My sister


My mother


It brought out only the gentleness in people.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Last night, I slept. Today, I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop and none has... I have not got allergic reactions going on. My asthma is improved. I am nearly at normal.

I am going to have to start believing that thunderstorms (or pressure changes they create) really can cause my allergies/asthma to get worse. When I first heard this, it sounded like well-meant scapegoating more than a viable explanation to me.

I've been made a believer now because my symptoms have truly cleared and from what I can tell nothing else has changed except the weather front we had.

I am so happy to be able to breathe in today!

So it turns out that my July trip to NYC is going to be several days longer than I expected ... I will, in fact, be in NYC from July 15 - July 22. Sharp eyes will notice that there's a weekend in there. And even sharper eyes will notice that it's the weekend of Readercon.

Therefore, I am wondering ... should I get ahold of an Amtrak ticket a cheapass Chinatown bus ticket and head up to Massachusetts for the weekend? If I were to do so, is there someone who might have a floor I could sleep on? Is today REALLY the last day to register, or can I buy a registration at the door?

Or should I just stay in NYC and spend some time catching up on museums and shows and whatnot? That's kinda what I was planning to do, but so many people have told me that Readercon is THE MOST AWESOMEST PLACE TO BE IN THE WHOLE WORLD so I thought I'd ask.

Thanks so much to everyone for your congratulations on my last post! I have the best fList in all the world. Y'all rocketh!!!!

I'd go in and every one of you personally, but there are 100 emails waiting for me in my work box and ... well ... doody calls. Oh wait, did I spell that wrong? No, I didn't. Definitely lots of doody in my inbox.

700 days (based on an arbitrary made-up date in May 2010) and counting!

I recently discovered Arthur Silber's blog Once Upon a Time and while Mr. Silber is quite strident and unrelentingly despairing, he also strikes me as a Cassandra worth reading. After all, if Bush does attack Iran before leaving office it won't really matter who gets to be the big cheese in November.

Only protest on a massive scale -- protest that would be impossible to ignore, despite the efforts of the ruling class and our deeply corrupt media to erase all inconvenient facts and all crucial moral considerations from our national discussion -- has even the slimmest chance of delaying or stopping what may be the coming destruction and rearrangement of much of the world, including the United States. Given the widespread ignorance and sloth of the American public, such protest would have to be preceded by an educational campaign, one that would provide Americans with the basic facts they require to understand how eternally unforgivable an attack on Iran would be in the present circumstances. -Arthur Silber

Top US military officer heads to Israel with Iran on the agenda

So you all have NO IDEA how hard it has been to sit on this news since June 13th, when I got the final word. But now it can be blogged:

I^* have sold 2 books ("The Native Star" and sequel) to Juliet Ulman at Bantam Spectra!

I just got off the phone with Juliet, and she is just as cool as everyone says she is. I am so excited to be working with her! (I mean, look at the awesome writers she works with: Barth Anderson, Tim Pratt, Eliot Fintushel, Greg Van Eekhout ... the list goes on and on.) She gave me a quick rundown of what to expect from the publishing process. The first book will probably be coming out in Spring '10, which means we won't actually get started working until early '09. Which seems an eternity now, but I have lots of stuff to work on between now and then, and I'm sure it will go faster than I expect.

More news as it develops ... now I have to run for a plane, but in all honesty, the way I feel at the moment I could probably fly home to Portland under my own power. ;-)

Whee!

^{*By "I," of course, I really mean my superfantastic agent, Ginger Clark ...}

Not sure who April is, but this birthday message to her on youtube made me laugh a lot.

Shit, Fuck, Cunt, Piss, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, Tits

Fuck Hope

The heating and cooling guy is scheduled to come out today. We're having to pay for it ourselves, but it's worth it if it can alleviate some of the painfulness I have when I wake up and go to bed from the asthma and allergies. I'm on the maximum dosage of 1 prescription(actually x2 of dosage), 2 nose sprays, 1 inhaler, 1 eye drops, a 'severe cold' cough syrup, and I'm using a fan, a HEPA air filter, and cool mist humidifier at night.

( atchu! atchu! atchu! )

Senator/President Obama Supports Wire Taps for Everybody

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Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) today announced his support for a sweeping intelligence surveillance law that has been heavily denounced by the liberal activists who have fueled the financial engines of his presidential campaign.

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I'll Tip My Hat To The New Constitution
Take A Bow For The New Revolution
Smile And Grin At The Change All Around
Pick Up My Guitar And Play
Just Like Yesterday
Then I'll Get On My Knees And Pray
We Don't Get Fooled Again

Meet The New Boss
Same As The Old Boss