The Wind Horse flags have helped keep my spirits up, and the images on my beloved Darlene scarves as well.

Also,this image from a reader in Scotland:

The gentleman commissioned this as a gift for his wife, who then came up with the engraving.

I can’t express how lovely I find this…

(I won’t mention the reader’s name — unless he chooses to identify himself in the comments!)

I also have a steerswoman’s ring, which I had commisssioned, ages ago:

I can’t recall who made this for me …  but the reader in Scotland did provide a link to his ringmaker, so you can see their work here.

Well.  Must go.   Making two pots of pea soup, and trying to squeeze in some actual writing before Monday….

I’ve participated in the past, and shall do so again this year… although I have not yet decided what to offer for auction.

I’m thinking, hand-bound blank book — I haven’t made one in quite a while.   But if I run out of time, I may have to default to the old reliable autographed copies of my novels…

Here’s the official announcement for the auction:

Originally posted by kate_nepveu at announcing 2012 Con or Bust auction

I am pleased to announce this year’s auction to support Con or Bust, which helps fans of color/non-white fans attend SFF conventions. Bidding starts Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 12:01 a.m. EST (GMT -5) and ends Sunday, February 25, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. EST. You may post auction offers and make donations now.

For more details, please see these updated posts explaining how to:

• make an auction offer;
• browse auctions;
• bid on an auction;
• pay for an auction or donate; and/or
• request assistance.

As a reminder, Con or Bust is now helping fans attend all cons of their own choosing, not just WisCon as in the past. (Requests for assistance to attend cons in April, May, and June 2012 will be taken from February 15 through 25; see the “request assistance” link for more details.) Because the demand for assistance is greater than before, please spread the word widely!

More information about Con or Bust.

So I did.

Laphroaig is my favorite single malt. But I had forgotten that I’d purchased some Laphroaig “quarter cask” special variety a while back, on a whim, having spotted it, having not heard about this version of it, and being in a mood to celebrate with some friends.

Many many dollars were spent on this scotch. And we never got around to drinking it. So it came home with me.

I’m here to say: Well spent.

Only thing better than Laphroaig? This type of Laphroaig.

Please, as they say, drink responsibly. For example, the only thing I'll be driving is the plot.

I did not think that Laphroaig could be improved upon.

How nice that there are some things in life that are excellent. Good books, good whiskey. Paintings so beautiful they make you weep. Music that sneaks up on you and holds you breathless.

Everything should vibrate and be drenched in color.

I’ve had the week off from the evil DayJob, and I’ve been hunkering down and trying to ignore everything else but writing… but I had to get to the gym at some point, so I thought I’d tempt myself with a visit to the Monkey first.

Could be worse -- I could be at work.

Meanwhile: looks like SOPA is dead, and PIPA is in retreat.

But just in case, here’s Clay Shirky explaining, at which he is so very excellent:

[update! Users of iPad, iPod, and people reading through an RSS reader can't see Clay, above, because it's Flash!  They just get a blank space! Oh, noes! You'll just have to go to the actual site through this link.]

Okay, now they’re vacuuming. That’s enough, thank you, Monkeyites.

Check out this infographic.

Or read this article in Wired online…

Prefer the New York Times? How about this?

Or O’Reilly?

What, are you British or something? Well, okay!

But oddly enough, one of my favorite explanations of the effects of SOPA/PIPA as it stands now is this post by Scott Westerfeld, addressed to his young readers, explaining what would happen to his weekly “Fan Art Friday” blog posts…

Pirating movies and music and books is Bad. Stopping piracy would be good. SOPA/PIPA won’t do that.

Instead, my site could be blocked, and I could face legal action, for linking to this:

You can protest.

“With all due respect — and I find what you’re saying fascinating — but where is the practicality for us on earth? What is it doing for us today, or even in the very near future?”

Krauss replied:

“Well, you know, it’s a good question, and I put it back to you. I’d say: Well, what does a Bach cantata or a Picasso painting do for us?

“I think the point is: we are human beings and one of the most wonderful aspects of being human beings is being creative, and asking questions, and trying to understand our place in the universe. And it is absolutely true that understanding the beginning and end of the universe is not going to produce a better toaster.

“But… for me, one of the great virtues of science is, it’s a cultural activity. Like art, and literature, and music, it enhances the experience of being human.

“And it addresses the questions that I’m sure you’ve asked about your own existence. And if we can get new insights into our own existence and our place in the cosmos — well, that’s what happens when we attend a good play or see a good painting, it gives us a new perspective of our place in the universe. And I happen to think that is worth it for it’s own sake.”

On the basis of that (well, the entire interview, but the above is what made up my mind), I instantly bought the Kindle edition of his new book, A Universe From Nothing.

Earth and moon, as seen from Mars. (NASA image)

Christmas Eve:

Swimming weather!

And Christmas Day:

Walking weather

Better have some cleats on your Wellies.

But how lovely to spend the holidays up in our unofficial New Hampshire vacation home (translation: cat-sitting for friends while they travel).

Plus: quite close to Boston, allowing a visit with Genrette Laurie J. Marks, and her wife Deb Mensinger.

Deb is the friend who had a liver transplant, last January — and some of you participated in the auction to raise money for medical expenses, for which Deb and everyone who knows her are very grateful.

Look, here’s a porch that she sanded and painted and everything:

All painted up and pretty.

Other people did the rest of the house, but Deb did the porch, she tells me, sanding and staining.

Here’s another view.

Very xmassy

The whole house looks so pretty, after years of being at the bottom of the list of priorities, with Deb’s illness. It’s a happy place now.

Xmas dinner was excellent, and the tree gorgeous. And I was happy to meet Laurie’s niece Anna, and see Eddy Martinez again, and his mother Anita.

For New Years I CANCELLED EVERYTHING and stayed home all by my self and it was so very lovely. I needed to decompress from the DayJob That Ate Manhattan. Didn’t need extra hours in travel, and more sleeping in guest-beds. I sent the presents up north with Sabine. Instead, I watched birds, wrote, and slept, and planned my escape I mean, ways to convince superiors at work that this much overtime is not a good idea, and yes, I could go on but I shall not.

But in other news, I have two weeks vacation coming up. In other other news, they wouldn’t let me take them back-to-back, but I’ve got one in January (quite soon!!) and the other in February. Wherein Writing Shall Occur.

More later…

Right now: Oh, yeah. Overtime.

Boskone is one of the conventions I try not to miss. It’s a favorite — but you know, by now I’ve been to an awful lot of them across the years…

So, when I was signing up and they asked me what I wanted to talk about, what sorts of panels I wanted to participate in, and what great ideas I had for new panels or discussion groups, I sort of went, “Um, um… well, you know, same old…”

Then I thought: wouldn’t it be great if I knew what panels my readers wanted to see me on, and what subjects they would like to hear me talk about?

Then I remembered: Oh, right. I could ask them.

So, what do you think? If you’re going to Boskone, or are willing for the moment to imagine that you will be going, what panels, discussions, or brainstorming sessions would YOU attend if you know that Rosemary Kirstein would be there?

If you’ve never been to a convention, take a look at last year’s Boskone schedule for inspiration. (And you can see what panels I was on last year — I’d be happy to repeat; they were interesting and fun.)

(Oh, how 21st cen, to be crowd-sourcing my con panel ideas…)

In other news: Hooray! First trailer for The Hobbit!

This makes me happy. I’m tired, I’ve been working the DayJob too hard too long, and I’m so happy to see Middle Earth.

I’ve been holding off, mainly because there were some really excellent posts I wanted to post, but they would take thought and consideration, instead of just nattering off the top of my head. In other words, be actually written, and merely not chatted.

Well.

That would require time, wouldn’t it? Yes. You see my quandry.

Actually I did have some time: the entire Thanksgiving four-day weekend was mine, all mine, as my sister headed up to New Hampshire to hang with friends, giving me the entire house to myself. I got some very nice writing done, and de-stressed myself.

Because of the situation at the evil DayJob, I had been previously too shell-shocked to get much done on either of my projects, and it was a great relief to know that it’s all still there, and I have not lost the ability to connect with the deeper core of my creativity.

But I determined that Steps Must Be Taken to sort out the work situation — but also that Temporarily Nothing Can Be Done Yet, because of the holidays. Seriously, no one is going to make any great changes in organization or job assignments right now. Most people are just hunkering down and getting into the holidays in their outside life. At work you just keep on keeping on until things settle down.

So, after Thanksgiving I once again made my issues known to my superior (who is in pretty much the same boat as I), and we’ll see what happens in the new year.

Meanwhile, it’s overtime all the way.

Seriously. As in: Think it can’t get worse? It’s gotten worse.

But let’s not go there.

— Except, I must say: I’m really tired of people at work breezing out the door at 4:30, or 6:30, or 8PM depending on their shift, and seeing me still there, and making comments like: “Hey, it must be great to get all that extra overtime pay!”

They are rather surprised when I don’t do the socially expected thing of smiling sweetly, and making some tritely positive comment. I’m prone instead to say things like: “No, it’s not nice. I don’t want money. I want my life back.”

Because I already went through the phase of putting a good face on things, and after four months I’m unable maintain it.

So, here we go, back into the fray tomorrow.

But, hey, some good things have also happened!

Like: Hello, I went to a Broadway play!

And: OMG, I saw Jake Shimabukuro live, and it was unbelievable.

Which I will tell you about, both.

But not right now. Because I’ve already gone on too long, complaining again about the freakin’ DayJob.

The Wind Horses are still in place.

I’m still wearing a different Darlene scarf every day, attempting to keep myself sustained and inspired as much as possible.

And I startled my boss by putting in for two weeks off in January (immediately after my vacation days reload for the year). Still waiting to hear back.

And now, for your elucidation, education and inspiration, here’s a video from TEDx, wherein John Bohannon suggests an alternative to the inevitable-yet-dreaded Power Point presentation.