Between the good and bad, that's where you'll find me, Reaching for Heaven

Well, I'm managing to pull the fragments of my psyche back together. Oddly enough -- and anyone who thinks soulbonding is a form of demonic possession should take note -- my headspace dwellers have, for the thousandth time, pulled me through the worst, without actually doing anything extraordinary. Certainly not an act of intervention, the way Constantine has done in the past (and which he frankly got sick of doing -- his words, not mine), but something smaller and far more indirect.

I'm not sure who this personage is, but someone in my headspace has been repeating the phrase "Peace on earth, good will toward men... and women... and children... and Exiles... and Machines...", ever since the Christmas/December Holidays decorations went up in the stores. Well, whoever this is, they've gotten louder, but try as I/we might, none of us can figure out who it is. It's either some undifferentiated part of my psyche, or it's a newcomer (I wish I could charge these folks rent sometimes, I'd be rich by now). It also appears to be the same voice who's been screaming "I want Mommy!" when I get especially stressed and upset (and yes, this being has been screaming that a lot lately). Thus, puzzling over who this entity could be and listening to their small message of hope has kept me distracted.

Which reminds me of a funny slogan on a tee-shirt my mom found in a catalog recently, and it's something I imagine a lot of people with headspace dwellers could relate to: "Quiet, voices, or I'll poke you with a Q-Tip!" I love it, since I use Q-Tips a lot to clean the wax build-up out of my ears.

I've also been re-reading what I completed on the as-of-now still untitled fanbrat novel, trying to decide which sections I'm going to post for your enjoyment: there's just too many great parts in it for me to decide easily! I'm trying to get back to working on that, too, but with Christmas coming up, I don't see that I'll get anything substantial done soon.

And speaking of Christmas, I'm doing a major chunk of my shopping tomorrow at the Christmas Fair at St. William's, my old parish. Thus, I won't be online later tonight, no IMing, not even the MxO, since I'll be getting up early to walk up to the church. I've gone there for years, at least since I was 14 or so, and last year was the first year I missed it since I was working/had a cough that wouldn't go away. This year, I'm hoping to make up for it.

...because my head was splitting, or to paraphrase a funny metaphor from Neil Gaiman, my scalp felt like someone had attached it with roofing nails.

--"Supernatural" 1:03 (That's Season One: Episode 3): A leetle pedestrian, but every series is entitled to a slow episode; still, it was neat seeing Dean Winchester (who doesn't strike me as a kid-liking kind of guy) managing to make a connection with a scared little kid, kinda reminded me of the Hellblazer helping out a scared little kid in "Hold Me" (the issue Neil Gaiman scripted: I can't think of what number it was). Next week's episode looks *GOOD*, though I could just be biased since it's supposed to involve demonic possession. Let's see if the writers get it right and actually include some religious elements: even Buffy the Vampire Slayer used holy water and wore a crucifix. It wouldn't kill the Winchester Brothers to use some blessed salt and a few prayers from the Ritualis... It might even save their lives. Not to let out too many spoilers, but it looks like they're working eastward (I saw one press release that described the series as "a cross between 'The X-Files' and 'Route 66'); I'd love the writers/producers to bits and pieces if they set one episode in Salem, Massachusetts. They just might, since the producers have been considering filming some episodes on a blue-screen soundstage, ala the Rouge City scene in "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence", or most of "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow", in order to lower the budget, so they won't be having to haul the crew cross-country for different locations.

--"Anansi Boys": As good as I expected it to be, so far (I'm up to chapter nine as of now). It's more comedic than some of Neil's other stuff, and thus it's less dark than "American Gods" or "Neverwhere", which was a leetle disheartening at first, but it's grown on me: it's a deadpan comedy of errors. Technically, it's a follow-up to "American Gods", or it's set in that millieu, although the landscape is hopping back and forth between Florida and South London (and parts beyond this world as we know it), but the cast of characters (aside from Mr. Nancy) is completely new and likable. The pacing is a lot faster than AG, but that's only fitting for a deadpan comedy.

Stuff from today:

I made my mind up to write the fanbrat novel for NaNoWriMo (yes, that's a month away, but it's a good idea to start thinking about it). The idea came to me when I was browsing GAFF's "Gabbery" section, and someone posted a thread asking folks if any of them were going to try for NaNoWriMo this year. As someone replying to that thread said, "It's not a matter of writing 50,000 words in a month, it's writing 1700 words each day for 30 days." Very good way to break it down. I can put out that much, each day, if I set aside time for it. Thus I won't be renting any movies for that month, and I don't think I'll be taking out any books from the library. Hopefully by that time, I'll have the new computer (I'm gonna see if we can order it next week), so I'll have an incentive to get the thing written: I've made a promise to myself, in writing, that for every ~2,000 words of something sell-able that I write, I'm rewarding myself with an hour of gameplay in the You Know What.

And it's definately autumn now: the crickets are sounding rusty, and the leaves on the trees are definately starting to turn colors. Give them a couple of weeks to peak.

Let's hope the road construction ends soon: Main Street looks more like a freeway in hell, and it's just as nightmarish to try crossing. I had to find an alternate spot to cross on my way to work, since a steam-roller was chugging away at the spot where I usuall cross.