Postcard from the fringe

Happy New Year! Ha, bet you didn't expect that did you?  Well, things have been kinda crazy 'round these parts which means I'm probably the mayor of Crazytown. It was Mardi Gras earlier this week and I managed to survive being away yet ANOTHER year :(.  Could be worse, right? I could've been trapped in Connecticut with that 40 inches of snow, so I won't complain out loud.  But don't worry too much--I kept it interesting on Tuesday by saying "hey mister, THROW me something" at random times during the day.  It's the small things that make me happy :)

Speaking of things that make me happy, I thought I'd share a picture of the flowers my godchild gave me for my birthday.

I'll come back later to post something more interesting, relevant, funny, writing-related, whatever...

Enjoy your day!

Where've you been?

It seems I'm always apologizing for the radio silence. Not that an apology isn't deserved for the space between posts, it is. But I've come to see that no matter how crazy things get (and the crazy made the scene big time), I should always make time to keep the blog current. A schedule is a good thing and from now on, even if I'm boring not only myself to tears, but you too, there will be a weekly post. Promise.

As a further offer of reconciliation, here's Lou Rawls singing Tobacco Road, which I love because my mom loved it and I grew up listening to it. Maybe I'll post a little King Oliver another time. Enjoy.

Building a Better Mousetrap

Several Christmas mornings of my childhood saw a repeat present--the Ideal Toy company's MOUSETRAP. I was fascinated by the Rube Goldberg-esque game with the shiny silver ball that seemed to careen out of control, traveling down blue plastic stairs, through oddly-angled hoops, and inside bathtubs with the ultimate object of trapping the mouse underneath the plastic net. The timing and precision of the simple tasks that would lead to the end of the mouse's freedom left me breathless. Unfortunately, as is the way with some children's toys (even or especially on Christmas morning), my Mousetrap game never lasted out the day. I believe that my grandfather, in his zeal to help and possibly shield what might be his own enthrallment with the game...umm, how do I say this? He broke it. His large hands could never quite manage the small, delicate plastic replicas and somehow turned them into useless, broken game pieces.

My Mousetrap failures are at the forefront of my mind today because my You Tube recommendations posted this:

This video renews the wonderment of my childhood and all those Christmas mornings where I crossed my fingers that this would be the year I'd get through St. Stephen's Day (Dec. 26) without having to give up my Mousetrap game to the Island of Misfit toys. Mostly, it's just cool and I thought it would be nice to share.

This and That or the Great Train Heist...

Since we last convened, I've made progress on my latest writing project.  After some restructuring of the story, I find the words flowing a bit easier.  I like to think of it in home remodeling terms since essentially I've thrown out the first set of plans and redrawn the first three rooms.  Perhaps my block was just my mind's way of holding up my permit until I came up with a truly viable plan and one that wasn't going the blow the doors off my budget.  

And my block receded just in time to stop me from flinging myself headlong into the fray of buying a new Kindle (000hh, Shiny!) or a Sony Reader.  Now, I read a lot, I mean A LOT and the last thing I need is for technology to make it much easier for me to ignore the housewifery (okay, once again, can't really blame that on technology or anyone else since it seems to be a natural enemy kind of thing going on between me and the dustbunnies), but I was very close to making a purchase.  I've read lots of contrasting views on the pros and cons of eReaders.  For me, the lure is the ability to hold and store many, many books all in one lovely and SHINY, yet slim volume.

  On the blue line going downtown, I think I scared a fellow passenger who might've thought my intense perusal of her Sony Reader was the prelude to a snatch and grab job, but I restrained myself, I promise ;-).  This lady's Sony was leather bound, fit neatly into her palm and was subsequently tucked away in her backpack very easily.  She seemed to turn pages with the same ease that I use when reading a book on my iPod Touch and I've become quite the fan of fictionwise.com for books that download to my iPod.  I have to be in the mood to listen to a book or trapped on a plane, otherwise, I want to read it myself.  There's something about being able to read a sentence or passage that is well put together.  Sometimes you have to read it a few times, just to get the bouquet, so to speak.  

Let's hope that I can hold out in my quest to refrain from buying an eReader just yet.  I'm sure that somewhere down the road, I will but I'll want to make sure that I pick the right one--Kindle, Sony or some other brand, as long as it's shiny.