nyyki | Entries tagged with state of the nyyki

A few things…

I had to break down and let some more romance fiction into my reading list – I had four things for this coming week, three magazines and one of the Nicolas Meyer Sherlock Holmes novels he’s doing these days. I didn’t want to go that route, but my options for reading material is limited right now, and I’m at the mercy of the NLS for all of this.

From the book I finished this morning – it’s got a wise woman tenet at the start of each chapter, but it’s from the perspective of a modern Texas wise woman, one who doesn’t fit the popular conception of a proper Southern lady:
“Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver, and cheap.” Heh.

I know how Presque Vu is going to end – in fact, I’ve written the epilogue. Now the trick is getting to it. I’m at about 260 pages, and this one might be one of my shorter novels, but I know I have some places where I may have glossed over a bit to get the plot down on the page. This is the most SF of the trilogy, and once it’s done that’s it – I may write a novella or two about some specific people or situations, but once these three books are finished I’m closing the door on Jenn Marcus’s world and moving to a different mountain. There’s still a whole lot of them in the current range I’m exploring.

I know some folks will want to try to solve any problems they perceive I’m having – please understand that I’ve dug down a lot already into that well (I’m aglow with metaphors today for some reason) and what you suggest may be stuff I’ve already explored; I appreciate your effort, but please don’t think I’m brushing anything you say off, because that’s not my intent.

I’m feeling embattled by online life – with some of the fornicational excrement going on right now in this particular first world country I’m less secure about letting any personal information out, even here, because the question isn’t if someone’s paranoid, it’s if they’re paranoid enough to survive in times like these.

I have early ideas percolating for the next Lieutenant Peep story, and I’m still slogging away at the third Love Meme? novel’s plot points. I’ll trip the trigger on that one in a 30 day month and burn through it in a fast cycle. There’s one more of those in the shmaybe pile, but I don’t know if I’ll choose to write it – reading romance is rough, writing it is a much deeper dive into something I’ve failed at in my life (Hey, you, yeah, you, you know who I’m talking to, put down that brickbat right now…).

I’ve got access to a jazz program I listened to back when NTRB (North Texas Radio for the Blind) was on the air, which means before eleven years ago, and one of the first ones I sought was the one about Craig Handy’s wonderful album Craig Handy and Second Line Smith, an album of Jimmy Smith’s tunes (he was one of the first big name jazz Hammond organists) done New Orleans style. This is music to dance to, and it’s way fun. Instead of a bassist he got a sousaphonist on the album, and it go so far to giving it that second line feel.

My master half-bath commode managed to migrate off its flange, so it leaks, bad, if I try to use it. I’ve got a call to my brother, but he is of course way busy right now (HVAC repair people are in a peak time) so it may be a bit before that gets fixed. Inconvenient.

A friend came over yesterday to learn about how MIDI works, but he’s got a dodgy setup, or at least some parts of it are wing and a prayer design, so we got a whole lot less done. I was hoping to turn the session into a chapter or two in the book on MIDI I’m working on, but we didn’t get near far enough. And he whines; ugh. I don’t often have to deal with emotional outbursts in my home (though I don’t deal with them much elsewhere either) so it was jarring. And at least he didn’t try use the excuse that he’s on chemotherapy, because he’s been this way long before he got cancer.

So, on to another week.

Current Mood: Eh
Current Location: Home
Current Music: Craig Handy - "On the Sunny Side of the Street"

Well, it seems my plan is going to leave me searching for diversion when I’m eating, relaxing to go to sleep, etc., now that I’m avoiding any romance novels other than those written by people I’m familiar with. My download yesterday consisted of an issue of The Week, a quarterly compilation magazine dealing with art music, and one of the extreme viewpoint magazines I check out so my viewpoint doesn’t get to focused on what I know so far. Other than those three nonfiction magazines, I got one novel by a romance author that I’m familiar with. I’ve got season 2 of Andor on my player too, video described of course, but that’s the gamut.

I don’t connect with most westerns – Craig Johnson seems to be the sole writer, and the Longmire novels are modern western of sorts. I don’t listen to war novels, and spy & Espionage is limited in appeal, like mysteries. And this is not me fishing for recommendations, because as a blind person my options for reading materials is way limited. But there is going to be some readjustment of my strategy.

I’ve reached page 250 in the novel I’m working on, and a lot has happened so far. I know what one of the major points of the novel will be, but I’m deciding if it’s a big enough finish for the trilogy. I’ve also got some ideas for the next Inspector Peep story, but the crux of it is eluding me – I need something from a folk tale, fairy tale, nursery rhyme, or something adjacent to those that’s lost. I’ve got an option, but I think it’s a bit weak. Note that I’ve also included elements from fables, movies, and books in this setting. I won’t reject things from operas either. Caveat – please don’t get offended if I don’t use what you suggest, my brain is wired so suggestions often spur new idea directions and that will be what I use; contributions are very welcome because of what they do more than what they are. Still, I appreciate every one I get

The rest of my life is going okay as long as I don’t think about the things that don’t work in my life. No matter if someone considers what I’m giving up or has been taken from me to fall within the category of needs, I find no value in obsessing on something not available to me. So I’m moving forward in a different way from how a lot of people would, but I’m still moving forward some.

I found a new strategy – I was tempted to do a passive-aggressive thing to drive a point home to my roommate, that a pair of boxes she put in the way were in the way enough to annoy me. I was going to set them in front of the back door, so when she went outside, which she does a whole lot, she’d see them and maybe get the message. I wasn’t comfortable with that, both because I don’t like being that way and also because the point might get missed. So instead, I got up front about it and told her what I was planning on doing, and why I was considering that course of action, thereby removing the passiveness from the action. She moved the boxes, and not “later” like she does a lot of stuff, but right then and within fifteen minutes the boxes were in her car to be taken to Half Price Books. That worked a lot better than I thought it would. I also got into a conversation with her about her broken memory, stemming from her attention span that’s slightly greater than the diameter of a gnat’s anus, and how that seems to me to be a manifestation of neurodivergence of the ADHD kind. I was able to deliver it with enough finesse that she didn’t batmobile up. The key to all of this, at least for me, is to make sure that I include my part of things – It’s my reaction to things she does that make me get tweaked – I can’t speak to if it’s universal to those behaviors because I don’t have either the time or inclination to do that level of analysis, not to mention the required funding. This is starting to feel like the interactional style I had when

lanalucy was my roommate, where we had free and open communication and owned our part in everything, also knowing when to step away and explain that the emotional one of us (it varied, of course) needed processing time to approach the issue in a rational way. I miss that so much, and getting any of it back is very much welcome. I thought it was either impossible or at the least improbable… and it only took a bit under six years for this to work out. I’ll of course keep aware to find out if this improvement is persistent or if it’s an aberration.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: Home
Current Music: U.S. Air Force Band - "Variations on a Korean Folk Song" by John Barnes Chance

Well, I guess a bit of an update is in order.

I’ve been recovering from the hard burn of generating a full novel in under a month. That’s something I can claim as part of my skill set, since I’ve done three of them now, so it’s no longer a fluke or coincidence any longer.

I’ve got another story back burnered already from before, what I thought was going to be the second one in the series, but when I finished Love Meme? 2 – Returning to Yesterday another one jumped up and started waving arms over its head, so that’s something that can happen too, and that may get moved to #3.

I’ve been squinching on covers for the Holly and the Wizards series, and I’ve got it. I want someone with a bit of knowledge to do these, but it’ll be simple – a feau leather cover in a spectrum color (red for the first one, which will be book 1&2 of the main novel, orange for the second half of that book, and so on). In a gothic or uncial font I’ll have “Holly and the Wizards” in a large font, then the subtitle in a smaller one, with “By Nicole Massey” a couple of points smaller. So the first book takes up red and orange, the second which is in editing now is yellow, the third one I’m working on now is green, the one I’ve made a bit of a foray into will be blue, the fifth one I’ve started a bit of will be indigo, then go on from there – purple, black, white, pink, silver, gold and then on to whatever strikes me after that. This of course assumes the series will go on that far. I’m thinking that the black cover might be a collection of shorter stories in the universe, and the white one might be the worldbook and game mechanics for a couple of RPG systems. I had no idea this was going to go so far.

I did take a couple of hours to write and edit my Brainz submission for February, so I haven’t been off writing all the way. This is a writers group where we get a one word prompt at the beginning of the month and we have until the last Sunday of the month to write and submit something. It can be an essay, poetry, haiku, nonfiction, fiction, whatever writing the person does. And the group is looking for more members. This has been around for over 25 years so far, and it’s an enjoyable diversion. Mine tend to come close to the limit, 1000 words, and sometimes I have to trim to get the word total down – the worst one was over 1300 words in the first draft, but I managed to trim it down to spec.

That thing that’s been bugging me a lot has reached a point where I’ve decided that it’s not healthy for me to give any energy to it, so I’m going to give it a couple of months to find a resolution and if it doesn’t get any movement I’m going to shut it down and let it go. Nothing beneficial has come out of the awakening of that desire, and several negative things have popped up, so it seems like it’s a busted project. I won’t be the least bit surprised if I get some pushback on this, because some folks view these types of things as needs, not wants, but I need to not be a moody emotional wreck that drops into suicidal ideation because something isn’t the way I want it to be.

Other than that, I’m keeping my head down and hoping that the media-enhanced crazy chills out. I’m not the least bit amused that current events and the current tenor of society has forced me back into cynicism – that road skirts the edge of prejudicial thinking land, and I don’t want to get back to where I was 25 years ago, expecting the worst all the time.

Current Mood: Alive
Current Location: Home
Current Music: Phil Collins - "I don't Care Anymore"

Yeah, I know it's been a while, but I've been busy.

Holly and the Wizards 3: A lost Sister is at 259 pages. I figured it'd be difficult to make 150 with this one, but like many situational writing projects different elements slip in to flesh the story out and suggest new directions and side stories.

I've been putting off a stressful cabling project -- the spacing is tight and some elements tempt me to pull everything out of the patch bay, pull the patch bay itself out of the gear rack, and make some adjustments before moving on. This is important because it'll clear a nice space in my Zen Room, and also close out something on my massive to do list.

I don't know how to respond when people ask me what I have planned for the holidays. I divert by asking them "Which One?" and go down the list of possible ones. The simple truth is that I don't have much of anyone to celebrate the season anymore. I haven't put up a tree since 2010 for multiple reasons, though I have a couple in the garage with all the fixings to go with them. But being blind, I get no real joy from the tree and the lights and ornaments, and there's not really anyone else to appreciate it. I have a friend who gives gifts, and I feel a bit bummed that I haven't been able to go thrift shopping t find something unusual to give her. Also, it took until early July for me to get the yule gifts from her, so that's another big consideration. I've been thinking about making a wonderful recipe a friend of mine created, and I think it's within my range of skills, but we'll see -- it'll mean me fixing it for myself and maybe my roommate will eat it once. She isn't big on food, to her it's "calories stuffed in her face" (l'eww, what an insensitive way to put it) so I don't know if the effort would gain any value.

A thought crossed my mind this morning while hooked up to an IV getting an infusion that helps to fend off organ rejection. My most recent Ex is, to my way of thinking, my soulmate. The energy between us was also that intense. But that term goes in a couple of directions -- is it possible to lose a soulmate, and if so, were they really someone's soulmate? That's the on the ground question. Metaphysically it's a different story -- I've dated or gotten involved with several people who I felt that type of close in connection that pointed toward us doing this before in other lifetimes, but friction erodes, and we are not our best and higher selves after exposure to the physical, mental, emotional, and reputational environments. I'm good at feeling the levels of connection with someone, so I know the difference between someone who has a higher connection from someone who is a full on soulmate. But people go through things, and some of those things leave scars, while others leave missing limbs, and the energy can be there and the feel can be right but still the compatibility doesn't work because of different types of damage.

I've lost my soulmate, and the question pops up from time to time, what's left for me after that? If current situations are any clue, nothing. It's been a decade and a half since then, and I've encountered no interested parties in that time (well maybe one, but see the above paragraph about what life does to people). A lot of this is situational, I don't get out much because, as my hospital stay in the summer of 2023 taught me, you people are plague rats to someone like me who's got a suppressed immune system. And a classic rock concert last June out in the open resulted in a sarcoma that had to be scooped out by my dermatologist, because anti-rejection meds double the risk for skin cancer. This comes down to the big question -- do I survive alone, or do I risk death to throw the dice? My prior experience is that the percentages for me are low if I take the risk.

I also get that this is not all my fault. I'm told all the time that I'm amazing, impressive, unique, and intriguing, and this is by different people. But someone is going to have to find me, I can't do all the work. Am I getting risk averse? Maybe a bit, but it's not all up to me. The old saying is that it takes two to tango, but it also takes only one person who refuses to dance, and then there's no tango.

I know, big stuff, and maybe stuff too big for me. At least I'm not getting depressed (so far) this season -- that's been a problem in several prior ones. But I still want it over.

Current Mood: Introspective
Current Location: Home
Current Music: Electronic - "Reality"

The musical gear serial numbers project is done. I'm way pleased. Now for the next windmill, the manuals -- I've got 23 ones to find, at current totals, but I think some of those may be beyond finding with my level of search fu

This means we found several things I've been missing for a while. Thre are still some things not found, but there are still places to look.

I'm still waiting on word on my drive that may or may not be recoverable. This has taken a lot longer than I was told it would.

The guitar I was given has some real problems, so I'm going to have to lower expectations for how much I can get from it.

Now we slip into that lovely rollercoaster called a Mercury retrograde. I'm not sure if the problems are because of a glorified space rock circling the sun, or if it stems from people buying into the concept of a Mercury retrograde and creating problems on an unconscious level. Or maybe it's both. Or neither. Or all of the above.

I think I'm starting to reachthe point whee my productive streak is goin to wind down a bit because of funding issues.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Home
Current Music: Porcupine Tree - "Sever" off the album Signify

After yesterday's busy activity I went to bed early and slept well, though I woke up a few times, to today.

First off, I'm not going to get depressed or dispondant about what happened. It's not all over yet, and when it is I'm going to do all I can to take care of living instead of getting mired in despair. Yes, if I draw attention to myself I could get smacked down, but the first rule is to take care of yourself so you can be there to take care of others. My roommate is serious about bailing out, so when that goes down I'll be looking for another roommate who can handle my unusualness.

The dermatologist's office called today. The biopsy came back, and it's a surface carcinoma that they can get rid of by doing a scrape on my arm. That's scheduled for 10:45am on Thursday the 14th-- it should take about ten minutes. I'll have to keep it bandaged for a while afterward.

I spoke with my mortgage company, and they'll be sending me what they need to get my personal data changed on my loan. From there it's the appraisal district and my homeowner's insurance. Then I can hit the credit agencies and that'll be a big part of what I need to change. I'm also waiting on SS to pass word down to Medicare so I can make sure it flows through to all my providers. I also got on the phone with my online pharmacy -- they sent me a name brand med that isn't on the formulary, at a whopping $167 a month, instead of the generic which is on the formulary and is covered. We're working on that, and they're sending me a return box for the outrageous med.

Oh, and I got word to one of my solar providers to get the personal information change going, so hopefully I can get that working soon. This is going to leave two possible contacts to update, both of which are state agencies, so wish me luck on those things.

Current Mood: Perturbed
Current Location: Home
Current Music: Elastic Bond - Find a Way

I don't get across the border very often -- DART doesn't go much south of me because the people down there voted themselves out and want back in but they're not up for paying for what they would gain -- sort of like a civic mass transit form of slipping in without paying the freight.

First off, AT&T has changed their services rendered at their locations. They're far less helpful -- of the three hours and ten minutes I spent there only about forty-five minutes of it was being helped by someone. The first guy I talked to didn't know how to do what I wanted done to my phone, so he asked his store manager to take care of me. I never saw hide nor hair of the manager because he was on a phone call the entire time. The guy who helped me did a fair job, though a couple of things didn't get done. I'm going to have to look into that to take care of one of them, and another can't be done because my phone was designed for velociraptors, that's how old it is.

The big surprise there was that nobody told me I needed to upgrade my phone because it was old.

Then it was on to the mammogram place. I'm looking forward to the scanning bras developed recently (I heard about this in a recent issue of Scientific American).

Also, nobody commented on my purple Chuck Taylors -- they're a striking color, and I get comments about them almost every time I wear them out in public.

The guitar repair guy at Guitar Center was out today, so I didn't get any help in stringing the electric guitar I'm going to sell as soon as I get it checked out. I want it strung and then I want it tested and after that I want it gone, so I can spend the proceeds on other gear. I'm moving toward a gear structure where if it's not in a plan to use it and I'm not using it now it goes away.

Still, progress, it's what's for lunch.

Current Mood: full
Current Location: Home
Current Music: Spyro Gyra - Jubilee

Let's see... (no, wait, I can't see, I'm blind) I got the guitar rig cabled up, at least with what I've got available, since I had a blonde moment and forgot that things in equipment groupings need to be connected, powered, and data optimized. I have everything I'd need, save for one unusual cable, to play live, except that one of my speakers wouldn't be hooked up. The back of the rack setup is better, but not optimal, but I can deal with that. I've also gotten the live PA rack most of the way done -- I need to find a stray FX processor that fights microphone feedback, and make a decision about the other unfilled space in it. Then comes the ugly slog -- I need to cable it up, and that's going to be a huge amount of cables, so it's going to take several months to get done because of finances.

I got my infusion on Tuesday, but the local early voting place was packed to the gills, so I went yesterday and did my civic duty. A couple of observations -- it seemed there were more charter amendments than races. I also noticed there were a whole lot of female or female name bearing candidates this time -- the male only races were minimal, and there were several where a majority or even all of the candidates were bearers of non-male names. Also, the Green Party had almost no presence this time.

So, today, this was when I got the roommate to get some signed stuff from my PCP so I can get a new handicapped hang tag and keep my Paratransit access current. I also made my mammogram appointment and made an appointment for a trip to the radiologist so I can get this annoying spot on my arm checked out. I've arranged to make a run to the old university to get my name updated with them and get my diploma reissued. I've also almost finished the cleaning and repacking/getting rid of things in the Zen Room Closet, I got all my trombone mutes packed into a container that'll hold them on the tiny chance that I ever need to do a gig, and I've gotten inside several of the computers in that closet to determine what works and what data is on them. I've also updated my plans to sample the sounds from a line of synthesizer modules so I can use those sounds without having to cart them around with me (the modules -- they represent a stack 42 inches tall in their native form). This is one of the preliminaries before I go on a sampling frenzy -- there's over 1000 sounds to be added, so there's a lot going on there. Oh, and this morning was glorious -- back in the distant past when I worked at the Bluebonnet Café located inside a "Whole Paycheck" store, they had a "Breakfast in Bread" menu item. I started playing with it, substituting a sub roll for the toast, then taking it higher each time. Now, as it stands, it doesn't stand because I ate it. But my roommate turned me on to a place that does breakfast and lunch, and for lunches they're a sandwich shop. So hope, that pesky thing that gets so many people into trouble, peeked its head around the corner at me. I guess without the occasional dream some things don't happen. So, this was breakfast this morning:
Wheat sub roll
Mayo on both sides
The sharpest cheddar they have (I'll want to double the cheddar next time, it was a bit meek in this iteration)
Grilled deli ham
Bacon
Lettuce
Tomato
Two eggs scrambled with bell peppers and onions. It was way messy (way). But it was also tremendous, maybe even fabulous.

I'm hoping to get a lot done the day of my mammogram -- it's across the border in a city not known for its acceptance of differences, and since I'll be there anyway I'm going to try to deal with a huge thing on my to-do list -- get several things fixed on my smart phone. I'll make an appointment so I can get in when they first open the doors. Also, there's a Batteries Plus there, and my main keyboard needs its backup battery replaced. There may be other things I can deal with while down there, and if nothing else happens with my potential order to Guitar Center I can stop by the store there and get some key items. There is motion

I'm hoping the timeline is still in play so that by the end of the month I can get several clothing items off my list too.

I'm whittling away at the long list of stuff I want to get done. I look forward to a day where I can write, make music, and listen to books without the feeling that I've got tasks to do, or at least ones I want to get done.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Stone Roses - Love Spreads

Another obstacle down -- I got my SSA data updated, and that's going to trickle down to Medicare, my insurance provider, the online pharmacy I use, my doctors, and my clinics I use too. This is a very good thing -- I'll have to call about some of this to make sure they've updated their information, but this takes a lot of the to do list stuff away. Now comes the tougher windmills.

In the "Things That Go Boo" corner, I've been loading a ten space equipment rack with gear for live sound reinforcement, and last night I realized that I was loading the rack upside down -- the feet are on the top of the rack, so I'm going to have to pull everything and load it again. Pleased I am not, grumbling I am, too many spoons yesterday I used, spoons in short supply I have today. Fork battery. I'm going to do the smart thing, rest today, conquer tomorrow.

Dixie is still a dog -- she hasn't morphed into an armchair, which is good, because it would so unnerve someone if they sat down and the armchair they were in licked them or barked.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Homeski
Current Music: INXS - "Disappear"

So, sometimes the bad guys get a win, and they try to string up the good guys in a noose. But bad guys don't always cross their I's and dot their T's like they should. And that lets their targets slip the noose and escape the fate the bad guys had in mind.

My state is enacting some very anti-trans procedures, driven by the Indicted Attorney General of this state. One of their vile pogromatic rules was that they were going to defy the courts and refuse gender marker changes for DPS licenses and ID cards. And this is a problem, because DPS is so backed up it's been impossible to get my ID updated, and that delay kept me from getting the changes processed for my name and gender marker. They won't do a name change if it's in the same court order as a gender marker change.

When I talked with someone back in March who told me my birth certificate was the short form and they needed the long form, I decided I wasn't going to put all my fnords in one basket, so I tripped the trigger on getting my passport. That was fraught with some setbacks, and I had to send them a letter explaining that any difference between my ID and my birth certificate is covered by the copy of my court final orders. I also included my picture ID from my disabled transit department. This was all due by the fifteenth of this month.

My passport has arrived, so there's no need for a state ID anymore. The bad guys lost, and though I won't gloat because that gets their pea brains working hard enough that the pea in question might consume itself to feed the outrage that I found a huge loophole. Cue sad violin music.

On to other things. I could use some help from my smattering of readers. I'm working on a data and documentation project to get as many of the manuals I don't already have as possible. I'm currently missing 27 of them. Any help any of you can provide in this project will be very appreciated

I'm missing the following:
Make Model
Akai Me10D
Aphex Aural Exciter Type B
ART MultiVerb III
ART PD5 (or Professional Delay System Model 250)
Biamp Stereo Limiter/Noise Gate
Cherub WCP-60V (I found the PDF for this one once, but now it's not findable)
Crate PFM-60
Digitech 1900
EFR SPII
Eminent SY-75
Fostex 24 point patch bay
IRP AM4080
Mackie 24.E
Mackie 32.8
Mackie Ottomix
M-Audio Midisport 1x1 (21)
Motu 2408 (the original one, not the mark II or III)
MXR Pitch-shift Doubler
NEI Model 341
Octava Ribbon Microphone (I haven't got the model number off of it yet)
Sabine FBX
Seagull Maritime Spruce cwsg smicro eq
Symetrix 522 comp/limiter/expander/gate/ducker
Symetrix SG200 Dual Signal Gate
Tascam Pa-20b
Voyetra V-22m
Voyetra V-24sm

Any help for these manuals would be appreciated oodles. This has been a long project, and it's starting to look like there's a light ahead that isn't an oncoming supernova.

Hope all of y'all are doing well.

Current Mood: productive
Current Music: Billy Squire - "The Stroke"

1. A new song for Dixie, to the tune of "Papa was a Rolling Stone", by The Temptations:
Dixie is a lazy dog,
Lying there on my bed like a log,
And every night, she is a total space hog.

2. I managed to get my old keyboard working by plugging it into the computer instead of my KVMA switch. This makes it clear there's some sort of issue between the keyboard and the switch. High Holy Hamster Heads! It's like night and day. I've been frustrated because it seems like a slog up a mountain in Colorado in January, both ways. But a half hour back on the old keyboard and I'm no longer having to slow down my thoughts because of interface issues. I can also feel a huge difference in build quality. I've got a replacement keyboard speeding its way to me, arriving between tomorrow and Wednesday. My single biggest reservation about trying to write another novel in a month is gone. This is so cool (and I also accept that I'm a technology nerd for typing that sentence).

3. Rain. I'm a fan of it. And the temperature drop is also welcome - 73° on Monday afternoon, that was unexpected but very much welcome.

4. I guess I'm going to have to accept that my moods are affected by that rock circling closest to the sun. I'm noticing a trend of low moods during Mercury Retrograde periods. I'll keep that in mind during future afflictions of retrogrades.

I think that's all for now.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: Home
Current Music: Pancho Sanchez - Conga Blue (Live)

I'm about 18k words into the story I'm working on, and I don't think I'm going to be able to get this to 40k -- there's not enough story there unless I conclude the first part and move on to another story with the same main character. The first novel in this series is about a character getting introduced into a subculture and bringing great change to it because the character is introducing the values and concepts of the larger culture to the subculture. The second one is about eight people either mentioned in the first novel or with smaller parts, and how they seek community in the different culture evolved in the first novel. This one is about an outsider who isn't as dynamic as the first main character, and who has significant social and self-image issues, getting introduced to the subculture while trying to find a lost sibling. I don't know if this one can go the distance -- the first one is 1045 pages, the second is a scant 452. There'll be an anthology of much shorter stuff somewhere in all of this too.

It's that time again, doctor visits. Monday will start early, because my appointment is for 7:30am, and since it's an annual visit it'll take all morning. On the plus side, we'll be in the neck of the woods near the social security office, and I need to file my name change with them, so my roommate, who doesn't do sit and wait well at all, will pop in there to get the right form and maybe while waiting for the different phases of the visit we can get it filled out. Maybe we can even file it on the way back home. It'll be something off the list of things needed to get done -- the DMV is so backed up it'll be months before I can get an updated state ID, and by then I hope my passport is here, which will mean I don't have to get a state ID anyway.

The solar array seems to be doing a great job for me. What people in other parts of the world call a heat advisory we refer to as August, so my friends' electrical bills are crazy high. Mine, on the other hand, is not, and I didn't get a bill for June because my solar cells covered not only the wattage charges but also the fees. My new solar plan is giving me more payback (the company seems dedicated to this, because all of their plans have solar buyback), so I might get way ahead on the power bills. It's also nice to know that when everyone else is under power shortfalls I'm ahead of the game.

In case anyone was wondering, Dixie remains a dog. She doesn't mind that at all, and I think she looks down her long nose at us a bit because we lack tails to show our moods.

I'm working on a few different pieces of music, and still working on the idea for an Opera, "Fate of the Damned", about the Egyptian Book of the Dead. I'm also starting to get a bit interested in working on the Beltane Mass, and maybe some work on the Samhain Mass too. One of the pieces I'm revamping is going to include a string of text in Morse code, along with a lot of other textural elements. Textural is kind of easy to do at lower tempi, but faster stuff takes a lot more attention to detail.

Other than that, not much is changing. I'm still single and hating it, but with no hope of any resolution for that condition. Other than that, not much else going on.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: Home
Current Music: Nicole Massey - "Driving Home"