Author: theazureshadow

It\’s a windy, drizzle-rainy day. My window is spattered with raindrops. The trees shake the water briskly from their leaves, but they can\’t get dry. If I were outside, I would be wetter than the trees; I\’m more absorbent.

Okay, Neil Gaiman has posted a brilliant video about Hobos, by John Hodgman. I\’m pretty convinced that PBS didn\’t run it (I can\’t find it in the episode lists on Wikipedia/IMDB). Decide for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1JIa5r5nkE

I decided not to go to Paris. It would be more hectic than it\’s worth (to me, right now). The Norfolk hike would be more intimate. I wouldn\’t otherwise get to the seaside, or explore the Broads much. That would be rather a shame, living in Norwich. I\’ll get plenty of exciting continental travel fever…

Thank goodness. It\’s overcast and windy and cool again. Current temperature: 57. Much more reasonable. While I don\’t mind nice sunny 75-degree days every once in a while, a long run of them overwhelms quickly. What\’s more, Thursday and Friday have 30% and 20% chances of rain. I will have to head downtown tomorrow while…

It\’s been hitting 70-80 every day here for a few days. It hasn\’t rained in a week. I already miss it. The forecast doesn\’t call for rain in the next week, but hopefully we\’ll get a thunderstorm or something to make up for this dry spell. Because I am in danger of only talking about…

The skin between my thumb and forefinger on my right hand is dry and cracked and flaking. Tonight, more than most nights, I need to immerse myself in music. Desolation Row and Tangled Up in Blue; Sitting and 18th Avenue; Vienna and Piano Man. It\’s only the pieces that fall apart, you know? I\’ll be…

I took my first of two exams today. It was difficult; it took the entire three hours. I wasn\’t fully prepared for every question, but knew enough to write at least something valid for each. Only grades will tell how well I answered. My coursework had respectably high marks. As is usual, I started studying…

Another name in the annals of writers who do genre fiction and are known in fiction award circles: Michael Chabon. His book The Yiddish Policemen\’s Union just won the Nebula Award and is up for the Hugo Award (the two biggest science fiction/fantasy awards). He won the Pulitzer in 2001 for his book The Amazing…

I\’ve been reading a lot about Ben Stein\’s film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. It is, to be blunt, a deceitful sham of a \”documentary\”. Darwin is selectively and misleadingly quoted. Noted atheistic scientists (Richard Dawkins, PZ Myers) were interviewed under the false pretenses that it was to be a balanced account rather than creationist propaganda,…

I hope it\’s treating you well, and that you\’re not doing too much work today.