I have this ‘extension’ for Firefox called StumbleUpon. It gives me random websites that other people have found enjoyable. I guess it’s considered a social thing, I dunno. I don’t frequent the pages of other Stumblers; I just hit the Stumble! button on my browser window, and roam about the webverse.

The first site I hit today was this one. Talk about a healthy toy for your children! LOL! “Sweetheart, bodily functions are nothing to be ashamed of…”

Here’s an intriguing site. The Mouth & Foot Painting Artists. Wild. I really like Kim Howard’s work. No way could I do that! And Jean Michalski? It’s amazing!

Another art site, Final Redemption, has this tutorial on human proportions. Not much else there except a gallery, though.

Oh, wow! I just found my new favorite artist! I’m off to drool. See ya!

And some SERIOUS drooling here!  Good gods almighty!  I’d never go back to a computer again if I could have THIS baby!  Might take a bit for the video to download, but if you’re a hard core computer geek, it’s worth the wait!

Then there’s the World...  Looks mighty cool.  If I was a multibillionaire with money to burn, I’d buy one for the bragging rights.  But honestly, a man made island?  Has no one mentioned to these people that the ice shelves are melting at an outrageous pace these days?  That global warming may mean they’ll be buying LOTS of sand to raise the beaches?

They’ve discovered what they believe to be the secret cave that Romulus and Remus were raised before they founded Rome…  Hmmm…  There’s some story fodder.  What if Remus was a woman?  Alternate history line—Remus survived and Romulus died.  Or bring it up to more contemporary times—a child raised by wolves in the here and now.  (Can’t put too much of a SF twist on this without echoing Wen Spencer’s Ukiah Oregon series.  Speaking of which, go out and get it!  The hero’s parents are lesbians who adopted him, for one thing.)

Wow… A whole dog race I didn’t even know existed!  (Speaking of which, Iditarod begins in thirty-seven days!)

Here’s a Damn Interesting article called The Association of the Dead by Gerry Matlack.   Seems in some countries the proper bribery of officials can get you pronounced dead, whereupon your relatives inherit your wordly goods.  It took one fellow eighteen years to get his death certificate revoked, and in that time he couldn’t get loans, own property, or even get arrested.

I gotta wonder, would he have been able to get away with murder?  Literally?  What kind of society produces such a weird bureaucracy that allows this to happen?  Why did it take eighteen years to overturn?  In my cyberpunk future, I can see enclaves of the living dead—people who can’t get assistance, can’t get legal work, can’t have a voice because they’re legally dead…  That’d be a hel of a story…

Here I sit at Coffee People, corner of SW Salmon and Park in Portland, Oregon.  It closes its doors on the twenty-ninth, so this is probably my last medium Velvet Hammer with whip to be had in the downtown area.  Ah, the bitter sweet memories (and I’m not talking the mocha…)

My best friend at the time, Laurie, introduced me to this place in 1995.  I only lived a few blocks away, so it became a favorite place to hang out with my wife and son.  I didn’t get hooked on the Slamma Hamma that Laurie enjoyed, but the milder Velvet Hammer was mmmm mmmm nummy!

At that time in my life, I didn’t visit often.  I was hip deep in airbrush illustrations rather than writing, so most of my off time was spent at home.  However, after Laurie got a job elsewhere, it was the place to meet when we hung out together.

In early 1998, we left our apartment and the city for Spokane, Washington.  I remember looking up Coffee People online, and emailing them.  There weren’t any in Washington, and I wanted to know if they had plans to open any there.  I never received a response, and it was a long, dry year I spent there.

The airbrush studio was shoved under the stairs in our itty bitty loft apartment, and the computer became my fixation instead of my art.  That’s when I discovered the fanfic that changed my life.  After reading all I could read, I yearned for more.  No one else was writing what I wanted, so I began writing my own.

Upon my return to Portland in late ‘98, I was working on Warlord Metal, hand writing each page when away, laboriously typing it into my Gateway computer when at home.  I’d say at least one third of the novel was written at the back table of Coffee People.  That winter was a cold, wet one, and I’d just come from a desert environment.  Velvet Hammers warmed me through the rainy season.  (I put an acknowledgement to Coffee People in Warlord Metal.)
The next novel CP witnessed was Tiopa Ki Lakota.  Hel, every novel length story has had its day here.  Some more than others, and each written differently as my finances and foibles changed over the years.

Coffee People has seen me writing long hand in spiral notebooks and on legal pads.  It’s seen me using Graffitti as I wrote on my Palmie, then two different keyboards – wired and wireless – as my Palms were upgraded and replaced.  Finally, it’s seen my iBook, which is what I’m using now to write.

From its windows, I’ve watched the Farmer’s Market set up and tear down on Wednesdays; I’ve seen the street people acting out their bizarre ways as they passed; I’ve chased a block after a woman when she left her purse on the table across from me, and watched a swishy young man with mascara get into a slap-fest with his boyfriend outside; strangers have come in to stare at me, as if they knew me, though I’d never seen them before.

The building next door is low income, and many of the residents hang around outside in summer, nursing a cup of coffee so they can sit at the outdoor tables.  Across the street is the South Park Blocks where the market sets up, where children play, where punks hang out.  That’s where Rickie Gardner hung in Only One.  Down the street is PSU, and a lot of college students come through here, utilizing the tables for study groups and homework.  Directly across the street is the theater – summer and evening concerts bring in tuxedos and dresses, though most of the patrons appear to be the orchestra rather than the spectators.

I’m really going to miss this place.

Eight chapters edited today.  The book is complete!  YAY!!

In fact, I’ve already shipped an email and attachment to my publisher.

I feel so relieved…

... Eight left to go. The biggest issue I’m running across is the need to adjust for a single POV per scene. Seems I still hadn’t gotten the hang of that when I wrote this baby in … ‘03 / ‘04?

I think this thing might be completed by the end of the week!

My wife brought up the idea of a reward. She asked what I’d get when I finished. * shrug * She’s suggested that this might be part of my problem when it comes to writing. I don’t reward myself in a way that’s special, and need to.

Wonder what kind of reward I should give myself for finishing this thing?

Do you know what happens when you don’t use your library card for over three years?

Answer:  Nothing.

Man, was I surprised to discover I didn’t have to get a new card!  It’s been forever since I’ve visited the library.  But, it seems I’m swimming in cash in December, and scraping the rent together for January every year—the library was the way to go if I wanted to add to my To Be Read list.

On Azrael’s Wings Update:  Chapters twenty and twenty-one have been edited today.  Looks like I have about eleven more to go, overall.  I have no plans to insert new scenes along the way, but am open-minded.  If the book’s need calls for a new scene here or there, so be it.  I’ve been diligently working on it, even on my work days, though I’m not certain I’ll get through to the end by Friday.  We’ll see how it goes.

And now for the excruciating, gut-wrenching HORRIBLE news I heard today…  Coffee People is CLOSING!  UGH!  They’ll keep their five airport kiosks open, but they’re closing MY shop downtown.  What the hel am I going to do??

I know, I know…  It’s just a silly coffee shop.  But I’m addicted to their Velvet Hammers.  If I have to take a flight out, I’ll go four hours in advance so I can enjoy a coffee.  Who cares how long it takes to get through security?

Plus there’s the nostalgia aspect.  Did you know that parts of nearly ALL my novels have been written at Coffee People on SW Park?  The only two that didn’t were Only One and CyberEpic.  I remember the freezing cold rain of winter ‘98, warming up as I hand wrote Tiopa Ki Lakota and Warlord Metal there.

• sigh *

I suppose I’ll survive.  Ah, well.  Urban Grind in the NW is closer to my apartment anyway…

Love a word count of 2301, don’t you?  Two new scenes completed, and chapter eighteen is in the bag.  Wanna know the best part?

That’s the LAST of the new scenes!  WOOT!

I should have the rest of the editing done by the end of the week.  (And that’s WITH the two days of day job I have to get back to.)

I completed writing the rough draft in 2004.  After it idled most of 2005, I asked some friends to beta.  “More Action!” (Thanks, Step!)

Maybe this will be my fourth published book, eh?

Spent yesterday goofing off and reading. Went to bed early and missed the New Year’s arrival.  Ah, well.

After a half hour of reacquainting myself with On Azrael’s Wings, I’ve already dumped plans for one scene, deciding to go with a different one instead.  Time to get to work.  I want to finish chapter eighteen today…

Here’s to a spectacular New Year to everyone!