Woke up after Five
So much to do by Sunday
Just too distracted

So, Comic-Con snuck up on me like a ninja wearing sneakers. While I'm sure that nothing can top Sisko and Riker singing showtunes at a classy hotel bar, I have high hopes nonetheless. Anything interesting going on afterhours other than the Dr. McNinja Dance Party? I feel the uncontrollable urge to get SOCIAL.

Ah, July. The only month of the year I go out of my way to talk to people.

Today Tyler got out the phone book and started cold calling family law offices in Salt Lake City. After ten calls, he already had an interview set up. It reminds me very much of the agent hunt--but with much better odds. He is feeling more encouraged now. Thanks for all the prayers and hugs. They really help! I hope we (and the rest of you who are in the same boat) can come to some resolution soon.

I spent today running errands at home and away. nothing says fun like spending the morning tending to stuff at home like paying bills, checking on bank accounts and doing paperwork. Then driving around for an hour looking for the DMV then finally finding it and the lady at the desk telling you, "But this isn't the drivers license division," so you drive another half an hour to find it. After waiting in line and filling out a big long form, you have to change your stats from 120 lbs to 145 lbs. I especially hated that part. Then got a photo taken and I look like a big fat crazy lady. I went home cranky and took a nap then I was happier.

The next two days will be better. Tomorrow is my birthday and I already know what I'm getting. I asked Tyler for Sara Zarr's book SWEETHEARTS. I know it's hiding somewhere in the house. Also, I ordered myself a nice screen printed field bag and some earrings from Etsy that I should get in the mail soon. And the day after tomorrow is Writer Girls Group. I really look forward to seeing everyone!

Yesterday was taken up by being sad about Tyler's job, but really in the morning, Charlotte and I had a great time jaunting off to Wyoming to research WEST Of IDEAL. We went to Evanston which is an hour and a half away (because of construction) and right on the border of Utah and Wyoming. Really the book takes place further east along I-80, but I didn't want to drive for any more hours than we had to. Charlotte took this photo from out the car window:


Evanston was such a cute little town. I had no idea because I always just drove past it on the interstate. It has a little historic downtown district so Charlotte and I got out of the car and spent a couple of hours exploring. It was so cute and quaint. Charlotte loved all the flowers--there were tons--and the sweet little benches everywhere.


She and I stopped at a drugstore that had a real soda fountain that had probably been there since the 50s and had a drink. We went to a little one room railroad museum and to a bunch of shops. There was a beautiful stone Catholic church that was built 125 years ago. I loved the stone and the wood of the building and the statues inside. Some of the church ladies let us inside and turned on the lights for us and told us some about the building. I really liked that part. I'm not Catholic, but going inside cool Catholic churches is one of my favorite things to do. Of course, that had nothing at all to do with my book other than making its author very happy.


Probably one of our favorite parts, though, was driving watching the beautiful rough landscape while listening to the WEST OF IDEAL play list I made to help me get in the mood to write it. I think we looped it three or four times. It really fit the day and the scenery. Charlotte fell in love with the place--except for all the guns and taxidermy. She was saying, "I'm a wild girl, but not in that kind of way, but I don't know how to explain it." I do. She's like me. She needs her wild places every day or she withers. But she isn't a shoot-em-up-survivor-man kind of wild thing. She's the I-sing-the-body-electric-and-shout-my-barbaric-yalp kind of wild thing. The kind of wild thing other kinds of wild things want to beat up. I totally get that! I think of George Emerson in A ROOM WITH A VIEW up a tree shouting "Truth! Beauty! Joy!" so funny, but so true.

We had a nice time and it was fun to have a spur of the moment adventure. I came home with nice place details and a really good topographical map that I need for the story and I was refreshed and ready to deal with the tough stuff at home. Charlotte came home with memories of a new favorite place. I was a nice morning.

I hope you all had a good day!

From textsfromlastnight.com, regarding Megan Fox:
If it wasn't for her body she would be average.

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Waiting for HP movie to start. Just saw INCREDIBLY lame ad trying to convince people that CN not playing cartoons isn't, in fact, stupid and an example of a company shooting itself in the foot. Oh, and the pre movie ad-show sucketh mightily overall.

I discovered a business mistake today. In essence Drew forgot a small piece of a task, and I forgot to double check that it had been done. It's not a big deal. No money was lost. There will be no long term repercussions. Our financial outlook is, if anything, better than it was.

I have to inform the involved parties of the mistake, but they aren't losing anything either, and it wasn't nearly so bad as it could have been. I'm sure everyone involved will forgive us.

But still. It was a mistake.

I hate making mistakes. It undermines my confidence so much.

*Deep breath.* Mistake is fixed. Time to move on.

Duty
by Crevan Fox
prompt:Micheal
ficlet
Micheal, Harry, Lash, Lasciel


It is a bitter thing to lose a friend to evil before one loses him to death

In this episode of Thismeansyoutube we find our protagonists at their home turf of the Outback Lodge in Charlottesville, VA. After putting on a rather zazzy show with Raleigh vets Twisted Tower Dire, they hit the road to lay Bar None in Virginia Beach to waste. After much offensive and idiodic humorous banter, they once again hop into Van Halen to make the sojourn down I-64 to McCormack's Irish Pub in Richmond for Metal Mondays. Many signed boobs and crushed beers later, Thismeansyou finds themselves in rural Louisa county for Virginia Metal Alliance's Sam Jam 2009. Attempting not to be wasted for their late-evening set, this band of metal hooligans resorts to amusing themselves with the camera.