Okay! That's it! I'm done!

Moonlight Canceled

I will no longer be watching any new series. That's it. I'm done. I'll watch the couple I watch now, which are Lost and Heroes as I'm not afraid they'll be canceled, but the networks are obviously run by a bunch of *CENSORED* who wouldn't know quality if it came with People's Choice awards and encased in a giant Belgian chocolate bunny!

Seriously!!!!!! Why are they so lame????? Why would you cancel something that won a freakin' People's Choice award???

The only thing I can figure is that they want to manipulate what people like instead of making booty loads of money by catering to it. If I were a stockholder of CBS I'd sell and run screaming the other direction. Why is there nothing decent to watch on television? And if something good slips through why the heck do they have to squash it like a bug!? WHY??? Do you not want to make money? Is that the problem? Cause OMG what is wrong with making tons of money by giving people quality entertainment with awesome story lines and beautiful dialog.

I honestly think that a lot of the television that is put forth is only contributing to the dumbing down of America. Moonlight wasn't once of these! It had witty writing that referenced things that are incredibly amusing to our generation.

Why? Why? Why???????

Another One Bites the Dust

Why do I bother watching TV? Why??? If it's not a crime drama or vapid comedy it's probably going to get canceled and make me all mad!

Jericho is not being picked up by Sci Fi.

Apparently Sci Fi is changing it's audience aim, because it had been viewed as a "niche network." Um...hellllooooo?????? Sci Fi is a niche? People watch it expecting to see Science Fiction! Just like people pick up romance novels with the desire to read romance! Funny how that works, isn't it?

Blood Ties is also not being brought back, from what I understand.

Also there seems to be some waffling as to whether or not Moonlight is coming back next fall. Excuse me... You mean the People's Choice Award winner for Best New Drama? I mean, shouldn't it kind of already have been a given if it's one of the people's favorites? Oh...unless all you care about is that ridiculous rating system that doesn't seem to have any real meaning from what I can tell.

At least Eli Stone is coming back. That's something to look forward to. And network executives would have to be smoking something that isn't quite legal to mess with Lost or Heroes.

Maybe I should just not ever watch any thing's inaugural season. I'll just wait a couple season's in like I did with Lost and then when it seems stable start watching so that I don't get my heart broken!

The Mist: Two Hours of my Life Wasted

!!!POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!!

Ugh! We watched The Mist on Demand last night. I have to say. Not only was it completely predictable, but despite it's predictability it was one of those movies that makes you think...Well crap, why the heck did I just waste my time to subject myself to a movie that offers nothing but pure and utter despair? Now I like horror movies. This one wasn't even scary though... Yucky at times, but I wouldn't say scary. Granted, I'm not easily scared, but good grief!

I adore stories. Even badly crafted ones. So I'm seldom disappointed with movies or books, but for the love of all that is good and holy I wasted 4 dollars and two hours of Nicky snoozing in bed time on this that I will never get back!!!

Is it just me…

Or does anyone else ever get sick and tired of being the responsible one? The one who says that the elaborate plans are a terrible idea, because such and such a bill has to be paid or such and such a thing be done.

And since you're always the party pooper, why would anyone bother to thank you for seeing to it that things are done and children are fed and clothed and bills are paid?

And when you give up the things that are important to you to make sure that everyone else has what they need and want, does anyone notice? No! They don't! Because why would they?

And why should anyone be proud of you, when no matter how hard you work at everything you do at home, at work, and in your writing you never get a bit of recognition for any of it.

And why do you bother anyway?

Cause you have to. What choice do you have? The bills have to be paid and the family has to be taken care of and if you don't write occasionally then the rest of it will drive you completely insane. Even if no one appreciates a darn thing you do.

Okay, I'm through wallowing. Me thinks I'm a tad hormonal!

Why the Pyramid Collection can no longer expect my patronage.

Now I have always enjoyed the Pyramid Collection catalog (note that I'm not linking to it cause I'm so not going to encourage anyone to go there) and have purchased from them many times in the past. That relationship is OVER, which is sad because they have a lot of beautiful products that are just my style.

This is how it went down…

Toward the end of last month, I was reviewing my most recent charges on my credit card to ensure that all was well. I do this about once a week, because…well because I'm obsessive compulsive mostly. So I notice this strange charge…

AP9*SHOPPINGESSENTIAL+(Other)

I, of course, immediately called my credit card company and asked them what was up. I was informed that it was a subscription, and they gave me the telephone number of the company which was making the withdrawal. I was also told that this was the second month it had happened. Hmm… Why would I not have noticed a payment I didn't authorize?

I looked up the previous month's and realized that I had seen it and since I had been expecting a charge of approximately the same amount for something hubby had legitimately signed up for that I hadn't thought a thing of it.

Upon calling the number, I was asked for my membership number… Now how would I have a membership number when I didn't sign up for it? So they finally found it by my last name and zip code. Apparently it was in Bryon's name. I asked how it was that they got our credit card number, and they refused to give me any further information, since my husband had "signed up" for it and was therefore the owner of the account. They did, however, cancel the account at my request and issue a refund for that month's payment but refused to issue a refund for the previous month's as my husband had "agreed to their terms" when he "signed up."

They went so far as to refuse to tell me what their business was… Now I understand that there are strict privacy laws, but how can the privacy laws require that she not tell me what the business is if, in fact, it is a real and legitimate business and not a scam? Does that make sense to anyone else?

So I had Bryon call…

They informed him that he signed up for it when he filled out a survey for the Pyramid Collection when he purchased a Christmas present for me. They then refused to refund the previous month's "membership fee" as he had "agreed to the terms" when he "signed up for their service."

What is my biggest beef here? That the Pyramid Collection gave these people my credit card information.

So here is my email to them…

To Whom It May Concern:

I recently purchased a ring from your website. When I had completed the check out process, it gave me the option to complete a survey on the shopping experience. Coming from a business involved with customer service myself, I understand the value of such surveys and always do my best to help when I have time. However, this survey apparently was a scam. Somehow my credit card information was transferred to a company called Shopping Essentials, and I was signed up for a membership to their "discount service." I saw the original charge of $9.95 on my account and mistook it for another charge I had legitimately signed up for. It wasn't until it appeared again this month that I realized it was something that I had never authorized. Because I did not know to immediately call and cancel this account that I never signed up for, the first month's membership fee was for all intents and purposes stolen from me with no way to recover it.

I have always enjoyed your catalog and have purchased from you in the past, but I have my doubts as to whether or not I will do so again in the future. It is disturbing to me that you would expose your loyal customers to such a blatant scam as this. I urge you to rethink having any part in the Shopping Essentials company.

Sincerely,

Lesley Speller

Okay so I fudged a little. It was Bryon and not me, but you get the point…

Their response…

That it would be forwarded to the appropriate channels for consideration, and they apologized for the inconvenience.

How do I read this? Tough luck!

So, Pyramid Collection, I'm sorry to tell you that our long standing relationship is drawn to a close.

Answer Your Phone!

Dear Husband:

When you share a car and your pregnant wife is at home all by herself with the 2 year old, ANSWER YOUR PHONE! I don't care if you're still talking to someone. You can see my name on the Caller ID and say, "Just a moment, my pregnant wife is at home with no transportation. Let me just see if this is an emergency." Then answer the phone and say, "Darling, is this an emergency? Because I'm still in a meeting."

I would then respond, "Oh pardon me for interrupting. Just give me a call back when it's over because there are some other things that I need from the store to make your dinner."

Then I would stop calling you. It wouldn't keep ringing!

If on the other, you are not answering because your phone is turned off or you don't have it with you, then KEEP YOUR PHONE WITH YOU AND ON! I could need you. :p

Thank you!
That is all.

I have a serious need...

For some Cadbury MiniEggs! I mean absolutely dire need! I want some! NOW!!!!!!!!!!

Hershey's, what is wrong with you??? You could sell these year round and people would still buy them off the shelves. They are like the best candy ever!

I sometimes buy the Cadbury bars just so I can get a little hint of the yumminess of the eggs!

Come on Easter!!! Hurry it up!

Prepare Yourself for an Influx of Whining

*To the tune of "I Feel Pretty"*

I feel crappy
Oh so crappy
I feel crappy
And poopy
And blahhhh

Obviously I'm not a poet.

That is all. I really just wanted to whine a little!

I want to write, but I'm so exhausted!

I ate my favorite Mexican food tonight, and I didn't even enjoy it! It's so wrong! Everything makes me feel crappy! Except for skittles...and cheddar peppers from sonic...

Oh well, I will survive! :-D

"No, I did not name my son after the antichrist..."

Okay, so I've never read these Left Behind books, but I hear they're good. They are at least pretty darn popular.

Now since I'd never read any of them, I was in the dark when someone at a party before Nicholai was born asked me what I was going to name him.

Me: Nicholai Alexander.

Lady: Are you naming him after the Nicholai in the Left Behind books?

Me: Oh, there is a Nicholai in those books. I didn't realize that. That's cool.

Lady's husband: Um, yeah, but isn't he the Antichrist?

*stunned silence for a count of ten*

Me: Uh...no...I did NOT name my child after the Antichrist.

Now no one has since asked me this, until today when I was at the doctor. I have a terrible sinus infection. *whines* So I went to the Urgent Care Clinic. It's so much nicer than trying to get in to our real doctor.

Nicky was being particularly difficult, so much so that Bryon ended up having to take him out of the room so I could actually hear what the doc was saying.

The doctor came in and introduced himself and shook Nicky's hand too, and I told him his name was Nicholai because Nicky tends to get all shy when strangers talk to him.

Doctor: Nicholai! What a cool name! How do you spell that?

Me: *Spelling it - Slowly cause my brain isn't fully functional due to the sinus infection. LOL*

Doctor: Oh, is he named after the guy from that series?

Me: Series? Like a tv series?

Doctor: No, it's a book series. What's the name of it...

Me: *suspecting where this was going* You mean the Left Behind series...?

Doctor: Yes! That's the one!

Me: No...No, I did not name my child after the Antichrist.

Bryon: Yeah, if we were going to do that we would have been much more obvious about it. Something like Satan Speller.

Doctor: Or Lucifer Speller!

So, in case there was ever any doubt... I did NOT, in fact, name my child after the Antichrist!

I have a friend whose little boy is named Damien...I wonder if she gets the same thing!

Twas a Bad Plan!

Now you'd think I'd be smarter than this at the age of twenty-eight, but I guess I'm not. I've been feeling crappy for like three-ish days. Sinus issues mostly. However, I still thought it was a good idea to spend the entire day working on the pasture next to the house. Hubby and I took turns running the Weed and Brush Trimmer thing that we borrowed from our dear friends (THANKS GUYS!) to try to make some progress in clearing the field. It's full of waist high brush right now and below that...rocks and no I don't mean like gravel. I'm talking mega monster rocks! Well we did a great job! We got almost all the way around the perimeter of the field in about a fifteen foot depth. That's saying it a lot considering the size of that sucker! While I was working on it, I felt decent...better even! But as soon as I sat down I felt so much worse than I have in days! *whines and moans and complains* I'm a very bad sick person as I simply don't have the time and desire necessary to slow down enough to allow for the actual healing process to take place.

Oh well...I've learned my lesson. No clearing pastures when I'm sick!

But, but, but...

What the hell happened to Torrid.com!!!!!!!

*whimpers*

It used to be cute plus-sized goth clothing!!! Now it's like prepville! It makes me want to cry.

I'm so old! I mean, I used to tend toward goth, and since I've been writing the short I'm working on I've had renewed interest since my heroine is a goth girl. (Yes, I do morph into my main characters temporarily. What of it?) But lately I've been looking at goth websites and the stuff they call "goth" now is totally different! And I don't like it! Now it's all 80s punk! What happened to my lacy white shirts and long velvet coats! That is goth! Not this strange punk stuff!

*goes off to sulk and feel like the old lady remembering her goth youth that she is*

Stinking Gremlins!

Well, they really did a number on my hard drive. It wasn't fixable. Fortunately, I think that most things were backed up. My writing is safe. I keep it in two different places and burn it to CD pretty often. Not that I'm trying to tempt the fates here. I'm not saying this is an infallible system so don't try to prove me wrong or anything!

But for the moment, it's all good.

Bryon managed to get my pictures from vacation off the hard drive through some mystical computer guru process. I dunno exactly how he did it, but he did. :-D So yay! Thanks, sweetie! I'll do my pictures from vacation Thursday 13 this week.

Now I'm going through the arduous process of reinstalling everything! *Whines* It's so boring! I could be writing! And I was on a roll yesterday. There was a brief lull in the writer's block that has been plaguing me with the last half of Blood and Violets. Of course, this probably means that it will come back since I'm not going to be getting any writing done today. At least, none worth speaking of.

I'm putting this at the very bottom of an unrelated post in the hopes of not jinxing it. I just can't not share any longer though!!! I GOT A REQUEST FOR A FULL!!! YAY!!! It was actually almost a week ago now. I wonder how long these things take. *checks her email again* I'm sure some of you are like, "La dee da, she got a request for a full. Who cares! It's not like it was a contract offer or anything." Well, it's special to me, cause it's my first one! *bounces* So I guess I'm gradually moving up in the world. hehehe

That, my friends, is all. Now I'm heading back into the reinstall cave. Wish me luck!

No one ever told me to vacuum out the fridge!!!

How was I to know that you had to vacuum out fridges? I guess this should have been obvious. Anything with a fan sucks in dust, and we do have two dogs and a cat, and we have lived here and had the fridge three years. So I started looking for things that might have caused our fridge issues, and one of the things that it suggested was cleaning it out. I did. There was the equivalent of about three or four dogs in there.

Well, it was a day late and 250 bucks plus tax short. Oh well, less than a new one, and I really like this fridge. Apparently, the umm...relay switch...I think...bit the dust. Probably when we came in and found that particular fuse tripped. C'est la vie. Daniel from Mr. Appliance is going to get the part and come back and fix it for us. He's a really nice guy and is going to do his best to come by tomorrow. I knew I was going to like him when he complimented my picture of Dana that's up on my fridge. (Yes, I keep pictures of my characters on my fridge? What of it!)

Ironically the same day the fridge went out I throughly cleaned out my dryer...Which is less expensive than a new fridge, but whatever...

So it was an expensive lesson in home maintenance but at least it's learned, and I won't let it happen again. So remember! Vacuum out your fridge! Otherwise it can overheat. I wonder what else I need to vacuum out.

Did you know you could let bread dough rise in a Freezer?

OMG We have been soooo sick! Not Nicky, thank goodness, but Bryon and I. Apparently it was a virus, because we gave it to poor Lishy. I'm sorry, sweetie pie! Let me know if I can do anything! We thought for a little while that it might be food poisoning, because yesterday I opened the freezer and saw something that you just don't expect to see in your freezer...

I had one of those huge bags of like 72 frozen balls of bread dough for dinner rolls. Unopened mind you. So I opened my freezer and saw that the entire bag had split open because all the dough had defrosted and started rising. I should have taken a picture. It was ridiculous! My entire freezer was full of bread dough! Who'd have thought a freezer would have been a good place to let dough rise right??? Apparently something is up with my compressor unit on the fridge so neither the freezer nor fridge are working. The compressor just doesn't kick on. It doesn't even try. I swear the air blowing into the freezer was actually warm! So I'm wondering if somehow the defroster thing didn't get stuck in the on position. I don't know a great deal about fridge repair so someone is coming tomorrow to take a look at it. In the meantime, I've had to throw out about 150 bucks worth of food. Thank goodness I hadn't just been to Pass Your Plate, or I might have just broken down.

We thought we might not have noticed it was out and the sausages we ate might havhad gone bad. Incidentally if you love me, never feed me sausages EVER again!!!!!!!!! The thought of ever eating them again, whether it was their fault or not, makes me violently ill.

So then last night after I threw away everything in my fridge I went to get in the car to go buy a couple ice chests, some ice, and milk for the little dude...and the car didn't start...

I mean seriously! What the hell have done to deserve this incessant torture from the universe? So I called Lishy and Scott (her hubby) and they came and jump started my car with their handy hand held jump starter. It started right up, and I went to Dollar General. Yes, if I'd been smart I would have gone to Walmart and gotten the stuff I needed since they sell batteries there and there was really no good reason for my battery to be dead. I came back out and no, my car didn't start. So I had to call them back (I'm a terrible friend!) and ask them to jump me again. They were almost home. Poor guys! The wonderful friends that they are, they came right back. So I went to the house and left the car running while I made my hubby come with me, because I just didn't want to get stuck somewhere again all by myself with Nicky in the car, and we went to Walmart

The wonderful man in the auto-center tested it and then changed it when he discovered it was dead. It was a Walmart battery and the warrenty hadn't run out so it was just like twenty to get it fixed. That was good I was terrified it was something like the alternator, and it was going to cost a thousand bucks or something.

So we also bought one of those lovely hand held jump starters, and I won't have to call my darling friends again for a rescue.

I hope nothing else breaks in the immediate future!

If I had money I'd put up a GIANT fence...

Why? Well, let me just tell you.

We have about an acre and a half of land. One acre of that is pretty much useless at the moment. It's a slightly sloped pasture. The person that had it before us had several horses on it. Now you're not supposed to have more than about a horse per acre. Unless, of course, you're feeding them a great deal of grains in addition. Well I have no idea what he was feeding his horses, but I do know that when we moved in there was NOTHING growing on the field. We live in the mountains so when there is nothing growing you get erosion. What's under the top soil in the mountains? That's right, my friends! Rocks! Big ones! Giant ones even!

So we had a field we couldn't mow for all the rocks and even if we could all we had was a push mower my husband probably would have dropped dead before he finished it. Well now we've got our lawn tractor so we're going to start the long and arduous process of making it a big field that we can mow and the little munchkin can play in.

Hmm...I got off track here. I was going to tell you why I would put up a huge fence. Well I was cleaning up the beer cans that someone dumped in front of our house by the road. I'm not pointing fingers. I can't prove who it was. I have a good idea though. Whatever. So when I was cleaning those up and walked the length of our property by the road. We have this little creek at the far end. It'll be cute once we get it all cleaned up. Apparently someone was using it to dump garbage before we moved in. Again I dunno know who. It doesn't really matter. We're going to clean it up. Well apparently someone saw this and thought, "hey, I'll dump my garbage down there." In the little creek! Now first and foremost let's talk about how that creek feeds into a river somewhere! That's just pollution!

So I cleaned it up and now I'm going to go buy a big NO DUMPING signs. Which I've always thought looked kinda trashy, but not near as trashy as having garbage dumped on your land. I ended up with an entire bag full of other people's garbage. Including like 5 empty bottles of cheap whiskey. Someone really needs to lay off the liquor. Maybe that's why they don't have the sense not to dump their trash on other peoples land!

*Curses Loudly*

Oh, I'm having an angry night!

First of all I bought this awesome fold up keyboard that is supposed to work with my Axim 51v. It would be amazing because then I could write with a full size keyboard anywhere anytime. It fits in my purse no problem, but it keeps telling me there is another process trying to use the infrared port. No matter what I do it doesn't fix it! I have had a team of people helping with it and no luck! I'm just about to cry!

And also I'd like to find the person who rented the last Disk of HEX three weeks ago and hasn't brought it back yet, and give them a sound thrashing! Dang it, people! I need to know who the heck this strange demon hunting woman is!!! I sure hope Season two is on dvd too, because otherwise I may just explode from the stress of not knowing!

I think that Azazeal is actually a good guy. I refuse to believe that someone that adorable could be bad. ;) And he loves his little boy! Really! Come now! How could he be all bad?

Pretty and Fat are NOT Mutally Exclusive

I just have short rant about a phrase that I heard fairly often early in my life, and unfortunately I still hear ringing in my ears every single time I look in the mirror.

That phrase is (and if you've ever had a weight problem, I'm sure someone has said it to you at some point, so feel free to join in):

"You'd be so pretty if you just lost some weight."

*gapes*

WTFH!!! Why would anyone say that to someone!?

You know what that says? That says that no matter how incredibly gorgeous your face is you're still ugly because of the size of your butt.

Now perhaps what these people were trying to get across was that my beauty could have been enhanced if I slimmed down a bit. You know, I would kill to be as "fat" as I was back then. In fact, when I look back at pictures of that time, I was pretty dang hot. Yet every time I looked in the mirror, I saw a big fat sow. Why was that? Because people were saying things to me like, "You'd be so pretty if you just lost some weight."

Well, I'm here to say that the people who said that to me can just bite me! Fat and pretty do not cancel each other out! You can be a curvaceous, chunky, or even all out fat woman and still be beautiful!

Nature Has Turned on Me!

Okay, so first there was the ant thing. Then there was the cleaning up of the ant thing. Then there was the Tick bite of DOOM.

Well another thing I didn't mention was what happened Friday at the lake.

Lishy and I took the little ones to the lake Friday afternoon to go for a swim. Now neither of us are big on lake swimming. We both like bodies of water that you can see your feet in, i.e. mountain streams, the Caribbean sea, pools, that kind of thing...

Well we sucked it up and got in, after a little screaming and crying and hissy fit throwing. And that was just me. We won't go in to how the toddlers reacted.

So when we finally managed to get everyone in we were just sitting there chilling on the little wall that is next to the water while the little ones splashed relatively happily. Someone said, "Is that a snake," and was looking into the water about twenty feet down from us. I was thinking. Silly city folk! It's probably just a branch floating in the water.

Well Lishy starts scrambling and says something like, "Snake coming this way."

So I look out and see this little brown and red stripped snake swimming directly toward me and Nicholai. Naturally my first reaction is to toss the toddler. I yank him up and toss him out of the water and onto dry land, somehow doing this crazy Kung Fu movie roll so that we're both out of the water and I'm on my feet with him in my arms in about half a second. Which is saying alot for me! I'm not an agile girl!

Naturally I have to try to figure out what this snake that was trying to attack my little boy was so since it can't get over the wall I go look look at it. I have established that it was either a Midland Water Snake which is completely harmless or a juvenile Cottonmouth which is pretty darn poisonous.

For my sanity I've decided to believe that it was a Midland Water Snake. :-D

It was actually pretty amusing after that, because a group of approximately twenty kids followed the progress of the snake all the way down until it was out of the swimming area and into a big growth of water grass. Great thing to have next to the swimming area by the way. Talk about snake heaven!

So from all these instances, yes, I've decided that I've done something to royally piss off mother nature, and I want to publicly apologize and say I love her dearly and will do anything to make it up to her. :-D Just let me know!

Translation from Wife-Speak to Something Men Can Understand

Me: What time do you want to leave work, 4 or 5? (Tell me you want to leave at 4, hun, so I don't have to come and brave the traffic of this shareholders convention which is currently the bane of my existence.)

DH: 5

Me: Okay sweetie, but just in case I am really late, it's because I was stuck in the horrible traffic from the shareholder's meeting. (You should leave with me at 4 so I don't have to come near this nightmarish maze of people and policemen blocking the roads so that people can walk wherever the heck they want to.)

DH: That's fine, hun.

Me: All right, sweetheart. (What is wrong with you? Anyone could have understood that I wanted you to leave at 4. You are so making your own dinner tonight!)

The Invasion is in Full Swing

Once a year the university campus where I work is a place you want to avoid at all cost as it is host to droves of associates and shareholders in the largest retailer in the world. Now don't get me wrong, the people are always very nice, but the traffic is awful!!! Not to mention that there is something about moving in large numbers that seems to make people believe that they don't have to get out of the middle of the road. I was driving into a parking space and a couple of ladies walked into it when I was halfway parked and stood there. I mean just stood there. What would make you think that was a good idea? There was no one else driving nearby. They could simply have walked into the next parking spot. Did I mention that the parking lot for my office is RIGHT next to the giant temple that they erected. Ok, it's not a temple, but it might as well be the way the people flock to it in worship.

Really. It's not that bad. It's not! I'm going to keep saying that until I believe it.

Now I like meeting people from all over the world, and this is an excellent opportunity. It's just that I'm bitter! I'm very bitter!

See it all started a few years ago...

Jewel came to the shareholders meeting, but you had to be a shareholder to see her concert. Ok, I really liked Jewel, but that wasn't the culmination of my bitterness. That didn't happen until just two years ago.

I was pregnant and grumpy anyway which naturally added to my annoyance. My favorite singer of all time came to perform. Jimmy Buffett! Yes, I'm a Parrothead, and I'm not ashamed to admit it! This time it wasn't even for shareholders it was for only the associates!!! So I thought, "That's okay. I'll go sit outside and listen to it since it was in the football stadium. It's not like I didn't buy a ticket, and I am just mooching. If I had been able to buy a ticket there would have been moolah shelled out!!!" So I drag my husband and my pregnant self up to campus and go to sit outside, but they won't let anyone sit near enough to the stadium to actually hear it! I mean what on earth was I hurting by sitting outside??? There was much whining and pouting! There is in fact much whining and pouting to this day.

This year they are kicking me in the face again by having another associates-only concert with my second favorite band, The Eagles. People like this don't come here!!! If they are already here why don't they have another concert and sell tickets for those of us who are unworthy enough to work for the world's largest retailer!

At least they seem to be trying to ply gain the good graces of the public this year. They had a couple of free concerts. Someone named Freak-Boy was here last night. My best friend's little sister went. Apparently this is some big popular band that I have NEVER heard of. I feel so old! And the other free concert...Cool and the Gang and Holland Oats. Wow! That's great. No, there was no sarcasm in my voice just then. Really. There wasn't.

I'm going to go sit in a corner and pout now and remember how great the Eagles concert I went to TEN years ago was. Did I mention that was the LAST concert I went to! At all!

Much Whining!

You were warned...

I have gotten virtually no writing done in days. I've been feeling sickly and exhausted and apparently that kills whatever creativity I have because I'm just meandering through the chapter I'm trying to work on. If I'm not enjoying writing it, who is is going to enjoy reading it! This is probably going to require some major rewrites.

Of course, some things I've written that while I was writing I thought "Jeez this is pure and utter crapola" that actually turned out to be the best scenes in the book. So we shall see. I am looking forward to getting back to something that makes me giggle riotously while writing it or at least shiver in fear!

I'm also terribly distracted!

I just figured out how to read e-books on my Axim, and it's practically like reading a real book! Although it doesn't have that new book smell. ;) Right now I'm reading Daystar by Rene Lyons. It's great!

Not to mention that I found the blog of Daisy Dexter Dobbs and now I must go back and read every post she has ever written cause she cracks me the heck up! She's a woman after my own heart in SO many ways!

10 Seconds to Fatal Blood Loss?

I was watching my new favorite show Blood Ties and saw for about the 5000th time something that annoys me immensely. On every TV show or movie with vampires the vampires suck on someone's neck for like 5 seconds and bam they're dead!

Okay, now this has always seemed pretty dumb to me. I mean I have given blood, and they tap a vein and it takes them twenty minutes to fill up a bag with a pint of my blood. Granted I have crappy, little veins that don't like giving blood but still. So we have to figure that vampires would be biting into the jugular vein which is closest to the surface in the neck. The artery is right below that, but chances are if they were biting into the artery they'd be killing them every time. So if we accept a world in which vampires don't have to kill to live then we have to assume they are biting the jugular vein. Venous bleeding is relatively slow. It's a flowing wound not a spurting one like an artery. So here is what I found out when I went looking for how much blood it takes to kill a person.

" The adult body contains approximately 5 to 6 quarts of blood (10 to 12 pints). The body can normally lose 1 pint of blood (usual amount given by donors) without harmful effects. A loss of 2 pints may cause shock, a loss of 5 to 6 pints usually results in death."

Okay, so you have to lose like half the blood in your body before you die. I would think that would take quite some time! We have to take into account how much anyone can swallow at a given time even if the wound is pumping that fast. I'm thinking it would take me at least a minute to drink a pint of anything even gulping as quickly as I could.

So after my research I have decided it would take about five minutes for a vampire to drink enough to kill someone. Now if there are any vampires out there who know that's not the case then feel free to let me know. ;) Second thought, never mind I don't wanna go there! Although I suppose you could put someone into shock fairly quickly and then they could die of that...

Anyway, I know this is all silly, and they don't have vampires drinking for long periods of time in movies and tv because quite frankly it'd get a little boring. Kinda like that stupid dance scene in the 2nd Matrix movie. I mean that thing just went on and on! A girl can only watch so much gyrating dancing before she gets bored! Even when it is mixed in with snippets of sex.

And you're all thinking...Wow Lesley contemplates this stuff for much too long...I kinda worry about her. Hey! I write books with vampires! If I don't contemplate these things then who's going to ;)