On Alphas and Omegas

Yesterday I took a walk and ran into an older woman. She was also out walking and just seemed to need to talk. It sounds like she’s alone in her home most of the time. I can relate. It’s increasingly easy to become isolated in today’s world. When you’re not young, healthy, and able to be active in work, school, or social groups, the walls close in. Many people seem to think social media is an adequate substitute for real contact and communication. I think that’s because these folks have a vibrant support network and active life which social media merely supplements. For those who can’t fully participate in our able-body-oriented world, social media is something, but nothing can replace in person interaction. So I let the woman bend my ear for a while and validated the positive choices she was making.

The interaction made me think of a line in Patricia Briggs’ Alpha and Omega series (I’ll paraphrase since I listen to the audiobooks):

“I bet complete strangers come up to you and tell you their deepest secrets all the time.”

Charles says this to Anna, explaining that it’s a trait of omega wolves. In Briggs’ universe, omega wolves are a rare combination of dominant and submissive traits. Omega wolves share the dominant urge to protect, but don’t feel the need to fight for dominance or kill like submissive wolves. Omegas also are the only wolves that are not affected by a magical compulsion to obey a more dominant wolf’s orders. One character in the Alpha and Omega series calls omegas “dominants who are really, really zen.”

If I lived in Briggs’ universe, I’d be an omega. I’ve had total strangers come up to me and say, “I have this feeling I need to talk to you,” and proceed to spill their darkest troubles. The closer our association, the more people seem to feel compelled to tell me everything. This is a useful trait for an author, as I get to hear a lot of fascinating stories. I also enjoy helping people attain some measure of peace.

Being an omega is tricky, however. I’ve run into trouble because those with more…aggressive…natures sometimes suddenly realize they’ve told me highly sensitive information. Even though I’m good at keeping secrets, these people suddenly view me as a threat. Their fear then drives them to attack.

Another trait of omega wolves is that others feel the need to protect them. This is also a double-edged sword. Sometimes I have unconsciously relied on that protection and left myself vulnerable to harm.

I won’t list all the reasons I’d be an omega, but thinking about this topic in conjunction with world-building, I decided that the dominance angle comes from werewolves’ human creators and is not an essential part of werewolves.

From my participation in BDSM, I’ve seen extremes of dominance and submission. Werewolves as presented in Patricia Briggs’ novels offer a useful paradigm for categorizing kinky humans.

  • An Alpha is the most dominant person or wolf in a given area. They assume responsibility for others’ safety. Dominants feel compelled to jockey for position and will fight to attain and maintain the highest social rank possible. Kinky human dominants who pursue healthy relationships usually want to be alphas.
  • A Beast is an alpha who does not feel the need to protect others. In kink terms, this equates to the predators, abusers, bullies, and well-named Assholes in Leather among us. These people promulgate the disgusting trope that submissives are (or should be) doormats. This GoodReads thread has a great discussion on this topic re: the Alpha and Omega series.
  • Omegas may equate to switches. In the kink world, a switch has both dominant and submissive aspects which they switch between.
  • Submissives are those humans and wolves who aren’t preoccupied with fighting for position (at least not to the extent dominants are). In the context of a BDSM dynamic, a submissive obeys their dominant and does their best to please them within agreed bounds. Contrary to the belief of many human Beasts, submissives need not submit to anyone but their dominant partner(s) without prior consent. Briggs’ werewolves are different in that all wolves must submit to the most dominant wolf present. This and several quotes from the books perpetuate the “submissives are doormats, the lowest of the low” trope.

This paradigm can even be useful outside of kink circles. In my mind it runs into two problems, however:

  1. The aforementioned “submissives are doormats, the lowest of the low” trope. Submissives can be very powerful!
  2. Actual wolf pack dynamics.

I encourage you to read the full article I’ve linked above. Here’s the gist, though:

studies of wild wolves have found that wolves live in families: two parents along with their younger cubs. Wolves do not have an innate sense of rank; they are not born leaders or born followers. The “alphas” are simply what we would call in any other social group “parents.”

The whole alpha thing was a mistake born from observing captive wolves. Captive wolves are usually a group of unrelated specimens. They’re not family. This leads to the abnormal preoccupation with social dominance researchers observed. I also think researchers may have laid human preoccupation with dominance over their observations, distorting what they actually saw. This doesn’t mean wolves in the wild don’t care about dominance at all, just that it’s not behind a lot of pack behavior.

I’ve already noted that I like to remain as true to current science in my writing as possible. Therefore, the werewolves in my universe will not have any of that “alpha vs. omega” nonsense. Therianthropes of all kinds will behave according to a combination of their human nature and the way their animal nature behaves in the wild. That means my werewolf packs will be families. (And yes, I’m planning more than just werewolves!)

Introducing Homo sapiens sanguis

A guest post by Emily Graves, DO and Yoko Ichinose, PhD¹

We’re delighted to publish excerpts from our paper “Introducing Homo sapiens sanguis”.

Homo sapiens sanguis is a novel subspecies of Homo sapiens. Known in folklore and myth as vampires, this is the first scientific paper on H. s. sanguis and their culture. We have named this subspecies to reflect their diet and predatory nature.

H. s. sanguis refer to themselves in English as kindred and in Arabic as ainsiba’. Arabic is the official kindred language. H. s. sanguis diverged from H. sapiens about 98,000 BCE. They evolved in parallel with their primary prey, H. sapiens. The kindred feel that speaking Arabic helps preserve their culture and continues to connect them to their subspecies’ origins in the Fertile Crescent. […..]

A bloodborn, or naturally concieved, specimen’s lifespan averages 1,000 years. Gestation takes 90 months. Puberty occurs at 100 years of age. H. s. sanguis are considered adults upon completing the fledging ceremony. This ceremony takes place in up to four stages: ceremonial first kill after onset of puberty, ceremonial first kill after emergence of talent (if later date), fledging journey, final ceremony. Kindred are considered elderly at about 700 years old. Talents will be discussed later in this paper.

Turned specimens live a maximum of 900 years as their resurrection makes them at least the equivalent of a pubescent ainsiba’.

Most H. s. sanguis die in combat in the prime of life.

Ainsiba’ government places strict controls on the birth or creation of new kindred. The aim is to maintain a 1 death to 1 birth or creation ratio. [….]

All H. s. sanguis require blood from H. sapiens to survive.  The bloodborn meet nearly all their dietary requirements with human blood alone, but they can eat human food in order to keep up appearances. Turned kindred must supplement their blood diet with human food. All H. s. sanguis require Vitamin D supplementation because they cannot make it from sunlight due to an extreme UV-B allergy. Kindred cannot survive more than 24 hours without blood. Blood from non-human animals is not an adequate substitute. Animal blood can sustain kindred for up to a week, but has many painful and debilitating side effects. Infant bloodborn, the newly turned, or the elderly (~700+ years old) can only go a maximum of 12 hours without blood.

Figure 1 shows the minimum number of H. sapiens prey required to feed one ainsiba’ for 1 year. In this scenario the H. s. sanguis may create a menagerie of human prey upon which they feed in rotation. The standard U.S. Blood donation is 500 ml or 1 pint and contains roughly 450 calories.  Male H. sapiens provide slightly more protein, as their blood’s plasma content is 55%. Female H. sapiens’ blood is 60% plasma, making them more desirable when an H. s. sanguisrequires an immunity boost. We will not discriminate between sexes in our calculations. An average bloodborn ainsiba’ must consume 3,000 calories per day from blood to survive, while an average turned kindred must consume only 2,000 calories of blood per day and can make up the remaining third of their daily calorie requirement with food. Thus a bloodborn requires 3,333.33 ml or 6.67 pints per day while a turned requires 2,222.22 ml or 4.44 pints per day. We will use the bloodborn figures in our calculations.

The Red Cross requires that humans wait 8 weeks minimum between donations for full reccovery. However, humans generally take 4 to 6 weeks to regenerate 1 pint of blood. Let r represent the number of days a bloodborn allows a human to regenerate blood. Let 人 represent the number of pints or feedings per cycle. This gives us the formula:

7 x r = 人

Figure 1.

r

人

28

196

42

294

56

392

Figure 1 shows that an H. s. sanguis feeding from an H. Sapiens menagerie at 1 pint per human on a 28 day cycle requires a minimum of 196 humans to survive. A bloodborn feeding from their menagerie at 1 pint per human on a 56 day cycle requires a minimum of 392 humans to survive.

Maximum allowable bloodloss and minimum allowable hemoglobin are highly individual statistics. H. s. sanguis learn quickly to estimate the point at which they must stop feeding by their prey’s symptoms and the blood’s qualities. This is only partially instinctual and must be taught. This fact along with the desire not to overhunt their prey led to a prohibition on creating kindred by any means without government permission. Kindred born or turned without government permission are called orphans and are hunted and exterminated. Any ainsiba’ who create orphans are executed. The kindred goverment maintains staff whose mission is to report suspected orphans in emergency rooms worldwide.

An adult human male weighing 175 lbs with an intial hemoglobin of 17 g/dl and a final hemoglobin of 10 g/dl may loose 2456.6 ml or 4.91 pints before transfusion is required. Thus, if a bloodborn drinks 4 pints of blood from each human, a minimum of 49 and a maximum of 98 humans are required to feed 1 bloodborn per day.

Feeding from so many humans each day and maintaining such a large menagerie are prohibitive in practical terms. Many H. s. sanguis therefore either supplement their diet with or subsist entirely on bloodbags.

Using the above calculations, however, we can estimate the maximum population of H. s. sanguis which can exist for a given H. sapiens population. To do so we use the following formula, where p represents the human population and v represents the kindred population:

p / 392 = v

For example, the 2011 human population of San Francisco, California is about 706,856 people. Therefore a maximum of 1,803 kindred may live and hunt in this city. These calculations presume that every member of the adult human population is a feeding candidate. The actual ainsiba’ population is likely half to two-thirds this quotient. [….]

The one food  H. s. sanguis avoids is garlic. Garlic causes no ill effects, but it smells like rotting flesh to them and is unappetizing. Kindred have twice the number of olfactory receptors as humans: 12 million compared to humans’ 6 million. This assists H. s. sanguis in hunting prey. They use a combination of the chimicals in sweat, scent, and exhaled carbon dioxide to track and select prey. Kindred can discriminate potential prey’s state of health, whether they have any drugs in their system and, often, which drugs, and blood type. Bloodborn kindred tend to prefer blood type O. This may be due to the properties which make it the universal donor. The turned generally prefer blood types compatible with the blood type they had prior to resurrection. Both types of  H. s. sanguis prefer overweight and obese prey. Obese prey are less likely to escape and their blood provides more calories. [….]

H. s. sanguis adapts their internal temperature according to their fluid levels. When water reserves are full, their resting body temperature is 99.9℉, measured orally. When reserves are low, the acceptable temperature range shifts to 93-106℉. Heat accumulated during the day is offloaded as much as possible at night.

Due to the above, H. s. sanguis generally require more frequent hydration than humans, particularly when active, and are more susceptible to heat exhaustion. Depending on humidity, an apparent temperature of 80°F or above could be dangerous for a kindred. This is another reason H. s. sanguis traditionally prefer nighttime. Crypts, caves, and the like offered stable, comfortable temperatures and humidity before air conditioning.

When H. s. sanguis experiences heat exhuastion or dehydration, first they will go mad with thirst. If the kindred cannot quench it and the heat exhaustion is not ameliorated, starvation will be accelerated by continued fluid loss. As the ainsiba’ continues to dry out, a point of no return is reached when a biological self destruct signal is tripped and the immune system imitates the UV-B allergy, immolating them. The length of time this takes is highly individual, depending on many factors including individual biology, nutrition, weather, and access to aid. The longest our colleague, researcher Dane Grokelstern, PhD, has observed a subject surviving is 8 hours. The average so far appears to be 3. If you have any specimens, please direct them to Xeno Labs, care of Dr. Grokelstern.

All of the above helps explain why  H. s. sanguis has not physically taken over Earth. During times of famine prior to industrial agriculture, kindred were more vulnerable than humans.

Most have milder allergies to silver. Silver causes contact dermatitis. Lengthy exposure can result in welts, rash, hives, blisters, and lesions. If any silver is left in a wound, it will heal as slowly as the same wound on a human body.

As noted above, H. s. sanguis is also allergic to UV-B. This is an extreme allergy cumulating in immolation. The mechanism of immolation is unknown at this time. [….]

H. s. sanguis may appear pale, however this is the effect of lack of blood rather than little melanin. Contrary to popular belief, H. s. sanguis are dark-skinned. The bloodborn are born with dark complexions. Turned ainsiba’ complexions resemble their most tanned possible state as a human. This provides some protection against UV-B. The darker a kindred’s skin, the longer they can stand exposure to UV-B.

¹These are characters from my novel, House Ibsen. All facts and calculations in their paper are real except for the existence of Homo sapiens sanguis. As far as we know, anyway… 😉

Bday 💖, Walkin’ in the Rain, and Musings on Needlework and Writing

Today’s post is a bit of a mixed bag. 🙂

🎁First, a very happy birthday to my bestie and science editor, Mad Doktor Matt! Many happy returns! 🎂 Matt has helped me brainstorm the biology of my supernatural beings over many lengthy conversations. He helps me stay true to the science and decide when to depart from (known) reality. He’s also a fantastic first reader and support! Much love to you, my friend!

Today I took a walk in the rain. In yesterday’s Japanese post I mentioned my pain doc gave me some good advice. As it gets darker, I start getting the urge to hibernate. He said I could combat my sleepiness with daily walks. The mornings are best because there’s more light.

I like to hunt Pokémon as I walk. I had a lucky day, snapping up a Bellsprout and a Mareep. I stopped at a nearby church to take over the gym and I noticed how beautiful this flower looked in the rain.

The glam-shot quality comes from the sandwich bag I used to keep the rain off my iPhone. Anyone know what kind of flower this is?

I also wanted to share that I’ve started my next cross stitch project. This one will be a wedding gift for my friend and Matt’s sister, Julie. Julie is a phlebotomist and has given me lots of details about blood and how the collection system works. These are vital details for any vampire-centric novel, in my opinion.

I’m keeping the painting I’m stitching a surprise. I can tell you that it’s a max color chart by Heaven and Earth Designs, which means it contains over 200 colors!

I’m trying the Floss-A-Way organization system this time and I really like it. The system consists of rings like those in a binder and small ziplock bags with a hole in one corner. I cut up the list of symbols and DMC floss numbers. Then I taped one on each bag. This makes it really easy to flip through and find the color I’m looking for. I can also keep lengths of thread neatly tucked away with their skeins. Really helpful for such a large project!

This is my first time stitching on 25-count linen (which means there are 25 stitches per inch). So tiny! Most of the design will be very colorful, but the corner I’m starting with is dark. There are four colors of thread in this picture. Can you find them all?

Challenging, right? As I was stitching today I thought how much it’s like writing a novel. Small, consistent additions add up over time and what starts out amorphous and murky turns into a beautiful whole.

日常のある一日

今日私は毎月の診察のために、ペインクリニックに行きました。この外出は私の犬、パンダベアにとっては長すぎるです。彼女は家にいなければならず、悲しんでいました。私が家に帰った時、彼女は私をキスして覆いかぶっさった。私は彼女がいなくて寂しかったが、それは面白い旅行だった。私の医者から良い助言を得ました。今日、私たちは美しい秋の天気を楽しみながら、屋外で会いました。それから、スターバックスでアイスティーを購入して、ポケモン・ゴーをしました。急襲してテンタクルーをやっつけるために三回試みた。毎回、非常に近づくのですが、いつも勝つことができませんでした。あんたはポケモン・ゴーをしますか？
その後、後でコートハンガーから彫刻を作っている男に会った。彼に何ができるのか尋ねた。彼が「なぜあなたは知りたいのですか」と答えたとき、私は驚きました。
「興味があるから」と言った。
「兵士だよ。」
「すごい。頑張って仕上げてください。」
「なぜですか？あなたがこれを仕上げますか？」
「いいえ。早く完成させて、あなたが目標を達成できることを願っている。」
「もし私がそれを終わらせなければ、どうしますか？」彼は好戦的に続けた。
「それは偉大な彫刻のように見えるので、それは悲しいだろう。」
彼はついに笑って喜んだように見えた。面白いやり取りだった。

Today I went to see my pain doctor for my monthly checkup. It’s too long a trip for my dog, Panda Bear, to accompany me. Therefore she had to stay home and was sad. When I came home she covered me with kisses! Even though I missed her, it was an interesting trip. I got good advice from my doctor. We met outdoors today, enjoying the beautiful Fall weather. Afterward I got iced tea from Starbucks and played Pokemon Go. I tried three times to beat a Tentacruel in a raid. Every time I got very close, but I couldn’t win. Do you play Pokemon Go?
Later I met a man who has been making a sculpture from coat hangers. I asked him what it was going to be. I was surprised when he answered, “Why do you want to know?”
“I’m just curious,” I said.
“It’s a soldier.”
“Cool. Good luck finishing it.”
“What? You’re going to finish it?”
“No. I hope you finish quickly and achieve your vision.”
“What if I don’t finish it,” he continued belligerently.
“That would be sad because it looks like it will be a great sculpture.”
He finally smiled and seemed pleased. It was an interesting conversation.

Audiobooks are Tricky Critters

I really enjoy audiobooks. Over the last few years I’ve read more books using my ears than my eyes! But audiobooks are tricky critters.

An audiobook makes you pay attention to every word. There’s no skimming long pastoral sections to get to the action. This can either make you appreciate hidden gems in these sections, or underline a writer’s weakness. We do need description, world-building, and character backgrounds, but it takes skill to smoothly incorporate these into a narrative without bogging it down. Whenever I listen to Katherine Kerr’s Deverry series, I find clever elements I’d overlooked in print.

Stories also have a rhythm to them. There are down or quiet moments in between the heart-hammering up scenes. Many writers are weaker in one of these tempos and audiobooks bring this out.

For example, while I wouldn’t say that Robert Jordan is necessarily weaker in one tempo, I did notice that The Eye of the World’s rhythm matched The Lord of the Rings’ almost point for point. This was so distracting, I couldn’t enjoy the story.

These are just a couple of the reasons it’s a good idea to record your completed draft and listen to it. What eludes you on the page will jump out at you on audio.

Once you have a polished tale, audiobooks can still play you false.

Professional editors will tell you it’s better to just use “said” in dialogue, especially lengthy dialogue. They reason that it’s easier on the reader because said fades into the background. But if you’re an audiobook reader, a lot of “said”s in a short span is repetitive and grates on the ears. At least on my ears. 🙂 I vastly prefer writers with a more varied approach to dialogue.

The voice actor who reads your work is important as well. And authors generally have no say in the casting process unless they’re reading themselves. For example, I recently listened to American Gods by Neil Gaiman on CD. A friend had recommended the TV show to me and I didn’t like it. I decided to see if the book was better (it definitely was!). I’m not sure I got the full impact of it, though. The reader’s voice had this Lake Wobegone quality to it that sucked all the extremes out of the narrative. The result was rather ho-hum. And ho-hum is generally the last word people use for Neil Gaiman’s writing.

Audiobook companies are also notorious for switching narrators in the middle of a series. Occasionally this is a good thing because the first reader was dreadful. Most of the time it gets the readers up in arms. We’ve grown accustomed to associating a certain voice with the series and its characters. It’s really jarring to change that and throws most readers right out of the story.

In a recent example, Lorelei King has read all of Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series until the most recent addition, Silence Fallen. In Silence Fallen Lorelei King still reads the chapters from Mercy’s point of view, but a male narrator now reads chapters from Adam’s point of view. I didn’t like it, but had finally started to get used to it when, for example, the female narrator would pop in to the male section to let us know time was passing differently for each character. That was so jarring! I honestly don’t know why audiobook companies persist in doing this kind of thing.

To sum up, I think it’s wise for writers to keep the audio version in mind. And maybe insist on casting control in your contract. 😉

Wizard Cross Stitch Finished!

Abracadabra! I started this Dimensions cross stitch kit about seven years ago. It spent most of that time languishing in my closet until this summer. Once I finally started working on it in earnest, it went super fast. I think it took about five months to complete.

I love the dimension and texture the designer created by using halfstitch, couching, and blending colors. Every so often I’d fill in a couple of stitches and be amazed at how they made all the difference. This is a great example of how skillfully manipulated details in the right places make a project shine.

Looking at the chart, I was worried about how, um, phallic one of the candles looked. I was relieved when I actually stitched that section that it didn’t resemble a penis after all! It’s amazing how much color can change our perception.

I did make a few subtle changes. In some areas I miscounted, but I was able to fudge it so it looked great and I didn’t have to take out and redo a whole bunch. The wizard’s glasses were supposed to have a chain hanging down, but I think they’re cuter without. I also added gold to some of the dragon’s outlining to add a little more magic. Goes to show that even a minutely outlined project improves with a little creativity. This also reflects my “pantser”/“Make it Work” work style. 🙂

I’m really proud of myself for finishing! I also learned a new skill completing this project: couching! Despite the fiddly gold threads, I think I did a good job.

Behold!

Rosemerry Writes Wins Liebster Award!

Liebster Award

🎉Wow, Rosemerry Writes won the Liebster Award!🎉 The Liebster Award’s purpose is to recognize and promote great new blogs (defined as blogs with 200 or fewer followers). You can check out the rules here.

Thank you so much, Lebana, for nominating me!🤗 I enjoy Lebana’s haiku, but so far what I like best about her blog is its authentic voice. I was really inspired by her post “Negative Inspiration”. That took guts to write, and even more to post for all the world to read. She helped give me the courage to post my own truth. It also made me want to write about some of my own negative inspiration in a future post. Whereas Lebana discussed negative inspiration from her father’s abuse, I plan to discuss the negative inspiration I took from many of the teachers I had. Her recent tanka “True Love is Like Ghosts” made me think and I want to write about the connections her poem brought out in my mind. I admire Lebana’s positivity and faith in a loving God. Her Thoughtful Thursdays always show these qualities. I also admire her for posting regularly and always finding the perfect picture to accompany her writing. That’s no mean feat!

This response has several parts, so I’m separating them with lines for easy reading. Keep reading for some fun Q&A and my nominee list!

Lebana asked:

Q: Where do you live?

A: I live in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area in California.

Q: What’s the best thing about the area where you live?

A: It’s hard to choose! I love the diverse mix of cultures. The high school I attended had students from over 200 countries, speaking over 50 different languages! As a result, I’m used to pale people being a minority and prefer it that way. We’re not perfect by any means, but I also love the tolerance that comes from such diversity. It’s wonderful to live in a creative and cultural mecca. I’ve had a lot of kooky “only in San Francisco” experiences; you never know what you’ll see around the next corner. There’s a lot of fuel here for a writer.

I love our geographic diversity as well. There are few other places on Earth you can experience the ocean, snowy mountains, redwood forests, wetlands, canyons, and more all within a few miles. Our foothills have a special place in my heart. In the spring they turn so green you feel like you’re in Ireland. Flat land with no hills in sight just feels wrong.

Q: Where is your favorite place in the world?

A: Hmm. I’m going to say the swimming pool. It’s my happy place.

Q: What’s your funniest travel story?

A: I went to Germany on exchange in high school with my best friend, Miles. My brother had previously gone on the same trip, so when we went to Hellbrunn, also known as Wasserspiele, we knew what was coming. “Wasserspiele” means “water play” and Hellbrunn is full of trick fountains and automatons that run on water. We kept it to ourselves so as not to spoil the surprise for the others, though. The tour guide showed our group an outdoor table that the bishop loved to have his guests eat at. It had just rained, so the rest of our group weren’t clued in by puddles in the area. One of our schoolmates, John, was invited to sit at the table along with some other tourists. Miles and I called to him to give us his backpack. John had his CD player and several collectable CDs in it that we knew he didn’t want getting soaked. Of course John didn’t understand why we wanted him to hand over his pack. “Trust us,” we told him. “You really want to give it to us right now.” John finally handed his backpack over. After the tour guide gave a brief spiel, he turned a hidden faucet. Suddenly water spurted up underneath the guests, soaking them! John was really glad he’d listened to us!

If you ever get a chance to visit Hellbrunn, it’s a stop you shouldn’t miss, both fun and memorable. Just wear stuff you don’t mind getting wet. 🙂

Q: What would you say is your biggest accomplishment?

A: I was severely burned during my sophomore year of college. Despite this interruption, I still served as my local sorority’s president and graduated in five years. Less than half of all students graduate within five years. Then I went on to complete my teacher training, though I was hanging on by the skin of my teeth by the end of the year. My health was worsening precipitously, but I still finished and received my dream job offer. It still hurts that I had to say no because my health had become so poor, but I’m very proud of myself.

Q: What makes you happiest?

A: The company of dogs.

Q: How many countries have you visited so far?

A: Three. Unless Texas counts. 😉 I’d like to visit Japan and a long list of other countries.

Q: Who is your role model?

A: Longfellow. He was also burned severely and from my research I believe he suffered from the same pain condition I do. Yet he wrote so beautifully.

Q: What can’t you live without?

A: Animals. Especially dogs.

Q: How many posts have you made so far?

hitchikers guide greenieA: Forty-two, not counting this one. (Wow! I amaze myself) Tip of the hat to my fellow Douglas Adams fans. 😀

Q: What is your message to new bloggers out there?

A: Keep on blogging! Stay true to yourself and blog to express your real point of view. Don’t chase the likes, but cherish them. Be social, but try not to let the social stuff overwhelm you. If you need to put limits on your blog for your own sake, that’s okay.

My Liebster Award Nominees:

Drumroll, please!

Drumroll, please!

  • Blind Injustice: This blog should be a major website. Brendan writes so thoughtfully and incisively about injustice and how we should address it.
  • Mind Matters: I only recently discovered this blog, but I feel Donna Marie’s voice needs amplifying in this time of pervasive malignant narcissism.
  • Queerly Texan: Alyssa is my sister in chronic illness and being LGBTQIA+ (sheesh! Could that acronym get much longer? We need a shorter term, y’all). Since a large portion of my relatives are Texan, I know it can’t be easy being either in Texas. Another very important voice with so much to say.
  • Tina’s Radical Rant: Tina is one of my oldest friends and the secret to our friendship is simple: Tina always speaks her mind. She’s an amazing social justice activist with a focus on LGBTQIA+ and socioeconomic issues.
  • Umm, I can’t find a fifth. Y’all are too popular! 😉

Congratulations! Should you accept, please feel free to take your time writing your acceptance post as I know there’s a lot to do! Find out how to accept here.

If I didn’t nominate you, please don’t feel left out. You’re probably too popular to meet the requirements! 😉 Please keep reading for more Q&A (I answer most of the questions I’m asking my nominees!), and don’t forget to check out the amazing nominees!

The following questions are for my nominees, but I don’t think it’s fair if I don’t answer them, too. So here goes!

1. How stoked are you? 😀

2. Why did you start blogging?

I’m pretty opinionated and I wanted to speak up about current issues. I also want to be published and know that having a “social media platform” is considered pretty important these days.

3. What keeps you blogging?

On bad days, it’s my public promise that I’d post on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On good days it’s because I have something to say or that I want to share with my readers. I’m always coming up with ideas!

4. Which post has been the most difficult for you to write and/or publish so far? Why?

My #MeToo posts were the most difficult for me to write and publish so far. It was retraumatizing to write down all the ugly things that had happened and terrifying to publish since my experiences had taught me to expect more abuse for speaking out. But I thought it was very important to share my story and I’ve needed to for some time.

5. Have you published a post that was unexpectedly popular? Why didn’t you expect it to be popular, and why do you think it was?

My recent post “The End’s in Sight!” is my most popular post so far, much to my surprise! Since my blog nominally focuses on writing and my opinions, I just didn’t expect a post about my cross stitch project nearing completion to get the most likes. “Trump, King of Dulness” also surprised me. In this case, I didn’t expect a post connecting Alexander Pope’s sharp-tongued poetry to current politics. Both are good lessons in why not to chase the likes; you can never predict how readers will react!

6. What’s your theme song?

It varies, but “Houki Boshi” by Younha is often at the top of the list.

For a translation of the lyrics, click here. One of my favorite verses is, in English:

If perchance I could have become a comet
I would go flying through the sky
No matter what kind of tomorrow comes, this thought is strong
So my comet is unbreakable

7. Name a poet you enjoy (other than yourself 😉) and tell us why.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is an amazing writer. He and I share health issues, and he has written some of my favorite poems. Researching him I learned that he was the first to translate The Divine Comedy into English. The Divine Comedy, along with many of his original poems, speak eloquently of my experiences. He wrote the poem that became one of my favorite Christmas carols, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”:

Many sayings we have today, like “two ships passing in the night”, come from his poetry.

8. If you could have one superpower, what would you choose (heroic and villainous are both okay!)?

I know it’s a common one, but I’ve dreamed of flying so often, that would be my first choice.

9. If you were a character in a novel, how would you want to be described?

In sunlight oms hair was dark mauve with copper highlights. Not that om saw much sunlight. Oms pale skin was so translucent he thought he could trace oms entire circulatory system.

10. Who is the voice of your generation? Why?

The Smashing Pumpkins. They just really sum up my teen/college years.

11. You just found out dragons are real. What do you do next?

Prepare to be exceptionally polite. Or run. 😉

Not a nominee? (I still ❤ you! 🙂)Feel free to chime in and answer any of the questions above in the comments. 🙂

髪

一年ほど前、私の頭のすぐ近くで髪をカットした、バズカットのようにです。何年もそうしたいと思っていましたが、最終的にはそれを行うために勇気を出しました。素晴らしい見えた！これは私がジェンダー・フルイドであることを受け入れるのに役立ちました。寒い日ので頭皮にお茶の蒸気は素晴らしい新しいと平和な気持ちでした。髪を成長させている。それぞれのストランドは同じ長さなので、今はレイヤードルックが美しいです。今私のバングは目の中にあります。悩ます！私の顔の外に保つためにボビーピンを使います。これは日本のヘアアクセサリーが不思議に思った。どのが人気ですか？アメリカの中で弾性バンドまたはヘアクリップは長い髪のために一番の人気する思います。ボビーピンまたは小さなバレッタは短い髪のために一番の人気です。スパマロットまたはドラッグストアで買います、でも美容またはアクセサリーの店でより多様があります。アメリカでは、クレアは有名なアクセサリーチェーン店です。あなたはどこヘアアクセサリーを買いますか？

A year or so ago, I cut my hair very close to my head, like a buzz cut. I had wanted to do so for years and finally worked up the courage to do it. I looked fabulous! This helped me embrace that I’m gender-fluid. Steam from my tea on my scalp on a cold day was a wonderful new and peaceful feeling. I have been letting my hair grow. Now it has a lovely layered look because each strand is the same length. My bangs are long enough they get in my eyes now. This is so annoying! I use bobby pins to keep it out of my face. This made me wonder about Japanese hair accessories. Which are popular? Here in America I think elastic bands or hair clips are most popular for long hair. Bobby pins and small barrettes are popular for short hair. You can buy them at the supermarket or drug store, but you can find more variety at beauty or accessory stores. Claire’s is a famous accessory chain here in America. Where do you buy your hair accessories?

It’s NaNoWriMo Time!✍🏻

November is National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo for short. You can click on the link above to join in all the fun!

I’m not sure I’ll be doing NaNoWriMo myself this year. I’m at a place where I need to really nail down a lot of background stuff, like the various supernatural entities’ biology and cultures. I have it in my head, but I want to get it all written down so I can easily reference for consistency. I’m also one of those writers who uses science to make the magic as plausible as possible. I base my creatures as much in our known world as I can, down to figuring out the carrying capacity for vampires to ensure their population statistics are reasonable.

NaNoWriMo is based on word count. The goal is to write a 50,000+ word novel by the end of the month. But the background stuff I’m working on doesn’t contribute to my novel’s overall word count. So depending on how quickly that goes, I may not participate this year.

And I think we’ve all learned this last week that I have trouble with energy management. 😓 Chronic pain and illness make it really hard. But that’s another post.

If you are participating in NaNoWriMo this year, I’d love to cheer you on! Let me know your NaNoWriMo handle and the project you’re working on in the comments so I can find you on the website.

✒️Choose your weapon carefully… and let the adventure begin!

🐺🎃Happy Halloween!🕷👹

Happy Halloween, dear readers!

I had an encounter this evening that shows the power of a good storyteller. My parents don’t hand out candy. I think it’s a little bah humbug of them, but since it’s their house I play along. We keep the front of the house dark to discourage trick or treaters, but one or two always stop by anyway.

Tonight I opened the door to a maybe-twelve-year-old bride of Dracula. After she’d gushed over Panda Bear and said the traditional “trick or treat”, I said, “Goblins ate all our candy. Sorry.”

She gasped softly and her eyes went wide. “Really?” she whispered.

I nodded solemnly.

She left totally convinced my candy hoard had been wiped out by goblins. Point to the storyteller. 🎃

A gorgeous, orange, perfect Halloween sunset.

A gorgeous, orange, perfect Halloween sunset.

I took Panda for a walk this evening (before the above encounter) and was treated to a gorgeous orange sunset, perfect for Halloween Night. I’m so pleased I was able to capture it with the sun right in the pocket.

While we walked I played Pokémon Go. As I suspected, there are more creepy Pokémon out in honor of Halloween, even more than during the rest of the Halloween event. I was stoked to finally get enough candy to evolve my Onix into a Steelix, its special evolution. In fact, tonight was an evolution bonanza! I also caught two witch Pikachu and hatched two Cleffa, who are among my favorite Pokémon. Cleffa’s ears remind me of Princess Leia. 🙂

While I was hunting Pokémon, I checked out neighborhood decorations. This yard is one of my favorites this year:

My favorite neighborhood yard decorations this season.

My favorite neighborhood yard decorations this season.

I also spotted this cat pumpkin and instantly gave it my Most Creative Pumpkin Award (made up on the spot 😁):

Winner, Most Creative Pumpkin Award 2017.

Winner, Most Creative Pumpkin Award 2017.

I hope you all have a happy and safe All Hallows’ Eve! Enjoy this amazing fan music video combining The Lord of the Rings and “All Souls Night” by Loreena McKennitt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhuDlxK04dU