turbid (TUR-bid), adjective:
1. Muddy; thick with or as if with roiled sediment; not clear; — used of liquids of any kind.
2. Thick; dense; dark; — used of clouds, air, fog, smoke, etc.
3. Disturbed; confused; disordered.

Turbid comes from Latin turbidus, “confused, disordered,” from turba, “disturbance, commotion.”

That describes my thoughts lately… some scattering and obfuscation. I need some cob-sweeping, and a little reorganization of the processes that go there…Some elements need to either solidify, get folded and put in a drawer, or be chucked out. Thinks were much the same for me this time last year, similar stresses and work struggles… they passed then, and they will pass now, too.

Also, a year ago today….

The McNoggin.

KPMG is a big company that doesn’t like anyone linking to them. KPMG! KPMG! KPMG! KPMG! KPMG! (spread the link around. It’s fun!)

and now, back to my regularly scheduled doomaflobbie.

One of my Christmas-times on my own, in a tiny efficiency apartment in Boca…

I was called into work, to take care of a few problems that were going on, but got home early… My mother was in Brazil with her new husband, my brother was in Hawaii, I think.

People in my circle of friends were all very busy, and at the time, I didn’t want to see anyone for what I thought of at the time as a “mercy dinner”, but instead dressed down to my most comfortable clothes, a pair of sweat pants and an oversized T-shirt with Spider-Man on the front, grappling with the Green Goblin, and a pair of very comfortable white leather high tops. I had fairly short hair then, and a neatly trimmed, but full beard… In some of the best shape I’ve ever been in, since I’d been attending sports therapy for my back.

I went outside, and the weather was brisk enough to make me return for a sweatshirt…Grey, with Miskatonic University Printed across the front… amazingly comfy, suitable for jammies, really. I walked a long way that day, wanting to get as far away from civilization as possible. Time compressed for me, I honestly don’t know how long it took, but I eventually ended up at Red Reef Park, on the long boardwalk they have.

I remembered the time I didn’t have a place ot live and slept there at night, checking out my old haunts…I didn’t see any signs of anyone else staying there. I took a seat, and just thought to myself a long while, seeking a balance, finding where I was before, and what I was then. I came to the realization that even though I was not in the best place in the world, that things were good, better than the times before. I was feeling poorly at the beginning of the day, and stuff was getting better and better as time went on.

I think it was the first time in maybe years that I knew that things were good with me, and that my world was not so bad after all.

This means you! 🙂

Cloning laws in Japan to allow human-animal mix
Will Japan become The Island of Doctor Moreau? As long as it’s not the Brando version… eegah.

And now, off to work.

Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you. -Carl Sandburg

furphy (FUR-fee) noun

A rumor.

After the Furphy family of Victoria, Australia, manufacturer of Furphy carts, for water or trash. These carts where used during World War I, around which troops gathered and exchanged gossip. This word was formed in much the same way as scuttlebutt, the word we got from nautical terminology. A scuttlebutt was an open cask of drinking water, a favorite meeting place of the crew to swap stories.

Lots of work today. a great deal of effort was made to keep an even keel, and maintain balance, and fortunately, it paid off… got my stuff mostly covered… on schedule, anyhow… Dale’s duties are handily covered, despite some fastballs and unforseen stumbling blocks put in our path by the client. multiple files, nonstandard formats, horrid deadlines, all defeated.

I want to sit back tonight, and unwind.. have a long talk with my sweetheart, and just relax. ‘Tis the season for stress it seems… it’s a real shame when the winter holiday spirit gets twisted into gloom, anger and impatience. I’m going to make a point of trying to make the holidays a nicer time for everyone, and not in the chirpy way that bothers some folks. Just a little smile, a soft word, and good thoughts for folks… I think that can maybe do the most good. There are a lot of people that could do with a little kindness and softness, and it’ll make me feel like a better person, too.

It’s time for me to regroup my thoughts about Christmas prezzies, too. My list this year is a small one… I’ve got a list, and it’s been checked once over now, so I’m halfway there.

A few ideas are in place, but I’ve got a couple of holes in my shopping to work with. Saturday also has a possible longer gig with Women/Children in Distress (a spousal/child abuse center), writing some software for the remote council to add to a master database… shouldn’t take too long and it’s for a good cause. I’ll find out more details as the weekend draws near.

Finished editing my portion of the LOTR project, and sent off the revised galleys to the chief this morning, so I have a work slot open.

potemkin village (po-TEM-kin VIL-ij) noun

An impressive showy facade designed to mask undesirable facts.

After Prince Potemkin, who erected cardboard villages for Catherine II’s visit to the Ukraine and the Crimea in 1787.

fatidic (fuh-TID-ik), adjective:

Of, relating to, or characterized by prophecy; prophetic.

Fatidic comes from Latin fatidicus, from fati- (from fatum,”fate”) + -dicus (from dicere, “to say”).

potemkin village (po-TEM-kin VIL-ij) noun

An impressive showy facade designed to mask undesirable facts.

After Prince Potemkin, who erected cardboard villages for Catherine II’s visit to the Ukraine and the Crimea in 1787.

fatidic (fuh-TID-ik), adjective:

Of, relating to, or characterized by prophecy; prophetic.

Fatidic comes from Latin fatidicus, from fati- (from fatum,”fate”) + -dicus (from dicere, “to say”).

Ugh. mucho work. a complete report later.

Highlights – broken printer, and unneeded stress on nice folks.

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/11/28/wpomp28.xml

Another major site buried by Vesuvius (but in the Bronze Age, ~ 1750BC) has been discovered. Experts say it could be the world’s best preserved early Bronze Age village. Among the items found were the bones of hams, a hat decorated with the teeth of a wild boar and a cage which had been raised six feet off the ground – probably to protect it from dogs – containing the remains of pregnant goats. Before this we had only holes in the ground where stakes had been, to show us what a Bronze Age village had been like.

What else lies lurking, waiting patiently to be uncovered? (Insert evil organ music…)

I dunno, but it will probably be related to… SPARTACUS!!!!

There’s no escaping! He’s everywhere! He was bigger than Elvis!

He never really died you know. Everyone that said “I am Spartacus?” They were telling the literal truth.

That grave at Pere Lachaise? Empty. Where is Spartacus buried? He never died. Now stop fooling around and organize.

Some say he changed his name to Keyser Soze.

I heard he worked under the codename ROSEBUD.

Some say he moved in espionage circles under the name George Kaplan, but others say he took the codename ANDREA.

Some say they saw him disguised behind bandages as an unknown soldier.

He’ll be all around in the dark. He’ll be everywhere, wherever you can look. Wherever there’s a fight so hungry people can eat, he’ll be there. Wherever there’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, he’ll be there. He’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad. He’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry and they know supper’s ready and where people are eatin’ the stuff they raise and livin’ in the houses they build. He’ll be there, too.

Believed to have been brought to America as stow-aways on banana boats, Cuban Tree Frogs are the largest tree frogs in North America. They are notorious for cannibalism…if there are other species of frogs in the tank, or even specimens of the same species, they have been known to feast on their neighbors!

What kind of Frog are you?

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/11/28/wpomp28.xml

Another major site buried by Vesuvius (but in the Bronze Age, ~ 1750BC) has been discovered. Experts say it could be the world’s best preserved early Bronze Age village. Among the items found were the bones of hams, a hat decorated with the teeth of a wild boar and a cage which had been raised six feet off the ground – probably to protect it from dogs – containing the remains of pregnant goats. Before this we had only holes in the ground where stakes had been, to show us what a Bronze Age village had been like.

What else lies lurking, waiting patiently to be uncovered? (Insert evil organ music…)

I dunno, but it will probably be related to… SPARTACUS!!!!

There’s no escaping! He’s everywhere! He was bigger than Elvis!

He never really died you know. Everyone that said “I am Spartacus?” They were telling the literal truth.

That grave at Pere Lachaise? Empty. Where is Spartacus buried? He never died. Now stop fooling around and organize.

Some say he changed his name to Keyser Soze.

I heard he worked under the codename ROSEBUD.

Some say he moved in espionage circles under the name George Kaplan, but others say he took the codename ANDREA.

Some say they saw him disguised behind bandages as an unknown soldier.

He’ll be all around in the dark. He’ll be everywhere, wherever you can look. Wherever there’s a fight so hungry people can eat, he’ll be there. Wherever there’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, he’ll be there. He’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad. He’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry and they know supper’s ready and where people are eatin’ the stuff they raise and livin’ in the houses they build. He’ll be there, too.

Believed to have been brought to America as stow-aways on banana boats, Cuban Tree Frogs are the largest tree frogs in North America. They are notorious for cannibalism…if there are other species of frogs in the tank, or even specimens of the same species, they have been known to feast on their neighbors!

What kind of Frog are you?

I’m just sittin’ here watching the clothes spin ’round and ‘rounnnnd….

I really love to watch them roll…

Once the ground of mind is clarified,
There is no obstruction at all.
You shed views and interpretations
That are based on concepts such as
Victory and defeat, self and others,
Right and wrong.
Thus you pass through all that
And reach a realm of great rest and tranquility.

– Yuanwu

Back from walkies… a lovely morning out. Cool and clear.Walked to the post office and back, and realized I’d have been smart if I’d brought some more money with me to visit the green stand while there… ah well, I’ll swing by during laundry, later on today. Submitted two stories to the The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Well, I just dropped them in the mailbox… so it won’t be really launched form the PO until Monday. We’ll see what happens… I still have some stuff in the slush pile at Analog but no info as to when, or if they’ll ever crack into the light of print. When I get back to work tomorrow, I have to print out a few more nice cover sheets, to shop more things around again. Time to print out everything I think to be of value, and just scattergun, tracking what’s gone where in a spreadsheet (that I have yet to put together). I wonder where my landlord went off to… never picked up the rent yesterday.

I did a little writing yesterday on looseleaf paper, trying to capture a different vibe than typing on the laptop. (My gorilloid hands still aren’t the most happy with the “just smaller enough to throw me off” size. I’ve found that porgramming on the worker bee is ok, since I have a lot of word completes and such on the text editor there. I know I’m more comfortable writing on a machine, once the elements are in place, but I think doodling on a scratch pad loosely has some really valid points to it.

*thinking good thoughts for my sweetie who’s going to brave the shopping frenzy today with her maternal unit.

Ah well, off to daily chores! See you kids in a while.

Oh! go see http://www.explodingdog.com/ …I like it.

I knew it – (I’m only slapping online tests at the bottom of real entries, now. 🙂 )

Just added a new picture to the . Contemplating how I’ll paint it myself. 🙂