Man, that is a good looking cake!

Talia is back in town after visiting her mom for a few months. I am so happy she is home; I missed her more than I expected. I used to do the independent thing pretty well, but I believe that love and comfort have worn away some of my defenses. That's a good thing, I like to think it means my heart is opening in new ways.

Regardless. Glad she's home.

!yad eht yojnE

Quote by Ping

Ah, crap. Missed the deadline. Sorry WG. I guess my anti-McRaunchies, Ain’t No Spring McChicken, will need to hatch another day.

Congrats to the winners. I don’t read comp stories until I’ve submitted mine. So, I’ve not read yours… but I will shortly.

Thanks again for spearheading this comp, Kimmie!

Hey Ping, you Magnificent Bastard. I missed the deadline too.

Thanks Kimmie, for these contests. Apologies for blowing the deadline.

I have three days to pound something out. Maybe....

Dang. Crickets.

Anway, I am back in the land of the living. They didn't find anything scary in my stomach (other than half-digested corn dogs), gave me some meds, and sent me on my way.

Yay! And Cori is home Tuesday! Double-yay.

Still writing that crazy backwards tapes novel.

!sreehC

Hey all. Cool contest, and I have an idea working.

Sorry I haven't been around, I have some crazy stuff happening in my digestive system. Endoscopy on May 6. Wish me luck. I should be around more after that.

Much more problematic than the breath test is the take home poop test. Ew. Like, seriously. Ew.

Everything else is going reasonably well. I just may, after writing 5 bad novels, be in the middle of writing a pretty good one. I'm a slow learner.

!sreehC

We just finished The Pitt, season 2. SO good. I'm sad it's over (until the next season).

Just watched the first episode of Something Very Bad is Going to Happen. Looks really good. The Duffer Bros made it, as well as Stranger Things, which I frikkin loved.

I submitted a thing, but then deleted it because I thought it might be too political. If you wanna read it, drop me a line. Sorry if I made extra work for the mods.

My weird breath test is over. I'm about to deliver 20 test tubes of my breath (taken every 20 minutes) to the doc.

.ecaeP

Weird fasting today. I can eat rice and white bread and baked chicken until 7 pm, then nothing. I can't put milk in my coffee today! And tomorrow, I brush my teeth, then fill 10 test tubes with my breath, every 20 minutes. It takes about 3 hours. I return the test tubes to my doc. Fun!

I'm going to submit something today. Read it if you find time!

!mied epraC

It was a fun weekend. We had a good friend over for the march and made a day of it. It felt sort of bougie to follow up a protest with cocktails and sandwiches on the patio, but it is is what it is (and that Manhattan tasted GOOD).

And...baseball season! Mets are 2-1 as I write this.

I hope everyone else had a good weekend. Talia is well. I'm tempted to post a pic, but she would kill me!

!eeffoC

Happy Opening Day for those who worship!

Quote by JustAnotherSapphic

No, I didn't die. I've just been busy with boring irl things as usual.

My boyfriend and I did celebrate a year and a half of being together on the first of March though.

Congrats on the boyfriend. We finally found the Drew Carey Show on Pluto. It holds up.

Had ANOTHER stomach bug over the weekend. Yuck. Lots of pukiness and diarrhea (sp?). Sorry for the TMI. Mostly over it. New critique group meets tonight. So far I like them.

!eeffoC

I love the cover, and I would read a book with an AI cover. If AI was involved with the writing of the book (I know yours was not) then that's a hard NO. But an AI cover seems okay to me. And I can't argue with the price!

Great contest.

Man, having a weekly critique instead of monthly is hard work! It's making me try to take things up another level, so that's kind of challenging, in a good way (mostly).

!yadirF yppaH

This was a great contest. So many good entries! Congrats, Mr. Ape, Meg and Anna! I liked there being so many entries.

Most of all, thank you WG!

Quote by Mendalla

I wish the weather would make up it's freakin' mind. Spring-Winter-Sprinter (somewhere in between)-Winter-Spring... Got snow on the ground again here but not much. And it was cooooooold today, with a wind chill on top. But then by the weekend, it's spring again (as it should be given Friday is the Equinox). Sigh. I'm going to get whiplash reading the weather forecasts. Oh well, two weeks until vacay.

Yeah, our snowstorm of last weekend has turned into 70+ degree days! Great for walking.

I went through my first session of a new critique group last night. I got a couple rough reviews, but that's a good thing, and overall I liked it. Plus, it's weekly, so I can submit smaller sections more often, which works great for me. They're international, if anyone is interested. Limited to speculative fiction.

!yad eht yojnE

Yay! Thanks WG!

Really nice work, Pnin.

Quote by WriterGirl

Please post it! 🤣 I need a laugh.

I'll post it for an hour (or until I remember I posted it). I look homeless.

My passport photo is REALLY bad. Like, I'd post it, but it's just that bad. I'm terribly unphotogenic.

I hope everyone is well.

Got a haircut this morning! Off to get my passport photo taken! Fun!

Baseball in 15 days!

Sorry for all the exclamation marks!

It's a snow-tastrophe! (That's a vague Friends reference.) Ton of snow falling right now. I expect it all to melt during the weekend.

I am starting a new writing critique group this month. Wish me luck!

Watching Jesse's funeral on TV. The Presidents are about to speak. Coffee!

Quote by S7williams

Is it right to hate someone for their beliefs? I do not think so. However, I kinda think youall will hate me for my feelings and beliefs and I accept that 😔.

I think a belief system is evil that dictates that women are so tempting to men that they need to wear a burka and gays are so evil that they should be hanged as was/is the case in fundamentalist Iran/Islam. However, killing is also bad.

I am conflicted. I think it is bad for government to force us to do and think things it believes to be right regardless of what the individuals believe to be right. On the other hand, “freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”

I don't think anyone hates you here. We can agree to disagree, and it doesn't sound like we disagree that much. I don't think anyone is arguing that Iran is an evil regime.

Anyway, I'll quit talking politics, if it's divisive. My apologies.

Glorious day here - in the 70s and sunny. And, I went to the doc yesterday and she seems to think I am in pretty good health.

I'd love some coffee.

Is the world on fire? True.

Am I thoroughly enjoying watching a meaningless pre-season baseball game on a Sunday afternoon? Also true.

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend. It's a beautiful day here.

Quote by Mendalla

The state of the union, at least from the view up here above you, is "royally f**ked". But maybe there's still a way to unf**k it. I just don't know what it is. What your nation needs is a pragmatic leader with a strong economic lens but Carney's ours and you cannot have him.😋 He is far from perfect in my somewhat leftie eyes, but he's at least mentally stable and focused on the real economy unlike Trumpie Dumpie, who seems to live in his dream world.

That's enough politics for tonight.

We are back into winter but a quieter, milder form of it. Temps from -7 to 0C, occasional flurries.

Turns out not much happened. A two hour slog of a speech.

No matter. Tomorrow is a new day. Writing and half-listening to pre-season baseball. We have a rookie on the mound!

Coffee and a couple Tylenol please.

Entered both the writing contests (thanks again WG!). Hot and cold, love and hate. One of them is a sci-fi apocalypse, one of them is a simple love poem without the word love.

We're ordering a pizza tonight so we can sit down and watch the State of the Union speech. Regardless of what is said, or what happens, we are watching History, with a capital "H." I hope our better angels prevail.

Coffee would be swell.

Okay, here's my Rainbow poem. It's mostly a true story!

Rainbow

I'm in bed with my wife. We're both

sick, sniffling, snuffling, handing each other

tissues and medicine. Our breathing

synchronizes. I watch her chest

rise and fall.

Outside, a storm. It's come by once

already, dusting our home with cold

rain. The worst has passed. In the storm's

wake, broken branches, trash.

No matter.

The sun rises from the storm. A rainbow forms.

Our faces turn to the color,

receiving light. I watch my wife's chest

rise and fall.

We were both sick over the weekend, but we're getting over it.

Extremely boring weekend, though I did finally get around to finishing Stranger Things. I really enjoyed it. I thought they nailed the ending. Long, fun ride. Sorry to see it over.

!gninrom dooG

Quote by gillianleeza
I love the beach in the winter.

I've never see n a beach in winter. It sounds beautiful.

Same old thing here. Writing, with the news in the background. Pick up the grand-boy from school later. I've got a bit of a cough myself - there are SO MANY GERMS at the school. A giant petri dish.

!esaelp eeffoC

Finally saw del Toro's Frankenstein. Really good movie. It's long as heck, and there's a bit of drag in the middle, but, boy is it a beautifully shot movie. Very emotional too.