the dogs out, Charlie was right at the bedroom door, eager to escape captivity. Kiko was lounging on the bed, tail wagging. She’s now crunching something; he’s still agitated, circling the downstairs. I sort of want to join Larry outside—it is a laptop, and the wireless reaches—but it’s cold. Not cold cold, but cold for someone recently spoiled with what she still considers unseasonably warm temperatures as recently as a few days ago.
7:53: Larry took the candy outside with him. This is either a benefit or a drawback to his plan of sitting on the porch.
8:00: The sounds of numerous children running down our backdoor neighbor’s driveway. A chorus of barking dogs.
8:13: It’s been quiet for a while; that might be it. If there’s a second wave, I hope it happens soon; in twenty minutes or so we have to leave to meet friends for dinner.
8:15: Another boy and his mom, with glowing necklaces. Usually those are ubiquitous, but not this year.
8:38: Off to dinner now. Too much candy left over. Perhaps someone at work will eat it.
|
Permalink | Trackback |
4 Comments
Awesome jack-o-lantern
Filed Under Uncategorized
Carved by someone who clearly has too much time on his hands.
Not thinking about the bags of candy I don’t have sitting on top of the cabinets
Filed Under Life
A couple weeks ago I started buying Halloween candy. Larry was dismayed. I explained that it wasn’t good candy, insofar as he hates coconut, I consider Nestle Crunches with caramel just plain wrong, etc. He was unconvinced, but neither of us have raided the Halloween stash. It probably helps that the bags of candy are out of line of sight and wrapped up tightly in grocery bags. That’s why I’m absolutely not thinking of mini candy bars right now.
|
Permalink | Trackback |
2 Comments
Even more awesome O’Reilly covers
Filed Under Uncategorized
Sadly nonexistent books addressing such important topics as Banishing Microsoft and Why You Can’t Find Your UNIX System Administrator.
(Yeah, it’s an old page. But it’s new to me.)
The dog ate my cocoa
Filed Under Pets
Earlier this week, Kiko stole a box of tea from the baker’s rack. Then she stole a box of pocky, ate the few remaining sticks, then had fun with the cardboard box and foil. She’s a big fan of foil.
(Okay, technically, Charlie may be the guilty party. There were no witnesses to any of the thefts. But based on prior bad acts, we’re confident Kiko is the culprit.)
Certainly the baker’s rack is within reach, and not much different from counter-surfing, but for the most part she’d ignored it up until this past week. A couple days ago, we came home to find several pinkish brown mounds on the floor. It took me about ten seconds to identify my hot cocoa.
At this point, I feel compelled to express dog owner pride. It is true that Kiko has happily eaten feces, vomit, dead birds, dead rodents, and several used tampons; that she eagerly sniffs and licks canine crotches and butts; that she has gnawed on and broken wine glasses; that she still steals and munches my dirty underwear. But she is not completely lacking in taste. She never retrieved the large cannister of Quik that often sits on the counter. Instead, she went for the higher-quality product.
The higher-quality product in question was from Ten Thousand Villages, so I like to think Kiko was motivated by social consciousness no less than hunger. Her cocoa-snarfing will help support independent cocoa farmers.
|
Permalink | Trackback |
2 Comments
Badger badger badger
Filed Under Uncategorized
U.K. badgers may be culled in an effort to fight tuberculosis.
Or maybe the badgers will be sent to Basra instead.
Paranoia? Perhaps.
Or perhaps not.
|
Permalink | Trackback |
5 Comments
Evil Mad Scientists, indeed
Filed Under Daleks
I totally need to make one of these:
Because who doesn’t need a robotic Dalek pumpkin?
(I know I won’t actually make one, because I’m lazy. But I should.)
So Dubledore’s gay
Filed Under Books
According to J.K. Rowling, who really should know better than anybody. My worldview has, somehow, not been shaken to the core.
I suppose it says something about heteronormativity that a screenwriter felt comfortable adding references to an invented character, even in an adaptation of one of the most jealously-guarded properties ever. Or maybe the screenwriter just assumed Dumbledore was bi.
It does make me feel more warm and fuzzy toward Rowling’s work. The books are perfectly diverting but not great literature in an objective-as-possible sense…however, I do love the little brain hacks that line up with my personal politics. A generation of kids will (hopefully) grow up internalizing outrage at the way Remus Lupin is ostracized, abuses of power, and miscarried justice in the wizarding world. That’s got to be worth something. Words have power, especially after they worm their way deep into the brain.
Slated for publication
“Last Words” will be appearing in The Back Alley.
It feels nice to sell something. This is one of the stories I mentioned in July, when I talked about things that had languished on my hard drive for too long. So the moral of the story, kids, is to actually submit the stories you finish.