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Van Nuys, California
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7-29-99
NEWSFLASH!
Yesterday, July 28th, Wednesday, I became a Thank you for your kind wishes, everyone!
Next week, I promise to post a picture of me, holding a US Flag, and wearing a... well, I am not going to give it away now, so go read the report above and find out! :-)
7-24-99
NEWSFLASH!
Lots of stuff happening, too much to get into, and more that I would've liked, over these two weeks of my so-called "vacation" between jobs.
I did manage to clean some of my "office" room, but only discovered what a monstrous task it is! The carpet is now visible, but there is so much crap lying around, besides papers! Just -- stuff! Crapola! Notepads and office supplies and books (ok, that part is not crap) and -- oh lord, I don't know what to do with it! Anyway, that's just one more thing there, for me to deal with.
One of my old cats, Seryozha, a gray longhair 16-year old sweetie, is now in the emergency animal hospital. It is now the 4th day he's been there (yes, I will be splitting payment for this on two credit cards *sigh*), and I am supposed to be finally taking him home tomorrow, because, thank the lord almighty, it is NOT kidney failure, it is NOT cancer, but it was simply a case of a horrible infection due to two old remaining incisor teeth (he has had the rest of his teeth removed about 7 years ago, and these two incisors were the only ones left) and a swollen jaw (which the nice vet arranged to extract free of charge, because a vet assistant needed to learn the dental procedure). Anyway, today when we visited him in the hospital, the little old boy was doing great! For the last two days he's been basically recovering from nearly having died when I first brought him in on Tuesday (he was in a horrible condition, unable to open his mouth to eat, his eye was infected, he was dehydrated despite my efforts to use an eyedropper to put liquid down his throat for 2 days), and here he was on IV fluid, recuperating, so it really was the teeth causing his infection! Anyway, all is gonna be ok. *big grin of relief* The only bummer is, I haven't slept for 2 nights from stress (did 2 non-consequtive allnighters), and this has NOT been a real vacation. I am exhausted. I cannot deal with the coming week....
I start my new job on Monday. *nervous*
On Wednesday I have to take the morning off to go take the Citizenship Oath downtown (after just starting the new job, tacky, isn't it?) *sigh*
I cannot wait for this week to end -- and it hasn't even started yet....
Oh yes. A former co-worker from my second to last tech support job had died from cancer over the last weekend. Rest in peace, Roger Levin.
There's more minor shit, but I don't even want to deal with talking about it.
{{{Bear hugs}}} to Lisa Silverthorne who just came back from a glorious vacation only to find out her father has been hospitalized again, and to her poor cat Marshall, also at the vet. *sigh* Hang in there, Lisa!!!
Isn't this depressing?
Hey, some good news for a change!! Yeah!
Ok, good news. In fact, great news! Tippi N. Blevins' story "The Dog-Faced Boy and the Amazing Winged Man" which had originally appeared in the first SFF Net Anthology BETWEEN THE DARKNESS AND THE FIRE, has made the Preliminary Nebula Ballot! WOOOHOOO, Tippipoo!! :-) This is the same story that had recently won the Speculations Reader Poll!
I am sure there are other good news around the NAW, but you can see I've been so damn busy lately that I am forgetting. :-)
Oh, and NAW folks, thanks for either "going on hiatus" or updating your journals at least once a month. It's not so hard, is it? Great. Of course it isn't.
Carry on. :-)
7-15-99
NEWSFLASH!
This Tuesday, my mom's Citizenship case has been approved! Wooohoo!!! Finally, all is well! The long and excruciating multi-year journey has ended. :-)
I am trying to clean and organize my room. This is a herculean task. First, you have to understand that you have a classic slob before you. Second, this slob is wracked by the inability to make decisions as to what papers to throw out and what to keep. Third, this slob is honestly unsure of HOW the hell to organize this small room so that all the papers (that she eventually decided to keep) have a neat place, and the floor (ok, the icky brown carpet) sees the light of day.
Last night I started to organize. I got file folders. I labeled file folders. I ran out of file folders and labels for the aforementioned file folders. Now I managed to organize some of the old paid bills over the last year, and now I need to start CLEARING the damn floor! Please, ye gods! HELP your weak and slobby slave! Help me to make Amber out of this Chaos!!! !@#$%^&*()!
I am also working on a story for Lee Martindale's SUCH A PRETTY FACE anthology (with a deadline of July 31st, so I'd better hurry up). As soon as that's done, I plan to return to the Ruricca novel. Yes, this time I REALLY mean it.
Talking about, congratulations to Paula E. Fleming on her sale to SUCH A PRETTY FACE! And congratulations to Marcie Tentchoff on the sale of her poem to Weird Tales! :-)
Today's NAWticism comes from Linda J. Dunn: "One of the things I love about fiction is that I can always revise. Life is all first draft and there are no editors."
7-10-99
NEWSFLASH!
I'm free! :-)
Last night was my last day with my tech support job, and I have a nice vacation and time of rest before I start my new manager job.
Some great news: I will take the US Citizenship Oath on July 28th at 8:00 AM in the Los Angeles Convention Center! Woooohooo!!! Finally, after all these years, I'll be a US Citizen! :-) And a huge thank you to all of you for your kind congratulations in your journals!
Some not so good news: my mother's Citizenship case is stuck. Until she can get local police clearance because her fingerprints don't go through, she cannot be a Citizen. The INS officer cannot do anything. I guess it's up to me. Next week I'll be working on that. Enough said. :-(
Congratulations to Kurt for his third sale to the cat mystery anthology! Woohoo, Mr. Kurtis Roth!
Congratulations to Ron Collins on his sale to Pulp Eternity, and on a gorgeous new web look and all-family domain called The Typosphere. :-)
Have a wonderful Seattle vacation on the Sound, Lisa Silverthorne and Patricia Duffy Novak! I am looking forward to seeing you both next month at NASFiC!
Congrats to a canine celebrity in our midst! Tamela Viglione's dog Wolfie is going to be on the cover of a doggie pee-pad product (don't even ask me what that means). *grin* And you know what, Tamela? Your post about vinegar got me wanting to have some vinegar too!
Here's an announcement thanks to Dorothy Rothschild, our own prestigious Fullbright Award winning NAW member. Dorothy writes to say that the Fullbright can be awarded to writers! For more information, please check out Fullbright Fellowships in Creative Writing.
In other news, British magazine Odyssey SF edited by Liz Holliday, has folded. That's a darn shame. It was an excellent magazine. Wishing Liz the best of luck in her other projects, including Valkyrie.
GENERAL MESSAGE to the NAW: Folks, if you don't update your journals at least once a month, I am afraid I will take you off the active list. If you have to leave NAW or go on hiatus, please let me know, like Nikki Burris has -- thanks, Nikki! -- and I will simply inactivate you temporarily. Remember, you can always come back, but there's nothing sadder to see than an abandoned journal. I've sent out some e-mails to some of you -- you know who you are. :-) Starting next week, I will be inactivating folks, and then removing them off the list altogether.
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