Look!

Twice in one week, aren't you impressed? I am. I'm also sneaking time at work when I should be working on the gazillion projects on my desk, but oh well. I would rather sit here drinking my ginger hot chocolate and blog for a bit.
Things are fairly quiet in my corner of the world right now. It is snowing like crazy here in NYC. It's given my day a muted feeling. Everything seems quieter when it's snowing. Even inside a busy office building. It's so calming to watch the snowflakes squall past the window. I love it! I wish I could be out in it. I suppose I will be soon enough, on my way home. . . .
I've started a new freelance project and am frustrated by it. Not because it's bad. Because it's merely competent. The story itself is pretty good, but the writing doesn't quite have the necessary edge for this type of thriller. It's grammatically correct; everything makes sense. But I still just feel like it's missing a little oomph. Sigh.
I wonder if I can convince my partner-in-crime to head over to my house for the evening. Once I get there, I'm not going to want to leave again! The unfortunate part of tonight is that there are many things I should get done. All I want to do is put on some tea and curl up with a good book. Ah, well. I suppose there'll be time for that this weekend.
I'm chipping away at some dream-based short stories while awaiting feedback on my revised novel. So far, I don't feel like it's going very well. Don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly happy to put pen to paper regardless of what's coming out. But short stories are hard. And I haven't gotten back into a good rhythm with them yet. Give me another one or two, and then I'll be writing something worth talking about. For now, it' s just good to stretch the writerly muscles.
Hmm. I just got really sleepy. Must be the amount of extremely rich hot chocolate I've consumed in the last hour or so!
Okay. I'm covering for my work spouse while he's on vacation, so I should probably get back to it. As long as I stay fairly focused, things should stay well under my control. Happy snow day!

Late

I know, it's late in the month and I've barely said a word! Apologies; it's been another busy month and my Internet at home has been intermittent at best. So. Here I am.
January has been cold. Cold. Recently one morning it was 9 degrees. Brr! I am definitely a winter child and enjoy the cold, but I do hope that this doesn't go on for too long. However, I love that we've gotten some snow this winter!
I finished another book today: Mirrors of the Unseen, by Jason Elliot. And I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would! It's basically a travelogue about Iran, only so much more. Jason talks at length about the people, the history, the art, the religion, and the architecture. Of course he touches on the politics of that part of the world, as well, but that's not what it's about. Not what he dwells on. It was like a kaleidoscope of his impressions of this beautiful, ancient culture that most of us don't know a whole lot about. There were moments of description that were so keen I could almost have been there with him, it was so clear to me. This one is definitely a keeper. I'll revisit it next time I have a yearning to travel somewhere foreign to me.
I have a lot more to say but unfortunately I've got to keep it brief this evening. So have a good night, and I'll be back sometime in the next couple of days. Ta!

A New Year

So on the New Year theme, I thought I'd make up a list of goals. Not resolutions, mind, just goals. So here we go:

• Read thirty books (not hard, if you know me at all)
• finish working on Nor and start another novel
• three to five short stories
• spend more time outside
• treat my body better
• make music more consistently
  

I think that's a good list, don't you? Not too much, not too little. What about you all? Any brilliant things on your horizons sparked off by New Year?
On to other topics . . . my holiday trip was quite good, overall, with the major exception of what I discussed in my previous entry here. I saw my godchildren, saw my whole immediate family, spent some time with my partner-in-crime's parents, and saw some of my friends. Not enough of them and not for long enough, but that's the way it goes on these trips. Of course, having my flights messed up in both directions wasn't great, but I seem to have bad luck with holiday travel, so oh well. It was a pretty good Christmas. I even saw what-if boy on my last night; we watched a movie together, and then slept next to each other, as chaste as brother and sister.
In regard to my goals for this year, I've already read two books. The first was Greywalker, by Kat Richardson. I love good, dark urban fantasy! This one is about a woman named Harper who has a near-death experience and afterward sees the world differently. Literally. She can now see a place called the Grey, which is a sort of limbo between our world and the otherworld. Which means, of course, that her life immediately gets complicated through the presence of vampires, witches, and ghosts, none of which she believed in before. This book was dark, and gritty, and the interactions between the characters was natural and believable. Beyond that, Harper's transition from total disbelief to accepting the change in her was also believable. And it's the first book in a series, which means I have several more stories about Harper to enjoy!
The second book is called Freaks, by Annette Curtis Klause. It's about a boy born and raised among circus performers who are physically different in all sorts of ways. Eventually he feels too normal for his extended circus family and sets off to seek his fortune on his own. It's a really fun read; there's some good teenage angst, and a great love story between Abel (main character) and a three-thousand-year-old Egyptian mummy, and some great secondary characters (particularly a gaggle of children Abel saves from an evil circus man named Dr. Mink). I really enjoyed this book, but still, somehow, I'm not sure that it's a keeper. It just didn't catch me as much as some books do.
Anyway. Twelve minutes left of the workday, so I should probably wrap things up before it's time to go. I also need to pick a new book to read, since I finished Freaks on the train this morning, and that always takes a few minutes!

sad holiday

I just found out that one of my friends in NYC passed away quite suddenly yesterday. She was a good friend of my partner-in-crime. I wonder how her family and her children are holding up.
I don't know much about what happened. She had an aneurysm. I hope she got to have Christmas with her family first. I hope it was quick, and painless.
I don't really know what I want or need to say about this. We just got the phone call a couple hours ago. I was at her house last weekend. She gave me a Christmas gift.
I hope that I get to see her family soon and share the sorrow in the hopes that it will make it a shade easier for them to bear. And I hope that wherever she is, she's happy.

On the Fly

I know, I've got to stop with the tiny little posts and do more substantial ones more often. I did feel like I was off to a good start in November, but then life just got busy with houseguests and freelance work and such, and now all of a sudden it's December and I've barely started my Yule gift shopping. Yikes! How did December get here so fast?
Anyway. A brief update, against the to-do list I made for November. I did do two freelance projects last month(or did I do three? They've all blurred together in my head). I read three books. I started a fourth but wasn't into it, so discarded it, which only sort of counts, I know. Or I could count one of the books I proofread. I mean, I did read those . . . Anyway. I'll deliver some book reviews soon. Next week, perhaps. Let's see, what else. I did make some progress on the first two movements of the Time Pieces, but they're not performance ready or anything. I've been hampered by my lack of good reeds and my reluctance purchase more, but today I finally went out and got a box, so I should make some good headway now. I didn't manage to deliver on my novel, either. I got part of it sent out to my loyal readers. And the rest will happen over December, I suppose, so I'll have to push my timeline back a bit. I'll live.
I have to run, I have way too much to do tonight, and am expecting a phone call from my oldest goddaughter, who I haven't spoken to enough lately. Next time: book reviews, and my thoughts on the movie Twilight, and possibly a rant about buying gifts for people.
Have a good night!

Briefly

It's 5 pm, and I could be going home now, but instead I'm inhabiting my little virtual home for just a moment. I just have a couple of things I'd like to get off my chest.
First, why are plane tickets so expensive around the holidays?!? I mean, really. I don't have that kind of spare change laying around, do you?
Second, I was at my partner-in-crime's house the other day, and out of the blue he looked at me and said, "You know, so-and-so and I were talking about you the other day. The way you dress. She thinks you could really dress better than you do. And I think so, too. You know, you could do a really funky business-casual look . . ." And my only response was, "I like the way I dress, thank you, and why on earth were you discussing my style choices with so-and-so???" I was totally offended. He basically just told me that he doesn't think I look that good on a regular basis. What would you say, if your partner-in-crime said something like that? Ugh. I was disgusted at the lack of thoughtfulness.
Third, last night I dreamed that I was on some sort of trip to the west coast, and I was at this big shopping/entertainment center type place, and was wandering around with my sister J. Our whole extended family was there, and lots of friends too, including what-if boy, and I was having such a nice time hanging out with him but then he disappeared and then I had to get on the airplane to leave (conveniently located just outside the entertainment center). So J and I got on the plane to leave, but then the pilot told us we wouldn't be leaving for a couple hours, so I made them open the door and let me out. I went back into the entertainment center and found what-if boy, who said he'd left for a while because he had to go to work, or had to talk to someone, or something. And I was glad I'd found him again before I had to leave. There was an earlier dream, but it's quite hazy and vague. Something about being on a ship. There was a group of us. And we were lost, and trying to get home. The ship was large, and there was something dangerous on board with us, but I can't remember what. A vague recollection of playing some music on a record player, and an overall sense of foreboding and tension. That's all I've got for that one.
And now, time to go home. I've got quite a lot to do!

Unsure

A friend of a friend just found out that he tested positive for HIV. He is one of the safest people I know. I'm absolutely baffled. How could this have happened to him?
New York is the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in America (to quote a website I was just reading). Approximately 1 in 70 people in New York is infected with HIV. Let me say that again: 1 in 70. That's a terrifying number in a city of over 8 million residents. The same website says that HIV is the third leading cause of death in New Yorkers below the age of 65. This worries me. No, it terrifies me. There are so many sick people out there. Are we doing enough to help them? Are they doing enough to help themselves? I don't know. It seems like no one has any real answers.
I know four people here who are HIV positive. That I'm aware of. And they are some of my favorite people here. It just makes me sick at heart to know that they have this disease eating at them. And the person who just found out? Imagine the heartache and the fear that he is dealing with as I type this. I cannot imagine having a bomb like that dropped on me. It would be devastating. I wish I could just give him a hug and tell him that everything will be all right, but I can't. Because for him, nothing will ever really be all right again.
Now, I know that there are drugs out there now that can prolong an HIV positive life by years, even decades. But that doesn't mean that he won't get sick, that he won't have hard times because of it. The other people I know who are HIV positive have had it for quite a while, and they do get really sick. Sometimes for months at a time. And every time, I worry for them. And I pray, to all the gods and goddesses out there in the universe, that they will get better.
None of these people asked for this. And now they have to deal with it for their whole lives. Hard times. Really hard times.
I don't even really know what I'm trying to say here, except to express my agony for this friend who just found out, and for the others who have lived with it for years. If there was something I could do for them that would fix it, I would. Without a question. And for you, my few readers, please, please be careful. Get tested every year. Take precautions in sketchy situations. Just be careful. And, though they're nameless and faceless for you, please keep my friends in your thoughts. I do, every day.