Barb, I have no knowledge of the publishing biz, but that publisher sounds like a total fucktard. I hope you find a better house with honorable people.

Have y'all seen the current Psychology Today cover? [link] The cover story is about common things that are considered to be wrong or "forbidden," and (minor minor minor) kink is one of them.

Because there are so many corset fans here, I thought I'd share the reaction from the kink community, which is basically: the corset is on upside-down and backwards, and the laces are wrapped around her waist.

Yikes!!!

Threadsuck, offline meara and VERY LONG catch-up post…damn this expensive internet connection!

From way back, tons of car~ma for Aims and MM. I’m sorry you’re dealing with car stress on top of everything else. {{{Miracleborns}}}

So much ~ma for Nora and Tom. I’m so sorry to hear about the layoff. I am choosing to be utterly optimistic that he will get a new job in no time that pays better and makes him happy. In the meantime, hang in there and vent as needed.

Urgh. Work is kicking my ass and I'll have to go blinvisible after I hit "post." I miss everyone something dreadful.

I’m sorry work is treating you poorly, JZ. I’m also sorry that you aren’t able to stick around. As much fun as it’s been to traipse around the Caribbean the past week, I really miss everyone, too.

oh why didn't I realize grape leaves would stain? Now my favorite white plastic bowl is lined with green. On the bright side I have feta-stuffed grape leaves in the fridge waiting to go with me to game night and get broiled. It was so easy and I only used half a jar. I'ma bring home some ground lamb in the near future and do the rest of them up right.

Laga, I’m sorry for the stained bowl, but YUM! Nom nom nom.

Check it out. I'm a real American. Bored with my job and thinking I'm way smarter than my boss.

Heh. Sing it, sister!

DJ, you're one of my favorite Bufffistas for many reasons, and one of them is the honest delight you take in others' success.

Aw. Yes, this. It really is nice to see your enthusiasm about others’ successes.

I made dinner! It may be the simplest dinner I know how to make, but considering the fact that I feel like ass, I'm counting it a major accomplishment.

GO SJ! I count any time I manage to actually cook a major accomplishment.

I use online bill-pay for most things, but I can't use it for my rent. That needs to be mailed. Specifically, it needs to be mailed before the tenth of the month.

Hil, do you have a desk? I find a monthly bill check-off list left somewhere conspicuous helps this.

The bad news: The first day back to the school was everything I feared and MORE! I hoped I would be wrong on this school year sucking. Nope...it probably will.

Oh no! I so want to save you from this stupid school. They DON’T DESERVE YOU. I am glad to hear that your new department members seem good, though. Safety in numbers, and all.

Well... talk about hitting earth with a thud. Looks like the publisher at Dial is not exactly pleased with the manuscript for So She Dances…So I wasn't all that surprised when Agent Kate called today warning me that the likelihood that they'll be canceling the contract altogether is almost a certainty.

Oh hon! What horrible news, and especially given the difficult year you’ve had with all the writing stress. I know the temptation to feel like a failure, but I’m willing to bet that Amy is right:

NOT a failure. I would bet lots and lots of good money that this has nothing to do with the manuscript at all.

It is good to remember that now you can pursue other (better!) deals since you’ve had this contract obligation hanging over your head, but I know that doesn’t make it feel any better right now.

I just... right now, I'm tired of kicking at the football. (To keep going with the Charlie Brown references.)

There’s a reason this is one of my LJ icons. Charles Schultz created a bit of a metaphoric masterpiece with that one. Feeling like you keep hoping and trying and falling on your ass just plain sucks. I have every faith in your recovery, but we’re here to help you back up in the meantime. {{{Barb}}}

Okay…so I’m only caught up with this recent stuff, but I at least wanted to make an effort to tell you all how much I miss you. Things have gotten a bit stressy on the ship this week, especially today. Not really worth going into, just personality conflicts and corporate vs. artistic wrangling, and general crowd control issues with 3800 guests trapped on a boat (1800+ of which are kids). Drew has been doing a great job, but he’s busy as hell and caught (continued...)

( continues...) in the middle of a lot of conflicting interests. Today has been hard because it’s the first full day at sea, so they’re having a bit of a nightmare figuring out the logistics. We’ll be in ports at least part of each day the rest of this week, so it should get less stressful after tonight.

I’ve been kicking around on my own today and will likely be doing so most of the rest of the week. Not complaining at all, of course! I knew that it would be like this if I chose to come back, and I’m still thrilled with the general coolness of sailing around on a cruise ship in the Caribbean for two weeks for nothing. Plus, I’m 2/3rds done with my PADI Open Water Diver certification! Tomorrow morning I do two open water dives in Cozumel to complete the course. Wish me NO SHARKS. Or very nice, passive, leaving me completely alone sharks, if they must show up. I’m very excited about the dive, though a bit nervous. The pool training today was stressful! All that flooding of masks and losing regulators and pretending to be out of air and dire warnings about forgetting to breathe and exploding your lungs! Eep! None of that, please! Nice, uneventful, pretty underwater sightseeing, that’s what I want. I am proud of myself for overcoming my fear of drowning (that claustrophobic oh-god-humans-aren’t-meant-to-breathe-underwater feeling), though. I wasn’t sure if I could do this, and I’m psyched that I’m pushing past that fear for this new experience. Smooth dive~ma would be appreciated tomorrow.

Also general calm-down-and-get-along~ma would be nice for the cruise in general. I’ve had a bit of an issue with one of the corporate types who seems to think that the fact I was invited to be Drew’s guest on this cruise means that she can ask me to do all kinds of menial chores. She actually asked me to be the greeter /bouncer at the AmEx guest services lounge tonight. Um. No. Not my job. I am more than happy to volunteer to help out (and have done a bunch of things for them all week, including copyediting all of their guest pamphlets and such for this week), but I am NOT a servant. Luckily, she is the only one of all the wonderful people Drew’s working with who is at all like this—the rest are so gracious and welcoming (and horrified that I’ve been asked to do those other things)—and the truth is that she is really not a bad person. She’s just young and bossy and doesn’t really think things through. I’ve gotten along with her generally up until this point, but I finally had to talk to one of the other higher-ups about these requests today, and I’m worried about the fallout.

Wow, this is an obscenely long post. Going to cut/paste and post now…love you guys! Miss talking with you! (Obviously!)

Maybe her kink is for wearing her underthings wrong? It's perfectly natural!

Maybe her kink is for wearing her underthings wrong? It's perfectly natural!

Ha! The LJ I linked to, Midori's, makes the point that the stylist of the photo shoot should be mortified for putting the corset wrong, using cheap crap-ass boots, and such a poorly-fitting bra. All of which are valid point, kink or no.

Sigh.

Maybe I should just admit cooking is not among my gifts and stop trying new recipes just because they sound interesting.

Signed,
Just spent over an hour in the kitchen (30-minute meal my ASS) producing a half-burned, crappy-tasting mess, and on my way to pagliacci.com for a replacement dinner

common things that are considered to be wrong

...like not knowing how to lace a corset?

common things that are considered to be wrong

...like not knowing how to lace a corset?

Bingo, pretty lady.

Ugh. 12 hour day. School starts Thursday. Utter (well, not utter) chaos.

Nora and Tom -- suck. Job hunting is such a horrid stressor.

Barb -- does it help that I totally name-dropped you just yesterday?! One of my ex-students emailed me, asking to critique some fiction she's done, and I was all YES blahblah-cakes Rule #1 of Writing: READ EVERYTHING, and blahblah, ooh, read BARB! I know her! (my ex-stu is so very much like your protag in ATMOL.) She's Mexicana, not Cubana, but it was nice to be able to rec an author who was writing stuff that would be a lot closer to the things she's interested in, and blahblahblah I have logorrhea tonight I am so tired shut me up CALLATE!)

ION, I am making jambalya with chorizo. Yum.

Oh! Two students at my new school are old students of mine! One of whom I love! I was so happy to see her -- she got booted from my old school cause she is kinda fighty, but SO much better than she used to be, and I got along great with her, no probs.

Most of my new students are African-American, which is cool, but I really lovedloved the almost 100% Latino (Mexican)pop. at my old school -- I just got along really well with almost all the kids, and it makes me so happy to see Latino students at my new school. I'm so used to seeing them as the majority culture, it's weird to see them as a minority here. I feel protective. Is that weird, since I am white as Wonder bread?