• 10:11 Watching 1984. Guess I never read it. Thought I had. Must be confusing it with Brave New World? o_O Apparently I suck as a sci-fi geek. #
• 14:02 SO glad Alice went to sleep (after 57 minutes of talking and fussing)... because I've got a cat sleeping on my lap and don't wanna move. O_O #

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I love a good Madrigal dinner...

• 21:05 My royalty "check" violated Yog's law. WIth a fencepost. #
• 21:09 @edonald There was only LotR and Potter. Srsly. At least on our budget. Resident Evil:Oded+Semi+booms+3 heroines=entertainment, not best SFF #
• 14:34 @BrianKeene You write severed penises and it's just gross. I write severed penises and I'm a crazy radical man-hater. #

Please to be sweeping them into the wastebasket now
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http://www.theoddshots.com/2009/12/my-book-pr0n/

This is of the awesome.

Because cbpotts and I are being bad people together.
Warning, some offensive language.

• 10:27 If I'd been to Swim last week (was sick), I'da known they're closed til Jan 10. Didn't hafta disrupt Alice's nap to go. #
• 18:41 twitpic.com/ul84r - My cats love each other. No joke. Not staged or anything. #
• 19:05 twitpic.com/ulbts - They're still snuggling. #

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http://www.amazon.com/Alive-Inside-Angelia-Sparrow-Brooks/dp/1602728178

Alive on the Inside is available as a paperback from Amazon. That is all.

Or maybe not.
My unofficial reviews are giving me warm fuzzies.

"sensual, disturbing, and at times just downright revolting" from All Romance E-books

"I don't think the warning adequately covers what you can expect in this story...the story is quite unique. The writing is exceptional. The idea original. The execution's what horrified me." Sage Whistler.

These makes me giggle maniacally and rub my little pink paws together in hopes of world domination.

Happy Solstice! I'd like to say we're over the hump now, what with this being the longest night of the year, but let's not lie to each other-- this is technically the first day of winter. And here in the Frozen North (note: exaggeration) we're just battening down for the next three or four months of miserable cold (note: not exaggeration).

Christmas fast approaches, and I'm STILL not completely done with my shopping. D: I also owe people a few mailings-- sorry it's taking so long! I don't think I'll be able to get stuff out before the holidays. I'm aiming for January 2 as my "get to the post office" date, so if I said I'd mail you something, poke me with a spoon and remind me to do that in between apartment cleaning/redecorating tasks.

In other news, my brain has been hungry for SCIENCE lately. I've been devouring a lot of Richard Dawkins-- I tossed a copy of The Selfish Gene into my stash at work, because I've not yet read it and I really should. I also want to chew on more physics and cosmology. I've read some of Stephen Hawking's stuff, but are there any others you'd recommend as an entertaining read, O friendslist?

Science: It Are Deelishus. Like candy.

I've got to wrap more presents. D: Why can't the blasted things come pre-wrapped for my convenience?

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• 14:29 Naptime for Alices? She's having so much fun in Reeve's lap. #

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(art by walkerminion)

Hunting the wren
Oh where are you going, said Milder to Moulder
Oh we may not tell you said Festel to Fose
We´re off to the wood, said John the Red Nose
We´re off to the wood, said John the Red Nose

And what will you do, said Milder to Moulder
For we may not tell you, said Festel to Fose
We´ll shoot the cutty wren, said John the Red Nose
We´ll shoot the cutty wren, said John the Red Nose

Oh how will you cut him up, said Milder to Moulder
Oh we may not tell you, said Festel to Fose
With knives and with forks , said John the Red Nose
With knives and with forks , said John the Red Nose

And who´ll get the spare ribs said Milder to Moulder
Oh we may not tell you, said Festel to Fose
We´ll give them all to the poor, said John the Red Nose
We´ll give them all to the poor, said John the Red Nose

Although this song is often associated with the Peasants Revolt of 1381, it is a relic of a much older ritual. The Wren is the Little King of the Waning Year. He is found hiding in a holly bush by Robin Redbreast, who kills him.

On Yule, the Mother has come fully pregnant. Her time is at hand and as the old Sun dies into the longest night, she births the new one. The Holly King, her lover, is not pleased by this reminder of his brother and rival, the Oak King.

Mother informs the Holly King it is time for him to go.
No king wants to lay down his crown, and he damnds to know why he must leave and who will make him. Life is beautiful. He loves the cold and frosty stars, the icy wind, the way the snow blankets the world.

Mother smiles and tell him all times change and if he does not step down for the child she carries, even he will die forever. Without the light of the Sun, there will be no growth, no plants, only ice and snow forever. Even his green leaves will shed and die. Everything comes and everything goes. And all that dies is reborn. But without the Sun there will be no rebirth.

She lays his hands on her belly and the Holly King feels the life within her. The warmth comes out even through her body and he melts, tears on his face like dripping icicles.

From out of the growing light of the East comes a young and handsome man. He steps to his aged brother and lays a warm hand beside his face. "It is time."

The Holly King nods, knowing that in time all things are reborn, even he. "I do this for the people, that they may have light and harvest again."

"We thank you for keeping the land safe during the time of Darkness." The Oak King draws forth a sickle and decapitates his brother.

Mother picks up the severed head of her lover and kisses it. "Go into the west. It is the Oak King's time. The wheel always turns."

She covers his body with a blanket of snow and steps into the dawning light of the newborn Sun with her lover, the Oak King.
~
In this, the darkest season of the year, we are hard pressed to remember things change, they always change. The warm days of summer seem far away. The garden is dead and brown. Even here, in the south, we picked the last tomatoes a month ago. The sun, on days he decides to come out, is pale and weak and far away. He lays abed long and retires early, and we want to do the same.

But now, he has been reborn. The days will grow longer. Night will come later and day will come earlier. We may not see immediate life and growth, but soon. In six weeks, early green shoot will start to appear. The trees will bud out, in ghostly haloes of yellow and red and orange and green.

The wheel always turns. Light goes but it always returns. Carry the light with you today and into the fading darkness.
~


The holly and the ivy,
When they are both full grown
Of all the trees that are in the wood
The holly bears the crown

The rising of the Sun
And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry pipes
As we all sing with cheer.

The holly bears a berry
As red as any blood
The Goddess bears the Solstice Sun
To allow our hopes to bud

The rising of the sun
And the running of the deer
The Green Man and the Holly King
Are always welcome here.

You know you're hellbound when you and your girl watch King of Kings and Jesus Christ Superstar for the whip in the Temple and the boy-kissing. King of Kings was a bust, as there was no kiss. So I pointed her to the 2000 version of Superstar, where Jesus is kissing back.

Because, it is.

I have two more meetings before the end of the year.
But in 9 months of work:

Weight: 269 from 296 (my low was 266)
Bust=48 from 53.5
waist=46 from 49
hips=49.5 from 55
neck=16 from 17
upper arm= 13.5 from 16

Pain levels down significantly in ALL joints. No longer taking up to 10 advil a day.
I am pleased. It's not as fast as I would like, but it will stay off.

• 16:37 Me: "say a fish didn't have nipples..." Reeve: "the tips of the fins." #
• 17:25 twitpic.com/u9n3h - Alice on our walk. Reeve says the hat's too small. Thoughts? #

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A breakdown of what I've read this year:
YA 5
Western 3
Horror 11
Nonfiction 6 (bio, autobio, gardening and paganism)
Classic 2
Mystery 4 (All of these are Sharyn McCrumb's Ballad series)
Literary fiction 4
Gay romance 9 (includes mystery, horror, anthologies, contemporary)
Straight Romance 6 (All paranormal, except the anthology)


This is cut for length. The * designate a book I read for the m/m romance challenge. Be aware, not all my books are safe for work or children. The stuff that you can't get at Amazon has links.

( 1-48 under here )

49) ARC of Yellow Roses by Elizabeth Donald. I read 350 pages and I'm counting it. It's not out yet, but it will be. And when it is, you want this terrific story!

50) Inland Empire. James Buchanan. Sequel to Cheating Chance, Brandon and Nicky are back. When Nicky comes for a visit to reclaim his hearse, he gets tangled up in an investigation, and Brandon's closeted life threatens to burst wide open. Excellent sequel to an excellent book.

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Yesterday was Al-Hijira, the Islamic New Year. This day marks the migration of the Prophet Mohammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina.

I goofed and meant to post this song yesterday.

• 16:55 it would be rude of me to respond to Sen Lincoln's "Happy Holidays" message with "get bent you DINO." #
• 16:56 @Jaye_Valentine I've been using Frak since 1978 and have no intention of stopping. Cylons no. Stormtroopers? Always. #
• 04:11 @Zoe_Nichols I have a friend who rings in on the Imperial March. It suits him. My blond husband rings in on the Binary Sunset, Luke's theme. #
• 04:14 off to work. Do not want. Paycheck? want. So off I go. 8P #

Please to be sweeping them into the wastebasket now
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