Action is more interesting than inaction.

I'm stealing this notion from sdn.

Comment with something interesting and/or useful and/or fun and/or thoughtful for me to think about in the coming year: a book or restaurant or religion or clothing designer you think I'll love, a good recipe or a dangerous drink, advice and warnings, funny stories, dumb jokes, recollections and observations, wishes -- whatever.

Then I promise to read them all and decide you're a bunch of freaks and leave LJ.

sdn screened her comments so I guess I'll do so, too, but unless they're too personal I'll unscreen 'em later.

It was almost exactly a year ago that I broke my leg. Thank you, everyone for your love and support.

Christopher Schelling, Sharyn November, and I

Courtesy of cindachima. She also has a website.

Thank you thank you thank you! You just made my day. The masks are

FULL OF AWESOME!

(Now with more uprightness.)



Zorro's on the left. The other little guy is maybe his dog or something.

(Thank you, Don!)

...that I was being courted by Special Forces to run a base somewhere on the Pacific coast (it looked like Fort Worden in Washington, only, you know, operational). I thought, I have to tell stmachiavelli, he will laugh his ass off; and then I noticed I hadn't shaved my legs, so I knew it was all off.

eta: Here, have some weather porn from Orchard, Iowa, last week. I can't seem to get LJ to take a .jpg, so click to the article in the local paper, here. Or see it in mckitterick's LJ.

eta2: Y'all in the comments? Are in so much trouble.

eta3: I know where you live. And I can crack walnuts in my bare hands. Just saying.

That is all.

Over at woadwarrior and jeanineers for the evening. They watch American Idol, but I love them anyway. Currently we are waiting for pizzas to be delivered.

I had such a wonderful time at the Nebulas. Austin's a charming town, though I know I barely scratched the surface -- poppers and guac at the Iron Cactus; BBQ at a corrugated-metal shack on a deserted road in Manchaca; the capital and the grounds. So much I didn't see -- no bats, no music on the street (it was usually raining at night), no campus. It had a lot of Lawrence's breeziness.

Everyone at the con was great. I felt as though I knew about half the people there, often personally, though there were plenty of people I knew only from their journals. I LOVED meeting you all! --And remeeting those of you I never get so see very often.

I'm home now, really tired, with an ominous sore throat and sneeze. Joe and Gay Haldeman do this what seems like every single week. They must have the constitutions of mules. I don't go anywhere until the end of June, and right this moment I feel as though I still won't be recovered by then.

So far this is my favorite photo from the con, of me talking to mckitterick. I think we look like an indy duo on the release of our first CD. eta: Per todfox, any ideas for the band name? eta2: I have decided, per the thread, that it should be Food Of My People.



It was taken by Keith Stokes, and is part of the MidAmerica Fan Photo Archives. Lots more pictures from the Nebulas are here.

There are a couple of other pictures from the weekend that I really like, and I'll post links to them as I find them.

Oh, and Michael Chabon? Hot.

Busy and pleased with life, and it's hard to slow down and tell people that. But here, have some bullet-list items:

• Will she ever stop talking about the dress for the Nebulas? Yes, dear readers, she will, but that will be after the Nebulas. The latest is that I found a fun, wearable sandals I can wear with one of the dress options -- except I have to address the fact that my legs are always mottled with bruises from the climbing, and that specific combo won't go with black legs.
  
  
• Climbing is interesting lately. I am so much stronger than I was, and the break and the new strength and the new passion make it feel as though I'm on the brink of something amazing. I do need to be climbing with someone a lot better than I am -- or any of my regular partners are -- to help me make this jump. I'll look about a bit; I've been at the gym long enough I could just go up to one of the good experienced climbers and just ask.
  
  
• I saw the psychiatrist, and after a short kerfuffle, where she wanted to change my medications because I wasn't sleeping well, and I just wanted to sleep better without changing the meds, all is now well. Meds were not changed; sleep is nevertheless slightly better.
  
  
• Summer is on the FUCKING WAY!
  
  
• I love my friends. I am proud of all of y'all at the moment, for a lot of different reasons. (And pegkerr? I ordered the soulcollage book. It sounds transformative for you, so I'm sure I'll like it, too.)

Out of the blue, merimask has sent me one of her beautiful leatherwork masks, along with a card that made me very happy. This is the mask, though my bad photo doesn't begin to do it justice (she has a better photo on her LJ):



merimask, it's on my wall right next to my desk. I am honored and moved. Everyone else, go look at her etsy shop. There is a staggering wall piece there, called the Summer Wave Dragon, which none of us here can probably afford, but still. Currently, she's selling masks and barrettes and things to make money for her daughter to go to Japan this summer.

eta: Oh god, she just posted a bunch of super-realistic butterfly pins. And little wee koi!

And many many more. And when you come back, we will suitably fete you.

Gulserene's father has had a really bad fall, bad enough that she is returning to India to be with him and her mother; she may return for a few days next week but she may not, and she may only return long enough to put her apartment up for sale. I guess it's really that severe.

She very kindly offered to let me stay at her house without her, arranging aiport pickups and dinners with her friends, but I declined. Worrying about me being entertained is a level of stress she doesn't need, and visiting GS isn't the same without GS, of course. (Plus I'm even happier about visiting her in India.) In spite of wibbling last night, I have been entirely looking forward to this, except for the jet lag. Wibbling a little is some of the fun of adventures.

So now I'm trying to think of something equally unexpected to do with my newly freed days and dollars. Ideas?

In other news, courtesy ironymaiden, here's a towel monkey.

My friend and former student lanerobins's first novel, Maledicte is on this year's Locus Recommended Reading list. I like and respect many authors on that list, but there's a specific glow that comes from seeing a former student's name there.

From another friend and former student, antonstrout's first novel, Dead To Me, comes out on the 26th. He always ignores me, but I am nevertheless thrilled to take full credit for whatever he knows. The good stuff, I mean.

I suppose it's a good time for me to mention that I am teaching the intensive novel workshop again this summer for the Center for the Study of Science Fiction in Lawrence, Kansas. In the course of the two-week intensive workshop we do everything from critiquing chapters to total structural revamps. It's a lot of work, so I limit the class to six or seven students. The deadline for expressing interest by emailing me at kijjohnson at gmail dot com is April 15, but earlier is better. I'll post more about this closer to the date.

"The Evolution of Trickster Stories..." is also on on this year's Locus Recommended Reading list.

And it's been purchased for the next The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror anthology.

I am up at the crack of dawn this morning, starting to work my sleep-schedule forward before leaving on Thursday. I don't know whether this will make any difference since I am incapable of sleeping on planes, but The Books (also Wiki) all tell me to, and so, obedient sheep that I am, I do so. Pray for me that I get an aisle or window seat. Any anecdotal notions of how to sleep on planes? I believe asking the flight attendant for a brisk blow to the head is right out.

My minimal plans for Switzerland are gelled. Gulserene says this:

I booked us two tickets for an Andre Rieu concert in Zurich on the night of the 9th . Rieu is to Europe what a cross of, I guess, Hank Williams and Liberace would be in style, but he plays light Classics, Waltzes, Polkas and Schottises, authentic, but with kitsch piled on. Only this is Europe, so the guy plays a Stradivarius, and plays very well. I’m sorry, but it just had to be done. I’ll take you to anything else you want to see, but I’ve got to see this once in my life.

GS is awesome, as you can see. If you follow the link, you will see that old André looks more like Michel Bolton in a tux than Liberace, but I expect great things from this concert. Apart from that, our plans revolve around never being more than ten minutes' walk from café au lait and brioche.

Advice please? I would like to take a hostess gift to GS, but I don't have any ideas. I don't know if she has tchotchkes at all, though my guess is yes. Books would be appropriate and fun, and we love the same sorts of books. But I suspect she has everything I could think of, since I know she has or loves P.G. Wodehouse, Patrick O'Brian, Laurence Sterne, Dorothy Sayers, and Georgette Heyer. So light literature that plays with language -- nothing too weighty. Oh, and Hornblower as well. She undoubtedly reads Terry Pratchett, as well. I am bringing her the Sarah Caudwell mysteries to leave as a thank-you, but I would like a gift for the first day, as well.

Any ideas? Tchotchkes, authors, traditional gifts? I suppose I could bring alcohol from the duty-free, but that sounds uninspired, unless it's very expensive in Switzerland. I don't remember her buying any souvenirs of Lawrence but really, who would?

Out of the blue, copperwise has sent me a hand-knit Norwegian sweater that fits perfectly, in my colors -- black body with cream and red and green yoke and cuffs. I can never thank you enough for that. It's especially appropriate, since I was thinking just yesterday about how much I wished I still had the hand-knit sweaters my mom used to make! It is gorgeous.

And the owls and ptarmigan? They are also totally amazing. You're right about what they're made of -- you can feel the difference.

This was a wonderful thing to come home to.

eta: When I took out the bubble pack, I found two books. One was a children's book of Norwegian folk tales, which is very cool; it was clearly a farewell gift and has a card glued in the front, from the Admin. Staff at the American Embassy in Oslo. Dated November 17, 1961. Wow. The other, maybe the most splendid gift I have ever received, is by Elise Sverdrup and is titled Norway's Delight: Dishes and Specialties. 1957. There are so many delicacies to pick from, but I will restrain myself:

NORWEGIAN ALE SOUP
1 pint ale or beer
2 pints water
2 yolks of egg
2 tablespoonfuls cream
1 tablespoonful sugar
1/2 cup crisply toasted cubes of white bread

Whip ale, water, eggs, and cream in saucepan and bring to boil. Stir constantly. Serve with floating toast cubes. serves 4.

Um, what?

I just got back from eighteen hours in the Twin Cities, my shortest plane trip anywhere. The high spot was an extraordinary dinner with some face-to-face and LJ friends and a few new people -- wonderful company, probably the best meal I have ever had, and certainly the best wines. I also managed to snatch time for tea with pegkerr yesterday, and breakfast with my brother Rich this morning.

And then I lost my car in the SeaTac airport parking lot for an hour -- definitely the result of too much food and wine and too little sleep.

My sinus cavity is dry enough to house gila monsters.

Perfect timing. Many exotic sweet things arrived today. Thank you!

I tasted everything and it's all amazing. I like a man who believes every food's better with alcohol somewhere in the recipe.

Proven true, yet again. You know who you are.

In other news, I really like having a clean house for the holidays, so I'm spending today putting things inside other things. There's always a blissful moment late on Christmas Eve, when I look around my apartment and see my lit tree and my clean floors and a glass of eggnog with bourbon on the floor next to me, and I am so happy. --If I can get the place clean in time, that is.

It gets brighter from here on out.

The kindness of strangers and friends never fails t astonish me. steve98025, thank you for sending me chocolate when I was pining for it!

eta: Tatsuko opened her present from me already. Bonito flakes are kitty crack -- instant high and then desperate hunt for more.

eta2: Also the kitty whip. I'm going to have to hide it or she'll die of asthma.