Alas, and alack, and Alaska.

[greygirlbeast]

Yes, the rumors are true. Last night, I signed up for Twitter. I am now twatting. Or tweeting. Or twitting. Or what the fuck ever, as greygirlbeast. Yes, it's really me. For now. Yesterday, I began to wonder if I'd become like all those stabilists, back in the '50s and '60s, who still refused to accept the reality of plate tectonics, even when there was finally loads of hard data to support Alfred Wegner's model of continental drift. Yes, that's the way my mind works. Also, I couldn't get the refrain, "One of us! One of us!" out of my head. So, yes. It's really me. Greygirlbeast. Or @greygirlbeast. Or however one writes out their twat address. Please, don't rub it in. Already, the shame burns like hygiene. Oh, Spooky twats as DreamingSquid, in case you're interested. She's been doing it behind my back for weeks.

Yesterday, I wrote 1,947 words (a very, very productive writing day for me) and finished "The Mermaid of the Concrete Ocean," which will be appearing in Sirenia Digest #43. I sent the story to Vince last night, so that he can begin work on an illustration for the piece.

Today, I'm exhausted, and have declared a semi-day off.

However, it seems that the prime instigator in the recent round of severe insomnia may have been my attempt to finish "The Alchemist's Daughter." After I gave up and shelved it on Saturday, I began to sleep again. Let this be a lesson to you, young lady. Sometimes, you have to let go.

Not much else to yesterday. It rained, and it's still raining today. I'm going to petition city hall to decree that Providence shall henceforth be known as Seattle, RI, until such time as summer begins. So, yeah, it rained yesterday.

Spooky has added a few more items to the current eBay auctions. These include a hardback copy of The Merewife chapbook that was originally released with Subterranean Magazine #2, back in 2005. This is almost certainly one of my most collectible books. The hb printing was very small, and quickly sold out. I received only four comp copies, and this is probably the only one I'll ever auction.

We finished reading Andrea Barrett's The Voyage of the Narwhal last night. It's truly an extraordinary novel, and I strongly recommend it. Especially if you have an interest in 19th-Century naturalists, the development of the theory of evolution, and the history of Arctic exploration. It almost makes a curious sort of preface to Dan Simmons' superb The Terror. There's a passage from the last page that I want to put down here, it pleased me so much: Here are the hinges on which the world turns and the limits of the circuits of the stars.

And now I'm going to have coffee with a reclining platypus and a groggy dodo. I mentioned the twatter thing, right?

Comments

[scarletboi.livejournal.com]

You were in my dreams last night. We were lounging on a chaise while Kat and Spooky tried to catch a bunch of hedgehogs that had escaped from a box where they were supposed to make music.

They couldn't find the xylophone player, and Kat was very upset about that.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Why have I know memory of these frivolities! Drat.

[scarletboi.livejournal.com]

The hedgehogs were adorable with their little instruments.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

The hedgehogs were adorable with their little instruments.

Sigh.

[sovay]

and finished "The Mermaid of the Concrete Ocean," which will be appearing in Sirenia Digest #43.

I look forward to it very much. I'm glad you're sleeping again.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're sleeping again.

As am I. That was bad.

[b4-sunshine.livejournal.com]

I'm on twitter too and I don't really get it. Still it is good to keep up on huge trends like twitter, if only so you know what people are talking about.

And hey, maybe twitter isn't all bad!

"tjcrowley @trent_reznor Thank you for coming back. You should follow @greygirlbeast, one of the best writers I know. #FollowFriday."

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

"tjcrowley @trent_reznor Thank you for coming back. You should follow @greygirlbeast, one of the best writers I know. #FollowFriday."

Oh...well. Thank you, Darren. If you're reading this.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

I find it difficult to see any use of the word "twit" and take it seriously.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I find it difficult to see any use of the word "twit" and take it seriously.

Which is smart of you.

[mrs-ralph.livejournal.com]

It's a little elementary, it's National Geographic, but a whale fossil was found when a factory was cutting limestone for kitchen counters:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXrsDHevV6I&feature=fvhl

PS: It's hard not to succumb to Twitter right now when it is covering the revolution in Iran in real-time. ;-)

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

PS: It's hard not to succumb to Twitter right now when it is covering the revolution in Iran in real-time.

I can't quite decide if it's covering it, or fomenting it, or what. It's like that problem of scientists changing what they wish to observe merely by observing it, and thereby defeating the purpose of the experiment. Or not. I'm a stranger here myself.

[mrs-ralph.livejournal.com]

A valid observation. The Americans (to name a few) are definately enabling it to carry on by providing internet servers for the Iranians. The Iranian government had apparently attempted to cut off all communications so Twitter appears to be one of the few places they can communicate and report what is happening.

[elmocho.livejournal.com]

Oh, Spooky twats as DreamingSquid, in case you're interested. She's been doing it behind my back for weeks.

That seems to be the appropriate place to do that sort of thing, as disreputably as you've characterized it.

I concur: My fiance keeps telling me about her "tweets" and the "followers" she has, as if she's become some sort of cult leader.

Sadly, this also seems to be yet another way my social network communicates in town, so I'll have to get any news about proposed twitted get-togethers from her. Facebook seemed bad enough.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

My fiance keeps telling me about her "tweets" and the "followers" she has, as if she's become some sort of cult leader.

Still, "follower" is a far better choice of words than "friend," which both LJ and Facebook employs (and misuses). That whole "friend" thing has already caused me repeated (and weird) headaches, people getting offended that I don't think of them as friends because LJ says they're my friend.

Facebook seemed bad enough.

It is.

[elmocho.livejournal.com]

Facebook: I use it to keep up with Real Life friends and dream of beating Nick Mamatas's Bejeweled Blitz score.

I will also use "LJ-befriend" and people look at me askance for using the proper form of the verb instead of "I friended you."

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I will also use "LJ-befriend" and people look at me askance for using the proper form of the verb instead of "I friended you."

I addressed this long ago, in some entry or another. We have a perfectly good word, "befriend," and instead, there's this corruption of "friend." Though, as I said, the problem is not only in the use of the noun as a verb, but in the fact that it implies friendship where none may exist.

[ardiril.livejournal.com]

What counts is that you are giving Twitter a chance. If you still don't like it, you can slam it all you want without sounding like a Luddite.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

If you still don't like it, you can slam it all you want without sounding like a Luddite.

But the truth is that I am, to a degree, a Luddite, one forced by circumstance and need into making concessions.

[ardiril.livejournal.com]

Hmm, that does skew the perspective somewhat.

[ardiril.livejournal.com]

223 followers in one day. Not bad, not bad at all.

Oh, and your twitterfeed worked!

[ardiril.livejournal.com]

Will we soon read your first #WIHFDT (what I had for dinner tonight)? heheh

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

I am, to a degree, a Luddite, one forced by circumstance and need into making concessions.

Maybe slightly like a lefthanded person having to adapt to a righthanded-arranged world. (Which, if you're lucky, results in you being at least a little ambidextrous, though not as ambidextrous as the Iron Monkey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Monkey_(1993_film)).)

Signed,
A lefthanded person

P.S. I'm so glad that we're past some of the silliness over lefthandedness, but someone as relatively young as Tom Cruise was "converted" from left- to righthandedness as a kid, which DIDN'T HELP the dude's dyslexia. (And now I kind of want to be mean and wonder if that has anything to do with his being crazy, but that's mean and I should drop the subject now.) THAT "converting" thing needed to go away.

Tweet Your Blog Posts Automatically

[robert-robbins.livejournal.com]

I use http://twitterfeed.com to automaticaly send a tweet whenever I post a new blog entry.

Re: Tweet Your Blog Posts Automatically

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Ah, cool. Thanks.

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

all those stabilists, back in the '50s and '60s, who still refused to accept the reality of plate tectonics

Which reminds me: in (I think) college, my brother had an old textbook where they could use PART of it but not one section of it. The section they didn't use referred to what we now know as plate tectonics as, I kid not, "a force from the east." Yeah. Old.

a reclining platypus and a groggy dodo

Have Vince Locke illustrate that sometime, maybe? And "groggy dodo" sounds like code.

I'm weighing whether I should start what would almost certainly be the world's most incomprehensible-to-anyone-but-my-friends Twitter feed. It should be carefully considered. At least you did that.

I hope summer reaches you soon.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Have Vince Locke illustrate that sometime, maybe?

That's not a bad idea....

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

How long have the two of you known/worked with each other?

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I can't remember. Weird.

[kody-boye.livejournal.com]

I don't use twitter for the simple 'this is what I'm doing' thing. I use it for massive spam updates. I spent about a half hour twatting (I say twatting, because tweeting is boring) BUY MY NOVEL ON AMAZON with applicable links every minute, LOL. XD

Glad to hear you're sleeping, and congrats on finishing your short story. It's always nice to finish a story like that, especially when you're writing a novel. Mine likes to toy with my emotions and make me freak out about whether or not particular parts suck ass (the novel, I mean. LOL. I haven't sucked any ass. :P)

hahahahahaha. That last part was so fucking bad.