Monthly Archives: September 2015

I’m alive, just (a) busy with other stuff and (b) not thinking anything very profound.

More words to come later. I WILL DO MY DUTY TO FILL THE INTERNET’S SHORTAGE OF WORDS

• Yesterday I met with the local Area Director for N2 Publishing. She manages a neighborhood magazine called Run Life (the “Run” is a reference to local geography – it’s not related to running). Looks like I’ve got some writing work, and the potential for editing work down the line. Excellent!
• I’m continuing to do copyediting for business writing from Creative Sparks Writing (not sure if I’ve mentioned them before). Creative Sparks was recently the source of my first-ever editing paycheck, so they have a special place in my heart.
• I’m also still copyediting for Pen-L Publishing, though I’m in between projects at the moment. So far I’ve edited three book-length manuscripts: a Western novel, a paranormal-romance-ish novel, and a memoir. Learned a lot from all three.
• I’m taking the first of three EFA classes, branching out from pure copyediting into the wider, more nebulous realm of developmental editing. Gwahahaha, the power!! Ahem.
• Still working on Crane Girl. The first-and-a-half draft of part one got very positive feedback from beta readers. Lots of good suggestions, too. At the moment I’m working on fleshing out the characters, making them stronger and more interesting. Also figuring out how to make one of the settings, a fantasy city, less Earth-like.
• Still doing the Twitter thing.

As always, if you know any writers, it would mean so much to me if you wanted to let them know I’m available as a copyeditor, and point them toward my site. When you’re just starting out like this, every new client makes a huge difference. Thanks in advance!

• a/s/l – This is how someone asks for your area code / superpower / favorite Lego set. A typical answer would be “937 / invisibility / Taj Mahal.”
• backup – Allegedly a way to protect your files. Don’t fall for this scam. Two locations for data means twice the vulnerability to hackers.
• blog – A juvenile balrog.
• broadband – An outdated, sexist term for a woman’s connection to the Internet. The modern, gender-sensitive term is “damewire,” and the male equivalent is “phallifax.”
• byte – An alternate spelling of “bidet.”
• DB – Dorito Burrito.
• DNS – Do Not Suscitate.
• Error 404 – Page not working. Page needs encouragement. To load page, refresh 404 times.
• flash drive – A hell of a lot more effective than a bake sale, I can tell you that.
• forum – A small organ between the duodenum and the jejunum. It performs little digestion and primarily serves to pass along waste.
• homepage – An online real estate listing.
• HTML – High-Tech Masculine Libido.
• HTTP – Hungarian Truck & Tulip Program. (Later changed to “Tubes” after it was discovered that the Internet is not a big truck.)
• I/O – Iago/Othello slash fic.
• IP address – The locations of the Italian Palaces, that is, the castles in Super Mario Bros. “Our princess is in another castle!”
• Linux – The Borg-assimilated version of Linus van Pelt, originally planned for the Charlie Brown Christmas / Star Trek: First Contact crossover special. Eventually scrapped, mostly because somebody ratted us out to Charles Schulz. Bastard.
• LOL – Land O’ Lakes butter. The traditional reply is GFY, “Good Food – Yum!”
• malware – A common misspelling of “mallware,” so called for all the great deals you can get.
• Microsoft – The third-worst male nickname of all time, just behind “Nanolimp” and “Picoflaccid.”
• online – What words become if you underline them.
• PDF – Partially Digitized Ferret.
• pr0n – Priests, Rabbis, Zero Nuns.
• RAM – Ritalin and Mescaline. (Sometimes measured in GB, or grams/bushel.)
• social media – The correct plural of “social medium,” a gregarious clairvoyant.
• SQL – Squash, Quidditch & Lacrosse. Pronounced “squall.”
• wiki – What the Witch of the West is.

I love Supergirl … in theory. Someone with all of Superman’s power, but a different personality, a different perspective. Someone who has to share the limelight, with all the emotional maturity that requires. What a great idea, right?

So when I heard that CBS is starting a Supergirl series, to air in October, I was cautiously hopeful. I watched the extended trailer:

(Direct link.)

So far I’m thinking … eh.

It’s not terrible, but it seems … bland. None of the characters are really interesting besides Calista Flockhart’s. The save-the-falling-plane routine has been done before, and better, and pretty recently. There’s no credible threat to overcome. The “girl”-is-feminist speech is preachy. The secret government agency protecting Earth seems like every other secret government agency protecting Earth in every show or movie, ever. And the whole thing is trying way too hard to be inspirational.

You know how you actually become inspirational? You do something that inspires. Showing off your effortless super powers doesn’t really qualify.

Of course, it’s the beginning, and lots of great shows falter in the beginning. I’ve written before about how Next Generation, Babylon 5, and Buffy all had awful beginnings.

I’m more than willing to give it time. I just hope they can pull it off. Because I would really love for Supergirl to be cool.

And, in fairness, having Dean Cain (Superman from Lois and Clark) and Helen Slater (Supergirl from the 1984 movie) as Supergirl’s foster parents is a great idea.

What do you think?

Betsy and I had dinner at a sushi place the other night.

I went hunting through the menu for something to drink. My criteria are kinda strict: I can’t drink much alcohol at the moment, I don’t drink much soda, and I don’t usually like caffeine in the evening. So I look for less typical stuff like smoothies and bubble tea.

I found something called Ramune, advertised as a kids’ drink. Had absolutely no idea what it was. Sure, let’s try that.

Ramune – the name is apparently a Japanization of “lemonade” – is much weirder than I expected.

The drink itself is sugary and forgettable (“MADE with REAL SUGAR”), but the container is … bizarre. The kind of thing that gives Japan its reputation for weirdness.

The glass bottle came with directions for opening. These directions advised kids to have an adult open the bottle, but maybe it should have said “adults,” because this Ramune container required both of us working together to figure out. (Admittedly, I am not very good at stuff like this.) Basically, you remove the plastic cap, snap out the middle, and use that small plastic piece (shown on the right in the photo) to pop the marble out of the mouth of the bottle.

Yes, the marble. Because why wouldn’t there be a marble in your bottle? You can still see it in the neck, above.

The world is full of things.