Tip jar results.All things have been totaled (at long last), and the results of the latest tip jar are in, coming to a princely $1,187. I am still awed and amazed by the generosity of my readers. You've allowed me to prioritize finishing three InCryptid stories over the next three months ( Read more... )

My part of Northern California is currently experiencing its first really serious heat wave of 2011. I know better than to whine about this too much; by this point in the year, in a normal year, we'd be on heat wave three or four, and temperatures would be trending substantially higher than they are ( Read more... )

I am not going to write an Arisia con report. I'm not good at them under the best of circumstances-they either wind up obscenely long and take six months to finish, turn into a series of comic strips, or make no sense-and these are not the best of circumstances, what with the "two conventions in two weekends" and "under a whole lot of deadlines" ( Read more... )

1. My website is currently down. Thanks to everyone who's pointed that out thus far today (and that's a sincere thanks-I needed to know, and better multiple people tell me than no one tells me). My webmaster is still asleep, because he's a lucky bastard, so I'll check in with him when he gets up. For now, site fall down, go boom. No clue why ( Read more... )

It's easy to forget sometimes, given the natural impulses to focus on the negative aspects of the world around us, that people can be inherently decent. (This ties into something I've been pondering, involving Monkeyspheres and the nature of social formations, but it's also its own thing, in isolation, which is why I'm bringing it up right now.) ( Read more... )

Friday, I was wearing my trench coat, running the space heater, and shivering a lot. Saturday, I walked to the store in my trench coat, and damn near overheated. Yesterday, I wandered around without a coat for the majority of the day, and even ran the air conditioner a bit in the evening. This morning, I put on my denim jacket ( Read more... )

...and not a drop to drink.

Native Californians (of which I am one) often joke that we live in a state that has three natural seasons: Wet, Dry, and On Fire. Local conditions have restricted us to Dry and On Fire in recent years, with instances of Wet being few and far-between. No one really likes a drought, but as no one really likes wet socks ( Read more... )

1. I am about to head for the dentist, where I will be undergoing full sedation for the sake of massive surgery. After this, you should get a few months free of my discussing teeth, which will be nice for everybody. Because someone asked: I grew up on welfare, I have naturally not-so-good teeth, and for a long time, I didn't have the money to fix ( Read more... )

So today is Tuesday-hooray!-but for me, it's essentially Monday, because I spent the real Monday in a haze of sedatives, painkillers, and other exciting pharmaceuticals associated with having lots and lots of dental work done. I now have two permanent crowns on my upper right rear molars, and can actually eat crunchy foods, like apples and carrots ( Read more... )

I find myself in need of a meteorologist to assist me with...well, to assist me with things that I am not presently at liberty to discuss, but trust me, it'll be fun. I've already spoken to a climatologist about global warming and various other factors, but now? Now I need to construct a really awesome storm ( Read more... )