http://www.gudmagazine.com/blog/archive/2008/7/18/issue-3-pre-launch-buzz-contest/

Check out GUD Magazine's contest.

:)

Those of you who read my blog (Hi, Mom!) are probably already familiar with GUD (pronounced good) Magazine.  It's a way cool fiction magazine with just the right amount of weird.  Weird is my favorite.  They have some really great fiction and some really great authors.

One should, if one wants to consider oneself well-read, take a look at this publication.  One doesn't want to be on the wrong end of the nose-looking-down, now does one?

(One means You, in case you didn't pick up on my uppityness)

Oh yeah, they're having a contest to promote Issue 3.  You can read about that here, here, or here.

Someday, when I grow up, I want to be published in GUD.  Ahhh, dreams...

Account Structure Update
Back by popular demand, Basic Accounts will be available to all users again by the end of the (northern hemisphere) summer. More information on the decision-making process and proposals relating to the future of Basic Accounts are in lj_2008.

New Themes
Two attractive and all-new Flexible Squares themes, "Circular" and "Circular Brown" are now available.


L to R: Circular and Brown

New V-Gifts
Give someone you care about the gift of enticement. With the new Chocolate Ice Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, Tea, Coffee, Curry and Sushi v-gifts, all the significant people in your life will be able to share in the longing for the tasty edibles below. Plus, it reminds loved ones you think they're really sweet, really savory or just plain satisfying.


L to R: Chocolate Ice Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, Tea, Coffee, Curry and Sushi

Ж-Men...but not the ones you might expect!
This week LJ Russia launched Ж-Men, a new comedy series about superheroes, inspired by the LJ communities dedicated to superheros, comics and cartoons. The title's "Ж" comes from ЖЖ, the nickname for LiveJournal in Russia.

Ж-Men's script is written by a group of LJ enthusiasts who also happen to be television professionals. Who knew? Following the premiere, five more episodes will be broadcast over the next two weeks. We hope you find the series fresh and enjoyable.

This is, of course, an experiment for LiveJournal. As always, we'd love to hear what you think!

• 07:53 have spotted both effective moderation and intelligent comment in the face of trolling. faith in online humanity somewhat restored. #
• 07:54 a team fit for heroes: tinyurl.com/6hulgo #
• 08:57 The more I look at this, the more I think the emphasis is on "manager" not "community": tinyurl.com/5es3ck #
• 12:40 feeling a bit tinyurl.com/68k9bs #
• 13:17 Ivor Cutler, national treasure: tinyurl.com/29hvdz/wethandle #
• 14:51 @themightyone as Mr Cutler was a scotsman who lived and worked for most of his life in England, I think he qualifies however you define it. #

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I'm tired this morning - lots of neighborhood excitement going on last night!

Gary and I are on different cycles ... we always have been. I go to bed early and wake up early; he goes to bed LATE and gets up later than me (though somehow still in time to get to work ... go figure).

Last night, true to our pattern - I went to bed early (AFTER rolling fifty more lumpia for a co-worker's going away. NEVER commit to making lumpia for an office party. It's tedious and time consuming. I've only got another hundred to go ... *sigh*).

Anyway - I went to bed early. I woke up when Gary was getting ready to run out for his nightly cup of coffee and drive through the heart of LP city (a huge area spanning a grand total of four blocks) but I fell asleep again quickly after he left.

Until I was woken up by the pop-pop of two gunshots, that sounded as though they came from the neighbor's back yard. I flew out of bed, my heart pounding as I ran over to the window, peeping through the blinds.

Nothing.

I jumped back into bed and grabbed my cellphone, which is always on the night table and started to dial Gary's phone. I was torn between fright and annoyance that he wasn't home.

Then I heard something moving in the kitchen and a shape appeared in my bedroom door. I shrieked and threw my hands up in the air, which of course caused my cell phone become airborne - rendering it especially useful in reaching out for help. Did I ever mention that I'm great in emergencies?

"Who are you calling?" Gary asks from the doorway.

"OH my GAWD!! You idiot!" I fall over onto the bed, my heart pounding harder than it was before. Pressing my hand to my chest, assuring myself I was far too young to have a heart attack, I took several deep breaths before sitting back up. "I was calling YOU!"

Wobbly from the adrenaline that had coursed through me, I got out of bed, following him into the living room. Gary opened the front door and stood, staring outside.

"Turn the light off!" I said, reaching over and flicking off the switch. "You're just a target, under that spotlight!"

Used to my dramatics, he didn't answer - he just shook his head, while continuing to look up and down the street, finally joining our neighbors in the road as they filtered out of their houses.

The police came and as I peeped through the curtains, there was much arm waving and pointing up and down the street by those explaining the situation. I yawned, feeling sleepy again, as the dark room worked its magic on me.

Eventually, Gary came back in, shaking his head. "I think it was kids, to tell the truth - maybe cherry bombs. The police promised to keep cruising through here tonight, in case anything else happens."

"Okay." I kissed him and got back in the bed, happy to accept the pat explanation for the noises, but once in bed, I lay there and wondered; was it just kids? Was my nice neighborhood getting ready to join the creeping decline surrounding us and become a not-so-nice place to live? Gary's equipment had been vandalized recently, when he'd neglected to put it in the garage overnight and houses on either side of us have been egged repeatedly. Granted - this sounds like the antics of teens with too much time on their hands and not enough supervision, but one never knows.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

In other news: here's my son's newest Iraq picture:

http://irdial.com/blogdial/?p=1128 ... or irdial republishes a slightly less bare faced call to fascism than the odious original that he publishes underneath it.

Now, taking a leaf out of his playbook, let's twist it a little bit again..

I have stood aside and watched while the greatest, most civilized, and most humane nations in history were being converted into a dystopia.

I have stood aside and watched while the greatest good will the world has ever seen between multiple nationalities within one nation, was being deliberately changed into suspicion, dissension and hatred.

I have stood aside and watched while this “land fit for heroes” was being conditioned by traitors to seek "security" at any price-even at the price of freedom.

I have stood aside and watched while our courts encouraged and our press glorified the perpetrators of crime who have spread riots, vandalism, robbery, and murder across our land in the name of corporate profit, national security and a narrow, bigoted patriotism.

I have stood aside and watched while our colleges have been continually run by mendacious plutocrats who established them without the slightest understanding of the civilization they have inherited, or of the evil forces by which they have profited.

I have stood aside and watched while our system of public education has been maintained as a propaganda agency for complacency and spawning ground for depression, hopelessness, opression and crime.

I have stood aside and watched while meretricious scoundrels, using our television media, our motion picture screens, our newsstands, and other available means, have contrived to bring about a breakdown of individual moral, intellectual and productive agency that has kept millions of people at the level of serfs.

I have stood aside and watched while the basic human loyalties- loyalty to community, loyalty to country, loyalty to family and loyalty to one's own freedom- were being destroyed by evil forces, which now permeate every segment of Western life.

And I have had enough. I am only one person, but I shall no longer refuse “to get involved” what about you? How much longer will you stand aside?

• 09:02 Start the day with ISIHAC #
• 11:01 and continuing with radio7's I Am Legend #
• 11:02 @themightyone He is not gone as long as we remember innocently delivered filth. #
• 12:58 Wondering if an appropriate repsonse to online trolling is "I think you are a silly person. I am poking you with a balloon". #
• 13:14 @themightyone really? As in read the book (because they threw that out early on) or otherwise #
• 13:47 I needed this: tinyurl.com/5w9cj5 #
• 14:22 @themightyone expect the usual Hollywood Ghost Train ride. Though apparently Richard Mattheson is writing the sequel to the movie... #

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So how come when I hypothetically say that if someone is demonstrably lying to me online I'm going to take it badly, I get publicallly lectured on how I should be less judgemental by an NVC practitioner, but when someone comes right out and abusively accuses a home ed organisation leader of bad mouthing another home ed organisation in order to drive up their members, they get one polite reply and one, well deserved* if ill judged, telling of where to go from the accused?

Where's the lecture?

I need someone like the cop at the end of Chinatown: "Leave it Jake. It's the internet".

*Gosh, there I go again, like I'm the Judge of the Internet.

• 12:37 Monday? MONDAY!!?!??!?! I refuse to believe it, I demand documentary evidence #
• 13:00 Hmmm... outquisition.org/ #
• 14:42 I appear to have taunted happy fun thermos mug #

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linebyline
A writing prompt where members respond to single phrases and use them in their posts.

plants
A community for green thumbs, botany enthusiasts and lovers of plant life.

mst3k
The LiveJournal destination for Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans.

There's just not enough time in the day, you know? I got a lot done on my trailer, but not everything I wanted to get done. Okay, yeah - I wanted to be finished ... but since I don't want a crap product on my hands, I know I need to take my time and do it right.

It's so exciting.

*shiver*

Now to get my website up. No sense in pointing viewers to a place that doesn't exist, except as a blank holding space on somebody's server.

*back.to.work*

I'd like to do a book trailer.

I just watched one and (of course, cause I'm a bit vain *wince*) I thought, I can do better than that!!

Of course, I can't - at least not at first ... but I DO have in my favor, some of the harshest critics in the world: my kids. If I can make something *they* like, fuggedaboutit - it's gonna be Da Bomb!

And Jadey-Pie is a digital art freak, so she's gonna help.

Oh, Jay-ade ... *wanders.off.grinning*

I was reading Nathan Bradsford's blog the other day (thanks Katie) and stumbled across something that caused an 'aha' moment.

Let me begin by saying that I've queried Nathan a few times and he declined to take a second look at my work.

Why not, I wondered? JUST LOOK!! It's really good stuff!! Don't let the lukewarm query letter fool you!

So, I shelved Mr. B in my 'annoyed' file and forgot about him. Until the other day ...

One of the things he said in his blog - and I paraphrase here ... was that he was very picky. Very choosy in the things he liked.

*blink.blink*

Yeah, me too. When I edited for TD, I was the one that was the most difficult to woo - you had to write some GREAT stuff for me to want more ... and then I realized something else: if *I* had gotten my own query letters, I wouldn't have wanted more either.

As I pondered this, I was overcome by feelings of inadequacy about my ability to do a proper query letter. At least until I gave myself a smart slap on the virtual cheek (yeah - I said virtual - I'm not much into the pain side of the house) and told myself to knock it off.

"Stop being such a defeatist!" I scolded. "How are you going to get anywhere in life if you start off your thoughts with I CAN'T? Just knock it off because you can write fab-o query letters! If it can be done, child, you can do it!!"

So I hopped out of bed feeling very pleased about having talked myself out of this one. From the outside, it might not seem like much ... but the Q letter has always been one of the things I've gotten myself in a fever of dread over. It *did* help my mood that I'd had a fantabulosa dream, in wicked technicolor, about a girl with special powers who was instructed by her father to use her Wish in a very specific way, but she took matter into her own headstrong hands and chose a very different path - one with world altering results. Yummy, right?

So, to wrap this up - I've discarded my prior mild annoyance with Nathan Bradsford. After all, he obviously has wonderful taste and standards (like me ... *wink*) and I've taken a step in the right direction IRT my future query letters.

Yup. Definitely on the upward slope again.

• 09:04 anybody mind if I just spend all day filling my twitter feed with obscenities? #
• 12:17 Ruth has discovered we were considering naming her "Willow": she's decided that's her nickname #

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• 09:23 not so much satire, as a parable for home educators, etc: tinyurl.com/6mdqbk #

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Mischa Mischa and I went to lunch yesterday – it was quite nice. It’s been ages since I went to lunch with anyone and I really enjoyed myself.

Mischa and I have a great deal in common and she’s one of those really easy to speak to people – she’s got the gift of putting one at ease.

It was really nice and a lift up from the sadness of Chris’s death, something that has affected us all.

Most of you won't know who Chris was. He was a boy whose family has been entwined with ours for about twenty years - he was the same age as Omni. For the last dozen years, our families have been neighbors and before that, we lived on the same street.

It’s funny all the memories that come back to you – after you know there won’t be anymore – like him clowning with Jade in the front yard, asking her out – in an awkward, hesitantly goofy fashion. Her laughing in return and trying to be kind in her refusal, later telling me that she just didn’t think of him that way. She could tell it stung – her saying no … but he was gracious in playing it off and they both just laughed and continued talking about day to day stuff.

Chris gave Omni a flashlight, before Omni left for Iraq, telling him, “This saw me home safely – if you carry this with you, you’ll get back okay too. It’ll be your light home.”

The hardest thing for me was talking to his parents – his father kept groping for words, trying to express what he was going through. I finally lay a hand on his arm and told him quietly, “Please. Don’t try anymore – I don’t think I’m strong enough to bear what you’re feeling.” It was hard enough, sensing what emanated from he and his wife.

Yeah. I know. It was cowardly and weak of me. I own that – but the very thought of losing a child … it’s too much.

My last few posts have been downers – a bit reflective of the way I’ve been feeling. But things go on and the life’s slope curves back up again – so look for my usual, more humorous posts in the near future.

:)

I'm not much on 'inspirational' . . . but this a trip:

Check it out. (and yes that was the least annoying music/glurge I could find). :D