I understand why you cut off communication with everyone after high school.  I was surprised at first but then I thought about it and it made sense, even if I didn’t know all your reasons.  You’ve always been very sensitive and I suppose you wanted to start over fresh.  But if there were any resentments in the decision, I wanted to apologize for my part of things.  I think we were both in positions to hurt each other sometimes, and we never opened up enough to work out what needed to be worked out.

As much as I could, I tried to be a good friend.  I made mistakes, but I tried to be faithful in keeping your secrets and just being there.  I hope you’re doing well, wherever you are, and I hope you’re living for yourself and not to please others.  You’re an intelligent, beautiful girl but I know your confidence is easy to bruise.  Just try not to be unfair to yourself — that’s what I worry about most when I think of you.

No matter what anyone says or what you think, you are wonderful.

Be well, my Silly-Oofa.

I came across this post about a guy who coached a Catholic kids team in Chicago and had to go through a program that focused half its efforts on preventing child molestation. Which reminded me of the time I was asked to undergo a background check to be an assistant for a babies’ Bible class.

Most people, when asked, will say “Oh, background checks are a great idea!”

Until they’re asked to submit to one.

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That was over a year ago, and Alex and I have since bought a “make sushi at home” book and introduced my brother to a local sushi place.

Just today I got a tuna/salmon roll with avacado, five types of caviar, crunchies, and spicy mayo (hold the extra seaweed) for $13 and ate each sweet messy piece with my fingers by stuffing it into my mouth and just savoring (I looked like a moron — it was great).

Here’s the thing my brother and his wife commented on after we introduced them to sushi, something many people neglect when trying to talk others into trying it — one roll can keep you full for hours afterward. Not just full but comfortable. Hours after we’d introduced them to sushi, they told us that they looked at each other and said “I’m still full. But I don’t feel sick, either.” It was the exact same feeling Alex and I noticed after our first time.

That’s the magic of sushi. It’s a feel-good food. It satisfies hunger without leaving you bloated or gross.

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I’m stupid.

It’s not all the economy. I mean, that started the rollercoaster of discouragement (again, another example of why I HATE listening to other writers — negative, negative, negative! — and it always gets to me!).

That planted the seed of “Then why am I bothering?”

Then I started wondering whether or not my main character is at all compelling. Then I thought up revisions I wanted to make on my second book. Then I thought “Well, if this one doesn’t get picked up (because it won’t because the economy is bad), maybe I can start with the one that comes before it chronologically.” And then I thought “Why am I searching for an agent for this one if I actually want that one to come first? Do I even want it to come first? I have no idea.”

You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you’re working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success — but only if you persist. ~Isaac Asimov

To fix this unpleasant state, I’m learning to drive so that I can get some small job to get me out of the house and perhaps get me to the library. In fact, a small job at the library would be lovely, but we’ll see what I can find. Currently, it costs money to park there — parking meters and all — and I can’t make myself work at home. I’m hopeless.

This is about magic in books versus Christianity in books.

Here’s the thing — Christianity doesn’t like magic. That’s the party line. But magic also doesn’t exist. (Though I’ve said I might believe in ghosts if people weren’t always wrong about them.)

So when I find a fantasy that includes a Christian official as a one-dimensional badguy, I get a little disgruntled. Even if a second religious official is sympathetic to magical powers or beings, it’s usually an all-encompassing acceptance, which is stupid and any sensible Christian would agree. Just because a religious official doesn’t want to burn someone for witchcraft when they show magical powers does not mean he or she will be entirely comfortable or even accepting of the situation. In fact, I’m pretty sure it would freak them out. These are humans you’re designing, not puppets, and something like fantasy meeting traditional Catholicism (which is the most common choice) would very easily cause conflicting feelings in a religious character who isn’t a monster.

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Like anything new brought into my home, I wanted to make sure she was nice and clean. With dishes, I do this so I can eat off of them without worrying, but with a kitten it’s more of a “I want to rub my face in her fur without imagining her sleeping in or near her shelter litter box.”

I had to wait until I was sure she’d healed from spaying, as her stitches were water-soluble, and while I waited I looked around for some cat shampoo that wasn’t flea and tick.

I couldn’t find any at our grocery store or home improvement store (both of which had pet aisles). I’m sure we could have hunted up a pet store or ordered some online, but I only wanted to give her one bath, so I decided to look up whether or not it’s okay to bathe your cat with human shampoo.

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Like a lion or a tiger.

And I would design my yard so that I could let my guard-tiger run loose around areas of entry while we’re out.

Then I’d install a ton of cameras because, dude, if you get a burglar and he sees your guard-tiger, you want a clear shot of his expression.

*giggle*

(Would never actually do this. I wouldn’t have enough time to take care of one properly, and I wouldn’t want to own as much space as it would need. The idea is charming, though, and the thought of a burglar’s face walking into a house and being greeted by a giant cat has to be the funniest thing ever.)

I really do.

I’m not very prolific at it, but I enjoy the little thrill of knowing where stuff goes.

So when you have over 10 years of stories in a giant overflowing bin, and you want to keep every last note card because you might use it some day . . .

Where on earth are you supposed to start?

Me, I want to start with a label maker.

I have a hole puncher and a printer.

I have a ton of binders, though they’re the “Bigger is better” kind and I can’t decide if I like those or the friendly floppy ones better. I think the problem I have with binders is that once they’re organized and I have stuff in them, there’s nowhere for me to put them. Except in my doofy old bin. Out of sight, out of mind.

I do a lot of my idea organizing in Word, but then I print it out and staple it and again I can only put it in my doofy old bin.

You might say “Filing cabinet!” but that’s just as bad as my bin for hiding things. Worse, because I just don’t like flipping through tabbed folders. I don’t know why. Always hated it.

I’m thinking of getting a simple document wallet to put completed manuscripts in for editing. I found that I really like being able to pull loose-leaf out of an envelope to edit and stuff it back in without worrying that my cat will spread the pages all over the floor. I’m incapable of editing on my computer because I always forget what I’ve already done.

So . . . label maker. Maybe a cork board. Figure out a spot for my binders. Consolidate notes into a smaller space. *sigh* Nobody ever plans to have this much paper lying around, but it’s been the bane of offices for centuries. Somehow, some way, I’ll manage.

Hey, at least I got rid of a lot of crap in the move. That’s a win, right there.

The browser is the program you open (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Chrome) to browse the web in.  It has a bar toward the top with “http://” starting out a string of text, usually with .com or .php at the end.  You can set your home page (what pops up when you open your browser) through the “tools” or “options” menu.

A search engine is a website (Google, Yahoo, AOL, Bing, Ask).  You can browse to it and use it to search the web, but it is not a “browser.”

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I own the Kate Beckinsale version (also on YouTube, though the video quality is rougher) and prefer Kate’s portrayal simply because her facial expressions aren’t as exaggerated. She also has much better posture.

The 2009 version is good, and everyone does a great job (I particularly like that they made Emma insecure about how little she gets out in the world), but I just prefer the Kate Beckinsale one. It’s part personal taste (if you enjoy your leading ladies lively and haphazard, the 2009 version is for you), and partly that I enjoyed the book and the 2009 version takes a few liberties with showing scenes that are only alluded to. The Beckinsale version keeps to the book more strictly and has an overall more authentic feel.

Also, I don’t think “Dumbledore” when I look at her father. (Yes, Dumbledore is in the 2009 one. He does much better at this role than his portrayal of Dumbledore, though.)

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