Blogetary (Weblog + Commentary = Blogetary)

First things first -

Yes, yesterday we had an earthquake. It felt like a 6.0 at first, but they downgraded it to 5.4. Still felt scary to me. One of my most intrusive thoughts was, “I can’t believe I’m wearing these clothes!”  I was wearing a ratty old tshirt and shorts that I “wouldn’t be caught dead in” outside my apartment. Ha! I threw them away this morning. I’ll probably miss them next week and wonder what I’ve done with them.

They used to tell us to stand in doorways during earthquakes, and that’s where I stood during the Northridge quake, but I was in a ground floor bungalow that time. This time I was in a third story apartment in a brick building wondering if I was going to see the wall slide off soon. These days, they say not to stand in the doorway, but that triangle of life thing doesn’t work either. I didn’t know that during the earthquake and just stood stupidly not in or out of the doorway, just close enough to the emergency kit. According to whatsername at the USGS, the best thing to do is to crawl under a table. I shoulda known. That’s where Pye was and he was sleeping soundly. So, now I know. Follow the cat. Get under the table.

Next, I might be on tv sometime. Today I was on Larchmont and someone from AP stopped and asked me and a couple of friends of mine if we were willing to talk about the quake. So, I did. So, I might be seen on tv sometime making an ass of myself. Check your local listings! ;-P

In the job/gig pursuit area things are a rollercoaster.  As usual. And places where I’ve sent my resume are laying off people. The places, or websites, that freelancers use is like a crap shoot. Many people on those sites who want to hire someone want to pay less than minimum wage for what they want, basically. You have to wade through the, “I’ve got a great idea, I just need someone to write it for me!  It should be easy!” bozos to get to the serious people.  And you get a better chance if you pay for the membership instead of do the free membership, but I think I’m just going to have to float by on the free for now and hope I can still find stuff.

I have a couple of gigs I am working on for copy editing and/or writing. I am enjoying those. But I also have a couple of gigs that have popped up that have nothing to do with writing and pay nothing close to what I need to make to survive, but … one person said I was way too smart for the job and congratulated me on an excellent resume. All I could think was – “Yeah! Thanks!  Now if I could just get others to believe that as well! I could write their resumes for them. They could pay me! I could write their cover letters, edit their business proposals, proofread their marketing reports, copy edit their novels and short story collections! And they could PAY ME!” Sigh. I know this is cynical and bitter to say, but the last week or so some of my small press zines have let me know they want me to renew and my first thought was, “Yeah, well if you’d accepted that story/poem I sent to you in the first place, I would have the money to subscribe to you!” Not the way it’s supposed to work. I know. But hey, I’m just being honest here.

So, it looks like I’ll be taking no brainer barely above minimum wage jobs for a while, which might be okay. But, it feels like I’m losing the fight and copping out, like I’m giving in. I just know I need to stay away from customer service. I am so burned out on customer service jobs and administrative assistant jobs. Jobs where people – customers and co-workers alike – suck the life out of you from both ends like soul sucking vampires.  Believe it or not, I used to love being around people.

Just leave me alone in a quiet room (preferably in my own home or close by) and give me a few quiet tasks to do that do not include talking to customers in any way, shape, or form. Is that asking too much? I can shelve books. I can tally numbers. I can do your invoicing. I can do your merchandising and inventory. I can quietly organize, and put together what people need to get things done. Just don’t make me talk to people and please no commute longer 20 minutes or more than one bus away. Otherwise, I can’t promise I’ll be on time. That’s just the way it is. That’s all I ask. Just enough hours a week so I can pay rent, but not so many that I feel sucked dry at the end of the day and can’t work on my writing and my own business. Is it really too much to ask?

Okay, enough with the self-pity.

Not too much progress this week with writing, what with the earthquake, recovering from a monster project this weekend, and all. But here’s what I got for this week so far:

Writing for hire: about 1500 words

Proofreading and copy editing for hire: about 2500 words

Writing, etc, for credit: 0 words or hours so far
Research for future articles: four hours

Searching for gigs and jobs: 8 hours

Revisions on Novel: 0 this week

Short story challenge words thus far: 2427 out of 5000

Well – “Tomorrow will be another day!”

I love coffee. I’ve always loved coffee. I worked for Starfucks — uh — I mean Starbucks Coffee Company for five years and for most of that time (until it started going corporate and got more interested in what we wore to work than what we served customers), I seriously considered it a company I wanted to work for for a very long time.

When I was hired, I was not only required to read the book on Coffee and Tea, but to also take classes on beans, drinks, and machines. We were taught at what approximate degree the coffee was roasted so we could answer customer questions about things like germs. We knew that the flavorings used in flavored coffees had notations on them that said “Not safe for human consumption” and that putting a vanilla bean or real cloves and cinnamon in the coffee grinds while it brewed was probably a better solution.  We scooped the coffee to order – it didn’t come pre-packaged (Did you you know you can absorb caffeine through your pores?). I was Lead Jerk – uh – I mean Lead Clerk. I cleaned grinders, reset grinders, cleaned machines, sold machines. I was a great barista and I knew my stuff (I certainly knew the difference between a latte macchiato and an espresso macchiato).

I was trained by people who had worked for Starbucks when it not only sold coffee, but also tea, popcorn, roasted nuts, and herbs – at one time it was known for the best cat nip in all of Seattle. In those days, they didn’t just teach you how to make the drinks, but they also taught you the science behind coffee. I used to have diagrams on the different parts of the human tongue and what different taste buds tasted where and where good coffee was supposed to sit on the tongue.

We were taught about how barometric pressure effects the direction and cut of the grinder on the coffee bean. So you don’t just set the grind and expect it to be consistent all day. You check it periodically through out the day – whether it’s the espresso grinder or coffee bean grinder. Perfect shots with nice cremas at 20 seconds or at least somewhere between 18 and 21 seconds. If you set the grind in the morning when fog is coming in off the bay, then by noon when it’s cleared up your shots are suddenly off. You have to set it again.

We knew about all the machines we sold and all the different grinds associated with those machines. Grinding coffee is not one size fits all. Grinding coffee is a lot like dying fabric. If you are tiedying something in a vat of luke warm liquid, it’s going to take a few hours. If you use a microwave (and I have in a silk dying class I took), then it only takes a few seconds – maybe a couple of minutes.

The same is true for coffee. Commercial espresso machines use high pressure and high heat to force the water through the grounds. Because the water is only going to be around the grounds for a few seconds to create the extract known as espresso, the grind needs to be fine. The surface area of each coffee grind must be smaller.

(Note: Turkish grind is the finest grind ever – but the way to make turkish coffee is to put that extremely fine coffee in a pot and boil the hell out of it and add lots of sugar or drink it with a sugar cube between your teeth – unless you’re a real fanatic it’s probably not for you.)

Moka makers (stove top coffee makers), use a grind that is a tiny bit coarser because they depend on the heat of the stove (gas stoves have better, higher heat than electric stoves) and the force of the water boiling up through the maker (and coffee grounds) into the container at the top (this is NOT the same as a percolator system). The pressure of the gas heat forcing the water up is much weaker than the steam pressure used in an espresso machine.

Cone filter systems (Krups, for example), still need a fine grind, yet a little coarser than these two (2 tablespoons for every 6 ounces of water – yes really. That is the international standard. If you want weaker coffee then add water to your cup of coffee, but don’t use few grounds or more water in the coffee maker or it will just make a bitter, over extracted coffee). While the water is hot, the coffee maker is only using the force of gravity to get the extract out of the grounds. So the water is around the grounds a little longer than it would be with the other two. If the grind is too fine on a cone filter than the coffee will be over extracted and bitter. If the grind is too coarse, it will be weak and flavorless.

Flat bottom filter systems (Joe Dimagio’s Mr. Coffee, for example) have a little coarser grind because the water sits on the flat bottom a little long than it would for a cone filter system. Still a gravity system.

French press, otherwise known as the plunger pot, needs a pretty coarse grind because, while you use boiling water, you let the grinds sit with hot water for about 3-5 minutes (a lot longer than with the other processes, notice), before plunging the screen down and pressing the grinds away from coffee. If the grind is too fine, the coffee will be bad, and the pressure may be so great when you press down the screen that you break the pot.

A percolator, for those of you who didn’t grow up with one, works by boiling water being forced up a tube to shoot out over a flat bottomed basket of grinds. The water then filters (percolates) down through the grinds and back down into the pot to be shot back up again. This process repeats until the coffee is “done” – the grinds and water have spent sufficient amount of time together. Believe it or not, but you can make good coffee with a percolator, but you need the proper (coarse) grind and you need to watch that the coffee is not percolated too long.

A Toddy coffee maker is the only way to make coffee with cold water. All the other processes use hot water to extract the flavors and oils (and acids in the oils). Toddy coffee is made by putting a pound of coarsely ground coffee in a tub, on the bottom of which is a small, reusable filter over a hole, and rubber plug for that hole. Add to that pound of coffee about 9 cups of clean, cold water (sometimes I also had whole cloves and cinnamon sticks). You let this sit for over night or about 12 hours. Then pull the plug out and filter out the coffee extract. Notice – there is no heat and the water is sitting around the grinds for a long time – so the coffee needs to be VERY COARSELY GROUND.  This extract is more of a concentrate.  The cold water process extracts the flavor without the oils. Poor it over ice and add milk for ice coffee or put about an inch (to taste) in a mug and add hot water for a regular cup of joe with a smooth flavor and no oils or acids to bother your stomach.

Okay, got all that? I do. I haven’t worked in a coffee shop since 1996, twelve years ago, and it’s still in my head. I go to Starbucks (or Peets – since Peets actually feels to me what Starbucks used to be — a company that sells good coffee and tea and not paninis, CDs, and crap) and try to get the correct grind for my Toddy maker and it gets screwed up every time.  The service is better at Peets and they sound like they know what they’re doing, but I still get the wrong grind – EVERY SINGLE TIME! The only time I get the right grind is when I go to the grocery store and set it myself. But at the grocery store they don’t offer Sulawesi or Kenya or nice full bodied coffees to make a concentrate of.

When I first worked for Starbucks in Bellingham – it was the first store to open in Bellingham in Sunset Square – I remember a customer coming in and screaming at one of the newer employees because she had ground the coffee too fine for him. He was a crusty, middle-aged fisherman type and I remember thinking that all he needed to do was tell us and we’d fix it. But you know, now I sympathize with him. Maybe because I’m a crusty, middle-aged fishwife type. But it’s really frustrating. I ask for what I want, over and over and over again and they don’t get it.  By the time I get home with the coffee and see it’s the wrong grind, it’s too late. I just use it in my cone filter, but it’s not what I was going to use it for. Yes, I have written Starbucks and Peets. I just get notes back saying to “bring the coffee back and we’ll get you a pound with the right grind.” But I already spent my money and my time. I just want them to get it right the first time.

I had to get it right the first time and when I messed up I bent over backwards to fix it. I had to be cheery, perky, kind, considerate, knowledgable, pay attention and ask about wives, kids, husbands, and remember drinks on my feet for 8 1/2 hours a day, 5 days a week for 5 years.  It’s my turn to be the customer now and get what I want and what I need.

Okay – Rant over.

First, for you guys who entered the contest, thanks and you all rock!  TrayC is the winner of this copy of Aoife’s Kiss. But don’t fret too much. I think I may have an extra copy soon (one I sent out that may come back undeliverable). If it does come back, and you’re still interested, we’ll do this again.

B) (Don’t you hate it when people do what I just did – 1st, B, etc…  hehehehehe) – My writing progress, which is pretty poorly. Hope to do better this weekend.

Proofreading/Copy Editing – 0

Writing for Hire – 1404

Novel Revisions – 0

Short Story Writing Challenge -

1,966 / 5,000 (39.3%)

3) I haven’t had a chance to read all of it, or review it, but #14 of Electric Velocipede came out a few weeks ago. It is a very nice edition, perfect bound (they used to be chap book staple bound), shiny cover, and I really liked the story I read by Elissa Malcohn.  John Klima is now blogging a bit about short fiction for Tor, which I think is a very cool thing for him to be asked to do.

Last – Got a rejection today and in it was a slip of paper asking me to subscribe to the periodical in question, which I already do. My sister talked me down of the Lulu ledge, reminding me that the kiss of death for artists is to hang their pictures in cafes. But I am wondering about possibly putting together an anthology of rejected animal tales (or tails as the case may be) just for me.

On a tangential note – I like animal stories, animal folklore, animal myth, and stuff – Bremen Town Musicians being one of my all time favorites.  Aesops Fables. Talking animals in Narnia and in the Perelandra series and in the Mercedes Lackey Valamar series. Rudyard Kipling. Lots of others out there. Watership Down. Tailchaser’s Song. Andre Norton’s Catfantastic series and Magic Tails and Magic Cats and Dragonfantastic.  Anne McCaffrey’s dragons. Black Beauty. *sigh* Animals just seem so much more reasonable than humans sometimes, don’t they? Unless they’re driving you nuts by pawing at you, begging, or thwapping things with their tail and you can’t figure out what in the hell they want.

Have a good night. More later.

Just a reminder that there’s a contest for a free copy of Aoife’s Kiss going on until the 25. Just leave a comment on that blog.

And now for the numbers-

Proofreading – Copy Editing for Hire: 2464 words today

Work for Hire Writing:  1413 words today

Novel Revision:

25,671 / 97,500 (26.3%)

This part of the revision is taking longer than I liked. I’m stuck at this one part. I’m tempted to just skip it and come back to it, but I would just have to come back to it later, so I’m slogging through it now.
Short Story Writing Challenge:

1,896 / 5,000 (37.9%)

Wasn’t sure what to share tonight, but settled on this one. A different short story from yesterday, but another one I’m working on during the challenge.
I’d met him on the footpath on the way up to the area that looked out over the bay. I’d wanted to go on a long walk, not long enough to hike further up to the lake at the top, but far enough away to get away from any customers I might run into. I had no name anymore in this small college town. I was simply, “the coffee lady.” I didn’t want to make nice conversations with customers outside of work. I just wanted to be alone, or at least not around any humans.  But, he wasn’t human, was he? I’d known that as soon as I’d seen the shoulder length raven locks, the black eyes that darted around, making sure no one else was around besides me. I’d known it from the way he’d been standing so still on the path that I mistook him for another tree until he’d stopped me.
“Enjoying your walk, April?” The smile flashed at me made sure to show teeth, but not too much.  I stopped, not wanting to offend him. Not now.
Southport is not your typical college town. Generations of Coast Salish, immigrants, and other beings had established roots, mingled, and grown beyond anything they had ever been before. I did my best to avoid them. I had had too many other friends who had been drawn into their world, forever changing, becoming estranged to the world of humans. I had no intention of letting one of them mess up my life, but I still needed to respect them.
“The sky is clearing. The sunset over the bay should be beautiful.”  I started walking back up the path, continuing to the lookout. He turned, following me.
“That is not something to be enjoyed alone.” He flashed another smile at me as I felt a scream of frustration building in my chest. But it was not wise to turn Raven away.
Well – Frasier is on and they’re putting senior life insurance commercials on the tv. Pye gave up thwapping his tail at me a while ago and settled in his basket with a resigned sigh. You know what that means — I’ve been up way too late and it’s time for bed. So, that’s it for tonight.

Well – I spent the day outside in the sorta fresh air and very blazing sunshine, running around and getting exercise and doing errands so not much was done since yesterday.

Proofreading and Copy Editing: 0

Writing for Hire: 0

Writing for Credit: 0

Revising of novel:

24,850 / 97,500 (25.5%)

Words Towards Short Story Challenge:

1,551 / 5,000 (31.0%)

The bulk of it is a new story I’ve started, but some is on a story I put to the side for a while. I tried to figure out what good bits I might want to put up to share with people, but all the bits I wanted to put up seem so long. Let me see if I can find anything.

This is still too long, but it’s from the story I put aside and am getting back into:

“Is she that bad?”I looked up – saw a wide chest in a pressed blue shirt – then looked up again to see the juiciest brown eyes I had ever seen.
“Um –“ I couldn’t get past the sun streaked brown hair, or those eyes, it seemed.
“Ms. Devon. Is she that bad to work with?”  He must have been a model sent over for one of the shoots or something.
“C-can I help you Mr.- er?”
“You win, tawner.” His smile revealed gleaming white teeth, complete with a dimple in his left cheek, and a cleft. My. Oh. My.
“I win?” Was I supposed to guess his name?
“No, Ewan, that’s my name. Ewan Tanner.”
“Oh!  Yes! Of Tanner Men’s Formal Wear!” I felt a red flush creep up my face. God! He was the owner of the men’s wear company we partnered with!  I tried to salvage the conversation.
“We’re setting up a booth next to you at the convention this year.”
“Yes. You are. You still haven’t answered my question, Miss? Ms?”
“MacArthur, Cynthia. Cyndy.”
“MacArthur, Cynthia. Cyndy of MacArthur and Devon Bridal Wear fame?” I nodded my head wordlessly. Clearly, I was losing it.
“So, is Ms. Devon difficult to work with?” Damn!  He wasn’t letting up. How to answer this without getting caught in a lie –
“Ms. Devon has always been, and will always be, her own woman.” I tried to look up into his gorgeous, juicy eyes without blinking – too much.
“I see.” I heard a rumble in his voice, felt my knees jell a little. It was time to make an exit.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Tanner.” I plastered a smile on face, running for the elevator as fast as heels and a pencil line skirt could get me there.

Later I’ll share some of the other one. But, for now, here’s something that may amuse you (it amuses me):

The Elvish Name Generator — My Elvish name is Tamuril Taralom, that’s with a few accents hanging about the vowels

The Hobbit Name Generator — My Hobbit name is Tigerlily Gamwich of the Bree Gamwiches. I always figured myself for someone from the Shire – maybe even one of the Tooks. But Bree!  That’s just, well, so, strange!

On Friday I felt depressed because I didn’t have anything to account for the short story contest. But then I looked at what I have been doing in the last week or so. Here are the numbers.

Proofreading/Copy Editing Work

Accomplished: 10,500 words
Yet to go: 6,000 words

10,500 / 16,500 (63.6%)

Writing for Hire Work

Accomplished: 4,300 words
Yet to go: 3,000 words

4,300 / 7,300 (58.9%)

Writing for Credit Work

Accomplished: 271 words

Yet to go: 3,000 words (more or less)

271 / 3,271 (8.3%)

Novel Revision

Accomplished: 24,687

Yet to go: 72,813

24,687 / 97,500 (25.3%)

Short stories:

Accomplished: In the last week, nothing – but I did get  a couple of rejections from some previous ones, does that count?

Yet to go: Let’s see, I have about 5 unfinished that I’m working on and a new one I’m going to start today….13,000 words maybe?

For the contest:

Accomplished: 0

Yet to go: 5000
So, that’s my progress report. More later.

Thanks to Mom, Dad, friends, the Universe, God, I have working computer now (almost brand spanking new) and can get back to work.

Just a reminder that there’s still a contest on for a free copy of the June issue of Aoife’s Kiss.  Sign a comment on that blog here if you’re interested in trying for it.

KazDreamer and SoraBlue are having a short fiction story contest. You can read about them here or here, but mostly here.

And, now I have some errands to run. Yesterday I stayed home waiting for the arrival of my new “pet” as my mom calls my iMac. I think I need a name for her. Any suggestions? Tomorrow I need to stay home to accept the delivery of the extra RAM. So, today, I’m running about doing things, or should be running about doing things rather than hanging out with my new pet. I think Pye is jealous. I had to put him in the bathroom twice yesterday. He’s better today.

This afternoon (after the errands) and tomorrow, it will be all work.  Thankfully, one of my clients called with work yesterday as I was waiting for my iMac and she needed it that afternoon so I was able to oblige. Now, I need to finish everything that didn’t get finished because it was trapped in my old computer. Plus, I need to get acquainted, move things around, and all that.  And I said I might try doing a little something for the summer shorts contest – need to fit that in in between everything. We’ll see how that goes.
Amazing, she still smells new – new plastic, new metal, new electronics…. *sigh*

Though it should be coming to an end soon. We’ll see what happens this week. I think I’m just going to end up owing my parents lots of money after this year, paying it back over time. I hate that, but that’s just the way it is.

In other news…

The issues of The Illuminata (Tyrannosaurus’ Press newsletter of all things scifi and fantasy) and Chocolate Zoom (all things chocolate) are out.

You can find The Illuminata here. (Just go to the bottom and click on the July 2008 issue link). Check out my articles on Writers and Their Health or Archetypes and the Villain.

And you can find the new issue of Chocolate Zoom here. Check out my article on Chocolate in Asia.

Hopefully, things will turn around soon. I’m crossing my fingers for this week.

More later.

Well, almost. A friend of mine (Jim) found an old iMac for $30. It’s got a few hiccups, needs to be updated a bit and things finagled a little, but otherwise, I’m online. Sorta. Kinda. We’ll see how long it takes to get back up to speed. But, ya know, one step at a time. That’s why my business name is Putt Putt Productions (An Uphill Company) and my motto is “Slow and Steady Wins the Race.” It’s not the hare who won, it was the tortoise. It’s easy to forget these days when everyone is trying to sell you something newer, brighter, shinier, faster that sometimes plodding along steadily is just as good, if not better, in the long run.

In the meantime – I didn’t win one contest, am in the semi-finals or finals for another contest and am about to be kicked out of another contest because they charged my account this month, when it’s anemic, rather than 2 months ago when it was semi-healthy.

And in the ‘zine submissions category, I think I’ve had a couple of rejections.

And in the contest category, I’m still running a contest for the June 2008 issue of Aoife’s Kiss. The deadline for that is July 25.

And, though I’ve tried to keep track of blogs, etc, whilst borrowing other computers, I’ve kinda fallen behind. I’m going to have to recreate all those bookmarks, eventually. So, I apologize if I’ve missed out on any news. If it was good – kudos. If it was bad – hugs.

My cat is confused. He’s taken to sleeping next to me on the desk again, now that I’m sitting at the desk. But he used to sit on the big old monitor I had and now I just have a little iMac monitor and he sniffs at it and meows at me and then thinks about hopping up on it, gauges his weight, and the surface area, meows at me again, and then gives up and flops down on the desk. So, you can see, things are ALMOST back to normal. Finding their way to a different normal.

Have a great weekend!

Remember when I told you about going to the Lolita Goth event a couple of weeks ago? Well, the friend of mine who took pictures has finally had time to put them up. So, if you’re interested, go here and take a look!