suricattus

Got news this evening that a member of my extended family died today. Ruby was my uncle's mother, and she was lively, strong-minded, and a total character, right up to the end. I always regretted that I was only related to her by marriage, and not blood.

She was 101 (or maybe 102, we're not sure), and the cause of death was probably sheer exhaustion. A full life, full-lived. I will not mourn, but remember.

Lyn Hamilton has died. I wasn't a huge fan of her mysteries (personal taste-quirk more than a judgment on her work) but I remember her being a lovely woman, and news of her death has hit me hard.

Universe? Next time, can you take someone we all despise, please?

So, Patrick Swayze and Crystal Lee Sutton have both died, both far too early. The rest of the Internet has already weighed in with their thoughts, so I'll just say "good night, and thanks for the good work."

Oh, all right. Wolverrrrrrrrines!


Meanwhile, I have an OMG full day ahead of me, starting with a trip to the Post Awful and ending with my 'Nazi elf in the UN' take on Rime of the Ancient Mariner (no, really) being shredded by the writers group. This may be a full pot of coffee kind of day, oh yeah.

Meanwhile keep voting on the Newsletter or No letter poll -- I haven't made up my mind yet.

Woke up this morning snuggled into bed, the temperature a lovely 58 degrees. High today is supposed to be 80. My brain and my body are both "Yes! Let's DO something!" I LOVE this weather. I LOVE autumn. Have I mentioned recently how very much I'm NOT a hot weather person?


On the less happy side...
Sheila Lukins is a name you probably won't recognize. But if you do, you know why I am sad at the news of her death. The Silver Palate Cookbook was a major step for me from 'capable in the kitchen' to 'foodie' and although I rarely look at those cookbooks now, the stepping stone is still valued....


And, for those of you wondering why your authors are all particularly cranky this week, Kat Richardson's take on the Google (mis)settlement deadline. Yeah.

Edward "Teddy" Kennedy, 1932 - 2009

Remove your hat and stand for his passing, ladies and gentlemen. Whatever you thought of the man, whatever you thought of his politics, a legend has left the Senate chambers. For nearly fifty years he represented his constituents with humanity and conviction, and gave us glimmers of the legacy that Might Have Been.

The lights are gone out in the castle on the hill. The lion is sleeping, now.


My only hope is that, in his memory, Washington will be able to pass health care reform that Teddy would have approved of...

Breaking News 8:09 PM ET:
Broadcast Journalist Walter Cronkite Has Died at Age 92, According to His Family


Walter Cronkite was the first television newsman I remember, the first of the modern "anchors," and by all accounts a true gentleman who did not flinch from telling it as he saw it -- something that seems to have been completely lost in today's news media.

Goodnight, sir. I lift my glass.

Forgive me LJ, for it has been... wow, three days since my last post. I've been Twittering and FBing via the phone, but not so much with the actual updates.

This "having a life" thing, it's messing with my blogging! Oh well.

tl;dr version: Handed in a book. Got back major revisions letter on a [different] book (not unexpected but still argh-making). Went to a wine tasting. Got interviewed for a magazine to be named later. Went to many street fairs, walked many city miles, and sunburned my nose. *ow* Went to the Museum of Natural History. Got interviewed for GalleyCat (and got passingly inebriated with my editor, which is what publishing's all about). Corresponded with far-flung friends. Made summer pesto. *yum* Hung out with non-writer friends and didn't talk about work At All.

And by now all of you know about Charlie Brown's death. Lord knows Charlie and I didn't agree all the time (read: most of the time) but he was a major figure on the SF publishing world for a long time, and his passing leaves a definite vacant space. Still, if you have to go, then falling asleep on a plane home from a conventions/trip, never having to worry about what they've done with your luggage, is a pretty good way to do it.


And that's all I got. Suppose, since the birds and the cats and I are all awake, might as well start in on the day....

Wow. Got hit this morning with the too-much-caffeine shakes. My sinews were vibrating. I hate it when I do that to myself... thankfully there was leftover protein from last night, so I could even things up a bit. But it cost me an hour or so of productivity. Stupid meat-puppet.

Word War this morning was awesome, though. 1900 new words on V2. I did run into one wee problem, tho...

[11:55] meerkat: *facepalms omg laughs facepalms*
[11:57] meerkat: the perils of writing two different magical worlds with two different types of magic.. sometimes you inadvertently do a crossover...

Current and wine-magic work in totally different ways, yeah. keep 'em straight, Gilman!

Now, onward to some down-n-dirty page-turning, note-taking research, and then back to the writing. Other than that, a slow reporting day. Sadness for the news of David Carradine's death but not terrible surprise -- everything I've heard or read about him suggested a man prone to bouts of extreme, um, moodiness. That there are people calling conspiracy doesn't surprise me either -- anything's possible. But I suspect it was merely one bad day too many that took him from us, not foul play.

David Eddings has died.

http://www.sfcrowsnest.com/news/arc/2009/nz14000.php

Say what you will about his work (and many of us have said many things) i didn't read THE BELGARIAD, I devoured them. I was a teenager, turned off by the heavy negativity of many of the fantasy writers at the time (yeah Donaldson, I'm looking at you), and here was a series that managed to have strong female characters, interesting and amusing male characters, an interesting religious theory that never felt like it was trying to convert me, earthy humor, and enough action to keep me turning pages, without feeling too much like a D&D game (I played those, I didn't want to read them).

Later books disappointed me, but the magic of those books -- the first adult books I ever bought in hardcover -- was real and formative, and I really wish I still had them on my shelf.

Good night, Mr. Eddings, and thank you.

When I think of Mr. Chase the first word that comes to mind is "teacher." He was, quite simply, a legend and a legacy at my high school, with older siblings telling younger ones "make sure you take a class with Mr C!" I was only fortunate enough to take one class with him, but it left within me both a deep appreciation for the work required to create an animated film, and a lifelong fondness for Betty Boop.

I haven't seen him since graduation, back in 1985, but I can still remember, clearly as one of the films we made, sitting in his workroom, laughing and joking around as we learned the steps to make our simple pencil sketches and cutouts move on the screen. Like all the best teachers, he made us want to pursue learning, rather than simply receiving it.

He died of a stroke on Friday, at age 67.

My sympathy goes out to his family, and all those who are suddenly -- far too soon -- deprived of his presence.

http://www.waiteforme.com/

I was getting ready for class when I heard a noise that sounded like a cross between a low scream and a moan, coming from a corner suite in my dorm. I ran to see what was wrong, and caught the coverage of the explosion* on small television screen.

For years, I thought that would be the most horrific thing I would ever see.


Francis R. Scobee. Michael J. Smith. Judith A. Resnik. Ellison S. Onizuka. Ronald E. McNair. Gregory B. Jarvis. Sharon Christa McAuliffe.


Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

-Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee, 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941






*yeah I know it didn't technically explode. But that is the image in my mind, and I'm not a rocket scientist, okay?

1. George Francis, 112. Oldest man in the United States. A black man born in the nineteenth century, who witnessed two world wars, the walk on the moon, the civil rights movement, and the turning of the twentieth century. A citizen of the south during the Jim Crow era, he retained his clarity and lived to vote for Barack Obama.

2. Brian Guest, 51. Australian snorkeler, long-time campaigner for shark conservation. Taken thirty meters off-shore by a great white. (yeah, I know. I know. Higher risk of being killed in a freak unicyle accident, etc etc. But as someone with a long-standing and quite logical shark phobia, allow me my moment)

Better known to most of the world as "Deep Throat."

He had been ill and of deeply failing memory for quite some time, so I will not mourn his passing, but rather salute his life, his courage, and his honor.

Stand and remove your caps. A hero passes.

Woke this morning to the news that Tony Hillerman has died.

*moment of silence*

A full and accomplished life, that one.
---------------------


my life is nowhere near that accomplished but I'm going to try and pack an awful lot into today, as I woke up and thought "self, you leave for Seattle tomorrow, and your to-do list ain't nowhere near done."* Making a full pot of coffee and revving up for the day...





*for various overbooked, possibly obsessive levels of 'done'

A name not many of you will know, but those who do know what a loss it is.


damn it.