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Category: Personal

The day after: thoughts on my Month Impossible (Saturday, 01 December 2007 10:54 PM ): NY - Long Island: Belmont Park - Finish Line Originally uploaded by wallyg Today, I did not have to write a massive number of words for a crappy first draft of a novel. I didn't have to draw anything....

Month Impossible: Day Twenty-two, Pie! (Thursday, 22 November 2007 11:35 PM ): Pie! Originally uploaded by cynthiacloskey And how did the pies turn out? Fantastic. Actually, come to think of it, I didn't have any of the pumpkin pie, but because the filling didn't all fit in the pie shell I...

Month Impossible: Day Nineteen, studying Spook and getting serious about the novel (Monday, 19 November 2007 11:38 PM ): Today I tried to sketch Spook, my other cat. Officially, Sammy is my cat, and Spook is Sammy's cat. When I first got Sammy, she was cooped up all alone during the day -- I worked in a real office...

Month Impossible: Day Sixteen (Friday, 16 November 2007 11:59 PM ): A few weeks ago, I traveled to Seattle for the annual LFM Alumni Conference. LFM stands for Leaders for Manufacturing, which is a program within the Sloan School of Management at MIT. I graduated in 1997. I attended a few...

Month Impossible: Day Fourteen (Thursday, 15 November 2007 03:03 AM ): Necklace Originally uploaded by cynthiacloskey Almost halfway through my month of impossible challenges. It's not quite time yet to reflect on the wisdom/stupidity of these things I've set out to do. So instead: Here is a drawing of a...

Month Impossible: Day Thirteen (Tuesday, 13 November 2007 11:43 PM ): The John Cleese Plant Originally uploaded by cynthiacloskey A couple of years back -- 2003? -- I subscribed to John Cleese's website. This meant I could watch subscriber-only content on the site, humorous videos and such, and participate in...

What drives me to you is what drives me insane (Wednesday, 22 August 2007 09:09 AM ): Weeks (months?) ago, Caroline of Pinky's Paperhaus tagged me for a list-meme thing, and it's well past time I responded. Here are the rules: We have to post these rules before we give you the facts. Players start with eight...

Thoughts on "Mezzulah, 1946" (Sunday, 25 March 2007 08:31 PM ): I saw "Mezzulah, 1946" at City Theatre recently. It's a fun play, upbeat and entertaining. Crux of the plot: It's 1946, and the men returning from World War II have reclaimed their jobs, displacing the women who filled them in...

What a fool believes (Thursday, 21 December 2006 01:04 PM ): UPDATED: Just got a call -- it's on! Tonight I'm scheduled to rendezvous with Luke Vaughn -- the Running Fool, the Human Baton -- and his Baltimore-to-Hidden-Valley driver, some time around 11pm. I last heard from him on 12/8, and...

Gonna make you sweat (Wednesday, 20 December 2006 12:25 AM ): You wouldn't guess it to look at me, but I enjoy exercising. No, honest, it's true. Especially weight training or heading out for a little jog at the end of the day. I can still get bored though, so I...

A Picasso at the City Theatre (Thursday, 23 November 2006 11:56 PM ): 1. I have two Picassos. Of course they are reproductions, and small ones at that, little prints in beat-up frames. My grad school roommate Sharon gave them to me -- she found them in an antique shop. They depict two...

Sazarac (Saturday, 18 November 2006 09:59 PM ): Saturday night in Boston, and I'm too tuckered to take advantage of it. Between late night discussions the last two nights and early morning start times each day (OK, 9am, but it felt early), I'm worn thin. So I've...

Immersed in the environment (Saturday, 18 November 2006 01:53 PM ): Continuing my Cambridge/Boston nostalgia trip: I ate lunch at Legal Seafoods. When I was an undergrad, my parents were apparently concerned that I would not eat properly. So my dad gave me a credit card, and instructed me to eat...

Futures of entertainment (Friday, 17 November 2006 05:23 PM ): UPDATE: I rarely use the "extended entry" feature of my very old version of MovableType, so I didn't realize it was broken. The extended part of this post was out of reach because of the error, so I've pulled it...

Write vs. draw (Thursday, 09 November 2006 08:46 AM ): Nearly a third of the way through November. How am I doing on the various NaSiUFToMuMo* projects? I'm just over 6,000 words into the NaNoWriMo novel. This being the 9th day of the month I "should" have 15,000 by the...

Bonne anniversaire (Sunday, 08 October 2006 10:03 PM ): As of today, I have been around the sun 40 times. Certain circuits have been more enjoyable than others. This new trip bodes to be great fun. Plus, as of right now the Steelers seem to be preparing to give...

Hang on St. Christopher (Tuesday, 15 August 2006 09:41 PM ): Some things I learned during my epic Motor City Madness Weekend: If one is truly motivated and a little lucky, it is possible to drive the 282 miles from Butler, PA to Detroit, MI in 4.5 hours. The final mile...

Going out west where the wind blows tall (Friday, 11 August 2006 02:20 PM ): Friends, I'm hitting the road to Detroit, there to see Tom Waits in concert tonight. I am so happy I could scream. I then have the joy of spending the weekend with lovely people, watching the Steelers pre-season game in...

And the colored girls go, doo doo-doo, doo-doo, doo doo doo (Wednesday, 31 May 2006 11:44 AM ): Plucked her eyebrows on the way / Shaved her leg and then he was a she.

Saturday evening on East Brady Street (Saturday, 06 May 2006 07:43 PM ): My neighbor across the street is mowing his lawn. He's an older man, maybe in his late 60s -- although I'm not good at guessing age. This is the first time I've seen him mow his lawn this year. Last...

I am an auntie (Saturday, 08 April 2006 10:08 PM ): The tiny person pictured here is my newly minted niece Rachel. She's a mere few hours old so I haven't had much chance to influence her little life. So far she seems to be mostly sleeping, perhaps to store up...

Happy feet (Monday, 27 March 2006 03:35 PM ): People have many reasons to be glad that Nordstrom is coming at last to the Pittsburgh area. You can guess why I'm excited....

I'm gold lamé and diamonds (Tuesday, 03 January 2006 09:38 PM ): Tonight is all we ever dreamed about / For once, let's get it right

Busting up a Starbucks (Monday, 31 October 2005 12:35 PM ): How did I survive before I found cappucinos and Wi-Fi?

Queen of the Geeks (Tuesday, 30 August 2005 11:59 PM ): Did you know I have "impeccable geek credentials"? It's true.

Can't Keep a Funky Rooster Down (Monday, 29 August 2005 11:08 PM ): I have overcome my fears and hung the concrete-and-stained-glass rooster on the kitchen wall. It looks fab: Click the picture for a bigger view. It's not done though. I am not entirely crazy about how the gray concrete looks with...

In Which Problem-Solving and Experimentation Skills I Learned in College Come Into Dubious Use (Wednesday, 24 August 2005 10:31 PM ): So I have this big concrete rooster sitting on my kitchen floor. It has been there for nearly a year. It was made especially for me by James Simon, an amazing and creative local sculptor. It's quite cool and...

Garbage in, garbage out (Wednesday, 29 June 2005 09:39 AM ): My brother Anthony was helping me clean out my basement so we could move the Big Big Design office from the tiny extra room we had been crammed in to the relatively spacious finished basement. In my garage we amassed...

Feline trouble (Wednesday, 08 June 2005 11:21 AM ): I try not to write much about my cats, because I fear seeming like the crazy cat lady. But I'm going to make an exception today to share with you the Crazy Cat Lady Action Figure. (Link via Screenhead.) What...

A harbinger of Spring (Monday, 04 April 2005 11:38 PM ): This evening I enacted a yearly ritual: the Impulse Purchasing of Seeds to Rot in My Garage. This year's enactment was typical of the ritual. I was at the local K-Mart in pursuit of something entirely other than seeds --...

Everybody knows about those cheese balls (Wednesday, 02 March 2005 10:35 PM ): I'm going to be in a play, and you should come see it. The Butler Little Theatre's next production is "The Book of Liz," written by Amy Sedaris and David Sedaris. The story centers on Sister Elizabeth Donderstock, a member...

Surfacing (Sunday, 20 February 2005 10:57 PM ): Yes, I am still here. I apologize for the complete lack of content in days, and the lack of original thought in longer. I have been: 1. concluding my work as producer of a play, which may have cured me...

Well-begun is half-done (Saturday, 01 January 2005 03:13 PM ): I'm quite superstitious for a modern gal, and so I'm both pleased and dismayed to have read that "anything you do on New Year's Day you do every day for the rest of the year." I'm pleased in that I...

Clean slate (Saturday, 01 January 2005 12:52 PM ): I have for some months been trying to bully my life into shape. It used to be that I could get great piles of things done without regard to time or energy, but at some point I lost the skill....

Cheers! (Saturday, 01 January 2005 12:12 PM ): Bunny Mcintosh must be studying my playbook. She distills the very best techniques for having a fabulous time into one convenient article, Sexoholism 101: Your Guide to Getting Action At An Athens New Year's Eve Dance Party After you've...

Coffee, tea, or me? (Thursday, 09 December 2004 11:45 PM ): I have a new gig. (Fear not, web clients, literature lovers, and theatre denizens: I have not forsaken you. This is in addition to my other current gigs. Or maybe, go ahead and fear all you want, as I seem...

Life gets in the way (Tuesday, 16 November 2004 10:59 PM ): I have so many things to tell you about, but I've been too busy doing and then recovering that I haven't had time to write. In brief: 1. The 412 Creative Nonfiction Festival was great fun. (Here's a little press...

A bowl of barnuts, a pint of ale, and thou (Wednesday, 10 November 2004 05:49 PM ): I will start Sunday sitting on a panel, speaking as knowledgeably and entertainingly as possible. By the afternoon, however, I hope to be sitting in a bar somewhere in Pittsburgh, watching TV and cheering loudly. The question is, which bar...

The wildest, most luxurious madness in the world (Friday, 05 November 2004 02:56 PM ): I think I shall have to plan a trip to visit my friends in Zurich next year. I would very much like to go shopping. In my living room, I have a print of the poster shown above. It's...

Working for the weekend (Friday, 05 November 2004 02:10 PM ): I overslept this morning. That's never good on a workday, and it's particularly problematic on the day that starts one of my marathon weekends. Tonight I have three events to attend/enjoy between 6:30 and 10 in Pittsburgh, representing art, literature,...

Skål (Thursday, 28 October 2004 11:19 AM ): Students: Do you believe in working hard but also playing hard? Norway is your kind of place. "One out of five students at the University of Oslo has developed health ailments related to their study conditions." Coincidentally, "[r]oughly half of...

Queen for a day (Friday, 08 October 2004 06:00 AM ): Today is my birthday. I like to treat myself on my birthday; perhaps I'll make a King Friday/Queen Saturday crown like my sister Laura and I used to wear. Gosh, we were cute. (Lest I get too nostalgic for...

Ready for my closeup, part 2 (Monday, 13 September 2004 10:42 AM ): Tomorrow, at the bright and chipper hour of 9am, I'm going to be in a TV studio smiling nervously, sweating, and shaking ever so slightly. This will be because I'll be backstage at KDKA's Pittsburgh TODAY Live with Jennifer Antkowiak,...

Ready for my closeup (Thursday, 09 September 2004 07:34 PM ): Today I was talent. Specifically, the local cable company was filming a commercial at my local coffee shop (Cummings Candy and Coffee, on Main Street, you should stop by when you're in Butler); and as I'm friendly with both the...

Hecklers needed (Tuesday, 31 August 2004 11:58 AM ): As I mentioned over at Sticky Notes, I'll be venturing out into public this week. Thursday evening at 7pm, I'll be speaking at the Barnes & Noble in Cranberry Township, on Rt. 19 near I-79. The event is "Your Own...

Finding love online (Tuesday, 24 August 2004 11:00 AM ): I fall in love over the Internet regularly, maybe every week. Usually it's a crush I develop based on someone's writing or opinions. These are passing flings, short-lived obsessions, wherein I'll read everything the person has written online until I'm...

The dark side of home improvement (Tuesday, 10 August 2004 09:05 PM ): It all starts with buying one very funky thing. Once it's in your house, everything else that is not sufficiently funky starts to nag at you, wanting to be replaced. You then replace them, one by one or in big...

Watching paint dry (Tuesday, 20 July 2004 11:16 PM ): Robert Benchley wrote, "Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at the moment." My life is dedicated to proving this true. This summer there are many things I should...

Renovated (Thursday, 15 July 2004 10:57 PM ): WARNING: A self-absorbed home renovation project post follows. I've mentioned My Arduous-Although-Small Bathroom Renovation Project, but I never told you how it wrapped up. The contractors finished their various bits some weeks back, and I've enjoyed having a working shower...

Who's hungry? (Friday, 04 June 2004 01:23 PM ): Last year I created and managed the props for the Butler Little Theatre's production of Over the River and Through the Woods, a play primarily about family and love but also about food. During the play, the characters eat and...

Things to do in Pittsburgh when you're dead (Tuesday, 01 June 2004 10:59 PM ): I'm not actually dead, nor even resting, unfortunately. But I may be dead by the this time next week, given the full slate of activities I have lined up. Local folks might want to join in (for the activities, not...

Turn of the screw(top) (Thursday, 20 May 2004 11:50 AM ): Sorry posting has been light this week. I'm trying to enjoy a long-needed vacation. It surprises me how much trouble I have relaxing, even in the most idyllic of settings. Fortunately, there's some wine on hand to help. On that...

A change in service (Monday, 26 April 2004 01:51 PM ): Over at Fat Plum, my colleagues and I have been running a new blog, Sticky Notes. In keeping with Fat Plum's mission of providing "juicy solutions for today's writer," we're posting information and links related to writing and publishing. Sticky...

Special delivery (Thursday, 22 April 2004 05:43 PM ): This afternoon, UPS delivered a package to me. (Two posters from the Bonny Doon Vineyard, of wine labels designed by Ralph Steadman. Quite cool. The company also offers fun t-shirts and other goodies, and lots of wine that cannot be...

Small improvements (Monday, 19 April 2004 07:07 PM ): For those concerned and gentle souls who asked how the bathroom renovation is going: I reached the "throw money at the problem to make it go away" stage, a little early I believe, and as a result progress has continued....

Demolition (Wednesday, 07 April 2004 07:26 PM ): After two days of tearing and scraping, the old bathroom tile is now all gone. The place smells horrible, due to the toxic particles of old adhesive that have been released into the air. Click the link below for photos...

The destruction begins (Tuesday, 06 April 2004 12:14 AM ): Tomorrow Mike the Handyman will begin tearing out my bathroom, in phase one of the Great Renovation. He was supposed to start today but called in sick, so I have had a bonus 24 hours of controlled panic. I have...

Uglydolls redux (Monday, 29 March 2004 10:32 PM ): Several recent visitors found this site by searching for "uglydolls" on Google. I mentioned some time back that I'm impressed with how the creators of Uglydolls developed a following and built the brand through nonstandard methods and good image management....

Now I'm wishing I was sitting at a cafe on the Rive Gauche (Friday, 26 March 2004 08:35 PM ): I missed this pointless Hemingway diversion yesterday. I travelled to Europe with my sister Laura a few weeks after I graduated college. I wouldn't have gone but for her: She wanted to travel but our parents wouldn't let her go...

Juicy (Thursday, 25 March 2004 10:22 PM ): The launch of my new venture has taken most of my time lately. It is Fat Plum: We're beginning by offering workshops, private consultations on writing and publishing, manuscript reviews and edits, and so on. Soon we'll expand into writer-focused...

Dancing as fast as I can (Thursday, 25 March 2004 11:29 AM ): To any would-be Inkburns contributors, Inkburns writers waiting for contracts, neglected clients, and abandoned friends who are reading this blog to discover clues as to why you have not received a response to your submission/contract/query-about-your-web-update/email of several weeks ago: I...

In a New York state of mind (Wednesday, 24 March 2004 11:21 AM ): Tremble has been on a roll lately. Of course, last night he did a reading at the "Giant Tuesday Night of Amazing Inventions" so we shouldn't expect anything new today or perhaps tomorrow. But there's much to enjoy with the...

Hidden assets (Friday, 12 March 2004 12:35 AM ): Yesterday I wore a skirt I bought from a travel clothing catalog. I have to be very careful when perusing these catalogs, as they induce in me visions of wandering through the streets of Rome or St. Petersburg, wearing comfortable...

Unexpected bonuses (Thursday, 19 February 2004 08:24 PM ): I bought my house from a woman who was moving into a nursing home. I never met her; rather, I dealt entirely with her son, who was taking care of her affairs because she was incapacitated. When I moved in,...

I have no willpower (Thursday, 19 February 2004 05:18 PM ): Updating my earlier post: I couldn't wait. I started looking through the user manual, and when I saw that iTunes was on the CD and it has all the song-management stuff and hot-synching built in (yeah, I should probably have...

Stranger than fiction (Thursday, 19 February 2004 10:10 AM ): Larry Ellison has married a fiction writer, and apparently people are speculating that he has a hand in writing her books. Having worked for Mr. Ellison at Oracle, I can say that a lot of the documentation and marketing that...

It's a new day, a new site (Friday, 06 February 2004 11:31 AM ): I've decided to take a new tack in blogging -- more original writing, more personal observations, less of an emphasis on small business news. (Not that I was executing on the small business news & recommendations as planned anyway....) The...

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