So, here is a request from ita's sister:

ita's birthday is next Monday (January 4th), and we want to commemorate it somehow. A friend of mine had a fabulous idea (respect, Ghenete!): we could all do something at the same time on Monday that remembers ita in some way.

Wouldn't that be great - to have all of our energy conjuring up ita all across the world all at the same time? She'd love that (and probably figure it's nothing less than she deserves).

So, here at home, my parents and I are going to eat some hardo bread (a Jamaican white bread), which was one of ita's favourite foods ever. I will be wearing my Princess Bride shirt or my Community shirt, and her Batman wrist cuff. I'll probably wear some of her jewellery, and try to slip in something pink.

ita had so many interests that I'm sure you'll be able to think of something to do. But for those of you who knew me more than you knew her, here are some ideas:

• anything to do with any martial art (her favourite was krav maga - she also loved capoeira) - you could wear a shirt with a martial art image / actually do a couple forms / punch/kick someone in the face/body / whatever
• anything to do with comics - you could wear clothes with the images / you could read one/some / whatever
• anything to do with TV shows like Supernatural / Community / anything Joss Whedon has ever written
• anything to do with superhero movies
• anything to do with the movie Princess Bride
• eating any delicious dessert (she loved baking sweet things!)
• eating any Jamaican food / drink
• playing / dancing / singing along to anything by Prince / Bob Marley
• do something intellectually challenging (e.g. play Scrabble, do an IQ test)
• read a scifi book
• do some drawing / sketching / photography

And, given that her favourite colours were pink and black, how about wearing one/both of those colours on Monday? When you're doing your ita thing, or all day - whichever works?

What would also be great is if you could take pictures of yourself doing whatever it is you do (if that's possible, depending on what you choose to do), and then send it to me, so I could collate them for posterity and maybe send them out to everyone as well. This is not at all essential - just a suggestion.

What about 4pm Jamaica time? That means 4pm on the East Coast of the US and Canada, and:

Following on the support we have in the FB group "Buffistas Kicking Health's Ass," I am inviting anyone who would enjoy it to join me in the next Whole Life Challenge.

It begins January 16th and there is a $10 off early bird special on registration for new and veteran players. (ending tomorrow)

I've set up a team called "Slayin' It"

Description: Playful, powerful support for more vibrant health, whatever that looks like for you.

If you happen to be a bit geeky, or literary, science fact-y, or just plain wicked smaht, all the better!

For the first time in a long time, I'm excited to get moving and, frankly, could use all the fun I can get!

Following up on the previous...

There is now a closed group on FB for the Slayin' It crew.

If anyone would like to join the The Whole Life Challenge and be included in the group, message me there, or profile addy is good.

Saturday is the kick-off and we be slayin' it!

(I'd also be glad to answer any questions for anyone on the fence.)

Does anyone know how/if you can change a pdf into a jpeg or something else Flickr friendly? This is for the ita remembrances.

Nevermind! -t taught me.

I created a group on facebook for people wanting to lose weight or with other specific health goals. contact me if you want to join.

A couple new things listed on Amazon / B&N / Indies - linking to Goodreads for most choice options & greater likelihood of giveaway notices.

- Cloudbound (September 2016) - Companion novel to Updraft [link]

- The Jewel & Her Lapidary (May 2016) - novella, set in the same world as the gem short story Topaz Marquis - [link] * (*not, in fact, in any way similar to Crystal Singer. grumble)

A belated addition to the the Bernie or Hillary debate. [link] . It is fairly short. One advantage of my not seeing very well is I now write really short posts. If you prefer to read it on Facebook here is the Facebook link [link] . Actually I may be better off as far as getting additional readers go if you look at it on Facebook I think more views may translate into it showing up on more timelines.

The second in my series on the Democratic Primary is up. This one takes on the second most common argument for Hilary - that her smaller bore goals and long experience will let her accomplish more for ordinary people than Bernie could. Here is the Facebook link [link]

Viewing it on Facebook I think helps push this onto more feeds. On the other hand, the Blog version is far better formatted. So here is the direct Blog link: [link]

OK, Facebook appears to be running a scam where they tell you have been infected by malware. If you download the software they tell you to download it replaces your own anti-virus software and makes it extremely difficult to install. Yep the same scam hijack sites run, except in really does come from Facebook. And if you don't download the software they sometimes block you from posting links in Facebook. Here is some discussion of this [link]

[link]

I spaced on returning these skull sneakers (size 9) from Hot Topic after Christmas, and I can't return them now. They didn't fit TCG. If you want them, email me at my profile address. ETA: Claimed.