Day in the Life of an Idiot

Last night, Shawn and I watched "Dead Snow" a Norwegian language film about a group of medical students who are... well, eaten by Nazi zombies.

It was AWESOME.

Plus, I think it counts as an "art film" as I had to read subtitles. In all seriousness, it was very much in the vein (pardon the pun) of a lot of the recent zombie films. That is to say, it was both seriously terrifying, while also having moments of WTF hillarity. For instance, there's an absolutely horrifyingly tense scene where our heroes are trapped in the rickty cabin in the middle of nowhere and the zombies are attacking... they grab the poor schlub who was doomed the moment he had sex in the outhouse with his girlfriend, and they LITERALLY pull his face apart and his brain plops onto the floor with a sort of wet, squicking sound.

YEAH!!!!

AND there's the other moment when one of our heroes is hanging off the side of a cliff by... what? a thread? NO!!! ZOMBIE ENTRAILS!!! Seriously, dude is hanging on to a zombie's uncoiled small intestine.

I have to ask you: Does it get any better than that?? No, it does not, my friends. It. Does. Not.

And, you know, as I said, I think it's sort of like the awesome that is the Bruce Campbell early EVIL DEAD movies. In fact, a chainsaw does get involve at some point. And, there's a wonderful "there, I fixed it" moment when our erstwhile hero sews up his own cut throat (he's a med student, remember,) and then for good measure DUCT TAPES it!!

Anyway, it was awfully fun. Otherwise, Sunday was mostly a pajama day for us. I ended up having to go to the grocery store briefly in the morning, but then I changed back into my PJs and we hung out reading, napping and other low energy things. After all the excitement of yesterday, it was fun.

Today, we're going to hang out briefly with a friend to return her bike lock that got left in my trunk on Saturday when we gave her a ride home from the Kuk SoOlympics. Maybe we'll try hitting the library. I have some Manga to return, and maybe, since we'll be right there, we'll stop in and see if Half Price has any for me to buy.

I haven't been doing any serious writing in a long time, though I have been working on fannish things. I've decided to continue to self-indulge until Mason is back at school at the beginning of March. When he goes back to school; I'll go back to REAL work. That gives me a few more days to play. When I do go back to being serious, I have a couple of proposals to work on, e-books to get ready, and other such things to write. I should be able to stay busy, though I will admit that I am very... distracted when there's no actual contract. I have an amazing amount of discipline when I have a contract, but without one I feel very loosey-goosey.

It's weird.

Unbelievably, Mason is at school today. We had to fight blinding snow-filled winds, stupid drivers, and slippery streets to get him there on time. I also had to delay getting my coffee, which made navigating the above that much tricker.

It's also COLD. Our first minus degree (F) day this winter.

My cough still lingers, but after a very rough night it's a bit more productive and less painful. I think I shall survive after all.

I spent yesterday nursing my cough, writing my murder mystery synopsis (and then sketched out a paranormal police procedural) and watching the roofers my crazy neighbors hired trying to battle the snow and wind as they ripped off the layers of gunk and dropped it all over my yard. Which was then instantly covered by snow. They worked well into the storm, until 2:30 pm, and I'm absolutely certain there are buried tools and roofing materials still in the yard, now under three inches of snow.

What some people will do, eh?

Mason was absolutely giddy this morning to wake up to see all the snow. Everywhere there are those huge piles where the plows toss everything. He kept saying, "Oh, I'm SO going to climb that after school!" and then letting out one of his maniacal laughs.

Also, I need to get some video uploaded to the YouTubes, because last night I captured on film our gerbil, Bee, leaping up on to the wire mess cover, hanging upside down, climbing across it until her little arms can't take it and falling off. What's weird is that she'll do this over and over. And I think I accidentally encouraged this daredevil behavior by giving them seeds the first time she did it. But it makes for pretty funny video.

I also promised a review of BONESHAKER (Cherie Priest), but since it's so new I think I may just leave it with a "you should read this book." I should say that I'm neither a fan of steampunk nor zombies, and this book has both, yet I was quite engaged all the way through. I'm now FINALLY reading HALF A CROWN the last book in Jo Walton's still life with fascism series, or whatever she calls it. I already have a sense of foreboding and I'm only fifty pages in.