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greygirlbeastI hate having missed those seven days, which shows how addicted to blogging/LJ I've become (and no, personally, I don't really make a distinction between "blogs" and "online journals," no matter what the net gurus may insist). So, I was looking at my day planner just now. I still use a paper day planner. PDAs hold no charm for me. Anyway, scribbled in pencil are little things from some of the days, and I recall a few others, so I thought I'd try to fill the gap just a bit. Though I was entirely too stressed out and locked up to write, I tried to keep moving:
Tuesday (October 4th):
In the morning, Spooky and I proofed the galleys for two of my Subterranean Press chapbooks, The Merewife and False Starts. Then we visited the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, to see the traveling exhibit, Totems to Turquoise: Native North American Jewelery of the Northwest and Southwest. It's an amazing exhibition, with hundreds of pieces of contemporary and ancient jewelery. I was very pleased that there was at least a mention of transgendered shamans.
Wednesday (October 5th):
I read Spooky two short stories, Harlan's "Count the Clock That Tells the Time" (from Shatterday) and Ray Bradbury's "All Summer in a Day" (from A Medicine for Melancholy). I love both these stories so much it's hard to read them without crying, which makes it doubly hard to read them aloud. I resolved to name my first collection of sf stories A is for Alien as an homage to Ray Bradbury, who has surely influenced me as much as any writer. I figure I'll have enough material for such a collection sometime around 2007. But, the really cool thing about Tuesday was that it was the 100th anniversary of the type description of the genus and species Tyrannosaurus rex (Henry Fairfield Osborn, 1905, "Tyrannosaurus and other Cretaceous carnivorous dinosaurs." Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History [22:281-296]). I was first made aware of Osborn's tyrant king sometime around 1967, a mere 62 years after the taxon was named — I was three. I first saw the holotype specimen at the AMNH in February 1996. I think the first mention of Tyrannosaurus in my fiction was in Low Red Moon (2003), but I might be mistaken.
Thursday (October 6th):
Thursday was a Very Bad Day. Enough said.
Friday (October 7th):
On Friday, I read Ursula K. LeGuin's brilliant novella, "The Word for the World is Forest" (from Again, Dangerous Visions) to Spooky. It took most of the day, and, actually, my voice gave out towards the end and she read the last part to me. If you've not read the story, you should. I also decided that I definitely prefer 1960s-1970s sf to contemporary sf. I haven't yet figured out all the reasons why. Kid Night was sort of low key (I hadn't really earned a Kid Night), and the movies — The Thing Below and the remake of The Amityville Horror — were both nigh unto unwatchable. I was at least expecting TAH to be remotely entertaining, at least as entertaining as the original. Nope. Not even close. You know, I can forgive "horror" movies for being bad, for being dumb, even for perpetuating hoaxes of hauntings that never happened, but I can't forgive them for being dull, and the remake was dull as cold oatmeal.
Saturday (October 8th):
Well, at least it was sunny. And we spent the evening watching movies on TCM — To Have and Have Not (1944) and The Guns of Navarone (1961).
Sunday (October 9th):
Overcast, chilly, drizzly. Ugh. We watched Wolf (1994), which was, on the one hand, fun, and on the other hand, in no way actually very good. But, it was enjoyable watching Jack Nicholson having fun with the part, seeming not to take it serious for a moment. Afterwards, we watched the Spencer Tracy Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941).
And that's it. Six of the missing days. Monday, October 3rd, well, I talked about it already...
Tuesday (October 4th):
In the morning, Spooky and I proofed the galleys for two of my Subterranean Press chapbooks, The Merewife and False Starts. Then we visited the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, to see the traveling exhibit, Totems to Turquoise: Native North American Jewelery of the Northwest and Southwest. It's an amazing exhibition, with hundreds of pieces of contemporary and ancient jewelery. I was very pleased that there was at least a mention of transgendered shamans.
Wednesday (October 5th):
I read Spooky two short stories, Harlan's "Count the Clock That Tells the Time" (from Shatterday) and Ray Bradbury's "All Summer in a Day" (from A Medicine for Melancholy). I love both these stories so much it's hard to read them without crying, which makes it doubly hard to read them aloud. I resolved to name my first collection of sf stories A is for Alien as an homage to Ray Bradbury, who has surely influenced me as much as any writer. I figure I'll have enough material for such a collection sometime around 2007. But, the really cool thing about Tuesday was that it was the 100th anniversary of the type description of the genus and species Tyrannosaurus rex (Henry Fairfield Osborn, 1905, "Tyrannosaurus and other Cretaceous carnivorous dinosaurs." Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History [22:281-296]). I was first made aware of Osborn's tyrant king sometime around 1967, a mere 62 years after the taxon was named — I was three. I first saw the holotype specimen at the AMNH in February 1996. I think the first mention of Tyrannosaurus in my fiction was in Low Red Moon (2003), but I might be mistaken.
Thursday (October 6th):
Thursday was a Very Bad Day. Enough said.
Friday (October 7th):
On Friday, I read Ursula K. LeGuin's brilliant novella, "The Word for the World is Forest" (from Again, Dangerous Visions) to Spooky. It took most of the day, and, actually, my voice gave out towards the end and she read the last part to me. If you've not read the story, you should. I also decided that I definitely prefer 1960s-1970s sf to contemporary sf. I haven't yet figured out all the reasons why. Kid Night was sort of low key (I hadn't really earned a Kid Night), and the movies — The Thing Below and the remake of The Amityville Horror — were both nigh unto unwatchable. I was at least expecting TAH to be remotely entertaining, at least as entertaining as the original. Nope. Not even close. You know, I can forgive "horror" movies for being bad, for being dumb, even for perpetuating hoaxes of hauntings that never happened, but I can't forgive them for being dull, and the remake was dull as cold oatmeal.
Saturday (October 8th):
Well, at least it was sunny. And we spent the evening watching movies on TCM — To Have and Have Not (1944) and The Guns of Navarone (1961).
Sunday (October 9th):
Overcast, chilly, drizzly. Ugh. We watched Wolf (1994), which was, on the one hand, fun, and on the other hand, in no way actually very good. But, it was enjoyable watching Jack Nicholson having fun with the part, seeming not to take it serious for a moment. Afterwards, we watched the Spencer Tracy Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941).
And that's it. Six of the missing days. Monday, October 3rd, well, I talked about it already...
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no subject
Date: 2005-10-12 03:33 am (UTC)I always recommend it just for James Spader's performance, which I consider the textbook example of how to play a villain, which is to play it as though you're actually the misunderstood hero trying to deal with some troublesome old fart who won't accept being fired.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-12 03:49 am (UTC)Man, I haven't thought of Margot in, literally, DECADES. I need to re-read a whole lot of Bradbury. There Will Come Soft Rains remains, to this day, one of my most beloved short stories of all time.
I can forgive "horror" movies for being bad, for being dumb, even for perpetuating hoaxes of hauntings that never happened, but I can't forgive them for being dull, and the remake was dull as cold oatmeal.
Nice. Thanks for the candor, as this one was taking up a spot in my NetFlix queue.
All the best,
SWH
no subject
Date: 2005-10-12 04:22 am (UTC)My world is brighter knowing your writing is presented in a manner befitting its quality. Thank you, Caitlin!
no subject
Date: 2005-10-12 05:13 am (UTC)Mind you, I will not be reading TCF, WL until tomorrow, when it is daylight. You're very, very good at creating feelings of creeping dread with your writing*, and I'd like to sleep tonight.
* I've told you that before, right? That I'm not supposed to read any of your stories after dark, because they're extremely effective at creeping me out and depriving me of sleep? It's true. You're one of the only authors who can consistently do that to me. ::grins::
no subject
Date: 2005-10-12 03:06 pm (UTC)Tracy's Jekyll and Hyde is one of my favourite films he did.
BTW, if you wish to have a bit of a grin, read my post about my encounter
with Jahova Witnesses :>)
I believe you would appreciate it.
-A33