What we're writing and even eating is being tracked by the U.S. government. Honestly! I just sent the following emails. Blogging is fine, but one of our remaining rights is to contact our political leaders directly. I urge you to do the same.
Dear Mr. Edwards; I just sent the following email to to my Congressman (Bingaman.) But, as my Presidential candidate, I feel it's crucial that you also see this and take immediate action. I will be submitting an Op-Ed piece to the Des Moines Register (as a former Iowan), explaining why I feel it is essential that you emerge as the front-runner there. I intend to include something about the danger of these excessive Executive Powers in that piece, too.
Senator Bingaman; I must rely on you as my only Democratic congressional representative, to take decisive and immediate action against these outrageous Presidential directives (NSPD51 and HSPD 20) that give the Bush administrative excessive Executive powers. I have recently learned about directives to the FBI to monitor our email, personal activities and even our FOOD consumption, as ways to profile terrorist activities. I am a life-long, born-in-America, US Citizen. And if, as an open-minded "Anglo" female, I eat Mediterranean food, read Islamic literature, or even visit a Mosque, that is my absolute right. Or, at least I thought so, until I reviewed these directives. We are losing our Constitutional rights. I am shocked that the President has the power to order such monitoring and profiling of my activities. We have become the Fascists (authoritarian political ideology) and racists, and should not be interfering or intervening in the affairs of other nations when our own government is in shambles.
Correcting this situation, excessive Executive powers and directives, must be your top priority. This can be resolved quickly since you have Democratic control now. Then you can address climate, oil dependency and solar energy incentives. I know I speak for many who will not take the time to write. Protect US! Please act now.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Shhhh... I'm Noveling Now
Yep, I'm doing it!Every year I swear I can't possibly do NaNoWriMo again. Yet, here I go again. Why? Why would anyone in their "write" mind even consider writing 50,000 words in a month? Why would anyone run a marathon? or climb Mt Everest? For the Challenge. To proclaim oneself successful, and like a marathon... just to cross the Finish Line.
But, I want to post this for ALL to see. I really only "have" to make 30K words, because I'm really trying to write a new middle section for my novel. Going all out for the 50K (which I did last year), means messy, stupid writing. And, that's wonderful -- actually a great way to write first draft stuff. Last year we would write anything during "all nighters" on weekend "write nights" to pump up the word count. It was a blast and some really creative stuff emerged. But, I can't do that this year. I'm on a deadline to finish this one, and I simply can't create another word pile. (but notice how many words I'm wasting on blog entries, updating the AKS site, and private Nanograms within the Nano site.) STOP the madness -- close the blog and start novel writing. NOW!
C ountdown to NANO (October 25)
November is National Novel Writing Month (hence the acronym.) How can I not do it, especially this year when I'm on a Mission to finish AKS. One of the few NaNo rules is to start a new project each time. Ha! this will be the third time I've violated that and worse, admitted it on the forums. Here is this year's early confession. I posted in the Roswell section to be funny and sneaky.
So, I have tonight, five more days and Halloween, which for me is NaNo Eve, to edit my existing material. Because the one thing that is important about NaNo is it's writing time -- NOT editing. Those are two entirely different activities that use different parts of the brain. And, since my brain is very bad these days, I can't possibly confuse it further mixing those modes. No Way!
And, for now, the most important thing is to get back to editing. YIKES! The clock is ticking.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Real Justice
Not only does Sheriff Joe Arpaio ("the toughest Sheriff in the nation") put Maricopa County (AZ) convicts in tents, he uses the air conditioned jail as an animal shelter. I love that! His point, "The animals deserve the better treatment. They are the victims of abuse. The criminals can live outside in the tents." I say RIGHT ON! He's absolutely right. Here in ABQ we've had the death penalty for animals who have already been victimized, while our jail inmates live in our luxurious 90 MILLION dollar jail. How screwed up is that? Bernalillo County will go bankrupt supporting this insane, upside down system. We can't afford to pay enough to hire competent IT staff, but we give incentives to bring in more corrections workers.
The staggering statistic I heard this week was this: What does it cost for a year at Harvard? $43-thousand. What does it cost for a year in the California penitentiary? $44-thousand. Clearly we need more politicians like Arpaio who will take a hard line. I'm sick of paying over 30% of my earnings for jails, jail scams, courthouse kickbacks, and the bloated cost of the alleged justice system (where there is none.) And, for wars and waste on the federal level. Which candidate is addressing this stuff? Take the Quiz and find out: Who to Vote for in 2008
The staggering statistic I heard this week was this: What does it cost for a year at Harvard? $43-thousand. What does it cost for a year in the California penitentiary? $44-thousand. Clearly we need more politicians like Arpaio who will take a hard line. I'm sick of paying over 30% of my earnings for jails, jail scams, courthouse kickbacks, and the bloated cost of the alleged justice system (where there is none.) And, for wars and waste on the federal level. Which candidate is addressing this stuff? Take the Quiz and find out: Who to Vote for in 2008
Saturday, October 6, 2007
take me to the River
After 3 1/2 years of cautiously protecting the title of another of my "in progress" writing projects, I can now reveal it. Not because it's finished, or published... oh no, because my lack of focus and inability to finish has resulted in yet another massive disappointment. "Take Me to the River" is indeed published, but by someone else.
I knew the title was too good and that's why I never, ever said it aloud. In hold'em, the River, is the final card. The title is a play on an old song by the Talking Heads. It was a perfect title for my effort to be the the first woman to bust the last bastion of male domination -- to Win the World Series of Poker (WSOP.) In writing (on blogs, my website, and in emails) I always referred to my poker journal as TmttR. Just like I call my Phil book AKS. Putting that stuff "out there" in the aether is too dangerous. The only thing I can say in my defense (on the poker project), is that unless I won (or at least PLAYED) in a WSOP, there was really no purpose to my 100,000 plus words about playing online and trying to get to the real deal. So, F that idea.
I haven't even played poker for the past few months. The first blow was having some local hag win a seat to this year's WSOP playing on AOL. That was enough to gag a maggot. I thought it was my destiny to 1) be the first ABQ player to win my way to WSOP, and do it on Full Tilt -- a far superior and respectable method, as opposed to idiotic AOL. 2) Once there, I was to make my way deep into the field of nearly 8-thousand players, ideally win of course. I knew winning was as unlikely as hitting Powerball, but that wasn't stopping me. 3) Once I won, or made the final table, or even just "made the money" (cashed), I would finish TmttR and voila, I would be a published writer. Interest in my poker playing experience and the subsequent TV interviews, would be the opportunity to promote my AKS novel, to be published next year (2008.) See how perfect my plan was? See how F'd it is now?
So, I'm pissed but Phil is ecstatic. He never cared for the poker project which has been just another diversion from completing AKS. He is doing everything he can (from Beyond) to pave the way so I will finish HIS book. Think I'm kidding? I could fill this blog with examples of how he has intervened to make AKS a reality.
Just today, YES TODAY, he insinuated himself into my consciousness. How? While I was bitching and muttering under my breath about the poker book fiasco, I went to the library to get a much needed Buddhist manual on anger management ;) As I was walking in the door, I glanced over where the library keeps a box of recycled magazines. There on the very top was a New Yorker magazine. I chuckled and thought, now wouldn't it be "a sign" if that was the one with the article about Phil. It was the August 20 issue. I picked it up, flipped it open, and there on the table of contents was Philip K Dick -- page 79. And, the title? "Blows Against the Empire: the Return of Philip K Dick." See -- he won't take no for an answer. I picked up the mag and brought it home. Now, here he is in full color, smirking at me with his famous furrowed brow, asking, "What will it take to get you to sit down and finish my story." And, heavy sigh, I have no answer.
I knew the title was too good and that's why I never, ever said it aloud. In hold'em, the River, is the final card. The title is a play on an old song by the Talking Heads. It was a perfect title for my effort to be the the first woman to bust the last bastion of male domination -- to Win the World Series of Poker (WSOP.) In writing (on blogs, my website, and in emails) I always referred to my poker journal as TmttR. Just like I call my Phil book AKS. Putting that stuff "out there" in the aether is too dangerous. The only thing I can say in my defense (on the poker project), is that unless I won (or at least PLAYED) in a WSOP, there was really no purpose to my 100,000 plus words about playing online and trying to get to the real deal. So, F that idea.
I haven't even played poker for the past few months. The first blow was having some local hag win a seat to this year's WSOP playing on AOL. That was enough to gag a maggot. I thought it was my destiny to 1) be the first ABQ player to win my way to WSOP, and do it on Full Tilt -- a far superior and respectable method, as opposed to idiotic AOL. 2) Once there, I was to make my way deep into the field of nearly 8-thousand players, ideally win of course. I knew winning was as unlikely as hitting Powerball, but that wasn't stopping me. 3) Once I won, or made the final table, or even just "made the money" (cashed), I would finish TmttR and voila, I would be a published writer. Interest in my poker playing experience and the subsequent TV interviews, would be the opportunity to promote my AKS novel, to be published next year (2008.) See how perfect my plan was? See how F'd it is now?
So, I'm pissed but Phil is ecstatic. He never cared for the poker project which has been just another diversion from completing AKS. He is doing everything he can (from Beyond) to pave the way so I will finish HIS book. Think I'm kidding? I could fill this blog with examples of how he has intervened to make AKS a reality.
Just today, YES TODAY, he insinuated himself into my consciousness. How? While I was bitching and muttering under my breath about the poker book fiasco, I went to the library to get a much needed Buddhist manual on anger management ;) As I was walking in the door, I glanced over where the library keeps a box of recycled magazines. There on the very top was a New Yorker magazine. I chuckled and thought, now wouldn't it be "a sign" if that was the one with the article about Phil. It was the August 20 issue. I picked it up, flipped it open, and there on the table of contents was Philip K Dick -- page 79. And, the title? "Blows Against the Empire: the Return of Philip K Dick." See -- he won't take no for an answer. I picked up the mag and brought it home. Now, here he is in full color, smirking at me with his famous furrowed brow, asking, "What will it take to get you to sit down and finish my story." And, heavy sigh, I have no answer.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
a better mousetrap
For 99 cents you can get a snap trap, end up with blood on your hands, sometimes a mangled mess in the trap (often still suffering) that you have to pick up to toss, and a lifetime of recalling the scene and knowing you tortured or murdered a mouse. Yeah, I'm well aware a lot of people don't care about that last part. I learned that this past week trying to find a humane mouse trap. I heard about the "Have-a-heart" catch and release traps and tried to locate one. The problem is the smallest one is really too big for catching a mouse in the house. They're designed for garden rodents. When I called Chase Hardware (N Valley, in ABQ) a nice woman said they had some "no kill" traps that were much smaller. Yay! I was on my way.
When I got there I found some horrible implements of death. Glue traps, sonic something that makes them go insane (the label proudly states that), and the alleged "no kill" traps that were too small and clearly could chop off a tail and then leave them in something smaller than a matchbox. I took that up to the "customer service" counter and asked the woman if she was the one I spoke with on the phone. No. I said this was the only "no kill" trap they had and how would you release it? The woman went berserk. "You don't release it. You toss it in the trash. Why would you want to release it?" I tried to stay calm and said, "I called asking for "no kill" traps and the other woman said you have them." Still red in the face and ugly as hell, she says, "It's alive, but you don't release them..." and again she asks me, even louder this time, "Why do you want to release it?" -- her eyes bulging, with a hideous facial expression. At that point, I tossed the trap at her and said, "it's none of your business why I want to release it. But, it is my business how you are treating a customer and I'll take that up with your management."
Time out on the mouse and humane aspect for a moment. I work in government. When citizens come in and request information we don't ask "Why do you want this?" It's public record and none of our business. When I go to a store and ask for a product, it's not the clerk's business why I want it. Bulging eyes, veins protruding from her redneck and escalating volume pretty much indicate she's not trying to be helpful. (That part is going in my letter to the company.)
So, I was back home with no humane trap and facing another night of seeing the mouse running around and brazenly sitting on my kitchen counter. Almost enough for me to get the Decon and do him in. When I googled "humane mouse trap" and found this fabulous idea. So easy and works perfectly (just don't put a plastic liner in the tall trash can, cause they can climb up and out of that.) Once the little bugger was in the trash can, I just took the dog along and ran a block or so down to the ditch bank (plastic trash can extended away from me), and released him. Just to be safe, I set it up again, and sure enough the next morning another one was in there. Now, some might say the same one, since like dogs, apparently they will try to return "home." So, to be safe, this time I did put him in a large dumpster further away. I haven't seen one since. I am taking some precautions now to keep them out.
Now, let's have that discussion, WHY would I go to all this trouble? All I can say is there are two kind of people in the world: 1) Those who honestly believe the human species is superior, despite all the atrocities we commit to our own and others, and despite our alleged "evolution" we are pathetically inhumane; 2) and those labeled "tree huggers", liberal environmentalists, anti-war activists, non-violent monks (who get killed standing up for human and animal rights), and those of us who just prefer not to kill other living creatures. Mick Vick, whatever the fucker's name is that killed the dogs "for sport," is about the only creature I want to catch in a snap trap. I'd like to find him half-mangled and still breathing so I could ask, "Why would I want to release it?"
When I got there I found some horrible implements of death. Glue traps, sonic something that makes them go insane (the label proudly states that), and the alleged "no kill" traps that were too small and clearly could chop off a tail and then leave them in something smaller than a matchbox. I took that up to the "customer service" counter and asked the woman if she was the one I spoke with on the phone. No. I said this was the only "no kill" trap they had and how would you release it? The woman went berserk. "You don't release it. You toss it in the trash. Why would you want to release it?" I tried to stay calm and said, "I called asking for "no kill" traps and the other woman said you have them." Still red in the face and ugly as hell, she says, "It's alive, but you don't release them..." and again she asks me, even louder this time, "Why do you want to release it?" -- her eyes bulging, with a hideous facial expression. At that point, I tossed the trap at her and said, "it's none of your business why I want to release it. But, it is my business how you are treating a customer and I'll take that up with your management."
Time out on the mouse and humane aspect for a moment. I work in government. When citizens come in and request information we don't ask "Why do you want this?" It's public record and none of our business. When I go to a store and ask for a product, it's not the clerk's business why I want it. Bulging eyes, veins protruding from her redneck and escalating volume pretty much indicate she's not trying to be helpful. (That part is going in my letter to the company.)
So, I was back home with no humane trap and facing another night of seeing the mouse running around and brazenly sitting on my kitchen counter. Almost enough for me to get the Decon and do him in. When I googled "humane mouse trap" and found this fabulous idea. So easy and works perfectly (just don't put a plastic liner in the tall trash can, cause they can climb up and out of that.) Once the little bugger was in the trash can, I just took the dog along and ran a block or so down to the ditch bank (plastic trash can extended away from me), and released him. Just to be safe, I set it up again, and sure enough the next morning another one was in there. Now, some might say the same one, since like dogs, apparently they will try to return "home." So, to be safe, this time I did put him in a large dumpster further away. I haven't seen one since. I am taking some precautions now to keep them out.
Now, let's have that discussion, WHY would I go to all this trouble? All I can say is there are two kind of people in the world: 1) Those who honestly believe the human species is superior, despite all the atrocities we commit to our own and others, and despite our alleged "evolution" we are pathetically inhumane; 2) and those labeled "tree huggers", liberal environmentalists, anti-war activists, non-violent monks (who get killed standing up for human and animal rights), and those of us who just prefer not to kill other living creatures. Mick Vick, whatever the fucker's name is that killed the dogs "for sport," is about the only creature I want to catch in a snap trap. I'd like to find him half-mangled and still breathing so I could ask, "Why would I want to release it?"
Saturday, September 22, 2007
A Novel Idea
It's the last day of summer! I was riding my cycle, hair blowing in the wind, 85 here in ABQ. Tomorrow is supposed to be much cooler and rainy -- fitting for Fall. That's when I'll really write... (yeah, right!)
Honestly, I'm doing it. I plan to pull an all nighter and I worked on it all morning (the novel.)
I keep forgetting to mention this horrifying statistic: only one in four people even read a book last year. A single book! That's really difficult for a reader to grasp, and sad for those of us writing and hoping to find future readers. Unless, of course, your name is JK Rowling who had no trouble getting 16 million people to buy the final Potter book. Can you imagine how many more read library or borrowed copies of it!
It simply reaffirms that a novel must be novel. That is constantly on my mind. I can't rehash some tired old format or cliche concept. Fresh fiction...
(I forgot I started this and took off with Mo.) We went out to celebrate the Equinox (early.) And, where were we? A book store. Books are on my brain and with fall comes the real writing season. I better finish this now, because even if I do pull the writing all-nighter, I'll surely collapse before 3:51 am. Unlike Phil who would start at 11 pm and go until 5 am -- when he was MY age. YIKES! Anyway, I didn't finish my literary thoughts, but I do want to acknowledge the Equinox , and the Precession of the Equinoxes, like my novel, "The process is slow, but cumulative." (And, it's a chapter title in AKS!)
Honestly, I'm doing it. I plan to pull an all nighter and I worked on it all morning (the novel.)
I keep forgetting to mention this horrifying statistic: only one in four people even read a book last year. A single book! That's really difficult for a reader to grasp, and sad for those of us writing and hoping to find future readers. Unless, of course, your name is JK Rowling who had no trouble getting 16 million people to buy the final Potter book. Can you imagine how many more read library or borrowed copies of it!
It simply reaffirms that a novel must be novel. That is constantly on my mind. I can't rehash some tired old format or cliche concept. Fresh fiction...
(I forgot I started this and took off with Mo.) We went out to celebrate the Equinox (early.) And, where were we? A book store. Books are on my brain and with fall comes the real writing season. I better finish this now, because even if I do pull the writing all-nighter, I'll surely collapse before 3:51 am. Unlike Phil who would start at 11 pm and go until 5 am -- when he was MY age. YIKES! Anyway, I didn't finish my literary thoughts, but I do want to acknowledge the Equinox , and the Precession of the Equinoxes, like my novel, "The process is slow, but cumulative." (And, it's a chapter title in AKS!)
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