Sweating in the Land of Candy-Coloured Werewolves

The heat is back. Dr. Muñoz can, at best, handle but one room at a time. And this is likely to be the only thing of substance I shall get written today. I leave for Readercon 19 tomorrow, my first con appearance in almost four years, and there are a hundred things to do. Make sure I have clothes for two days. Make a trip to a Mac counter somewhere, because I've mostly stopped wearing cosmetics. Figure out what the fuck I'm going to be reading tomorrow evening, and at least give a little thought to the panels I've agreed to do. Oooh. Bad déjà vu. Must be a glitch in the Matrix somewhere. Anyway, we attended to hiding all the Nebari grey showing through in my hair yesterday, so at least that's done. We'll be taking Spooky's laptop, so I'll have internet access. I'll likely make at least one post from the con. As soon as I'm back, I have to finish up Chapter Three of The Red Tree, then get two pieces written for Sirenia Digest #32 in time to get the issue out by July 31st.

Please have a look at the current eBay auctions. Thank you.

Since the beginning of my participation in the Second Life Toxian City rolepaly sim ("urban dark fantasy") back in November, I've lamented that the nature of my character/s there are not conducive to keeping an ic blog, as I did for Professor Nishi last summer and autumn. However, I just have to post this bit, which is actually from Pontifex's blog. It might not make much sense out of context, but someday I'll look back at this entry regarding Labyrinth (Eris Discordia, Azathoth, etc.) and it'll make me smile:

Testament of Pontifex, Chapter 1:
1 In the beginning, the Goddess Eris was void and without form. 2 The Gods of Night and Day saw this and were filled with hate, for they were defined. 3 They plotted that one day she too would be bound, and it was so. 4 But they were forgotten and their plans had brought her to their beasts. 5 The beasts felt her presence and came to gaze into her void. 6 Some were stricken with madness and fear. These were called the Unnamed. 7 Others lost themselves into her void and became her Dancers. 8 Those that understood and could still stand called themselves her Prophets.

Also, there are other character blogs, those who've interacted with Nareth and now Labyrinth, and if you don't mind jigsaw puzzles, you can sort of piece the story together from entries in the ic journals of Joah Menjou, Omega Althouse, and Larissa Starostin. Aside from the lolspeaking morons and the occasional encounter with powder-blue (or pink, or green, or...) "werewolves" (why people insist on using those laughable "funny animal" avs when there are very good werewolf avatars available in SL is beyond me; there's no accounting for fetish), it's a pretty good ride.

Er...yesterday. What else. Last night, we watched Michel Gondry's Be Kind, Rewind (2008), which I found entirely delightful, and quite a bit more than I'd expected. Which should not have come as a surprise, given my fondness for Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and La Science des rêves (2006). Also, I've started missing old-fashioned console gaming in the worst sort of way, so last night I began Tomb Raider: Anniversary, a remake of one of my all-time faves, the original 1996 Tomb Raider. I reached the "Lost Valley" last night, and so far (a few issues with the controller and camera aside), I'm loving it. Too long have I forsaken the console! Oh, also also, intrigued by Fraser's book, I dug out "The First Record of Erpetosuchus (Reptilia; Archosauria) from the Late Triassic of North America" (JVP 20(4), Olsen, Sues, et Norell 2000), which concerns the discovery of remains of Erpetosuchus in Connecticut from beds of the Newark Supergroup.

And if that's not enough sheer nerdiness for one entry, then I'll remind you not to miss Act Two of Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog...because it just frelling rocks.

"From what I’ve tasted of desire..."

Today was (and tonight is) as they say in Boston, wicked hot. I think it reached 96F or so, and, smart beast that I am, I contrived to spend most of the day strolling about with the sun blasting down upon my head. Which is to say, we drove down to Wickford in hopes of finding me a new walking stick before we leave for Readercon in the ayem.

My old stick —— which greatly helped, my lousy rotten feet being what they are —— was broken during the drive up from Atlanta to Providence. I should have picked one up when we were in Salem last month, where they were plentiful and cheap, because while I found a beautiful one in Wickford today —— carved like the figurehead of a ship —— it had a $200 price tag. Not that it wasn't worth $200; it certainly was. I just can afford to pay that right now. So, we wandered up and down Boston Neck Road, Brown Street, Phillips Street, all the shops, but no luck. The sun was a white demon in a pale blue sky (sort of a werewolf-coloured sky). We met a rather shy Irish wolfhound. I paused on the Wickford Bridge as the tide was flowing into the Cove and watched white geese and mallards and scores of tiny fish. Finally, heat addled, we headed back to the car about 4 p.m.

We swung by Warwick Mall on the way home, and people at the MAC counter at Macy's were very helpful, and I bought decent make-up for the first time in years. Among other things, I found a great limited-edition lipstick bearing the rather absurd (but appropriate to the afternoon) name "Dangerously Hot."

We stopped by the Dexter Training Ground to get our weekly CSA bag of produce. Good stuff this week: corn, peaches, tomatoes, summer squash, a salad mix, string beans, and a half dozen eggs. There was a vendor with fresh oysters and clams on ice, and I was sorely tempted.

So, yeah. We're almost ready to leave for Burlington. I'd forgotten how very annoying and expensive and time-consuming it is to be social. I still haven't decided what I'll be reading tomorrow afternoon. Probably something from To Charles Fort, with Love or A is for Alien. I really need to be pimping the latter. We shall see.

And I should mention the eBay auctions again. I should also pointed out that the copy of Alabaster comes with the "Highway 97" chapbook (a prequel to "Bainbridge"), and the copy of "To Charles Fort, With Love" comes with the Little Damned Book of Days chapbook.

Okay. Now a couple of photos from Wickford. A wonder the camera did not burst into flames:

( Wickford July 17, 2008 )