Molly Grue and Schmendrick

In the midst of all this crazy relationship drama, I was feeling the need to redirect some poorly spent devotion. Of course this is never a good time for me to be wandering around the pet store. It's like going to the supermarket hungry.

I am categorically opposed to impulse pet acquisition, however it I am a sucker when it comes to goldfish.

My initial intent was to locate someone who knew about the fish shipments to ask if the might be getting more Ryukins in. LOCATING a store employee (apparently a rare species) proved problematic. I stumbled on three individuals in identical blue polo shirts that clustered around one tank and used phrases like "what is that?" "gross" "they all have it" "I'm not scrubbing it" and "just wipe it loose."

Since it wasn't like I was risking the health of an established tank and fish population at home, I decided that minute I was taking a fish out of there.

Helping me was less appealing than dealing with whatever was in that tank (which they thankfully blocked from my sight) and they spent the next few minutes verbally ro-sham-bow-ing over who would have to actually do some work. The youngest, and most surly of the bunch shambles aftermee to the fantail goldfish tank with a net and a plastic bag. After chasing the entire tank full of fish around uncessfully, two fish in particular refuse to be seperated.

I took them both.

Meet Schmendrick (calico) and Molly Grue (orange) The industrial sized mayo jar turned fishtank is a temporary fix. Come payday these guys are getting a real pad. If they make it that long -- I found Schmendrick "playing dead" tucked in next to the filter this morning. He didn't move till I started sprinkling food and tapping on the glass.

I just glad I didn't walk out of there with a bearded chameleon.

And the Point Is...

Alright, if you'll forgive my most recent bout of nonsensicalness let's get back to business.

So the news of my day today is in regard to the recently released SFWA Nebula Award Ballot and one entry in particular in the screenplay category: the Old Negro Space Program. While I won't go into details about the drama (apparently its presence on the ballot is currently under debate) because And We Shall March has a much more brilliant analysis of the whole situation -- I am posting the link to the free ifilm viewing site and herby joining the THE CAMPAIGN FOR ANDY BOBROW AND THE OLD NEGRO SPACE PROGRAM.

It's probably one of the funniest dead pan "mockumentary" films I've ever seen and being in a genre where representation of POC* (characters, authors, books) is still seriously lagging this film succeeds in being both a credible sci-fi piece and a really clever commentary on the lack of "POC in Space."

So watch the movie. And write a letter. I have no idea what the problem is with this script, but to quote And We Shall March:

"one of the best things about being an American with a blog is that you don't have to bother going through the effort of fully informing yourself before you sign on and start screaming. God, I love this country so very much."

Give the Old Negro Space Program a shot, eh? Hell, it's up against Joss Whedon's Serenity script. It's not like the road to the Nebby is going to be easy.





*POC: People Of Color. One of my least favorite code words for the "those other people" category I find myself often cast into based on the color of my skin.

Why Not?

Well I tinkered at the old template for a while, but to be honest I never really liked it anyway (especially since every third blogger user has the same damn one) In light of a new year and all the changes life has brought I thought I earned a new look. The Blue Morpho is my favorite butterfly and an apt totem for the year unfolding.

So welcome to Morpho - an adaptation of the Imitate Template designed by beccary.com -- the morpho photo comes courtesy of BelizeHank who was oh so kind enough to permit me the use of it.

In addition to keeping me busy the last few days (and my mind distracted) designing the template has made me feel closer than ever to my blog and taught me more about CSS than I'd ever dreamed I'd care about. And I now do. I'll probably be tweaking things the next few weeks with the hope of one day being competent enough to design my own template from the ground up.

Other updates:

• Small Strange Towns has gone out into the cold dark world. I'd like to think I don't have hopes for it, but what parent doesn't. I did promise I'd still love it even if it came home empty handed, however.


• Sight, the working title for the trunk novel that recently has been seeing the light of day is probably the first novel I've attempted were I can see next steps all the way to the end. Not that I will rigidly follow them, but it's nice to at least have a clue. For once. It's about a blind woman, an FBI agent and 1969 Shelby GT-500 (butter yellow with black racing stripes) Okay so it's less about the car than that last sentence made it sound, but I have ALWAYS wanted to write one into a story.


• Welcome to Arcata. An official resident of a town even smaller than Eureka (my previous domain) I can now walk EVERYWHERE: the grocery store, movie theater, video store, bank, post office and my favorite WiFi coffee shop are within 15 minutes hike. The Arcata Marsh is a five minute walk from my front door. Echo and I have started running two days a week. I am living a fantasy I've had since I was a kid.


• Ants aside, I love my new place. (actually it's rare to find a place in Arcata that doesn't suffer from a colony or five. I am winning, thankfully) LUUUUV it. It's ALL mine. It has a big bathtub. It has a yard. It has a big fridge and a killer kitchen. It will cost me a pittance to keep in my comfortable ambient temp range. I luuuuuv it. Even when I lock myself out. Which I did yesterday for the first time


• I am now a little bit closer to owning my own kayak. Finally!