My semi-annual geek tee stock-up
Posted: April 4, 2015 Filed under: On me | Tags: geekery, t-shirts Leave a commentTen months ago I posted about my geek t-shirt collection (I don’t own any regular t-shirts), with pictures of my five favourite geek tees. Sadly, my Statler and Waldorf and Scooby Doo ones have died, and the Minecraft one isn’t fit to leave the house in — although it is still very comfy. (I am wearing it as I draft this.)
So I ordered four new t-shirts to replace them. And they have arrived. SO EXCITE!
Note: I’ve included buy links on each of the shirt names if you want to be cool like me. 😉
Guardians of the Galaxy
Because I am a giant greenie at heart. Also, I am Groot. (I got this in the chocolate brown, because brown is my favourite colour. Because I am a greenie and love the Earth, I guess? And also, more realistically, because chocolate.)
Firefly
I couldn’t pass this up when I saw it. Kaylee is just the most adorable character ever written, and also, notice how she’s been drawn with some curves, not just up top but down below too? I like that.
Doctor Who meets Firefly
Because if Captain Mal were ever given the chance to steal a TARDIS, he’d be on that like Kaylee on a strawberry. Like Jayne on Vera. You know what I’m sayin’.
Doctor Who meets Frozen
There is the risk that this t-shirt will cement Do You Wanna Build a Snowman in my subconscious even more firmly than it already is, but that is a chance I am prepared to take.
What is your favourite t-shirt? Linkies, because I always need more. I DO!
Notions of Beauty, or Why I Hate Seinfeld
Posted: March 10, 2015 Filed under: On me Leave a commentI’ve never been traditionally beautiful. Even when I was a fit seventeen-year-old, walking an hour a day with a backpack full of books and a high metabolism, I wasn’t. I’ve got some major eye issues — which my poor boy has unfortunately inherited with a side-order of extra crap that is recessive in me and I never knew about. I’ve had glasses since I was a toddler and my left eye tends to wander, especially when I’m tired. My sole criterion for a good photo of me when I was younger was, “Are both my eyes pointed the same direction?”
If my curly hair wasn’t frizzy, that was a bonus.
This was basically me.
Still, one of the benefits of getting older — at least for me — is that I’ve grown more comfortable in my skin. I’m no longer the fit seventeen-year-old that I was, but I’ve at least figured out which way to stand to get that bloody left eye to cooperate, and found a hair product that tames the frizz.
But there’s a health issue that’s recently cropped up for me. One that’s made me as self-conscious about my appearance as I was when I was a pimply teenager.
When I was in my early 20s I was diagnosed with nodules on my thyroid. They were small and benign, and the specialist said that he wouldn’t do anything to treat them until I was done having kids. I was meant to get them scanned every couple of years, but with one thing and another I kind of lost track of it. For over a decade. (Oops…)
Then, last year, I went to a friend’s birthday party. He was running around with his new camera, and snapped a few pictures of me. When I saw them, I was quietly horrified. Sure, the Eye was behaving and my hair was okay, but what the hell was going on with my throat?!
Turns out that, in the last decade, those nodules have been slowly growing. Now the biggest of them is over 3cm long, and it’s got a bunch of smaller friends. The end result is that I have a visible goitre. It’s been increasingly noticeable in photos over the last year or two, and now I’m aware of it, it’s all I can see. (It’s even in my profile pic on this blog, which makes me want to set everything on fire.)
And, dear glob, I hate it. Because books and fashion magazines tell us that women are meant to have swan-like necks. And because, not long before I got the original diagnosis, I saw an episode of Seinfeld where Elaine went to see a person with a goitre and oh god, cue the laugh track.
Because physical deformity is funny, yo.
I’ve got a friend who’s a Seinfeld nut, and he assures me that the source of the show’s humour was in the characters’ inappropriate, awful reactions when presented with things that were abnormal. And that may be true, but it doesn’t really help me be comfortable with my “abnormality”. (And since I hate pranks and laughing at others’ expense, that’s why I will always and forever hate that show. Sorry, Mikey.)
Anyway, I got a referral to a specialist back in December, and am waiting impatiently for my appointment. Because now I’m not planning more children. And maybe it’s just because I’ve become more aware of my throat over the past three months, but I can feel the pressure when I swallow now. It’s like having something stuck in my throat. Not cool, body! So it’s definitely time to treat this sucker.
Apparently my choices are radioactive iodine treatment or surgery. I’m barracking* for the first option, because I’m hopeful I’ll get superpowers. And the idea of deliberately letting someone cut my throat makes me want to run screaming.
* Barrack (Australian English) v:to shout boisterously for or against a player or team; root** or jeer.
**Root (Australian and NZ English) v: a replacement for the f-bomb. Eg “you’re rooted” or “let’s root”.
I feel like I should end this post with a well-constructed argument about how people should be careful when making fun of something that another person can have or be. And there is something to that. But the truth is that I’m terrified about posting this in the first place — especially since I almost never post personal things on the intertubes — so a well-constructed argument is beyond me. So instead I will end with a cat giving a high five.
Superpowers, ahoy!
New year’s resolutions: 2015 edition
Posted: December 30, 2014 Filed under: On Books, On me, On writing | Tags: Isla's Inheritance, Isla's Oath, Lucid Dreaming, Melpomene's Daughter, new year's resolutions, Tammy Calder, top ten tuesday 2 Comments
Top Ten Tuesday is a bookish meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, and it is loads of fun. You should all partake of it. PARTAKE! (Please imagine I said that in my best Dalek voice.) This week’s theme is: “Top Ten Goals/Resolutions For 2015 — bookish, blogging or otherwise!”
I’ve discovered over the last two years that blogging about my goals is a really great way to hold myself accountable, and make sure I actually do the things I set out to do.
2014 recap
Celebrate the launch of Isla’s Inheritance in October (or thereabouts). Convince as many of you as possible to buy it. Check. Sort of. I dunno if I’ve convinced as many of you as possible. I mean, I haven’t paid people with kittens or threatened dire consequences if people don’t. But people
have read
it, and left nice reviews around the place. So I’m pretty happy about that.
Finish writing and editing the third book in Isla’s trilogy, so it’s ready to go to Turquoise Morning Press when they ask for it. Check. Right now, I’m actually halfway through re-reading it after the second-round edits from TMP. I really love this story, you guys. I know we’re not meant to have favourites among our children, but of the Isla’s Inheritance trilogy, the third book in the series, Melpomene’s Daughter, is definitely my favourite. Shh!
Find a home for Lucid Dreaming, whether that be via the agent/traditional press route or the small press route. This is the one resolution I have’t yet been successful on, for reasons that would require another blog post. But I have a plan of action. Hopefully I’ll be able to share something with you around the middle of next year. (By the way, there’s a lesson in this for everyone: don’t set goals that are outside your control. You can’t make people offer on your manuscripts, and sometimes people love them but don’t offer on them anyway, for market reasons or list reasons or whatever. Publishing is a tricky thing.)
Start writing something else. Possibly a sequel to Lucid Dreaming, although there’s that steampunk I’ve been thinking about for aaaages. I’m currently 18,000 words into the aforementioned steampunk, although the steampunk elements are actually pretty light. A year later, I describe it as historical fantasy. 🙂 I also self-published a novella under another pen name, Tammy Calder. It’s 8500 words long.
That means in 2014 I wrote…a lot of words. Probably in the order of 70,000, counting Melpomene’s Daughter, although I didn’t track it. And that doesn’t count blog posts and reviews. Whew. Chuck Wendig estimated he wrote 750,000 words this year, but we can’t all be Chuck, I guess! (I can’t even grow a beard.)
Read. I’ll set my Goodreads target to 40 again, see how it goes. Kicked this one out of the ballpark.
2015 goals
Reading goals
Read lots of books. I’ve set my Goodreads target to 40 again, with the caveat that childrens books and novellas don’t count. If I read 10 of those, I need to read 50 titles overall. Otherwise I have to wear the cone of shame.
Read a variety of Australian books. I’m also doing the Aussie Readers challenge over at Goodreads. For that, I need to read 12 books by Australian writers in 12 different genres. I’ll post my choices in a blog post in the new year. I’m looking forward to it — it’s a very exciting list!
Read books by Australian women. I’m also going to do the Australian Women Writers challenge again in 2015. There’s a lot of overlap between this list and number two, I confess — currently my Aussie readers challenge list only includes one bloke. Still, since this year I read and reviewed 11 books by Australian women, my plan for 2015 is to set my own goal of 15. I think I can do it, and it means this challenge is pushing me further than the previous one. Otherwise, what’s the point?
Writing and publishing goals
Release Isla’s Oath and Melpomene’s Daughter on time, with as much fanfare as I can manage. The former is scheduled for release on 20 January, and the latter for the week of 20 April (I don’t have an exact date). SO EXITE! Isla’s Oath is already available for preorder a
nd is on NetGalley, but I still have some promo stuff to finish off. And as I mentioned, Melpomene’s Daughter is still in the editing process. Busy busy busy.
Finish my historical fantasy. The four other novels (and even the novella) I’ve written have been urban fantasy, and the novels have all been in the first person. Switching to historical fantasy and the third person has required a massive change of gears. But I’ve wanted to tell this story for three years now, and the thrill of actually seeing it come to life is pretty high. Sure, there are growing pains, but that’s to be expected. And fixing it afterwards is what edits are for!
Give Lucid Dreaming the attention it deserves. I love this book, you guys. At least as much as Melpomene’s Daughter. I’ve neglected it a bit this year — having three books scheduled for release over the space of seven months does tend to eat up your time — but 2015 will be its year. I promise. *pats manuscript reassuringly*
Write another novella for Tammy Calder. Enough said about that. 😉
Blog at least twice a week. This will require some planning, since I’m going away to the coast with my son and some friends for a week at the end of January (a few days after Isla’s Oath comes out — oops), but I can do it. I don’t need to sleep, right?
What are your goals for this year, reading, writing or otherwise?
Getting to know me, with Cuddlebuggery
Posted: November 15, 2014 Filed under: On me | Tags: AD&D, blog hop, geekery 13 Comments
Today I’m taking part in the “Getting to Know You” blog hop hosted by Cuddlebuggery (I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take advantage of that awesome blog name). I’m supposed to tell you guys a bit about myself, including my favourite book series EVAH. Gee, they aren’t asking for a lot there. 😉
Of course, if I had to pick just one it’d be the sentimental favourite that would win: the Dragonriders series by Anne McCaffrey. This won’t be a surprise to anyone that follows my blog, as I mention these books regularly when I do the Top Ten Tuesday blog hop. They were the first adult fantasy series I read (after The Hobbit but before Lord of the Rings) and opened my eyes to the fact that you don’t have to read serious, boring books as you grow older.
Given I read speculative fiction almost exclusively now, it’s a lesson I clearly took to heart.
Another way I’m steadfastly refusing to grow up is by gaming. There’s been a bit of computer-style gaming over the years — I had a WoW addiction there for a while, and more recently a Minecraft one. But mostly I’m talking about roleplaying, both live action (when I was younger, before becoming a mother reduced my opportunities for evening outings) and tabletop (still).
Live action roleplaying (or LARP) is what people who don’t roleplay think of when they think of roleplaying: people dressing up and pretending to be something they’re not. But with LARP you don’t sit around a table like the stereotype would insist; instead, you actually all meet at a venue and immerse yourselves in your characters. Think improvisational theatre.
The games I played were all part of the World of Darkness milleu: vampires and werewolves, mostly, with the occasional changeling and mage game. You’re all there with an agenda that will probably cause strife with another character, while in the meantime world events (as decreed by the Storyteller) try and screw you over. The idea is to create the most interesting story — although there are always people who are in it to “win”, which is the other reason I don’t play anymore.
Coincidentally, it is because of my time LARPing that I have a photo of myself dressed rather the same as the girl in the meme picture. SNAP!
The tabletop game I play is your traditional Dungeons & Dragons game; again, it’s sort of what you’d expect, only we don’t dress up. (YOU try sitting at a dining table for hours in a corset!) Instead of a storyteller there’s a “Game Master” who describes the setting, while the players are responsible for their own characters. It’s a great way to be a hero in your own story, with friends.
The leap from roleplaying to writing novels isn’t that big, to be honest — especially if you take a stint as GM, but even if you don’t. It provides writers with a great appreciation of the idea that the characters should drive the story. It doesn’t always have to be the players’ characters; the ones made up by the GM or Storyteller have their own motivations too. The waves of zombies may look aimless, but who is behind rising them? What does he or she want? How do we stop them and take all their stuff?! Game design tends to favour finding the villain/s and undoing their plots, which encourages stories where the villains have their own motives.
Obviously every game isn’t created equal, but I’m lucky that my current group are all experienced gamers and we have a similar approach.
So. That’s a think about me. I’m an unrepentant geek! SURPRISE!
Now, I promised a giveaway. Leave a comment telling me a little something about yourself (no matter how silly) and I will enter you in a draw to win a copy of the Isla’s Inheritance ebook. I’ll do the draw on 30 November, my time.
Edit: So, since I had exactly ten entries, I decided a d10 (that’s a ten-sided dice for you non-geeks!) was the best way to pick a winner. But my dice bag is downstairs and my phone is here, so I used a dice-rolling app instead…
What?!
Number three! Congratulations, Zed! I’ll be in touch. 🙂
Haunting Halloween Hop: the scary thing
Posted: October 31, 2014 Filed under: On me | Tags: aussie-owned, blog hop, fears, Halloween 1 Comment
Today I’m taking part in the Aussie Owned and Read Haunting Halloween Hop. (Yes, it’s 31 October here already, Northern Hemisphere. Nyah nyah!) The basic idea is that you post about something that scares you. I’m kinda sorta double-dipping on this one, because last week I blogged at AOR about the opening scene in Isla’s Inheritance, and the scary seance that inspired it.
(Yes, I used to do seances for fun. I don’t anymore. I’d like to write a book about Emma, the girl who runs the seance for Isla and Dominic, and what mischief might befall her as a result. It’s on my to do list.)
ANYWAY, moving on. There are a couple of answers to the “what scares me” question. I’m actually choosing to write the slightly less scary one, because the more scary one (something happening to my child) is so paralysing that I can’t even. The slightly less scary one is still pretty scary, though, and it’s been a fear I’ve had since my high school social science classes, when they taught us about nuclear weapons and the silent killer that is radiation poisoning.
I hate the idea of the invisible, creeping thing — the nuclear poison, toxic gas or virus on a droplet in the air. Something so tiny that you can’t see it to run away; something that can kill you. Or turn you into a zombie. Years ago, I saw a movie in the cinema (Outbreak, maybe?) that had a scene where someone with a deadly virus didn’t know it yet. They went to the movies and sneezed, and then the camera tracked the little droplet of air over the crowd and infected others.
I nearly hid under my seat.
As I bet you can imagine, the current ebola outbreak has made me very nervous. Even though I know intellectually that ebola is not very contagious — rating below the common cold, measles and HIV for infectivity — there’s not a chance you could get me in a room with someone who had it, even if I was in one of those full-body bubble suit things.
Maybe one day I’ll write a book to exorcise these fears, get them on the page. Probably not, because I want to be able to sleep at night…!
To visit the other blogs in the hop (or to register your own post), click here. Or leave a comment. What’s the thing that scares you?
Cass goes AWOL
Posted: September 12, 2014 Filed under: On Books, On me, On the Isla's Inheritance trilogy | Tags: Goodreads, Isla's Inheritance, motherhood Leave a commentHello! Remember me? I know I disappeared for a week there; I confess, I knew I was going to be offline but I wasn’t organised enough to schedule posts (with the exception of yesterday’s) in the interim.
The reason I was AWOL was that our family had a gathering down the coast, which meant wrangling the five-year-old for a night away. We had a good time, though he did insist on dragging me into the surf when the water was about ten degrees celcius at best. (Google tells me that’s fifty degrees fahrenheit, if you’re wondering.) I only went in up to my knees, but it’s a miracle I still have toes left.
He’s declared he wants to learn to surf. I’m quietly having conniptions about that.
On the Monday when we got home, I had surgery. Planned surgery — it wasn’t because of frostbite or anything! My boy and I stayed with my folks for an extra night so I only got home yesterday afternoon.
I’m slowly getting better, although I am sore. Mostly I’m just glad it’s over.
Cover giveaway competition results
The winner of the $25 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift voucher as part of my Isla’s Inheritance cover reveal giveaway is Alicia. Congratulations!
Goodreads 2014 Challenge Complete
As I did in 2013, I set my Goodreads Challenge target at 40 books. Unlike last year, I finished it in the last week rather than in December. However, I feel a bit like I cheated, because among my 40 this year are three novellas and nine childrens books (mostly by Roald Dahl). So my new goal is to get to at lest 52 books by the end of the year, so that I’ve read 40 adult or YA novels. That’s also one book a week, which is quite nice!
We’ll see how that goes!
What have you been up to in the last week?
Legends of Chima: LEGO fail
Posted: August 10, 2014 Filed under: On parenting | Tags: feminism, Legends of Chima, LEGO, television 1 CommentFair warning: I’ve got my ranty pants on today. And my feminist undergarments. They are the same as my regular undergarments, and do include a lacy bra, if you’re wondering.
This week, I picked up the first DVD set containing four or five episodes of the LEGO TV show Legends of Chima. Cool! LEGO animals! My son loves LEGO! How can we go wrong? When we got home from grocery shopping I put it on for him, and we sat down together to watch the first two episodes.
And I was horrified. Not at the rather ham-handed script — although holy infodumps, Batman — or even at the easily drawn drug metaphor between the magic “chi” that only adults can take and that seems to have addictive qualities. What really got under my skin was the gender mix in the TV show.
The first episode starts with the main character, a bipedal lion named Leval, going to a coming of age ceremony where all of his tribe is gathered to celebrate him turning into a real warrior and getting to “take” chi. His tribe is all male. You can tell, because they’re lions and there’s not a mane-less head in sight. Where are all the female lions, I think? Weird. A fight breaks out and a bunch of other male LEGO animals attack — crocodiles, ravens and wolves.
Then there’s a flashback, and we see Leval with his friends, only one of whom is female. She’s an eagle named Eris, and although the bio on the Legends of Chima site describes her as not as “airheaded” as the rest of the eagles — who all seem to be male too, so I guess that could’ve been worse — you could’ve fooled me. By the end of the second episode she’s accidentally ended up in the middle of the dueling area on a bike thing that the website tells me is called a “Speedor” (plural: Speedorz; someone save us now!). When one of the baddies charges her, she sits there on her bike, which she suddenly doesn’t seem to know how to start, and squeals until Leval saves her. She doesn’t, you know, fly up and out of the way. With her wings. Which she has.
Even worse, the only other female characters I saw in these two episodes where the mother of Leval’s former friend (said baddie, a crocodile named Cragger), who is overbearing and manipulative, and Cragger’s sister, who is even worse. The sister’s name is Crooler. CROOLER, like “crueler”. Get it? She uses a magical flower thing to induce a blood rage in her brother, and whispers in his ear about how bad the lions are so that he starts a war.
I nearly threw up in my mouth.
The icing on the cake, though, was when I looked inside the cover and saw a flyer for other LEGO TV shows, including a bright pink add for LEGO Friends. I guess that’s the one girls are meant to be watching.
I didn’t really have an opinion when LEGO brought out the Friends range of blocks. I have friends who have little girls and they love playing house; I’m sure other girls do too. I did when I was little. But I also played with the little boy next door’s action figures. My sister and I had She-Ra dolls, and we’d play knights, or cops and robbers. I loved action stories, but I also didn’t want to pretend to be a boy to play them. Even to this day if I’m immersing myself in something like a game, I will choose to play the female character — whether that be Lara Croft or one of the female choices in the Arkham Horror board game.
I thought we’d come a long way. Frozen — with its self-rescuing princesses — gave me a lot of hope. But Legends of Chima made me realise some of us haven’t come as far as others. My son has two favourite shows right now. One is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon from 2003; sure, most of the characters are male but at least April and Karai both kick ass. The other is an Avengers cartoon, which at least has the Wasp in it.
I’d love to see 50/50 representation between females and males in TV shows in general, and kids TV in particular. But, since that might be too much of a shock for some TV execs to handle, can’t we at least make the female characters that are there more than wet blankets who scream and can’t put their damned bike into gear?!
…ok, I’m done.
PS Ok, almost done. I just remembered the one thing that pissed me off in The LEGO Movie. Right at the end, when Wildstyle/Lucy is about to dump Batman, he stops her only to break up with her himself, telling her she should be with a “real hero”. Sure, Lucy and Emmet clearly liked each other. And sure, she was about to break up with Batman for that reason. But did Batman really have to tell the viewer that the hero was entitled to the hot girl? What kind of message does that give little boys? Grr.
Top Ten Tuesday: My Five Favourite TV Shows (and a Confession)
Posted: July 15, 2014 Filed under: On me | Tags: doctor who, firefly, geekery, joss whedon, television, top ten tuesday 10 Comments
Today’s Top Ten Tuesday is the top ten favourite movies or television shows. I’ve gone for the latter, although I only have five shows that I really love. I just don’t watch that much television; there are shows I’ve enjoyed that I haven’t managed to keep up on (like True Blood, Dexter or Once Upon a Time), and I figure if I haven’t seen all of a show, or I lost track of it, I must not love it that much.
Of the ones I have, let’s be honest, most of them are by Joss Whedon. (I could have also added Dollhouse to the below, but I decided to stick to my two Joss favourites, instead of three!)
Buffy: the Vampire Slayer. I actually just re-watched some Buffy the other day, because a friend wanted to pull out Once More With Feeling, the musical episode. We ended up seeing a few other episodes from season six as well, which if you’ve seen the entire series you’ll know is the darkest. Some people write off this show as pure teen angst with wrinkly-faced vampires, but it explores some deep issues while still making you care about the characters. For example, season six explores self-harm as a major theme, via Buffy’s relationship with Spike, and looks at rape, misogyny and drugs. Wow.
Firefly. Another Joss Whedon show, this one ended too soon…although at least we got the follow-on movie, Serenity, to give us a little bit of closure. Firefly is part sci-fi, part western, and has a delightful mix of Chinese and American culture because this future society is a melting pot of the two. Love it. My favourite episodes are the two where you really get to see how dark the lead character, Mal (played by Nathan Fillion), can be. If you’re curious, they are War Stories and Ariel.
Doctor Who. The reboot doesn’t have the charm of dodgy special effects that the original did, but what it does have is clever writing. I’ve heard people criticise the later episodes for trying to be too clever but I haven’t felt that way (although I am partway through re-watching season five to see if I can unravel things better the second time around). Some episodes fall a little flat — unfortunately I felt the last Matt Smith episode was one of these — but for the most part this is a great show. My favourite episodes are Midnight and Waters of Mars (both David Tennant episodes).
Castle. I don’t mind the old whodunit cop show (although I lean more toward Law and Order than CSI). I confess I started watching Castle because it had Nathan Fillion in it, but I love the nerdy banter. Clever dialogue wins every time. I don’t really have a favourite episode, although the one where Beckett and Castle finally got together was a highlight, as is any episode where the scriptwriters make a Firefly in-joke.
The West Wing. Speaking of clever dialogue… everything I know about US politics I learned from The West Wing. This is probably the cleverest show I’ve ever seen. It’s got an interesting style in that it doesn’t follow the details of the characters’ lives, just dips in and out as they intersect with their jobs. I guess in that way it’s more like a cop show, where you are mostly focused on the job, not the people. My favourite episode is the cliffhanger, from the end of the first season (What Kind of Day Has It Been) to the start of the second (In the Shadow of Two Gunmen). Mostly because of the scene in the hospital, and getting to see a limousine do a handbrake turn on a highway.
In the title of the blog I promised you a confession, and it’s this: I really, really can’t get into Game of Thrones. I mean, on paper I should love it: an epic fantasy TV series that has ANIMATED DRAGONS IN IT! But I didn’t really like the first book (it was a DNF for me), and when I tried to watch the TV show I didn’t get past the end of the first episode. I wasn’t really okay with them pushing a small boy out a tower window. Yes, I know they’re the bad guys, but that’s NOT THE POINT. It may be because I have a small boy who loves to climb, but I just couldn’t get on board.
What are your favourite TV shows — the ones you’ve seen every episode of?
Versatile blogger blog hop: seven things about me
Posted: June 14, 2014 Filed under: On me | Tags: hats, NKOTB, pets, tattoo Leave a comment
Many thanks to Debbie Vega, who nominated me for the Versatile Blogger award. I’m physically restraining myself from putting quotation marks around the word award in the previous sentence, though, because I didn’t get a medal to hangon the wall or anything. That being said, I always love a good blog hop. So here are the rules:
Thank the person who gave you this award. — Done!
Include a link to their blog. — Done!
Nominate 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award and include a link to their site. — See below.
Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself. — See below.
Nominations
Ok, so here are my fifteen nominations. Wait, fifteen?! No, I’m doing seven, because it has a nice parallel with the number of things about me. And because I’m drafting this at night after a long day, and I’m falling asleep! If, however, you read this and think, hey, I’d like to do that blog hop but she didn’t tag me, let me know in the comments and I’ll add you in. Because eight is a good number too. When I was a kid it was my favourite. Now my favourite is thirteen, because I’m contrary.
Ahem. Anyway. I’m nominating these seven because a) I want to know seven things about you, and b) if this were a proper award, with champagne and stuff, you would totally deserve it. If you decide to participate yourselves, please link your blogs back here so I don’t miss the stalking post!
- The first is fabulous human bean (I’ve been reading the BFG to my son!), occasional beta reader and wonderful writer, Stacey Nash. Stacey writes speculative fiction. Her stories have a lot of adventure, a good dose of danger, and a smattering of romance (and KISSING!).
- As well as also being a fabulous human bean, Lauren McKellar is one of the best editors I know — and given I’m a professional editor by day (and a CRIME FIGHTER by night!) I know quite a few. Lauren describes her first love as writing books that make you feel, by which she means you will need ALL OF THE TISSUES when you read her books. I think she may have shares in Kleenex.
- Emily Mead is another Aussie Owned and Read blogger, and is one of the smartest, funniest teenagers I know. She and I disagree on the use of brackets vs en rules for the insertion of paranthetical statements, but don’t bring it up; it’s a touchy subject. Still, watch this girl. She’s going to go far!
- Chynna-Blue Scott is hilarious, sarcastic, talented, and looks like she should be an actress in an urban fantasy movie of some kind. Seriously. Also, I suspect she might have a thing for this band called Fall Out Boy? It’s just a vibe I’m getting.
- Fellow Whovian Pippa Jay writes scifi. Like Stacey’s books, hers don’t require a degree in astrophysics to follow along (although maybe her experience as a lab chemist helps her write them!), and they also have kissing. It’s all good by me!
- The hilarious Julie Hutchings is friendly, open, also sarcastic, and did I already mention hilarious? She understands my coffee addiction, since she has one of her own. This makes us soul mates. Also, she writes about Japanese vampires.
- Holly Kench likes to pretend she is the owner of a cat when clearly it’s the other way around. But I suspect that’s true of most cat owners! She believes feminist isn’t a dirty word (she’s right about that, by the way), and her comics make me giggle.
Seven things about me
One. I am supremely clumsy. If all the clumsy people in the world got together on an island, I would be their Supreme Leader (which, by the way, best job title in the world). My crowning glory in winning this achievement is the time that my trip to Italy was cancelled after I fell off a giant hat in Spain. True story. I was going to go to Venice and Pompeii and everything. *sniff*
Beware of Spaniards bearing giant hats.
Two. The original reason for my clumsiness is that my vision is rubbish — the follow-on reason is that once you twist your ankle a certain number of times, the ligaments and whatnot just give up the ghost. But back to the vision thing: without my glasses I’d bump into walls. Or fall off them. As well as being chronically shortsighted, my vision is uneven too, so my depth perception isn’t great — I have enough that I can drive a car but not enough that I don’t fall off giant hat. Apparently.
Three. I would be a cat person if I could, because cats suit my extreme laziness. They’re easily housebroken and slothful, like me. I even have a cat tattoo. Unfortunately, my immune system treats them as the hostile invaders they are, so I am not a cat person. Instead, I am a dog person. But not a puppy person. I have a puppy at the moment, and although he is growing more tolerable as he gets older, the puppy phase is so trying.
My tattoo may look cute, but I’m pretty sure it’s plotting something. Look at those eyes!
Four. I’m an Aries. If you believe these things, that means I’m stubborn, goat-like and enjoy eating grass and headbutting others. Or something. I was also born in the Year of the Dragon, so if I get indigestion, watch out I don’t breathe fire on you. (Since Aries is also a fire sign — goats being known for playing with lighters — that is twice as likely.)
Five. I am a single mother. I didn’t start out that way, but life twisted and turned like a twisty turny thing, and here I am. My son has just turned five, and he’s the most adorable, precocious, hilarious, frustrating little human in the world. I love him to bits, naturally.
I think he wants a tattoo too. Eek!
Six. Since I probably won’t have any more children, I shall instead have book babies (a phrase that if you think about it too hard is actually a bit gross). The process of producing a book from conception to final realisation — when you get to hold the book and pat its cover and change its nappy — takes a hell of a lot longer than having a regular kind of baby. But my books don’t backchat. Much.
Seven. My first ever band crush was when I was in my early teens. It was New Kids on the Block. Because at the time I was deaf to the offensiveness of 90s synth music, and mullets were cool. Now my favourite instrument is the violin or the human voice. Several of them, in harmony — instruments optional. Aww, yeah.
My five favourite geek t-shirts
Posted: May 3, 2014 Filed under: On me | Tags: geekery, t-shirts 6 CommentsIt says up there at the top of my blog that as well as being a writer and a mother, I’m also a geek. But aside from the occasional Doctor Who reference, I don’t think I’ve flown the flag here as much as I could have.
Also, as mentioned in a recent Top Ten Tuesday, I LOVE T-SHIRTS! Not just boring, plain shirts but ones that say something interesting about the wearer.
So for something different, here, without further ado, are my five favourite geek t-shirts. I own all of these except one, and the one I don’t own has been bought and paid for. I’m just waiting for the internet fairies to drop it at my door.
I’m including buy links, so you can all be as cool as me if you want to (hahaha). Also, so that way I hopefully don’t get smacked for copyright theft. 😉
Minecraft
The first is from that awesome, and these days all-pervasive, computer game: Minecraft. It’s not the only Minecraft t-shirt I own, but it’s the most comfortable. Also, the creeper is sad because someone turned his family into a block of dynamite. Feel the pathos. FEEL IT!
Serenity
This one’s a little more obscure. Have you seen Joss Whedon’s movie Serenity? Remember the bizarre fruity oaty bar commercial that sends River into a spin? Yeah, that.
The Muppets
Remember Statler and Waldorf, those two grumpy old bastards that gave Fozzie Bear such a hard time? Now they can heckle you in the privacy of your own home. I’ve pretty much worn this shirt to death, sadly.
Scooby Doo
I like to think that during a zombie apocalypse, Velma would be the one to survive, because she has smarts. Fred would die in a complicated trap of his own devising, and Shaggy would get eaten trying to fix himself a club sandwich. Not sure what happened to Daphne, but it probably involved stopping to fix her hair. (As an aside, my son loves this t-shirt!)
Doctor Who
This is the one I’m waiting on. It better arrive soon or it will be dated before I even get to try it on, given the Twelfth Doctor isn’t represented! (Edit: Okay, it arrived! Crisis averted — stand down the search party!)
Do you own awesome t-shirts? Link them in the comments so I can admire (and possibly buy!) them. 🙂
Cassandra Page 