You know what’s really hard? Trying to buy a house and write a novel in the same month.

This may surprise some of you, but I love watching sports. I don’t have a TV, so I don’t stay up to date on anything.

I mostly watch rather than play. I’m pretty good at sports that don’t involve a ball (i.e. swimming, dancing, wrestling). I’m an okay sprinter and a poor long-distance runner, or at least I was last time I tried.

When it comes to sports with balls (heh heh heh), it’s a completely different story. I was okay at basketball. I couldn’t shoot worth anything, but I was fantastic on defense. In middle school basketball, I’d yank the ball from other players’ hands. Perfectly legal if I don’t touch the player, just the ball. And if I couldn’t yank, I’d drag us both to the ground and wrestle until the ref whistled a jump ball. Totally fun.

But basketballs are big and pretty slow-moving (comparatively). I have always struggled with any sport that involves a fast-moving ball. Especially when it’s headed for me. Softball terrified me because I was afraid of getting hit by a pitch–or worse, someone’s line drive. I played catcher so I felt safer (slow-pitch softball, no base-stealing).

Tennis–I had a killer serve. I just couldn’t hit anything back. So I aced my serves and couldn’t do anything else. I did better in doubles. 🙂 Volleyball–also aced many of my serves, served some perfect games, was reduced to gibbering mess if a volleyball came at me.

I think it’s because I needed glasses at a very young age, and had bad eyesight before that–so I never developed that sense of “where the ball is” when I’m not touching it. (Contact juggling: fun and not too hard. Toss juggling: I never could learn it.)

Long ramble, made short: I was in the Persian coffeeshop today and got distracted by the penalty kicks in the World Cup. Being a soccer goalie is somewhere near the bottom on my list of “things I’d enjoy and be good at.”

Too much gloom and doom in the news, so here’s… Pile of kitteh!

I don’t know if anyone else does this, but sometimes I pull random pictures of people off the internet and use them as inspiration for characters. Just to give myself a solid mental image of who I’m writing about.

Sometimes it doesn’t matter a lot what they look like, and sometimes I’m fussy about the details.

So I’ve gotten most of the pics for the important characters in my novel. I’ve got one picture right now that’s close to what I want, but his coloration is all wrong. I need to photoshop it at Kinko’s, but I’m kinda rusty on my skills (not that I ever had many with this). I’m willing to try it, but I thought I’d ask here first–maybe someone would find it easy and fun to do.

Anyone want to help me alter the colors in the photo? If not, I’ll just go to Kinko’s and try it myself.

Gandalf Goes to the World Cup. Work-safe, plays music.

Just signed a contract for “Witness” to appear later this year in Redstone Science Fiction, a relatively new online market.

Since they’re new, I’d like to speak up and say that so far, they’ve treated me very well. Good response time for one thing. Also, when I had a small issue with the contract, Redstone fixed it and emailed me a new contract within 30 minutes. They even thanked me for pointing it out.

Related to last night’s question about “what do you do with your laptop when you need the bathroom”…

I was hoping someone had a great solution here, but it sounds like you guys tend to do what I do–drag the laptop to the bathroom with you.

My problem is twofold.

1) I need the bathroom more often than most people, so I can’t just hold out for hours.
2) I need more gear to be comfortable. Specifically, many of you have seen me dragging those big black cushions around WisCon or here in the Bay Area. Those cushions are expensive, but I’m not sure whether anyone would target them. A bigger worry than thieves is that someone would think, “Oh, the library offers these nice seats! I’ll take these cushions elsewhere,” and I’d never find them. Not to mention I need a rolling suitcase/duffle thing to travel with all this.

One solution I have is to choose a shop with squishy seats so I don’t need my cushions. But that doesn’t help at the library, and sometimes I need that quiet focus.

What do you think? Should I relax about the cushions and leave them when I go to the bathroom? I can handle dragging the laptop & purse, but adding the cushions is really a huge hassle each time.

ETA: The cushions are lumbar support medical devices. They aren’t just pillows. They look like a portable folding cushion-chair, sort of.

Hey writers, coders, and other people who work in coffeehouses and libraries or wherever.

What do you do with your laptop when you have to go to the bathroom? Do you take it with you? Do you have a laptop lock? Do you ask someone to watch it? Or do you assume nothing will happen to it for a few minutes?

If you take the laptop with you (which I’d guess is the most common choice), what do you leave in your chair? Jackets, research materials, etc? Or does it all go with you?

Or do you only take pen & paper when you’re working from a public location?

I love birthdays and I’ve got one coming up in about two weeks. Some people have asked me what I want for my birthday.

What would make me very happy is if everyone would donate to their local food pantry. Drop off a bag of food, send a check, or spend an afternoon volunteering there. I’d be delighted to know that people were helping the needy in my honor.

That’s what I want for my birthday.

***

However, some people really like giving gifts (and I understand that–I’m one of them!) And it _is_ fun to get presents. So for those who have asked what sorts of Things and Stuff I like, here’s my wishlist.

Forbidden Island board game. It’s another cooperative game like Arkham Horror, where all players are on the same team. In this game, you’re trying to escape the island before it sinks.

Endless Ocean (Wii game) bundled with microphone. Swimming underwater with fishies! This is what you do after the island sinks, I guess.

Music. I have a long wishlist, but the top four right now… from Dead Can Dance: Into the Labyrinth, Spleen & Ideal. Also Ani DiFranco: Puddle Dive, Out of Range

Stationery. I tend to like bold colorful stuff with floral or abstract patterns, but I’m not fussy. Anything that makes you think of me.

Minis! I have a huge list of minis I want to paint. Here’s a few of them. Any minis are fun, so you can also just go to Games of Berkeley or wherever and pick some. I tend to like “feminine, flowy, and surreal,” meaning lots of long hair and capes and mists and so on. Or freaky weird monsters.

Dragoth the Defiler,

Vanessa Redstorm,

Hakir the Mummy Lord,

Crypt of the Vampiress,

Shaeress Nashanneth,

Starmane the Unicorn.

Earrings! I’m easy to please. Here’s some that I like. Anything along these lines is probably great. I like sparkly. 🙂

I like these pink ones,

these lava ones,

these peardrop ones,

these amethyst ones,

and these expensive but lovely ruby ones.

Things I do not need right now: Food, books, stuffed animals, cluttery “pretty things” that aren’t useful.

Hi all. Many of you have read about ongoing problems for Darja (ombriel) and her family. The short version: High-risk pregnancy, several months of bedrest and hospitalization, boy/girl twins born premature, the loss of her son shortly after, continued life-threatening health problems for her daughter who’s now home, and disabling headaches for her husband who is their source of income.

Any new mom is under stress. She is under 1,000 times the normal levels. Plus, with her husband semi-disabled for now, she’s the primary caregiver for her daughter.

I’ve been talking to Darja about ideas to help out. With her permission and approval, I’m ready to start some of those rolling. Currently her parents are with her, helping out. She will need help when they leave in July. So I’m getting the infrastructure in place now. In particular, this is a time when local friends would be tremendously helpful. I’m coordinating here on my blog so it’s less stress for her.

I am looking for at least two volunteers who want to help organize efforts, as listed in points 1 and 2. I’d also like a bunch of “followers” who are happy to donate an afternoon of time or some food or whatever, if someone tells them what to do; just speak up. Lastly, I’d like feedback regarding point 3 from anyone who has ideas.

1) Researching Modestneeds.org. This is an easy task and can be done by anyone on the internet with a little time. There’s a site called Modest Needs. They pay bills for people in need, up to $1000. (It’s intended to cover things like surprise medical expense, which can really wreck a person’s finances.) Someone needs to contact this group and see whether Darja’s family is eligible for help (they may not meet the income requirements). In short, we need someone who can research this site, email them, and determine if it’s helpful. If it’s a possibility, help Darja and her family apply. (To avoid duplicating effort, don’t start this until we decide who’s doing it.)

2) Coordinating Lotsa Helping Hands. This task is best done by someone who is a) local and b) has experience with newborns. However, it could be done by someone (or several someones) who are neither. What Darja’s family could use is a coordinator to arrange basic household help from her friends–who are anxious and ready to help, but no one is sure when/what to do. Tasks can include bringing over cooked meals, cleaning floors, arranging the nursery, or whatever else the family needs. Most importantly, the coordinator needs to think of things the family may need, and discuss with Darja which things she wants. (Thus someone with baby experience is helpful!) If you don’t want to coordinate this, but want to participate, speak up and the coordinator can get you on a list. I recommend using Lotsa Helping Hands, which is designed for exactly this purpose, but it could also be done by email.

3) Brainstorming. Anyone who has an opinion: What help do new parents need (that they may not even know about) which their friends can offer? Post here, to give the Lotsa Helping Hands coordinator some ideas.

Quick summary: We need someone to research Modest Needs, someone to coordinate Lotsa Helping Hands (plus “followers” to help with it), and general ideas for ways we can help (which can then be scheduled with Lotsa Helping Hands).

Post here, or email me at w e b AT vylarkaftan DOT n e t.

ETA: Some of us already gave the family some money to help with expenses, for which they were enormously grateful. I organized it privately by email about a month ago. If I missed you and you want to send something, you can either paypal something to them directly or paypal it to me at the above address, and I’ll forward it along. Thanks once again to everyone who helped out here, and also to those who wanted to but couldn’t. Darja has said repeatedly how amazing her friends have been.

ETA again: At this point, we’re assembling forces for the casserole brigade. Email me at the above address if you haven’t yet, and would like to help.