I just finished reading the all three books that are currently available in the Morris & Chastain Supernatural Investigations series by Justin Gustainis. I have no complaints about Black Magic Woman or Evil Ways, which hang together pretty closely.
Sympathy for the Devil, though, ended with a cliffhanger! How dare he! The reader is left completely unsure of the fate of one of the main two characters, as well as several others who were pivotal to the plot. Honestly, anybody who is reading volume three of a series has proven enough commitment that there’s simply no justification for such a cheap tactic. Bah!
Month: June 2012
Gratitude
Tonight I’m grateful that my Daddy does NOT have the blood clot we thought he might have earlier today. He did have to go to the emergency room, but the swelling in his leg is due to something else.
Cooler Now
Oh, thank goodness. Daddy fixed the A/C! I’m glad to know it wasn’t just me not tolerating the heat well despite A/C (I’m getting to that age now). Thank you, Daddy! Looking forward to a good night’s sleep tonight!
Heat
It is just too bloody hot. I couldn’t sleep last night and it’s too danged hot to sleep again tonight. I do not enjoy summer weather.
Sky Diving??
Today’s NaBloPoMo prompt:
How do you feel about sky diving?
I feel that it is a pursuit best left to adrenaline junkies, and people who have to do it for their careers. I’m glad parachutes exist, but I sincerely hope that I won’t ever find myself in need of one! If I board a plane, I intend to stay on it until it makes a nice, safe landing.
Bunjee Jumping?
Today’s NaBloPoMo prompt:
Would you ever go bungee jumping?
No way! For one thing, I am definitely NOT an adrenaline junky. For another, I cannot imagine that the JERK when one reaches the end of the cord and gets pulled back up is a very good feeling. I already have chronic pain problems, so I don’t think it wise to aggravate them by seeking out opportunity for injury in a gratuitous fashion!
Still working on the site
But as you can see by the growing list of pages on the right-hand side of the site, I’m making progress. The reading, stitching, geekery and health parts of the site have been migrated to WordPress, although not always rewritten and updated. My professional site has been migrated completely now, too. There are still some pages to be migrated here, but they’re coming, then I’ll work on getting the patterns site migrated and maybe even add more patterns. Fibrant Living needs some love, as does Cyberstalked.org, but that last one is my lowest priority.
I don’t suppose anyone would like to test stitch one of the patterns at Heartsong Handicrafts? It would be nice to have stitched model photographs for that site. I haven’t finished the biggest pattern that I was test-stitching for the site yet.
There are new contact forms up on this site and at CynthiaArmistead.com to offer an alternative way to reach me for those who might be shy about commenting.
Happy (Belated) Solstice!
Today I celebrated the Solstice with the ADF Grove of the Red Earth, the first of their rituals I’ve been able to attend. It was a lovely thing, with a delicious feast afterwards. Thanks for the invitation and hospitality, folks!
Scary Movies?
Another NaBloPoMo prompt: Do you like scary movies that make you jump?
I’m not old enough to watch scary movies! I find them far too frightening, indeed, nightmare-inducing. Sam required that I watch The Crow with him when we’d just started dating him (I can’t remember why any more) and, like a fool, I didn’t refuse absolutely. Today I would, even in the early days of a relationship. I too easily suspend my disbelief.
But then, i can’t watch many very violent things, either. They’re too upsetting for me. The more realistic violence is, the more frightening it is. I can’t understand why anyone else would want to watch such things, either, but I accept that they don’t touch some people as deeply as they do me. I can watch forensics shows, but the violence is usually over by the time those shows start. The main characters reconstruct the crimes, but the viewer isn’t usually subjected to the actual crime occurring, happily. That lets me look at them as puzzles.
Jumpiness and Nerves
Back to the NaBloPoMo prompts:
What do you do to cope when you’re nervous?
I have a whole mess of diagnoses, including post-traumatic stress disorder and social anxiety disorder, so I feel jumpy and nervous fairly often. I’m on medication that helps, and I have Ativan that I can take if I must for panic attacks. But I try really hard to use the Ativan, because 1) it can be addictive; and 2) it makes me sleepy. It makes far more sense to take advantage of the biofeedback techniques I learned years ago to try to get my heart rate and breathing under control. Cognitive behavioral therapy has also given me some valuable ways to examine the thought patterns that lead to panic attacks, so that I can try to short-circuit them before I get too wound up.
For less critical nerves, I find it important to keep my hands busy. I usuallly take a small stitching project with me wherever I go. Having my hands busy and keeping my mind partially occupied takes up enough of my energy to keep me from getting too wound up in nerves, most of the time. My stitching is the equivalent of other peoples’ doodling or fidget toys.