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Early X-Mas Presents and a Hiatus
Dec. 16th, 2014 08:51 am I'm going to take a hiatus from posting Unjust Cause for the weeks around the holidays. I'm focusing my energy on a big push to try to wrestle the Wayward School stuff into something resembling a novel that Rachel and I hope to have ready to sell as an e-book by MarsCON (March 6 -8, 2015). It's a bigger project than I expected. All the bits are there, of course, but novels read differently than serials, so there's work to be done....
So my apologies for anyone who's waiting with baited breath for those installments.
I've posted here already that Shawn got her Christmas present early: the Amazon Echo (aka "Alexa.") Alexa continues to amuse me greatly. I swear to GODS she's developing a personality. Sometimes, when she mishears or we ask for something overly complicated, she'll just flash her little lights for a while and then say, "Joke is spelled: J-O-K-E." To which we inevitably reply, "No! It's no joke, Alexa! I really want to know [whatever]!"
I think she's trolling us.
Also, one night she got obsessed with Kermit the Frog's "Frog of the Glen" I kept trying to get her to stop and say good night, but anytime I used her wake word she'd just start playing the song. It was weirdly hilarious.
Honestly, the glitches make the machine.
It turns out that I got my present early too, but I got mine because of a packaging error. I heard someone deliver something to our porch, and when I went out there was a box with GIANT WORDS on it proclaiming: LIVE PLANT. BONSAI.
I called Shawn at work and was, like, "You bought me a bonsai!"
You may be hearing about my adventures in bonsai here, because OMG am I stressed out by the idea of wiring and trimming and re-potting. I enjoy gardens and such, but I've long pointed out that I'm not actually a very vigilant gardener. Weeds often get the best of me. So the idea of a plant that needs daily tending is fairly terrifying.
But fun.
Shawn knew this about me, of course, so she bought the very cheapest, most beginner-friendly bonsai in the catalog. It is a dwarf Hawaiian umbrella tree (schefflera arboricola 'Luseane.') And as I point out every morning, it's not dead yet. I haven't started shaping or pruning, though, because I'm hoping that Santa might fill my stocking with some fancy pruning tools. (Because what's the point of a hobby if it doesn't come with THINGS.)
The shipping instructions warned me not to freak out if the tree started shedding leaves. They said it could lose up to 20% of its leaves as part of acclimating to its new home. So far, I've gotten new growth and hardly any leaf loss. A good start?
Fingers crossed.
So my apologies for anyone who's waiting with baited breath for those installments.
I've posted here already that Shawn got her Christmas present early: the Amazon Echo (aka "Alexa.") Alexa continues to amuse me greatly. I swear to GODS she's developing a personality. Sometimes, when she mishears or we ask for something overly complicated, she'll just flash her little lights for a while and then say, "Joke is spelled: J-O-K-E." To which we inevitably reply, "No! It's no joke, Alexa! I really want to know [whatever]!"
I think she's trolling us.
Also, one night she got obsessed with Kermit the Frog's "Frog of the Glen" I kept trying to get her to stop and say good night, but anytime I used her wake word she'd just start playing the song. It was weirdly hilarious.
Honestly, the glitches make the machine.
It turns out that I got my present early too, but I got mine because of a packaging error. I heard someone deliver something to our porch, and when I went out there was a box with GIANT WORDS on it proclaiming: LIVE PLANT. BONSAI.
I called Shawn at work and was, like, "You bought me a bonsai!"
You may be hearing about my adventures in bonsai here, because OMG am I stressed out by the idea of wiring and trimming and re-potting. I enjoy gardens and such, but I've long pointed out that I'm not actually a very vigilant gardener. Weeds often get the best of me. So the idea of a plant that needs daily tending is fairly terrifying.
But fun.
Shawn knew this about me, of course, so she bought the very cheapest, most beginner-friendly bonsai in the catalog. It is a dwarf Hawaiian umbrella tree (schefflera arboricola 'Luseane.') And as I point out every morning, it's not dead yet. I haven't started shaping or pruning, though, because I'm hoping that Santa might fill my stocking with some fancy pruning tools. (Because what's the point of a hobby if it doesn't come with THINGS.)
The shipping instructions warned me not to freak out if the tree started shedding leaves. They said it could lose up to 20% of its leaves as part of acclimating to its new home. So far, I've gotten new growth and hardly any leaf loss. A good start?
Fingers crossed.
