Cold and Hot

Staying under the blankets was so delicious, it took some willpower to drag myself out. I had a little dialogue with myself going, and I don't know how the responsible part of me managed to convince the sleepy part of me so early in the morning. The house is poorly insulated and gobbles up quite a lot of heating oil, so we are trying to keep it cool. I'm not a big fan of cool. I'm dressed in three layers now, but I'm sure most people would be comfy just in a long sleeved shirt, or maybe a thin sweater. Yesterday the blankets won. Today I was quite stern with them and kicked them off. 1000 words--ta DA--done!


After completing my morning chunk of writing, I'm procrastinating. I need to start re-reading (I'm dreading this part) Swearing in Russian, as I need to make some factual changes and who knows what other changes to the novel before I hand it over to my editor.

Instead, I find myself thinking about this: Scientists have created the hottest temperature ever in the lab -- 4 trillion degrees Celsius -- hot enough to break matter down into the kind of soup that existed microseconds after the birth of the universe.

Meeting with the publisher

Today it poured from early morning to about 5PM. I met with hopefully my future publisher at Good Food Emporium to discuss editing options. I was not impressed that my 20 months old wasn't feeling well and thus she spent the last 30 minutes of the meeting trying to pull my shirt up. Apparently spilling milk and crumbling cookies wasn't entertaining enough for her. I was, however, very impressed with the publisher, who maintained his composure. I was also impressed with myself--nursing in public doesn't phase me out anymore.



Because of the rain I took a cab both ways, and consequently didn't have enough cash for the baby sitter. Luckily she lives next door and I can easily drop by tomorrow for the rest of her fee.



When I came home, we saw the most amazing rainbow out of our window--bright, wide, and huge.

New and Cool

"Nanoism is a new online publication dedicated to twitter-fiction: fiction of up to 140 characters. Shorter then traditional flash fiction, it’s both a challenge to write and quick as a blink to read. It’s the perfect art form for the bleeding edge of the internet revolution."

Love it! I love the challenge, I love the form. Particularly this one, by David Tallerman, from April 6.

And this: Imagine going to your favourite organic coffee shop and reading your paper placemat? And instead of the typical Welcome / Bienvenue, there's a flash piece or two? How perfect is that? My only suggestion would be to publish several flash pieces of let's say 250 words, instead of one of 1000 words. 1000 words might be a bit too long with coffee.

Telephone safety--scam reminder from an absent minded writer

If someone calls you and tells you they are calling from your bank / credit card and wants to ask you some questions and these questions turn out to be personal information, they are NOT calling from your bank.

I was in the middle of cooking dinner last night, while also trying to mediate an argument between my kids. I was absent minded enough to give them my date of birth and postal code, but after that I clued in, and terminated the call. I felt like a total idiot, but that's life, I guess.

My credit card customer service told me that I didn't give out anything crucial, but they could still send me a new card for my peace of mind, because "this is what we are here for," so I feel marginally better about my stupidity.

The call sounded very "professional"-- but something was definitely off. I felt it right away, and hesitated before telling my date of birth and postal code. I actually paused for quite a bit, and considered hanging up, but somehow went with the flow.

My credit card people advised me that they would never ask for personal information if they were to call me. Also, if someone calls, claiming to be from your bank, and offers some kind of financial information or service, ask them to mail it to you.

God is everywhere. Leave a message.

You'll have to call long distance. You have about 6 months to do this. I first read about it in a local newspaper, and the number was listed. Now I can't find it in the on-line articles.

Read about the project here.

grasshopper-locust transformation

amazing and fascinating. (youtube)

where do i get a live grasshopper? will it work? what would i feed it? would it live in a large jar? will i be able to stroke its leg for 4 hours?