Water-logged

I work part-time for a large retail chain, and you would think they could afford to get the roof fixed on the store. I've worked there for almost two years, and in that time, what started as a few drips has escalated to the truly ridiculous. Now you can hardly move down some aisles for all the buckets sitting on the floor to catch drips. In one area, the leaks have become so bad and the buckets so numerous that they would actually be better off putting a kiddy pool in that spot to catch all the drips (seriously . . . there are seven or eight buckets in that one 5 foot by 5 foot section of floor). It's gotten so bad that the ceiling tiles are starting to drop. One missed me the other night by only a few feet. When it hit the floor, it disintegrated into several pieces and splattered water all over my back. And then the water running in sounded like a waterfall as it ran all over the merchandise (beccause, of course, the water had pooled up behind the ceiling tile once the foam got too sodden to absorb any more).

I don't see the situation getting any better, because we're in a rainy cycle PLUS there's probably at least six feet of snow on the roof that's melting.

And I thought the one little leaky spot in MY roof was a crisis!

If I actually get hit by one of those soggy things, I'm going to have a meltdown.

OMG! Why am I always the last to know?

A little backstory is required for today's post. Some of you may (or may not) remember the movie Tremors (Kevin Bacon). What you might not know is that there were actually four movies AND a tv series on SciFi. I bet you can tell already that I'm a HUGE fan.

Anyhoo, I collected all four movies and wanted . . . no, craved and pined for the series to be released. I can't tell you exactly how long it's been-- at least five or six years since the series ran. And there were other Tremors nuts like me. I belong to a lot of horror/scifi type lists, and the discussion of "WHY WON'T THEY RELEASE THE SERIES?" popped up a lot. Finally, I gave up (and I'm assuming the others did, too, since I haven't heard any more discussions about it).

And then last night, I ended up in the Electronics department briefly. I sometimes cover the electronics break (someone has to since it involves keys), but I NEVER do on a Monday night (essentially, new releases are released at midnight on Monday's shift). Last night, the person covering the electronics break was working over in a department far away from electronics. So I, as the closest person to electronics, had to go over there and help customers from time to time. And what did I see as I was digging through a box, looking for "Precious"? TREMORS THE SERIES!!! Why, oh WHY didn't anyone tell me it was coming out?

Of course I bought it. I had to. Fate had intervened, and sent me over to paw through the new releases box for maybe the second time in the two years I've worked there on the very night that the series I've waited at least half a decade for was finally released!

And yes, I've been running around like a fool ever since. Half the store now knows about the release (as I bounded through the store with my purchase much like Steve Martin when the new phone books arrived-- a la, "The Jerk").

I'm not much of a movie/DVD person. I only watch a few shows on a regular basis. But some movies/TV series are "must haves."

So now I've got the complete "Tremors" collection.

For those of you unfamiliar with it, you're missing out. The original movie was good because it involved the sand-worm mythos (which is kind of like bigfoot-- it pops up all over the place). Movies two and three were good because they "evolved" the sandworms and focused more on Burt Gummer's character (he's my hero). The fourth movie was mediocre, as it traveled back to the days of the Old West. I didn't like it as much. But the series-- the series is where creativity soars. There's more to worry about in those hills than just some little old sandworms! And thank god the residents have Burt around to save them from all the dastardly critters (and PLANTS!!!) that crawl out of the woodwork!

You know, I picked up the first season of House this week (another of my "must haves") at a rock-bottom price, and I thought THAT was exciting-- this has totally eclipsed that.

If you haven't seen Tremors, do yourself a favor and at least rent movies 1-3. They're so much fun!

Burt quote:
(they're all stuck on a rock, trying to figure out a way to chase away the "graboid" circling them like a shark-- they decide to improvise some bombs)
Burt: "We can use long lengths of this cannon fuse to give us time."
"Canon fuse? What do you use that for?"
Burt (deadpan): "My cannon."

Another Burt quote:
The lights go dim as the creatures cut the power.
The lights roar back to life.
Burt: "Back up generator."
The lights dim again.
They roar back to life.
Burt smiles. "Back-up Back-up generator."

Maybe I should call those guys from "TAP"

After my hubby's older dog died, I started letting the "puppy" (who's actually four years old) sleep in the bedroom from time to time because she's been so depressed over missing the older dog; a special treat, as neither dog was ever allowed in the bedroom before. One night, while my hubby was working a night shift, I woke up to her growling-- really scary, deep bass growling, totally unlike her. And when I sat up, she was staring up into the far corner of the bedroom, at the ceiling. Her hackles were up, and she had pressed herself into the opposite corner (as far away as she could get from where she was staring--and she's a German Shepherd). I was freaked out, but chalked it up to the "logical explanations" everyone gave (an owl landed on the house, a mouse was messing around in the crawl space, etc.).

Last night, it happened again while I was gone to work. It really freaked hubby out. Now, there's no access from the outside there--or anything to attract a mouse to that same spot again-- so what are the odds that a mouse would be in that EXACT same spot again (not to mention, any mouse would be stupid to get near my house-- I have several cats). Or, that the owl landed there again (we have a bunny living outside, but his burrow is on the far east side of the house, on the outside of the fence, a good forty feet away and around the corner from where my puppy was staring-- an owl wouldn't even be able to SEE the bunny there).

So what's freaking my dog out?

The only other "freaky-deaky" stuff that's ever went on is that one night a couple of years ago it sounded like something heavy walked across the roof from one end of the house to the other. It wasn't cold, so it wasn't the house settling. The mystery is that there aren't any trees nearby, so we're not sure how something (and this would have had to been a racoon-size something) could get up there and stomp across the roof. But, we chalked it up to "critters always find a way" and didn't think about it again.

Maybe my house needs an exorcism. I don't know how, since we're the first ones to live here (the house was a repo-- something happened and the original owners never even got to move in). But still-- ten years AFTER we move in, it gets haunted? I'm not even sure I believe in hauntings (haven't made up my mind about it yet). But maybe I should start wearing garlic to bed, just in case . . . or whatever scares away ghosts.

Interesting

I was hit with a flash of inspiration and started my next short story. The premise was great, the first line was awesome . . . and then nothing. Five hundred words or so and I hit a block. I tried to change things up like last time and write in a notebook . . . still nothing.

It occurred to me that the anthology that this story is being written for happens to be the same as a song title. And, I just happen to have that CD. On a whim, I popped the CD in and blammo! A flood of ideas! None of them have anything to do with the song, so I don't know where they're coming from--but who cares! The story is practically writing itself.

I wish I'd tried this stuff a couple of years ago when I hit a block so bad that I pretty much gave up writing.

Which brings me to my other "writer's block" cure: you'll notice I don't post every day. That's because my last cure for writer's block was to change things up dramatically and I took a job at a large retailer working the overnight shift. It worked . . . sort of. The job gave me the human contact and socialization I was missing (and new characters and situations for inspiration), but it was sucking up so much of my time that I still couldn't write. I was always either sleeping or working. I dropped to part time a few months ago, and that seems to be the perfect balance.

As a matter of fact, one of the short stories I'm currently working on relies heavily on my experience working for the large retailer (with a heavy dose of spec-fic thrown in, of course). Now we'll just have to see if anyone wants to publish it!

Quirky Muse

It’s funny how the muse works sometimes .

I had inspiration for a story, but since I was busy with other projects, I just jotted some notes and set it on the back burner. Two weeks later, I came across an anthology that the story would be perfect for. The focus was a little different, but the story could be worked to fit. The antho is holiday themed, and although the original story idea didn’t involve a holiday, there is a holiday that fits perfectly. So I sat down at my laptop and started to write. I ran the original idea up to 4000 words. But when I tried to write in something about the holiday, I ran up against a block.

For almost a month, I fought that block.

My hip was hurting yesterday, so rather than try and write at my laptop, I curled up in the floor with a notebook. And guess what? The block broke. The holiday is working in perfectly and I’m at 1500 new words and counting. The story will definitely end up over the 5000 ideal (and probably pare down to around 5000 in revision). Apparently, that part of the story just needed to be written in a notebook.

But that’s one of the things “they” suggest if you’re facing writer’s block: change your method of writing (paper vs. computer). And I guess it works!

So my muse is quirky, OCD, and petulant. She works best when I'm writing isolated, in a clean room (clutter freaks her out), with a Thunderstorm CD in the player. And occasionally she likes to mix it up by sprawling on the floor with an old-fashioned notebook.

Weirdo.

No sardines? I'll show you no sardines . . .

This is what happens when you tell the pizza guy to leave off the sardines.

Actually, this is what happens when you have a late meal, get lazy, and leave the empty pizza box lying around. Why the hell the cat would want to lay in it, I have no idea (it couldn't have still been warm). Not to mention it was covered in grease, and she's a very fastidious cat (can't stand to have dirty paws).

Although . . . maybe she had been licking the bottom of the box and when I rounded the corner, she decided to act natural:
"What? No, I wasn't trying people food. This is a bed. That's all it is. Just a bed. Go about your business, nothing to see here."

(on a side note, I obviously need to practice more with my camera-phone. Talk about a crappy picture).

And so it begins . . .

Okay, so I've been trying to get back into writing after a two year hiatus . . . I'll go into that some other day in another post. Anyhoo, it's really been tough. And even though I'm trying my best to meet my writing goals, I'm finding myself falling short on an alarmingly frequent basis. To try and get more in a writing frame of mind, I'm picking up blogging again (a variant, if you will, of the famous "Morning Pages" method a la Cameron).

First I went to my old blog at my web host. That whole thing doesn't really suit me anymore. So I tried out (at the suggestion of others) facespace and mybook. Boy, I must be old, because they were really confusing. Lots of pictures and icons and avatars, very little (or well-hidden) content, random strangers wanting to "friend" me (is there a prize for the most friends? Prom queen? Student council president?). So then I buzzed over to try and be a twit. First, I don't have enough time in the day to update everyone every 10 minutes. Second, there's no way I could explain myself in such a limited amount of characters (as is obvious from this post). Then I went back to a couple of other blog sites where I had made test accounts in past years. I was able to log into them both, but I'll be dogged if I could see what I'd done. I mean, I could access account settings, change the look of the blogs, subscribe to feeds, tag friends (again with the friends; enough already), but I couldn't find any place to "see" what I posted before (other than the url of the blog). In other words, I couldn't find the simple "preview" button that's easily found in this blog's control panel. So, I decided to stick with this one. It's the one I have my "professional" page set up in, and it seems to be the easiest to use.

So now I've got some place to do some daily (knock on wood) posting to get warmed up for each day's writing session. Hence the title: Chaos Theory. Some posts will be on my experiences as a writer trying to gain more pub credits (and fame and fortune, thank you very much); some posts will be on life in general (mine's a little weird, but aren't they all); some posts will be rants about stuff in the news . . . actually, a lot of posts will be rants . . . it's one of my favorite hobbies. And, of course, there will be links and other random junk that I come across. Perhaps "Windlistener's hodgepodge" would have been a better title. Then again, maybe not-- a hodgepodge sounds like something you put weed in to smoke.

Now let's just keep our fingers crossed that I'll be back regularly to post. Therein lies the rub.