yuki_onna's Habitation of the Blessed

Now, some of you may not know about Cat and my more humble origins. Namely, Diaryland. It's where we met. Cat tried to talk to me when she was living in Japan, but I was like, zomg, I'm, like, a secretary from Jersey and my brain is not a magical kalidoscope like yours is. I was too shy to talk to her. I read her entries faithfully and her books too, even though the first few books made me suspect I wasn't smart enough to Get It.

When I would have parties in my habitrail and everyone had had too much to drink, except for the desis, we would select a desi and gather around her and sit at her feet. She would read to us from Cat's first poetry book, Music of a Proto-Suicide and we would sigh and let the words wash over us.

Fast foward! I had started SalonCon and I needed Guests of Honor. I gathered up my courage and asked Cat to come. She said yes, because she is super nice. So super nice, she became our author in residence. We started talking more and she wrote some books I could wrap my head around, though she had a habit of making me cry excessively when reading them. Cat has always been very kind about my exuberance which leads me to say whatever crazy thing pops into my head (last convo: She: I'm hoping to work in my island's museum over the winter! Me: That's great! You've earned it! However, you're doing so awesomely that you need to be careful that people don't come after you and attempt to wear your skin like a selkie and take your place in your life).

I do some assistant work for her, which I enjoy immensely. She is v. tolerant of my nagging ways. Since assisting, I was super jazzed about Palimpsest, Fairyland, and the vampire short story I nag her constantly about making into a book because it is *awesome*. It was clear to me that Under the Mere was going to be one of those beautiful books of hers that is beautiful to read but I was just not going to get.

When trying to wrap my head around John Prester, I was disheartened because I could not even understand the Wikipedia entry which did not seem to bode well for me. I halped a little in getting stuff set up for it here and there, things I could wrap my head around - helping to book readings, setting up facebook, things that made sense to me. We talked some about how to present the book. I tried to figure out a polite way to say, while I have a college education under my belt and am probably a teensy smarter than the average bear, this is waaaaaaaaaay beyond me and I'm afraid to read the book because I am super afraid I won't Get It. theferrett talked in his lj about how this book is a lot about friendship, which sounded promising to me and I had seen the video below pop up all over my f-list yesterday. I finally had a moment today to watch it.

Readers, it is awesome. Because, while yes, Cat's brain is of course a magical kalidoscope, there are also bits that cuss a lot and like cookies and bad tv and action figures which when you piece it all together makes the awesome that is Cat. I lol'd. I was interested. I appreciated how clearly (and cleverly) the world was explained. I can't wait to read it! You should too! More info here!

[glad game] Raise it up!

* Thanks to the super awesome help of dossy and smarionette, my magic blog Charmed, I'm Sure got a super awesome facelift. I do all of my magical blogging there and I blog pretty regularly there, between 1-4 times a week. If you're interested in following through lj, I'm at pagandilettante, I can also be followed through your Google Reader feed, there's a link on the blog page for that.

* Dossy's also been helping me do some major internet purging. I am switching after ten years with yahoo to dreamhost. In the process, I did a major hack and slash on what I had over that (which was described as "bad ass" by Dossy ;p). My Goddess Dollies page is going to be a simple streamlined one page website with a link to my shop. I got rid of the SalonCon page because it's time, though I kept pictures, etc. privately on my new domain. After feeling vomity about all that, it felt really freeing. I keep managing to cut more fetters off of me.

* My personal webpage (now with its own domain, thanks to Dossy!) has been updated to include more of my writing and more SalonCon press clippings. It's pretty awesome, honestly. I know it's totally uncool to be really puffed up about one's accomplishments, but I'm proud of myself. I've published a lot (and for pay) for someone who hasn't written a novel and I accomplished a lot with SalonCon in the three years I ran it. It's pretty cool to have my place in Steampunk history/timeline.

* Last night, Jow and I bought new coats. For me this is particularly significant as it means I will be donating my sad little matchgirl coat that I bought on a super sale two years ago when my Wasband first left and drained our joint. I had just donated my coat at the time and didn't known I was getting left, so it was a scary and real possibility that I might not have a coat immediately for winter. My new coat is super cute and a little Mad Men like.

* This Samhain season finds me determined to get rid of as much crap holding me down and/or holding me back as possible. To this end, I have donated two more garbage bags full of clothes, got Jow to do the same and then went on a massive purge binge in our bathroom. I can now easily see what's under the sink, our storage rack is more spacious (like that!) and our guest basket is back to its full glory.

* I then did a massive cleansing in the house using maaaaaaaaaagic. Details are in my blog for the curious.

* I have an end date for work! Or at least, an end week. Right before xmas, which sounds all BAH HUMBUG and grrr except that I've known this was coming down the pike for a long while and we agreed on the date together, so it's fine. I'm going to get to keep my balance ball chair and my key board wrist thingy and my mouse wrist thingy at least. I'm looking forward to starting the new year fresh with my new career in freelance writing/crafting

* Jow and I had an awesome time in a little island town in Rhode Island. The weather was awesomely Bronte-esque, we had Tea every day, drank a lot of wine, watched a lot of anime and relaaaaaxed. We also went to a local restaurant that got oysters fresh from the farms *that day* and got a plate of 12 oysters from 4 different farms, 6 clams and a whole lobster tail for under $40. I have never tasted anything so good in my life. Withdrawal is likely.

* My story Bite made it through the first pass on a recent anthology, but not the final cut. I suspect too many vampire stories were submitted. I decided to woman-up and edit it again. I wanted to give her a more predatory disposition when the clothes came off and tried to make the sexxoring hotter so hopefully I could push it over the edge from almost to yes.

* I am totally in love with the song/vid for Rabbit Heart. It's made of win.

* I got a gorg fairy dress at Target of all places for $20 and am having an adorable little capelet made for it. I think it will also be pretty easily "steamable" as well.

* Had a nice dinner with mom, lis, jow and uncle frank last night.

* Looking forward to the FairyCon with James!

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