I'm not sure what's going on with me...well I have an idea, but don't really want to get into it here. In short, I was in a wretched mood Wednesday for really no reason. I had to struggle a bit to keep from crying while walking home from work. I hate it when I get in moods like this. George asked what was wrong, and what could I say? There's nothing wrong; at least, nothing discernible. It's just one of those days. Later in the evening, I told him that he and the cats were the only redeeming things in my life at that moment. I know that's not true, but again, it was one of those days when that's what it felt like. Yesterday was better. Today's okay. But I don't feel like doing anything. I haven't written anything since my last "The Writer's Cramp"  [13+] entry, "Invalid Item"  on Wednesday (and given my mood that day, it's easy to understand where that story came from). At least it's Friday. George is gonna' make filet mignon this weekend, and we've got some errands to run. Maybe I'll be able to shake this and write something. I did, at least, work on "Invalid Item"  last night, making some of the sigs look better, and adding a couple new ones.
 

Okay, if you haven't yet read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows but intend to, you should probably stop reading this entry.

I finished the final installment in the Harry Potter saga around midnight last night. I just couldn't stop; I had to finish it. I had to know what happened. I think that was the most action-packed of the seven books, and I was not prepared for the number of people who died, or for who those people would be. I actually started crying when Dobby died and Harry was burying him. When Fred died, I closed the book and put it on the coffee table, a bit harder than I'd intended to do. George looked over and asked if I'd finished it. I said no. He asked if I was going to. I said yes, but not tonight...but after about five minutes I had to pick it up again. I just HAD to finish it. I had to know the ending. I'm not disappointed. I know there will be people who think it's too trite, too happy and perfect. But after seven years of near-hell, I think the poor kid deserved to come out on top, and deserved to live happily ever after with Ginny. I'm glad she wrote the fairy-tale ending. I'm sad that it's over, though. At least there are two more movies to look forward to! But, as I told George at one point last night, I think they should make this final book into like a mini-series. There's just too much that happens! I want to see every page in the movie! I'm sure they'll do a great job with it, like they did with Order of the Phoenix, which was about the same length as this one. At least there's some more Harry to look forward to.
 

I'm not fond of Mondays. Mondays mean the weekend is over. Mondays mean I have to come here to "work" and be bored. Mondays mean there's a whole week of this boredom ahead of me. It's Monday.

At least my hair is better since I've been able to wash it. Not really how I wanted it to look, but at least she didn't totally screw it up. I think I'm gonna' have to go back some time this week and have her cut some more layers in, though.

I had a craft show on Saturday, my first outdoor show. I should have put some more thought into the fact that it was outside, and that there could very well be wind. If I'd thought about that, I could have tried to come up with a different display than my tri-fold foam core science fair board. The wind would have blown it over all day long, so I wound up pulling some of my better pieces off the board and just laying them on the table, and put the board away. Well, live and learn, I guess. I sold $60 worth, so that was good; covered the booth fee and then some. It was a good day, I guess, although I thought there'd be more people walking through. I don't have any other shows now until...November, I think. Unless I have something in September...I can't remember.

On a really bright note, my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows arrived on Saturday!!!!! Of course, I was at the show when it arrived, so I didn't start reading it until about 7:00 that evening. I read until about 1:00AM, then went to bed. I got up around 9:30 yesterday morning, and continued reading until I took a shower and got ready to go to a 2:45 showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which was AWESOME!!!!! I can't wait until it comes out on DVD, so I can watch it again! When we got home, I went back to reading. I'm half-way through it now, and can't wait to get back into it!
 

Yesterday, Storm Machine shared photos of her two tattoos. Today, I reviewed a short story of hers about a woman getting her first tattoo. So now it's got me to thinking that maybe I want to get one, too. Probably either on my lower back, like George likes, or the front of my hip so I can see it myself.

I've been thinking about it this morning, and it occurred to me that when I get published would be the perfect time to do it. So what would I get? Well, something Greek (perhaps mythology) related would be cool. But, given the criteria for getting it, what about a feather quill and ink bottle? I think that might be a perfect way to celebrate publication! And depending on the design, it could be an ongoing creation, with every publication, kinda like the Dixie Chicks' chicken footprints on their feet for each platinum album or whatever...Food for thought...

UPDATE
I found a pic for a possible tattoo:
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Sesh provided the idea to note subsequent publications with tiny additions that symbolized the particular piece that was published. Great idea, Storm Machine !
 

I'm home now, and feeling better...not entirely due to the fact that I'm at home and not at my desk. When I got home, I had a package waiting for me that contained acceptance and further information for my first juried craft show! Yay!!!! This is the kind of show I need to be doing, instead of the church shows where there's way too much Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, and the like. This show required hopefuls to submit photos of their handcrafted work to a jury who decided who to allow into the show. This is their 25th year, and they expect 4,000 customers. It's on Dec. 1, so I'm hoping this will be a really good show for me. Lots of people coming for unique holiday gifts. Fingers crossed!

I'm also doing a show this Saturday here in town with a bunch of "indie" crafters - people who make non-mainstream types of things. It should be fun. I hope the weather's great, and we get lots of people!
 

I still haven't managed to shake the "down" from yesterday. I'm not sure about the perm I got yesterday afternoon. I had a dentist appt. this morning and decided that it's finally time to have my 3 wisdom teeth removed. Yay. I have a headache. I didn't want to come in here to the office after my appt, but didn't want to get "yelled at" for working from home (like George is doing today). Then I find when I get here that my boss isn't even around the office today. Is it time for bed yet? Is it tomorrow yet? Can I leave this job yet?

I did make it to Round 4 of "Invalid Item"  . Now I have to write a free-form poem about WDC. At least I have until Monday, 7/30 for this round, so I can leave it for now.
 

God, do I need a new job! Or I need to win MegaMillions. I hate doing this reporting. I'm not analytical. It's only my responsibility because they didn't know what else to do with me. I've never felt like I fit in this group. I'm the only one who wasn't hired in; they inherited me, then built the rest of the group. I don't belong here; never have, and never will. But the stupid internal job posting system has such generic job titles and descriptions, it's about impossible to find something new without it falling in my lap, really. I haven't been looking outside the company because I would like to stay here long enough to be fully vested in the employer match on my 401(k). This really sucks and I just wanna' go home!

Okay, I'm hormonal this week...but still, this isn't new. So should I go ahead and get my PMP like George keeps pushing me to do? Yeah, so I can be a train-wreck with even more responsibility. That'd be great!
 

Storm Machine and I coordinated again to get
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for us and Dareng is....Dareng! , because we are the Trio of Terror! Muahahahaha! Seriously, we both really like him; he's a great kid doing his best in somewhat unfortunate circumstances. We really surprised him, which delights us both. It took quite a few IMs to figure out exactly what we wanted it to look like. And terryjroo was fantastic about working in a tiara, the quote we wanted, and even finding a custom font for our names! She is absolutely the best!!!! Seriously, everyone should have a Girlfriend from "Invalid Item"  . They're awesome! (I have 3!!)
 

I just spent a couple hours helping CCWolf set up a webpage item here. She liked mine so much, she wanted to set up her port like that, only accessible through the webpage. She doesn't know HTML, so I copied my code into MS Word and made notes to explain what each tag does and where she should put her own text and item numbers. Then we had to figure out what HTML color code to use for the background. She originally wanted black, but the CSS that this site uses wouldn't allow me to make the links white to show up on that background. I suppose I could have embedded a style sheet to correct it, but I didn't want to get too complicated for her. So she had to pick another color...acid green! I love that girl! "Invalid Item" 
 

My favorite sister came down to visit us this weekend. We had such a great time! She got here about 11:00 Saturday morning, and the 3 of us went to lunch and chatted, then we walked around our neighborhood, visiting the shops and art galleries and stuff around there. We stopped at our favorite pub for a drink, then walked some more. Then we went back to our house and watched Eddie Izzard's "Dress to Kill" which we have recorded on our DVR and relaxed for a bit. Early evening, we took her up to our favorite steakhouse, J. Alexander's, which was excellent, as usual. Then we gathered up some snacks, beverages, a blanket, and headed down to Schiller Park to see King Lear (http://www.theactorstheatre.org/index.php). I've never read that particular bid of the Bard's work, so I don't know the story, but the cast was good. Unfortunately, since we only have 2 folding chairs, we sat on the blanket instead of in chairs. So my back was killing me by intermission. So we packed up and headed home then. (Someday I'll have to read that one to find out what happens in the 2nd act!)

Sunday morning, she got up early (like she always does, having 2 kids) and walked around the neighborhood by herself, stopping for a ham and cheese scone and iced tea. Then she came back and took a shower and I got up while she was finishing. I took a shower, then she and I walked down to the North Market for some Jeni's (http://www.jenisicecreams.com/). There was a small craft fair going on outside the North Market, with several indie crafters I know through the Columbus Craft Collective. She bought a funky little bracelet, then we headed back towards my part of the neighborhood, calling George to meet us for lunch at The Happy Greek. I had my usual pastitsio, George had a gyro platter, she had a Greek salad. It was all very good, and we had a great time again.

Then it was time for her to leave and get back to the girls. She's planning on bringing them down around Christmas. That'll be GREAT!!!!
 

Storm Machine and I have really been messing with everyone in scroll! We coordinated through IM yesterday afternoon, and yesterday evening, we changed our bio blocks to the same text, changed our handles to nearly the same thing (me-Sesheisa Subtlely, Sesh-Sesheisa Subtlety), changed to the same costumicon, and the same scroll font color. Then we both jumped back into scroll at the same time. Chaos reigned! I hope we didn't tick off too many people doing that...actually, we're still the same now, except for the font color. This morning, Sesh even had terryjroo make us
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I was thrilled!

My sister is coming down to visit me tomorrow! She's never come down overnight, and it's been several years since she's been down here at all. Her ex has the girls, and she's on vacation from school, so she has no excuses this time! I am so excited!!!! I did some major cleaning this evening, but didn't quite get all I wanted to done. I have to get up early tomorrow morning (about the time I do for work!) so I can move the cats' stuff out of their room (which is also the guest room) finish cleaning that room, make the bed, take a shower, and go to the grocery store before she gets down here. She's aiming for 11:00 AM. EXCITED!!!
 

I'm reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest for the first time, and just had to copy down this passage:

He's got wide, thin shoulders and he curves them in around his chest when he's trying to hide inside himself. He's got hands so long and white and dainty I think they carved each other out of soap, and sometimes they get loose and glide around in front of him free as two white birds until he notices them and traps them between his knees; it bothers him that he's got pretty hands.

How fantastic is that imagery? That's page 23, and so far, most of those pages have contained imagery like that.

ASIN: 0451163966 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest     Product Type: Book          List Price: $ 9.99          Amazon's Price: $ 9.99 Buy Now!

I've made it to Round 3 of "Invalid Item"  !!! The bad news: now I have to write a comedy piece!

I also completely restructured my port so that users access everything from my webpage, "Invalid Item"  , instead of through the port itself. I also set up "Invalid Item"  but there's not much really in there. I need to pull out the Vaio laptop when I get home and do some resizing and stuff to dress up my offerings. I also linked to the one I made for Happy Mumsy Day! and for the
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as examples of custom work I can do.
 

out of my hands and into the computer like a river. That's what happened today. I read the prompt for "The Writer's Cramp"  [13+] which was: Write a short story or poem about the following: Your computer has met an untimely death and you've been asked to say a few words in its honor. Write a eulogy for your computer, remembering the good times and the bad.

The story started a little jerky, but then just flew through to the finish, and I didn't really edit at all. It's "Invalid Item"  . I wish all my stuff would work out like that. Anyway, it mentions Problematic Content and he read it. He liked it so much, he said he plugged it in his own blog, which he said is the 11th most-read blog on this site. We'll see how it does in the contest!
 

Wow, do I love this community! I just felt that I needed to share my appreciation with The StoryMaster and The StoryMistress today, so I sent them both a Thank You cNote...but that just didn't seem to really do it, so I checked out their Wish Lists...and gave SM a T-shirt. SMs didn't have anything in her Wish List, so SM suggested I make a donation in her name to RAOK, which I did, and sent her another cNote to let her know that I had. I'm really impressed by the amount of time, energy, and work they both put into keeping this site running. They are the heart and soul of WDC, as I told them!
 

Yesterday, my case turned yellow; I'm now a Preferred Author! And even better, so is Storm Machine ! We both turned yellow at the same time! I told her I thought it'd be too early, I hadn't been a member long enough for that. But I guess my crazy-thorough grammar and punctuation reviews, and some of the stuff I've been writing, or whatever else I can't think of, must have caught the right attention. I'm certainly not complaining!
 

Well, I did go ahead and enter the poem in Round 2 ("Invalid Item"  ). I also finished the XGC story, finally ("Invalid Item"  ). We'll see what people think of it...I'm mainly interested in what George thinks of it. Not sure when he'll read it. He's very busy tonight.
 

So I made it to Round 2 of "Invalid Item"  , which means that I have to create a new item to fit the prompt: "Make us _________ in 300 words or less". I kinda wasn't thinking about what would happen if I made it past the first round! Well, I thought it would be cool to try to carry across the theme of chocolate from my Round 1 entry, "Dark Chocolate Dreams"  [13+]. So this morning, I wrote a (short) poem: "Invalid Item"  . I'm not sure if I'll enter it for Round 2 or not, though, because it's so short, and I'm not really sure about how "funny" it is (which is what I was trying for). I may either write something else, or just enter "Invalid Item"  . Dunno yet, but I only have until Sunday to decide!
 

Yesterday afternoon, I started my first XGC story. I didn't intend to write one. It started from a "The Writer's Cramp"  prompt about receiving an email intended for someone else. It quickly became apparent, however, what direction this little story wanted to take. I've never read a romance novel in my life, but I have read some erotica, so the subject matter isn't really a problem for me. It's the fact that I'm the one writing it, given the notion that most authors draw from personal experience in their work. So I'm risking baring too much of myself with a piece like this, but I'm not going to abandon it. George and I discussed it last night, because I wanted him to understand that it it fiction, that it doesn't necessarily mean that something from my subconscious is trying to bubble through. The things I write don't necessarily indicate a need or desire for anything in particular. He said that he thought it was great that I'm challenging myself, and I agree. I'm certainly moving beyond some of my boundaries lately, which is always good. I haven't completed the story, so it's not posted for anyone to read, and I'm not sure when I will finish it; can't really work on it at the office!
 

Well, I feel a bit better about the trip to Charleston now. I went on the US Air website this morning and confirmed that we do, indeed have reservations through them for the days and times I booked through the shady vendor. And I just reserved a mid-size automatic car so either George or I will be able to drive it. My parents land in Charleston about an hour before us, so they'll probably wait at the airport for our flight, then we'll drive them to whatever hotel they book. So all the travel plans are set now: flight, hotel, car. I feel better. Now we both need to get some new clothes and we'll be all ready.