Continuing our exercise in self-indulgence: Episodes #11 thru #15 of The Secret Society of Sorority Satanists have been posted. 

Okay, I'm totally not ignoring anyone who's emailed me in the last three or four days. I've got a nice gigantic project that TPTB will not allow dropped, so the pressures on to make sure it hit all it's deadlines (which it won't, but keep that to yourself). I'm a tad burnt out this week and the galleys aren't even done. 

Plus thing on the home front are just settling down from a shooting war to a cold one.

On the brighter news, we'll be down one of the fuckheads for the next two weeks after today because she's off to get legally bound or something. It'll be like a vacation. Only I still have to come to work. 

And then there will be endless Tales of Ceremony. But I got two weeks to pick out something nice and sharp to drive into my ears by then. 

Episodes #06 thru #10 of The Secret Society of Sorority Satanists have been posted. 

Man, I just can't catch up. The weekend was sort of a bust; four hour ride to Maine only to have it overcast and/or rain. At least it wasn't muggy. I never sleep well up there; It's just compounding my problem. 

I don't think I've gotten a good sleep in at least a week. 

Oh, I've been trying to make liberal use of the word swanky (and other derivations of it) in email, posts and any other communications over the last two months or so. I know in early July, Kate and I had this conversation about words pervading pop culture from nowhere, so I thought we'd lay claim to it. My goal is to see it used broadly on prime time television before the end of the coming season. 

Feel free to pick up the torch. 

So I have this dream about Lego. It's nothing spectacular; I dream that the new Dino Attack sets are so interchangeable I'm able to make the Hind-like heliocoter all tan instead of a mix of tan and red. I know, exciting! 

But I wake up at 6 AM because the fan is blowing cold air and, because I've been thinking of the Dino sets, I wonder where my order is. I ordered the Dino lot, a Sandcrawler and a couple of other things on Sunday. But it's Wednesday and Lego is really just down the block. My orders from them come within a day or two. Tine's been on vacation this week so I had the order come to the house, but we're away this upcoming weekend and part of my half-awake brain starts mulling it all over.

The last couple of things from Lego got dropped off on the steps and I start to worry that it'll get dropped off when we're not here. There's plenty of punks who are bound to come to the door looking for Problem Child #1 (PC1) and who might think it's funny to just take it, or stomp it or perform some black magic on it - kids these days... So now I'm fully away and it's only like 6:10. Instead of taking the next 2 hours to sleep, I get up, shower and come down here. I figure I'll get the order number and call Lego and see if I can get it switched to my work address to avoid having to wash out yak's blood and de-hex my bricks. 

And of course, there's the email telling me it's already shipped. And, of course, it should come today. 

Now I get to sit here for about an hour before leaving for work. 

I hate my brain.

I'm not 100% sure this is a good idea.

I've been saying I've wanted to get more out of this site than I have been. To that end, I'm putting up a postcard serial I did over 15 years ago. It's truly terrible, but I am getting sick of apologizing for everything lately, so I'm going to stop doing that. Take it for what it is: Ridiculous, time-killing tripe.

I'm a day earlier than I planned to start this, but the way things have been going if I don't post this today, something heinous will happen and blow out the rest of the week for me. So the first 5 episodes of the 4S serial are up there.

I'll post another 5 next week and every week thereafter. I'm shooting for about mid-week.

It's freaking hot as hell outside. It's been nasty all week and the heat and humidity are spiking today. And the weather girl, who's name has got to be Native American, keeps telling us that those together will make it seem like it's 108-degrees. At 11:00 it was 91 already this morning. And I know this because I had to take a trip to Home Depot to buy some bolt-cutters and some new locks.

Why, you ask, did I need to buy some bolt-cutters and new locks on the hottest freaking day of the year? 

Because our little problem child decided to invert the lock the barn lock the last time he was out there to cut the grass. This lock, a key padlock, but one that the base and the lock-bar separate into two pieces, when put back together incorrectly (as he did  in what I assume is his latest passive-aggressive behavior) become impossible to unlock. The bar obstructs the keyhole when it's inverted. Of course, I probably wouldn't have discovered this as early if our neighbor hadn't come over to borrow my ladder. 

The only way into the barn was the main doors, which I loath to open. To top that off, I managed to loose, actually loose, the main door padlock after opening it. That part baffles me the most, it's just disappeared I put it down to help Tom with the ladder and it was just gone after that. It's the damnedest thing...

So after that fiasco, I'm off to Home Depot for the bolt cutters and new locks. The heat is terrific. It's almost mind numbing how hot it feels and it isn't even noon yet. And I'm cursing the whole freaking way. 

This week isn't going to get much better.

I got a couple of nods on the Hometown Tales and GeeksOn podcasts this week. I sent HT a story about this 1,100 pound shark they caught off the cape for a fishing derby that got mentioned. They had a minor discussion about my name. 

GeeksOn was better. I've been trying everything to get a shout out over there. Forums, emails, including working the angle that I was, in fact, a hot girl, but to no avail. But this week an email to them and the mention on the forums of the old War of the Worlds television show got me two  minor mentions this week. 

As you can see, I'm quite easily amused.

Plus, I won a frisbee from Snapple. 

This would be a cool week, if it weren't surrounded by the rest of the bullshit.