25 June 2009

Going on vacation

For our 9th anniversary, Ben & I are going to Asheville for a long weekend. There will likely be pictures.

Monday I get to drive to Fayetteville for training, then after that, I can start working. Yay.

I've got 20,000 words in my novella, and the last section is sketched out. I can do this. Woo.

19 June 2009

Looking up!

I've got about 14500 words on the space opera action romance novella. I'm vaguely concerned it's not fast paced enough, since the action doesn't start until about 12000 words in. But there's romancey bits in the first half.

I got an email from the editor I submitted my supershort story to, saying it had made it past the second round and was into the final winnowing stage. I'm not sure whether to be hopeful or more nervous, because it's like, I've made it this far, then what if they reject it? I don't want to crash too hard on that, you know?

I just got a call from the staffing agency, saying work is picking up, and they can get me work down toward Fayetteville and Wilmington a couple days a week. I just get to schedule a drug test and go to an orientation (at half pay.) Pretty cool.

I'm still paying attention to the situation in Iran. I don't know if Mousavi would be a huge difference for the country (he's still a supporter of the Islamic Republic, from what I've read), but the people are protesting Ahmadinejad's re-election, and Khamenei is telling them to shut up and deal with it, Ahmadi is God's chosen. Any time a regime clings so desperately to their power, it seems to me that they're more terrified of what will happen if they let go. Also, we can't forget that American interventionism helped get where they are today, since the 1953 installation of "our" guy into power helped foment unrest that led to the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

15 June 2009

Free elections for Iran

Iran held an election late last week. Gawker (of all places) has a good recap of the events.

Record numbers of Iranians turned out to vote, and within hours of the polls' closing, the government announced that Ahmadinejad had won with 60% of the votes, while his opponent Mir Hossein Mousavi, whom most people believed was going to win, took only 30%.

Naturally, people disputed the results. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei came out and said they must support the winner, Ahmadinejad.

And the people started protesting, which turned into riots, which ended up with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard shooting at college students, whom they'd besieged in the dorms at a university in Tehran. pictures (graphic) more pictures (text in Farsi)

Mousavi and his supporters are marching in Tehran and other cities today. The UN (or was it EU?) has called for investigations into the election. Laughably, Ayatollah Khamenei has called for an investigation into the election he likely rigged.

One twitter user, @persiankiwi, commented that it was just like 1979, when the revolution to overthrow the Shah happened. He was there.

The government is reportedly blocking internet access to sites like twitter, facebook, and blogs. People are sharing proxy servers so Iranians can send updates from inside. The #iranelection tag on twitter is busy. Not all reports are verifiable, of course.

I'm not qualified to comment on whether this marks the beginning of a new Iran, but I stand with the supporters of a free Iran, with real democratic elections. I support the brave men and women who are gathering to protest the oppressive regime, risking their lives.

08 June 2009

Some new projects and a new geek thing

So, since I've got all this time not working, I've got lots of time to write. It's great.

I'm working on a space opera romance novella, which I hope to get a first draft completed by the 4th of July and use the following weeks to revise and edit before sending it in.

I've got a completed alternate history short story (untitled) that I'm waiting for some commentary on before submitting it.

I'm still awaiting word on the super short I sent in back in March. Longer wait is better, right? *crosses fingers*

So aside from that, I've been geeking on Axis Powers Hetalia, which is a delightfully charming, slightly offensive take on world history, using personifications of countries as a conglomeration of their stereotypes. For example, America is overly enthusiastic and loves hamburgers and being in charge, while Japan has an excellent miniatures industry. It's in Japanese, but you can click links at the official site, or look at an English-language fan site. The artist has a blog (also in Japanese, obviously. No, I have no idea what's going on.)