I feel sorry for those who have no hobbies. I see it all the time, in books, in movies, in real life. People find themselves bored out of their wits and go do something stupid or crazy to make up for it. Desperate housewives who have affairs, small town teenagers who get into crack cocaine, disenfranchised young men who get into gangs and violence—they drown their ennui with destructive behavior. I’ve never had “nothing” to do, so I have no…
In story, the main character’s tragic faults are usually what cause all the conflict and drama, bringing about his or her downfall. In a romance, those same faults might cause a few misunderstandings in the beginning, but in the end become something acceptable. Yeah, faults are all that and more, but they are always so dressed up in the people you want to like—your friends, yourselves, the heroes and heroines. And villains get all the undressable faults, the ones you…
I’ve been getting a few queries via comments and via e-mail about when I’ll be posting step three on how to make stereograms. Some people are nice about it, and some are a little (okay, a lot) more demanding. I got an e-mail once that practically yelled at me to get on with the next step. I’m not quite sure what the rush is. Certainly, I’m in no rush. No one pays me to write my tutorials, so there’s really…
We watched Notes on a Scandal today. Judi Dench plays this very lonely, very creepy sort of person who obsesses about and attaches herself to a character played by Cate Blanchett, and I kept marveling at how absolutely creepy Dench’s character is. H.E.’s whispered explanation to me was that “loneliness can drive some people crazy.” But I couldn’t get over how creepy it was … mostly, I think, because it was so familiar to me. I’ve actually met people like…
My maternal grandmother passed away last night. She was in her mid-80s and had been in a lot of pain, so I’m not as sad as I thought I’d be. She had a long life and had at least three great-grandchildren, thanks to her eight children and over a dozen grandchildren. It’s not a bad way to leave the living, with plenty of family to remember you by and nary a care about zero population growth. She wasn’t a typical…