Whew! It's turning into quite the heatwave around here. Just in time for us to discover our air-conditioning doesn't work! For now we can manage okay with the windows open, but we'll need to get this looked into shortly. Don't want to roast in summertime, y'see. I'm still glad winter finally called it quits and got out of town, though :)

Unfortunately with the change of seasons (or something going around at work?) comes a lovely cold. I've been feeling a bit under the weather since Sunday, with runny nose and a hacking cough making me feel miserable. I've been tempted to stay home every day this week, but I can't spare the leave, since I don't get sick leave!

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This weekend was a bit of a bust really. Carrie was at a training course most of each day, so naturally I did my best to watch as much crap I'd recorded on the TiVo as possible :) Among other things, I watched a couple of movies including Hollywood Homicide and The Crow. I'd heard Hollywood Homicide was fairly mediocre, but I didn't think it was that bad. I actually think it's sort of entertaining, provided you don't take it too seriously. As for The Crow, I'd been meaning to see it for years, and it was well worth it. The gritty, moody atmosphere tended to make up for the average acting, and the plot was fairly well-crafted for what is really just a revenge piece. It's a pity Brandon Lee died tragically during the making; he would've had a promising career ahead of him. Both movies were substantially more entertaining than The Hulk, in my opinion ;)

On Saturday night we went out to a nice barbeque place for ribs, and came away smelling like smoke. Must've been all the meat cooking in that joint! The decor was rustic, with plenty of Native American themed stuff on the walls. After dinner we had a wander over by the river and saw the seafood place we'd like to check out one day, as well as a path that looked like it ran under the bridge nearby. We couldn't tell if it led anywhere, so we'll have to take a closer look during daylight hours sometime.

After much procrastination, I finally brought the guitar, stand, and amp upstairs, and viewed the first lesson on the Fender instructional DVD. I learned 3 power chords, which are going to take some time to master. I'll need to build up calluses and work on my muscle memory before I can move onto the next lesson. Switching between chords is hard!

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I've been wracking my brains all week for ideas for how to tackle a critique group writing prompt, but haven't had much luck. I seem to be particularly uninspired lately, which is quite depressing. Especially when you consider that this time last year I was churning out a story every week! There's not much I can do other than just keep plugging on and hope the old creativity will return....

2005 Stats:

2005 Word count:	14,784
Stories written:	2
Total submissions:	6
Total acceptances:	0
Total rejections:	4
Waiting for response:	3
Books read:	5
Fiction Mags/Chapbooks read:	6
Audiobooks:	9

What I'm Reading:
Polyphony, edited by Deborah Layne and Jay Lake
McSweeny's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales (Unabridged Selections), Various (audiobook)
Locus 2004 issues: November, December