Currently freelancing

Libyrinth by Pearl North

My company includes a science fiction publisher, so 90% of the time when I get a freelance job from a coworker, it's a science fiction or fantasy book like this one.

I can't claim to have been very into anything even approaching science fiction since reading The Giver when I was thirteen (and writing a highly kickass paper about it freshman year of college) and I'm totally snobby about the whole thing.

But in a small voice I must admit that this one and the last one I worked on were relatively interesting. Relatively. Ssshh.

Sweeping the clouds away

This morning The Today Show, GMA, MSNBC, and CNN all either had commercials on at the same time or were talking about stupid things, so I flipped over to Sesame Street and saw this instead. I swear this will make you chuckle.

My dreams are triangular every night...

Getting crafty

I really, really want to join Etsy (www.etsy.com). The concept is so much fun: it's a website that connects buyers and sellers of homemade crafts. If you join, you get your own "store," which you name, and you can list handmade crafts for sale. Or, on the other side, say you want a nifty knitted earflap hat, but the most complicated knitting project you've ever completed is a plain scarf--there are tons of choices, and you know that no one else will have it.

I feel a little squishy about putting things I make out there though. I think will try it out with one of my handmade canvas quilt-stripe tote bags, and see how it goes. Like, if anyone will actually want to pay me $15 for one.

Trials at Target

I love Target. I have a hard time remembering what shopping was like before Target was in my life. Their housewares are the cutest and I always find like 80 bajillion tops I want to buy.

But the Target on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, I do not love. Firstly, this Target is a pain in the ass to get to. Subway transfers are involved, and then when you finally get there, it's one of those ginormous, confusing, crawling-with-people subway stations where nine different lines intersect and you have to walk up and down four flights of stairs before you even get to the shopping complex where Target is. So I am usually a bit cranky by the time I step through the doors.

This Target is always ridiculously crowded and understocked. Even when they have all 30-whatever registers open, it's hard to find a line where there aren't seven other people in front of you.

But despite it all I still go there every once in a while. Today I decided to see if a weekday would be less crowded, and actually did make a bit of a difference, although not on the subway since it was rush hour. Then because of the whole depleted-shelves thing, I couldn't find some things on my list (soup ladle, replacement sewing machine needles).

But look at these super hot plates I bought!

Dude.

Wow, Michael Phelps really loves to go crazy after winning him some gold medals.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/28964105/

He also had a drunk driving arrest in 2004 after the Sydney Olympics. My feeling is, dude, whatever if you want to take a bong hit (the drug lingo? not sure if I have it down.) because honestly in terms of what's worse, drunk driving > marijuana, but do it around people you trust aren't going to use their cell phone camera to sell pictures of your ass to some British tabloid.