Happy New...wait...when was that?

I'm around, but have been lazy recently. I guess not "lazy" but just not blogging. I've been planning things and sending out poetry submissions to clear out every piece I have that is finished but sitting around on my computer still. (And I have a new laptop because my old one finally lost its mind) Clearing out some of that poetry makes way for finishing some short fiction. And continuing work on my NaNoWriMo novel. I wrote over 50k on that story in November, so yay! But I need to add about 25k to finish it out.

In December I was trying to finish a different novel, but didn't. I decided to split the story between two characters. The main narrator is left in the dark a lot, and I figured getting her "I'm new to this and don't know what's going on" narrative too often would get annoying. So I'm giving the other part of the story to the character who has the most power and knowledge, but throws away some parts of what is going on because it doesn't fit with what she thinks is useful. She's a fighter, no time for whimsy. Take no prisoners. Ever.

Other than writing, I have some art projects I've been working on. More about those some other time.

I'm attempting to take some edX courses. Poetry in America: Whitman, and Intro to the Music Business start this month. Also starting in January, Coursera has Roman Architecture and Soul Beliefs: Causes and Consequences. I should know enough about Roman Architecture between all the Art History, Ancient History and Classics courses I've taken, but wanted a refresher on locations, engineering and terms.
I think the most interesting course will probably be Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Human Mind, Our Modern World. That one starts in early February. In late February there's another intriguing course offered through edX called Library Advocacy Unshushed. Once those courses start I'll probably have some comments on them.

So, there's an update. I hope to get back to regular posting in the near future.

One last thing--Steampunk World: A multicultural Steampunk fiction anthology has a couple days left in its Kickstarter campaign, check it out.

Gender, Roadside Signs And Randomness

Well, I've missed a few posts due to having to go back to Ohio on short notice last week. I've been sick this week--flu-like fun. And I'll be heading back to Ohio to attend my great uncle's funeral at the beginning of next week.
Other than that, I do have some random things to share with you today...

There's been some debate about gender and book covers happening in many places this week...It was all kicked off by Maureen Johnson on Twitter, and has resulted in Coverflip: Maureen Johnson Calls for an end to Gendered Book Covers with an Amazing Challenge (Images), and this The Most Incongruous Book Covers of All Time--those are especially odd to look at.

And today I watched this video about Gender in Advertising-- I love the reversed gender roles portion at the end, especially the Marlboro woman...


And to round out our gender extravaganza I'm including Paul Richmond's Cheesecake Boys and I'll throw in The Hawkeye Initiative for good measure.

Unrelated to gender, but related to book covers--
Good Show Sir--the worst in Science Fiction/Fantasy book covers

Here are a couple roadsigns I've been meaning to share. These are actually to the south of where I live. I really didn't notice the elephant when I took this picture because everything was grey and it just blended into the surroundings. Yeah, really. I'm not sure if We Got Stuff is still in use....

...but this hotel is not. You could buy it though, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be a great business venture because there's not much of anything out that way. I really like that the sign advertises the presence of color TV's and phones in the rooms. Then there's the bright yellow roof which is probably the only reason I noticed it.

There's also a place with some signs advertising a hotel further up the road, but the hotel sign and an empty lot are all that remain once you arrive.


And this last picture is in honor of my birthday weekend. I'm turning 30 on May 12th and don't have anything much planned to celebrate it. I thought this picture was pretty absurd...

What I want for my birthday is for whatever viral illness I have to go away, and to find the presser foot screw for my sewing machine.The presser foot screw has earned the distinction of being the most annoying item that I've ever lost...And I've actually been to JoAnn Fabrics since it went missing, but it's so insignificant that I can't remember that I need to buy another....ugh

Columbus Arts Festival Observations Part 1

I've been trying to catch up on sleep (which can be a full-time thing once an insomniac hits the wall of irrational annoyance/anger/frustration/brain no work good...crap), also doing the Insanity work out (Exactly as advertised), working on writing projects (Pinboards: A sunny romance with thieves and Story of an Unknown Title-- not their actual titles) and went to the Columbus Arts Festival over this past weekend. So, I've put together some commentary on things I overheard at the arts festival. This is Part 1:

Hipster girls-
"Oh, these are cute. Makes me want to sew"
"I have a sewing machine."
"Oh really? Does it work?"
"I think so."

They were looking at some very intricate Peruvian cloth projects (I can't find the artist's name in the listing or I would post it). I only remember the Peruvian part because I read the artist's information page at the booth, but still can't remember the name. The textile projects (can't think of a better way to describe them) looked like tiny figures and animals and objects sewn onto these scenes made from fabric. The figures and animals looked like they have a little batting in them so they stand out from the backgrounds like little pillows. It's all brightly colored and festive-looking, but you know, in the wild, it is the brightly colored creatures that will kill you.
So, the two girls are talking about making these things.
I like the idea of competition, even when I'm not really involved in it, so I took a close look at one of the pieces. I didn't see any construction stitches. The dolls all have their little details sewn onto them. It's so folksy, tiny and perfect like a kitten in lederhosen.
As I look at the fabric, I start to believe that I, too, could make such a thing. I've done my time sewing small details onto fabric projects...maybe not details this small, but definitely a tedious amount of sewing by hand.
I begin to imagine my future sewing projects...with their tiny little faces and perfect details that I would likely lose blood over. (I have sewn through my fingers with a sewing machine on a couple occasions, and have also fallen victim to my own hand sewing short-comings--one time, while sewing ivory lace onto a pastel-colored corset...of course. Don't worry, I just put tape on my finger and kept sewing. The corset was fine, and done on time.)
But a strange thing happened as I left that booth of fabric wonders.
I looked back.
And decided that there was no way in hell that I would make one of those things.

There must be Inca magic embroidered into them...

Dream: Ride the Waffles...or Cake Rolls!

Several days ago I had a dream that was remarkable in its lack of disturbing content... well I guess it still disturbed me because it was so far away from my normal level of strange.

So, dream sequence begin...

I had this feeling that I was driving to Minnesota or Wisconsin, but anyway I was on a very busy highway. This was not a normal highway at all because off to the right there was a giant parking lot with a lot of fast fast food establishments. I pulled off and went to McDonalds (this should be my first hint that something is rather off). I see my husband here, but he plans on driving ahead. After taking a break I get back on the actual road and see the bright yellow sign that says to share the road with trains. Yes, there are semis and trains on this road. The trains have tracks off to the right. I get into the lane on the right near the train tracks and approach a tunnel. A concrete door drops down into my lane and the yellow sign has some sort of delayed warning on it. I slam on the brakes and as I sit in front of the yellow sign I think "Screw this, I'll use the GPS."
The GPS tells me to cross four lanes of traffic, which I do. And I get into the tunnel. This path is twisted, carnival colors and reminds me of that boat ride in the Willy Wonka movies. The tunnel itself terminates into a huge warehouse and I am removed from my car and it is taken away down some tracks. They later tell me that it's in some parking lot. I assume I have to put up with this nonsense since everyone who was on the road is probably in here somewhere.
My group follows this noisy tour guide through the warehouse and she's telling us something about candy or sweets and how this is just how they do things in whatever state we're in. State of confusion? Anyway, there's a buffet of odd Eastern European foods set up, and nothing I would eat, but the sort of thing that you'd see on "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern"--cabbage and congealed fish mostly (that may sound awesome to you, but I just can't eat pickled stuff). There's also a sad-looking Oom-pah band in faded folk garb. They look friendly enough, but the music is quiet and not all that in tune.
After the buffet that I cannot eat and the band that I mostly feel sorry for we're led to another drab concrete hallway, and a wide ledge with five railroad tracks leading to it. The tour guide tells us that we'll all have to jump soon. The ledge is about seven feet tall and I'm thinking "No f-ing way am I jumping down there." Everyone else lines up with their track as they know what's going on. As the people move forward giant waffles and equally gigantic slices of cake roll come down the tracks and pause in front of the ledge. Some of the waffles have scoops of ice cream on them--in either blue, pink or white-- and the cake rolls are all the lovely rainbow of pastel colors of the cake rolls I like to buy at the Taiwanese bakery I go to in Columbus. (Ichiban Bakery is fantastic btw)
So, now I'm looking at people from all demographics hop on their waffles or cake rolls and ride away down the series of tunnels. I see the elderly tourists who look right out of the 80's with their old cameras, then there's the punk guy in skinny black jeans, a man in a suit, and a pair of very tan teenage girls in summer clothing, etc. As I'm watching all this, all I can think is, "I'm not jumping on a damn waffle."
It's not that I really care all that much about looking stupid, but the ledge is high and I cannot believe that my brain came up with this notion. I'm left alone with the tour guide, and she says that this is the only way out of here...so I finally jump onto the waffle and see where it leads.
I guess each track went somewhere different, but I ended up in front of one of those carts, or caravans, where someone would be selling snake oil cure-alls of some variety during the 19th Century. Oh, and the guy doing the talking completely looked the part, but he was giving out gourmet jelly beans instead of quackery. He spoke of the magic powers of jelly beans to make people happy and sprinkled the crowd with them, but he tossed a full bag of them to me. They were green, and pear-flavored, and when people started trying to take them from me I woke up...

I guess what I realized in this dream is that my brain has some whimsy left in it, and at the time I had no idea why Minnesota came into play, but I do now...
Oh, and if you try to take candy from me I get annoyed enough to completely ruin the whole scene just so that I don't lose something that I feel entitled to.