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My computer is BROKEN. My lovely, lovely laptop. The motherboard is fucked, and for this reason, the screen is all yellow. The computer guy says that the hard drive is OK, which is good because it has all my stories and music and archived conversations on it. That hard drive is going to be passed on from computer to computer as I grow older.
So no more writing stories for a little while until it's all fixed and nice. This may cost a lot. I'm going to see if I can get Dad to pay for it, maybe for a birthday present. He said he was going to get me an iPod. I don't really need an iPod.
Am working on a little rant about superheroes (on Mom's computer right now), which ought to hold me for a while.
Went to Ferndale with Grandma Chris because she owed me a coffee. Ferndale is what Royal Oak used to be--little thrift shops and punk shops and cheap places to eat. It's also known as "FabulousFerndale" because they've got a gay bookstore/coffeeshop, a drag store, and GLBT youth center. Behold, the San Francisco of the suburbs! Just about every store has a sticker on their door with a rainbow and "Gay Friendly!" or "Ferndale Welcomes Everyone!" or some other vague message of tolerance. Why does a record store need to be particularly gay-friendly? Do they sell only Melissa Etheridge and Village People albums? Will they give you a discount if you act flamboyant or butch?
Checked out the gay bookstore while Grandma was comparing the price of white teas at the tea bar. It was kind of depressing; earnest rainbow stickers, cutesy stuffed girl/girl and guy/guy bears holding hands, 600-page photo books about Stonewall, magazines with identical, oily, vacant men staring at the camera. No Wilde anthologies, non-fetish pr0n, or anything political or thought-provoking. This is why I've never liked mainstream "gay culture"; it's an entire subculture based not around common interests or worldviews, but vague and basic sexuality. Give me my slash and zombie-sex and D&D; I have no need for rainbow stickers.
I went to the regular used bookstore a few doors down and spent 45 minutes dithering about what to spend $20 on. I almost bought a huge stack of E.E. Smith paperbacks before I remembered that I've never even read anything by E.E. Smith. Settled on a Thomas Disch story collection and a J.G. Ballard novel.
One minor frustration of my literary life is that I've never been able to find any book by Robert Sheckley. I've read a few of his short stories in anthologies, and read some wonderful reviews of his novels, but Border's never has anything by him. Nor does any other bookstore I've been in. If anyone's got even one Sheckley novel, I'll trade you...a bunch of Christopher Stasheff books I bought on a whim and decided I didn't like. They're the only books I have that I could bear to give away without having a duplicate. Actually, no, I don't want to force these books on anyone else. I'll make you some earrings or write you a drabble on the subject of your choice or something.
Also, does anyone know where I can find a copy of "Dance of Death" around Metro Detroit? I'm aching to read it, and the library has 17 holds for two copies. Preston and Child are going to be retired by the time I get to read it.
I've noticed that a lot of people on my f-list are posting "No HBP spoilers here!" banners. I'd like to declare this journal a spoiler-friendly zone. Spoilers in comments will be welcomed, read, and catered to. I like spoilers, for any fandom. I like knowing what's going to happen. I don't read for plot, I read for writing and characters and the little bits that happen in between the plot.
So no more writing stories for a little while until it's all fixed and nice. This may cost a lot. I'm going to see if I can get Dad to pay for it, maybe for a birthday present. He said he was going to get me an iPod. I don't really need an iPod.
Am working on a little rant about superheroes (on Mom's computer right now), which ought to hold me for a while.
Went to Ferndale with Grandma Chris because she owed me a coffee. Ferndale is what Royal Oak used to be--little thrift shops and punk shops and cheap places to eat. It's also known as "FabulousFerndale" because they've got a gay bookstore/coffeeshop, a drag store, and GLBT youth center. Behold, the San Francisco of the suburbs! Just about every store has a sticker on their door with a rainbow and "Gay Friendly!" or "Ferndale Welcomes Everyone!" or some other vague message of tolerance. Why does a record store need to be particularly gay-friendly? Do they sell only Melissa Etheridge and Village People albums? Will they give you a discount if you act flamboyant or butch?
Checked out the gay bookstore while Grandma was comparing the price of white teas at the tea bar. It was kind of depressing; earnest rainbow stickers, cutesy stuffed girl/girl and guy/guy bears holding hands, 600-page photo books about Stonewall, magazines with identical, oily, vacant men staring at the camera. No Wilde anthologies, non-fetish pr0n, or anything political or thought-provoking. This is why I've never liked mainstream "gay culture"; it's an entire subculture based not around common interests or worldviews, but vague and basic sexuality. Give me my slash and zombie-sex and D&D; I have no need for rainbow stickers.
I went to the regular used bookstore a few doors down and spent 45 minutes dithering about what to spend $20 on. I almost bought a huge stack of E.E. Smith paperbacks before I remembered that I've never even read anything by E.E. Smith. Settled on a Thomas Disch story collection and a J.G. Ballard novel.
One minor frustration of my literary life is that I've never been able to find any book by Robert Sheckley. I've read a few of his short stories in anthologies, and read some wonderful reviews of his novels, but Border's never has anything by him. Nor does any other bookstore I've been in. If anyone's got even one Sheckley novel, I'll trade you...a bunch of Christopher Stasheff books I bought on a whim and decided I didn't like. They're the only books I have that I could bear to give away without having a duplicate. Actually, no, I don't want to force these books on anyone else. I'll make you some earrings or write you a drabble on the subject of your choice or something.
Also, does anyone know where I can find a copy of "Dance of Death" around Metro Detroit? I'm aching to read it, and the library has 17 holds for two copies. Preston and Child are going to be retired by the time I get to read it.
I've noticed that a lot of people on my f-list are posting "No HBP spoilers here!" banners. I'd like to declare this journal a spoiler-friendly zone. Spoilers in comments will be welcomed, read, and catered to. I like spoilers, for any fandom. I like knowing what's going to happen. I don't read for plot, I read for writing and characters and the little bits that happen in between the plot.
