Daily Adventures

I have gotten out of the habit of writing every night.( Read more... )

I went by myself, for the first time in a long time, to a movie theater to see Edge of Tomorrow. John's mother is in town, as she's going to be traveling with us to North Carolina on Saturday, and Jet and John were working at a flood house. I'd read the original book All You Need is Kill, translated from the Japanese, and I was so haunted by the book that I actually got rid of it once. I've since bought it again, reread it, and needed to see the movie.

So I went. Alone. Probably for the first time in a few decades. *laughs* But I really needed to see it, and I liked the adaptation, and it is, indeed, an adaptation. It was fascinating to see how the changes really made it an American movie instead of the genre Japanese SF book with its intricate and haunting plot. I recommend it as a fun action movie, especially for those of us who are story choice-based video game addicts, and there were a few visceral hits for me as a twitch video game addict. I'd recommend the book, though, to those looking for something darker, deeper, and more complex.

( Cut for massive spoilers. )

One of the few traditions we have as a family is taking the annual horse-drawn wagon ride, which our Home Owners Association does each year. One of the local farmers brings their draft horses and draws a hay wagon or a simple benched wagon around the loop of our neighborhood.

We always love it and, traditionally, it's on one of the coldest nights, usually in the teens (-16 to -6 C), in the dark, and crunching the dregs of recent snowfalls. We always bundle up and enjoy ourselves. This year, it wasn't nearly as cold. We haven't had the snowfall we usually have in November, and our weather is well on the way to a two-year drought. It was still below freezing, however, and the big bonfire and the giant jug of hot chocolate were very welcome.

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I think I'm finally able to post again... and it's been a few days.

The BDSM M/M Romance that darkprism_fics and I wrote is coming out through Torquere Press on the 27th of July, Wednesday of this week, and on that day we'll be hosting the torquere_social blog. MyJohn is actually going to get me the Broadband2Go stuff I'll need to do it somewhere between Redwoods and somewhere in Northern California, like Eugene or Eureka or... something? I'm not sure what. *laughs*

We'll have a coupon, good toward the book, as a randomly drawn door prize for anyone that comments on the things Prism and I will be posting on the Torquere Blog, so please do come if you're interested!

Spent most of the days when Jet was at camp working furiously on a follow up story to the novel darkprism_fics and I are getting published at the end of July. Torquere seemed interested in follow up shorts stories to keep the characters alive, and maybe progress to the next novel.

So by Wednesday I was utterly beat. I had a quick consultation gig that afternoon with Mimi, which was very calming as she had a list of online things she needed done, and we just marched through them in a quick checklist. I love that she uses me simply to Get Things Done she otherwise would not do. It's one of my real strengths, and delights both of us, as she wouldn't get them done without me, and I feel accomplished when it's finished.

( John then took me on a little adventure to Castle Rock on the way to picking Jet up in the morning. )

Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age by Clay Shirky

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lovely, lovely concrete examples for how modern technology and social forces have changed how people perceive, use, and interact with modern-day media.

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...and the living is eeeeeasy...

Though completely stuffed full of things to do and people to see and things to make and paintings to sell and consultations to fulfill. And it's good. I've also started The New Rules of Lifting for Women by Lou Schuler that sophiap recommended for me, and it's made for some really amazing workouts.

We're swimming nearly every day in the neighborhood pool, and the heat's been averaging in the low-90's, but today it was in the 70's and raining so hard it nearly put out the fireworks stand fireworks we were using at our neighbor's party. We also had a friend from Callahan's days (Johanna) show up at our doorstep and they're staying for the night before going to a family reunion.

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The Labor Day Weekend was really nice, but I'm glad to get back into some of my routine.

The boys and I went into Boulder on Saturday to do the "end of summer" fair and the Farmer's Market where I got some gorgeous leeks, gold potatoes, and a whole 40 pound box of peaches. Oh, the peaches... Morton's Palisade peaches are amazing, and we've gone through most of that box.

Sunday was church and then we went to a little amusement park on the edge of Golden, it had an alpine slide, go-carts, and lots of little rides. We had a blast just wandering, seeing the shops when it rained a little, eating ice cream, and Jet and I pedaled a swan-shaped pedal-boat all over a small pond and miraculously didn't run ourselves aground.

John and I team prepped two slabs of spare ribs on Labor Day and I did the smoking while he and Jet did their own thing. I got a story I'd promised someone on Y-Gallery mostly done. It was another blocker for me as while I had some ideas of the characters, I didn't know particulars, but I also knew that the owners of the chars would have a harder time telling me about stuff if I didn't have a story to hang the feedback on. So I finally slogged through it on Tuesday and I'll probably post it later today.

In prep for it, and for ideas on Richi of the Misfit Toys, I read Gavin De Becker's Just 2 Seconds: Using Time and Space to Defeat Assassins. It was really, really good. Specific, detailed instruction on primary goals for protectors and exactly why and what data they used to back up their practices. The specifics of how their protection firm works were really, really good as well. The compendium of over 1400 assassination attempts was amazing as well, chilling through the successful ones, heartening through all the unsuccessful ones. The most amazing thing was that the total, combined time from the initiation by the attacker to the conclusion of all those 1400+ attacks added up to less than thirty minutes.

The appendix was really fun, too, including a philosophical bit by an ex-general about sheep, sheepdogs, and wolves. Some lovely quotes in all of it, especially one mob hitman talking about being like an egg in a pan once he's in. Go in, hit the guy, get out, always keep moving because if you're ever still, you start to fry.

Lots of interesting stuff, and I have a new respect for protectors, and even more for De Becker and his associates and their attitude towards how to face and deal with violence or those that would deal it.

I'm now utterly in love with David Mamet. My favorite quote so far from On Directing Film:

Mamet: What do we do first?
Student: Establish the character.
Mamet: The truth is, you never have to establish the character. In the first place, there is no such thing as character other than the habitual action, as Mr. Aristotle told us two thousand years ago. It just doesn't exist.

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