• 15:10 I am not a big fan of today. Neuroscience is indeed full, but now I will at least get to take Women's Lit instead of the earlier Brit Lit. #

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I love the new pics we got along with the new site, so not only have I changed my layout, I also made a few new icons :)

Comments are appreciated :)
Credit would be nice
Thanks for visiting and feel free to use them

Teasers:






( Icons Here! )

After about four straight days of rain and wind, the sun finally returned to us here this weekend. It was SO nice. My rain gauge was overflowing, it had gotten such a workout. And while I know it's good for my garden---we've got baby bok choy and a bunch of greens coming in---it is not so great for my mental state. I was feeling soggy both literally and figuratively. It's nice to be drying out, so to speak.

In other news, we're coming to the end of both Project Runway AND Top Chef, my two favorite reality shows (and really, the only ones I watch any more. Until Rock of Love returns. I mean, I am only human, and I am here for Brett. But I digress.). Both TC and PR have been really good this season. And Top Chef makes me want to cook, which is a nice benefit. Project Runway just makes me want to shop, which is...well, not so good. I'm kind of on a self-imposed restriction right now. We'll see how long it lasts. Anyway, I'm trying to figure out my favorites for the finales, which is tough. On PR, I really like Carole Hannah, and even more since she got a nasty stomach virus and STILL kept working. I also like Althea. On Top Chef, we have been all about Jennifer for weeks now, but she seems to have lost her confidence. Which I can totally relate to. What she needs is a little pep talk from Coach Taylor. Jennifer, if you are reading this---and I really doubt you are---you should pop over to YouTube and look for some vintage Taylor clips. He will talk you back around. Trust me! I do it all the time.

Also, just days before I leave for NCTE, my camera has died. My brand NEW camera, the same one I lost and then miraculously found. I'm beginning to think, though, after the loss and now the breaking down, that maybe our relationship was just not meant to be. It's such a cool camera, this thin, red, sleek thing. It's like I was dating above myself, and holding onto this guy is more trouble than it's worth. What I need is a big, clunky camera my daughter can drop on the floor, all practicality. It's good to realize these things. I am a dork. I need a dorky camera. Maybe I'll add a neck strap just for emphasis.

Finally, a Coco update. She's doing well, pretty much totally recovered, which is great. She is also, however, on so many freaking medications it's ridiculous. When we went to the vet last week they added TWO more---Zantac and a digestive drug---so now she's taking phenobarbital (for seizures) an antibiotic (for the pneumonia she got at the vet) and these two new ones. It's crazy. We practically need a part-time nurse to keep up with it all. Also, I am somewhat concerned that one of this new drugs is making her more hyper than ever. I mean, she's always been a nervous, yappy kind of dog, but GOOD LORD. She's like a whirling dervish these days. Poor Monkey is just running from her because she won't leave him alone. I guess another call to the vet is in order. Maybe I'll ask the nurse to do it.

Have a great day, everyone!

• 16:31 Halfway there on NaNo! Now tonight I should do homework. #

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I'm pretty sure I need to get out more. I'm turning into quite the recluse, not that the weather is helping much. I come home as early as seven, sometimes even six thirty in the evening, and do nothing but read, look at pictures, and watch movies in my room.

I feel guilty about how much I enjoy this behavior. I worry that people think I'm pushing them away. I'm not. I swear. I'm just addicted to my own company.

Completely addicted.

• 14:45 Was promised Star Trek but the club was too stupid to realize it wasn't out yet and too rude to admit their mistake #

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The PS22 Chorus singing 'Circle Game'.

Coldplay singing 'Fix You'. Love the crowd singing along. One of the best things about live shows IMO.

But you can't deny these girls do a pretty good job of the above.

Kerry Ellis as Elphaba. She's so cool.
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Hopper and Fisk Cast in Van Sant Film
Friday, November 13, 2009 8:21AM By Krystal Clark

We previously reported that Alice in Wonderland star Mia Wasikowska had landed the lead role in an untitled coming of age drama from director Gus Van Sant, and now two more young actors are have signed on to the film. According to Reuters, Hollywood’s second generation will be front and center as Schuyler Fisk and Henry Hopper join the cast.

Schuyler Fisk is the daughter of Oscar winning actress Sissy Spacek, and Henry Hopper is the son of two time Oscar nominee Dennis Hopper. Both are on board for this untitled Van Sant film, which is being produced by Bryce Dallas Howard, her father Ron Howard, and Brian Grazer. The film was previously under the working title, Restless and centers on a teenage boy and girl’s obsession with mortality.

This will be the debut role for Hopper who will play the boy who’s grieving over the death of his parents, while Fisk will star as Wasikowska’s sister. Newbie screenwriter Jason Lew, who attended film school with the younger Howard, wrote the screenplay, developing it from a play he wrote.

For a movie without a said title it sure has a lot of professional backing behind it. This sounds like it will be in the same vain as the majority of Van Sant’s other films. They all have a certain indie vibe to them, due to the style of cinematography and of course the budget. Lets see who else joins the crew.

Source

Singing "Miss You!"

Do check out these wonderful communities/journals!

★ Personal Journals

longroadhome - lacunavox personal fic journal for the tv show Supernatural. Comments, criticism and requests are love!

zero_hc - A journal belonging to a self-proclaimed gaijin living in Tokyo, Japan. His journal mostly focuses on his daily life (through photography) and the occasional posts about the culture, new gadgets, etc.


★ Graphic Related (icons, blinkies, etc)

pixie_whisper - A blinkie community
samples: One | Two | Three

pinacotheque - icons, banners, mood themes...
samples: One | Two | Three | Four

nice_beam - Graphics community of woelvs and ghostygloom popular subjects include asian entertainment, film, american and british television. plus the random addition here and there.
samples: One | Two | Three | Four

icon_circus - Icon Circus is a Members Only graphics community that produces icons and banners for use on LiveJournal. It's an eclectic collection of various images, themes, and ideas. It's updated a few times a month with sets, or groups, of images. Suggestions (as inspiration) from members are always welcomed and typically fulfilled.
samples: One | Two | Three | Four

lightboxes - a small stock graphics community featuring different styles. They are also looking for makers!
samples: One | Two | Three

roxicons - Icons and headers by Roxanne. Mostly stock images....but with the occasional fandom post.
samples: One | Two | Three | Four


★ Fandom

whogifaday - Daily gifs featuring the cast etc of the television show "Doctor Who", mostly series 2, 3 & 4.

crashboxx - is a multifandom community that operates off of requests and recommendations by the members.

★ Miscellaneous

_survivors_ - It is a support community for people who have experienced sexual abuse/assault, domestic violence, verbal abuse, physical abuse, etc.
(Membership is screened, but mainly in order to keep out trolls.)

palepalepink - A general discussion community for women 18+

what_a_crock - especially with winter coming up and most of us working til after sundown, a nice meal simmering in the crock pot would be a welcome delight to come home to! here's a great website with tons of crock pot recipes every day!

real_women - lots of women feel like there is nowhere to turn to with a lot of personal problems. this gives women an outlet to get answers in a supportive, non-judgmental outlet! for everything from breakups to acne help!

naturalliving - ever wonder why organics cost more than non-organics? or how to clean your house without using bleach or other toxic substance? this is the place to find info on those topics and more with a natural slant.

(if you will like to promote a community/journal, please wait until the next promotional post goes up.)

Total Icons: 53




( The only thing that scares me more than space aliens is the idea that there aren't any space aliens. We can't be the best that creation has to offer. I pray we're not all there is. If so, we're in big trouble. -Ellen DeGeneres )

1. I was so glad to hear from so many other Chris Cuomo Crushers after I wrote my entry all about him on Wednesday. I knew I wasn't alone, but it's nice to have peeps. Anyway, I'd kind of forgotten about the whole thing until yesterday morning, when at 5:55 am my phone beeped to tell me I had a text. I immediately panicked, thinking someone was in the hospital or jail. And, because the only people who ever text me are my babysitters, I was convinced it was one of them. (Although they are sweet girls and would not get arrested. I don't think so, anyway.) I picked up my phone, looked at the text and...it was from Chris Cuomo. He was thanking me for my nice entry. OH MY GOD! Apparently my Twitter settings were such that if someone I follow sends me a direct message, I get a text. My husband, groggy with sleep, said, "Who's texting you?" and I just giggled and said, "Chris Cuomo." He TOTALLY did not believe me. I think he still doesn't. But seriously, it made my day.

2. In other news, a week from tomorrow I'll be heading off to my first conference in AGES, NCTE in Philadelphia. I always love NCTE, because the teachers and librarians are so cool, and there's the ALAN conference, and when you come home it's time for Thanksgiving. Anyway, here's my schedule while I'm there, so if you're attending, come say hello:
11/21, Saturday

1:15 Author Strand presentation
with Michelle Kwansey
Convention Center room 103A

3pm Signing at Penguin Booth, #318

11/22 Sunday
9:30 am Chester County Book & Music Company Author Breakfast
Chester County Books, West Chester PA (I don't know much about this event, so call the bookstore to get details)

1:00 "A Novel Idea" Teen Event for Philadelphia Free Library at Children's Book World
Children's Book World
Haverford, PA
(Ditto for this one, call the bookstore to find out more)

11/23 Monday

8:50 am ALAN panel with Deb Caletti, Todd Strasser and Adrian Fogelin

Then I come home and commence eating turkey and mashed potatoes for the next week. YUM!

3. I have been hesitant to write much about Friday Night Lights and the new season here, as I have so many friends without DirecTV who are angry they have to wait to see it. But can I just say that again and again, in these first three episodes, I've been SO inspired by some of the writing on this show. They might be talking about keeping at football, and trying hard on the field, and all that, but it can apply to just about anything you want to do, and do well. I am always up for more motivation, but especially when I'm writing. Thank you, Coach Taylor. I'm listening, I promise.

4. My daughter, as I write this, is trying to negotiate with me. It's time for her to go upstairs and read books and have some quiet time, and she's pulling out every stop to avoid it. She needs more cereal. She needs more time to play down here. She's eating her grapes. Her new favorite thing to say to me: "Just ONE more minute." It's like dealing with a used car salesman, but constantly, day in and day out. On the flip side, it is helping me with my assertiveness skills. She's good at her no, but I'm getting better at mine at the same time. Parenting is ALL about looking for the bright side, isn't it?

5. Finally, it's been raining her for two full days now, and I'm starting to go a bit nuts. We've had this storm just sitting over us, dumping rain and wind, and all I want to do is sleep and eat, and repeat. A few weeks back, my husband bought some microwave popcorn from a bunch of boy scouts outside of Lowe's. (He's that kind of person: he will ALWAYS buy what someone is peddling for charity, especially if it's kids. He's also the guy who always gets roped in by those people who work in the kiosks in the middle of the mall, approaching you aggressively with hair extensions or manicure sticks or facial creams. I can't tell you how many of those things I have gotten for gift giving occasions. But I guess it's better to be married to someone so nice than not, right?) Anyway, he bought this popcorn, for a good cause, and we started eating some in the evenings. A bad habit to get into, because it's REALLY hard to break. Luckily, the popcorn was not that good, so we could kind of control ourselves. But then, my friend Dana was over, and said, "Oh, you should buy some Pop Secret Homestyle. It's the best." I am totally suggestible, especially when it comes to grocery shopping. So I bought a box, and OH MY GOD. She was not kidding. This popcorn is like NIRVANA. I wish I had never tried it, because I can see it becoming a nightly habit. Or maybe just eating it for meals, instead of cooking. Perhaps if it stops raining and the sun comes out, I'll give up my popcorn habit. Until then, no promises. Mother Nature, it's your call.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Notes augmented

We've enhanced and de-bugged Notes. If you haven't tried it yet, now's the time! You can create a private note when you ban multiple users. You can also delete multiple notes at once. Lastly, paid users have the option to add a note (visible only to you) whenever you add or remove a friend (guaranteed to avoid embarrassing social mishaps). If you don't currently have a paid account, you can upgrade now! It only takes a few minutes and costs less than a bad shopping mall haircut (plus, it's way more fashionable)!

Product tweaks and bug kill

1. In another effort to zap spam, comments containing links from domains LiveJournal deems untrustworthy are now automatically screened
2. The issue causing random comments to vanish has been fixed!
3. If you visit a LiveJournal page and get prompted to log in, you'll be returned to the same page after you sign in (Thanks, Dreamwidth)!
4. If you don't edit the timestamp for an entry at all, the entry timestamp will indicate the time the entry was posted instead of the time the Update Journal page was loaded
5. Comments with paddings/backgrounds render correctly within the comment box (and will no longer wrap outside the box and break frames/margins)

New FCK fixes rich text editor!

1. We've updated our RTE (Rich Text Editor) to FCKeditor version 2.6.5
2. When switching from the RTE to HTML editor, links for syndicated feeds are no longer broken
3. RTE now functions properly in Safari 4.0
4. An extra line/space will not be auto-inserted whenever you switch from RTE to HTML editor
5. The insert image link now works correctly in all browsers

LiveJournal Cares

We’re pleased to introduce you to lj_cares, a new LiveJournal community dedicated to raising awareness and funds for U.S. charitable organizations that improve the health and well-being of people around the world. Each month, we’ll spotlight a nonprofit that is making a significant global impact through medical research, public outreach, and/or humanitarian social programs. Charities will be selected in accordance with the U.S. calendar of national health observances based on a high rating (of over 60%) on Charity Navigator and global scope of impact.

In this, our inaugural month of November, we will celebrate national adoption month by offering a charitable virtual gift (priced at $2.99) to support Love Without Boundaries, an organization that saves the lives of orphans with life-threatening diseases and places them in loving homes around the world. LiveJournal will donate 100% of the proceeds from the sale of charitable vgifts (we'll cover the cost of credit card transaction fees). To learn more about Love Without Boundaries, please visit lj_cares and read about how they helped save Baby Kang and the Rainbow Twins from fatal illnesses, who are now thriving in nurturing families. You can purchase your Love Without Boundaries gifts in the Virtual Gift shop.

Papered in postcards

A couple of weeks ago, we asked you to send in postcards to surround us with LiveJournal community. Thanks for coming through! We've received postcards all the way from Germany, Finland, and Canada and from all over the US, including Texas, Florida, Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, Indiana, Hawaii, and Oklahoma just to name just a handful. We're thrilled with our improved decor.

Please keep the love coming for one more week by writing to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be drawing the names of ten random contributors next Thursday to win paid account credits!

Photos of the week

We have more dazzling images posted by talented LiveJournal photographers from around the world. We're hoping to span the entire globe, so please continue posting and tagging. Of course, you can also sit back and enjoy the view at lj_photophile.

You can see a sample of this week's gorgeous photos and check out spotlight communities and awesome user content after the jump!

( Read more... )

Curtains

We thank you, once again, for joining us. See you next week!

• 14:35 One of the perks of living at school is coming back after class to find a waffle taped to the door. #
• 16:22 RT @spiffykt
  Dollhouse is officially cancelled. FOX is idiotic. Sadness abounds. #
• 19:49 @spiffykt Thanks for liking me anyway. I know Tamora Pierce is awesome &lt;3 #
• 21:55 Tonight's episode of Glee may possibly be the cutest thing ever. Sue has a heart, Artie gets love, and Kurt sings awesome. Is Artie okay? :( #

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Regular readers of this blog know that I am a fan of Good Morning America. Okay, it's more like obsessed. I mean, look at my face in this picture:

So if you are a Today or Early show zealot, you might want to skip this entry. I will not be offended, promise.

Okay, so I LOVE Diane Sawyer. Which is why I am somewhat devastated (if you can be somewhat devastated) that she's leaving the show at the end of this year to take over World News Tonight. Don't get me wrong: I know this is a great thing for Diane. It's like the golden ring of broadcasting, and she totally deserves it. Not to mention that I watch World News every night, so it's not like I won't be seeing her.

But I've been watching the Morning Fab Four for years now. And I hate to think of them getting broken up.

(This is not the greatest picture, I know. But I am writing this while my daughter is temporarily distracted, so time is of the essence.)

I have to be honest. When they first put this group together, I was all about Diane and Robin. But I quickly developed a huge thing for Sam Champion as well. Chris Cuomo....well, at first I wasn't so sure. See, I look at GMA kind of like high school. (This is a pitfall of being a YA writer, I think. You see everything in terms of high school.) Anyway, if Diane is the all-around gorgeous achiever, Robin is the tomboy who is friends with everyone in every possible clique. Sam is the funny guy who sits behind you in art class and you never really want to date, necessarily, but have more fun with than just about anyone else. And Chris, initially to me, was the jock. You know the type. The guy who is kind of swaggering, and sits in the back of the bus picking on people and it's funny, as long as it's not you. I think I felt this way because I thought he teased Sam a lot in the early days, and it bugged me. Plus the cool-but-kind-of-mean jock was pretty much my LEAST favorite person in high school.

Then, though, something happened. I think it was around when they did this segment about facing fears. Diane walked on coals, Sam did something with bees, and I think Robin's had to do with flying, I'm not sure. Chris admitted to a serious fear of heights. Which, alone, was very non-jock on the back on the bus. Then, he did a bungee jump off the side of a huge building. And as I watched him, as he got ready to do it, I saw this total fear and vulnerability that made me like him. Okay, maybe love him.

And as I started to follow him on Twitter, and watch him more often, I saw that he was not at ALL what I'd originally thought. He's, like, a total sap. He tears up talking about his kids, he gets totally geared up doing segments about people being screwed by The Man (insurance companies, big business, etc) and he admits that his mom always says he eats too much during the cooking segments. He gardens and loves to fish. In short, he won me over. Big time.

Which is why, when I read in the paper yesterday that they're making a decision next month about who will replace Diane, all I could think was it had to be Chris. It HAS to be. What are they going to do, bring in someone new? If so, how weird will that be? They moved Robin up to co-anchor when Charlie left, now they should move Chris up and put someone else in the news reader position. Not that anyone's asking me, but I'd suggest Kate Snow, or JuJu Chang, or, ABC, if you're feeling kind of daring, what about Bianna Golodryga? She's insanely smart, will bring in the younger set, and pretty much drop dead gorgeous to boot. I mean, look:

Plus, when she walked by in the hallway, when I was in the makeup room at GMA with JuJu Chang, she smiled at me. And she TOTALLY didn't have to do that. Consider me convinced.

All right, so I just read this entry over again and I sound like a total psycho. Which is not really new, except I'm usually going on about Friday Night Lights or coffee. Oh, well. It's worth it if even ONE person who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone at ABC sees this and passes it on. One entirely too devoted fan's opinion. Give Chris the job. I mean, can Matt Lauer do this?


I didn't think so.

Have a good day, everyone!

• 00:10 @neilhimself Happy birthday! I believe that you can play the tambourine if you so wish, and lots of other things that fit on a T-shirt. #

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• 22:38 Still find it ironic that I have only been to the party dorm to do homework as of yet. #UC #

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Not every confrontation that a gay person experiences in their life is based on their orientation. But sometimes it is very difficult to see any other possible explanation.

Take the experience that Joe Paolucci, Thomas Hitchcock, and their special need twins had recently with Wal-Mart.

Employees at the Niles, MI Wal-Mart store accused Paolucci of shoplifting some Bic lighters. Although he produced the receipt, they refused to back down, insisting that the two men go to a “detention room”. The employees, using vulgarities and hostility, frightened their special needs kids. (South Bend Tribune)

Paolucci said that while he and Hitchcock were attempting to calm down the boys, the employees ordered them to enter a “detention room” for questioning. Fearful of what might happen behind closed doors, he and Hitchcock refused to enter and asked to speak to a manager.

“Some guy came up and said, ‘I’m the manager,’ then turned around and left,” Hitchcock said.

Paolucci said he and Hitchcock then asked store personnel to call police. Within minutes, deputies from the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department’s Niles Township Patrol arrived, pleasing Paolucci who said he thought a few questions and a review of the store’s videotapes and computer records would quickly resolve the matter.

He said he was shocked when he was immediately handcuffed, without a question being asked, and placed in the back seat of a squad car. Hitchcock wasn’t handcuffed but also was placed in the back seat of a second squad car.

The twins, despite the protests of Paolucci and Hitchcock, were turned over to the store’s security personnel, who took them into the “detention room” or what police referred to as a security room.

A review of the security tapes proved that Paolucci and Hitchcock had done no wrong. So the store management profusely apologized and expressed their remose, right? No. They did not.

The two said they expected an apology and were surprised once again when personnel from the store walked up to the squad cars with the twins and read from a statement that Paolucci and Hitchcock had been banned by the store chain for life. Rather than shoplifting, the reason they were given was “being uncooperative.”

By the time they were read the statement, Paolucci and Hitchcock said, the twins had told them that the security staff had allegedly threatened them in the security room and had made disparaging remarks about Paolucci and Hitchcock’s lifestyle. Paolucci and Hitchcock said they asked police to take statements from the boys but the officers refused, telling the couple they’d have to contact Child Protective Services.

Wal-Mart even refused to replace frozen items that had now thawed due to their unprovoked misuse of their customers. Nor did the situation end at the harassment of the couple at the store.Paolucci said the boys have suffered a type of post-traumatic stress disorder since the experience. Both wet their beds, although one has stopped, and both have had nightmares about one security employee in particular, he said.“They’re terrified, horrified. We’ve had to change their medication twice,” he said.

And what does Wal-Mart corporate have to say?Paolucci and Hitchcock e-mailed The Tribune a copy of a letter from a law firm representing Wal-Mart seeking 10 times the retail price of the items the store still claims were shoplifted by Paolucci. The letter states the matter will be dropped if Paolucci submits the $158.40 payment.

Now this is not the first time that Wal-Mart has been perceived as hostile to gay Americans. In 2007, HRC advised against giving our business to Wal-Mart, and just in April of this year, the CEO signed his name to a petition to ban gay couples from adopting.

Wal-Mart doesn’t care about my opinion. And there’s little I can do to impact their decision to treat gay customers with hostility.

But perhaps there are those, even in Niles, MI, who will decide that this situation is just one too many. That they cannot give their custom to bad neighbors. That it may be worth an extra nickle and a further drive to frequent the stores that do not abuse customers solely because they “disapprove of their lifestyle” and who admit it and apologize when they are wrong.

All I can do is spread the word.

Source

As regular readers of this blog know, I watch a lot of Sesame Street since I had my daughter. Before that, not so much, at least, not since my own childhood. But I am part of the original Sesame Street generation: it turns 40 this year---this week is the beginning of the new season---and I turn 40 (gulp) this coming summer. I was pretty much raised on Big Bird and Snuffy and Oscar, learning letters and numbers with them, and I love that my own kid is doing the same, now. (Although right NOW she is watching Barney, which I hate. I know, I know, that's mean. But I can't help it.) Personally, I will be THRILLED for the new season to begin, if only because we have watched all the ones from last year multiple times. As much as I love Neil Patrick Harris as the Fairy Shoeperson, and Sandra Oh as the Cookie Fairy, I'm ready for some new material. Although I never really get tired of Prairie Dawn. I just love that girl.


In other news, how much did I love Taylor Swift on SNL this weekend? I thought she was beyond fab, especially her monologue. If you missed it, it's here:


There was also a great send-up of the Twilight movie, although I kind of missed a lot of the joke because I, um, haven't seen it. I know, I know. I really should, especially with the second one about to come out, for professional research reasons if nothing else. I mean, it's a great thing when a YA book does this well. But honestly, I'm kind of suffering from Twilight burnout even WITHOUT seeing the movie. I mean, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are everywhere these days, and I feel like every time I turn around there's another series about vampires on TV or in the new releases on the bookshelf. And I am just not a vampire/werewolf kind of person. It probably makes me seem wholly unimaginative, but I like stories about real people and real life. This is why I never got into Harry Potter, either (and why my husband maintains I am a Muggle. But whatever).

Finally, on a more serious note, I'm sitting here watching a segment on domestic violence on GMA, and it's breaking my heart. They're talking specifically about teenage girls, and what they are calling the "Rhianna effect," i.e. that since she came forward and talked about being beaten by Chris Brown on Friday night, calls to domestic violence lines---and specifically teen targeted ones---went up considerably. This is an issue close to my own heart, because I wrote a book about a girl in a similar relationship, and since then I have literally gotten hundreds of emails and letters from girls telling me about their own stories with abusive boyfriends. It's a terrible, terrible thing, that this happens, and I so respect Rhianna for coming forward and shedding some bright, needed light on the subject. I was never in an abusive relationship. But several of my close friends, in high school and since, were, and they were not weak women. They were strong and smart and just got overwhelmed. It happens. But it doesn't HAVE to. There are resources and help out there. So if you need it, speak up. Tell a friend, a parent, a clergyperson, a teacher. Tell SOMEONE. Please. The number for National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline is 1-866-331-9474. Their website is here.

I hope you all have a great day.

[25] Spring Awakening Icons



( Another dream, another love you'll hold... )

1. This was the first week of what I'm calling TOFFT: Time Off From Facebook and Twitter. I won't say I've been able to avoid them altogether. At least once a day, I check in and see what's going on, and maybe update. But I USED to be on multiple times a day, updating and checking, and since I've stopped I actually feel better. I think that for me, all that updating and stuff drains the same energy I need to write, and I really need that for writing these days. So if you've been trying to contact me via Facebook or Twitter, I apologize. I'll be back sometime. Maybe in the new year?

2. Someone left a comment the other day, worried about Coco and wanting an update. You ask, I give. (Unless it's on Facebook or Twitter.) So Coco is doing really well. She's basically back to normal, which means following my daughter around vigilantly, waiting for dropped bunny crackers, attacking Monkey for no good reason, and bringing me her chicken to throw whenever I sit down. (In fact, just as I wrote this, she instigated a wild play session with Monkey has them racing back and forth across the house. I wish you could see it.) Anyway, we go back to the vet next week to get another set of x-rays, and that's when we'll see if her spleen is still really enlarged. I am thinking good thoughts. If her outer behavior is any indication, though, she's fine.

3. I was at the mall the other day, on November 2nd, when it happened. The clerk wished me a Merry Christmas. I couldn't help it: like a reflex, I said, "It's too early!" I mean, honestly. In the clerk's defense, though, I WAS buying a Christmas book, Olivia Helps with Christmas, which, incidentally, I now know by heart a mere three days later. I'm sorry but November 2nd is just too early to be wishing anyone anything but Happy Thanksgiving. Am I wrong? Oh, probably. Yet more proof that I am a cranky old woman.

4. In other news, my daughter continues her obsession with her little plastic Jesus Christ action figure. I can't figure it out, as she has TONS of other toys, but she insists on taking J.C. (as we call him) everywhere with us. Now, I am not a religious person. I was not raised in the church, nor was my husband. But we do live in the Bible Belt, so I am very aware that faith is a thing people take seriously, and I do not want J.C. being dragged to Whole Foods or our playgroup to offend anyone. So I went out the other day looking for another action figure that maybe wouldn't be so, um, sacred. I found a Cleopatra, which I thought was great. But Sasha was less than impressed. I mean, she LIKES Cleo okay, but really just as a buddy for J.C. to hang with while we build him block houses. I guess I need to keep looking. Meanwhile, I'll just do my best to make sure J.C. is properly treated. The other day Sasha left him on a table at this clothing boutique, where he was surrounded by lingerie. Not good. I'll work on it.

5. Finally, I'm excited to report that my office is really starting to come together. The bathroom is almost painted, this really nice blue, and the main room is a kind of apricot, the ceilings a bright white. We've ordered cabinets so people don't have to see all my clutter the minute they walk in, and I've pruned down my book collection a bunch so I don't have to haul boxes and boxes of stuff over there and fill it up the second it's done. There are still a few things I need, though. Like I'm thinking I really want to buy a time clock, the kind we used to have at the restaurant, and put it up right by the door. Then I can fill out a time card with my name (and maybe a little heart next to it, like I used to at the Burrito) and clock in whenever I sit down to write, then clock out when I leave. I'm thinking this might help me feel more professional, which I have not been feeling at ALL lately. Mostly because I'm in this weird no-man's land (no woman's?) where i don't have a full time job, but am not a full time stay at home parent either. It's a great thing to be able to hang with my daughter so much, and I wouldn't change it for the world. But it's hard to do all this--writing, blogging, updating, answering emails, just keeping up in general---in only twenty hours a week. I mean, I CAN do it. But I get kind of crabby, and that's not good for everyone. Maybe if I'm clocking in and out, it'll feel more like a real job and I won't feel so guilty about everything I'm not getting done. We'll see.

Have a great day, everyone!

• 17:28 Lots of homework to do, but we will still somehow find time to bake cookies, and, apparently, brownies. Happy 5th of November! #

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