Technicalities

So, as Sonja is already well aware, I may be a techno geek, but I'm totally anti-social-networking, which both she and my boyfriend despair of, since I spend quite a bit of time making fun of their MySpace pages. Anyways, I don't actually READ blogs online, per se. Not even the ones I write on, including this one. They are emailed to me, but they don't get here until a day later. Which means that by the time I get this blog in my email, I only have a day left to post. So, all this time, I've gone of the (probably wrong) assumption that I will post 2 days after I read it. Therefore, I usually wind up posting 3 days after Sonja.

Which is what I'm trying to clarify. Is this bad and wrong? Should I be adhering firmly to the 2 day limit we set out way back when? Or am I okay with letting it slide? Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

Anyways, in other news, I'm back in North Carolina, which means I get to see my bestest buddy, at some point. Hopefully. Sonja? Are you out there? It only took me and JB a mere 30 hours to make it across the country. We practically could have driven faster. And we spent a wonderful night at the Dallas airport. So I'm one up on Sonja- to prepare for the RWA National Conference, I stuck it out in Dallas, just to see what the weather was going to be like. Which, i'm not pleased to report, is sucky. But maybe it'll be better by the time we get there.

For other preparations, however, I'm also lacking. Since my eyeball was out of comission, I was unable to stick to my writing schedule and finish my WIP before the conference. Which means I'll be pitching an unfinished book again. Oh well.

I'm also trying to find the motivation to get to working on the book again. I've had 4 or 5 weeks off of it now and I'm struggling to get back. Need inspiration... Any help for those of you out there in readerland?

And one final note to Sonja... Quit yer bitching about being compared to your sister. You're IDENTICAL TWINS!!! And while you and I may not think the two of you actually look that much alike, most of the rest of the universe only sees the similarities. Also, on her wedding day, she probably looked fabulous. So being compared to her is a compliment. Suck it up.

Hello Internets!

I'm back! Yes, that's right, this is really me, Skye, not Craig typing for me. Not that he posted for me while i was... incapacitated, but whatever. Sonja took up the slack nicely. Plus I loved having Craig read me the fun post about panties. Totally worth the whole pain and eyeball suffering i just went through. Or maybe not.

At any rate, i think I'm technically supposed to wait until tomorrow to return to reading and computer work, but it's been long enough. And if i don't get to see the internets for myself NOW, I'll go crazy. Or crazier. Your pick.

It honestly hasn't been as bad as i expected, but this last week really chafed. My eyeball is fine, for those of you who are interested... it still hurts occasionally and it looks freaky because the eye drops i was on made it dilate and it hasn't stopped doing that yet. So i look kind of stoned or concussed, depending on your point of view with one dilated pupil and one not dilated. Super fun.

What kept me from going totally bonkers (besides Craig reading me my email every day) was the fact that we were moving and i had plenty of other stuff to keep me busy. What with the unpacking and the buying furniture and all the rest of the stuff that's involved with a move across country. Speaking of, if you didn't get an email from me about my new phone number, email me. I just forgot you. Sorry. :)

So, let the games begin. Sonja, i expect you to resume our extremely strict every 2 day posting schedule now. :)

Pant. Ees.

So, despite the doctor telling Skye that if she traveled this week, the turbulence could dislodge her newly poked-at retina, she is now in sunny (I keed, I keed) Oregon, most likely shouting orders to Craig in a piratey fashion. (She actually isn't wearing the eyepatch anymore but I bet she got it out and put it on just so she could go, "Arrr! Look lively there, ye bilge rat!")

And I am now tasked with keeping the blog up to date until she unburies from the moving excitement. Also, I am tasked with writing the most embarrassing thing I can think of for Craig to read out loud to Skye, since she's not allowed to read anything with her own two eyes and therefore has to have Craig do it. Or whoever else is around. I was privileged to perform a dramatic reading of the pina colada recipe on the back of the pina colada mix at her goodbye soiree this weekend. (Skye, that's S-O-I-R-E-E. Did he pronounce it right?)

Anyway, I'm not very creative, and the only thing I can think of is to type "panties" a bunch of times, or perhaps talk about the many benefits of the tampon as opposed to the pad. But, really, ick, I don't want to talk about that any more than Craig wants to read it out loud to his sweetie.

Panties.

Panties.

Panties.

Cliffhangers, Dundundun

This is Sonja, in today for Skye and her injured eyeball. Were Skye here, she would tell you all that she is doing fine (relatively), that her eyeball is recovering, but that she is spending a lot of time with her eyes closed in that lonely, scary, dark place called introversion.

Also, she would tell you that she listened to the audio book version of Linda Howard's Silhouette Nocturn Raintree: Inferno (on her dear friend Sonja's recommendation) and that she generally liked it, but thought the heroine got beat up too much. And then I would leave a comment saying, "Yeah but I would have beat her up a little too. She had kind of a smart mouth." And then we would commiserate together on the sad, sad state of the ending of the book, which was, ugh, a cliffhanger. We agree that series books with huge cliffhangers at the end are evil and should be stopped.

And then I would sheepishly admit that though I should have refused to buy the second book out of spite for the first one ending on a cliffhanger, it sits at home in my To Be Read pile. I fail.

And then she would come up with a witty closing line to leave you all in suspense, sitting on the edge of your seats for the next post, which, of course, would be mine.

Even worse...

Not only is it super tragic that Sonja and I are going to be ripped asunder (good word, right?) but something else has happened to make our separation even more depressing. I have this super lame eyeball problem (for the details, see my blog) that means that after June 8, I'm not allowed to read or use my computer for 3 WEEKS! Eeek!

How do people deal without email? More importantly, how am i supposed to keep in touch with my now long distance bestest buddy if i can't even use the computer. We briefly considered using the phone but discarded that quickly enough.

I'm paraphrasing:

me: I can't email or read for 3 weeks
Sonja: haha cuz your eyeball would pop
me: thanks, you're so supportive
Sonja: Well how the hell am I supposed to keep in touch with you until RWA if you can't read? God, I guess I'm going to have to CALL you.

silence falls upon both keyboards for almost 10 seconds

both of us: Never mind
me: I'll just see you at the conference then.
Sonja: Good idea.

See? We may be bestest buddies, but we're not crazy or anything.

The reality is that Sonja's just jealous that i get to be a pirate and live the dream. I mean, who doesn't want to wear an eyepatch?

Gar!

Not that it's a competition or anything...

... but I totally win in the plague department. I just looked at my calendar this morning and realized I have been sick since February 21. One entire month. Ugh.

I am blaming this on my evil day job, because why not? You see, we have "Paid Time Off" instead of one pot of vacation time and one pot of sick time. And, of course, no one wants to use vacation time to sit at home blowing their noses, so instead, everyone comes to work sick and spreads the plagues around. I've had three separate plagues the past month, one tacked on to another.

So, I extend my sympathy to Skye, because plagues are no fun... But I win.

Also, I was going to make Fabio call her while she was away, but I extended mercy upon her and just sent the link in IM, which probably was eaten by cyberspace. But you should totally make Fabio call everyone you know. That? Would be awesome. I was going to make him call my grandpa, but I'm not sure he would have appreciated the humor.

No really, this time I swear I'm alive...

Although I wasn't feeling so hot for a while. That's why I didn't post while in Hawaii, despite the internet connection that we lucked out with. Yes, that's right, you all can glory in the fact that I was sick in Hawaii and missed out on a bunch of fun experiences. Oh, and I got a massive cut on my foot, too. So for everyone who was jealous of my jaunting off to the Islands, don't feel too bad :)

I did have a lot of fun, however (when i wasn't at death's door or bleeding), and will probably post a little something something on my own blog at some point. I'm merely checking in here to point out that I'm alive and no, this blog does not totally belong to Sonja. So there.

Let's see, in writing related news... I emailed WRP (that's Wild Rose Press, aka Sonja's publisher) about my long ago request for a full and they remembered me and told me to send it back in. Which is great, except i STILL haven't finished editing it, which is what i was planning on doing in Hawaii, but then the disease of DOOM tackled me and left me unable to do anything except read books and sniffle a lot. At some point, I'll actually want to work on that again too.

But other than that, not much to report. Sonja's making me feel like a slacker for being all published and stuff, but I still can't work up the energy to do anything about it. Ah well.

Since I'm back, however, the posting shall recommence and I will be happy to exchange witty banter and snarky comments with my dearly beloved published bestest bud.

On to you, Sonja...

Oh, and I totally think that Puma Stud is the way to go :)

The Rain in Spain... and Durham

The weather people in North Carolina have a tough life. I bet they really envy the weather people in Seattle. They're always just like, "Mostly cloudy with a chance of rain. Pretty much forever." But here, the weather people have to guess about whether it's going to snow an inch or three inches, or switch to rain, or freezing rain, or pretty much just do nothing.

Yesterday, the weather people went with 1-3 inches of snow. Instead, we got maybe a quarter of an inch and then a 34-degree rain for the rest of the day. I submit that there is no more disgusting weather phenomenon than 34-degree rain, except maybe a plague of locusts, and I'm not even sure locust clouds count as weather phenomenons.

In conclusion, the weather yesterday sucked.

Romeo stayed home because of the major suckiness of the weather. I had to go to work despite the suck. A real conversation with a friend:

Me: Romeo stayed home today.
Friend: What a bum.
Me: Yeah. It's ok though because the dog puked on the carpet about an hour ago.
Friend: Ah, sweet retribution.

But I'm not bitter. Certainly not about something so minor as 34-degree rain. 34-degree rain is so 5. (Are we allowed to use "so 5" sarcastically?)