What a dork am I

I probably shouldn’t admit this but I may be the only person (female in particular) on the planet who cannot identify Hugh Jackman. I know he’s a popular actor but I don’t know who he is (know the name though), and don’t know that I’ve ever seen a movie he’s been in. And, you know, I’m okay with that. (Even now.)

So when they did a clip from his movie Paperback Hero (thanks to Blogging National for that info) at the awards ceremony Saturday night, I thought it was a "staged" thing. THEN, when the women on either side of me say, "Ohmigod, that’s Hugh Jackman!" I, having never seen Paperback Hero and not realizing it’s a clip from a movie, jump to the conclusion that RWA has hired Mr. Jackman for this little performance. Seriously, that is what I was thinking as I watched that. I’m thinking they opened the purse strings and shelled out for a spot with Hugh Jackman. I’m that stupid.

It wasn’t until they started showing clips from other movies (that I knew) that I realized what they were doing and that the clip with THE Hugh Jackman was probably from an actual movie. And now, all I can think is I want to see that movie.

I’m such a dork.

~L

RWA National

Well, I made it home, safe and sound (so did the boys).

I would post pictures but the only one I have on my camera was of my roommate in bed (I was testing the camera to see if I remembered how to use it), and while she doesn't know this blog exists (few do), I don't think she would appreciate me posting that picture. HOWEVER, she took a bunch of pictures for (and of) me that she said she would email to me so I will be posting some in the near future.

As for National, suffice it to say, I had a wonderful time. If I can be perfectly candid (and who's going to stop me?), I was considering leaving RWA altogether. It's not that I've been depressed or discouraged but more dispassionate about writing and my membership dues are due at the end of this month. But a week or so ago, Claire Cross/Delacroix posted a blog entry that made me want to stay in RWA (and I renewed my membership a day or two before I left to go to Atlanta). And National got me motivated again.

But here's the deal...it wasn't a workshop I went to that did it. No. Thursday night (during Moonlight Madness) my roommate and I went to the bar and got a table (and if you were in Atlanta, you know that was no small feat). It was a large table and only the two of us sitting at it. We saw these two women looking for a place to sit down and told them we had room at our table - and they joined us. They were both published authors (Nancy Block and Sharon Schulze). They could not have been more open and giving of their time and knowledge. We visited until well after midnight (missing the entire MM, which we'd planned on going to...well, we had stopped by when it opened but it was way too busy to stay then, which is why we went to the bar, so technically, it was that we never made it back to MM...if you want to be technical). By the end of the night, I had a renewed desire to write and felt like I'd made two new friends (we saw them several times more during the conference and Nancy and I even have a "challenge" going about writing - it was so cool!). For me, that was the best thing of the conference - bar none. And, not that I have a problem or anything (I came home with thirty pounds of books, not to mention I shipped another thirty pounds of books home.), but the first thing I did when I got home was order Nancy's book - and I can't wait for it to arrive so I can read it.

But enough about that...tomorrow (or one day soon), I'll tell you about being witness to Mel making Susan Elizabeth Phillips cry.

Until then.....

~L

Do you see what I see?

So, yesterday I went to my Weight Watchers meeting like I do every Tuesday. I usually wear the same thing each week. I have two shirts that the only difference is the color (although one fits looser) and I usually alternate those with my pants. The shirt has a light jacket that I remove for the weigh in (the white one, I know for a fact, weighs .6 of a pound).

Yesterday I wore a dress instead of my usual weigh in outfit (it's a laundry issue...totally forgot..anyway...). I'm going to try to describe the dress so that you know what I was dealing with. The dress is in two pieces. The "skirt" portion of the dress is like a full dress except that the top portion of the "dress" is not intended for viewing by the general public...it just holds the "skirt" portion up. It's not obscene or anything but the top half of the skirt portion is definitely "under" wear. Then there is the top portion of the outfit. It has a button down shirt with delicate buttons (it's a very nice outfit - very professional looking) on the front. This portion of the outfit is necessary...repeat, necessary! Hopefully that gives you an idea of what it looks like?

So anyway I walk into Weight Watchers wearing this. I had been bad most of the week and I was feeling particularly "fat" when I went into the meeting but I'm a believer in weighing in anyway (particularly since I won't be able to next week...vacation and all), not to mention I didn't want three weeks to go by with no weigh in. So I step up to the scale and tell the person (Betty Jo) "don't look yet...let me see first."

Betty Jo graciously accommodated me. And I stepped on the scale. I'd figured I'd gone up in weight but it was slightly more than I'd hoped (I won't say expected because I was pretty bad last week) and I gasped. Betty Jo immediately suggested I might want to take off the "shirt" portion of my outfit (assuming it was two-piece, which, as I mentioned, it is) to weigh.

I really was surprised by this because when I've suggested it (jokingly) in the past, she shot the idea down.

There were only three of us in the room at the time and she got up to close the doors and she and the other woman stood in front of the door windows (yes, the doors have windows in them) so that no one would see me "stripping" to weigh in. Then, for some reason still unknown to me, I took the shirt off and weighed (it also weighs .6 of a pound, in case you were wondering).

The second I stepped off the scale the two women stepped away from the door windows. Now you may have noticed that I didn't say I'd put the shirt back on...because I hadn't. I'm still standing there "exposed" when they stepped away from the windows. I'm mentioning this fact when someone swings one of the doors open wide and comes in.

Of course, I'm freaking out, frantically trying to get dressed before anyone else walks in (or by) because stripping at work is just not my thing.

At that point I hadn't decided if I was going to stay for the actual meeting but they talked me into it so I went up to get my lunch. I stood in the coffee bar visiting with several people (telling a couple about being "naked" in the conference room with the door flying open lol) as my lunch heated up. I go back to the meeting, sit through it and then go back to my office and work.

A couple of hours had passed and I had talked with a number of people. Gotten up and done things, had people come in my office, etc. And then I had to go to the Ladies Room.

I do my thing and am washing my hands, looking in the mirror when I realize...I'm not properly buttoned up!!! In my rush to get dressed I'd missed buttoned myself. And no one told me.

And this, my friends, is why I have the policy of no stripping at work.

Dentists vs. Housekeepers

It's official. I've given in. I'm hiring a housekeeper to come clean my house this weekend. The dust bunnies have dust bunnies and it's time some serious attention is given to it - and I don't want to do it so I've called in the experts.

But here's the deal...I'm sitting in my living room thinking "can I let them see my living room like this? maybe I should pick up a little." Then I go into the bedroom and think "there's two inches of dust on the dresser, maybe I should just dust a little." Bathroom "I really use it when it looks like this??? I can't let anyone else see it like this...I'll just scrub the toilet...and the bathtub...and the floor."

Then I think, "why am I going to pay them to clean my house if I'm going to clean it first?" That is, after all, why I'm hiring them. Right?

So I did an informal poll at work, asking people if they had someone come out to clean their house, would they "clean" before the housekeepers got there?

The majority said no, that that is why you were paying them. It was their job to clean - don't do it for them.

One person started giving me a lecture on that point so finally I looked at her and said, "Okay then. Answer me this. Do you brush your teeth before you go to the dentist?"

She looked at me like I'd grown a third breast or something and said, "Yes. Of course!"

"Why?" I asked. "Aren't you paying him to clean your teeth? Doesn't that mean you're doing his job for him?"

Funny, she didn't have a quick comeback for that.

Great Summer Read - FINALLY OUT!

Sandra K. Moore has a knack for continually upping the level of suspense, and with Dead Reckoning, she delivers more than promised. I highly recommend Dead Reckoning.

Chris Hampton was used to bailing her younger sister out of tight spots, but discovering Natalie needed rescuing from her abusive, drug-smuggling husband, was definitely new territory.

Reluctantly, Chris accepts help from DEA Special Agents "Smitty" and Connor. They set out on her 70-foot motor yacht, Obsession, to take advantage of a two-day window of opportunity before Natalie leaves her husband’s private, highly guarded, island. Chris has no room for navigational error.

The stakes go even higher when she finds strange equipment concealed onboard Obsession, and discovers that someone is stalking her, believing she’s hiding a stolen fortune.

Despite her best efforts to stay focused, Chris finds herself responding to the advances of both agents. But after an "accident" in the engine room nearly costs Chris her life and the discovery of a dead body in the salon, Chris realizes that someone on her boat will do anything to stop her.

Torn, Chris doesn’t know who to trust. She’s drawn to Connor, but fears he is trying to seduce her merely to distract her from her purpose. And is Smitty really suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, as he claims, or is he pretending in order to further his own deadly agenda?

I thoroughly enjoyed Dead Reckoning. The flow was fast paced, and I was drawn in from page one. I was there with Chris, sharing her love of boating as she risks all to go after her sister. I suffered through her upheavals, doubts, and fears. And, I was there with her in the end when she is heart-wrenchingly forced to choose between the two things she loves most in the world.

Will Chris be able to survive and save her sister?

I'm too sexy for my fangs...

This is for Maria, who said she likes blogs about books. :-)

I just finished reading How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks. I'm not particularly drawn to vampire stories (I know they're hot right now but I don't feel the pull) so it's been easy to resist buying this one in the past.

That was until last Thursday when I went to dinner with a friend (and had a margarita) and then followed that up with a trip to the bookstore. I was happily shopping the aisles of books, telling stories of different authors (and no, the friend doesn't know I write) and books as we went. She said she wanted to find a book for her daughter-in-law who liked vampire stories so I pulled this one out for her, telling her it was a local author. She started reading the back cover as I walked away and then she started laughing. I wanted to know what she was laughing at but she was laughing too hard to tell me so I picked up another book and started reading the back cover myself.

Here's the back cover contents:

Nobody said love was perfect...

Roman Draganesti is charming, handsome, and rich...he's also a vampire. But this vampire just lost one of his fangs sinking his teeth into something he shouldn't have. Now he has one night to find a dentist before his natural healing abilities close the wound, leaving him a lop-sided eater for all eternity.

Things aren't going well for Shanna Whelan, either. After witnessing a gruesome murder, she's next on the mob's hit list. And her career as a dentist appears to be on a downward spiral because she's afraid of blood. When Roman rescues her from an assassination attempt, she wonders if she's found the one man who can keep her alive. Though the attraction between them is immediate and hot, can Shanna conquer her fear of blood to fix Roman's fang? And if she does, what will prevent Roman from using his fangs on her...?

My friend and I both bought the book. :-D

I wasn't completely satisfied with the ending, but overall, it was a fun read. Some seriously funny moments, including one where one vampire was singing "I'm too sexy for my cape, too sexy for my fangs. Too sexy!"

Blog Etiquette, Part II

Okay, so you get a blog...what is acceptable blog material? Is it better to keep the material superficial? Personal? Business oriented? Mix it up?

Blogging is a form of journaling but how personal should it get? For instance, I used to keep a journal but I only wrote when I had something really bothering me that I needed to get off my chest and I addressed my entries to God. Letters to my heavenly Father. I didn't write every day but when I did write, it was because something was bothering me. If anyone read that journal today I think I would come across as very troubled or angry because I was when the entries were written - and that's all they'd see. Nobody wants to read that.

If I blogged that way, well, I wouldn't keep reading a blog that was only venting frustrations so why would I think anyone else would? So, I try to keep the rants (hence the blog name ;-) ) to a minimum (they still get in there occasionally though).

But my question is, what kind of blog (if you have one) do you have (see list above ;-) )? And what kind of blogs do you enjoy more? What turns you off of a blog?

Again, inquiring minds want to know. ;-)

Blog Etiquette

Have you ever thought about your obligation to your blog audience?

Should you always respond to their comments?

And as a blog reader, what obligations are there? If you read the blog do you have to post a comment?

I was thinking about this because of a particular blog I frequent. I have no idea how large her audience is (I will say that I've seen her blog link on several author's blogs and she is published herself) but what I do know is that I'm typically the only person commenting on her blog. A lot of times I don't know what to say so I say nothing but when I can think of something, I post it because I know that seeing a lot of 0 comments can be discouraging and she has interesting, thought-provoking posts.

Well, she recently posted an entry asking all her readers to post a comment so she'd know they were out there. I immediately jumped up, raised my hand, said "I'm here" then posted a comment (because she couldn't "see" me jumping up, raising my hand, and oddly enough, she couldn't hear me either...weird how that works).

But here's the deal, every time I read her entries and post a comment, she responds....once. For example, I post a comment and she posts a reply. Her reply makes me think of something else, a comment, a question, whatever, and I post another comment. She never responds back to the second comment I make...NEVER - even when I am asking a follow up question - never. So if you see her blog she either has two comments or three comments...never four or more. Not that I'm complaining, I just find that a bit odd and that could just be me.

Anyway, not all that long ago a discussion was raised somewhere that bloggers should respond to their comments, otherwise the commentors will disappear, not feeling valued (which, for the record, I know I'm bad about NOT doing that but it has more to do with my own belief that I'm a topic killer than anything else - I really do appreciate the comments!). So my question is, when is it acceptable to cut off a dialogue with someone reading / commenting on your blog? Is there a magic number - if so, what is it? Do you feel you owe it to your "audience" to respond? Would you stop commenting if you didn't get a response from the blogger? Would you stop reading their blog altogether if they didn't respond?

I guess the real question (feel free to answer as few or as many as you like :-) ) is, do you have rules you follow when it comes to blogging? If so, what are those rules.

Inquiring minds want to know. :-)

The Devil Wears Prada

I just got home from seeing The Devil Wears Prada with Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway. I loved it! Very Fun!

I've seen several interviews with the cast and have heard Meryl Streep say that it wasn't a fun movie to make. Not fun because, because of her role, she felt she had to maintain a distance from the rest of the cast and crew and to her, that is the best part of making a movie. (Cast members had even commented on it in their interviews.) But, the final result is she pulled off one wicked, bad-ass bitch on screen.

Anne Hathaway also did a good job with her role. However, all the movies I've seen her do, she plays the sweet, down-to-earth girl and this was no different. But, she did a great job with it.

One of my favorite lines from the movie (and mentioned as one of the actor's favorite lines) was "I'm one flu bug away from my goal weight."

Good movie. :-)