Seriously, fishmalk what the hell kind of question is that :P

I don't have any one thing that I can point to and go "Yes! This thing! This thing gives me a real sense of accomplishment!'" Not my PhD, not my one ever published short story, not any one thing I have produced or any thing I have done. If I could get the fire lit in the fireplace tonight i might have been pretty feeakin' proud of that, but nope :p

So then - I think, if no one thing stands out - I am going to have to go with the whole package. I probably could have done things better, but on the whole I am pretty satisfied with who I am as a person, even if I'm not exactly where I would like to be, or where I hoped to be. I feel like I am pretty good at dealing with stuff when I have to, and my Life Skills/Adulting Skills are both fairly well developed and varied. I am not always 100% confident in everything I do and in some regards I am very dependent on others, but I think I do okay at managing those things as well.

So there you go. Yes, another co-out answer.

How I got to this point (or how I think I did) is another question - but not one anyone has asked! I do still have two open questions though.... On DW|On LJ

here is a link to Facebook - let me know if it doens't work. I'm going to put some of the dress ones on flickr in a bit.

Also go to FB, if you can, to see the videos I posed from the Firewhip performance :D

Flickr dress pics :)"

Someone (okay it was fortysevenbteg. ETA: no, I lie it was nichm!) posted this as a meme. I'm egotistical, so I'm game.

Rules: Take a picture of yourself right now. Don't change your clothes, don't fix your hair... just take a picture. Post that picture with NO editing.

Aim high, I say!

So I finished my Cursed Wreck story last year. I'm resubmitting it this year because the magazine I'd sent it to before is going through some kind of metamorphosis. I usually only futz much with my writing in the summer on account of being too busy during the year. I do have another piece to send out this year, though, and also another one that I'd like to finish and get out. I think it is feasible for me to finish... Anyway i am considering markets. Some magazines will accept simultaneous submissions, but not *multiple* submissions. They all have different length caps (sans query, anyway), submission guidelines, payment stuff, and response times.

So here are the stories:

The Cursed Wreck: Horror; blatantly Lovecraftian. 7100 words, diving/fishmen adventure in Turkey.

Keep Off the Grass: Fantasy Horror. 4100 words. A kid tries to be a hero against an invasion of evil grass.

Shadow of a Place: Horror, in progress. A woman visits an internet friend at her creepy creepy house.

I also have...

Breaking in to the Market: never been sure how to decide the genre - Modern dark fantasy?. 4600 words. Old story - a kid gets sucked in to the soul buying racket, and sets out on his own when he gets older.

Happiness Man: Modern fantasy? 4284 words. A man invents his own god. Rejected from On Spec with some recommendations for polishing that I've yet to follow up with.

The markets:

Apex:"Where Science Fiction and Horror Meet." Up to 7500 words. Pays 5 cents a word. Simultaneous submission not accepted. he only one that doesn't just want FNSAR - they want electronic and (non-exclusive) anthology rights. Response time 20-30 days.

Cemetery Dance: Horror, dark mystery and suspense. Up to 5000 words, response time 2-4 months, pays minimum 5 cents a word, max payment of 250$. Snail mail submissions only. Simultaneous submission okay.

OnSpec: Canadian speculative fiction - sci-fi, horror, etc. Pays set amounts (150-180 for my stories), up to 6000 words okay without pre-querying. Prefers Canadian content. Snail mail submission only, 3-4 months turn around. Simultaneous submission okay, I think?

Weird Tales: Unique, fantastic and bizarre stories. Pays 3-4 cents a word, up to 10000 words. E-mail submissions okay, turn around 6-8 weeks. Simultaneous submission okay.

Talebones: Science fiction and dark Fantasy. Pays 1-2 cents/word up to 6000 words. Snail mail submissions, turn around 2-6 weeks. No simultaneous submissions.

Cursed Wreck is the one that is the most ready to go. I could send it out tomorrow. I need to reformat Keep off the Grass and look it over an it will probably be okay. The others need more revision (or, um, to be finished...) and who knows how long that'll take me?

So, thoughts? I was going to send Cursed Wreck to Weird Tales, but they might want more original stuff. I was thinking of sending Keep off the grass to OnSpec, too, but again, I dunno.

Alas, the HP Lovecraft magazine isn't accepting submissions, and is possibly dead ;p

I'm open to recommendations of other markets as well.

I often have an urge to make a fanvid, if I can see clips form a show that are well suited to certain songs. earis and I have a mental list of Avatar fanvids we'd eventually like to get around to doing, but inspiration and time have rarely coincided.

This weekend, all of that changed.

This is my first fanvid, but I think it's pretty sweet, all things considering. It will eventually show up below, once Youtube has finished processing it. If you like it, pimp it around.



Direct link

Shoes have arrived, fit, and are comfy :D

Also look, the look good with the dress!

Also, on a whim i tried on my prom dress and I am wearing it! It may not be 100% street legal on account of sideboob, but it isn't indecent. it is definitely wearable. I think I still have the lace shawl too :o

Well enough play time, I gotta get reading :/

[I should say that I'd meant to, and though I had, posted this around 5... whoops! I am obviously not still wearing my prom dress :V I am still reading though, or, more accurately, reading again.]

Those of you who know me in person can all attest that I have kind of my own style of dressing. i commonly get comments from random strangers on my outfits and style. Today is a good example.

What I wore:

-Mustard yellow wrap pants, legs tied up
-loose, long sleeved muslin coloured shirt
-Dark Green Asian styled dress with (almost matching) mustard-y trim
-knee high dark green socks
-segmented carved bone necklace
-hair pulled back with a barrette
-my (now faded) green utility belt

I got told that I looked like/reminded people of: Some kind of viking/pirate/robin hood type (later clarified as maid Marion, so I'm not sure where the earlier allusion to a long boat came from), and a Jedi. I also got asked if I ever worked at a ren fair (no), and told that I have an original ("in a good way!") style of dressing. Along with other random compliments about my specific outfit and general manner of dress.

So yes. It's official, I'm stylish. And I didn't even wear any makeup :V

(I'm sure some of you will demand pics, but I don't know if I have any rooms with good enough light. We'll see)

If you are tough enough to handle them!

here are some of New Mexico that are safer ;p

My turn! Also a bunch of other people, mostly i Sheffield, but also the departmental secretary at ECU ^-^ Wooh!

I'm a Six!

So fr I have received a bunch of awesome things already enumerated from Hazel, a stuffed pirate alligator received well in advance from Ceiridwen (named Anne :), A book from Joel's parents, a book, some playmobile pirates and kinder eggs from Joel, a pirate-y shirt from Rum and Amanda, and a bunch of transformers (including a GIANT Starscream) from Buck. Score, and thanks everyone :D

I also got a bunch of other stuff in my package from Buck that are kind of presents to myself (more transformers, of course), as well as some that he touched up for me, so it feels like an especially sweet haul on the toy and pirate haul, all around. Way to ring in my 29th ^-^

Right now, Joel is making pancaked, then we are going to venture out to HEB to get renfaire tickets, and head out that way for the afternoon, where we will hopefully meet up with Megan and some other assorted peeps. Should be fun :D

So, I went to the Pirate party! it was lots of fun! I went with tethys123 and her husband, and met up at O'Bannons with some people I kind of knew.... But there was a live band (The Blaggards- Celtic Rock and bits - lots of Johnny Cash covers. Also, I Wanna be Sedated), and they were good, and according to my natural inclinations I gravitated towards the stage where I hung out with some other wanna-be pirates.

And there are pictures of course!

ARRRR!

Hazel's present obviously came just in time ^-^

There was a costume contest, but this was a bar contest, and I wasn't exposing enough flesh and didn't have the crowd packed with enough people to win, even though I had the best costume ;) Well, okay there were definitely other people there with good pirate outfits, but none of them involved a corset *and* a silk brocade jacket! It came down to two girls in the end - one who had lots of friends at the bar, and one who was reaaaaallly tarty. I suspect the latter was probably too young to legally be at the bar, anyway. She didn't win, despite her midriff barring bra-shirt thing and her spike heel boots. I was too close to the stage to get pictures. But the girl who did win wasn't was showing hardly any skin at all, so good for her. She seemed pretty nice, from what I could tell, and it is gratifying to think that even if the costume contest was not judged on the merit of the costume, a bar full of mostly drunken boys did *not* vote to give it to the underaged girl who showed the most skin!

Anyway, it was fun, and I should go to bed except that I'm all pepped from music and such still (possibly also the diet coke I had earlier), so instead I am posting pictures and writing posts! ARRR!