Weblog Without a Cause

What do Ninjas do on their day off?

I'm on the left, Steven on the right. This is the first time I've ever worn a skirt, the first time I've ever had that much make-up on. I was a little upset when I realized I'd forgotten to give myself breasts, but the women there hastened to point out that most of them didn't have much in the way of boobs, either, so I stopped worrying about it. My teeth, though, look more yellow than normal in this picture. I know they're uncommonly yellow for some reason, but I didn't realize how much so. Yuck. I wonder if there's a healthy way to whiten them. . . Anyway, without further ado:

I'll try to get hold of a picture that reveals more leg.

Also, the word of the day is totalisator. Reference: "Nathan, [potentially confidential information]. I learned today that a pari-mutuel wagering system is technically known as a totalisator system. Sounds like a word you invented. -- Dad"

What can I say? I've been busy, and there's no need to bore you all with my daily tales of woe. But I've been badgered and have decided to update this thing. First, there's the picture that's been floating all over the intrawebnet (originally from here, but on the off chance that someone who reads this thing hasn't seen it yet:

A few days ago my father sent me a printout about DE law firms and attorneys. Some heady stuff in there. Click here and here. That's right. My father's a partner at MNAT and my mother's father is the Lodge in Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz.

School year's winding to a close. About a month left of classes, then a week of finals. Then a week off. Then I get my wisdom teeth yanked. Then another week off. Then summer classes start. I'll be taking "World Religions" and "Short Story". But it's too soon to think about that. Right now my main focus is papers -- every time I finish writing one, there seem to be two more waiting to be written. Would that my life remain always this easy.

My mom's bringing my brother and my dog when she comes to pick me up at the end of the school year. I'll have to expose the kid to a multitude of aggressively outgoing people. Either his social skills'll get some exercise or he'll snap and kill us all. Either way it'll be interesting. It'll also be fun showing off my dog. It'll be better just having the opportunity to play with him again.

I finally found a copy of Rhys Hughes' first Tartarus collection Worming the Harpy and snapped it up. It's the most expensive book I've ever bought, but this was the cheapest I'd yet seen it, so I went for it. It's waiting for me at home. I'll probably read it while I'm recovering from the tooth extractions.

I haven't had much time to read (for pleasure) lately, but I've persevered and have been reading anyway. Not fast, usually only a couple pages here and there. I'm still working my way through Mary Gentle's Ash: A Secret History. I'm about a quarter of a way through it, and haven't had time to pick it up in a couple of weeks, but I'm loving it. I'm about thirty pages into Sholem Asch's The Nazarene. Asch was a Polish Jew and this novel about the life of Jesus was written in the late thirties. Not the ideal time to be a Polish Jew. Anyway, it's very well written so far, and promises to have much of interest to say about the common points between Judaism and Christianity. It's also over 200k words, so I probably won't have finished it until at least the end of the school year. This morning I sat down and read Mike Carey's My Faith in Frankie. Not as brilliant as his work on Lucifer, it was still very amusing, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. I'm working my way slowly but surely through Craig Thompson's beautiful Blankets. If it doesn't get him an Eisner or five, there's no justice in the world. La Gringa mentioned Greg Rucka's forthcoming Q&C novel a little while ago. It was the first I'd ever heard of Rucka, so I decided to give his work a try. Since then I've read the first three of his Kodiak novels. They're generally one-sitting reads, taking no more than two or three hours, but are incredibly entertaining. Someone should hire him to write a Star Wars novel. As if he has the time. I've also within the past month or so read Greg Kurzawa's Gideon's Wall, which was a generally well written and pretty touching heroic fantasy that would have been better had it delivered on all of the promises it made. Still, fans of the genre should definitely check it out. Also read the first two collections of Bill Willingham's Fables, which are fun but nowhere near great. The books I have sitting on my shelf that I'm most looking forward to reading are Steph Swainston's The Year of Our War and Edward Whittemore's Quin's Shanghai Circus. I'm also looking forward to Nick Mamatas' Move Under Ground, coming next month, and Catherynne M. Valente's novel The Labyrinth, coming in June. I read one of her poems, "Apologia" from her collection Music of a Proto-Suicide, at a reading yesterday. Ooh, also coming in June is Sean Stewart's next novel. Yay. It's been too long since his latest, Galveston, came out (and I think it just went oop, so snap it up if you find it).

I am generally not very comfortable around people. Very self-conscious. Tend to get very tense when I'm touched. Often literally cannot bring myself to touch another person (with the sometime exception of Liz, because she's, well, Liz). Not that I don't want to. I very often do. Just can't. So, naturally, I've joined the Ballroom Dance club. Because of scheduling conflicts I can't attend very often, and because I'm a perfect novice when it comes to dancing (with the exception of a modicum of maneuvers I've picked up on the ice) I'm quite dreadful at it. I actually think I'd pick it up fairly easily if I didn't get so tense every time I was as close to a person as I need to be to dance with her. And if there weren't other people about. I'm hopeful that as time goes on the tension and self-consciousness will decrease to something near bearable levels. Also hopeful that next year I'll be able to schedule my various activities so I don't have such conflicts.

La Gringa is beginning to write again. Check it out! Also, courtesy of her:

That's all for now! I'm out for a bit to enjoy the spectacularly beautiful weather. Have a wonderful afternoon, all.

If you happen to bear a remarkable resemblance to this guy:

please, leave me alone. It would be appreciated.