Even though I pre-supported the Reno bid, I'm very sorry to hear that the Seattle committee had to pull out of bidding for the 2011 Worldcon. We would have been happy to attend a Worldcon in either city; obviously Seattle would have been much more convenient, and probably cheaper (at least as far as travel costs) for us. Still, from what I knew I believed that the Reno group would be the better choice, and I'm sorry they aren't able to win the bid fair and square on an even playing field. It's particularly annoying since the last time Seattle tried to get a Worldcon, the same thing (loss of their primary venue) knocked them out almost at the finish line as well.

Oh, well. Best of luck to both committees, and now on to (presumably) Reno.

Life has been very interesting lately. I won't go into details other than that I am now completely unemployed, and I can't seriously start looking for work until we return from Venice (although if you know of something, let me know). And since I hadn't posted for a while, I thought I'd start providing some progress reports. ( More after the cut )

To me, bayberry is one of the fragrances that brings back Christmas memories. One of our old family traditions was the burning of bayberry taper candles on Christmas eve. We always had a pair of them in candle holders on the mantle or dining room table during the holidays. ( More after the cut )

So my (rhetorical) question is: what's happened to bayberry? Has it gone out of fashion? Do candle makers not want to provide a supply if they think there's little demand? I say "BRING BACK BAYBERRY!"

I just learned that Peruvian singer Yma Sumac has died. My parents had a copy of her album (literally, an "album" of 45s in a box) "Voice of the Xtabay" and I grew up loving her astounding voice, not to mention some of her fantastic "Inca Princess" costumes. I used one of her recordings as music for my presentation "The Explorer's Surprise" in the masquerade at Norwescon's Alternacon in 1987. I've occasionally used Xtabay as a pseudonym or online handle.

She had an amazing life and career, though the precise details of both may be in dispute. Here's an obituary.

Go to YouTube, search for the year of your birth, and then post a video from that year.

Mine: Television - It's Ready for You

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

A few days ago bovil posted a meme that I couldn't resist trying:

The rules:

1. Go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. Then go to: http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. And lastly, go to: http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

Then you go and make it.

My result:


And then, I found I couldn't stop. I shared the meme on the snopes message board, and the creative people there came up with some magnificent and inspiring results. So I had to do more. And more.

I finally decided to upload all of mine to my Gallery.

It helps that the random photos from flickr are nearly all stunning; it was a challenge sometimes coming up with a way to connect them (or not) to the album title and/or group. I enjoy doing graphics work, and have few opportunities to do so, in 'real' or 'personal' life. Despite the fact that I am using a very old version of Paint Shop Pro to do the work (or in the case of one, MS Publisher and MS Paint), I think some of them came out quite nice.

But I gotta stop! I have more important things to do!

Last night about 3:40 am, Greg and I were both awakened by a rapid series of what sounded like knocks. I also heard the sound of a car driving by the house. Neither of us could recognize the cause, or even the direction where the knocking sound came from. Greg got up and did a quick tour of the upstairs and didn't see anything amiss so came back to bed. ( More of this thrilling story after the cut. )