Dandelyon's Worlds

I've been under the weather. This time I managed to get Bronchitis just from the end of the winter heating season (unless a friend with a congestive heart condition was actually sick, and not just coughing because of the heart condition). But I think this was coming on earlier, and the med regime my former allergist suggested was keeping my lungs and sinuses a lot clearer than in the past, but not enough for my body to clear out the infection.

Well, I came to this conclusion Friday, with (among other things) singing at the Eurofilk showing me I was unusually short of breath for singing; I already had an appointment with my newish primary doc who I really like on Monday, and when I tried to call the allergist last month to set up an appointment, there was no answer or answering machine on his number, or on the alternate number I found on Google. I did find an article about him listing him as 81 years old, and I'm not sure how long ago that was written, so I'm assuming he died or retired. So, I waited out the weekend and got tireder and tireder, and shorter and shorter of breath.

Happily, she was willing to prescribe antibiotics and steroids (if I'd gotten antibiotics on Friday, that might have been enough), unhappily, when they figured out that the only way they could give me the meds the doc thought most appropriate that didn't have corn in it (kids' liquid, again), it turned out that the pharmacy couldn't fill it until today. It was too late to try to talk the doc into prescribing something different, as the clinic was closed.

So today I woke up way too early, and was NOT falling asleep again (my body does insist on waking when I really need meds, which freaked out my RN mother when I was first sick enough to always be awake when she came in to wake me up to take them). This was handy in that I was able to deal with a bank overdraft for my grown-up kid (she's still using the account I got her when she went to Denmark in 4th grade so I could easily transfer money to her if there was an unexpected need, so, being awake I saw the text notification) (Her birthday is later this month, so an early birthday gift was perfectly reasonable).

And then I had food and called the pharmacy, because I WANTED those meds before the rest of the day's errands, which included getting My Angel to her PT appointment, mailing a thing (in a post office, since there seems to be no more drop-off boxes outside our regular post office any more--WTF, government?--and going to pick up meds at a different pharmacy too.

The strip mall the post office was in had one of the closing JoAnne Fabrics, which had almost no fabric left, and not much of anything else either. I did find some things to buy, including two substantially marked down big bags designed to hold a sewing machine and sewing stuff, but which I plan to use one of for author stuff (books, display, etc.) on the assumption that I'll do signings at cons again, and the other for acrylic paints, brushes, and the like since my current bag and plastic bin plan isn't working out as well as I'd like, and because having that stuff on wheels will be very convenient.

I also got some beads, wire, a thimble and multitool, sewing machine needles, an ironing pad to put on a table, some tape, a couple of pillow forms for planned gifting, and, surprisingly, a basket of tumbled stones to put in the fishtank. Sadly, the heavy-duty dolly they had pictured in the front as available had already been sold. I looked at the jewelry making stuff, thought about the heavy duty crimper and some of those beads, but I haven't been making jewelry lately and can use the hemostats I use for holding autoharp strings to crimp things, so I left those behind. I did also get some very discounted project boards, so if we decide to go to one or more protests, we can take signs.

And I took photos of our daffodils in the middle of all that.

I am cheered by all the photos of protests I'm seeing, and by how badly Elon's car company is doing. It gives me hope. Keep contacting your elected officials, we've got to wear them down until they stand up to our very cruel and foolish leader.

Now I am going to hit post and go watch Rachel show all those pictures of the signs again, and do Duolinguo, so I don't miss a day, and fall in bed. Maybe I'll manage to post Daffodil pics tomorrow.

I was much younger when I did two cons two weekends in a row. Wiscon was great, all intellectual and thought provoking and when it wasn't, I tried writing in the Google doc where I'm collaborating on a story (that worked pretty well, actually). Duckon was appropriately nicknamed "cardio-con" and there were people I wanted to see that I heard were there, somewhere.

This last weekend I finally got to the Bead and Button show. I'm not sure if I got the right beads to make a couple of necklaces I've been working on work right yet, however, I did get some cool things and I now just need a quick trip to Planet Bead for cord and either red or gold seed beads to have one that I hadn't planned, but will be Really Cool, I think, when it's done. Here's the beads - the little ones are butterflies, not sure if that will be clear in the picture:

I started a Zazzle store last night. Not much there, but you're welcome to check it out.  If it's not there right away, it should be soon, the directions say it can take up to 24 hours for items to appear, and I have no experience with how long it usually takes within that window.

Also, I just got an e-mail stating that on some items--white shirts and mouse pads included--the discount code EASYGIFTIDEA will give you 30% off (for a limited time). So if you want one, you're welcome to get it on sale!

http://www.zazzle.com/wyld_dandelyon

http://www.zazzle.com/angry_tree_tshirt-23542671782164088

http://www.zazzle.com/island_city_mousepad-144744081301695

http://www.zazzle.com/city_in_the_clouds_mousepad-1445293738987

If anyone has tips on how to make the best use of Zazzle, I'm happy to listen.

I peeked in on the Muse Fusion last night, and left a few prompts, but I was awfully tired from my work week. I didn't get a story finished. However, I got a start on a new story about the characters in So Many, Many Frogs.

You are all welcome to stop by torn_world and leave us some prompts too!

I took a couple of minutes this morning to try to make one of those cool fund-raising tickers. I didn't figure it all out (how the heck do you get a cool background, for instance? Or a cool end-post for your goal?) but eventually decided I was wasting writing time. However, here's my initial effort:




If I make the first goal today, I'll set a new one for the rest of the weekend (and again, if necessary)--if I do, any suggestions as to what you'd like to see in addition to an extra free poem or drabble? (And where should I go out to dinner?)

If you're inclined to sponsor my work this weekend, I'll update the ticker. You can sponsor a particular piece or put funds into a general fund. I'll post a poll so everyone can vote as to what gets sponsored with the general fund.

But now, back to Lizard, Lizard.

(or "when to expect my cell phone to be off this weekend")

I will be busy at Duckon. I hope to arrive on Friday before Nate Bucklin's guitar workshop at 8, but I must be there before 9, as that's my first panel:

Friday, June 17
9:00 P.M. Vampires: Hidden Desires Unleashed or Misdirected? (Mahogany Ballroom I)
Descript: Vampires in TV programs and movies are glamorous, desirable, and loveable. Ancient folklore and myth view them in not so admirable ways. How did we reach the point where everyone wants to have his or her own vampire girl/boy friend?

Saturday, June 18
3:00 P.M. Reality of Science Fiction/Fantasy Character Roles in True Life (Mahogany Ballroom I)
Descript: How many fictional roles appearing in books, magazines and movies are actually feasible in the real world? Could a Mulder exist and encounter aliens?
5:00 P.M. How Writers Motivate Themselves to Write (Mahogany Ballroom II)

Sunday, June 19
10:00 A.M. Writing in Someone Else's World (Mahogany Ballroom II)
11:00 A.M. Autographing (Room 1212) (You will share the room with Michael Williams and Shirley Damsgaard)
1:00 P.M. Balancing Historical Fact and Fiction (Mahogany Ballroom I)
Descript: How do you change the past but still make a believable story? What percentage of facts do you really twist without totally convoluting the reality of your alternate history? When does changing too many facts completely negate an understandable, possible future?
2:00 P.M. Reading (Room 1210) (You will be dividing your hour with Kathryn Sullivan.)

Four things in five hours on Sunday...I will have to eat a real meal on Saturday, sometime.  If someone wants to do lunch or dinner, l with a person who has to be not only gluten-free but also corn-free, especially if you have some idea where to find healthy food that meets those qualifications, please let me know!

If you'll be at the con, I'd love to see you at any of the panels.  If not (or even if you will be there), you're welcome to kibitz ahead of time on any of the above topics.  I have a nice, roomy comment thread available here, after all!

(In other news, here's the first rose in our garden this year; the picture was taken Friday.)

Saturday, I looked at the tracking numbers, saw that the books were out for delivery in Milwaukee, and so I sat with the TV silent, waiting for a knock on the door. Silence is essential, since my door is old, solid wood--three inches thick most places, and two inches even where it's carved inward to make it pretty. And no matter how big the house, 3" of wood is not a good drum-head.

I can't say I was patient--I went out to check the mail about a dozen times during the day.

Eventually, at 10 to 5, I found instead of an empty mailbox a little off-yellow slip of paper. I'd missed them.

And, of course, there's nothing you can do about that on a Sunday, and the post office closes the same time I get off work, so I sacrificed my lunch hour to go get the books. 

Here is one copy, being guarded by my cat.

It's clear that the camera focused on the cat's face, not the book, but that's OK, you can see the cover over at www.tornworld.net if you want to see it clearly.  You can't see my cat over there.

Duckon, here we come!

(That's me and the books, not me and the cat.  She doesn't take to crowds, even here at the house.)

Next project--get packed, and wait for a reply to my e-mail to Duckon staff, wherein I ask why I was scheduled for two events at the same time on Sunday...

Respecting my daughter's privacy, I won't post the beautiful photos of her trying on dresses for prom, or taking photos of her cousins running around the lawn hunting eggs. However, I will share this photo.  You can't see her, but she's in the driver's seat, waiting for my sister to finish stowing stuff so she can do some practice driving in my sister's "midlife crisis car" with the hood down.  Amazing how limber teenagers are!

The weekend was good, but didn't leave room for writing. And I'd like to share some pictures of the colored eggs we made. And kittens. They're running around, and one of them is even stealing some of his Mom's kibble.

But not tonight. It's late and I, unfortunately, need sleep.  And I'm booked tomorrow evening too.  But there will be new Fireborn soon.

I hope you all are having a good week! Feel free to chat here, if you want.

Windy Moon, Sap Moon, Sleepy Moon, Moon when eyes are sore from bright snow.  As I sit here, the snow is falling more horizontally than vertically.  The sun is well-buried behind blowing snow and the clouds producing it.  This Full Moon in March will rise over a day of predicted thundersnows, and they are predicting up to 15 inches of snow here in Milwaukee.  This only a few days after the Mayor said he was giving us all a two-week deadline to clean up the solids left on our lawn after the snow part of the “snow and trash lasagne” had (mostly) melted.  With snow predicted for next week too, I guess he’ll have to extend the deadline!

Seeing <lj user=”cadhla”> ’s plans for the weekend makes me wish I had similar ones.  I’ve decided that I should make an outline and try writing from that, since so many of my projects get stalled in the “what happens next” middle-of-the-story stage.  And I’ve done some storytelling exercises showing I’m at least reasonably adept at getting a story that a previous person in the story derailed back on track when I have a clear idea where it’s going.

The problem is that I hate outlining.  Always have. 

Well, that’s the problem when I’m looking at it only from the writing angle, anyway.  Having some of my radiators freeze last winter, leading to me doing far too much soldering (and un-soldering, and re-soldering) of radiators; working on plumbing; working on the downstairs bathroom walls and floors; needing to lay concrete in the basement so the stairs can be repaired, which means taking up old, rotted wood and digging the hole the concrete is to go in…  Oh, and groceries, and meals, and ferrying the teenager around, and paying bills, and going to the bank and doing other errands…  Never mind reading, relaxing, or a social life.  Or music…  And then there’s sleep.  And work, without which I can’t pay the bills so as to have a computer to write upon or a place to keep art supplies and instruments. 

Oh, And today, tonight, and tomorrow, there’s snow that needs shoveling.  I guess Mother Nature didn’t think I was busy enough!