In Common with Humans

I’ve finished the interior book block and the cover for the Advance Review Copy of Cat the Vamp, uploaded them to Lulu.com and ordered the proof. The ARC cover is the main title page for the finished book. It looks pretty cool if I do say so myself:

under cut to spare flists

On the plus side, I was home to do sunset attunement. *sigh*

I never got a call from dad. Although the rain was steadily oozing northward on the radar and it was overcast, not a drop had fallen, the roads were bone-dry and it seemed fairly bright. I thought there was a chance the concert might squeeze in, and I was sure they hated to have to cancel yet again. So I packed my stuff and drove over to Townsend. But when I got to the Common, there was nothing going on, so I just came home. Maybe dad thought I’d assume they’d cancel based on the facts that there is a flood watch up, we’re supposed to get 2 to 4 inches of rain tonight and they’re calling this storm “a summer Nor’easter.” (What, another one? *wry look*)

It’s July 23!! We really are having A Year Without A Summer. Although, unlike 1816, at least we aren’t having snow and killing frosts.

I did workout early, so my whole night is now clear to continue proofreading and correcting the ARC of Cat the Vamp and work on the covers for Gideon Redoak, among a lot of other tasks on my To-Do list. I already got the LCCN for Cat the Vamp! That’s the last thing I needed. Nice to know that the Library of Congress is doing its job efficiently–they can have all my tax dollars, that’s for sure!

I’ve officially lost 35 pounds now. I feel like I have a lot more than ten pounds to go, though.

I am So Done with this fucking weather. *snarl* It’s overcast, the temperature has dropped eleven degrees since noon, and rain is on the way. Yeah, more rain. It poured rain on Tuesday and was overcast most of yesterday. I’m going to plan for my dad’s band concert tonight (workout early, etc) but odds are they’ll cancel. This will be what, their fourth cancellation so far this summer? They’ve already run out of make-up dates. Meanwhile we’re having a population explosion of slugs, they’re everywhere–ick, ptooey.

My tomato plants are huge and bushy, I’ve never had such vigorous tomatoes! They’re setting fruit now, but with all the rain, some of the little green tomatoes are already cracking because they’re growing too fast. I’m still picking tons of black raspberries.

Nothing like uncertainty to mess with your productivity. I’m trying to get Gideon Redoak entered into Bowker/Books In Print and set up on LSI (the printer). Bowker is hacking up the ISBN for the hardcover edition. I e-mailed Bowker, they replied saying it was fixed, it is NOT fixed, I e-mailed again, they replied saying “try tomorrow, and contact us if it’s still a problem.” Great. If it’s still a problem tomorrow, I’ll be stuck until Monday! *snarl* I’m getting more and more inquiries about ordering the book. I worked on the cover design last night, made some adjustments–now I need to finish the spine, back cover and dust jacket. I downloaded the cover templates for both editions last night.

I need to seriously look into upgrading InDesign because LSI won’t support CS2 after August 1st. Granted, I don’t send native files to LSI, I send press-ready PDFs, but it’s a sign of the times–I need to stay up to date.

I’m finishing the corrections for Cat the Vamp. I applied for its LCCN from the Library of Congress, waiting for that to come back. The ARCs for that will go out soon. I set up more Google and Yahoo news alerts, so I won’t miss any more reviews!

I opened up The Longer the Fall last night. The heavy edits I did in May/June, now that I look at them six weeks later, look…damn good! I should just pull an all-nighter NaNo-thing and finish it!

Waiting to hear about possible roommates and car-poolers for Anticipation. E-mail and the ‘Net are really quiet.

Gods, here’s an evocative image for you–from Manohla Dargis’ review of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in the New York Times (which review I do not agree with, by the way):

“… the sensational Alan Rickman, who invests his character, Prof. Severus Snape, with much-needed ambiguity, drawing each word out with exquisite luxury, bringing to mind a buzzard lazily pulling at entrails…”

Um…ewwwwwwww? But at the same time, thinking of some of Rickman’s juicier line deliveries, yeah, spot on.

I saw the movie Sunday night and I was utterly blown away. Best HP movie yet. IMHO.

OH, NOOOOOOOZZZZZZZZ!

(From AirAmerica Radio, like the new Senator from Minnesota)

I’m very excited about this: Healthy habits may cut price of insurance.

My current health insurance carrier, Fallon, blows a lot of hot air about their “discounts” for physical fitness expenditures, like gym memberships. But it’s a complete fraud. It has nothing to do with helping Fallon’s customers stay healthy. It’s all about big corporate interests supporting each other, with sly winks and backslaps, by sending each other business. Fallon doesn’t care if you’re healthy. They don’t care if you use your pricey gym memberships and Pilates tuition. In fact, Fallon pretty much hopes that they’ll never hear from you, ever. In this they are no different from every other private insurer. “Medical care” is an oxymoron. Just ask my mom, or annef, both of whom were egregiously misdiagnosed. Oh, that’s right, you can’t ask them–they’re dead.

For decades, I’ve been aggressively proactive in maintaining my own health. At 53, I’m physically fit, flexible, my vitals are pristine, I exercise daily and eat a very healthy diet. The only health problem that’s nagged me for my entire life (since toddler-hood) is being too fat. Now I’ve beaten that. I’ve been at war with my body, or at least its fat cells, since I was 13 and I have now won the war. But a nice glow of self esteem is the only reward I’ll get for it from Fallon. I pay 100% of my health insurance out of pocket, my premiums went up 25% this year, and I have to wait months to get a routine appointment. Let’s not even talk about dental.

If health care reform includes some material recognition of how much money my personal disciplines are saving the medical industry, I’ll feel truly vindicated. We shall see…

In case anyone is curious, after the weight-loss phase of my new dietary regimen is complete, I will be following this discipline, recently discussed in the news, for the rest of my life: Low-calorie diet slows aging in monkeys.

I’ve been reading about this phenomenon for a number of years now, and I’ve always wanted to try it. Until this year, when I finally broke the chocolate jones and established some solid new routines and “best practices,” I couldn’t quite get there. But I’ve never been a big eater, and I think that probably has something to do with how slowly I’m aging. Maybe not–I also have longevity genes from my dad’s side of the family, and small people tend to age more slowly. But there’s something very empowering about controlling your diet successfully. It’s extremely difficult to do.

I’ve calculated my Base Metabolic Rate and calorie needs via elaborate mathematical formulae, and right now I’m eating approximately 50%-60% of that and losing one to one and half pounds per week. The “restricted calorie” regimen will be 70%-80%, and I’ll continue to increase my workouts progressively. I won’t let my weight get too low–although, with my history, I’m honestly not expecting that to be a problem. More information on Calorie Restriction (CR) here.

Possibly this is of interest only to Forteans–certainly he wasn’t on a par with Walter Cronkite–but I was saddened to see in the Boston Globe that John Keel died last week. It’s almost unfortunate that the dismal movie, which had almost nothing whatsoever to do with Keel’s mind-blowing non-fiction book, The Mothman Prophecies, was made, because it eclipsed Keel’s real work and his out-of-the-box thinking about paranormal phenomena. Keel was a greater influence on me than anyone else in this respect, and I recommend his books, along with those of Jacques Vallée, to anyone interested in Forteana, anomalous events, and how they relate to history and folklore. Good bye, Mr. Keel, you’ll be missed.

I want my public LJ posts to post to Facebook, but I can’t get them to do it. I’ve checked all the settings on both apps and I’m logged into both, but I can’t get anywhere. It’s annoying.

I’ve been reading about the late blight affecting tomatoes and potatoes with some concern. (Well, what it affects is Solanum plants, so if you grow Deadly Nightshade or Belladonna, you’re vulnerable, too). I bought my tomato plants at Lowe’s and they’re from the Bonnie company. I’m checking them carefully, however, and so far they look fine. In fact, they’re huge, bushy and thriving–I’ve never had such healthy tomato plants. I hope they stay that way!

• Nothing is more likely to keep you up too late than getting involved in writing something.
• It takes staying up too late to make you aware of how long it takes you to get through your bedtime routines and actually get to bed.
• Especially when you decide to make an LJ post about how long it’s taking you.
• It’s taken me all week to catch up and get back to something like a “normal” routine after the four-week run-up to Readercon, which also included my birthday, Father’s Day, the Solstice and a big holiday weekend.
• I skipped workouts for three days in a row and did two workouts today. On Wednesday I spent two hours mowing the lawns and doing yard work, then had a brisk, pleasant, mostly uphill twilight walk home from the mechanics after I dropped off my car. I could count those against two workouts but not three, hence today’s double shift. That’s enough of that, though!
• I feel very good that I got my car serviced and tuned up before the drive to Montreal, and that I finally got the frellin’ lawns mowed.
• The black raspberries that grow wild in my back yard are bearing so heavily, I’m getting my full serving of fresh fruit for supper from them almost every day. Thanks, Mother Gaia.