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Argh. Since my mom went home last week I have just feeling so dang ambivalent about almost everything. I got used to having someone else around most of the tme, with my co-worker here for a week and then my mom here for almost two weeks. Now I get up in the morning to an empty house, I go get Ben sent off to school, come home to an empty house, work the day away, and then try to find virtually any excuse to get out of the house just so I can see other actual live human beings.
JamesAxler.com
For the past several weeks I have been working on a radical redisign of my website. By moving it to a phpNuke interface I am gaining some pretty dang cool functionality. My original impetus was just to get a unified login across the entire site, where previously there were different logins for the message board, chat room, and review functions. It turns out I am gaining a ton of new features as a side effect, things that should really enhance the group contribution to site content.
Except that I have almost certainly alienated Mark Ellis, the only author currently working under the James Axler alias who is really worth talking to. (Well, ok, I understand that Chris is actually going to have his first book published udner the Axler psuedonym in the not to distant future. He's worth talking to, too.) I have nothing but the highest respect for Mark. He is a damn good writer, in fact I think he is really better than probably the genre deserves. He has a fierce intelligence, a respect for his readers, a fluid writing style that seems to move effortlessly between high action sequences and thoughtful character moments... in a genre that usually depicts female characters with all the nuance of a teenage male power fantasy, Mark destroys the mold and presents complex, intelligent, strong, self-reliant women who act as equals in every way to their male counterparts. Honestly, although I would miss it if he ever permanently stops writing for the Outlanders series I think he deserves to be writing under his own name and getting the literary accolades he deserves.
But Mark is also friends with a (now ex-) poster on the message board who is as far as I can see nothing but a troll. When Mark left the board for a while back in September this guy went on a posting binge where he visciously attacked several other members, sent profanity-laden emails and private messages all over the place, and just generally acted like an ass. I stepped in and banned him, and he went crying to his buddy Mark. After several back and forths with Mark I finally agreed to reinstate this guy, with the clear understanding that he would behave himself. A few weeks ago he posted two different snarky backhanded swipes at board members who were not even involved in the threads he was posting on. When I edited out his remarks and gave him a warning, his response was to put his original comments back in and then to post a public diatribe against me, including calling me a pussy. So I banned him. Again he went crying to Mark, of course neglecting to mention the part where he publicly attacked me. Mark seems to believe that I have acted with a double standard, allowing another member to remain while banning this guy, but at least since September when I started paying attention this other member has never posted anything that merited editing. Marks friend, however, has continually engaged in sniping and baiting. I just don't get it. I honestly think I have been fair, but Mark disagrees. The end result is that I am investing dozens of hours of my time this month writing new code to support the new features on the site, while alienating pretty much the one guy that I would most want to please with it. It kind of saps the joy out of the effort.
Yikes, I love her. And miss her.
I miss Kris so much it is unbelievable. It's been over two months since I have seen her, and it will still be another month before I see her again. It boggles my mind that she would actually give up so much to be with me. She is selling her home, leaving her job of well over a decade, leaving behind all of her friends and family, just so she can move to the other side of the country to marry me and build a new life together. Not some rash romantic decision, not a naive fantasy of a perfect live to be had with some prince charming, but an actual long-thought-out and calculated decision that loving me and being with me is worth all of that. That's pretty dang humbling to be on the recieving end of. Sending her flowers every now and then and telling her how much I love her just kinda pales in comparison...
Mom
I am greatly relieved that my mom and John have come to an understanding that I think is the best thing for both of them. John will stick it out and hang around at least until either the disabilty is finally approved or until Augest when mom can begin to draw social security. In the meantime she will start trying to go through and get rid of some of her posessions. I suggested a yard sale (or two), maybe along with Vanessa, to try to sell some of the miscellaneous stuff filling her house. I also offered to pay for a dumpster in a few months, and even to hire some local muscle, to go through and toss out trash that has piled up. By the end of the summer one way or another she is going to need to move, whether it be to someplace else in Seattle or to an apartment down here, and anything I can do between now and then to help make that easier will be worth it.
Aw hell, what is this, War and Peace? I gotta go get some work done.
JamesAxler.com
For the past several weeks I have been working on a radical redisign of my website. By moving it to a phpNuke interface I am gaining some pretty dang cool functionality. My original impetus was just to get a unified login across the entire site, where previously there were different logins for the message board, chat room, and review functions. It turns out I am gaining a ton of new features as a side effect, things that should really enhance the group contribution to site content.
Except that I have almost certainly alienated Mark Ellis, the only author currently working under the James Axler alias who is really worth talking to. (Well, ok, I understand that Chris is actually going to have his first book published udner the Axler psuedonym in the not to distant future. He's worth talking to, too.) I have nothing but the highest respect for Mark. He is a damn good writer, in fact I think he is really better than probably the genre deserves. He has a fierce intelligence, a respect for his readers, a fluid writing style that seems to move effortlessly between high action sequences and thoughtful character moments... in a genre that usually depicts female characters with all the nuance of a teenage male power fantasy, Mark destroys the mold and presents complex, intelligent, strong, self-reliant women who act as equals in every way to their male counterparts. Honestly, although I would miss it if he ever permanently stops writing for the Outlanders series I think he deserves to be writing under his own name and getting the literary accolades he deserves.
But Mark is also friends with a (now ex-) poster on the message board who is as far as I can see nothing but a troll. When Mark left the board for a while back in September this guy went on a posting binge where he visciously attacked several other members, sent profanity-laden emails and private messages all over the place, and just generally acted like an ass. I stepped in and banned him, and he went crying to his buddy Mark. After several back and forths with Mark I finally agreed to reinstate this guy, with the clear understanding that he would behave himself. A few weeks ago he posted two different snarky backhanded swipes at board members who were not even involved in the threads he was posting on. When I edited out his remarks and gave him a warning, his response was to put his original comments back in and then to post a public diatribe against me, including calling me a pussy. So I banned him. Again he went crying to Mark, of course neglecting to mention the part where he publicly attacked me. Mark seems to believe that I have acted with a double standard, allowing another member to remain while banning this guy, but at least since September when I started paying attention this other member has never posted anything that merited editing. Marks friend, however, has continually engaged in sniping and baiting. I just don't get it. I honestly think I have been fair, but Mark disagrees. The end result is that I am investing dozens of hours of my time this month writing new code to support the new features on the site, while alienating pretty much the one guy that I would most want to please with it. It kind of saps the joy out of the effort.
Yikes, I love her. And miss her.
I miss Kris so much it is unbelievable. It's been over two months since I have seen her, and it will still be another month before I see her again. It boggles my mind that she would actually give up so much to be with me. She is selling her home, leaving her job of well over a decade, leaving behind all of her friends and family, just so she can move to the other side of the country to marry me and build a new life together. Not some rash romantic decision, not a naive fantasy of a perfect live to be had with some prince charming, but an actual long-thought-out and calculated decision that loving me and being with me is worth all of that. That's pretty dang humbling to be on the recieving end of. Sending her flowers every now and then and telling her how much I love her just kinda pales in comparison...
Mom
I am greatly relieved that my mom and John have come to an understanding that I think is the best thing for both of them. John will stick it out and hang around at least until either the disabilty is finally approved or until Augest when mom can begin to draw social security. In the meantime she will start trying to go through and get rid of some of her posessions. I suggested a yard sale (or two), maybe along with Vanessa, to try to sell some of the miscellaneous stuff filling her house. I also offered to pay for a dumpster in a few months, and even to hire some local muscle, to go through and toss out trash that has piled up. By the end of the summer one way or another she is going to need to move, whether it be to someplace else in Seattle or to an apartment down here, and anything I can do between now and then to help make that easier will be worth it.
Aw hell, what is this, War and Peace? I gotta go get some work done.
