Tag Archives: interesting

Mythology Is Pretty Important

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Mythology is going to be really important in at least one of my plot bunnies, maybe even two of them.  I’m going to focus on some of the mythological creatures and beings that may end up in The Pact.  If any of the information isn’t new to you, I’m sorry, but hopefully it’ll help me get some focus. 

  • Faeries popped into my head immediately.  The word faerie comes from Middle English word faierie, which seems to come directly from the Old French word Faerie.  Ultimately, though, the word faerie is derived from the Latin word fata, or one of the Fates.  So faeries are guardians in the ultimate sense of the word.  Can you imagine getting sick because you’re trying to protect something, and nothing is good enough?  Faerie is a pretty broad category, though, if the wikipedia page is any indication.  But still, I like the image of a faerie.  There are lots of faeries out there, so I’m pretty sure I can think of something interesting.   
  • Mermaids: I don’t have a clue how to work in a mermaid, but I really like the idea.  Mermaid comes from two French words, mer, which means sea, and maid, which is a girl or a young woman…obviously, right?  Mermaids sing to gods or people to enchant them and distract them from what they’re doing.  In some stories, mermaids squeeze the life out of men as they drown while they try to rescue them.  There are a lot of mermaid stories out there, and I really like the image of a girl who’s part mermaid or something. 
  • Selkies can become human by taking off their seal skin, and return to their seal form by putting their seal skin back on.  There’s not much on the wikipedia page, but the legends are really interesting, and I’m sure I could adapt the legends to fit the story. 
  • Sirens…I’m starting to detect a them here, perhaps something water related is where I should focus my attention.  Sirens, if you’re not familiar with them, are 3 bird-women who are portrayed as seductresses who lured sailors to the rocky coast of their island with their enchanting voices and music.  I’m pretty sure I could work this in somehow, but since it’s a fantasy, it can happen. 

I think some kind of water creature is where my thoughts eem to be headed, and there’s going to be some very strong imagery.  I’ll definitely need some to have a clear image of what Poppy looks like.  If I can actually get myself to work on it, it should be really fun.

More Podcast Talk

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I went look for some more podcasts over the weekend.  I got caught up on the one’s I listening to, and found a ton of new podcasts to listen to.  Some I found at iTunes, but there were a bunch I found over at Pride48, which had their 48 hour marathon event.  I guess they have it every year, and since some of the podcasts I listen to were participating, I thought I’d listen this year.

I had heard of some of the podcasts before, but never listened to, so I downloaded those.  And there were a bunch I downloaded that I had never heard of.  I’ve listened to a few of them, and I’ve definitely found some new podcasts to listen to.  There are definitely a few that I tried listening to months ago but couldn’t get into.  I think I’m going to give them another listen, because I definitely have a few podcasts that I tried listening to, deleted, and then listened again…and liked them.

Back to Pride48, though.  It was really fun listening, especially since all of the Vegas shows were live, in front of an audience.  There were quite a few shows that weren’t broadcast from Vegas, but overall, it was really fun.  It made me wish I was there, but that really wasn’t an option this year.  And I don’t know if a non-podcaster can attend anyway….maybe if I start podcasting, I’ll be able to go next year, even if I don’t do the live show thing.  And hanging out in the chatroom was really fun!  I mostly lurked, but every once in a while, I commented on something.  I can’t wait for next year!

Anyway, I have lots of potential new podcasts to try out, and maybe some of them will stick.  I’ll probably post some kind of podcast update when I get through everything.

Off In TV Land

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I’m really excited about all the t.v. season (and series) premieres.  So what am I watching?  House, which I hope gets better this season.  I don’t know what to make of Lisa Edelstein being gone, so we’ll wait and see.  Grey’s Anatomy, of course, and I’m really interested in this season.  I really hope Meredith and Derek can work things out, because the whole “things are fine, and then they aren’t, but, oh hey, things are fine again” thing is getting really old.  But then again, it wouldn’t be Grey’s Anatomy if things were hunky-dory with Meredith and Derek.  I haven’t followed any spoilers for House or Grey’s Anatomy, so I have no clue what’s going to happen.  I’m the most excited about NCIS, and I’ve followed every possible spoiler I can get my hands on.  We find out who the mole is, EJ comes back and we meet another FBI agent, who I think is going to make a few appearances over the course of the season.  And this is all in the premiere.  It sounds like there’s all kinds of fun stuff going on this season.

I’m also watching America’s Next Top Model, which is something I only watch every once in a while.  This season is the all-star season, but what I want to know is why it took 16 seasons to do an all-star season.  I was really hoping Shannon would go home, because she’s super-annoying, and her whole “the lace shorts look like underwear, and underwear is reserved for the bedroom for my husband to see, so I’ll wear really skimpy bikini bottoms instead” logic makes no sense.  I felt like hurling something at the t.v.  It looks like there will be lots of drama, but since it’s ANTM, you need to have drama.  And I’ll finally be able to watch CSI this season!  I never could before, since it was always on at the same time as Grey’s Anatomy.  Watching it online never occured to me, so I’ve only seen random re-runs on tv and the entire 1st season.  Since it’s on a completely different night, and doesn’t clash with anything else I’m watching (that I know of, anyway), I’ll be able to watch it!  I don’t know how much of it will make sense, but it is my favorite of the 3 CSI shows.  I can’t stand Miami, and New York was somewhat tolerable before Sela Ward came on.

As far as brand new shows, I’m looking foward to Once Upon A Time, Terra Nova, and Revenge.  I, very vaguely, remember what Once Upon A Time and Terra Nova are about, based on trailers, but they look really interesting.  And Revenge looks really cool too, but I can’t remember when it’s on.  I think it’s on at the same time as something else I’m watching, and since I don’t have a DVR of any sort, I’ll have to try and watch it online.  Actually, I just googled it, and it’s on at the same time as CSI.  Maybe I’ll go back and forth, and see which one I should watch online.  And Person Of Interest seems interesting too, but that’s one I’ll have to watch online, since it goes up against Grey’s.  There’s no way I’m missing Grey’s for some new show!

There’s definitely a lot to look foward to, so I’ll probably have recaps after each show premieres.

Random Side Note: I got a jar of Nutella at the grocery store yesterday because I keep hearing about how awesome it is, and because I’ve seen it pop up in a few recipes.  I tried it, and I love it!  Seriously, I love it as much as peanut butter, and I really love peanut butter.  I’ll have to find some recipes that involve it…after I get another jar, since the one I have is the smallest one they had, and I don’t think it’ll last long…

More Dream Talk

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Okay, I’ve been thinking about dreams for the last couple days.  I’ve had a few of them over the last week or so, and I’ve noticed an interesting pattern.  I’ve been writing in my journal before I’ve gone to bed several times, and that’s when I have memorable dreams.  What I’m wondering is how writing in my journal before bedtime affects my dreams. 

I feel like there is a connection, like writing about my thoughts and feelings somehow opens up my mind to deal with everything.  I have some sleep issues- sometimes, I just can’t sleep for no reason, but other times, I just can’t shut my mind off, and I’m worrying.  So to help me calm down, I write in my journal, and then I’m able to get to sleep.  Writing doesn’t make it completely go away, but at least I’m calm enough to go to bed.  It’s like my brain is going “you’re writing about it, it must be okay to work this out in your sleep.” 

As far as novel-writing goes (since I feel like I need to include it), throwing in a dream sequence or two is a really good way to word-pad.  Gone are the days when I would use nefarious means to word-pad my NaNo’s, but if it’s something that I feel lis necessary, I’ll definitely include it.  I don’t think any of my bizarre dreams have worked their way into my novels, but writing dreams is always entertaining.  It’s really easy to write something off-the-wall, and have a character keep talking about it.  The great thing about dream sequences is that they can be anything, and if you have some crazy scene or some wacky character that you can’t get out of your head, then a dream is a really good way to get it in there. 

Of course, I do like to throw random stuff in just for the hell of it.  It can be pretty fun, and it’s ALWAYS amusing whenever I re-read.  Actually, it makes an already amusing re-read EVEN MORE amusing.  ‘Cause…that’s how I roll.

I may or may not do a post about some of the cool videos I’ve come across.  I really don’t watch enough videos now that I think about it…

I think that’s it for now, so have a great day everyone!

And The Dreams Keep Coming

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Over the last few months, I’ve had a few dreams where I’ve been at a grocery store.  According to Dream Moods, shopping for groceries means that I’m currently lacking some emotional or physical need- I might be in need of nurturance and/or fulfillment.  That’s what I get for writing in my journal about how anxious and worried I am right before I go to bed.  But to a certain degree, it is right. 

Or maybe it just means I’m not at all prepared for disasters, as evidenced by the ranom county-wide power outage last week.  Especially when it comes for food. 

I also had this dream a few days ago where I was running around this really weird looking locker room because there were 3 guys chasing me.  It was implied that I was attacked (or at least the very least, they tried).  I couldn’t get their names right, so no one could do anything about it.  The guys were happy about this.  One of the guys I met (but wasn’t after me- there were several men that I met that weren’t chasing after me), smiled at me, like he was going to try to do something terrible to me. 

Then I was randomly in a lecture hall, where the professor specialized in dead babies, especially orange leathers. 

And then I was at my house, where one of the neighbors came over in the middle of the night to tell me that one of my rearview lights was on.  I moved my car a little, and one of my tires was all weird.  Not flat, but something was wrong with it.  And then my battery died, and the neighbor said he’d fix it.  I woke up after that. 

I have no idea where to begin with that dream, but it was weird.  Especially the 2nd part, with the professor who specialized in dead babies/orange leather.  The dream wasn’t exactly clear on that, so I have no idea what the connection between the dead babies and the orange leather was. 

At least my dreams are somewhat entertaining.

The Great Power Outage Of 2011

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Yesterday, was, well, interesting.  There was this massive power outage that affected southern California, Arizona, parts of New Mexico, and parts of Mexico.  This is the 2nd power outage we’ve had in the last month, but this one was, very clearly, massive.  The power’s slowly coming on, and everyone should have power by the end of the day, but there might be some people who won’t get their power back until tomorrow.  It sounded like there was gridlock all over the county, school’s cancelled, flights are grounded, and people ran out of gas!  It was a mess on the streets, and this will be one of the very few times when I’m glad I was at home. 

At first, I was like, the power will come back on a few hours, everything will be cool.  It went out around 3:45-ish in the afternoon, and came back around 12:30 or so, so it wasn’t too long.  It could have been a lot worse. 

I managed to keep myself pretty entertained: I read a lot, and while I didn’t work on my plot bunnies, I thought about it.  I think I might work on them today, because I think I want to conserve energy while power is being restored to the rest of the county. 

I think that’s it for now, I’m tired, and I definitely want to get some sleep.

Losing Power Is An Adventure

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I totally had a different post in mind, and all planned out, but I decided that I wanted to talk about the joys of power outages instead!

So, I’m writing, just minding my own business.  Lately, I’ve started writing at around 7 pm or so, I have no idea why, but that’s when I feel all creative and stuff.  So, you know, typing, with the tv on in the background, and all of a sudden…tv goes off, lights go off…and…I realize the powers out.  I mean, clearly, right?  I start panicking (just a little) because my battery’s pretty much dead, and I can’t remember if I saved my work.  I tend to save after typing something, so I figure I’m safe until the power comes back on.  And that won’t be long, right?

Wrong…no power for about 4 hours, which isn’t too bad in the grand scheme of things.  It could have been worse, and while I really wanted to actually write, I couldn’t.  So…I started reading, at first by candelight, but that didn’t work out too well, since the candle was bright enough.  I read by flashlight instead, so I’ll have a couple book reviews over the next couple days, because of the reading I managed to do. 

It was really weird, and you don’t realize how much you use technology and electricity until the power’s down.  I was fine, for the most part, since I could read by flashlight, but…it was still weird not writing.  Or watching tv, or surfing the net.  Today is going to be a 2-post day, I’ve suddenly decided to post the book review I have, so enjoy the double posting!