The Truth

I'm sorry, people, but I apparently lied to you when I gave you that fancy fact about August and the five Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays.  My friend, the same one who told me that in the first place, said she found out there will indeed be another August just like this one in the year 2012.  Why would someone make up something like that?  To see if tools like me (and, ahem, you) believed it?  Because lying is fun?  Or was there a genuine hope that a silly little fact like that would spread over the internet instead of Glenn Beck and his hateful minions.  God, I hate morons.  Anyway, I apologize for the non-truth, but I'm glad it made some people happy while we believed it.

Some randomness for Monday:

• Did the True Blood people not look hot at the Emmy's?  I mean, duh to Eric, but did you also see Jason, Tara, Sam, and Lafayette?  (Yeah, I have no idea what their real names are, and I prefer to think of them all as actual residents of Bon Temps.)
• I garnered a mention in this year's ALA list of Books Challenged or Banned in 2009-2010.  Sadly, the list was made before GET WELL SOON went to trial, and then went on to be appealed, and also before GWS was reported dumped from a library collection.  You will find my name under the Sonya Sones heading.  Hopefully, I'll have my own listing next year.
• While I was backing out from a parking space yesterday, and during the moment when I thought, "You know, I usually turn around both directions when I'm backing out, but I'm just not going to today!" I hit a car.  But they just drove off.  It was totally weird.  There is a little paint damage to my car, but that's it.  Still, I hit them.  Or did they hit me? 
• I have passed 250 pages in the GET WELL SOON sequel.  Still have a ways to go.  The end is in sight!  I am going to visit a high school or two for some research.  Should be nice and awkward. 

Sometimes I Rhyme Slow, Sometimes I Rhyme Quick

Each day of writing is different.  Some days I pound out ten pages, no problem, and I love every minute of it.  Some days I slog through four pages, unimpressed with myself.  Some days I laugh out loud at what I wrote, and some days I cry because it's so sad.  Today's writing was uninspired and uninspiring.  I don't know if the content was that bad (and I won't know until I actually go in and type the whole book up.  I never look back, except to find details that I need to remember), but it wasn't all that exciting to write.  Not much happened.  But I think, at least for my books, pages where not a whole lot happens are important.  I'm not writing action books or mysteries.  I'm not writing books with intricate plots twists that make people go, "Aha!"  I write contemporary, humorous fiction, and I think it's important that I make it as real as possible for the readers.  Like how movies and books so rarely show characters going to the bathroom-- I show my characters going to the bathroom.  Today wasn't a bathroom scene, but a high school scene.  And the students were getting an assignment.  In life, that's not very exciting, so in the book, it's also not that exciting.  Should I not include it because it's not full of brooding romance or huge yuks?  I'll be the judge of that in a month of so when it's time to read it during the typing phase.  For now, it's staying in.  And my character has some homework to do.

Fun Fact

I thought I would have more time for blogging and writing this morning because Romy woke me up at 6, and after I rocked her back to sleep I thought, wow!  Now I'll have an extra hour or more to write!  But as I type this, she is crying at me through the baby monitor.  Sigh.  So here is my very short and lame blog post for the day.  My friend Tracy sent me an email with this fact in it:
This August has 5 Sundays, 5 Mondays, and 5 Tuesdays...all in one month.  It happens once in 823 years.
Pretty interesting, huh?  Are we not supposed to be excited by things like this anymore?  With celebrity crotch shots and dead miners' last words all over the Internet, it seems we have lost appreciation for funky little gems like the above.  So enjoy your many Sundays and Mondays and Tuesdays.  I have to go get Romy out of bed now.

What I'm Watching Now

I don't know if people dig these posts or not, but I like talking about TV so I'm going to keep posting them.  Here's my current TV line-up (which isn't in any order, since I DVR everything anyway because I once read an article or heard someone say that if you record your TV programs when you have kids, that saves you approximately fifteen minutes per hour-long show to read to your child.  Who can argue with that?):

Spoiler alert if you only watch when the DVDs come out!

True Blood - I'm really liking this season, even though it doesn't seem to have much of a story arc.  I guess the arc is that there is this really old, but not as old as the super awesome Godric (RIP.  Although I guess he was already dead, being a vampire.  RIPA.), vampire who is trying to change up the order of things on Earth.  And Eric either has to kill him to get his sexy Scandinavian revenge, or else perish himself.  Oh, and Sookie is a fairy. La de da.  But who really cares about Sookie?

The Guild - Damn this web show is funny.  I love it SO MUCH.  The first three seasons are out on DVD and streaming at Netflix, and Season Four airs every week at watchtheguild.com.  I laugh out loud every time I watch, and I watch them more than once.  If INTO THE WILD NERD YONDER becomes a TV show, I need The Guild peeps to guest star.  Not that I will have any say in that whatsoever.

Flipping Out - Why is Jeff Lewis so into bodily functions this season?  I actually prefer him making over other peoples houses to buying , re-designing, and then flipping his own houses.


The Rachel Zoe Project - This season is already really good, except that Rachel Zoe is out of her mind about everything.  Like, you need to calm down.  No one will die without that dress!!!  I like the tension between her and her husband, and how her husband is pretending to be masculine by watching football and drinking beer, but he still has that haircut.

Project Runway - Finally a good season!  Not that I'm a huge fan of anyone yet, but it just seems more interesting.  Who knows why some seasons are better than others?  (I'm sure everyone who watches knows, I just don't feel like analyzing Project Runway.  Romy and I walked all over a little downtown area because she wanted to go back and forth between the "witch store" and the "alien store," which is why I'm feeling rather pooped and probably means she will wake up from her nap screaming at any minute.  Hence, the lethargic blog post.)


On the Road with Austin and Santino - This show is adorable, taking two of the biggest characters from PR and giving them a makeover-the-hillbillies show.  My only complaint is that it should be an hour long, so we can connect more with the hillbillies.


Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town - I am a HUGE Kids fan.  Like, I have their original HBO special memorized.  I have seen them live.  I have missed them dearly, and this show is like a crazy talented old friend coming in for a visit after moving to Australia.  Or Canada.  So far I've seen two episodes, and I can't wait to watch them again and again.  Sadly, I think this is only a six part mini-series.  Brilliant.

Anybody else watching these shows?

Magical Me

This past weekend was the Chicago Comic-Con, and both Matt and I (but especially Matt-- he won't stop talking about it) felt the Chicago Con has taken a mega downhill slide.  There were very few publisher booths, just mostly store booths, which gave it more of a swap-meet feel.  Maybe it's the whole "economy" thing, and hopefully it will bounce back in future years and the pubs will return.  The important thing is: I met Steve Sanders!  I mean, Ian Ziering!  And I was so super cute (which is not the first time my super cuteness has wooed the famous; you should have seen when I met Bruce Campbell at a rodeo in college [don't ask.  Or do.].  There are several other instances of me and famous people being charmed by me.  And I'll tell you why: I am super sincere about my love of those I love.  Does that make sense?  I don't hide behind coolness around people that wow me.  And I'm not always wowed by people I should be wowed by.  Or, the classic people that may wow other people.  I certainly wouldn't lose my noodles if I met, say, Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt.  But if I ever saw Noah Hathaway [who played Atreyu in The Neverending Story]-- watch out!  I think stars, particularly of lower grades, really respond to sincerity.)  I was so cute, in fact, that Steve, I mean Ian, asked me to dance, twirled me, and gave me a big hug at the end.  At one point I was laughing and smiling so much that I called him Steve, and he said, "Ian!"  He didn't seem mad, but I felt bad.  Not that bad.  And this picture?

Priceless.  OK, $35, but worth every smiling penny.

I didn't even bother trying to meet Nicholas Brendan, James Marsters, or Mickey Dolenz.  Nicholas and James were mobbed, and they wouldn't even leave their protective tables (unlike Steve, Ian), and Mickey got there so late, I was ready to am-scray.  Plus, he was charging $40, and I had just spent that much on new (totally worth it) Futurama figures.

In completely non-related, but probably more appropriate book news, I found a lovely review of INTO THE WILD NERD YONDER on author Stephanie Perkins' blog.  My favorite bits are where she pulls quotes from the book.  It made me sound really funny!  And where she says she wants to make out with the book.  Thanks, Stephanie!  I also like her because she makes you choose your Hogwarts House.  Remember when I was psycho about that?  (On the blog, that is.  I'll always be psycho about it inside.)  That makes me think I should make a new Potter blog label, for those who want to backtrack on all my crazy Potter posts.  Or for those who want to avoid them.

Better Day

Sorry about the bitch fest yesterday.  I mean, I'm not sorry about the sentiment, but you probably didn't need the negativity.  The insurance thing is still in limbo, and I woke Matt up this morning screaming at him to call the insurance company because I call every day and it's his therapist they're waiting on.  He was not happy.  But he called, and I felt a little better.  Not that we got any answers.  Stay tuned.

Speaking of staying tuned, I talked with Jen Gwartz, the producer who is working on getting INTO THE WILD NERD YONDER hopefully made into a TV show.  She is awesome!!!  She was an executive producer on Veronica Mars, and at one point worked on Tales from the Crypt!!!  It sounds like my book is in great hands, so all we can do is hope and pray that in the next six to nine months (that's how long she said the pitch to possible pilot would take) it happens.  To quote Axl Rose: Yowza!

Romy and I went this morning for the third time this summer to the Lake County Discovery Museum, a small town museum that somehow got this incredible exhibit of original art from the Little Golden Books.  Not only do they have such goodies as these:

But they also have fun hands-on stuff for the little ones:

 

Sadly, the exhibit ends this weekend.  After that they're installing a John Lennon Bed-In exhibit that I don't think will have quite the hands-on, kid-friendly quality this one did.  Maybe some jumping on the bed stuff?  Pull Yoko's hair?  The possibilities...

Cake

So apparently no one gives a rat's ass what I do for my 500th blog post. That's a bit depressing. A lot of things are a bit depressing, which wouldn't be so bad until they all add up into a giant rubberband ball of depressing that's about to crush me. And I thought I would have cake today.

The day starting out promising. As I said, the expected cake. But the lunch started too late, and I had to get Romy home for her nap and then she fell asleep in the car three minutes before we got home and I really didn't want to drive her around for over an hour so I woke her up and then of course she didn't go back to sleep. So there's that.

Then there's the torture of insurance. I told you already that I'm taking a year off of work, that COBRA would cost my family $23,000, that Blue Cross Blue Shield, the same assholes who would like to rob me for my COBRA, turned me and my husband down because we are apparently fools for seeing therapists and using our insurance for it. So we applied with United Healthcare, which we heard was more lenient, especially if we take a very high deductible, barebones policy (which I am all for now. I mean, why should I give my money to the insurance company just in case when I could just pay that money if and when something happens?).  But now they are making us wait.  And wait.  Again, about the fucking therapy.  Even though we told them we are more than willing to pay out of pocket.  You know what?  I better be in that goddamn therapy because how else am I going to handle situations like this?  People screwing me and my family and subjecting us to humiliatingly personal phone interviews about every sordid detail of our physical and mental past.  It can make a person crazy.  I really don't know what I'll do if UHC turns us down, too.  I'd rather go without than rely on the greed of others.

I think I'm going to go buy some cake now.