Apropos of nothing:
I meant to do my work today,
But a brown bird sang in the apple tree,
And a butterfly flitted across the field,
And all the leaves were calling me.
And the wind went sighing over the land,
Tossing the grasses to and fro,
And a rainbow held out its shining hand,
So what could I do but laugh and go?
— Richard LeGallienne
My essay “Take a trip and never leave the farm” is up at Storytellers Unplugged. I spent some time revising it as I posted this morning, then edited a book review, but didn’t get it finished. I’ve mostly been dabbling this week. I have “great plans” for what I’m going to get done while I’m on the road to Japan next week, but I’ll probably not get anything done at all. I have a Cemetery Dance column due the Monday after I get back, so I’d at least like to have that mostly in hand.
Criminal Minds was strange last night. I wasn’t paying full attention, so I missed how Gideon and Ms Computer Nerd ended up in the predator room of the museum. This is the second CBS series to end with a threat to the show’s central organization that hinges upon the actions of one of its members. Last week it was The Unit and now a woman with a poorly defined motive for ruining someone’s career has it out for the head of the behavioral unit. Seemed kinda lame to me.
Lost, on the other hand, rocked. I can barely wait to find out what they have in store for us next week, but it’s bound to shake things up and have a ton o’stuff we aren’t expecting.
Found out mail incoming to my bevvincent.com address has been bouncing for a while. No idea how long, which sucks. It’s fixed now, but if perchance you’ve been trying to reach me on that addy, please resend. That’s the address I use for most of my submissions, so it doubly sucks.
The heating coil on my lava lamp broke yesterday. A lightbulb provides the heat, but a little circular coil element sealed inside the lamp is what distributes the heat evenly. The lamp must be seven year old, so I guess the element must have corroded. Stretched out, it no longer will sit in the bottom, so the whole thing’s cock-eyed and out of wack, plus there are bits of broken element caught up in the wax. Time for a replacement, I guess. It sits on my desk at work. Since I have a full-wall window behind me, I never have the overhead fluorescent lights on, so the lava lamp provides additional ambiance to my office.
I finished Blaze by Richard Bachman last night. It’s a little melodramatic in places and is definitely rooted in a past era, but it’s a nice book. A tragedy, but I think any book that makes you root for a kidnapping murderer shows impressive strength of characterization. Unfortunately, I knew the whole story before I started it, so I had no suspense about the outcome. The most interesting aspect of the book is the odd relationship between Blaze and George. I won’t say more about that yet, but will later once more people read the book.
