Freaks and Geeks and Clunky Guitar Squeaks

• I squeezed in my vote for the Million Writers Award literally at the last minute and nominated "The Story of My Life (So Far)" by Gwendolyn Joyce Mintz, which appeared in FRiGG. If you haven't read this yet ~ well, you should.
  



• The whole family has been addicted to watching Freaks and Geeks. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard at a t.v. show as when Bill dressed up as the Bionic Woman. Seriously. How did this show get canceled??
  



• A friend from my writing group has a story in the new issue of Storyglossia. Check out Sorry Kid by Virginia Reeves. Also, the new issue of ghoti is up, with my piece, "Cutting Corners," included.
  



• This afternoon, I'm attending a reading at the library given by writers who have contributed to MO: Writings from the River, a newish lit journal headquartered in Great Falls. 'Twill include a reading from event organizer, Ms. Anne Bauer. 'Twill be good, no doubt.
  


• And tomorrow, well tomorrow, I get to hear this guy read. In Helena!! And I can't wait. I'm also oddly nervous. I'm also wondering why this event is taking place at the Red Lion Colonial Inn, the odd-looking, sorta bland hotel near the highway and not far from the Wal-Mart. eh.
  



• B bought me a guitar for Christmas (b/c Learn To Play Guitar was on my short list of things I want to do before I die, a list I mention frequently to anyone who will listen) and I've been trying to teach myself to play. I've trimmed my fingernails to little nubs, which has turned out to be pretty strong proof of my commitment to learn, since it turns out I'm a fairly itchy person and I actually could really use those fingernails. But anyway, B's money would have been better spent saving up for another item from my before-I-die list, like Visit England. Because evidently I am not a very musical person. But I will keep clunking away. I guess. And I have revised my list slightly and now wish to learn to play only one song, Bowie's "Queen Bitch," before I die. There's a slight chance I just might reach that goal. In 30-40 years. . .
  

breaking away from the bullets now, back to the homeschool, back to the wishing-for-summer . . .

I'm ready (more than) for spring. For summer, even. For open windows, Red Stripe beer, barbecues, flotation devices, and reggae. I want to slather myself in suntan lotion that smells like coconut, I want to wear sandals and flimsy skirts.

I'm tired of firing up our little pellet stove. Tired of dipping my fingers into hot running water to thaw them out. Tired of sleeping in sweatshirts, socks, and mittens. Tired, I say. wah, wah, and all that. It's March, the in-between month, the month that brings a warm 70-ish sunshiney day and then rips it away again. Can't it be June already?
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In other, less whiny parts of the world . . . It's nomination time again for storySouth's Million Writers Award. I probably take the whole thing a little too seriously, but I spend a lot of time reading favorite stories and re-reading them, and then making sure someone else hasn't already nominated the story I select.

Already, some of my favorites (Kristen Tsetsi's They Three At Once Were One and Katrina Denza's Snake Dreams and Nathan Leslie's Olives) have been nominated. I'm so freaking indecisive that by the time I settle on something, there's a good chance someone else has already voted for it. Then I start all over again, which I don't really mind because hey, there are a lot of good stories out there.
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The inimitable Robin Slick posted this amazing video of Project Object (including her son, Eric, on drums) playing one of my all-time favorite FZ tunes, Cosmik Debris. INcredible.

Incidentally, one of Robin's favorite obsessions is visiting Helena soon. . .
Gotta save my pennies up.

Current fiction read: The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
Current nonfic read: Delivered from Distraction, Edward M. Hallowell