Gemini Rising

Catching up with Life

Okay, it's been a while since I wrote. I admit it, I've been wicked busy!!

I'm trying to catch up with things and thankfully I have a few minutes. I'll try to tackle the fun stuff, but I promise the order won't make any sense.

BIRTHDAY
I celebrated another birthday on 6 JUN. And I'm not afraid to admit it: I'm 49. Even though I worked, my co-workers showered me with birthday love. I celebrated with a trip to Kabuki and last night I saw Wonder Woman - AWESOME MOVIE and then dinner at Buca diBeppo.

VACATION
So, I work as a 911 dispatcher for LAPD. It's an okay job. I don't dislike it, but dealing with the callers can be mentally draining. All I can say is please only call 911 if you have a real emergency. Everything else you can call the non emergency line in your area.

Anyhoo...looking forward to vacation. It starts on 11 JUN. My husband has planned for us to go camping all over California. 1st stop is Jedadiah Smith State Park near Crescent City to see the Redwoods. We'll be there for a week and then we're off to Tahoe for a week and then the Sierra's for a week. I think we'll be home around the 1st of July. 6-9 JUL I'll be a boy scout camp with my young son. My older son is going to Camp Emerald Bay on Catalina Island to be a counselor in training. It will be a great experience for him and I'll definitely miss him. My older son is my mini-me.

We went to Jedadiah Smith park last year. They have a ton of redwoods there. It's a nice place to visit.

READING
Just finished "The Handmaid's Tale." -- Good characterization, a bit skimpy on the world building, but disturbing to consider.
Currently working on Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard book 1. I have a ton of book reviews to drop. I managed to post reviews for The Lost Oracle which is by Rick Riodrian, but I have 3 more to do.

SCOUTING

I'm the Cubmaster of Pack 40 here in Santa Clarita. We just finished our "year." All my scouts advanced and we're starting our summertime program. We have about 55 scouts in the pack. Today we're off to Sky High Sports for some jumping and tomorrow is a hike.

My 2 boys are in boy scouts though. It's a long story. This past spring we've done a ton of camping and working on merit badges. My youngest boy has ADHD and can be quite a handful, but he did earn 4 merit badges- quite an accomplishment for him.

TV
Heck, I don't have time to watch TV. I usually History. I like American Pickers and Pawn Stars. I like the show Timeless and was glad to see it was renewed.

WRITING

I haven't written anything since "A Princess is Always Right" which came out in SEP 2015, I believe. I am working on 2 stories: One is a sweet paranormal romance involving a ghost called "Legend of the Lighthouse." it's about 1/2 done so I'm hoping to finish it on Vacation. The other is a more mainstream romance that takes place at Christmas time called "Water Lillies in Winter" and that's about 1/3 done so I hope to do some work on it while I'm on vacation. The rights to publish "The Green Rose" came back to me, so I was hoping to re-read and expand upon the world -- my goal is to dive deeper into the world building and the characters of the Green Rose. I'd like to tackle some of that while I'm vacation, too. We'll see how far I get. Since I got so involved with cub scouts, it's been hard to find the time to write.

I do write a poem or a 2K short on occasion to keep the skills up, but it's frustrating when I want to finish the stories I've already started.

BARD'S HALL

I cannot believe the Bard's Hall Contest

FORUM

The Bard's Hall Contest  (13+) APRIL: Flash Fiction, 500 word limit. #981150 by StephBee - House Targaryen

is 12 years old this month! I want to give a SHOUT OUT to Sssssh! I'm not really here. for helping run the Bard's Hall. Without Gigie, the Hall would not have run this long and I really appreciate all she's done for keeping it and ME afloat. If you have a chance, swing on by and enter your blog in the annual blogging contest.

To finish: Here's a list of 5 Vacation spots I'd love to go that I haven't been and 5 spots I've gone to and want to go back:

5 VACATION SPOTS I'D LOVE TO VISIT AND HAVEN'T:

1. London, England
2. Anywhere in Canada
3. Any Great Lake
4. St. Petersburg, Russia
5. Washington, DC

5 VACATION SPOTS I"D LOVE TO GO BACK TO:

1. Catalina Island, Avalon on the 4th of July
2. Sturbridge Village, MA -- cos I want my kids to see it
3. Boston, MA - cos I want my kids to see it
4. Paris, France
5. Anywhere in Germany, Berlin, Bavaria, Berchesgarten, Garmish, anywhere