scarletstar777

Notes augmented

We've enhanced and de-bugged Notes. If you haven't tried it yet, now's the time! You can create a private note when you ban multiple users. You can also delete multiple notes at once. Lastly, paid users have the option to add a note (visible only to you) whenever you add or remove a friend (guaranteed to avoid embarrassing social mishaps). If you don't currently have a paid account, you can upgrade now! It only takes a few minutes and costs less than a bad shopping mall haircut (plus, it's way more fashionable)!

Product tweaks and bug kill

1. In another effort to zap spam, comments containing links from domains LiveJournal deems untrustworthy are now automatically screened
2. If you sign up to get notifications of the Writer's Block question of the day, you'll now see the daily question in the email notification, so you'll have a little extra time to ponder before you post. You can subscribe to Writers Block notifications here
3. The issue causing random comments to vanish has been fixed!
4. If you visit a LiveJournal page and get prompted to log in, you'll be returned to the same page after you sign in (Thanks, Dreamwidth)!
5. If you don't edit the timestamp for an entry at all, the entry timestamp will indicate the time the entry was posted instead of the time the Update Journal page was loaded

New FCK fixes rich text editor!

1. We've updated our RTE (Rich Text Editor) to FCKeditor version 2.6.5 for improved visual design!
2. When switching from the RTE to HTML editor, links for syndicated feeds are no longer broken
3. RTE now functions properly in Safari 4.0
4. An extra line/space will not be auto-inserted whenever you switch from RTE to HTML editor
5. The insert image link now works correctly in all browsers
6. Comments with paddings/backgrounds render correctly within the comment box (and will no longer wrap outside the box and break frames/margins)

LiveJournal Cares

We’re pleased to introduce you to lj_cares, a new LiveJournal community dedicated to raising awareness and funds for U.S. charitable organizations that improve the health and well-being of people around the world. Each month, we’ll spotlight a nonprofit that is making a significant global impact through medical research, public outreach, and/or humanitarian social programs. Charities will be selected in accordance with the U.S. calendar of national health observances based on a high rating (of over 60%) on Charity Navigator and global scope of impact.

In this, our inaugural month of November, we will celebrate national adoption month by offering a charitable virtual gift (priced at $2.99) to support Love Without Boundaries, an organization that saves the lives of orphans with life-threatening diseases and places them in loving homes around the world. LiveJournal will donate 100% of the proceeds from the sale of charitable vgifts (we'll cover the cost of credit card transaction fees). To learn more about Love Without Boundaries, please visit lj_cares and read about how they helped save Baby Kang and the Rainbow Twins from fatal illnesses, who are now thriving in nurturing families. You can purchase your Love Without Boundaries gifts in the Virtual Gift shop.

Papered in postcards

A couple of weeks ago, we asked you to send in postcards to surround us with LiveJournal community. Thanks for coming through! We've received postcards all the way from Germany, Finland, and Canada and from all over the US, including Texas, Florida, Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, Indiana, Hawaii, and Oklahoma just to name just a handful. We're thrilled with our improved decor.

Please keep the love coming for one more week by writing to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be drawing the names of ten random contributors next Thursday to win paid account credits!

Photos of the week

We have more dazzling images posted by talented LiveJournal photographers from around the world. We're hoping to span the entire globe, so please continue posting and tagging. Of course, you can also sit back and enjoy the view at lj_photophile.

You can see a sample of this week's gorgeous photos and check out spotlight communities and awesome user content after the jump!

( Read more... )

Curtains

We thank you, once again, for joining us. See you next week!

 
 "An artist should ruthlessly destroy his manuscripts after publication, lest they mislead academic mediocrities into thinking that it is possible to unravel the mysteries of genius by studying cancelled readings. In art, purpose and plan are nothing; only the results count."

-- Vladimir Nabokov

Quoted by Alexander Hemon in his review of the new Nabokov fragment appearing now with publishers' brass band fronting.  www.slate.com/id/2235023/


Of course Nabokov wasn't in the business of selling his drafts to collectors -- a nice source of income for those who need it.

From the linguaphiles community: A Common Nomenclature for Lego Families

I thought the parents on my flist might enjoy this.

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/radio-books-violin-lessons-also-haircut.html

Went in to KNOW radio station in ST Paul today and recorded an introduction to the NPR MORNING EDITION "Open Mike" piece I've been recording on audiobooks, and heard the edit. Asked them to see if they could find a bit more time in the piece for Audible founder Don Katz, who did an amazing interview and was pared down to about a sentence in the current edit. It'll go out in the next ten days, and as soon as I know when it goes out I'll put it up here. I talk to David Sedaris, Martin Jarvis, Don Katz and veteran audio producer/director Rick Harris in it.
Hi Neil,

I just read about your event in January, where in you will be narrating Peter and the Wolf. My husband and I are over joyed by this. We will hopefully be bringing our three girls up to see the performance. We did have one question though. Will you be reading the original version where the wolf actually is killed, and not the "oh my goodness our kids can't hear about death" version in which they bring him to the zoo? We are both, obviously, really hopeful that being you, and not afraid to scare children (thank you for that btw) will be speaking the true to the story version in which Peter shoots the wolf and then his dead body is paraded through the town as a trophy.

Thanks for your time,
~Cecily

PS- Do you know if there will be tickets for the event or the reception afterwards? It will be a long drive, and it would be nice to be prepared for either staking out seats all day or having tickets in hand. (We could not find any reservation information on the website)

I'd forgotten - or never knew - that there was an alternative version. The script I was sent is the Zoo version. I'll investigate...

And no, I do not know about tickets. I will find out.

Dear Neil,

Your Web Goblin offered to post photos of Coraline pumpkins, and when they were told this, my 8 and 11-year old daughters decided to make some. Here they are, along with 2 emoticon pumpkins and a turnip.

http://www.steampunkfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/IMG_01521-300x225.jpg

I used them to illustrate a ghost story: http://www.steampunkfamily.com/2009/10/philomenas-fright/

Three of the four of us were Coraline characters for Halloween. (The 11-year old went her own way as Susan Sto-Helit.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37435081@N03/4077708519/sizes/l/in/set-72157622616148613/

The Other Mother is the scariest thing I've ever been for Halloween. All the children (even the 4-year olds!) knew who I was, and I elicited much nervous laughter when I offered to sew buttons in their eyes.

Thank you for being VERY SCARY INDEED

I love how many families were Coraline families, this year.

If, like me, anybody else was intrigued by your mention of Kenneth Grahame's other works and wants to read them with a minimum of searching, they'll be happy to know both 'The Golden Age' and 'Dream Days' are available for free on the always invaluable Project Gutenberg:

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/291
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/270

Thanks for mentioning them in the first place; I'm always interested in children's lit of that time that has managed to slip through my net.

- B. Bolander

What a good idea. Two very beautiful, gently funny books by the author of The Wind in the Willows. I really enjoyed them, but stylistically they are, well, out of fashion, and will not be everybody's cup of Edwardian tea. Here's a passage that describes the illustration I put up yesterday, as small children steal through the house on a midnight expedition to obtain biscuits (ie cookies, if you are American):

The Blue Room had in prehistoric times been added to by taking in a superfluous passage, and so not only had the advantage of two doors, but enabled us to get to the head of the stairs without passing the chamber wherein our dragon-aunt lay couched. It was rarely occupied, except when a casual uncle came down for the night. We entered in noiseless file, the room being plunged in darkness, except for a bright strip of moonlight on the floor, across which we must pass for our exit. On this our leading lady chose to pause, seizing the opportunity to study the hang of her new dressing-gown. Greatly satisfied thereat, she proceeded, after the feminine fashion, to peacock and to pose, pacing a minuet down the moonlit patch with an imaginary partner. This was too much for Edward's histrionic instincts, and after a moment's pause he drew his single-stick, and with flourishes meet for the occasion, strode onto the stage. A struggle ensued on approved lines, at the end of which Selina was stabbed slowly and with unction, and her corpse borne from the chamber by the ruthless cavalier. The rest of us rushed after in a clump, with capers and gesticulations of delight; the special charm of the performance lying in the necessity for its being carried out with the dumbest of dumb shows.

Once out on the dark landing, the noise of the storm without told us that we had exaggerated the necessity for silence; so, grasping the tails of each other's nightgowns even as Alpine climbers rope themselves together in perilous places, we fared stoutly down the staircase-moraine, and across the grim glacier of the hall, to where a faint glimmer from the half-open door of the drawing-room beckoned to us like friendly hostel-lights. Entering, we found that our thriftless seniors had left the sound red heart of a fire, easily coaxed into a cheerful blaze; and biscuits—a plateful—smiled at us in an encouraging sort of way, together with the halves of a lemon, already once squeezed but still suckable. The biscuits were righteously shared, the lemon segments passed from mouth to mouth; and as we squatted round the fire, its genial warmth consoling our unclad limbs, we realised that so many nocturnal perils had not been braved in vain.

"It's a funny thing," said Edward, as we chatted, "how I hate this room in the daytime. It always means having your face washed, and your hair brushed, and talking silly company talk. But to-night it's really quite jolly. Looks different, somehow."

"I never can make out," I said, "what people come here to tea for. They can have their own tea at home if they like,—they're not poor people,—with jam and things, and drink out of their saucer, and suck their fingers and enjoy themselves; but they come here from a long way off, and sit up straight with their feet off the bars of their chairs, and have one cup, and talk the same sort of stuff every time."

Selina sniffed disdainfully. "You don't know anything about it," she said. "In society you have to call on each other. It's the proper thing to do."

"Pooh! YOU'RE not in society," said Edward, politely; "and, what's more, you never will be."

"Yes, I shall, some day," retorted Selina; "but I shan't ask you to come and see me, so there!"

"Wouldn't come if you did," growled Edward.

On Saturday the 14th at 4AM UTC/GMT we will be upgrading the operating system of our network load balancers to a newer version, one that will allow us to use both CPUs! Nifty, because multiprocessing is nice.

Since we have 2 load balancers, the plan is to upgrade 1 at a time, and there really should be very little impact to our website. Hopefully you won't notice a thing and I'll get to go back to the hotel and watch some wonderful late night infomercials.

We've got a lot of exciting projects coming up for 2010 and we're hoping that we'll be able to deliver them all to you, that you will find it useful/cool/lovely and then you will use the site even more. Behind-the-scenes work like this will give us the capacity to handle the anticipated traffic, so expect a few more maintenance windows especially in the beginning of next year as we've got some neat ideas to improve performance around here! We had the recent 30-45 minute outage yesterday due to one of our logging databases filling up disk space -- not so great design coupled with my human error in handling the initial problem -- and it looks like we're going to finally have some resources to eliminate stuff like that. I can't wait!

As usual, I will be updating status.livejournal.org before and after, just in case you are not able to reach our main website during the work.

From the Book of the Law:

I:42 Let it be that state of manyhood bound and loathing. So with thy all; thou hast no right but to do thy will.

I:43 Do that, and no other shall say nay.

The official doctrine of the order states that these are "The Rights of Man"

The base practices of Yoga are Yama and Niyama

1:42 Yama - Self-Discipline
I:43 Niyama - Mind Your Own Business

Many troubles are caused by people lacking the former and thus failing the latter.

"The rule is in truth single, the same in essence for all matters of conduct." - D Comment

Well, it's been a long time since I've picked up a book that was critically interesting to me whose references are completely new. (Though I bet richard_kaczyn knows them.) Frank Turner, Robert Ackermine, Catherine Gallagher, Dinah Birch, Sharon Weltman. As a starter, I desperately want this: The Sun is God.

This work makes so much sense of that Victorian combination of Paganism and Christianity. As well as the up-to-the-second understanding of historicising mythology. Louis reminds me that theology often cloaks itself in poetry.

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/murder-re-enacted.html

The Graveyard Book just won a literary award, which never gets old, and this one came with a medal, and also with a cheque. I thought, Hm. I have to get myself something with the cheque and I have to do it immediately, otherwise it will simply vanish into the day to day bank account of life, and I will never look at anything and go "Ah, that is the thing I got with my Graveyard Book Award."

I have Persephone Rises to read on the ferry tonight. Introduction, "Gods and Mysteries, the Revival of Paganism and the Remaking of Mythography through the Nineteenth Century." This should help me with the theology I'm doing.

It's exciting and sad at the same time. Margot Louis knew she was going to lose her life to cancer before the book came out - her great friend Lisa Surridge completed the book and actually owns the copyright. It seems like a very precious book.

   Go over to pgdf posting in theinferior4 and follow the links he gives to the amazing robots being built in Boston, which include a plan for a squishy robot -- soft-bodied and able to contract like a leech, but with legs like a millipede. No prototype on that one, but theo thers are up and (literally) running.  Very Uncanny Valley.  Comic, nightmarish, and wonderful all at once.

It makes you wonder what a species of discrete individuals powering themselves and moving in an environment (as opposed to a giant spreading fungus, or other model) has to actually possess in the way of powers, senses, etc.  Depends on the environment, I suppose; but the models for these bots are clear (dog, bug, person).  Does the physics constrain? 

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/half-lifetime.html

The editor at CBS Sunday Morning asked if I had any photos of my son Mike back at the period when I first had the idea for The Graveyard Book - late 1985. I looked. We really didn't have any. I wandered next door and asked Mary (his mum, my former wife and for these last five years my friend and next-door neighbour) if she had any photos from back then. "No," she said. Then, "Do you mean those transparencies? I have them in an envelope somewhere." She vanished and came back with a large manila envelope from a long time ago. "Here."

Half a lifetime ago -- literally -- I was nearly 25, and working for magazines. Henry Fikret, who photographed a lot of the interviews I did, volunteered to take some photos of me and my family, and he did.A week later the envelope arrived, and I realised that everything he shot was on colour transparencies -- like huge slides -- and I was never sure what do with them, other than being fairly sure I couldn't take them down to Boots the Chemist and have prints knocked out. So they stayed in their envelope, and they kept their secrets, and were forgotten.

Yesterday I had the transparencies scanned, and finally got to see lots of pictures I had never actually seen before of Holly as a baby, Mike at the time that I would have watched him riding his tricycle around the graveyard, and me... at exactly half my age: A young journalist who had sold a very small handful of short stories and two non-fiction books, with dreams of writing fiction and comics. At the time I was dressing in grey, but was getting tired of the way that you would buy something grey and take it home and discover that it was a blueish grey or a brownish grey, and wondering if I'd have the same problem if I just started to dress in black.

And half a lifetime on, it seemed like it might be good to put one up here. I checked, and Mary didn't mind. What odd clothes we wore back then. What big glasses. And look, my hair is practically normal.





So long ago, and it went like the blink of an eye.

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/for-those-who-read-this-blog-for.html

(Serena Altschul and some author in July, sitting on the trampoline after two days of interviews. None of which, oddly enough, were done on the trampoline.)

Mr. Neil,

I DVR'd yesterday's installment of Sunday Morning and after zipping through it back and forth multiple times cannot seem to find you, though the description indicated the correct episode. Was it bumped to next week? Have you been sucked into an alternate Neil-less universe?

A concerned reader,
Mary

I'm afraid it was bumped by the Fort Hood Massacre.

I checked: The profile CBS did of me is apparently still going out, probably some time in December, although no-one seems certain when. I was told that we could help ensure that it is broadcast (and possibly make it come out sooner than December) if CBS think people would actually like to see it. Which means that if you do want to see it, you can help the process along if you write or email CBS and (politely) tell them so:

ADDRESS:
CBS News Sunday Morning
Box O (for Osgood)
524 West 57th St.
New York, NY 10019

E-MAIL: sundays@cbsnews.com

...
Dear Neil Gaiman, I ask for half-a-moment of your time (I would not presume to ask for more). This Spring 2010 I am teaching a Topics in Literature class on YOU at Winona State University (Eng 225: Neil Gaiman). Easy enough to select representative novel (American Gods), short stories (Fragile Things), children and YA (Graveyard Book), but here's the rub: I will likely only assign one Sandman graphic novel to students. I have been debating which is most representative, most worthy of inclusion, most amenable to class discussion and student scholarship. Then I thought I'd ask you. I know you suggest above that, for questions of this sort, we consider you a dead author, but I know you're not. When I came to a similar impasse about which of Ursula Le Guin's works to include in another class, she actually replied and offered her input. I extend the same offer to you: which of the Sandman volumes would you like to see on the syllabus?
Thank you for your time,
Nicholas Ozment, English Instructor
WSU

It's a hard one. I think if I were teaching I'd either go for Season of Mists or Fables and Reflections, because both of them have stuff to teach -- those nice chewy bits that people can like or dislike, argue with or discuss. I know a lot of teachers like to teach Dream Country because a) Midsummer Night's Dream won awards, and b) it's short and c) it has a script in the back. Your call. And good luck.

...

I mentioned recently that there were some beautiful new Polish and Russian book covers for my books that I'd seen at signings, which got me thinking. The International Cover gallery on this website is incredibly out of date.

It's at http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Neil's_Work/International_Covers.

And though I get a lot of foreign editions in, and will at some point head down to the basement and rummage around and scan some (this week's mail brought the two-volume Japanese edition of Anansi Boys, on the cover of which Fat Charlie is not only Very White, but also Very Thin, and the complex Chinese - ie. Taiwan and Hong Kong - edition of The Graveyard Book) I thought that blog readers, being, as you are, all over the world, might be a better resource for knowing where to look for foreign covers.

Was your basement finished when you purchased your home or did you have it finished for your basement library? If you finished it yourself, how difficult was it? Also, I thought I saw a dehumidifier in one of the Photosynth pictures. Do you need one because of the books?

I'm asking because we have a full unfinished basement that we would like to have finished. We are running out of room for our books also. I don't think we don't have as many as you do though. :)

Any other suggestions for such a project would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
C.

No, when we got here the basement had a clay floor that puddled when it rained. We hired some nice builders and spent a lot of money finishing it, putting in drainage tiles, underfloor heating and all. There's a dehumidifier there in the summer and a humidifier in the winter, because after the first few years I noticed that binding glue and leather book covers were both cracking and flaking. There's now the equivalent of a large house in basement rooms beneath this house, filled with books and CDs and suchlike stuff.

And finally, a few photos from the China trip, taken by Ian Ford (or in one case, on his camera). Ian's a travel guide who now lives in China who helped organise my travels, and came along with me for part of the journey.

Amanda and I in the silk clothes that my publisher had given us as a thank you for coming, and because they are terrific.

I'm holding the Galaxy Award for this year, given to the foreign author most popular with Chinese reader-voters. This was my second year of winning it, so I have retired from the competition and said that they have to find a new favourite foreign author now.

Wow. I have passed cloud 9 and am sitting like a Goddess on Cloud 11. I am still in awe at  my blessings and fortune over the last 18 hours. I am jubilant and euphoric and plussed and stoked and ecstatic and so many other things right now. There is definitely a part of me that is expecting to wake from this fantasy world that could not possibly really exist right now. Pinch me because I must be dreaming.

I got an 25$ worth of gas last night for giving a ride and didn't even have to go out of my way! 

The person whom I have been fighting for for the last 3 months FINALLY realized how valuable I am and told me repeatedly and vehemently how much he has missed me and how much he enjoys having me around. He APOLOGIZED for taking so long to contact me. It was everything I could have (but didn't because it was SO far-fetched) hoped for and even some things I didn't even know were possible. I felt so loved and valued and worthy and beautiful and special and important. It was VERY heady. I have been high on this buzz all day long. I am literally still somewhat in shock that the evening went the way that it did. I kept telling him that I was afraid to blink because it was going away and he said, 'try blinking, because it's not going away.' (!!!!) he was very constant and steady in his appreciation and value of me and kept telling me that it wasn't a dream and that he wasn't running away anymore. It was amazing. I am so awestruck. I feel like I just won the lottery.  I can't stop smiling. It has just been amazing and fantastic and unbelievable. I am SO blessed and lucky.

Also awesome, my brother paid back the 200$ he owes me and my other brother is taking care of my $250 car repair bill that I have had outstanding at their dad's shop.

I also got the CUTEST silver ballet flats for $9 at wal-mart.

I am just having the most fantastically awesome day.

It feels so good after so  many sad and lonely days.

 Here, I hope, is a very brief video shot at the Haunted House in the Massachusetts village where I live.  My neighbor builds an elaborate circuit within his house and barn and the kids (and grownups) come; there are four or five stations and the locals act out skits etc.  The theme this year was grade school -- the nurses's station, detention, the evil janitor in his closet etc.  You can imagine.  Last was graduation.  That was my venue.  (I've done this several times before, as Igor awaking Frankenstein while Mahster is away, etc.)   What you see here is the end of the previous skit, which was about getting through the MGAS (as are all such events, ours is big on bad puns.)  There is a brief period of total black then as my piece begins -- actually the audience could dimly perceive the graduates in cap and gown facing the dais.  I built the puppet with my neighbor, and I am manipulating it and speaking.  The head is actually a radio-operated talking skull.  At the end the spiel continues as the graduates charge the crowd, but it's drowned out here.


Here!

www.youtube.com/watch

I had a jolly time at Faeriecon this weekend despite having some malingering ick; got to see Charles de Lint and Charles Vess both of whom were delightful, see some lovely art (Vess is a wonder, really enjoyed Jasmine Beckett-Griffith and PurpleTopHat designs,wear the Hat With A Motherfucking Boat On It, listen to beautiful music, got to meet ParrishRelics! (yay miss you already!) and use Lush bath bombs where I did not have to clean out the tub. (0)

I also got to see lots of SJ Tucker, whose concerts were exquisite and her bandmate Betsy from Tricky Pixie made it all even lovelier. SJ does a goosebump and chill with beauty version of "Tam Lin" which everyone should hear during this lifetime, preferably in a faerie friendly spot. Wonderful,-travel safee s00j and I can't wait for Confusion!

Got to see lots of lovely people including Sihaya09, all beautiful and all kind.

Now I am doing unmagical laundry, but I feel a bit more sparkly anyway.


(0) This may make me a bad person, but I didn't use anything egregious.

Yes, the burn out factor at my job, and in turn my life to a lesser extent, has been rather large as of late. This year I have drastically improved my output at work; I’m friendlier, I don’t call in as much (3 call in for the whole year and 0 tardies), and I even got accepted into a very special training program offered to the best of the best (only 20 spots for 500 workers). In short I’ve been kickin’ ass and takin’ names at work. This in conjunction with my drastic decrease in chemical mood alterations and the (albeit repeated) attempts to quit smoking (*cigarettes* which I am currently attempting as I type) have filled me with the urge to spoil myself. Thankfully my job offers a “Christmas Bonus” based on worker performance; for those poor dopes who “meet standards” its 500 dollars; for those better dopes that “exceed standards” its 700 dollars; and for the best dopes that show “outstanding standards” it’s a whooping 1000 dollars. Well I’ve got approx. 1,800 dollars worth of property tax due at the first of December; and I’ve saved approx. 1,500 dollars. Now the remaining 300 should be no problem right? I mean I clearly fall into the “Exceeds” or “Outstanding” category right? Well I’ll find out in a few weeks when I get my Eval. but my Supervisor has assured me that I will at least get an “exceeds”. WOO-HOO! That covers my Property Tax the rest of the way and lets me have enough left over to treat myself to some serious spoilage; namely the XBOX 360 (shining light, heavenly choir).

All is right with the world; I am one of the hardest workers in my department; and because of it I get to pay off more of my Condo and treat myself to hours and hours of Mutant Killing, Undead Hacking, Motorcycle Ridin’, Vampire Slaying fun…Right?

WRONG!

Just a little over a week ago Misericordia announced that due to the Budget Crisis (which has affected none of the Administration’s salaries, or prevented Miz from building three new houses on campus, or prevented them from re-paving ALL the roads on campus, or prevented them from holding a Gala Party for the fortieth year anniversary for Sister Rosemary); ALL BONUSES WILL BE CUT THIS YEAR! So not only does Super-Hard Working Gordon get the exact same bonus as the worst employee at Miz (I.E. Nothing); he doesn’t get to treat himself to anything fun and is short 300 bucks on his Property Tax…this equals major BURN-OUT!

My Baby and super empathic Girlfriend, Somnium_Antiu, picked up on this Burn-Out (mostly from all the swearing and continual sighs uttered whenever I talked about work); and she decided to do something about it. Last night she treated me to dinner, home cooked dinner. I grabbed a box of wine and “GI Joe” the movie from Blockbuster (absolutely hilarious, though not for the reasons it was intended; in short the plot of this movie was very nostalgic; because it was about as complex as the 80’s cartoon) and headed over to my Baby’s house (the mere fact that she wanted to watch GI Joe with me speaks volumes to her tolerance). The simple home cooked meal was not simple at all; IT WAS AMAZING!!! First brochette and garlic bread and lovely greek salad; soo good by itself; but then followed by tomato and feta covered chicken (fresh from the Butcher) that was DEVINE (Seriously this chicken goes down in the history of all the chicken I’ve ate in my life, in the top five; seriously amazing chicken). This was in addition to a lovely fettuccini with home-made basil sauce. THIS GIRL CAN COOK!!! So after stuffing myself with super awesome yummy goodness; she brought out desert…Crème Brulee (wait, let me rephrase that, fuckin’ spectacular Crème Brulee).

As I sat there digesting the Burn-out Busting Meal, she gave me a big box wrapped in red paper (with cute drawings all over it *which she had drawn*); it was my present. After all that she had done for me that entire night, she had also got me a present! Unbelievable, but there it was, a big shiny red box. She put it in my lap, it was very heavy, and I slowly peeled back the paper to reveal…

AN XBOX 360!!! (HALLELUJAH CHORUS)

No shit…my Girl bought me a brand spankin’ new XBOX 360!!! Why? Just for bein’ me…words cannot describe how fuckin’ lucky I am to have a Girl this fuckin’ awesome…Burn-Out is gone! I don’t care what happens at work, I don’t care what crazy shit happens in my personal life; I got the coolest Girlfriend in the world and I the rest of the world can go fuck themselves!

MY BABY ROCKS!!!

And I intend to hold on to her tooth and nail.

This is so full of adorable evil, I just had to share it. =)


(Thier souls make his tummy happy. XD)

I've just spent all day finalizing my first round of APPIC internship applications. It's like applying to grad school all over again, and it's really exhausting. I have several more cover letters to write, but I've met my initial deadline. Score one for progress!

I've been so busy working on these applications that I haven't had much time to process what happened at Fort Hood. schlaukraft is an army brat from Fort Hood. Her father was career military. The fact that a psychiatrist and an officer committed that atrocity boggles my mind. The man was tasked with an oath to protect his men and to do no harm. he worked his entire life to be in a position to help people. He heard tragic stories of war directly from the mouths of soldiers who he later killed. It's beyond despicable. I can't even imagine how something like that would happen. The press said that he was taunted, but he is not in high school. He's not a member of the Trench Coat Mafia. A man in the mental health profession should know when to get help. I'm stunned and outraged.

I have long had plans to return to Austin to start my practice. Part of that plan has been to run a low cost PTSD support group for veterans up in Killeen near Fort Hood. I've spoken with many vets, and they have all said that they would rather get psych treatment outside of the VA because of concerns that their careers might be affected if they work within the VA. I feel for the families of those who have died and for the soldiers who were traumatized due to the acts of this selfish man. It helps knowing that I can be of assistance to the troops in the future.

Looks like I won't get much rest this weekend. Tomorrow and Sunday I will be in an all day class on Swedenborgian mysticism. I am very much looking forward to it. Having classes like that as electives is one of the wonderful things about going to school at CIIS.The downside is that I will be working through the weekend. I will have to somehow fit in my reading for my classes on Monday as well. I'll get it done, but I expect to be exhausted by this time next week.