Monday

Administration
Happy birthday to dragonheart97!

Hello to new readers lagringa, pixelfish, rfreebern, ron_newman, sleigh, and the_onion_girl!


Medical
Hangin' in. Not too bad today. So far.

Travel
The most recent flight:
* No plug for my laptop in our row, again.
* We were told we wouldn't have to deplane in Chicago. So when I had a sudden attack of sinus hell (curse you, left maxillary sinus!), I figured it was safe to medicate - after all, I wouldn't have to do anything for five, six hours. So I popped a Robaxin and, when that didn't touch the pain, a Lunesta, to try to just sleep through it. Guess what? Had to change planes. Which we were specifically told we wouldn't, both when the flight was booked and by the flight attendant just half an hour before we had to deplane. This is why I got the wheelchair ride. Lunesta + 'song = not really able to walk.
* Never fly American Airlines. Seriously. They don't even give you a pack of goddamn peanuts.

Politics
* Didja see the Texas debate where Clinton accused Obama of plagiarism because he used two of Deval Patrick's lines in a speech, with Deval Patrick's blessing? Guess what? Y'know that powerful closing comment she made? Yep. She totally plagiarized it. Chutzpah...
* Making Light investigates the lack of Secret Service protection for Obama. Go read that - is a scary thing.

Link Soup
* For Spooky: Horror makeup of 1933!
* Abandoned tunnels and vast underground spaces.
* Oh, man. I need this bookcase. (More pics here!)
* Free Nebula-nominated stories here!

Daily Science
Kids of any age love to read fairy tales because the storyline never limits the possibility that anything could happen. Curses, spells, and handsome princes reign in worlds beyond the reader’s imagination. But are the most magical moments from some of our favorite stories actually possible? Basic physical principles and recent scientific research suggest that what readers might mistake for fantasies and exaggeration could be rooted in reality. So suspend your imagination for a moment, and look at the following fairy tales as a hard-core scientist might...

Daily Scent-Stuff
BPALerinas - I have been off the forums for a week, and apparently there are 70someodd pages for my approval; to that, I said "Oh hell no." Anything interesting happen, or is it all just reviews?

( CB:IHP )

Plans
Got to tackle that list of e-mails-to-be-sent, do physical therapy, then spend the rest of the day writing my butt off!

IMPORTANT!

As you know (Bob), my birthday is this Sunday (whee!), and I am having a three-day birthday extravaganza.

Now.

It always drives me crazy when people don't RSVP. But this time, more than ever, you absolutely must, dudes.

* We need a headcount for Friday's symposium/bacchanalia. lightcastle will be preparing a feast in the grand Roman tradition, and as we're both kinda low on cash, we really need to know exactly how many people we're cooking for.

* We need a headcount for Saturday's Scavenger Hunt, because we need to know how many teams we'll have. This is important for Hunt planning.

Sunday's more freeform; Saturday night, too. Announcements on those will go up later in the week. RSVPs for those are recommended, because it's The Right Thing To Do, but they are not mandatory.

Due to the nature of the symposium/bacchanalia and scavenger hunt, RSVPs are absolutely required. Deadline to RSVP is Tuesday night (2/26). If you have not RSVPed by tomorrow night, you will not be fed!

More about all of this here.

RSVP here. If you think you RSVPed but aren't sure, please go check. If you're bringing a date (or two), comment there. Or have them come answer the poll.

If you are attending the symposium/bacchanalia, please bring a musical instrument if you have one, and be prepared to declaim poetry and stuff. :)

So. Yeah. This is a hell week, a crunch week; please make this part easy-ish for me!

Early afternoon miscellany

* I am on the mailing list of every genius-kid camp evar, I think.

* I has new default icon!

* Anyone have time to read a 2,000-word story and see if it works? This is the finished "Hey Elizabeth". I hope. I think so. I like it, but I'm a bit too close to it to tell. First three respondents get to review it - thanks! emilytheslayer,melvh,eustaciavye - thanks!

Say anything.

Comments are screened, and will stay that way.

Tell me something. Anything. There are over a thousand of you out there, and a few hundred of you never comment. :) I want to know you. Don't be shy. Just tellme a little bit of your story.

Shayara

I am starting to realize that, starting Sunday,I've committed myself to posting Shayara storybits twice or three times a week (starting with twice) for... I don't know how long. Years?

Shayara has existed as a world-in-my-head for a long time. When I was working on it as a comic,I was hung up waiting for my artist to kick into gear, so I wrote little scattered things just to keep my eye on the world. That's been the case for years.

This?

This is not dipping my toes in every so often when I feel like checking up on my characters. This is full immersion.

...it's gonna be weird in my head for a while.

Shayara starts its new life as a web-based story with art on this Sunday, March 2 (my birthday, is why), and will be posted Tuesday and Thursday thereafter til it's done. (Yes, this is a finite story.) There will be music. There will be goodies for forum members (and there are in-character and out-of-character sections of the forum- watch the IC one for bonus storybits). There will be secret pockets of story hidden all over the site. Easter eggs,baby.

More than anything else, there will be story.

Shayara is urban fantasy. It's about the Dasaroi - the race that existed before humans and now coexists with them, has interbred with them, and is being drawn back to the place of their race's birth. It's about power and responsibility, it's about justice and strength, it's about love and truth.

And it's about finding home.

All flashy psionic powers and quests and revolutions aside (and there will be those, don't worry!) - it's about finding home.