babies_stole_my_dingo

Yes. Yes, I can.

In other news, remember the blogging deal F&SF runs occasionally? Sometimes they have extra copies, they post on their website that they have them, and bloggers can have freebies if they promise to write about the issue? I am holding, in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers, the July 2008 issue of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. I haven't actually dug into it just yet, other than one story (which was delightful), but as soon as I'm done reading it, you'll hear about it.

Also, they sent me a link to a special subscription offer for bloggers, which they said to feel free to pass around, so this is me, passing it around. $27.97 for a year, which is $7 off the normal subscription price. And the normal subscription price saves you $16 off the newsstand price already, so...yeah. I sort of jumped on that with both feet, because (a) I enjoy the magazine, and (b) it's always a good idea to see what a market you're subbing to on a regular basis is actually buying.

the Desert Star today, with the lovely and effulgent bigsciencybrain and her Fiance Critter, to see "The Wizard of Odd." I know I have local SLC people on my flist, and if you've never been to the Desert Star, you need to go see this. Sometimes the productions there fall a little flat, but this one knocks it out of the park on so many levels. And be sure and stay for the olio after the main show, too. I think it's only playing for another two weeks, and then it switches to "Indiana Bones," which should also be tons of fun.

I'm still waiting on a certain market to get back to me on a certain story, and trying not to read too much into the uncharacteristically long amount of time they're taking. *writes 100 times* I will not get my hopes up. I will not get my hopes up. I will not get my hopes up. I will remember that the slush pile my story was probably in was nine inches tall, and it doesn't get any shorter as time goes by.

AUGH.

When checking flight availability for a trip from SLC to DFW, it helps to input the departure and destination airports, rather than just the date. The software is not psychic.

Da Boy is going to visit his Aunt next week. This will entail me being in airplanes or airports most of Wednesday, as I'm going with him to DFW and then flying home by myself the same day. I'll bring the computer and plenty of reading material, and might even get some writing done. I'd really like to finish the Faerie Show Fic sometime this century.

The purpose of this is so that I can go to CONduit without worrying about anything. The Hubby was going to have a weekend race, but he thinks the car is broken and hasn't had time to tear into it yet, and then he has to work on Sunday. Sending Da Boy to see his Aunt gives me the freedom to enjoy the Con all weekend, and also broadens his horizons a little.

This will be the first time he's been without us halfway across the country. I should be wibbling. Why am I not wibbling?

to the lovely and effulgent myfeetshowit! May your day be filled with prezzies and calorie-free cake, hon.

We spent the day at Antelope Island. We saw, in no particular order:
pronghorns
bison (with babies)
jackrabbits
California gulls
Franklin's gulls
ring-billed gulls
avocets
yellow-headed blackbirds
red-winged blackbirds
regular blackbirds
meadowlarks
loggerhead shrikes (new to my life list!)
chukars
burrowing owls
long-billed curlews (new to my life list!)
barn swallows
ravens
a ring-necked pheasant
horned larks
Canada geese
cormorants
eared grebes
a cinnamon teal
several different raptor species I couldn't identify
some sort of little gray tweety bird I also couldn't identify
two species of lizards
numerous different species of butterflies
white-lined sphinx moths
a snake tail disappearing into the grass-type stuff that passes for vegetation

Yes, I took pictures. No, you can't see them yet.

Seriously, y'all, when you go to your state and national parks? Get out of the car and hike at least one pretty long path. You'll see things that you totally would have missed.

Of course, I have new blisters now. But it was a very satisfying day.

kantayra, did you see this? I nearly died of cute.

OMG, y'all. I was in Moab last week and missed out on three comics, and then two more came out this week.

I am holding in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers:

Angel: After the Fall #7
Buffy: Wolves at the Gate #14
Doctor Who #4
Everybody's Dead #3
Serenity #3

At this point in time, I haven't read any of the other Who comics and I'm debating if I want to wait until I have all six issues so I can marathon them. Everybody's Dead and Serenity are complete, and I can't wait to crack them open. Angel and Buffy, I'm reading as I get them, although Buffy is still kinda blah for me. However, it's vastly improved with the advent of Dracula, and the Faith arc is now available in a trade for $15 or so, well worth picking up if you haven't.

I will have reaction post(s) later, once I've read the ones I'm going to read.

I'm turning into a big ol' nerd, ain't I? Yeah, I realize I already was one...

So, the fanficrants homeschooling wank hit Fandom_Wank, as it was bound to do--although I looked for it first in OTF_Wank, because it has little to do with fandom per se.

What's got me sporfling?

This comment: Agilebrit just being, like, "Oh, hey, yeah, I'm a fundie," made me go D:.

Is it some sort of secret that I'm a fundie? Did the fact that my first fanfic ever was Christian!Spike, and that I've written four stories in that 'verse (one of which was the longest I've ever written) not clue them in? Am I just not internets-famous enough? Was ginmar's calling me a "stupid Xtian housewife" in the oh-so-famous wank not a big enough clue? Do I need to scream it from the housetops in all caps on my profile page?

Is it just because I don't talk about it all that often? Because, seriously, I don't generally feel the need to.

And I will not wank. No, I won't. Not there, anyway. Eh. *grabs a tissue and cleans up* Seriously, I couldn't let that go.

However, all you have to do is look at the "quality" of fic at FFN to see the sort of "education" that public schools are churning out. Semi-literate snowflakes who bristle at the merest hint of criticism? Pretty much.

Yeah, not in my house. Da Boy already gets corrected if he doesn't capitalize "I" or the word at the start of a sentence, and he's seven. And I don't think I'm stunting his creativity.

*adjusts pimp hat*

The handsome and talented Paul Genesse had a book launch party on Saturday to celebrate the release of his first novel, The Golden Cord. I've read two of Paul's short stories (in the anthologies "Furry Fantastic" and "Fellowship Fantastic") and can testify that he can write. He's going to be in Arizona and Vegas doing book-type stuff for the next week or so.

Also, the handsome and talented kenrand's long-awaited western dark-fantasy novel, Pax Dakota, is now available. Buy it, or ask your local library to get it in?

In writing news, I did my 250 words last night before bed. Let's see if I can double that today. Tripling it would bring me up to around 4000 words overall. Considering I know the next two things I want to have happen, I could probably achieve that...

at silly o'clock this morning, and of course completely spaced the fact that it was Mother's Day. None of us are at our best at 5am, after all.

However, he called me later, rather shamefaced, and wished me a happy Mother's Day. He said that I could go into his drawer and pull out a twenty and go out to dinner, if I wanted to. After going "awww," I told him that I'd really rather wait until he came home and then we could go out to dinner together.

Maybe, I mused, we could even get a sitter for Da Boy and go to the Desert Star, which we haven't been to in ages. We ooh'ed and ahh'ed over that idea, and so tomorrow I'm going to make us reservations. Not only that, but the lovely and effulgent bigsciencybrain and her Boyfriend-Critter are planning on coming down as well. *does the Dance of Joy*

We're also planning on an Antelope Island sojourn sometime this week, depending on the weather. *checks* Thursday and Friday look nice...

Writing? What is this "writing" of which you speak? Okay, yes. I will do 250 words before retiring. *nods firmly* Anyone can do that.

The lovely and effulgent ellen_datlow sent me a copy of Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears, with the understanding that I'd blog about it. Never one to shirk my responsibilities (ha!), this is me, blogging about the book.

First of all, it's third in a series of fairy tale re-tellings and re-imaginings, edited by Ellen and Terri Windling. Second of all, it brings home to me just why it was so difficult for me to figure out a way to make a fairy tale funny for the CatsCurious contest held awhile back.

These things are frelling creepy, y'all.

The main thing I noticed, while reading this book, is that these stories are far richer than the originals. I don't know if it's a function of translation or whatever, but it seems to me that the originals are pretty dry. "He did this, then she did that, yadda yadda." The characters are frightened, but the reader doesn't feel their fear. It's a classic case of telling rather than showing.

These stories don't suffer from that handicap. They range in style from lyrical to poetic (actual poetry, courtesy of Neil Gaiman) to flat-out horror. They're from all over the world, too. So, while we have familiar stories like "Rumplestiltskin," "Sleeping Beauty," and "The Emperor's New Clothes," we also have stories from Russia, Japan, and Czechoslovakia, which are less familiar to us--but still resonate.

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection. And now I want to hunt down the other two. Because I need more books to read...

Happy Mother's Day to the moms on my flist!

And very happy birthdays to the lovely and effulgent mommanerd and laii! May your day be filled with happiness and calorie-free cake and ice cream.

And saw a double feature of "Iron Man" and "Drillbit Taylor."

"Iron Man" was awesome. I'm pretty sure the physics don't work out with it, but still. VERY tasty. DVD collection material.

"Drillbit Taylor," on the other hand...

( Why is it that every movie about high school is an advertisement for homeschooling? Er, spoilers. )
However, the fact that the principal was played by the same guy who played the principal in the original Buffy movie (and the same sort of clueless idiot) was amusing. Apparently Stephen Root works a lot, and I know I've seen him in other things too. What do I recognize him from? Buffy. Yeah, that's me.

And Adam Baldwin has a freakin' hilarious cameo.

I've been IM'd by the notorious jeremycrawford!

crawfordjeremy702000: hello.
Babiesstolemydingo: Do I know you?
crawfordjeremy702000: i don' think so i was wondering if you write fanfiction.
Babiesstolemydingo: Not anymore, but I used to be pretty prolific.
crawfordjeremy702000: :(
Babiesstolemydingo: I've "graduated," so to speak, and now I write original fiction.
crawfordjeremy702000: i was looking for someone to do a short nc-17 fic but no one will.
Babiesstolemydingo: Oh, I never wrote NC-17 anyway.
Babiesstolemydingo: OMG! I KNOW WHO YOU ARE.
crawfordjeremy702000: please will you do i am begging you.
Babiesstolemydingo: Heh. NO.
crawfordjeremy702000: ASSHOLE.
Babiesstolemydingo: Dude, I haven't written fanfic in over two years.
Babiesstolemydingo: I haven't watched my shows in about that long either. What makes you think I'd do them justice?
Babiesstolemydingo: And what fandom, anyway, pray tell? I'm just wondering how far you want to take this.
Babiesstolemydingo: Also, etiquette hint? Calling someone an "asshole" is a kind of crappy way to get them to do something you're asking them to do.
Babiesstolemydingo: Had I even been considering writing what you wanted me to write, you'd have killed it right there.
Babiesstolemydingo: Dumbass.
Babiesstolemydingo: Oh, come on...
Babiesstolemydingo: Don't you want to play?
Babiesstolemydingo: Man, you're a lot less fun than I heard you were...
Babiesstolemydingo: ENTERTAIN ME, DAMMIT.

He's not very persistent. Dammit, had I thought about it for a few seconds, I would have strung him along...

*collapses into a puddle of goo* My legs are still whining at me. My toenails are bruised. I have a blister on my heel.

IT WAS SO WORTH IT.

We stopped at the Scott Matheson Preserve this morning and saw quite a few new birds. And also smelled either a fox or a skunk. It's a nice little area, one I only noticed by chance last Easter on our way out to Moab Rim. I'm betting that early in the morning is a great time to see all kinds of stuff. It's a Nature Conservancy site.

And on our way out of town, we saw two more bighorn sheep, which I got a couple of nice pix of. Then, on I-70, we saw a herd of pronghorns. For this being a not!zoo trip, we saw tons of critters. Now I just have to fix up the pictures I took...

And tonight? We're going to see Iron Man and Drillbit Taylor at the drive in. I think I may be the last person on my flist to see Iron Man.

Only hiked about three miles today. My legs are unhappy with me about yesterday. Alas, the hotel hot tub didn't actually help much.

But Canyonlands National Park is gorgeous. Not as gorgeous, IMO, as Arches, but the scenery there is wicked awesome. If you go, be sure and take your own water. We forgot ours, and they don't have any for free in the park because it has to be trucked in. And, while it's not ridiculously expensive (around $1.40 for a gallon), it tastes kind of...weird. Not bad, just...weird.

No megafauna today, but something like four species of lizards, two or possibly three species of squirrel, two different cactus flowers. One of the squirrels (who had a marvelous tail) yelled at us. IT WAS SO CUTE OMG. Yesterday we saw a mule deer doe attempt suicide on the highway going into Arches. The driver in front of us in the other lane narrowly missed her.

Also identified the adorable little bird we saw in Arches yesterday; they had a pic of one at the Canyonlands visitor center. It's a Black-Throated Sparrow. Not a Black-Chinned Sparrow. Which I'll be posting my own pix of soonish. We bought a book of Utah birds there too, because we go out a fair bit with the book and the binox, and a teeny pocket guide dedicated to the birds of the state we live in is a lot easier to bring than my "Pocket Guide," which, erm, doesn't actually fit in my pocket.

Ate at the Broken Oar, and had the best steak I've ever had in Moab. They also have bottomless steak fries, humongous wraps, and ice cream. Some serious YUM there, and not horribly expensive.

We're going home tomorrow, but there's a little wildlife area on the way to the Moab Rim trail that I want to check out before we do, and we're not in any hurry to get out of town. I might be able to talk the Hubby into going out Potash way to see some petroglyphs there. Just kind of taking it easy...

Because, yeah. Did I mention how much pain I'm in?

We hiked TEN MILES today, y'all. O M to the maximum G. I hurt so much. We did the Devil's Garden trail and then hiked up to the Delicate Arch.

However, I got some fabulous pix of scenery, birds, lizards, and plants, and two different kinds of squirrels. I got an amazing shot of a longhorn beetle in a wild poppy-type flower. I don't have time to post them today because we didn't get in until about an hour ago, and I just got caught up with my flist (journals only, no comms, mainly skimmed, sorry), and the toucan list was really active today and I came home to nearly 60 unread messages in my inbox. I'm still catching up with that.

We ate at the Moab Brewery, which is always a good choice. Service wasn't the best tonight, but they were busy and the food was fabulous. So much love for the mixed sausage grill. OMG YUM.

Tomorrow, we're going to Canyonlands National Park, which we've never been to. I think we're going to stick to staying in the car mostly, because, seriously. OW. Major pain here. But since we've never been, we can get a good overview of the park and see what's there to see, and maybe next time we can do a hike or two.

Yes, I know I haven't posted pix from the Jeep Safari or the San Diego trip yet, but these were quick and easy to fix up and upload.

( Not even remotely dial-up friendly... )

We saw bighorn sheep!

And lots of lizards.

And I'm pretty sure I saw a kangaroo rat. It was round and tan colored and bouncy, anyway. Alas, he disappeared before I could get a picture.

I got a really nice shot of a raven in flight.

Flowers EVERYWHERE.

The weather is perfect. The arches in Arches National Park are beautiful. Seriously, folks, this place needs to be on your "Places to Visit Before I Die" list.

Eddie McStiff's for dinner, where I had the California Buffalo Burger and the Hubby shared a pizza with Da Boy.

We're going to finish Arches up tomorrow and then go to Canyonlands the next day.

I'm so glad we're here. I love this place.

What with one thing and another, to go to Moab instead of Yellowstone this week. Since Friend can't make it, we thought it would make more sense to go where the nice weather is, and wait a few weeks for it to warm up and stop snowing in Wyoming.

So, we're off today. Back Thursday. Internet access will be spotty at best and probably nonexistant, as we're staying at the Motel 6 because we're cheap that way. I find it terribly ironic that it's cheaper to stay in West Yellowstone than it is to stay in Moab.

And, after discussing it with the Hubby, it looks like Yellowstone is a PROBABLY NOT and Moab is a PROBABLY YES. The handsome and talented jimvanpelt, who lives just a hop, skip, and jump from there in Grand Junction, says that the flowers are a-bloomin'. And I love seeing the cacti flowers.

So, I'm checking hotels to see what's the what in both places. Arches National Park has bighorn sheep, which may have babies this time of year. And we've never been to Canyonlands, even though we've been going to Moab for...gah, years, so we'll want to see that and Dead Horse Point too. We spend so much time jeeping in Moab that we never do the sightseeing touristy stuff.

o.O Hotels in Moab are expensive...