My Blatherings

More Musing in Print and Final Understanding

Deena — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:57:04 GMT

As if questioning my own worth and direction, yesterday, weren't enough, the old nay-sayers and nags popped up over the weekend in particular ugliness. Lee was thoroughly annoyed and fired off a long, ranting letter. And finally, finally, finally there was some explanation, though it came with an awful lot of hostility, name calling, threats of lawyers as if we were stalking them, threats of CPS, the suggestion that we should go play Faire in Corona where maybe we could "fool" people for a few years, and all sorts of other ugliness. Apparently, in my first year at Court, I had the bad manners to know more about some things than other people did, even though they'd been at Faire or in Court longer than I had, and I may have said so in a less than tactful way. I apologize to anyone who was offended by my lack of tact. I know I can be an annoying know-it-all sometimes, and I have a snotty, sarcastic sense of humor, too. I have never meant to offend anyone with either of those things. And the other great sin that I seem to have been most guilty of is my health. Apparently, other people at Faire are much sicker than I am and don't say anything about it. I try not to say a whole lot about it. Lee says more about it than I do, usually. He fusses. I just go where I need to go and do what I need to do and don't do what I can't do. Other than that, I try to ignore my health and hope it'll go away, most of the time. I wish that'd work, I really do. I get frustrated by what I can't do a lot of the time, but who doesn't? Apparently, we are bad parents because I can't teach full time, grade college English papers, and get gowns made in the year that I had pneumonia. By the way, Jen and Alison, were your gowns returned in worse condition than they were loaned? That accusation was also made. Gowns were ready by the next year, but they were never allowed out, of course. And the fact that the teenaged girls flirt (one of them a bit too much) also makes us bad parents. That problem was also resolved as soon as it was called to my attention, though it could have been handled much more tactfully. And to top matters off, our comments in response to other people's blogs are now also suspect! If I only reply to one part of a multi-sectioned blog, I am in no way trying to dismiss the importance of the rest of your blog, nor am I trying to be flippant. It is simply that something has caught my eye or my mind in one part of the blog. Frequently, another thought will come to me later, and I will refrain from posting the second thought only because I don't want to post multiple comments to the same blog post. At least they've finally laid out their grievances. I apologize to anyone who has been offended. I don't want to run around offending or alienating my friends.

Introspective---More Thinking in Print than Really Posting

Deena — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:39:03 GMT

So today's sermon was talking about what God really wants us to do with our lives. And I had to stop and think. What does God want me to do with my life at this point? I can't teach at present, though I did that for a lot of years. I don't think I can realistically start the band I had always hoped to start, though I did sing with the praise band at church for seven years. My children are grown, and Lee's are teenagers. My grandchildren currently live an hour away, and I'm not well enough to be a regular babysitter, anyway. My chances of working any job requiring me to stand for any length of time are nil. The same goes for any job requiring me to sit in the same position for too long---I have to squirm, put my feet up, and move around, or I'm in too much pain. What does that leave? Well, I read a lot. I'm online. I do some sewing and needlework when my hands and back don't hurt too much. This isn't much to build on. Lately, anytime I post in certain forums, certain people are guaranteed to be offended by whatever I post. It doesn't seem to matter much what I post, either. I should try posting that the sky is blue and see what happens. I suspect that even something so simple and obvious would set them off, however, as it is me they are objecting to, and not what I have to say. They are even less tolerant of Lee's posts. I notice that a lot of threads that we post in get deleted. And last year, being online led to our exclusion from the Queen's Court during the Renaissance Pleasure Faire. Since Court had always been a secret dream of my innermost heart, that truly hurt me more than even I knew at the time. The very thought of our exclusion still brings tears to my eyes, and I still can't decide what I want to do at Faire, this year. St. Cuthbert's was kind to us, last year, and I enjoyed my time with Margie and Judith immensely, but it wasn't really like doing Faire. And of course, I have a whole Court gown I've never worn. The girls enjoyed being peasants. Lee wants to try out to be a theme character. But I'm adrift and have no clue what I will do. I don't seem to fit in anywhere else. And that's just at Faire. Where do I fit in anywhere else? I'm fine at home. My husband and my pets love me. Lately, though, any attempt to reach further is met with resistance. Maybe I just don't have anything interesting to say to people. It's hard to be witty and charming after a couple of years of unemployment. "Yes, I'm sure that something will come along, soon." What else can I say? But how can I stay that positive after two years? And Lee has been out of work, as well. No wonder no one wants to see me. But that doesn't mean that I don't get lonely. So the two of us sit here, alone together, and become more and more odd, I suppose. Of course, he is working on his school. I'm just reading a book, as usual. But what am I supposed to be doing?

Ping: Dre!

Deena — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 18:31:56 GMT

I was reading Dre's post about that exotic coffee that is collected from cat droppings---kopa lui or something---and I remembered something I learned in my botany class about how figs are pollinated. You see, in order for a fig blossom to become a fig fruit, a wasp must die, and not just any wasp, but a female wasp. The female wasp is looking for a place to lay her eggs, and the fig blossom, full of nectar, is perfect. She knows that it will come to fruit and provide her brood with their first meal: fig. So she crawls in and lays her eggs. This is what allows the pollen of the blossom to reach the ovary and cause the blossom to fruit. Without the wasp, it cannot happen. The wasp then dies in the blossom, exhausted from laying her eggs. Her body will form part of that first meal for her offspring. Now, when you eat a fig, if it is slightly crunchy, that is the corpse of the wasp, still in the fig. Of course, most fig trees in this country are genetically altered so that they don't need wasps, but the original trees all did. Yummy. Wasp fruit. And I always wondered why I didn't like figs.

::tap tap:: Is this thing on?

Deena — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 23:51:25 GMT

Hey! We seem to be back online, again! Amazing, huh? Oh, I know, everyone sounds like they don't think it will last. I say, don't panic. And the new granddaughter smiled at me on Monday!

How did I ever have time to work?

Deena — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:53:00 GMT

The teenagers started back to school, this week. That's a very good thing! The first night of school, there was a meeting about America's marching band's trip to China, this year. Wow. They want LOTS of money, and they want it SOON! NOW would be better. She's applying for a scholarship, but, ouch! Tuesday was our anniversary, and we actually managed to go out to dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant. The food is good, the ambiance is hole-in-the-wall. It's the only place in town that makes good gnocci, though. MMMM! Wednesday was equally busy, though I don't quite remember how. But yesterday, I agreed that we would babysit all three grandbabies at once so that my son and his wife could have a date afternoon. He has to go back early in the morning on Sept. 3, so they don't have a lot of time together. They're staying at her grandmother's house, and the grandmother has terminal lung cancer. The cancer is somehow making her senile, too, and her sons are living there to try to take care of her. Add in Granddaughter, three great-granddaughters, and a grandson-in-law, and that's one crowded house. There's more space at our house, but my daughter-in-law doesn't like my house. I'm not arguing about it. On the other hand, I agreed to babysit. So we had a 4 1/2 year-old with laryngitis, a 2 1/2 year-old, and a 3 week old from noon onward, yesterday. The laryngitis was actually a big help. Kaileigh is normally quite loud, but when she can't shout for attention, she's much easier on the ears. They were really all very well behaved, and I even got them all to take a nap at the same time. Their mother was suitably impressed. The whole family then stayed for dinner: Jeremy's favorite spaghetti carbonara. Today, it was back to editing for me. I made it all the way through my fourth e-book for Lilley Press! Of course, I think this one was the shortest one, yet. Still, it was really worth reading! And to think that I used to manage all of this sort of thing and still find the time and energy to prepare for and teach 3 college classes and grade all the resulting papers! Eek!

Family Portraits

Deena — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:30:40 GMT

I guess I should know better, by now. I keep trying to get the whole family together for portraits. This year, my daughter-in-law was there, and in a reasonably cooperative mood. Granted, she was wearing a t-shirt that said "ARMY" across the front, but she was there. She even fixed her daughters' hair and helped me get my son to shave. My husband even roped the boy into a shirt that didn't have The General Lee on it. Sarah showed up, in the midst of her packing, dragging the two friends who refused to let me have my daughter to myself, even for dinner, on her last day in town. Sarah was dressed nicely, but exhausted, stressed out, and just getting over a cold. Considering that she left at 5:00 AM this morning to move farther from home than ever before, none of this was really surprising. America was exhausted from her day at Band Camp. Her director has them working twelve hour days in the 100+ heat, and you can tell from her face that she is exhausted. She isn't smiling in a single picture. She's also not wearing all black, however, which proves she was trying to be cooperative. I managed to talk Tatiana into wearing clothes that didn't have large holes in them, weren't all black, and didn't look like she was a homeless child. After all of that, this was the most successful picture out of the ten or so that we took.

Family Portrait Updates

Deena — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 04:43:17 GMT

It looks like Jeremy and Sarah will overlap with America's time off from Marching Band Camp by exactly one evening. Everybody pray that Amber and the babies don't get sick on Monday!

Tomorrow!

Deena — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:03:40 GMT

So tomorrow is the big day for Lilley Press! The first two books will be released. And my name is actually on both of them as one of the editors. Isn't that way cool? Tomorrow they start taking orders! http://www.lilleypress.com In other news, Sarah called today to tell me that she is taking a new job, next Wednesday, in the Bay Area. This means she'll be moving there on Tuesday. It also means she'll be closer to her boyfriend, and making $2 an hour more than she has been making to do the same sort of job she has been doing. She'll just be working for another company. Jeremy will be home on leave, soon, and will get to see his new baby. I know he has to be looking forward to that as much as I'm looking forward to seeing him. I really hope he gets home before Sarah leaves on Tuesday. I want a whole family portrait, again, now that he and Amber have another daughter. I don't get too many opportunities to take those, anymore, and in the last one, the current 2 1/2 year old was still an infant!

R J Astruc, Author of Harmonica and Gig on the Blog Tour

Deena — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:43:05 GMT

A little about RJ Astruc: I'm an Irish/African speculative fiction writer currently based in Australia. Most of my writing concerns issues of race, gender, politics, and how freaking awesome it would be if the world worked exactly how I wanted it to. I have a long-suffering second husband and no pets. 15. What did you find most difficult when you were writing this book? Weirdly, this book went past quite fast, I didn't have any major difficulties. I wrote it in just under three months during our summer break at university, so I had to churn it out pretty quickly to get it done before term started. Aside from the editing done by Lilley, it's a first draft - I didn't go back and rewrite anything, and the plot worked itself out as fast as I could write it. 16. How would you describe your writing? I like to think I'm succinct. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WJ8uFrNKZw Cover Blurb: "The rules of the qverse don't apply when you're dicing with its queen...." Felix "Gig" McGuiggen is having one hell of a week. Arnold Lee, a mid-level programmer and all-around nobody, stabbed himself to death while jacked in to the virtual reality known as the "qverse." Viger Singer, Lee's employer, has offered Gig a million dollars to prove it was a suicide and not the first-ever murder by brain hack. From the moment Gig said yes, he's been harassed, stalked, bugged, lied to, kidnapped, and nearly blown to smithereens. And that's just outside the qverse. On the upside, his partner in crime solving is his idol, the mysterious hack known only as "Harmonica." But when Gig meets the legend at last, he isn't the crusty old dinosaur Gig expected—in fact, he's a she, and she's the woman of his most intricately detailed, impossible fantasies. On the downside, Gig might not live long enough to do anything about it. Tomorrow's Blog Tour Stop: Jeff Johnston's LiveJournal: http://jeffthegeek.livejournal.com Talk to RJ Astruc! RJ Astruc will be chatting in the Lilley Press chat room on August 15th at 9pm EST! www.lilleypress.com/chat

Blog Tour: Lora Deeprose, Author of The Still Life of Hannah Morgan

Deena — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 01:06:31 GMT

A little bit about Lora: I was an extremely shy child. I found solace in books and daydreaming. Books were my most loyal friends and my imagination was my playground. Although I was always making up stories, it wasn’t until my mid-thirties that I committed these stories to paper. I’ve always preferred to spend a great deal of time by myself. When asked what my dream job would be I would say, “To work in a cave making widgets.” Now I realize writing is a great deal more fun and infinitely more satisfying that widget production. 9. Do you study the craft of writing in any particular way? Not really. I just read a great deal and write whenever I can. 11. Do you have any advice for writers who are just starting out? Read everything and anything you can get your hands on. Write from your authentic self, find your own voice, and tell stories that resonate within you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkHFMwbapFU Cover Blurb: "The longer you choose to play it safe, the more miserable your life will become. The universe rewards risk my dear; you know what you need to do." Hannah Morgan’s life is at a standstill. Her dreams of becoming an artist vanished with the sudden death of her grandmother and mentor. To appease her distant and disapproving mother, Hannah gets a respectable job at a high-end day spa. Instead of painting masterpieces, Hannah spends her days painting nails and giving facials to wealthy women. Her dreams for the future have become a hideous nightmare. And it just keeps getting worse. She catches her boyfriend cheating, loses her job, and has to watch from the sidelines as her best friend, Jasmine Blue, goes after her own dreams of owning her own salon. Then she meets Aaron, a working artist, and finds in him a kindred spirit. And, to her surprise, she finds the courage to follow her dreams. When circumstances beyond her control threaten to destroy both her relationship with Aaron and her dreams of a bright future, Hannah fears her mother was right—that some dreams aren’t meant to come true. Tomorrow's Blog Tour Stop: Sarah Wagner's Livejournal: http://shade53.livejournal.com Talk to Lora Deeprose! Lora Deeprose will be chatting in the Lilley Press chat room on August 15th at 8pm EST! www.lilleypress.com/chat

Happiness is a new grandbaby and other strange things

Deena — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:47:06 GMT

At nearly 7:00 AM, my third granddaughter came into this world. Her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck, and they had a hard time getting her to start breathing. As a result Briana Shyann will be spending at least one extra day in the hospital. She weighed in at 9 lbs. 1 oz., and was 19 1/2 inches long. She seems to be cold, even when the room is hot, and her blood sugar is low. The nurses are watching her like a hawk. The nurses are also nearly forcing her mother to stick to her stated plan to try to breastfeed. This pleases me no end, as I think my daughter-in-law has given up far too easily with the two earlier granddaughters, and I understand that there are so many benefits for naturally fed babies. Of course, if I had applied that much pressure or given the same advice, she wouldn't have listened at all. As far as she is concerned, nothing I have to say is of any worth, and my feelings certainly don't matter. Case in point: yesterday, the d-i-l texted Lee to say she was having an emergency Caesarean section delivery because the amniotic fluid levels were too low and the baby's head wasn't down or engaged, yet. No, she didn't want us to pick up the older girls, and NO, we could NOT sit in the waiting room because she was only allowed one person in the waiting room. What? She would have SOMEONE call us when the baby was delivered. There was no indication of whom this might be, and I don't think any of her relatives or friends have our phone numbers. This was all at lunch time. We didn't hear ANYTHING else until my son came online from Iraq on Yahoo IM around dinner time. HE told us she'd gone into natural labor and the baby's head was down. When we arrived at the hospital this morning, Briana was in the nursery for observation and tests. Some woman who isn't related to the d-i-l, the baby, or anyone else is standing next to the bassinet watching, but I'M not allowed in because I don't have the father's armband, SHE does. SHE ISN'T RELATED TO MY GRANDDAUGHTER, AND THAT ISN'T RIGHT! To say I was livid is to totally understate the point. I'd been excluded and treated like a mushroom, yesterday, and today, some other woman was being given MY SON'S RIGHTS? Oh no. If anyone belonged in there besides me, it was a member of the d-i-l's family. This woman is the d-i-l's friend's mother. AND the d-i-l calmly informs me that when my son comes home on leave, they will be spending AT LEAST 3 days of his leave in Yucca Valley with this other woman and her family.

GOOD news regarding unemployment

Deena — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:15:39 GMT

I actually qualify for an extension of my unemployment, even though I am applying for disability, and even though I have a sort of job. Well, it's a job that's technically in another country and won't be paying me any money until books start selling in a couple of weeks, and even then it will only be a small percentage of the royalties. That's probably why I still count as unemployed. But I am editing a third novel this week! This one won't be out before November, unfortunately, but it will definitely be in our next group of releases. AND the big release party is still coming up for the first two novels on August 16! Things may be looking up just a tiny bit.

Caught Up

Deena — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 01:29:12 GMT

Well, it's taken me all day, but I've finally caught up on Tribe. Let me catch you up. This hasn't been my favorite week. I had not one, but two teeth pulled on Thursday, pretty much knocking me out for the rest of the week. That would be why I need to catch up, now. The abscess and extraction swelling have both gone down, now, to the point that I look almost normal. I've also gotten to see two doctors for disability, and this is so they can determine whether or not I will qualify for Medicare because I am disabled. Nice. The one today looked at X-rays of my spine. This is the same spine that no less than 3 doctors wanted to fuse two years ago. This doctor isn't convinced that my spine hasn't always been that way. Okay, so why did it suddenly start hurting a few years ago? Why am I less flexible than I used to be? Why are my legs not lifting as high as I think they are anymore? The one the day before my teeth were extracted was a p-shrink. "So, what medications do you take for your depression and anxiety?" and "What happens if you don't take them?" And at the end of the appointment, "Thank you for your cooperation in this." It's not like they gave me a choice. If I refuse to cooperate, they refuse me benefits. End of application. They even sent me the notice of the appointment by mail. Where is the choice? On a brighter note, my neighbor has given me a marvelous chair that helps me get back up after I sit down! I don't have to worry that it will ever be too low to get out of. It kind of freaks Raleigh out, though. And speaking of being freaked out, I found a TICK on Raleigh this afternoon! I also removed it, and Lee dealt with it. But how gross is that? I told Lee he'd better check Bowzer closely, too. If Raleigh could find one in the high bushes in the back yard, then it's possible that Bowzer could, too. We should make sure they're both tick free. Those things can carry diseases!

I Just Don't Think This Is My Week

Deena — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:32:33 GMT

I've had what I'm pretty sure is a dental abscess since Sunday. Since nobody in our family has money or insurance, right now, I called the dental school at Loma Linda University Medical Center. I've heard great things about them. The soonest they could see me was today, Wednesday. Eek! That's a long, long time to hurt like this. So I called my doctor's office, and he put me on antibiotics, yesterday, and made sure I had tranquilizers to face the dentist. Have I mentioned that I will only go to the dentist if it hurts so badly that I can't stand it anymore? I never went numb correctly as a child---the nerves in my mouth seem to be kind of cross-wired. I thought the dentist's office was a form of torture. My father had an appointment with his opthalmologist, this morning. I convinced him to let his neighbors take him, just this once. The disability people had scheduled me for a psychiatric evaluation this afternoon. I knew that was going to be entertaining. On the way to the dentist, the car made a funny noise. I looked at Lee and said, "That didn't sound good." He said, "That was the sound of the clutch cable breaking." Both of us had forgotten our cell phones at home. Lee had to walk to a pay phone to call the dental office and cancel my appointment. He had to call his daughters at home to have them call the tow truck, since our roadside assistance plan is through our cellphones. We did get home in time for me to find a neighbor to take me to the psychiatric evaluation, which seemed quite a silly waste of time. When we got home, I called the regular dentist's office. They can see me at 9:00 AM. Then I sat down on the couch with a warm rice bag on my face and a fresh pain pill and fell soundly asleep. I missed the online editor's meeting I was supposed to be at. By the time I woke up, it was over. This just isn't my week.

Party Preparations Continue

Deena — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:25:54 GMT

Lee and I are busily working away, trying to get the house ready for the party. If you've ever been to our house when we aren't having a party, you'll know why. He is working on organizing inside, and I have been dead-heading the roses. I know this seems like the opposite of normal familial chore planning, but it works out for us. You see, I'm really not much use for housework. Since I can't stand up for very long at a time, what I can do is quite limited. And so I leave most of the indoor stuff to Lee and the teenagers. I chip in where I can. I take Raleigh for a walk, here and there, so that he isn't snatched away by a large bird of prey like JayJay was. And while I'm doing this, I pick the dead-heads off the rose bushes. Raleigh really just wants to sniff everything in the yard, anyway. His leash is stretchy, and covers about a third of the front yard from the front rose bushes. Today, he and I hit the back rose bushes. This means that Bowzer got in on the act, too. Of course, as soon as we went through the back gate, Bowzer hit the front yard and was off for the wide world. Lee had to go chase him down. Then Bowzer had to give Raleigh a good sniffing over. Raleigh and Bowzer are really good friends, even though they're both males and unneutered, so far. The only problem is that Bowzer is so much bigger than Raleigh that there is an occasional problem caused by the weight difference. Bowzer doesn't mean to hurt Raleigh, Bowzer just outweighs Raleigh by a factor of four. When you take a 7 pound dog and let him play with a 48 pound dog, the 7 pound dog is occasionally going to get stepped on. This makes Raleigh a little timid around Bowzer. I've also discovered that something is frying my roses---not just the blooms, but the stems, the leaves, and even the spider webs in the leaves. This is kind of strange. Lee says he'll look into the watering this evening or in the morning. I suppose it could be a water issue. If it weren't for the spider web thing, I'd think someone had overfed them, but I didn't have any rose food this year to give them. (This is why all the roses are so small, this year. That and the broken sprinklers all year.) I don't know what to think. But party plans and clean up continue to go forward! Remember to let me know if you haven't gotten your invite, yet!

Who Hasn't Gotten an E-vite, Yet?

Deena — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:00:37 GMT

Granted, if you live out of state or in Northern California, I doubt you'll make it to the Book Release Party, which is a pity, since there'll be door prizes and stuff. But anyone closer should really consider dropping in, if only for the possibility of free stuff. How often do I get to give away swag? This is too cool! All I need from you is a PM with your email address to send you the evite, or just a PM asking for details. The evite is prettier, but I'll send details without if you really don't want to give out your email address, too.

The Book Release Party

Deena — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:17:29 GMT

If you didn't get an invitation, it's because I don't have your email address in my Eudora. Send me a PM and I'll fix that. Here are the trailers for the books, so far. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu44463iKhE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkHFMwbapFU&feature=user

Ahb Thick and General Observations from People Watching at the Library

Deena — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:10:42 GMT

I hate summer colds. Of course, any illness is always out to get me, but this cold really has me stomped. Ugh. But we went to the library, the other day. We've been doing that a lot, lately. Checking books out is a lot less expensive than buying them when you read at an average rate of a book a day. And since the girls are out of school, they are actually finding time to do something besides spend their lives on the internet. They read Manga. I'm not allowed to call them comic books, no matter what they look like to me. Even calling them graphic novels gets me weird looks. And Lee has been printing resumes and such for his job search, since even our printer has given up the ghost. So, having collected a stack of books from the convenient New Fiction shelf in the lobby, I was sitting, waiting for everyone else to be done, near where people check in for the computers. A woman with a large baby in a carrier and a 5-6 year-old girl was waiting to check in while another woman was checking in. The woman checking in was having trouble. Clearly, she'd never done this before. The woman with the children tried to explain it to her, but didn't have a hand free to demonstrate. A line of men began to form on the other side, and they became really grumpy. The technologically challenged woman decided to go to the desk to get help, and went past the woman with children to do so. This meant that one of the men cut in front of the woman with the children, and the whole line of them then decided they were in front of her, even though she'd been waiting, first. She told them she'd been waiting, first, but they were really kind of rude about not caring. And when the lady who'd gone for help came back, nobody let her back up to the front, either. In fact, everyone was grumpy, pushy, and rude about it. It would have taken less than 30 seconds for the first man in that line to help technologically challenged figure out registration. 30 seconds more would have passed as the first woman waiting registered and went to wait somewhere more comfortable with her children. And then the men could all have registered with only a minute's delay, and a whole lot less unpleasantness. We all were taught to stand in line and wait our turn in kindergarten. Why can't we do it anymore as adults? What is wrong with people?

About One of the Books I've Been Working on!

Deena — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:16:12 GMT

I'm so excited that one of these is ready to show, now! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkHFMwbapFU

Hopeful

Deena — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:16:24 GMT

This week I've been very hopeful. I finished line editing the second novel for Lilley Press that will be released August 15, and I hope to be having one of the many book release parties for the novels that I've worked on on the release date. More will be forthcoming about the Book Release Party, later, but please save the date for me! Lee has been trying very hard to work at a job that we both know he is eminently unsuited for. We both know he is not a salesman. But we also both agreed that he had nothing to lose by trying. And so all week he has gone door to door, much against his nature, and worked at being a salesman. It's gone better than his first week selling insurance went. I also notice that each day, it takes longer for him to work up his nerve to leave the house and try again. I don't think I can ask him to try this for much longer. Surely a week is a fair trial period? But he had such high hopes for this job if it worked, and I am afraid it is crushing his spirit. He is still submitting resumes, applications, and letters of interest.

Mom's Side of the Family

Deena — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 06:53:00 GMT

One of the stories I read recently had to do with Scottish clans. I knew that my mother's family had it's own clan tartan, though it was really a sept of another clan. So this evening, I did a bit of research, and I found us. The Allisons are a sept of Clan MacAlistair.

Good News?

Deena — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:50:35 GMT

Lee has a sort of job offer. It's door to door, straight commission. Which means once again there are no benefits and no guarantees. He's going to try it for a week or two. What's to lose, right now? Maybe it will pay the rent.

For Glen and for Fun

Deena — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:52:39 GMT

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QMr4jV9pqjs&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl4M3qjjeQU&feature=related http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oGkmrQ9VJIQzYBuk5XNyoA?p=jackson+Five+you+tube&y=Search&fr=fptb-msgr-s&ei=UTF-8 I later got to know some of these guys. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EhcPuwBvZg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOnjIkhTOLQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOc1rSkQp-E These guys were big in my life for awhile. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngl7U-L3YLk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZviYmTMpBXE&feature=related My friend actually had the whole album of this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziOzsuLbSa8&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GtBjND0dE4 and one of my favorites of his http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQey4LAvvrA&feature=related IF you've made it this far, this has been more or less chronological, though I've left LOTS of stuff out as being far too mainstream. I hope you've had as much fun as I did.

Disability Updates

Deena — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:45:10 GMT

So today was my appointment with the Social Security Administration. This was an education in itself; large government offices usually are. Within the last five years, I have worked three quarters too few to qualify for disability benefits under Social Security. I didn't apply for SSI, since I am married, and I do expect that my husband will be finding a job and returning to work, soon. The gentleman who helped me did resubmit my application as a government employee's application for Medicare, only, and so it is possible that in two years, I may begin to receive Medicare benefits. This would mean I would at least have help with my medical bills and medications. Basically, the curse of the adjunct faculty has hit me. Since I worked at only one university, there were academic quarters when I had no classes. This also meant there were Social Security quarters when I accrued no benefits. And of course, one of the reasons that I was so far down the list for classes was that I was a pain to schedule classes for because of my disabilities, and another was that I got poor teaching reviews because of my disabilities. Teachers who mostly sit in one place, don't write on the board much, and sometimes fall asleep during their own classes (while students are doing group work) do not get good student evaluations of themselves. And let's face it, that last summer session, I was falling asleep WHILE I was talking, and that was REALLY bad. That's why I haven't had a class, since. And the stress of TRYING to teach full-time, the last year that I did, managed to give me pneumonia, make me late for Court costuming deadlines, make me late for High School Outreach Program Deadlines for the Inland Empire Writing Project, and made all of my physical symptoms worse. I'm not going to torture myself that way, anymore. So it's time to focus on the line editing project with Lilley Press. You'll all be hearing much more about that as Lilley approaches it's first Release Date: August 15, 2008! Keep watching this space!

Shoes for Me!

Deena — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:41:32 GMT

I've finally found shoes worthy of posting. These are by Gucci. They're $22.00, and they're listed as "Comfortable Shoes". The same site also had shoes by Chanel, Coach, and Louis Vuitton, all in the same price range. These are shoes I could actually wear without falling and hurting myself, without torturing my back, and without breaking an ankle. Hurray for real shoes!