I’m going to be testing posting programs for the next few days - I’m trying to streamline as much of my ‘writing blog posts’ process as possible - given I’ve yet to find one that publishes (nicely) from Word/online wordprocessors (I use Zoho and google docs when I’m working away from my laptop now) I’m stuck testing posting programs.
So far - I’ve used (and kinda liked) blogjet (the only one I’ve paid for, so far), Qumana, and before it went south, one by ‘bingo bango’ - which had this great calendar posting facility.
The one I’m using at present is called ‘Raven’. It’s got some really nice features, but it’s still not got the workflow I’d really like. I might have to code one myself at this rate
I’m still having fairly severe problems settling into a regular writing routine. I’m allowing people to contact me and request content for ezines ‘etc’ (and I’m submitting to ones I’ve worked with in the past or are on my wishlist) but what I really want to do is start producing a couple of stories every week for a bit.
So…
Is there anything that I’ve mentioned - alluded to - teased people with - talked about, or you’d like to see my take on?
My favorite genres are (in no particular order) sci fi - horror - fantasy - erotica and thriller/crime. My other half has me writing a CSI/cthulu, but is there anything else people want to see me working on?
I will be sharing any and all work that can’t go off to be published on a mailing list (http://groups.google.com/group/dkaiwilson ) or I’ll at least ANNOUNCE there where to find stuff.
If there’s nothing that you’ve heard me talk about writing wise, feel free to throw just anything at me
I’m going to deviate slightly from my usual posts and say something because it needs said.
Recently I saw this brilliant advert on TV by Heinz advertising ‘New York Deli’ style (use of) mayo. If you haven’t already seen it, you might have to head on over to youtube, because Heinz withdrew it.
Because…wait for it….
200 people complained that it was two men kissing.
Now, I want to picture the scene…
Kids wandering into the kitchen and shouting thier mom for a sandwich. Mom hands them over and in a broad new york accent gives them instructions and ‘mom talk’ for the day.
Dad runs in, grabs his lunch and ‘the wife’ (in case anyone missed it, he’s being played by a man, dressed as a new york deli worker) asks him if he’s forgotten something - he goes back and kisses her goodbye.
Most sane and reasonable people, I’ve found, take that advert to be a representation of ‘becoming a new york deli sandwich maker’ - whilst still being ‘ourselves’. Like the mayo makes the difference to the sandwich
200 people complained about the kiss!
We’ll completely ignore the fact that in the time of Shakespeare, that men played ‘women’ in plays, and that no one batted an eyelid. No one screamed abberation then…
I actually thought it was really very clever, and that anyone that can’t take the inferrences needs to consider reading more - gender specific roles being twisted on thier heads aside - and sterotyping, not only the 2.4 kids, the dad and the ‘mom’ (including the stereotyping of the loudmouthed, ‘new york deli owner’) was more important, more annoying, and to be quite frank, would have been grating if they hadn’t done some character substitution.
Advertising that doesn’t make us think - and work - and infer, and enforce brands isn’t worth it, at all. That did make me think ‘new york deli’ just by switching out the stereotyped mom for the stereotyped deli owner. I KNOW it’s unlikely I’m ever going to meet a deli owner like that - but at the same time, I’ve never met a mother that stands in a kitchen ‘ala’ Marge Simpson, making sandwiches, kissing family goodbye and generally being immaculate. It’s almost as unrealistic as the double standard in advertising today.
However, this is something that I also wanted to highlight. BECAUSE of the fuss surrounding the advert - it will be more memorable. In being more memorable, more people are talking about it - and positive or negative buzz is one of those interesting things that tends to increase sales if it’s not directly related to quality or a ’scare’ surrounding the product itself. So no matter what way you look at it, Heinz are getting ‘good’ advertising.
I stick by my opening statement though - two men kissing is not automatically ‘gay’. And I wish society would come to grips with that - we might move on and be more accepting if that were the case.
As an addendum to that - even if two men kissing equals ‘gay’, does it really, honestly matter? Our obessession with what’s right and proper should only be within our own four walls and our envirnonment, as long as the behaviour in question doesn’t hurt anyone else. Religious taste, gender status, music, clothes…everything that falls under the remit of personal choice - should be personal. And if it were, and we were more accepting of that - as a society, I truly believe that there wouldn’t have been ‘200 complaints’ and a really cute, kinda funny advert that had the impact I’d have hoped for in an ad, would still be on the air.
She’s been here for just over a week, and already I can’t imagine life without her.
Last night, before I wrnt to sleep she was curled up at the bottom of my bed, purring like a ’small outboard motor’ and 6:20 this morning she woke me up by headbutting and kissing my nose. We worked out, after lots of stroking and more kisses from her that she was hungry. Dave took her downstairs, fed her and came back to bed.
She’s still massively sneezy - but we think some of that is hayfever. Dave’s mom brought me flowers to say thank you for letting her stay and the cat has turned into a bigger ball of sneezing, rattling fur. Still eating and drinking like there’s no tomorrow though (note, we’ve actually got her on a diet, and she eats everything she’s given within her needs), so all I can do is put the orchids outside and clean her up.
Tonight, I’m going to steam her in the shower (again) give her a wipe down with cotton wool pads and clean her nose again. She’ll probably hate me for an hour or so, but I’d rather she was clean and could breathe through her nose than not, so that’s ok.
And though I love fresh cut flowers, I love my cat more - I can live with not having any till we pinpoint her exact triggers.
Most of all though, she’s so sweet. she sits beside me when I write, either in the dining room or on the couch and gently reminds me every so often to take a break. If I ignore the gentle reminder, she jumps all over my keyboard
I’ve been asked a couple of questions about when we’re visiting and how we’re going to handle the summer holidays ‘etc’ - so here’s the list, including the bits and pieces we’ve got requested but not ‘booked’ in yet.
Kids finish school - 18th July
Keith down - 18th - 21st
Katie visit (meet up?) - ?
Edinburgh visit for a couple of days to drop of the kids - 2nd - around the 4th/5th August
Kids return to school - ? first week of September
I return to University - 22nd? September.
So it’s three weeks until the kids are on holiday/Keith visits - another two weeks from there until we’re up in Edi. The kids are away for two weeks with their dad, then two weeks after they return, they are back at school - and then another three weeks after that (or so) and I’m back at University. It’s quite a nice even split for setting up deadlines and goals whilst still keeping myself busy. A lot of the time that the kids are off over the summer is going to be spent at the outdoor swimming pool, which will be really nice.
Other than that, we’ve got the youngest’s bed to buy, which she’s really excited about - the cat to vaccinate and microchip (which if she understood, she wouldn’t be happy about!).
And though it sounds awful, I’m looking foward to having two weeks when I’m not needing to watch out for the kids and just take two weeks (well, 9 days by the time we get back from Edi) to recharge and have a bit of quality time with my beloved.
‘know how I alluded to some good news a couple of weeks ago?
I’m delighted to announce, and scream it far and wide that my darling other half asked me to marry him.
I accepted.
I’m the luckiest woman alive.
No ring to show off yet - he wants to find something perfect - and no date either, because we’re still getting me through University, and all of the other fun stuff that goes on down here, but the important thing is that he asked, I accepted and life is, IMO, perfect.
After three doses of antibiotics, Kushka is on the mend, it seems. She’s still sneezing, but less. I don’t know whether it’s because she does have hayfever, because we’ve moved her from a completely dry diet to half and half - the antibiotics or a mix of the above, but she’s sleeker, her coat looks much better and she’s even playing more. She’s still rattly though, so we’ve got a ways to go yet. It could be that she had a URI AND hayfever. I really don’t know. What I do know is that a sulky cat is a very sad thing to see.
I’ve been cleaning her eyes and nose. I let her paw the cotton wool before and after I wet it then take a clean one and wipe her tear stains and her nose. Today I got the big lump that was completley blocking one of her nostrils. She hissed at me and ran off, and only came back to talk to me when I cut her up some small chunks of cheese (a couple of tiny bits a day). The lump that came out of her nose was bloody, hard, and looked gross to be honest. She’s not bleeding now, from her nose, so I’m guessing it’s when she was sneezing hardest. Hopefully though that’ll let the last of the grossities come out of her nose and give her a chance to breathe properly. Beacuse I’m brushing her (at the moment daily), she’s also shedding far less, which I’m guessing might help with furballs. And her nose is wet again, which I’m assuming is probably the best sign of all.
She’s also become quite the ‘office cat’. My ‘office’ is our dining room (cause the attic is too warm now for me, plus, Kushie is here with me now) and she’s quite at home in our computer chair by the main desktop, or batting my ipod headphones, or pouncing on a ball of paper. It’s very cute. I just wish she’d stop sulking ;).
Kush has a URI of some description. She’s sneezing lots of snot, is slightly overwieght and I’m now covered in cat fur cause she went ballistic and clawed the vet when she was getting her injections. I was really startled to see her doing that - she’s a docile, kind cat that isn’t quite as she was represented (by her previous owner) in many ways. She’s demanding sometimes, but actually, she’s not as ‘bad’ I was I was expecting. The vet took one look at her, asked me a couple of questions and then said, quite sadly, that she looked like her previous owner didn’t quite have the means to look after her. I need to get a brush for her, and clippers for her little nails cause the poor thing is gorgeous, but the least little thing happens and she’s also a state - fur falling out everywhere, her claws are huge. She’s clean and sleek, but I’m thnking she’s giving herself awful hairballs the way she cleans herself.
So she has a course of antibiotics, probably isn’t allergic to anything (other than ’stress’ as the vet thinks that’s what set her off) and doesn’t ‘do’ injections. Which means she’s going to be a nightmare come vaccination/chipping.
I love her to bits already though. I’m covered in claw marks down one hand where she’s playing and clawing us (and we can’t get her nails done yet either - I might go out and get clippers for her and try it myself if she’ll let me), cat fur where she’s shed (badly) and have to put the poor thing on a diet cause she’s the wrong side of 4kgs. She’s not massively overweight, but at the same time, my worry that she’s not eating enough is probably completely unfounded. She’s drinking from her fountain (and pushing her luck in the bathroom) so all I have to do now is steam the poor lamb and see if that helps her any.
Oh, and sneak two pills a day into her wet food for a week…lol.
So Kush has been home with us for over 24 hours. About ten minutes after she arrived she started sniffling. We put it down to dust, possibly, or the stuff we used to clean.
She’s still sneezing, and snuffling - refusing to eat treats (cause I think she can’t smell them), her little eyes are streaming. Her nose is dry, but she’s not snotty (till she sneezes). She’s had two ‘mad half hours’ so far - battering from one end of the house to the other, pouncing on her toys, clawing her posts like they’ve REALLY offended her. She’s still eating her food (and we got her to drink from her water fountain this afternoon! that should stop her yowling in the middle of the night for water - she won’t drink anything that isn’t flowing, moving or otherwise constantly changing) - and she’s still begging for treats, so her appetite is fine - she’s just sneezy, rattly, snuffly.
We’re going to the vets with her as soon as I can get an appointment - for her registration checkup - vaccinations (possibly) and needing microchipped. Plus I’ll ask a lot of dumb questions at my vet, clearly, cause she’s just too sweet to risk causing harm to in any way, and I don’t want to do anything wrong - at all. I’m still getting dozens of photos, which rocks. I adore my kitty, and if it weren’t for the fact that it was the weekend and I know the vet isn’t open for anything other than emergencies (she’s battering around like a loon, so I’m fairly sure it’s check worthy, just not ‘emergency’ - or am I wrong?) I’d have her there now.
In other news I’m writing again. Farran just ressurected himself and is demanding I sort out the name of his ship (the Kushka Kura).
