Refracted Neurons

It's 2018, and my New Year's resolution is to get rid of some of the unpublished drafts hanging out on my blog. Since I seem to be unable to simply delete them, I decided to throw them all into one post, which of course means things will be even less cohesive than usual.  So assume your bracing position and exit as soon as the vehicle has come to a complete stop. ---------<=========>--------- I was at the beach today, gazing at the smoky horizon while sinking my toes into the hot, white sand.  And . . . looking at the bright green bikes conveniently parked along the main pathway to Golden Gardens. Bikes like the beach too. For those who don't know Seattle's history with on-street bike rentals, this might seem unremarkable.  But here's the thing: we've watched on-street bike rentals crash  twice  in our city, and one of those times was using public funds.  As  this article  says about this whole situation and our ruling elite: ...

If you know me well enough to sit down at the table with me, then you know that I'm picky.  My best friend reminded me of that this weekend by triumphantly declaring that she had celebrated National Doughnut Day.  "Yuck," I cringed. "Next week is Jelly-filled Doughnut Day," she sang, no doubt still high on all that powdered sugar. "Oh God," I prayed, "Why isn't there a something-that's-not-disgusting day?" *********************************************** One of the things I'm not overly fond of is fondue.  This wouldn't really be that strange, except that I own a fondue pot.  Actually, I think at one point I owned two fondue pots.  Now before you get angry at me for owning something impractical that is used for something I hate, lean in a little closer. Closer . . . Let me whisper in your ear . . . Sukiyaki.   Shabu Shabu.  Hot Pot.  One pot soups . . . Shabu Plus I honestly had never had anything other...

Less talkie, more rockie. I've been working on some of my doodles lately.  I cleaned up one and did one new one.  Here is my newest one: And the cleaned up old one: A nice break from writing and paintschainer makes them look so pretty (not that Kakashi and Konzen aren't already pretty, 'cause they are). Speaking of writing, I did write a poem this week, entitled Out of Many, One .  It is not about money or politics, even though the title would be "E Pluribus Unum" if for some reason you decided to translate it into Latin.  I'm not really sure why you would do that, but hey, you do you. I'm posting the next chapter of Egregious , and well, what the hell was I thinking when I wrote this chapter?  I don't know.  Maybe it's just something that's bound to happen if you start off writing romance and then switch to fantasy.  I mean just because someone's turned into a wolfman doesn't mean they don't have a girlfriend...

As you may have guessed from the title, I'm about to arts-and-crafts at you.  So get out your glue gun and buckle up, things are about to get messy. Five Minute Dust Sprites Yes, Dust Sprites, in the style of Hayao Miyazaki!  So, let's get started.  Here's what you need: Black pom-poms  Googly eyes Star-shaped cake sprinkles Hot glue gun Sticky Label Pen Optional: Toothpicks Black permanent marker 1. Uh, well, glue the googly eyes to the pom-poms.  If you're me, this involves a lot of screaming as I accidentally glue googly eyes to my fingers. 2. Draw or print the label for the sprinkles. 3. Awwwwwwww! 4. If you want to give them arms and legs, color two toothpicks with permanent marker.  5. Snap that sucker in half. 6. More gluing.  More screaming.  Suffer for your art(s and crafts). 7.  Ta-da! For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm tal...

A few weeks ago, my husband offered to watch the kids while I went to the workout room at the community center.  Everything was fine, until I drove up to the building.  Do you know what's next to the community center?  A library .  Now don't get me wrong, I regularly go to the library, I just spend all my time in the children's section.  I stopped even trying to go in the adult section after one of my kids flung himself at a librarian while yelling about wanting to touch her computer.  So as you can imagine, being able to stare at books in silence is a huge temptation. After working out, I rewarded myself by taking a slow, leisurely walk through the non-fiction section.  Ten minutes later, I emerged with this: With that exact look on my face . . . Thomas Rid's  Rise of the Machines !  As you can imagine, I was hoping for lots of creepy robots taking over the world. Well, that didn't happen; I guess probably because the book's non...

I wrote this as a travel piece for a creative writing class.  The end result turned out pretty good if I say so myself.                 Last year Shangri-La made headlines for the violent demon uprising that took casualties from both the human and demon sides of the conflict.   While now perfectly safe, this incident made tourists wary of traveling within Shangri-La, and has resulted in the drop not only of hotel and food costs, but also in airfare costs.   There has never been a better time to travel to Shangri-La and experience its enchanting landscapes and mystical culture. Getting Around The best way to see the sites is to rent a jeep.   A jeep will cost a little more than renting a dragon, but is well worth it for the traveler who wishes to really experience Shangri-La and not just see the tourist areas.   There is nothing quite like driving through an empty canyon and...