sleep.

I did not mean to .

I did not set the alarm as when I do not set the alarm I will wake on my own around noon.
This did not happen I ended up waking up around 8:30pm ish.
I am not sick nor do I feel as if I am getting sick, so I have no clue why I sleep that much.
It is raining out at the moment and I am about to go back to sleep.


So there you go.


We are about a week away from this year being over, and with how much this past year hurt, sucked, almost killed me. I cant be more happy about it , next year better be better where things go some where after all this work or I am just I don't know.

While I'm so grateful for a lovely holiday spent with my family there are so many reminders of the great tragedy where 230,000 people lost their loves to the rising sea.

My friend Usul who survived the wall of water and was one of my inspirations for Deni, wrote me this tonight:

"Mrs. Heidi; happy holiday for you too. today all people in Aceh are praying for remember 5 years Tsunami."
Aside from his elderly father, Usul lost his entire family to the water.

I flipped through the 141 odd pictures here of the grief and pain and utter devastation. Still, even after I wrote an entire novel about the aftermath, seems impossible such a thing could happen.

I'm happy to see five years later there is some progress and hope.

You can read more about it here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_indonesia_tsunami_orphans

I hope tonight finds you well and happy and tucked in tightly with your loved ones.
May everyone be as lucky.

Peace and love,
Heidi

I have read and edited that which I have written of The White City. And wonder of wonder, I like it. A lot, actually.

And still I have no idea at all how to end it. I mean, I know who the killer is and stuff. But I don't know how to build the climax and a thematic resolution that will make a satisfying finish to the story. Also, I have to go back and put in some more clues who the killer is. Naking things feel inevitable and not arbitrary is a significant portion of the storyteller's craft.

I sense a lot of staring and pacing in my life for the next week or so.

"No really. I am working!"

---

Pursuant to the spinning, I'm thinking again about the stuff we strive to get right in fantasy. So much of the work set in the past, or alternate pasts, gets the details of life so very wrong. People have no trades, or if they do they are desperate to escape them. And actually, people who work with their hands often like what they do. Making stuff, after all, is quite satisfying.

Some authors do this very well--Connie Willis, Barbara Hambly. People work in their books, and the worlds feel real.

Another thing that always seems to fall out of fantasy written by modern authors is how integrated life was. People did not have work and leisure; everything ran together. You sat and spun while someone told stories, or you sang songs and worked the winch, or talked and shucked peas. And good tradesmen were respected in direct proportion to their indispensibility. A village blacksmith or potter is a hard thing to live without.

Our modern emphasis on book learning, I think, creeps in there and corrupts how we talks about other cultures.

Well, we got a bit of snow here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas! Not much, which is a good thing. We either need a helluva lot of it (I recall one winter, maybe 81, 82? where we were out of work for 2 weeks, out of power for one week, all during Christmas due to snow and ice).

Hope everyone got their wish. I've been playing with a new graphics tablet, yay!And enjoying the quiet without the grandkids, but they'll return Sunday and we'll open more presents then!

I promised my sister I would make dessert for our holiday feast (since she always does most all the cooking, because if it was up to me we'd have Chinese take-out and call it a day.)

I decided on Persimmon Pudding because it was a childhood favorite and the thing my mom always made for holidays. And because it is delicious. And because I have made it before (granted, with my mom's help and many years ago, but still! Sense memory, right?)

Note: You should use the big orange Hachiya variety persimmons, like what grows all over in southern California, extra-ripe & soft - if you must use Fuyu persimmons, you'll have to skin and blend first because they are not soft enough.

Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 c sifted flour
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t cinnamon
1 c raisins
1/2 c chopped nuts

2 beaten eggs
1 1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 sieved persimmon pulp
1/4 c melted butter

3/4 cup milk

Mix dry ingredients in bowl. Mix eggs, sugar, persimmon & butter in a mixer. Add stuff in bowl & milk. Mix. Put in well greased mold. Set in a pan of water and bake at 325 for at least 1 hour 1.5 - 2 hours (? - This is where it gets a little dicey). Serve with hard sauce.

HARD SAUCE = 4 Tbs soft butter, 1 c sifted powdered sugar, 1 egg yolk, dash salt, whip, add 1/4 c brandy, blend.

OK, sounds easy enough, right? Well, first of all it is a terrific mess and uses WAY more bowls and things than anything else EVER. Second, my mom told me "the recipe takes way longer than the recipe says". Sadly, she told me this after I was well into making it.

Anyway, I put it all together, I pop it in the oven, I leave the thing in for an hour and a half. I peek. Looks done. Put a toothpick in. Seems done. Take it out.

Flip it over onto a plate.

OY! NOT DONE! The bottom (now top) is in the shape of the pan, but still liquidy. It is like nothing I've ever seen before. So, I decide that it should go back in the oven. But how?

Our bundt pan is not simple, it is a Fleur-de-lis. I carefully position each pan spike over the appropriate cake spike.

I flip the cake back in. But oh no! My judgment was off by an eighth of an inch and now the whole thing is crooked and half of it looks collapesy! But no matter - we are the only ones who are going to eat it, right? I let the thing bake another half hour and wash all the dishes. (It is remarkably difficult to get persimmon pulp out of a sieve, btw.)

At this point the top of the thing is starting to look a little TOO brown. I decide it has had enough, so I take it out. I flip it over onto a plate. The bottom (now top) is STILL not done, and the top (now bottom) is burny. So I cut off the top and the bottom. The remaining chunks I put into a little silicone mini-loaf pan. I'll bake for a few minutes just before serving and top with the sauce.

This is what the dish is supposed to look like:



This is what mine looks like:

( Surprise! )

I prefer to think of it as "rustic" or "wabi-sabi" rather than looking like "a dog's dinner."

The subject line sounds like a killer opening line, doesn't it? But it's nothing but the unvarnished truth. The slightly varnished truth would include the dancing, the bowling, and the lesson about not ordering doubles just 'cause the bar service was slow.

And it would also talk about the fact that, when you go to bed at 3am, getting up at 8 is just damned painful. Somehow, those same five hours are easier to take when they're 1am to 6am, and I don't know why.

Yet, we did wake [and as much as I love my apartment, I have to admit that living in the East 20's has its definite charms], and we did make it to the morning showing of Sherlock Holmes.

( not exactly spoilery, but some thoughts on the movie itself )

We also saw a number of previews, including Iron Man 2 (I cringe from how bad it might be, but will be there anyway) and the remake of Clash of the Titans, which looks to be another stunning leap forward in FX, if nothing else.

And then I met up with family for the Obligatory Chinese food. We noted, with much dismay, that there are an awful lot of Gentiles having dinner in Chinatown on Christmas Day, these days. Goose wasn't enough, you had to have Peking duck, too?

And now I am home, for a few hours anyway, before heading back downtown tomorrow to see Avatar with friends (in 3D. I am talked into these things...how? Must be Sekrit Coastie Mind Tricks). And then more Holiday Socializing, leading into First Night.

But first, must finish freelance gig. And short story revisions. And author proofs for HARD MAGIC. And look longingly at the TBR 2010 pile that's already starting to build....

I hope y'all had a good day, however you spent it!

Christmas pronounced a success. (My immediate local family--none of us are actually Christians, but we celebrate a secular Christmas anyway, and often these days it even falls on the actual day. It didn't always, because my mom was a hospital employee for 25 years.)(See above, December Non-Denominational Gift-Giving Day.)

We made out first ever Yorkshire puddings, which came out awesome and we were all boggled at just how easy it is. Next time, a little longer in the oven, and we will use a metal muffin tin instead of the silicon muffin cups, because, well, the silicon cups were too slippery and the puddings just levitated themselves out of the cups rather than getting tall. Not enough friction!

(The muffin cups were a gift from truepenny: this was their inaugural run. Thank you!!!)

Here are the socks and the blanket my mom knitted me, because I promised to brag about them.

And here is my first ever hank of yarn, which I gave to my mother. It's "art yarn," which is to say it's not art yarn at all. It just sucks. But hey, it's mine and I made it.

We tried the prime rib recipe from Cook's Illustrated, and came to the conclusion that while it is good, our family recipe process is better. (We were all actually capable of stopping eating after one slice. Which never happens the way we usually do it.) However, their au jus recipe rocked, though next year we're leaving out the wine.

And Yorkshire puddings are a permanent addition. In two years, they'll be an ancient family tradition.

And then I beat the freezing rain home and let the dog out.

Now I'm going to make some tea and put on my wrist braces and go sit under my new blanket and work on The White City, because TBRE is out in the world tonight and I have the whole luxurious house to myself.

Oh, and gotta water the tree.

• 14:14 RT @ceffyl1 RT @comedyfish Today is about that amazing kind man who helps strangers, died and was reborn. HAPPY DOCTOR WHO DAY EVERYONE! #

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From now until January 1 - sga_santa madness!!

Take any prompt, from any person, write any size fic you want over 100 words! [Complete details here!]

Laura Foster-Neal, Children's Co-ordinator from Berwick Public Library in Berwick, Maine sent this entry to our contest. It features 7th grader Celina, breaking into Deva Fagan's novel FORTUNE'S FOLLY. We bet she'll enjoy Deva's next novel, THE MAGICAL MISADVENTURES OF PRUNELLA BOGTHISTLE, coming in June 2010!

Are you a library professional? You can enter to win 46 brand new YA & MG novels for YOUR collection! See this entry for details.

Donna Kullen from Conneaut Lake High School Library, in Conneaut Lake, PA sent this brilliant entry to our contest! Here we have her students interpreting Pam Bachor'z CANDOR. Click on the image to see it full-sized- this thumbnail view really doesn't do it justice!

Are you a library professional? You can enter to win 46 brand new YA & MG novels for YOUR collection! See this entry for details.

With thanks to fox1013, who pointed me toward this on Adam Rex's blog:

( J-Lo the Boov is here to learn you about the holidays )

Ever wonder what happened to Mark? Well...

• If you didn't get your favorite single guy a cock cozy this year, you suck-->bit.ly/5vpHZS #
• Pls RT: Happy Holidays from the Dirty Fuckers at the League of Reluctant Adults... tinyurl.com/yayo36t #
• Repeat after me: I will not worry about the manuscript until Sunday. I will not worry... #
• Jealous of @Caroline_Henry's work Taco party that I made refried beans for...from scratch! Will retaliate with fast food! Oh yes I will! #
• Merry Christmas Twitterers! I'm panning on being a little scarce so have a good time over the next couple of days! #
• You know what'd go great with my Christmas stool? @DakotaCassidy's spare drum kit. twitgoo.com/aavtj #
• What says Christmas more than rats? yfrog.com/335kgrj #
• Xmas suggestions: Drunk adults should not try out pogo sticks in the dark. #
• Xmas Suggestions: Leave your outside holiday lights on so Jesus knows to slither into your gas fireplace. #

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One of my crunched toenails fell off!

( behind a cut for the squeamish )

Your ew gross for the morning.

.

Two fics for me this year (possibly by the same person? The tags suggest as much!), both musical and historical and lyrical and lovely and I am just curled up on Puel's couch in a ball of unadulterated squee.

Clap, damn you, which is Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears during the Coronation of Elizabeth II, with so much operatic snark and musical in-jokes of the era, not to mention, well, just them and how their love is not quite that of a genius and his muse.

And Das Lied von der Erde, which is the Ring Cycle prequel fic I have been hoping for for three years now and just as alliterative and grandiose and beautiful as I could possibly want.

Everyone should check both of these out, seriously, and make these authors (this author?) know how happy she's made me and how she's entirely redeemed Yuletide in my eyes. Sometimes it works. This time, it Worked.

Thank you, Yuletide Santa~

.

http://www.cartoonlabs.com/comics/index.php?date=2009-12-25&show=sinfest

Sinfest
Tatsuya Ishida