26 January 2003

Now, how cool is that? I mean, seriously, how often do you get to have dreams of toting a giant laser weapon around? It was hard to get it past airport security, in my dream, and the rest of the dream was synchronized to go with the stomach cramps I was having at the time, but the giant laser weapon did make it all worthwhile. (I think the laser weapon was probably there because of shoulder cramps, actually: then I had something large and heavy on my shoulder, in my dream.)

Also I'd like to thank my subconscious for letting me sleep with stabbing stomach cramps. I genuinely do appreciate that. Waking up would definitely have been an inferior option.

I did some more edits yesterday, including chapter headings, which will be good but were a pain in the butt because my brain doesn't work that way automatically. And I worked on new stuff on Dwarf's Blood Mead. Tried out the new Dustbuster (but it hadn't been charging very long when I tried it, so I can't say how the battery is at holding charge). Read Geek Love -- don't know who to attribute it to on the you recommended it, I read it page, but I didn't much care for it. The geeks in question were the kind that bite the heads off chickens, carnival geeks, and they weren't even around very much, and nobody really loved them. So...the title was just to taunt us all, I think. And the book had a real ending (deus ex machina) and an extended ending (boring). It wasn't painful to read, I just didn't like it.

I also read The Snow Queen by Eileen Kernaghan. It's a YA, and it claimed to combine the Hans Christian Andersen tale with Saami mythology and the Kalevala. I enjoyed it, but there was precious little Kalevala, and I learned nothing I didn't already know about Saami shamanism. Which isn't to say that it wasn't there, but it only skimmed the surface. Still, fun stuff, better than Geek Love. I started Karl Schroeder's Ventus before I went to bed last night, but I didn't get far enough into it to have a real opinion.

So. I'm hoping today is the penultimate day of SuperBowl over-coverage in the paper. Timprov timidly said to me last night that he might want to watch the game. I have no problem with that, as long as he doesn't start screaming or breaking things. I don't despise the SuperBowl. I just have no interest in it, nor in how to properly paint my face with a Raiders eyepatch, nor in a supposed comparative study of the San Francisco Bay Area with the Tampa Bay Area. I want the news to be in the news section of the newspaper and the sports to be in the sports section.

Even if it's baseball. Which it isn't.

Hey, do any of you know of a children's short story market that isn't Cricket or Spellbound? The story is definitely a children's story, but I don't think it's a picture book at all. I think it's a short story for the middle grades. You would think there would be places to send it, but most of them are all on about Jesus. And this particular story features several members of the Aesir. So, not Jesus. But not a little-little kids' market, either. I think it'd be too bad if I had to trunk this one after two tries, but the third market I tried with another definitively children's story hasn't replied in seven months, and I don't know if they still exist. Help.

(Why do people think little kids need to be beaten about the head with Jesus? Why? I promise, you can think about other things and still be a Christian. Even if you're 8 years old. It's just disgusting. Condescending and smarmy and bad.)

It's still Communicate With M'rissa Week around here. You've got until Thursday, people. Got a letter from Liz, yay! Although I think that was probably mailed before the week was declared. Keep it coming. I am gladdened and entertained by these e-mails.

Mark and I are going to church and out for lunch. I'm rather short on plans for the rest of the day. Some cleaning, some reading (Ventus ought to keep me busy awhile), some work, probably talking to the parental types. I guess I don't really need more plans than that.