Streaming Consciousness: A Post-Birthday Pictorial...

...gentle readers, pray forgive the lateness of this week's post. I traveled for my birthday this past weekend (Dec. 21 was the day; no, it's not too late to buy/send me something fabulous) and got in late last night. The Kid returned from skewl while I was away, so we had a bit of catching up to do, thus, I'd no time to write this week's post till today. I present for your visual pleasure a pictorial of my birthday trip to our nation's capital, Washington D.C...

...I began my day with the local brew,
possibly my new preferred brand,
Zombie Coffee...

...I wasn't able to capture the "Happy birthday Mina!" Google wished me,
though I did snag the doodle...

...I realized I hadn't packed my Kindle power cord, so I stopped by the local bookstore and picked up a Regency romance
(though the gowns on the cover seem more Georgian than Regency, to me),
April Lady, by one of my fave authors, Georgette Heyer...

...when My Dear Friend Sara Leigh joined me, we betook ourselves to a place I've longed wanted to visit, the International Spy Museum. There, I was astonished to learn all of the truly wretched things humans are capable of doing to learn one another's secrets while keeping others from learning theirs...

 

...for dinner, we adjourned to a lovely place Sara Leigh'd introduced me to some years ago, Co Co. Sala: Chocolate Lounge and Boutique
(the image below is of Sara Leigh's dessert,
as I'm damned if I'll share even just pictures of mine)...

...the following day we headed over to The Phillips Collection (America's First Museum of Modern Art!) to check out, among other things,
Van Gogh's Repetitions...

Vincent van Gogh [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

...as I noted on Facebook recently, my age no longer equals the answer to life, the universe, and everything, alas. 42 saw me reach the high of self-publishing my debut romance novel, That Fatal Kiss, and the low of pining for my own, seemingly impossible, romance. I don't mind telling you that I both marvel at, and fear, what 43 may bring...

But as long as Goth Mom Lite's got her mascara and red lipstick,
she aims to roll with the punches as best she can...

Streaming Consciousness: Odds & Ends

But mostly odds, because I am. Odd, that is.

C'mon, now, you knew that about me already.

...so, like, I haven't had a cigarette since about 4:35pm, Monday, August 19, 2013. Prior to that, I'd smoked for about 26 years. On the bright side, the antidepressant I'm on is also prescribed, in lower doses, for help with smoking cessation. On the dark side (my favorite), there have been moments when I feel I shoulda been strapped up like my good friend Monty Burns, over to the right. And not just for the kink factor, either. Anyway, I've already seen some good results (food tastes better, Yay!) and some bad (I've been carb-craving like a MoFo, Booo!). I didn't say anything about this sooner 'cause whenever I try to do something like this and blab about it, I always crap out. But so far, so good...

...took The Kid back up to skewl for his second year of college. Dang. Second year of college. Wow. I mentioned a few months ago that I'm mostly over Empty Nest Syndrome. It should be noted, though, that the remnants of ENS manifest as a desperate need to feed people, along with me tossing out stuff like, "You're not going out in this weather without a coat?!" Which everybody loves...

...I've set my release date my debut fantasy romance novel, That Fatal Kiss, for

TUESDAY,

SEPTEMBER 24, 2013

W00T, W00T, W0000000000T! 

The e-book, anyway. I want to have a paperback available for folks who don't cotton to books in digital, but that may be somewhat delayed. (The best laid plans of mice and men...)

Meanwhile, if you'd like to read a sexy excerpt from That Fatal Kiss, click here. Or check out this interview of my heroine, Persephone, and hero, Hades, the Lady and Lord of the ancient Greek Underworld.

Stop by on release day and enter a comment for your chance to win a free copy of the e-book! And don't forget to spread the word!

Streaming Consciousness: The Post-Birthday Edition

I began this post bitching about my Kid, and then about annoying couples, but decided to spare y'all the goth mom angst and just focus on the good birthday stuff instead.

...I let Balthazar accompany me to one of two museum visits I'd planned for the day. We went to The Whitney Museum on the upper east side of Manhattan, to check out two exhibits that are right up my alley: Sinister Pop and Dark and Deadpan: Pop in TV and the Movies. Both focused on Pop Art of/in the 60s, an era which rather fascinates me. (I'm especially into the surf culture—it's the ginchiest!) We sort of split up to check stuff out independently. By the time we reunited to grab a bite in the museum's cafe, I'd been thoroughly distracted from my earlier teen-induced upset by all the art and films and whatnot. I'd had a thoroughly engrossing art experience which, admittedly, made me think a whole lot more than I usually care to, but still, I enjoyed the stretching of my poor remaining gray cells. Balthazar and I had a nice meal together, talking about what we'd seen, what we'd enjoyed, what we hadn't, etc. Then he buggered off back home to hang out with his friends, which was fine with me, because...

...my next stop was the Museum of Sex on Fifth and 27th, so I could cheer myself up with some smut. They have their standard exhibits (one examines sex in the animal kingdom, which is very educational indeed and absolutely the right place to take your kids if you really want them to learn about the birds and the bees), as well as more ephemeral installations. Right now, there's Universe of Desire, (though the Web site claims it would be gone after Nov. 4), which examines what turns the world on as evidenced by activity on the World Wide Web, as well as other electronic media. (Makes one more inclined to launch "Private Browsing" or its nearest relative when surfing the Web, eh what?) I have to admit to averting my gaze on more than one occasion for fear of succumbing to the vapors, but mostly I was able to look at all the kink square in the...well, you know.

...the next day, Saturday, I took myself to the Elektra Theater (at Times Scare) to see Silence! The Musical. This "unauthorized parody of The Silence of the Lambs" was hi-larious. The music was ok, the best of which, for me, was Hannibal Lechter's sweeping anthem, If I Could Smell Her Cunt. The gal currently playing Clarice Starling, Pamela Bob, executed the role masterfully, a high point for me being her response to Jack Crawford when he told her to stay put while he and the other FBI menfolk went to collect Buffalo Bill. Remember that scene in the movie? I remember feeling outraged that, after all the work Starling did, she'd be denied the glory of catching the murderer. Well, in the musical, Starling expresses that outrage with a convincingly stupefied monologue that riffs on the words, "What the fuck?" to uproarious effect. Loved it. Go see it, if you can.

...finally, on Sunday I took myself to see Hitchcock, starring Anthony Hopkins (neat little connection with the above, huh?) and Helen Mirren. It was a bit slow-moving, though enjoyable. I thought it would focus more on the quirks and foibles of making the film, but the emphasis seemed to be more on the relationship between Hitchcock and his wife Alma. After the film, I had to pick up the book upon which it was based, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho by Stephen Rebello, as well as a honking huge book on pop art, Pop by Mark Francis & Hal Foster.

And that's about the extent of my birthday shenanigans. Please check back on New Year's Day for a topical post on facing the consequences of the previous night's revelry...

Streaming Consciousness...

I'm introducing a new feature to my blog, "Streaming Consciousness." I was gonna call it "Random Streams" but there are already way too many blog posts (and blogs) with the word "random" in their titles. So yeah, I'm just going to babble on, without rhyme or reason. (As per usual...)

...you may be wondering about the image on the right. Well, it's there 'cause Burns' dilated eyes remind me of one of my fave Simpsons episodes, the X-Files crossover. Also, I adore potatoes. Fried, mashed, hash-browned, nice and salty, mmmmm... ::licks chops::

...chops, by the way, is short for Pork Chops, a pejorative used to refer to Portuguese folk. You may not know this expression if you've not lived near/around them. Strangely, it's never offended me, as I was inordinately pleased we had any kind of slang term associated with us. Since many folks I run into have no idea what or who the Portuguese are, I guess I prefer a slur to obscurity (as does this blogger). Some Portuguese of my acquaintance consider Pork Chop an endearing epithet and often use it self-referentially (as folks in my family do)...

...my friend Nikki and I saw Paranorman Saturday night. It was a cute, entertaining, and sometimes really gross film. In our opinion, the best of the flick came in the last 10 or 15 minutes, which were dramatic indeed. And I would've taken a different angle in resolving the major conflict of the story (don't want to spoil things here, as the movie's only just opened). Still, it was a bit of Halloweenish fun in balmy August, which only whet my appetite for autumn (as well as for Hotel Transylvania and Frankenweenie, coming to theaters near you at the end of September/start of October, respectively). I'll caution parents of very young children that, though the previews for Paranorman look fairly innocent, it is rated PG and I wouldn't say it's appropriate for children under the age of maybe 9 or 10 (of course, you know your kids' ability to handle violence and gore better than I)...

...I continue to experience surreal dreams. In last night's, I was the object of great sympathy from family and friends as I prepared to marry a man by the name of Carlos de Castro. He was a nice-looking fella (who slightly resembled a friend from the first college I attended and with whom I'm completely out of touch), that I saw at the ceremony only. It was depressing how sad folks'd seemed that I needed to marry this dude, when there was nothing (apparently) wrong with him. Though I don't personally know anyone by this name, I've since learned it's the moniker of a footballer from Uruguay and was reminded it's the name of the Portuguese journalist who was found murdered (and castrated!) in a hotel in Times Square last year. (Quelle bizarre...)

...speaking of bizarre, on Sunday I watched the full six-episode IFC series Bullet in the Face, which I quite enjoyed, though it disturbs me somewhat that I find the lead psycho, Gunter Volger (played by Max Williams) dangerously attractive, if Joker-esque. ::shrugs:: I don't normally go for blonds but I dig this character's hairstyle and, I have to admit, he's got a killer grin (pun intended). It ended on a cliff-hanger, leaving me with the reasonable hope for a second season of this off-kilter action/thriller/comedy...

...I'm researching tattoos; these images have caught my fancy: Celtic Moon, Stars Tribal Tattoo, Sun. Celestial combos also appeal, like this one, or this one. I'm not sure where on my bod to put it/them. I want to be able to see it/them easily without having to contort myself Kama Sutra style (especially without a partner), but don't want the average Joe or Jane to be able to see it/them without express permission from moi. Decisions, decisions...Meanwhile, as I agonize over my as-yet-unchosen-tat(s), I think I'll purchase something less angst-inducing (and probably way less permanent)—the Kindle Keyboard 3G. Any o' y'all use that bad boy? Got any feedback on it for me?