Richard Matheson: 1926-2013

A literary icon has left this earth yesterday. The news came to me via Joe Hill's Twitter. At first it was dismissed as only a rumor without much to go on. As time flowed on, it was revealed to be the truth, much to the heartbreak of family and friends and fans. Mr. Hill's last tweet on the matter was a tact and ardent "oh f***". And as they say, there you have it.

The man who dreamed up a Heaven so beautiful with a Hell that fascinated and terrified us in What Dreams May Come, the man who made time travel a fantastic and scary affair in Somewhere in Time, made vampires scary and awesome in I Am Legend, and even wrote some excellent Twilight Zone episodes; Mr. Matheson dared to make some genuinely scary things and also find the beauty within the shadows and murky humanity.

I can't even begin tell y'all how much of an impact What Dreams May Come had on me. But my personal favorite moment would be that shortly after my sister read it (after I did and told her about it; at this point, we only seen the movie), we loved the ideas presented in it so much that we wanted to start a religion based on it. While the movie captured it visually, the book is so much of a masterpiece of spirituality and life after death. If you haven't read it, I suggest you do it now.

Condolences to his family and friends in this time of great mourning. And a collective hug and cry-fest to the fans and writers who loved him.

Thank you for everything, sir. You did so much and you are so beloved. I hope you knew that before your soul passed. Rest in peace.

June is almost over!

So much has happened since this month begun. Adventures to an old place and finding new things, prepping up for job searches, dealing with retail job things, and so forth. Not much else outside of that. Now begins the prepping for Camp NaNoWriMo, along with job searching, working on Blues' second draft, and beginning new habits (exercise, finishing my to-do lists in full, etc.), and other smaller tasks.

Here's to July being more promising for all of us.

Change of plans

For Camp NaNoWriMo, just the last two NaNo projects. I was being stupidly ambitious.

Letter to a Writer I Don't Really Like

Dear Ms. Pessl,

I tried to read Special Topics in Calamity Physics and by the 80th page, I had to stop. Once I did though, I didn't read a single thing for an entire month. Reading your book made me hate reading. I told everyone I knew that your book was not worth the time. Your book did something that Twilight couldn't even do.

But that was me as an immature jackass. I like to think I moved past all that. I would like to give this book another chance, since your new one Night Film is coming out and it actually sounds really cool. It is unfair to hold such thoughts and then really fuming over the past.

Disliking on an entertainer for their product is a waste of time. I got better things to be mad at. I hope to change my thoughts about your writing by reading them in full. Even if I still don't like your work, then I wasn't your intended audience. Nothing wrong with that. No more hate, only respect.

Hope things go well for your second book. And may I finish Physics in full this time around.

Yours,
Lindsey, an ardent bibliophile

Good to be back

Though I miss San Francisco dearly (mainly the weather and the sourdough bread... among other things) it is good to be back in Texas. The Spurs are kicking it in the Finals (always nice to see) and summer is descending upon us (just get it over with so we can get back to cooler days).

Like I talked about in past entries, I am on the hunt for something full-time. I declined a position to be the new kids' lead bookseller at another bookstore in town so I can easily part from retail without too much grief (and holes left empty). More than ever am I determined to leave and seek better things. With reapplying for grad school and rewriting some past novel projects, I feel that things are turning around in my favor. Especially after taking the trip to California; I learned to rely on myself and learn from my mistakes, enjoy my own company, walk the city streets without fear (and a pocket knife in my jeans pocket), navigate a city's public transit system, and take chances on various places and foods.

Yesterday was the last day for one of my co-workers, who is taking over some duties at a pizza shop that she owns with her husband. Such a bummer to lose a wonderful lady. Her leaving also made me realize that I need to work on the job hunt. There is a good chance I might not secure the first thing I apply for, but at least I can say I tried... more than once.

There is also the need to go back to my alma mater and ask them for assistance on the job hunt. They should know some things, after all, they owe it to me! /sarcasm

So there you go. An update. Make of it what you will.

I have returned!

After an epic four full days of touring, eating foods, recovering from blisters and ankle pain, and chasing MUNIs all over the city: I have returned from San Francisco! It was an amazing time and I plan on doing it again next year, but hopefully I won't go alone like this time. I enjoyed being by myself, but it is fun to do it with someone else.

I'll post the play-by-play sometime this month, but I won't drag it out like New York. And that's a promise.

San Francisco Bound!

Hello, this is the obligatory scheduled message from yours truly notifying y'all that I'm currently out of town for a week. Take this time to catch up on the archives here or for your other favorite blogs.

Until then, I'll be back!

Roll that "exit stage right" music, Mr. Prophet!



...

Wait... I do have a stupid sense of humor:

Sorry y'all

I feel like I've been going up and down on things these days (but dammit it won't affect San Francisco and future events!). I blame it on PMS and general stress. And the job thing I was talking about for a while now...

My mom was pointing out that she was afraid of me lapsing back into the state I was in last year. And you know? That was my fear from the very beginning. She helped me gain perspective and change how I feel about everything. It was then I was able to turn down the job and move onto future plans. I feel a great sense of relief and understanding about things now. As always, my mom has been a big help. And also, I listened to my gut. And my gut said "that's nice of them, but this isn't what you want". And there you go.

That and listening to this song over and over does help a lot. Damn, it's good.


*FYI: I am a huge Ladytron fan*

Huh...

Just when I was preparing for my upcoming vacation, I was ninja'd with some interesting news: another bookstore in town needs a full-time person in the kids' department and I was considered. Earlier in the month I had the interview. I went in and learned more about what is expected from a full-time kids' bookseller. It is kinda what I thought, along with other things I was surprised to know about*.

Either way, while it sounds promising and interesting (plus I won't lose my health insurance at the end of the year), I began to think whether or not it's actually a good idea to take the job.

To my utter shock, I was given the job. I was called earlier today and got the news. Yet after thinking it over and talking about it with my mother, I called back and declined the job. I'm sure they weren't thrilled about it yet I feel like this was the right thing to do.

I love working at B&N, but I'm ready to move on. I want to try out other things, take on different risks and tasks. Being a lead bookseller sounds good, but I want to move on. My hope was once I returned from San Francisco, I will start seriously job-hunting. Get the eff away from retail and get the life I wanted.

And that is what I'm gonna do.

*For the sake of being a good soul, I will not talk about these things, since it's none of y'all's damn business.

Just finished reading...

the second book of the Angelology series (Angelopolis) and whoo... dat ending.

Dis gonna be good.

This will be my reaction when the final book of the series comes out. I can't wait. I want to know how it will end!

This stupid post was brought to you by the post's theme song:

Mr. Petty, can you be that fun Southern uncle I never had?

*meme does not belong to me*

Camp NaNoWriMo Plans

So after thinking about it for twenty minutes (no really, it took me that long) I have decided to do the rebel thing and not write a new novel. I rather add more to Thorns (2011's NaNoWriMo project), which remains "incomplete" at 51k. And then last year's project, Spiders, needs some serious tightening up and continuity errors fixed (there's a butt-ton of them, apparently). And also, because I'm stupidly ambitious, do a second draft of my first one-month writing success: Blues.

Sure, with the news of the job thing happening (I have a feeling I won't get it, so I'll be searching elsewhere, which was my original plan), though it's still a dose of:

I almost had a moment of

But no, I shall persevere. I will do this thing, since I won't do it for November, since I'm trying for grad school again. And now, to choose the short story that will be my possible ticket to three years of MFA learning... and oh yeah, wasn't I working on Dolls?

Dammit.

*memes do not belong to me*

Sorry for nothing, y'all!

I'm just slowly getting ready for the big trip (six days and counting!) and dealing with stuff at work (including a "surprise motherf***er" of a possible job change, more on that later when I deem it time), so I'm all over the place and then not. It's a kinda weird state to be in. I have a few more things to get done before the trip and a course of action to take after the trip is over. More than ever am I determined to do the job search foxtrot. It is time to make a big change.

So here it goes. The next few months are gonna be jam-packed full of crazy and adventure. Let's do these things.