bored. tired. wish I could sleep; haven't had enough sleep.

Apparently I haven't been delusional (in a hypochondriac kind of way, the jury is still out on other points) I actually have been sick the past week, an odd sort of sick caused by an inflammation of the inner ear. Which explains the dizziness, nausea, and to a lesser degree the insomnia. And also an odd feeling I was (incorrectly) describing as "lightheadedness", i.e. vertigo

(aside: so, well, that's what vertigo feels like.)

Doc: "Looks like a viral infection"
Me: "So, what do I take for it"
"Nothing. It'll go away by itself in a few days. Call me if you still have symptoms next Monday."
"So that's it."
"Yep."
"No pills?"
"Take some dramamine if you feel you need it"
"OK then. take two aspirin, etcetera"
"Yep."

Apparently, even after this goes away, I'll still be susceptible to the occasional bout of vertigo over the next month or three. fun times, fun times. (I wonder if I'll be able to distinguish it from just being occasionally drunk?)

for the curious: the broken part inside my head is caused by Labyrinthitis

headlines that seem new because you haven't seen them yet. (or you haven't seen them in the past month, something like that)

Because, as we all know, intelligent meat tastes better. We just need to watch that some whales (orcas spring to mind) don't get it into their heads to eat us.

Egypt had beer. Egypt had glass. Can the archeological discovery of a sixer in the tomb of Pharaoh Not-tu-soba be far behind?

kazaa and skype. Aren't they a Vegas act, with like, white ferrets or something?

prozac or placebo?

Full Frontal Nerdity
stress balls... so... groovy...
even the geeks are wary of yon ren-fest

...and a whole lotta Sinfest. (I like a de webcomics. Have you noticed?)
coffee shop losers
yeah, that just about covers it
so, god is a comedian
it wasn't on purpose
god is so gay. [yep. goin' to hell.]
green eyed etc.
suspicions confirmed
...and the reality check
fickle

And of course, there's Loserz, which (with a like 3 month intermission which you should prolly skip) (or not, Max and Cecil aren't bad) you should probably go back and read from the word 'go'. (unlike Schlock, Erik's art improves quickly.) (no offense meant to Schlock, Howard's art has also made monumental strides over time.)

Even more webcomicy goodness:
"We have been monitoring your planet's transmissions for some time, and if you don't put Farscape back on the air..."

foundphotos: odd. interesting. insightful. addictive.

ears up:
down to the bone have a new one out, Spread Love Like Wildfire. The first track, Memphis Groove, is a good indicator of the jazz/funk thing they've got going on.

polorized/political. some from both sides; an interesting read no matter how you approach it:
Under Reported, good stuff/a good source, even with their hidden agenda.
As a balance, you should likely also read this source and one article in particular, what the founding fathers thought.
Then again, there are those who would disagree...
but I suppose they haven't done the research.

Tim Burton did Batman
Sam Raimi did Spider-Man
Peter Jackson did Lord of the Rings

Before each of these directors went mainstream, they were independents. They explored the realms of humor and horror. They struggled with minimal budgets, and found that story and character (or alternately, Bruce Campbell) will carry a movie even when the money isn’t there. Each discovered that the mere suggestion of an effect is often more effective than actually showing a big, expensive special effect. I think this is key: even after other methods are made possible by technical or monetary advances, if the story and characters are not compelling, then it's all just fireworks. Flash, bang, done. Pretty, yes, but why did I pay $9.50 for that again?

I think movie execs should take another look at each of these directors, and their work, and seriously think about how and why each managed to make a movie that went on to critical acclaim and financial success. (if, you know, 'success' is big enough of a word to describe hundreds of millions of dollars). Is there something about fantasy epics that can only be done by inspired 'amateurs'?

One final point:

Before Lucas did Star Wars, he directed American Graffiti. Compare: Before he did Phantom Menace, I think the last movie he actually bothered to direct himself was Howard the Duck. (apparently, the man either has no shame, or is incapable of learning from his mistakes.) The indy spirit will carry you to the peak of artistic endeavors-- you need to always maintain this creative spark, if that is your origin. The flip side of that coin: if you give in to the dark corporate side of the force, if you think, "How will this play in Peoria?", if you go for the least common denominator-- you’re going to fail. (Jar Jar, anyone?)

Kill Harry
link

[a mash-up of the kids book and violent cinema, as executed through the distorting lens of the online-comic book format. Full of copyright-infringy-goodness]

about two hours after I posted a link to Kill Harry, Boing Boing came up with a pointer to Chocolypse Now. Was there something in the coffee this morning?

So, having the day off, I can actually cook, rather than merely microwaving leftovers or doing the drive-through thing.

I walk into the grocery story with no idea what I want for dinner, and wait for something to jump out at me. (This is often how I cook) And what do we find this fine day? Porterhouse on sale for $7 a pound. Hey, it's on sale. I haven't had steak for at least 3 months... so it's steak night!

I picked up $10 worth of a fine looking porterhouse. This needed a little something, so I also pick up a lb. of mushrooms (crimini, often marketed as "baby portobello" mushrooms) and about that much broccoli.

And some beer. And some wine. Though I'll leave off the wine notes until I actually finish the bottles. (The steak this evening was not accompanied by the Australian Shiraz I picked up, but rather, by Guinness.) And here comes the recipe, under our standard format.

shop:
1+ lb. steak.
1 lb. mushrooms
1/2 lb. broccoli.
olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder if you like...
[serves one ]

hardware:
one very old skillet
one microwave-safe dish

procedures:

Hey, it's steak, how difficult can it be? Well, my apt. complex doesn't really let me keep a giant barbeque pit on the little screened-in porch, so were cooking inside today.

If you had a 15" cast iron pan, this would be a great time to pull it out. Alas, we have not the lovely Lodge cookware. For this application, I'd dig out the oldest, most beat up pan you have (as long as it's clean). Put the sucker to the fire, medium high heat. (My oldest skillet is an electric model, so I just plug it in and start off at 300 degrees)

Salt and pepper the steak. Rub the spices in a little. Reserve.

Mushrooms: rinse. Add a little oil to the skillet, and start cooking mushrooms. No need to slice and dice, they're lovely whole. The smaller ones cook first; you can pull them out in stages when they get done. (what is done? Me, I like raw mushrooms on salad. Somewhere between raw and 'looks like a garden slug' is done. Should taste fine no matter when you pull 'em out, so don't worry)

If you have a few large mushrooms still cooking, you can leave them in for a few more minutes, the steak won't mind.

Crank the heat up on the skillet, and then add the slab o' meat. Cooking times depend on the cut: this fine even I had a steak just shy of one inch thick. I cooked it 8 minutes on one side at 375, and then cut the heat to 325 and cooked the flip side for 7 minutes. More on how it turned out later.

So, when you apply meat to heat, just leave it. Don't flip it around a lot; you'll only need to flip it once. Don't poke it, don't slide it around, just let it cook.

If you see smoke, turn down the heat a notch and turn on the hood vent. It's fine. No, really.

While you're waiting, you can wash, cut, and steam broccoli (2 1/2 minutes on high in your microwave) (or follow the instr. if you bought frozen). And the mushrooms will have cooled, you can nuke those for a minute too. And you can enjoy a lovely adult beverage while you wait. Isn't cooking steak easy?

Service: put the steak on a plate. set a timer for 5 minutes. Let it rest. Yes, I know it's torture, but the meat will be better after a rest. If there's room on the same plate, you can add your sides. If you selected well, the steak will fill the whole damn plate. (mmmm, carnivorous goodness) just throw the mushrooms on top and find a bowl or something for the broccoli. Now, since we have five minutes, and a lovely skillet full of burnt-on steak&mushroom bits, you might take a moment to deglaze the pan, and then serve the pan drippings in a small bowl alongside your steak. You know, for dipping. Like au juis, or however you spell that.

In this case, with this steak, and my equipment, I ended up with a medium sirloin on one side, some nice rare bits right next to the bone, and a filet that was closer to medium well than not (with a porterhouse, this is what you get-- there are actually two steaks on that one t-bone) This would have worked out really well if I were serving two, since each could pick a cut that suited. However, I'm a hungry greedy bastard and I ate the whole thing myself. (for two, you might want to buy more mushrooms, they shrink when you cook 'em)

of course, 2 and some odd pounds of food, with beer, and my usual sleep deficit, has left me very sleepy. 'Night all, I know it's only 6:30 but I'm tunring in. At least for a short nap, if not for the night.

posted at 5 am and some few minutes Saturday 16 July.

A Timeline.

Friday: at work at 6pm, prepping for this other crap:

Saturday, first minute after midnight: Harry Potter 6 goes on sale. Yeah, I work at a bookstore. Yeah, so I was stuck at work.

1:10 am: we get everyone out, finally (many happy folks took their book home, I guess to start reading right away)

1:45 am: after recovery and clean-up, I finally get to leave the bookstore. Being who I am and where I'm at, I decide to make my way around the corner to a local bar. Last call is going to be soon, but I manage as well as I can in the time provided.

choice quote: "Harry effing Potter. I tell you, the way I feel right now if I see anyone under 4 feet in height I'm going to haul back and punch them"

2:30 am: last call

3:00, or thereabouts: Time to go home. Finally.

3:20 am: get back to the apartment and discover my roommate has locked me out. Oh, I have a key, but in addition to the lock, there's also the security chain-- which true to its designed purpose keeps people out even if they happen to have a key. At this point, even a dead sober person would likely be banging on the door, windows, siding, (and eventually, the roommate) trying to get someone to wake up and open the damn door. However, there are some mitigating factors at the moment.
1. my roommate is entertaining female company this weekend.
2. I happen to be a very nice guy. How my roommate rates somebody like me....

3:21 am: and back out again. might as well grab some breakfast at the Awful Waffle.

4:15 am: ...and that's about as much as I can take of the Waffle House. Even with free refills.

so I settle in, try to think of any other way inside my apartment. (nope, nothing) and then grab my laptop out of the trunk and settle in for a little web browsing and other odds and ends. Including this little update.

The sun will rise in an hour or two, but I don't think I'll wait that long. Hell, I figure I'll keep this up until the laptop battery runs out, and then I going to start banging. (hey, the two of them are lucky I let them sleep in this late...)

I am continually amazed by the sheer output Eric manages over at Websnark. Perhaps even more because I find myself enjoying the writing even when I could give a rat's ass about whatever subject he happens to be covering.

When I do find myself engaged not just by the style but also by the substance, I get grumpy and jealous and mad at myself for not being even a little more like Websnark. example: Go. Read.

But that's... o.k. I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and gosh darn it...
[snicker]

In other news, I'm thinking of setting up my own domain. As an author, I will eventually need to promote myself and my novels, and while I love tabulas to death (I really have gotten a lot out of this thing, thanks Roy!) I don't think this little blog is the place for me to launch a book. I suppose I need to take at look how well tabulas will play with others, so I can crosspost between here and whatever new site I manage to set up.

My internal debate at the moment: Do I promote myself, or my works? should I set up www.my-own-name.com or something along the lines of www.my-novel-is-great.com?

As a fantasy novelist, I'm leaning toward registering the name of the novel setting. But I may have other projects, eventually. How much will it cost to do both, I wonder?

and I suppose I should take a look at how other novelists use the web for promotion-- obviously, I should do the research, and probably have a page written [dusts off HTML skills; realizes HTML by itself probably ain't gonna cut it anymore] before I shell out to a provider for web space and name regs.

editor's note: the 'you' referenced in todays narrative isn't really you, because as we all know, my readers are all lovely, thoughtful, intelligent people. It's those other assholes...

I don't set prices. I don't make the discs. The storefront is the very last link in a very long chain.

General notice: complaining to me (or other retail lackeys) about how expensive things are actually does very little. (I take that back; usually, it does piss me off. Take an economics class, because I don't really have time to explain it to you, particularly in the small words you'll understand.)

"I'd buy this if only..."

Thanks, noted. Now, since we've established that you aren't going to be the one who allows us to make payroll this week, would you mind telling why I should continue to help you? (yeah, yeah, I know all about the CS stuff and why I have to help everyone. And smile. And even apologize for things that are in no way my fault.)

If you don't like some aspect of the lovely retail experience we provide, well then, you have options. Go shop online already.

now, Pinot Noir sales have risen since Sideways came up, so I only have one question: Why didn't Chianti see a sales spike after Silence of the Lambs?

And really, after a subject line like that, what more do I need to say?

I’m not a classy guy. Oh, I’m educated, sophisticated, relatively travelled, experienced, (blah blah blah, I’m sooooo great...and humble, too.) but I could care less about salad forks, high tea, and wine etiquette. I’m not a sommelier—though I may be one of few folks working outside of white-tablecloth-dining who can tell you what one is—but I do like drinking wine. Wine is a lovely beverage. It’s a shame someone had to go and make it more than it is.

At least I’m using the pint glass. I could just upend the bottle, right? (no need, however, to get that drunk at the moment.) And I only add the ice cubes when I don’t have time to chill the whole bottle.

##

hmm... if I didn't like beer so much, I'd be tempted to do daily wine posts to a "blue-collar sommelier" blog. You know, what sort of wine goes with a Big Mac. The best of box wine. Making your own wine coolers (Sangria is just the start)...

noted. filed. maybe next year.

"Of course I need to be inspired to write. And I make arrangements to be inspired at 6am every morning."
-- source forgotten, but I could swear it was somebody famous.

There are two types of writers, I think.
The mechanic, who has a method to her writing and can follow it from tab-A-to-finished-Ikea-bookcase; and
The artist, who can talk a lot about 'voice' and 'style' but is still working on that first novel.

[cough] um. yeah, that first novel. Hey look, a blimp!

A 'working' author will eventually turn into a Mechanic, I think. These are the ones who talk about writing as a craft, and who feel that while talent helps, it is practice, patience, and time that will eventually turn a hack writer into a published, um, hack writer. (a lot of these folks have written books on writing. I've read more than a few, and actually bought a couple dozen or so.)

While I admit to the benefits of daily practice (though of course, my little journal here isn't the best practice, given its conversational style and lack of a point. I did have a point, somewhere, didn't I?) I also strongly feel that a little inspiration certainly helps. The muse is fickle, though. Weeks can go by before you make that next breakthrough. You get ideas at the most inconvenient times. (the shower, obviously, but also in staff meetings, while driving, while running--if you're the sort who exercises--and perhaps most frustrating, in mid-kiss. "hold that thought, honey, I have to go write something down...")

With a good outline, the need for sudden flashes of brilliance is diminished somewhat. However, since outlining is a major pain in the ass (for most; some authors might argue differently) a lot of creative-types like to dive in and wrestle with the muse.

So what sort of character is my personal muse? The source for rich ideas and subtle plot twists?

Well, while alcohol has a long and storied history when it comes to writing (and art in general) I can't really support it's use. In this context. Obviously, I am a big fan of alcohol in general, beer in particular, and drinking beer with breakfast rather specifically. at least on my days off.

There's a lot to be said for unrequited love, for seeking but not obtaining, the ideal that can never be achieved. A lot of modern progress is just a guy doing what he can to get laid, doing just about everything short of lighting himself on fire to get the attention of that special someone. In the past couple of centuries, there is also a monetary component, and the widely-held myth that if only a young man has a little more money, any obstacle between himself and the object of his affection would disappear. (it makes a nice story, anyway. Dickens, "Great Expectations" et. al.) A few of my own ideas have come from my personal frustrations in this area.

Actually, despite the mythological allusions and our tendency to anthropomorphize unknowable forces, I'd say a "muse" is not so much a person, or some other harder-to-pin-down force. It's a mindset. An openness to ideas, to the universe. But I've likely had too much exposure to eastern philosophy, and that colors my perception of the phenomenon.

(must be the esspresso. I'm usually not that polysyllabic. "Polysyllabic", damn, now I'm doing it again.)

So, if you want to make the most of your Muse, be still. Be open. Let life soak in, and do what you can with it. Listen to the little voice that is only heard in the quiet moments in between the major scenes of your own personal drama. And carry a notebook, always.

##

would I call myself a Mechanic or an Artist? I'm neither. The appropriate metaphor for my writing style is the Blacksmith: I spend time stoking fires, building billets, pounding away for the longest time, and when I'm done I get a product that is neither intricate nor beautiful, but should be servicable enough.

?: why aren't the sex books in the 'fitness and exercise' section?

(this makes more sense than stuffing them next to the "why doesn't he like me?" section) (though at my bookstore, both sets are next to the books on psychoses and psychological problems. which has its own odd logic)

(maudlin crap...)

I'm feeling pretty useless. Go read 'snark or Schlock or something else I've linked to before-- it has to be more entertaining than me crying in my beer

it's about damn time...

and while we're at it, how about rolling back the excise taxes, too. Damn it. I don't want my hard earned beer money going toward frivolous things like education and care for the elderly or something.

[chuckle] O.K., so go ahead and spend the money. but maybe, just maybe, we could roll back taxes on my beer just a little bit? please? We don't make millions of dollars, but I think poor people need a tax break too, every now and then.