I have often told my friends that my cat, Kokoro (which in Japanese means heart or mind), screams at me for things. Attention, food mostly. But also just when he feels like it, he’ll just open his maw as wide as possible and let out a Tina Turner-like Big Wheels Turning-like note.
Everyone says, Yeah, yeah, whatever. He’s just a cat.
Well, here is proof.
Kokoro: screaming:
I rarely post pics like I did all the time in Japan, since it was like, you know, another country and all that. But my friend Jan took a pic of me tonight at a board meeting for the Oakland Center for the Arts, and I didn’t realize it.
I always like the candid photos better than the ones I actually know people are taking. Somehow, as soon as I know a photo is being shot, I turn into ice. But I like this one. It’s in the artist’s gallery in the Oakland, one of my “places” here in Youngstown, where I give my time and energy and thought and all that good stuff. If you’re around this weekend (as in tomorrow, Friday, as well as Saturday) you should come down to see Robert Dennick Joki’s show, I’m Not that Girl, at 7PM. I’ll be there Friday evening. And since Rob’s doing it, it promises to be a good show.
Have any of you out there ever come across this site called Literature Map? It’s really interesting, to me at least. What you do is enter an author’s name, and the site provides you with a map of other authors who you may like based on your entry. The farther away from the central author’s name, the further distance in similarity. It seems like the map’s data is gathered from user input, connecting their likes and dislikes and compiling that data. Not sure how accurately the map can report, because of that, but a neat idea.
Here’s the Literature Map with my name entered.
This random tidbit brought to you by Nothing To Do Lazy Sundays.
I love the internet, but sometimes I feel like too much of my life is carried out on it. It’s a necessity, to some degree. But honestly, I sometimes dream that my laptop has bloodstained fangs.
I had two glasses of wine tonight and somehow ended up joining Twitter. Back in the day, it was a lot more to drink and a lot more absurd and shocking outcomes. This is how you know you’re now beginning to become a fossil.
But if you want to “follow” me, my Twitter name is, shockingly, Cbarzak.
Honestly, no clue if I’ll use it a lot. But maybe.
I laughed so hard I nearly cried. No, I did cry. I cried tears of…painful truth. And then I laughed some more. Link via Barth.
Lately I have been in busy hell. Forgive me if I owe you an email. Right now, getting revved up to go to Wiscon at the end of this week. Karaoke Party on Friday night. Be there or be square, as they say in Paris, or in the 1950s. Also this Wiscon Alan, Kristin and I will be debuting our first publication in the new Electrum Novella Series, David J. Schwartz’s The Sun Inside, which will rock your socks off. A review from novelist Elizabeth Bear says: “Beautiful Women. Exotic cultures. Fabulous monsters. Audacious heroes. Total war. Sound familiar? It should not.” If that doesn’t pique your interest, I don’t know what will. Maybe a private karaoke session avec moi dans la Concourse L’hotel en Madison? Like I said, be there (at the karaoke party) or be square (having not read David Schwartz’s novella The Sun Inside and thus not being able to participate in the conversations gazillions of people will be having about it, sharing communal feelings about a cultural artifact that allows them to talk about, you know, ideas and beliefs)!
So, onward now to make departure preparations.
Ta.
Looking for a laugh? This did it for me this weekend. Via Kelly. Arigatou!
Christopher Barzak 