Musings

So, I’m on this other listserve with a lot of other writers, and one person made the point that George Bush will be gone is less then two years so it’s “no big”. At first I just sighed and rolled my eyes, but the more I’ve thought about it the angrier I have become. _No big_? When we have a federal court system that has been filled with extremists. One man on the federal bench doesn’t accept the concept of separation of church and state, most feel that any environmental standards represent an unfair burden on business. Bush had put in place a man at the FDA who opposes all forms of birth control, and believes that a woman should deal with cramps or other reproductive issues by prayer. A recess appointment of a man at the Social Security Administration believes that the entire system should be dismantled and privatized. We have a federal prosecutor in NM who was targeted because he refused to prosecute a group that registered poor and minority voters. He was pushed by Rove and the RNC to investigate. He did, found no illegal action that would constitute voter fraud, and was fired. No Big??

And let’s talk about our civil liberties. Starting with the most terrifying action taken to date, and one in which Congress is complicit. The destruction of Habeus Corpus. No one, citizen or not, in this country is safe. Upon the word of the president anyone can be declared and enemy combatant and held indefinitely without access to a lawyer and the courts. Wire taps, the opening of your mail, being placed under survellience because you attend a peace rally. Declaring the Genevea Convention to be “quaint”. Rendition. Torture. NO BIG???

What this man seems unable to grasp is that once power has been aggrandized by a particular branch of government that branch is loath to give it up. I don’t care who is in the White House — Democratic or Republica — this kind of dictatorial power should not rest in the pen stroke any single man or woman. It’s going to be a long hard fight to restore balance, and as Jonathan Turley, Constitutional scholar said, once a liberty is eroded it is almost impossible to restore.

So ends my rant for the day.

Melinda

So, other than having a really good ride on my horse yesterday. (I got several really nice half-passes out of him) I spent the entire day stressing over this dispute we are having with our former contractor. This guy was totally incompetent and useless. He came to the building site all of four times in a year and left Carl to oversee the building site. Carl was on our lot 7 days a week 12 to 14 hours a day. I helped Carl build the entry courtyard out of porphery (the stuff Romans used to build their roads and the architect says that’s how you spell it), and I painted almost the entire house.

When it was all over we wanted to see the books because there had been some shady goings on. The jerk wouldn’t give them to us so I hired a lawyer to demand the books. We finally got this jumbled mess of paperwork, and got it to a bookkeeper. It turned out the guy was incompetent and the books were a mess, but apparently nothing illegal took place. So I was going to drop it.

Then he started writing us these illiterate, crazy letters demanding all this money from us. So now we’re faced with going to arbitration. Up until now this has cost him nothing because he’s been writing to the lawyer while I have a lawyer which is costing me plenty. I’m hoping that now that Jerk has to hire a lawyer he will just go away, but I’m afraid I won’t be that lucky.

Yes, I passed the bar and practiced law, but you know the old saying. A lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a lawyer. So, all in all it was a bad day. I try very had to treat my writing like a job, and not allow emotional upset to get in the way of work, but sometimes it’s hard. I did get a bit done on the shared universe project.

Melinda

I guess I hit a key and posted this before I had written anything. Let’s try this again. No word out of Hollywood, but Passover begins tonight so that’s not surprising. Hard for me, but not surprising.

I worked on a proposal for a shared world anthology that I’m putting together, and it’s just about ready to go. I also had a notion about how to write the third book in the EDGE series, and I ran my ideas past Daniel Abraham. (If you haven’t read his book A SHADOW IN SUMMER, run don’t walk to a bookstore and buy it.) Anyway, he’s in Critical Mass, and the person I most often brainstorm with, and he had some really cool ideas. From four viewpoint characters in book one and five in book two I think I will only have two viewpoint characters in this book, and it feels very right. It’s also going to be much more of a character study with very little run and jump. I’m really jazzed about it.

George and I have been talking about Wild Cards, and book two, BUSTED FLUSH is starting to come together. All in all it’s been a good day for writing.

I started the morning with a long walk, and ended it with a good ride on Pi. We even did a few flying changes of lead though they were rough because I still don’t have a lot of strength in my core muscles and my seat isn’t totally secure in the saddle.

So that was my day, and now I get to look forward to watching HOUSE.

Melinda

So, I’m just going to ramble a bit. First, I have a confession to make. I’m car crazy. Always have been. My father had the bug too, and my half-nephew who used to drag race my Dodge Charger. My dad bought his 16 year old daughter a Charger with an engine that had over 300 horsepower, and a racing setting on the steering wheel. I drove that car 12 years until it started costing me $200.00 bucks a month to keep it running and I didn’t want to become a mechanic or adopt a mechanic. Anyway, since then I have owned the Fiat two seater convertable. The Toyota Supra, and right now I drive the Mercedes SLK 350. In between I had two “mommy cars”, a Lexus sedan and a Mercedes sedan, but I was never happy driving them. All of this is a long way to tell you that I went out with a friend yesterday who is in the market for a new car. I’ve been going along as he test drove cars, and we ended the day with him driving the new BMW three hundred series turbo. Fun car! Great handling, super acceleration, comfortable cockpit with terrific ammenities. We had a lot of fun.

We then stopped for coffee and a crepe at this little pastry shop and crepe restaurant in the La Fonda Hotel. There we brainstormed about our stories for the upcoming Wild Card book BUSTED FLUSH that we will deliver to Tor at the end of this year. After working George, Parris, Carl, Ian and I had dinner at The Shed (a Santa Fe tradition for fifty years), and went off to see THE LAST MIMZY (I hope I spelled that right.)

This is a terrific little movie. A gentle, emotional script. Wonderful acting from the two children, and not a damn thing blew up. It was such a relief. Now I love a good action movie, but sometimes it starts to feel like an assault rather than story telling. The other nice thing is that no one in this movie is an asshole. Everyone is a basically decent person. I also wanted to see the film because it’s based on a famous science fiction story, and we have to show support to our community. The theater was full with parents and children, and even groups of adults like us. Ian recognized a man in one scene and said he’s a major scientist working on super string theory. You gotta love a movie that includes people like that.

Which brings me to what I’m currently reading. While I was in California I finished Brin’s KILN PEOPLE which I enjoyed. It had two endings, and I liked the first ending better, but it’s a really fine science fiction P.I. story. But now I’m home and I’m nervous because I’m reduced to waiting again, so I picked up a comfort book — THE WITCHES OF KARRES. This, along with HAVE SPACESUIT WILL TRAVEL, are two of my favorite science fiction books. I would love to adapt the WITCHES as a movie, but I’m not sure you could get it made since the protagonists are a man in his twenties and a ten year old girl. With all the Catch a Predator stuff on television I don’t think you can put an adult male and a girl child together. Which is sad. Schmitz was writing in a more innocent time.

I was keyed up after the movie so I sat up watching Daily Shows until 1:00 am. Which was a mistake because we had to be up early to meet Ali who was arriving at 8:00 am to let me look at this particular Turkish rug in my home rather than Walter Jon’s living room. Walter Jon and his wife went to Turkey for the eclipse last year, and bought a rug. This spring the gentleman contacted Walter because he had a van full of rugs that had arrived too late for a big show in Atlanta, and he was travelling around the southwest showing the rugs. Walter hosted a rug showing a few weeks ago, and I bought a beautiful runner for my hallway. There was another rug — a wool and silk blend — that Ali knew I loved so he carried it into my house this morning.

It was perfect in the bedroom, and then he showed us some silk rugs because Carl hadn’t been in town for the other showing. There was one intricate rug in shades of blue and salmon that just took my breath away. Ali made me an offer I couldn’t refuse so I bought both rugs. The silk rug is in my dressing room right in front of the make-up table. I’m going to take photos and get them posted so you can see the work.

It was also really fun because when Ali walked into the house he froze at the sight of my rug in the living room. It’s an enormous blue, cream and gold piece that is about 80 years old. Ali said it was one of the finest Bermain’s (I have no idea how to spell this) he had ever seen, and that they haven’t been made for decades. He asked how I got it. I got it because I grew up with Janice Knadjian, and her father owns the premier oriental rug store in NM. This rug belonged to an elderly woman whose heirs sent it to Mr. Knadjian to sell after her death. Because it’s very formal and very traditional he was having a lot of trouble selling the rug. People today prefer the geometrics. So he offered it to me at a stunning price. I knew I had a treasure. Now I really know I have a treasure.

I was exhuasted so I rested for awhile then went off and rode Pi. Oh yes, Pi decided to give us a scare this morning. He had a little gas colic. Two days ago it was snowing and very cold. Today it was in the 70’s. Horses guts just don’t handle changes in barometric pressure very well. They really are absurdly fragile. Anyway, that was my weekend. I told you I was going to ramble. I hope everyone else had a great weekend. Later.

Melinda