See My Mask! Isn't It Pretty? (part II)

Okay, ever since I was wee, I've been in love with Labyrinth. I have wanted one of the masks from the ballroom scene for as long as I can remember.



This weekend, I went back to my parents' house for my grandfather's 86th birthday party. While there, I was finally able to open a Christmas present that, for reasons beyond control, I was only able to get now.



"Happy" does not begin to cover it.

The rest of the weekend was pretty nifty, too. I got twenty copies of Odyssey. I have none left. I sold them ALL. (Yes, you can still get one, I will be ordering more, just e-mail me). And giving a copy to Grandpa, and seeing how thrilled he was to see my name on the cover (yes, this is the same grandpa who told me I'd never be published) made all the years of trying worth it.

All in all, a very, very good day.
posted by Sarah E. at 6:59 PM

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They're He-eeere!

My copies have arrived. So, if you'd like one, e-mail me and I'll let you know the details.

Yay!
posted by Sarah E. at 9:17 PM

Public Service Announcement

We interrupt this weblog to bring you the following public service announcement.

To all drivers:

1. When you are waiting in line to turn, and a pedestrian is crossing the road onto which you wish to turn, and said pedestrian is crossing on the walk signal, do not get angry and honk at the driver in front of you for choosing to wait rather than mow down said pedestrian.
   
2. Further, when you are driving in the turn lane, do not get angry and honk at the driver in front of you when he stops to turn.

Thank you. We now return you to your regularly scheduled weblog.
posted by Sarah E. at 9:24 AM

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Snerk!

Ow. Owwww. Laughing. Apple cider up my nose. Watch this!
posted by Sarah E. at 11:04 PM

Change? Us?

Read in the paper today that George W. is trying to amend the constitution to ban gay marriage. All I have to say is ::sigh::.

Via Megatokyo, I came across Arnold Schwarzenegger's comments on the subject of the San Francisco marriages.

Then it got to be a bigger issue and a bigger issue, and then yesterday, when I was in San Francisco for the Republican convention, all of a sudden we see riots and we see protests and we see people clashing.

I think Dom at Megatokyo, who was there, said it best: "If mariachi and tap dancing counts as rioting, well, count me in."

The thing that really gets me is this bit:

So we cannot have, all of a sudden now, mayors go and hand out licenses for various different things. If it is--you know, in San Francisco, it's the license for marriage of same sex. Maybe the next thing is another city that hands out licenses for assault weapons. And someone else hands out licenses for selling drugs. I mean, we can't do that.

Yeah. Because letting two people celebrate a loving relationship is exactly like enabling them to fry someone's brain or splatter it all over the street. Gah. St. Valentine was martyred for continuing to marry couples despite the prohibitions of the government, and they turned him into a saint.

Remember the fifties? There were the same legal issues concerning interracial marriage once upon a time. People got married anyway. The laws got changed. We got over that pretty well. Sometimes we need to demonstrate that the world is not going to end because two consenting adults celebrate their union.

But you know, maybe they're right. Maybe marriage will cause unrest and anarchy. I mean, these women are pretty threatening. And so are these guys. And check them out -- they're practically oozing the destruction of the marriages of heterosexual couples. Yup, those are some angry crowds all right. Better put a stop to this before they spread the gay agenda.

Sigh

This guy is a pretty good example of the argument I hear most often against gay marriage. The "what if I decide I want to marry my dog" school of argument. But the important thing to remember is that the only difference between heterosexual marriage and homosexual marriage is gender. You can't even look at chromosomes, because there are some women who carry Y chromosomes and some men who don't (I don't remember genetics clearly enough to give the precise examples, but there are cases of perfectly healthy adults who discovered their chromosomes were wonky). There is a big difference between marriage to your homosexual partner and marriage to your dog. The point is, the marriage is a celebration of mutual love between two consenting adults of legal age who have both signed a marriage contract. That tree's gonna have a problem with that last part.

My family used to watch Hamish Macbeth, and there was one episode in which these religious nuts were persecuting Hamish because he and his girlfriend were living together without getting married. Different situation, yes, but the minister's response when someone asked him his opinion still remains one of the best responses I can think of when issues concerning the expression of love come up:

"God is love. So where there is love, there is God."

Move along, people. There are more important things to worry about.

And to everyone who's just been married, congratulations. I wish you all the best.
posted by Sarah E. at 1:00 PM

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Little Things

Today, Chris told me to close. She'd just sit back and watch. And I did it. The totals matched to the penny.

And you know what? It felt really good. It's just a little thing, but knowing that all the closings I've done have finally sunk in made me happy.

More, it reminded me that, before my life went all nuts this year, I'd resolved to focus on the little things in life that give me joy. Things like my cat. And chocolate. The flowers that bloom in the spring (tra-la). Rose bushes. Lilacs. A really good writing session. Autumn leaves. Babbling streams. Singing. Dancing. Sparkly things. Sunshine. Curling up with a good book.

I don't know if the fact that today we had sun -- REAL sun, not the washed out winter stuff -- had anything to do with it or what, but I just got a feeling that I'm getting back to what matters to me. I was singing in the shower today -- I haven't done that since I moved to this house. I smelled that springtime earth-coming-to-life smell on my way home, and just started singing, and haven't really stopped since. Much to the dismay of my roommates.

Sometime soon, I'm going to escape to my godmother Peggy's and just take a weekend to get back to nature (she's got a GREAT forest), re-centre myself on the writing, and really reconnect with me. Before I forget who I am.
posted by Sarah E. at 10:49 PM

I Want To Chaaange the World

Today was a rushing day. Rush to get through work, rush to the store, rush home to clean the house in time for Alice and Alexandra, who came bearing contraband cabbage rolls (no, seriously) and to watch Inuyasha. Which we didn't get to do as much of as we would have preferred, but enough to get to a nice bit (Kouga's first appearance, for those who watch the show).

I spent some time updating the homepage (no "Kichani" snippets yet, but it's coming) after they left, and now I'm about to go settle in with Wolfskin, the absolutely phenomenal book I'm reviewing for Bakka this week (which, of course, will not be done for my shift tomorrow, because I spent much of the week finishing the just-as-phenomenal Kushiel's Chosen, also for a Bakka review).

I may start posting copies of my reviews in this blog, if I can remember them. That'd be kinda fun, actually....

And just so this isn't a completely boring entry, here's a link to the Condensed Inuyasha. Only for people who've actually seen a good hunk of the series (if you haven't seen the arc with Shiori and the vampire bat people yet, stop with installment #2) or people who don't give a flying fig about Inuyasha spoilers.

Hey, I laughed.
posted by Sarah E. at 12:06 AM

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Stupid People Are Everywhere

Sing it with me, Jenny!

I was standing next to the beehive on the "hidden" side trying to help a kid find the queen when the whole hive started shaking, i.e. somebody on the other side was pounding the glass. I went around, already looking down at waist height for whatever small child didn't know any better. And saw feet. Looking up, yup, 20-year-old guy wailing on the hive.

"Um, could you not do that please?" I asked.

Guy gives this grin (interior monologue going "duuuuuuuh...") "Oh, cause you don't want me to "agitate" them, right."

"Um, yeah," I said. "We kinda prefer that they don't die."

Uuurgh.

So the latest round of knobbery that sparked this tirade was my discovery of the whole Asimov's debacle. Long story short, mother opens her 13-year-old daughter's copy of Asimov's, finds a story with sex in it, and pitches a fit. Rinky-dink local news reports sensationalism masquerading as journalism. Asimov's rebuts.

It's irksome. The rinky-dink news portraying Asimov's as a porn magazine, their whole "we'll be watching" attitude, the outright lying.... Hell, I've done these magazine fundraisers -- they're for students to sell to people with money (i.e. adults) to raise money for the school. Adults generally want to buy stuff for them, unless they're buying for their kids, in which case they turn to the "For Kids" section of the flyer and buy a subscription to Owl Magazine.

And the woman going "I was so shocked... I was shaking..." Lady, if the worst thing that ever happens in your life is that you discover a story in a fiction magazine has sex in it, you are one lucky bastard. Where do I sign up for that life?

I'm going back to the gallery now. At least most of the kids we get coming through are actually intelligent. Makes a nice change from all this stupidity.
posted by Sarah E. at 1:53 PM

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A True Friend

Is someone who understands you completely. Someone who knows all your failings, your weaknesses, and your shortcomings, and loves you anyway. Someone who knows these things but doesn't think of asking you to change them, because she understands that they're part of what makes you who you are.
posted by Sarah E. at 12:11 AM

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Define "Difficult"...

...Answer: summing up ELYSIUM in two paragraphs in such a way that it sounds like a book you'd really, really want to read.

GAH!!!!!

This is really hard. Dammit.

I keep taking breaks to listen to Jewel's new CD. When I heard the single from it ("Intuition"), I was less than impressed. Jewel went Brittney Spears on me. But last time I was in the library I saw the CD on the shelf and thought "what the heck", so I signed it out.

Most of the CD is skippable. But there are two songs that I ended up putting on continuous repeat. "Stand", the first track, just has something about it that's really compelling, and I've adopted it for the Otherside soundtrack. "Yes U Can" (the text-message speak on the album (and all though the liner notes) is incredibly irritating) is just a fun bouncy song I can't help dancing to.

Not helpful for summarizing my novel, but makes a good break anyway.
posted by Sarah E. at 11:09 PM

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Doin's A-Transpirin'

It's really weird -- I'm now doing enough book-related stuff this year that I actually have enough for an "appearances" page, if I thought I could keep a straight face about it. More details as they come.

But tomorrow, I'll be working at Bakka for Kelley Armstrong's book signing, 3-5 p.m. Stop by. Buy Kelley's fabulous books. Marvel at the stupendously awesome window-postering and A-frame arrangement with which I had nothing to do, honestly...
posted by Sarah E. at 6:41 PM

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Confessions of An Average Everyday Sane Psycho Supergoddess?

Every time I walked into a store on the way home today (the roses at Dominion didn't make me cry today! Hurrah!), Extraordinary was playing on the radio. Every time. I think the universe may be trying to tell me something. I just have no idea what.
posted by Sarah E. at 4:48 PM

Thumbs. Who Needs 'Em?

Pyewacket is learning new tricks.

The Wacket has this obsession with water, especially if it's being flushed down the toilet or if it's filling up the bathtub. Whenever I have a bath, she wanders around on the edge of the tub and occasionally drinks the water.

I went into the bath last night (baths are great when you're bummed, though this one was sadly lacking in bath bombs, on account of the fact that the Lush down the street from Bakka closed and I'm so not walking down to Queen Street right now), and Pye went into the bathroom with me (she actually gets mad at me if I shut her out). Usually she comes to check out the bath and then goes and lies on the bath mat to bask in the humidity for a while. But last night she got it into her head that she was going to explore. She walked along the edge of the tub and tried to crawl along the front of it (the rim there is only about an inch wide). She'd gotten her front paws over the faucet by the time I noticed what she was doing. I sat up just in time to see her, front paws on one side of the faucet, back paws on the other, belly resting on top of it, and watch as her back paw started to slip.

Yup. Butt first into the bathtub.

She was actually surprisingly good about it. I got her out of it pretty quick, so her front half stayed dry, and she didn't freak out or claw or anything. But she spent the next twenty minutes alternating between licking herself indignantly and walking around the bathroom shaking out each back paw every time she lifted it.

I would have toweled her off, but I was too busy hanging over the edge of the bathtub laughing uncontrollably.

Then, this morning, she showed off her next trick.

She's always had a thing about shoelaces. Loves to attack them, especially if you're busy tying them. Well, I was putting on my boots this morning, with Pye lying next to me. She watched as I laced them up and tied them, then reached out a paw, snagged the end of a lace with one claw, and ziiiiip!, undid my shoelaces. She did it twice more before I managed to get out the door.

My cat is undeniably nuts.
posted by Sarah E. at 4:43 PM

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Life Goes On

Things starting to settle in again. I'm fine now (unless I happen to run across "Leaving on a Jet Plane", anything by Brian Froud, or roses -- that last one REALLY inconvienient the week before Valentines day, BTW -- but that's another story), and busy putting together the next round of submissions, figuring out what the banghowdy to do with "Warmth", and writing my query letter for the first agent.

Slight digression: Karina and went to see Enter the Haggis on the weekend -- due to complaints about the lack of hometown gigs, they took a break from the studio recording stuff to gig. A consequence of which is that we got to hear a lot of the new studio stuff, which is awesome. The new CD is going to be great. If you haven't checked these guys out yet, you must do so. There are audio clips on the website.

Added to everything else, Julie's busy shaking down the details of an ODYSSEY book launch at the Merrill Collection, sometime in early April. Details when I get them (if you want to receive an invitation, e-mail me your mailing address). Which is just freaking cool. I mean, I get a BOOK LAUNCH. And okay, I'm sharing it with six other people, but still. BOOK LAUNCH. I mean, I've been waiting for this for, what, 12 years? And I've finally got it. BOOK LAUNCH. Mine. Dude. Wow.

BOOK LAUNCH.
posted by Sarah E. at 1:11 PM

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SOLD!

I just sold "Kichani" (the short story, not the novel) to Julie Czerneda for FANTASTIC COMPANIONS, book two in the REALMS OF WONDER series. It's my second professional sale. And it's in hardcover.

Which doesn't quite make up for everything else that's happened this week (I mean, I'm still human), but it goes a long way toward taking the edge off of it. And oh, did she ever say some really nice things about my writing. Suddenly the getting-the-book-published doesn't seem like quite so much of a fantasy anymore. I think it may be time to get this writing career off the ground.
posted by Sarah E. at 2:58 PM

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"I'm feeling the sudden urge to buy a Honda..."

It's late, but I'm having trouble sleeping again. Due, in part, to the fact that some sugared-up kids got into the fox's den with crayons today and I'm all sore and twitchy from scrubbing it all off. So I went surfing.

Now, I hate commercials as much as the next person, but occasionally I see something that just makes me stop and say "whoa. That's a good ad." Cog was one such. Child's Pay is another.

I initially found this link via Karina, who linked to this one. The complete list of winners for this particular competition is here, and all the finallists can be found here, but there really was no contest. Child's Pay was by far the best.

I don't know what it is, but I just keep coming back to it and watching it again.
posted by Sarah E. at 1:17 AM

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"You've got that kind of face"

It's odd -- I'm Canadian for several generations back, aside from my Scottish grandmother, and when you go father than that, you get British, Scottish, and a smattering of Irish. I'm about as fair as you can get without being albino. And yet, people are always certain of my origins (to the point at which they start trying to converse with me in languages I don't understand), and are surprised when I tell them they're wrong. I get this a lot. Here's the list of my alleged ancestry so far:

• Russian
  
• Spanish
  
• Irish
  
• Scottish
  
• British
  
• German
  
• Indian
  
• Aboriginal Canadian
  
• Chinese (according to the Chinese girl who thought this, I have "chinky eyes")
  
• Greek
  
• black
  
• Ukranian
  
• Japanese (this was today -- "I don't know, but she will. Hey Sarah, you're family is Japanese, right?)

Two trends that I've found are that most people believe I'm some sort of mix of the above and British, and that most people find in me a part of whatever their own heritage is.

I'm wondering if it's at all connected to the other phenomenon I've noticed -- that when I'm meeting total strangers, they very often comment on how familiar I am. Seriously, my first year at the ICFA in Florida (also my first interaction with the SF community), I had several people stop me in the hall, before I had my tag even, and say how good it was to see me again. I get it all the time. Not that I'm complaining, mind. It's nice. But weird.

Maybe I was well travelled in past lives, or something. Go figure.
posted by Sarah E. at 11:13 AM

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Book Dispensory

Starting... shortly (as soon as I get the copies I ordered), you can also buy ODYSESY from me! Yay! Just e-mail me if you want a copy and I'll let you know how much they are with shipping and stuff.
posted by Sarah E. at 2:38 PM

She Said There'd Be Days Like This

You know that image -- the one of a guy driving down a remote forest road with his dog? And the guy has this look on his face which tells you nothing good will come of this, but the dog is hanging out the window, tail wagging, tongue lolling, ears flying, having the time of its life? And you feel so sad because you know what's coming, but that damn clueless dog is just so freaking happy?

There are times in my life when I feel like that dog.

Anyway.

The universe's perverse whims aside, I'm moving on the whole Elysium thing. Certain things that have been going on this month seem to be hinting that it's time I starting working a lot harder at taking control of my life. After talking to Chris last night, I've decided that Luna is a pretty good bet to send Elysium first. But my best way of going about doing that is to find an agent. So I'm busily prepping a submission package for the first one on my list. Which means I have to write a synopsis. I HATE that. So much. It also means I have to nail down the vagaries of Elysium 2 and 3 as well, in case I have to provide synopses for them, too.

Fun times. But actually, I'm pretty excited about this part.
posted by Sarah E. at 12:41 PM

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