Ta-Da!

GGS-ZOOM Mk2 is fully operative!

So is Firefox. Go figure, but Blogger seems to like Firefox better than it liked Opera. Huh. Whatever.

Now I’m downloading Thunderbird to give it a whirl, because I don’t have a backup of Eudora (it was on the corrupted backup disc along with all my other programs) and I’ll be damned if I’ll use Outlook in any form.

Skippy is my current hero. I have to keep reminding myself that he likes doing this sort of thing, kind of like how I didn’t mind editing Scarlet’s theses and project papers. It’s what we do for friends.

Update: Oh yeah — Thunderbird rocks, although Firefox is still the coolest. Whee!

Book Progress

As of this afternoon’s writing jam, the spellcrafting manuscript word count stands at 16,423. That means it’s just under one-fifth complete (or, if you’re Ceri, one over 4.871217).

The day’s total stands at 2,955 words, which is the best so far on this project. (It’s not a personal best; I hit 5K one day while working on a November novel.) I almost want to sit down and write forty-five words just so I can say I hit 3K, but I did that already to hit 2.5K, and frankly, I’m tired of thinking about spellcrafting this afternoon. I think I’ll finish the new Caroline Stevermer while waiting for HRH to get home instead.

Catechism For A Witch’s Child


When they ask to see your gods
your book of prayers
show them lines
drawn delicately with veins
on the underside of a bird’s wing
tell them you believe
in giant sycamores mottled
and stark against a winter sky
and in nights so frozen
stars crack open spilling streams
of molten ice to earth
and tell them how you drank
the holy wine of honeysuckle
on a warm spring day
and of the softness
of your mother
who never taught you
death was life’s reward
but who believed in the earth
and the sun
and a million, million light years
of being.

– J.L. Stanley

(found via Margie’s Brigid’s Hearth: Pagan Parenting page)

– Read more of J.L. Stanley’s Labyrinth Poems

Concert Reminder

Orchestra was wonderful! There will only be five celli for the concert – and no, the obnoxious oblivious boy isn’t one of them. Dress rehearsal in Saturday morning, and the concert itself is Sunday night at 7.30. I know, it’s rather soon; because I missed two weeks of rehearsal due to illness, the idea that the concert was still two weeks away was knocking about in my mind. It was a bit of a surprise to me to realise it was four days away, too.

Date: Sunday May 16, 2004
Time: 19.30
Admission: 10$
Address: Valois United Church, 70 Belmont Ave, Pointe-Claire

Mapquest, for those with autos or friends with autos who may be bribed with a ticket and a coffee
STCUM bus from Lionel-Groulx Metro

The Mozart symphony alone is worth the price of admission, but the whole programme is a wonderful treat. I’m really looking forward to it.

Plagiarism

For everyone who’s outraged in general, and worried about the extent of the plagiarism in the rituals book in particular, including Bev and Margie (what a lovely surprise to hear from you, Margie!): in-house editors are indeed further combing the manuscript for suspicious material other than the chunk I caught. The author may have plagiarised from his own work, but one never knows about the rest.

I poked about the fabric district with Ceri this afternoon. So many ideas, so little time and money. Besides, I had to buy a motherboard instead of a new sewing machine.

I’m off to orchestra. I might have a new computer when I get back. I’m not counting my chicks, but I’m being optimistic.