The Inmates Run the Asylum

Spent my day celebrating my success at avoiding death for another year. I'm glad to be 33. I like three's. This feels lucky to me.

I spent the day indulging in my favorites. I ended up watching Halloween (1978) and The Fog (1980) (the latter courtesy of Carrie; she got me that and a Funko POP Usula doll for my birthday); an episode of The A-Team ("Bad Day at Black Rock"); an episode of MST3K ("Night of the Blood Beast"); two episodes of my current TV infatuation, Emergency! ("Virus" and "Breakdown"); and closed it out with an episode of The Monkees ("I Was a Teenage Monster"). I also watched Svengoolie (Island of Lost Souls) and finished reading Dead Until Dark.

It was a fabulous, relaxing, indulgent day. I appreciated every minute of it.

I'll do all of my partying next weekend at Cubs Con.

Good news! Rejected is now on Amazon and available for Kindle (thanks to txvoodoo for all of her wonderful help...she's amazing, fantastic, and fabulous and I owe her big time).

Bad news! Dad goes in on the 21st for another biopsy. Apparently, the pathologist said there wasn't any muscle tissue in what was sent to the lab. Doc says it's possible considering the size of the tumor, but he was pretty sure that he at least got some. He's going to have the pathology lab look again, but Dad is still scheduled to go it because at the very least the doc wants to have another "look around". I told Dad I was sick of his bladder inconveniencing me and that it needed to get its shit together. Dad appreciated that. Heh.

Good news! The doc is utterly perplexed at how non-invasive the tumors were despite their size and number and his prognosis for Dad remains positive. He's still likely to have a recurrence, but with the doc monitoring, it won't be nearly as bad as it's been this time.

Bad news! I've run out of news.

Ebook versions of Rejected: Nine Stories I Couldn't Get Published are now available at the iBookstore and for the Nook. For $1.99, you can be informed when you tell me my writing sucks! (Sorry, nothing for Kindle yet.)

Also, I've added new stuff to my jewelry store on Etsy. If you don't want to order through Etsy, you can contact me here and I'll be more than happy to hook you up.

Remember to pass it on! I could really use the word of mouth right now.

Please and thank you.

Dad had his doctor's appointment today. The pathology report isn't back yet (he'll have to call Monday), but he did get his catheter out. I'm happy to report that he's able to pee, it doesn't hurt, and he can go several hours between bathroom trips. Prior to this surgery, none of these things were true. So that's good. The doctor said he was encouraged by what he saw during the surgery, so hopefully the pathology report will be on the positive side, too.

Since he does have more tumors in his bladder, he'll have to have surgery again. This time, though, the doctor wants to do it as an in-patient so he can take as much time as he needs to clean the rest of the tumors out in one go (initially, he didn't think there were that many in there, that's why it was scheduled as out-patient). So that's something to look forward to.

In other news, I'm going to start working with DaLette next week. Good thing. I need a little boost in my income. The jewelry's been the biggest disappointment. I knew selling the book would be tough, but I figured the jewelry would sell, even if only a couple of pieces. Nada. Disappointing.

I'm hoping once the book gets on Amazon (fingers crossed) and the closer it gets to Christmas, I'll get some more sales for both.

And finally...I really don't have any way to end this post. I just didn't want my last words to be ones of whining about money.

Since Papa was unable to come up for my birthday, I went down to visit him today. He's doing pretty well.

Last year before Christmas, he bought himself a Kindle. He's probably got 150 books on it now and he reads about two books a day. He likes just about any genre, but he's taken to reading anything free. This includes romance novels and romantic thrillers.

Papa swears that all of the characters are alike, the descriptions are similar, the plots are similar, only the names change. Oh, and if it ain't about a vampire, it's about a cowboy.

Anyway, he was telling me about one of the cowboy books he'd read by this author that apparently wrote a whole series about every member of some family in Montana. The cowboy in this book looked like the cowboys in other books, blonde, tall, broad shoulders, tight jeans. It was the tight jeans that got him. During his synopsis of this book, any time he referred to the cowboy he'd be sure to add tight jeans.

I cannot communicate the absolute hilarity of a 76 year old man sitting in a wheel chair, wearing a Mr. Roger's sweater, his hair back in a ponytail and his beard down his chest, wearing a navy baseball cap for some company I've never heard of, with a smirk on his face and in his voice saying, "Tight jeans" in reference to a character whose name he couldn't even remember. I laughed so hard, I thought I was going to break the chair I was sitting in. It was fantastic.

That Kindle is turning out to be worth every penny he spent on it. And thensome, if you factor in the comedy.

For the record, Papa has always been at the forefront of computer technology and whatnot. He ran a computer club for years. He's the reason why I ended up with a computer when I was eight and learned to surf the web when it was in its infancy. With his love of reading and technology, it's no shock that he got a Kindle. It's funny to think about how technologically advanced my grandpa is when his son just recently got the hang of e-mail because he's so resistent to it.

Dad bought me a book today.

Death by Stupidity: The 1001 Most Ridiculous, Bizarre, and Astonishingly Idiotic Ways People Have Kicked the Bucket by David Southwell and Matt Adams.

I've got a feeling that the book I'm currently reading is going to be interrupted in favor of this one.

And since I woke up cranky, the Cubs lost, and it rained on my laundry, it's safe to say that not only is the new book the highlight of my day, but also, I could use the laughs.

Even morbid ones.

My Papa emailed me today, asking for a Christmas list. I usually don't have to do this until Thanksgiving and this year I was going to actually the time to compose an actual list (I say that every year...it never happens).

Unlike previous years, I know what I want for Christmas. I want books. I need more books. Even though I'm currently reading a Stephen King/Peter Straub novel and have another one waiting in the wings, I need more books.

I've already added a few of my wants to my Amazon wishlist.

Now, here comes the trouble: I need to branch out more from my typcial reads. I'm not nearly as well read as I should be or would like to be (and, frankly, even though I really like to read, I still don't read as much as I should). So I'm looking for recs here, babies.

Rec me some books you think I should read. Nevermind if you'll think I'll like them; rec them because YOU like them. I'm looking to broaden my horizons and Christmas is a great time to do that for free.

The only stipulation I'll place on the recs is NO ROMANCE. If the romance is the subplot, okay. That I have no trouble with. If the romance is the main plot, forget it. I can't hack it. I'm not wired to enjoy that sort of thing. Sorry.

Oh, and don't bother reccing Twilight or any of its sequels. I read the first book. I didn't like it. Reading any of the sequels will not change my mind. Usually, I'll give writers more than one chance to please me, but I just can't do it in this case.

Yes, I fail at being a girl.

Sheraton sent me a survey to take to rate my hotel stay. I made Carrie help me because I'm not as wordly of a traveler as she is. Considering I stayed at a hostel with a communial bathroom and bunk beds that broke, I think having a shower curtain is a bonus.

But Carrie schooled me on the finer points of hotels. I'd like to say I'm educated and will now be more particular about my hotel rooms, but, yeah, I'm gonna go with no. I'm a simple girl. I just need a place to sleep and wash my ass and I'll be good.

Of course, there's no place like home.

Today was a good magazine day. I spent my evening reading three magazines. Or trying to. Books and magazines have been attracting my cats even more now than normal. I get one off my magazine and another one gets on. People without cats never know what a challenge reading can be. I have to work for it, people. I could read much faster if I wasn't fighting cats off.

Speaking of cats, McGee has been spending the past few nights in the house and the past few days when it's rained, she's come in and stayed. So I think we may be set with her for the winter. Won't have to worry about her freezing death outside.

The rest of them are just going to have to accept that she's allowed in the house. Cat fights in my bed are no fun. Especially when I'm in it.

I got my work done on "In the Dark" early today (so close to the end) because Carrie and I were going to Kohl's to find me some capri pants that don't fall off my ass.

It was a bust. I've got 50+ in gift cards here people. Not all fat people need elastic in the waist bands and acid wash. I'll try the online store. That's where I got my capris last year.

Otherwise, get used to seeing my ass.

The day wasn't totally wrecked. Carrie got new lip gloss and eye shadow. I rode the escalators. Carrie got a Zero bar out of a vending machine. We watched a kid calculate an awesome escape from his dad. It was most impressive since he couldn't have been more than 18 months old.

After the mall, we gorged ourselves at Steak n Shake then stopped at Staples so Carrie could get some new pens. I stayed in the car and sang along to the radio. Nobody would park by me.

And then...The Old Book Barn. Heaven! I made a beeline for the horror section and emerged ten minutes later with four books. I found Carrie and told her we had to leave NOW before I found more. I ended up getting In the Night Room by Peter Straub (I'm giving him another try), The Good Guy by Dean Koontz, and Skeleton Crew and Night Shift by Stephen King.

We made sure to pet one of the resident cats, Emily, and spotted one of the other ones, Max. Max has the longest tail on a long-haired cat I've ever seen.

While that was some good book buying, I'm still in need of two more books: another by John Scalzi and one for Joe Mallozzi's book of the month read. I imagine I'll be getting those off of Amazon in the next week or so.

I need to have "In the Dark" finished by tomorrow. Guess who's not going to be reading her new books until the weekend. Oh yeah.

Here's what I did today:

1. Finished rewrite notes for "Stateline".
2. Started editing "At 3:36".
3. Watched several hours of I Love the 80's 3-D.
4. Made chicken fajitas for dinner.
5. Started reading Jennifer Pelland's Unwelcome Bodies.
6. Stole the last two Reese's peanutbutter cups.

I'm considering making pillows for a charity auction that will take place during DragonCon. The information is still a little sketchy at the moment, but I'd have no problem making two or three pillows before then. I'm going to have to look into it.

I should be able to work that into my busy schedule.