Former Ramblings of an Insane, Lesbian, Book Writing Crip
wet slime brick pit
vertical walls with no handholds
gotta room at the
don’t give a shit hotel
bum f-ed shit head
i don’t care don’t hear what you say
i’m too broke to fix
apathetic stoned court
cry scream yell punch
the pit is full of anger rage
with nowhere to go
spiritless motor lodge
crossways sideways
upways and downways it’s the same
it won’t ever change
down at the slime pit inn
Can you tell I’m in a funk?
Sisters Mary Catherine, Maria Theresa, Katherine Marie, Rose Frances, & Mary Kathleen left the Convent on a trip to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City and were sight-seeing on a Tuesday in July. It was hot and humid in town and their traditional garb was making them so uncomfortable, they decided to stop in at Patty McGuire’s Pub for a cold soft drink.
Patty had recently added special legs to his barstools, which were the talk of the fashionable eastside neighborhood. All 5 Nuns sat up at the bar and were enjoying their Cokes when Monsignor Riley and Father McGinty entered the bar through the front door.
They, too, came for a cold drink when they were shocked and almost fainted at what they saw.
I was checking the area webcams and came across this lovely view:
It is from Cold Springs Ranch near Max Patch.
This is what the clouds look like from downtown Asheville, looking north.
Boy, what a trip the past 48 hours have been.
I’ve not been doing well on the mega antibiotic and have been feeling nauseous. I’ve not been taking the drug as often as I should be because of the nasty side effects.
Then Friday I start getting a headache. I do the normal stuff to try and make it go away.
Saturday, it is worse. And so is the nausea.
Saturday night, I have to wake Lorna up to help me do some things. I can’t lay down so we sit in bed together. When I finally am able to lay down, she rubs my head for me. The sensation of touch is a faster nerve message than pain. Which is why rubbing a boo-boo helps the pain.
I get up the morning, head still roaring, and feeling sick. I eat a simple bowl of cereal, thinking it is because I’ve had so little to eat. It stayed down only a short while.
I sipped Coke for a while and napped in Lorna’s recliner. Or was that yesterday? Both, I think.
At any rate, the headache is still there, but controllable. The nausea is still there but not so bad I don’t even want to think about food. This morning we were considering taking me to the ER where they can treat the migraine quickly and effectively. I updated my medication list and rested in my chair some. That’s when I noticed the headache was markedly less.
Ah.
Tomorrow I call the doc to see if I can be on another antibiotic.
At 12:01 am EST, an important part of radio communications came to a close. The FCC decided earlier to eliminate the Morse Code requirement for higher levels of licensing. The test was already so low as to be ridiculous – 5WPM. In 2000, the FCC did away with the other Morse code tests which were 13wpm for General and 20wpm for Extra.
The prevailing argument was that the vast majority of people didn’t bother to further their license abilities because of the Morse code requirement. Technician class license, the first one, allows limited use of the HF bands. General and Extra class access could only be gained after passing the Morse code test. Now with the requirement no longer there, “they” expect a deluge of people taking the tests for General.
I believe that if there is an increase, it will be short lived. The increase will be more due to the publicity than to the actual hindrance being removed. And while there may be a lot of people upgrading to General, I doubt the rush to upgrade to Extra after that will not happen. The General test is difficult, much harder than the very simple Technician test. The Extra test is a LOT of math and a LOT of theory.
It is sad that Morse code is no longer a vital part of becoming a ham. It was an initiation rite, one that was such a part of history that the pain, what little there was, was worth it.
I hold a General ticket which means I took the Tech test and then the Morse code test. A month later, I took and passed the General test. I feel proud of the fact that I know Morse code (aka CW). When I get my HF rig some day, I hope to do a lot of CW communication.
As I (once again) write BG2, I find that I am having to consult the BG1 manuscript quite often.
Ellen isn’t mentioned in BG1. And Nikki comes alone to the bonfire near the end of the book.
Which means Ellen doesn’t appear until after the bonfire. Which puts it…when?
I seemed to have shot myself in the foot when I wrote BG1. I tried to not have too many time-related references in order to give the book a “timeless” feel. Most of the book takes place in winter. And they go to a ball game in early April. Kelly has to wait until “true thaw” to dig a hole. So…when?
I also mention the Gay Pride Parade in the beginning of BG1. Several people have told me they want to know what happens to/with everyone during the parade. Crap. That means June, right?
Ouch. Just burned out another brain cell cluster.
Some author-y stuff:
My bio over at Regal Crest has been updated. I like this version better.
Butch Girls Can Fix Anything (BGCFA) is on Regal Crest’s best seller’s list. (I heard a rumor it is the best seller for Jan. and Feb.) BGCFA has gotten two reviews, one thumbs-down and one thumbs-up, over at Amazon.
My publisher is chomping at the bit (better a bit than my ass!) for another book.
Irony lives: I had changed and hated the plot (of BG2) a year ago and I still hate it.
Some Real Life stuff:
We have three goldfish now – Sumo, Kiko, and Sake. They are in a 25 gallon tank and loving the space.
My friend Lew isn’t doing so well with chemo.
All our critters (6 dogs, 3 cats, 3 fish, umpteen snails) are doing well. No more fights.
My voice is back; my cough is still around; my nose is clear; my ears still hurt; the nausea has decreased; and I am still on those horse choking anti-biotics.
Lorna had an MRI done to see what was causing the pain and tingling in her neck and hands. Arthritis in her lower neck, the nurse said. PT to start soon. We were sure it was going to be worse.
I poked around on the current WIP whilst I was sick. Not much, just a few hundred words here and there.
Now that I am able to stay awake all day (although the urge to hurl is still strong), I opened up the WIP with the idea of reading it and continuing writing it.
And it sucks. I hate it. Boooorrrriing. Blech.
So, you guessed it, I started over. BG2 originally was my Two Year Novel project way back, well, three (?) years ago. It was the first BG book, although it wasn’t called one since I didn’t know there was going to be a trend. Its original title was “Uhauls and Toaster Ovens”. The story line then was Nikki, a rural mail carrier, has someone knew move onto her route. Ellen, a software designer, wants to leave Philly and basically picked where she did by pure chance. They meet, become friends, become more…you get the idea. The underlying theme was to be the humor of Yankee learns Southern-speak.
When I wrote what would become BG1, I had Grace and Kelly meet three months after Grace moves to town. It never has “new-girl theme” undertones.
When I started to rewrite it last year, I changed the plot to avoid “moved to town and they met” scenario. Nikki and Ellen meet on-line via a lesbian website’s singles ads. Ellen moves down and they have to adjust to the living-together thing. This is the version I hate.
Now I think I will return to the original plot. My goal is to let the humor out-weigh the romance and therefor not be the same as BG1. The “new-girl theme” will be predominant but that’s okay.
In re-reading this post, I realized I started BG1 and BG2 the same year. I was writing with a gusto on “Uhauls” when I paused for my first NaNoWriMo in ’04. That’s when I wrote “Butch Girls Can Fix Anything” (aka BG1). After November, I tried to get back into “Uhauls” (aka BG2) and just couldn’t.
Makes me want to dig out my older books.
Steinbeck first edition sells for $47,800 US
A rare first edition of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath sold at auction Sunday in Los Angeles for $47,800 US.
A collection of first-edition copies of Steinbeck works, originally owned by his sister, Elizabeth Steinbeck Ainsworth, who died in 1992, was sold at Bonhams & Butterfields auction house.
The Grapes of Wrath, his tale of a family struggling through Depression-era poverty, received the highest bid in the auction, which raised $200,000 US for the family.
Bonhams said the price for The Grapes of Wrath may be a record for the sale of a Steinbeck work.
Got this from an email-list.
It is with sadness that Lambda Literary Foundation announces the passing of an outstanding pioneer of lesbian and gay literature who made multiple historical contributions to our culture.
Barbara Gittings, 1932-2007
Gay rights pioneer Barbara Gittings has died at the age of 75 from a lengthy and brave battle with breast cancer, Philadelphia Gay News publisher and friend Mark Segal announced today.
“She will live forever in our hearts and our memory. In the history of LGBT people, she will stand forever among our giants,” observed Katherine V. Forrest, president of the Lambda Literary Foundation.
Gittings first came to the public spotlight in 1965 when she and a handful of gay men and lesbians held demonstrations outside the White House and Independence Hall seeking equal rights for homosexuals. These were the first such demonstrations in American history and began an era of gays coming out of the closet. Gitting’s involvement in the gay rights movement started in the late 1950s when she helped organize the New York City chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis (D.O.B.). It was there she met her life partner Kay Lahausen, who has been by her side for 46 years.
Gittings other accomplishments include head of the American Library Association’s Gay Task Force. In 2003 The American Library Association presented Gittings with its highest honor, a lifetime membership. She was an active cornerstone in the campaign that led to the American Psychiatric Association dropping its categorization of homosexuality as a mental illness in 1973. In 2005, she was recognized by the Publishing Triangle with its Leadership Award.
Gittings was an early community journalist. She edited the D.O.B. publication The Ladder from 1963-66 and worked with Lahausen on her 1973 book The Gay Crusaders.
Gittings continued to make appearances, even accepting an award from the American Psychiatric Association this past fall, but ill health finally led her and Lahausen to an Assisted Living Facility in Kennet Square, PA, where she went into a coma Sunday morning, February 18th and passed away with Kay at her side at 7:25 p.m. later that evening.
Gittings and Lahausen lived their latter years in Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware. Along with Lahausen, Gittings is survived by her sister Eleanor Gittings Taylor of San Diego, California.
Lahausen asks that donations be made in Barbara’s memory to Lambda Legal Defense Fund. A memorial is currently being planned.