And about freakin' time!

Yes, Chapter 13 of the Doon saga is up at deviantart for your viewing pleasure.

And while mountains have risen and crumbled during the time I mulled over this bit, at least the chapter is rather long. I would have hated to toss out only a five page chapter after all this time.

I hope I finish the next one soon.

( In unrelated news, I saw Paranormal Activity. Actually, I saw it twice. The original and the one that is currently making circulation in the US. I prefer the original. But you don't care about that. What you want to know is, so, is it scary? )

If I could eliminate one phrase from every future television and movie script, it would be, "What's up?"

It's such a lazy phrase that never sounds real. Especially when used in a professional setting of a show, like at a FBI lab or a courtroom. Nothing pulls me out of a show faster than that phrase.

You are right. They are watching you.

Just to mess with people's heads.

Overexerted myself yesterday. Went all around town in new shoes. Now the back of my feet have been rubbed raw and were bleeding yesterday when I got home. I am hobbling around the condo like a street urchin and my knees have been moaning in agony.

Skipping the castle today and concentrating on research and writing. Oh, and I am making cookies.

Next time castle. Next time.

I finished the last chapter weeks ago and I've been sitting on it. Yesterday, I went back and reread the chapter only to hate half of story. So, today, I've been gutting it like a freshly caught bass.

What was a 22 page chapter has since been whittled down to a 14 pages. I have to add some more but this is the skeleton. I thought the last chapter was headache but this one is even worse.

Meanwhile, I've been taking blackmail photos of Ethan. You know, photos that I will threaten to show to his girlfriend when he is older if he dares to act out. Of course, he looks adorable in them but they are embarrassing. Like one of him with pigtails. So, cute! God, I am evil.

I've also discovered that my local library has an amazing foreign movie section. Far, far better than the Virginia Beach one. During my teen years I would watch foreign movies by the bucket full. I was a cinema geek but as I grew older that hobby dried up as the video stores around me stopped carrying foreign films. But now, I am catching up. I only wish my friend, Nathan, was here with me. He was my cinema friend. Oh, Nathan, why are you on the other side of country? You are missing out!

The trailers of the best of the bunch so far are;

Kontroll - (Hungary) Fantastic direction and pacing. A bit like David Fincher and Christopher Nolan.
Unconscious - (Spain) Hilarious and smart. Like Clue meets Freud.
Good Bye, Lenin! - (Germany) Touching like something The Coen Brothers would do.
L'Iceberg - (Belgium) I haven't laughed this much at a movie in a long time. So full of rich and funny visuals! If you are fan of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, watch this!

If anyone has any movie suggestions, I am all ears. I am always looking out for the next gem.

I just learned that back in the early 1800's during North Carolina's Gold Rush, someone built a castle in the next town over. Yes, an actual castle with a moat! Even better? You can go panning for gems there.

My next Sunday plans are set!

The other day, I spotted a man walking into Wal-Mart barefooted. He was dressed rather nice. Clean, ironed shirt and a clean, ironed pair of pants. He simply didn't have shoes. My curiosity got the best of me and I tailed him around the store Nancy Drew style. I mean, where does a barefooted Average Joe go to in a Wal-Mart? Turns out, to the shoes. Duh. Still, I wonder how he lost his shoes in the first place?

All of my family is signing onto Facebook. Thing is, I come from a huge family. To make matters worse, I know most of family by their nicknames and not by their actual names. So, while my cousin's real name may be Corine, I call her Leilani because that's the nickname my mom gave her when she was little. That also happens to be what most of the family calls her.

This makes it difficult for me to tell if the person who wants to friend me is a stranger or family. Now I can't reject everyone because I'd hate to offend a dear relative of mine. Instead, I've gone by their last name. If it's remotely Hispanic, I assume they are family and add them. This has worked for me, so far.

I bought a flip video camera last week. Which what I used to film Ethan. I would love to do a vlog of some sort but I have no idea what to say or what should it be about. I would love to do something about North Carolina. Most people on this planet are not going come to this place ever, so it would be nice to show them how it is here. But, honestly, I'll probably do a vlog on ghost hunting. Lots of creepy old houses here.

But, dammit, Ethan's cute in this.


Yes, that's my nephew trying lemon for the first time. Oh, the faces he made. But he kept on wanting more!

Yes, that's my hand. How I managed to get sour cream on it is anyone's guess. We were eating Mexican food and I must have slipped into the sour cream bowl.

I have not been receiving LJ notifications in my e-mail since MAY. And the problem is with LJ. After sending three help requests, (two of which never came back to me), the third answered, "We are working on it."

Turns out the little box in the "manage comments" section that you can check to get notifications by e-mail refuses to stay checked. No matter how many times I click and save. No matter how many times I beg and please. No matter how many times I offer it virgins up for sacrifice.

I give up. I don't know what to do.

This meme is running like a wild fire.

* Post ten of any pictures currently on your hard drive that you think are self-expressive.

* No captions. It must be like we're speaking with images and we have to interpret your visual language just like we have to interpret your words.

* They must ALREADY be on your hard drive - no googling or flickr! They have to have been saved to your folders sometime in the past. They must be something you've saved there because it resonated with you for some reason.

* You do NOT have to answer any questions about any of your pictures if you don't want to. You can make them as mysterious as you like. Or you can explain them away as much as you like.

Let's start off with this guy;

1.

( And have a gander at the other nine... )

Vanessa, Steph and Cloe came over. It was nice to see family within the walls again. When I used to live in Virginia Beach, the family would always travel over because we were right smack dab between Florida and New York. This is the favored route of the kin. Plus, there was much to do in terms of touristy things.

Now I live in the boonies of NC, well, not so much boonies. I live in a city of a quarter of a million people but for me, it is half the size of my home city. Anyway, I live in the mountains, landlocked and way out of everyone's way. I miss having relatives over.

Found a bottle of Moxie soda. Drinking it was a weird experience;

FIRST SIP: OHGODONHIGH! *cough*cough* What is this stuff? It tastes like aftershave!
SECOND SIP: Well, that really wasn't so bad. There's a serious kick in here though. Does this have alcohol in it? No? Tastes like it.
THIRD SIP: Okay, my tongue can get used to it. Still tastes like aftershave a bit. Why am I drinking this stuff?
FOURTH SIP: .....I don't know if I like this or not. Now it tastes like aftershave and root beer. Might as well finish the bottle.

Still don't know if I like it or not. What a strange drink.

Still, haven't caught the new Harry Potter flick. Don't know if I will. The last one left me fuming in its slap together mess. Has anyone seen it yet? How was it?

Today -

I had just finished grocery shopping and was at the trunk of my car with Ethan in my arms. The car next to me was trying to back out of her parking space but there was a SUV blocking her path and soon to be, my path. Driving the SUV was a late teen/early twenty something, overly tanned girl wearing those wrap around sun glasses that every female who watches The Hills wears. She was fiddling around with her car's gear. I looked past her to see if she was there because of the incoming traffic was blocking her bath. However, she was cleared to go. The car next to me started to lay on the horn. The SUV girl ignored it and began to look at herself in the mirror. The car honked again. The girl was unfazed as she took out a cigarette and lit up. The poor woman in the blocked car was getting steamed.

I turned to the SUV girl who was less than ten feet from me and tried to get her attention;

ME: Excuse me, could you please move? You're blocking a car.
SUV GIRL: (ignores me and looks at herself in the mirror again.)
ME: Excuse me, miss. Could you please move your car?
SUV GIRL: (ignores me and fiddles with her radio)
ME: Excuse me...
SUV GIRL:(ignores me and the continuing honking of the blocked car.)
ME: HEY, BLONDIE!! COULD YOU MOVE YOUR CAR?! YOU'RE BLOCKING THE WAY!
SUV GIRL: (shaken up) You don't have to yell at me!

She then cursed me out and drove away. Didn't care. The only thing I was was for to go. The woman who was driving the blocked car thanked me while laughing. I guess it was a bit funny. The poor SUV girl didn't expect to have woman with a toddler in her arms to turn Brooklyn on her like that.

But, honestly, what else could I have done?

They other day I was driving when I saw a school bus that had "Triad Catholic School" written on the side of it. A Catholic school bus! Yay! But what was written on the back is what caught my eye. "Go Villains!" Best team name for a Catholic school EVER!

How can you top that?

And to watch it happening live half way across the world is the most amazing thing. This age we live in, nothing can go by silently.

Oh, and here are some jaw dropping photos from the chaos as well as photos from world wide protests.

I drew a vampire fan art quiz. (Done mostly while Ethan has been napping.) If you have a few minutes, give it a whirl. Fair warning, the art is HUGE. Here's a bit of it;



And now, ART QUIZ AHOY!

I really, really do hope some guesses five and six right. I am pretty sure one and eight have enough of a cult fandom that someone is going to guess right.

Someone is blogging the entire novel of Dracula in real time. That is, putting up each entry on the day the book says it is written. I love the idea. And if you have never read the book, do so. It's not a bad novel. Especially when compared to most modern vampire novels. (Sparkly action anyone?

Dracula in real time blog.

Last night I actually went, "Son of bitch!" when I saw the President on television. Not because I don't like the guy. But instead because he had bumped my show, YET AGAIN to speak with the public. Eight years with a past president that barely talked to the public to having a president that talks every other week. What a difference.

Thank God for Hulu because the episode of "Lie to Me" that I wanted to see aired regularly on the West Coast therefore, it went online the next day. At least President Obama didn't cut into LOST time or else...well, let's just say don't tick off LOST fans. We salivate at the thought of the next episode. Last week was a pretty poor recap show so we were biting at the bit for this week's one.

Sadly, Faraday's death didn't surprise me. I could see him kicking the bucket a mile away. I even guessed that it would be his own mom who would do him in. I don't know if this means the show is getting predictable or my mind is Swiss cheese in its thinking. Next up, Juliet is going to die. I am calling it. And she will die saving a young Ben.

Meanwhile, Ethan isn't really talking yet but he's running. My God is he running. And climbing. This kid is fearless. I am so afraid he's going to break a bone before he reaches two.

( Oh, and I did an art meme. )

I haven't updated in a while so here we go;

Started a webcomic called PIOUS. The story is set in 1936 and is about a Scottish Catholic priest, Father Campbell, his best friend/scientist/reporter, an Englishman named, Mr. Inshaw and a young American priest in training, Deacon d'Espagnat. Together they travel around Europe confirming miracles and performing exorcisms in the name of the Vatican.

The idea came from a posting in a Doctor Who site that asked for what sort of show would you like to see previous and past Doctor actors in. I thought David Tennant and Christopher Eccleston would make a great team for an Edwardian steampunk series about a priest and his bodyguard. But that idea slowly morphed into a dieselpunk-ish series moved to the 1930's because I thought the rising of the Third Reich would work better for the story I had in mind. (There is a rash of possessions and no one knows why. Father Campbell believes the rising of the Nazis has something to do with it.) The bodyguard became a scientist and a reporter who was the doubter to the priest's believer. And then I added the young deacon for more a mystery element because of his background of having survived an exorcism.

So far, the first couple of pages are up. I am trying to update it every Sunday. Wish me luck. If you have any comments or questions, especially questions, I would love to hear from you.

Meanwhile, I had to scrap the last chapter of Doon because it wasn't working at all. Man, it was awful. The flow was off. The characters were off. The dialog was off. Here is an example;

( Bad prose ahead. You have been warned. )

I want to tickle a Slow Loris!!!