Open mike finder

Want to know where the open mikes are in your area? I just stumbled on a cool website that lists them. Check it out. Openmikes.org.

In passing

NaNoWriMo ends tonight at 11:59:59. I'm glad I'm already done. I would hate to be grinding words out at this late hour but I'm sure people are. Right now the collective word count is 909,464,173. Crazy. So... to commemorate the end of the wonderful madness that is NaNoWriMo, here is a recent photo I took up in Virginia City during my daughter's Thanksgiving visit and a great little poem by A. E. Housman. I think the two compliment one another and NaNoWriMo in a fitting and oblique way.

Infant Innocence
A.E. Housman

The Grizzly Bear is huge and wild;
He has devoured the infant child.
The infant child is not aware
It has been eaten by the bear.

Nevada poetry Housman

New troupe member

A new actor joined the cast here at the Language Barrier's Invisible Theatre over the holiday weekend. She was living up in Virginia City when I spotted these fellows through an open door off the boardwalk. That's her just right of center, between the white lamb and the golden dancer; the one with the long, gray hair.

NaNo's end and holiday cheer

Virginia City, Nevada
Big happings around the Language Barrier. First off, my daughter and her very nice fiance came home for a Thanksgiving visit. We had a great time. Also, I finished NaNoWriMo while they were here. That's 50,000 words in one month, babeee! Naturally my ... uh... novel ... is crap, throat clearing, but I expected that. It was all about the word count. It is a beginning or not but at least I got out from under the boot of the bastard inner editor for a month. And like they say, you can't edit a blank page. Anyway, I hate to disappoint you but that's it for the What I did on Thanksgiving and My NaNoWriMo posts for now. I've got errands to finish before the snow hits. In the meantime, here's a little casino love to keep you going. I recorded this from the platform of the huge, crazy, indoor mining diorama at the Silver Legacy in Reno. Enjoy.




Silver Legacy casino, Reno, Nevada
00:58











nanowrimo

Reality cliff notes

Today at washingtonpost.com Joshua Muravchik, a neoconservative at the American Enterprise Institute, is quoted as saying

"There's a question to be sorted out: whether the war was a sound idea but very badly executed or was the mistake the idea itself?

Hmmm??? Let's see .....
preemptive war....

sound idea very badly executed
or
is the mistake the idea itself?

Rummy or the neocon agenda?
Rummy or the neocon agenda?
Rummy or the neocon (i.e. fascist) agenda?

Warning: plot spoiler ahead...

The geniuses in the neocon think tanks will do their best to keep our focus on Rummy and off themselves and Bush Inc. for as long as we will let them. Heaven forbid any of them should have to take responsibility for anything! But it's an obvious answer so I'm not really spoiling anything when I say that, even beyond the fact that the "reasons" they gave us were big fat lies, invading Iraq was a very bad idea. Using the American military or mercenaries to invade sovereign nations is a terrible, terrible idea and if you have half a brain or one quarter ounce of moral fiber you know it too so why should we pretend otherwise or wait for a cabal of spiritually retarded geniuses to decide for us?

Ken Adelman (the guy who famously said that invading Iraq would be a "cakewalk") is suffering from shattered ideals: "The whole philosophy of using American strength for good in the world, for a foreign policy that is really value-based instead of balanced-power-based, I don't think is disproven by Iraq. But it's certainly discredited."

Actions speak louder than words, Ken.

Ken is right about one thing though. Invading Iraq did make "them" more "like us" ... violent.

But I indulge myself. It's still November, NaNoWriMo time. I've got miles to write before I sleep.






iraq neoconservatism bush

Life beyond NaNoWriMo?

Twilight.
Nevada State Legislature
from Comma Coffee

I didn't get any writing done today and less than a thousand yesterday so tomorrow it's back to Comma Coffee for a NaNoDay ... just me and the laptop, no editor, no plot, no problem. I'm doing okay, 38,008 words - 51 pages, but I have to keep at it. I would like to be done by the time my daughter and her finance arrive next week for Thanksgiving. Here's what's odd. At this point I have separation anxiety whenever I think about finishing this thing. I have grown very fond of NaNoWriMo.










NaNoWriMo

Marvel Meal, a winter delight

As Thanksgiving and winter are upon us it's time to whip up that first batch of Marvel Meal for the birds, so here's the recipe. It's tasty, nutritious and, best of all, vegetarian. It doesn't get any better than that. Just be sure the birds have access to water when you give them Marvel Meal or anything containing peanut butter. Birds have small throats and have been known to choke to death on peanut butter.

Louie's Stamp of Approval

Marvel Meal

Mix together:

1 cup peanut butter (crunchy or plain but NOT SALTED*)
1 cup vegetable shortening (like Crisco)
4 cups cornmeal (yellow is higher in vitamin A)
1 cup white flour
It makes a soft dough that you can put in a suet log or basket.
Store in the refrigerator or freezer.

~ from ornithologist John Terres

*SALT IS VERY BAD FOR BIRDS. IT CAN KILL THEM SO BE SURE TO USE UNSALTED PEANUTBUTTER.

Litte Cat and Lucy

I spent the afternoon at the Comma again today working on my word count, aka NaNo novel. There was a bit of drama there the other day. Little Cat found Lucy the Snake after she had been missing and feared dead for over a week. Some kid let her out. It was a true Comma drama. As it turned out Lucy was hiding under the dresser where her terrarium sits and Little Cat, now local hero, sniffed her out.


I made of video of Lucy gulping water after returning home from her harrowing misadventure but unfortunately last night it "went away" while I was trying to edit it down. I don't exactly know what happened other than the fact that I shouldn't fiddle with shit when I'm already too tired to sleep.

Anyway, here's another video from the Comma....

LITTLE CAT & COFFEE STRAW
00:18

Call for horses - S. 1915

Please take a minute and help pass a permanent ban on the business of selling American's mustangs for slaughter. There is only a few days left for the Senate to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503/S. 1915)! The House of Representatives passed their vote against this dreadful practice in September (H.R. 503). Now the Senate must pass S. 1915, their version of the same bill before it becomes law. Help flood Senate offices with phone calls urging them to vote for S. 1915.

You can find your Senator's phone number here.

Please call. It only takes a minute but it is a matter of life or death for horses. Help save America's wild horses.

Let them stay wild and free!

Here's a script from the American Humane Society if you're at a loss for words:

"I am a constituent and I am calling to ask that my Senator immediately protect our horses from slaughter and cosponsor S. 1915, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. I am very concerned about American horses and I don't want them slaughtered."

save wild horses Senate bill S. 1915 mustang

Poetry notebook update

I recently added several poems to the notebook section of my website. I also posted some other of my writings a little harder to categorize that loosely falls into the catch all category, flash fiction. I put them under the heading Fourth Wall. I'm always torn between posting work online before I've tried submitting it to a few print journals. So many publications only want unpublished work but I decided to do it anyway. Journals that are willing to use already published material have the right idea. Share and share alike.








poetry writing fourth wall

Crow stop

I shouldn't be fiddling with my blog right now. I have to catch up on my word count after yesterday's slump so this has to be quick. I just put some goodies out in the Bird Park and almost instantly ten crows dropped out of the sky for an afternoon snack. Must be a sentry posted in the crow's nest today. News traveled suspiciously fast. I tried to get a photo but they don't like their picture taken. This is the best I could do because I gotta go.







Bye-bye. Off to NaNo land.