Falling Back

Daylight Savings has always been a difficult transition for me, but because of World Fantasy, I believe I am now acclimated to falling back. Except for how I judge the time when the sunsets.

World Conventions

Going to Worldcon earlier this year prepared me a little for World Fantasy. So I thought. Intense intense intense. I need to take care of myself more b/c I know more people here. More later.

I Have a Ridiculous Blog Backlog

Because I've been focused on my living my life rather than writing about it. But the backlog is beckoning.

Found: Bits of Red Cloth Belonging Elsewhere

Acquired: Chennai, India
Worn: Never
A swath of burgundy silk about three feet long and one and half feet wide, one end embroidered with gold thread in an intricate heart, paisley and pillar design. The other ends are frayed and must be finished.
Belongs: London, United Kingdom

Acquired: San Jose, California
Worn: Once in Orlando, Florida
Two straps, apple colored, each one and a half foot long. Each end has a black medal hook sewn between two plastic snaps that barely held up a strapless dress which nevertheless had revealed an unslightly V-neck sunburn.
Belongs: Bridesmaid Dress Retirement Purgatory

Acquired: Can't Remember
Worn: Multiple Gigs Up and Down the San Francisco Peninsula
A sleeveless silk shirt paired with a vintage 1940s black suit, worn in performance for World War II veterans and others of their generation.
Belongs: Elsewhere

Congrats Mary Anne on Her New Baby!

My Clarion instructor Mary Anne Mohanraj has given birth to her second child and has posted pics up of her very cute new baby Anandan.

Found: Blue Make Up

Four shades of blue eyeshadow bought for an 80s party with light blue eyeliner. Also in the box: blue metallic eyelashes, blue lipstick, blue face glitter for my costume once upon a Halloween. No, I was not a Smurf, but the Blue Fairy, not Andrew Lang's collection, but the character who turned Pinnochio into a real boy. I wore a blue puffy dress with matching heels, blue butterfly wings made from real feathers, and white and blue rhinestone jewelry out sparkling my wand made from a toy baton, a bent wire hanger, and layers of aluminum foil. Besides the wand, thrown out long ago, the tiny tiara with a clear drop of jewel is still lost.

A Jar Full of G.I. Joes

While on a lunch walk, one of my best friends and I discovered a fabulous place in Redwood City called Curious Things. What drew us in was the display next to the door featuring a blood red, black horned two-foot tall figurine of the demon from the movie Legend, the one starring a very Puckish-like Tom Cruise.

As we entered this toy shop, all the walls on one side were filled with Hot Wheels, and as we wandered from tiny toy-covered room to tiny toy-covered room, we were brought back to our childhood. They had a Transformers room with an actual giant Constructicon, lime green and only slightly used, in a glass display case right next to a rather well-loved Soundwave and a partially transformed Dinobot, the Stegasaurous, whose name I have forgotten.

Not all the glass covered displays were so neatly organized. My favorite was perhaps a glass cookie jar half full (or half empty) with an assortment of G.I. Joes.

The Star Wars toys were right next to the Transformers, and they had three different tie fighters, and on one wall only, three different versions of Princess Leia--Leia from the end of Episode IV holding a medal (that is alas not for Chewie), another Leia from Episode IV in the white robe and cinnamon buns hair style (she was paired with a mini R2D2), and finally Ewok Lei with her hair all down and dressed all in green like Robin Hood (partnered with one of the Ewoks, Wicket, I think).

The comic book themed room had one wall completely dedicated to Marvel characters that came with their own comic books. Some of these were truly vintage, ranging from Silver Surfer at $30 to Black Cat costing $55 to Red Skull, the most expensive, at $75. I was especially amused to see two versions of Phoenix (aka Jean Grey in the movies) and startled to find that the Red Phoenix ($60) with white blank eyes was twice as much as the Green Phoenix ($30) with painted in eyes. In the corner of the Marvel room lived more modern characters from the worlds of Spawn and Harry Potter.

There were other rooms, but lunch hour did not allow for more exploration. I shall definitely return!

My Clarion Class Rocks

When I began my MFA program two years ago, I was told by one of my professors not to worry about selling to markets but to focus on craft of writing. So I did. I wrote and critiqued and taught and critiqued, just like a good student should. And I attended the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Workshop in San Diego during my '08 summer break and met all these amazing writers who were not only amazingly talented, they were very serious about selling to the science fiction and fantasy markets. Over a year after my Clarion class has disbanded, there's too much good news that I can hardly keep up with it. One of my Clarion classmates Sarah has collected a nice long list.