What I'm Listening to

The audio version of Lilian Jackson Braun's The Cat Who Could Read Backwards. This is the first in cat who series. It introduces Qwillian to Koko the extraordinary Siamese cat.

list of curse words

Here is a link to a list of curse words in case you a have a character that likes to curse as I seem to have.

The Art of Letter Writing

Here is an article on The Art of Letter Writing from this cute blog called The Art of Manliness

-found it on Norman's His Nibs blog

The Maltese Falcon. what's the deal

I've been fooling about with my detective mystery that's I've been writing for...oh over a year...and I'm glancing at my copy of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon for some inspiration. My complaint is what's so big deal about this book? I don't get it. The book was okay and the movie was no big deal. So why does every book I've every read about writing detective fiction always recommend this book? what am I missing here?

My new kitten Biddy

Here are some new pictures of a new kitten that I've rescued. His name is Itty Bitty but for short, we call him Biddy-which I understand is a Jewish word for "old ladies"
Biddy loves hanging out with the big cats and has recently learn to poop outside which by the way he is very impressed with...I think all around he's really impressed with himself esp when he learn to do things the big cats do...

Glenn Miller's greatest hits to get me in the mood to write a short story that takes place in the 1940's. Have to admit, this stuff is pretty awesome!

cat get credit card with $4,000 credit limit

Here is an article from January 4, 207 from
an Austrialian Newspaper http://www.new.com.au/ . Nice where can I get a cat like that...

His Melbourne owner Katherine Campbell wanted to test the limits of her bank's identity screening process and applied for the Visa credit card on Messiah's behalf.
She was amazed when it was approved.
"I just couldn't believe it," she said yesterday. "People need to be aware of this and banks need to have better security."
Ms Campbell applied for Messiah's credit card through the Bank of Queensland two weeks ago.
She already had a credit card with the bank and wanted to see whether a second card for the same account would be approved for Messiah.
She filled out an additional credit card application form in Messiah's name, including his address and age, and sent it to the bank.
Ms Campbell said the bank requested identification from Messiah but days later sent him a credit card without receiving any proof of identification.
Ms Campbell said the envelope containing her cat's credit card, the letter inside and the credit card itself were all addressed to Messiah Campbell.
To make matters worse, Ms Campbell – as the primary credit card holder – said she was not notified that a secondary credit card attached to her account had been issued.
Ms Campbell said she was shocked by how simple it was to bluff the bank's security system.
"It's a bit scary and it's a big problem," she said. "It was very easy to do and I'm not even a professional crook."
A Bank of Queensland spokeswoman said the credit card had been issued to the cat in error.
"We have investigated the issue and it appears the bank has made an error," she said. "We apologise as this should not have happened."
Although the bank will not be taking legal action against Ms Campbell, the spokeswoman said the person signing the application form should not give misleading or fraudulent information.
"It is also important to remember that for an application to be approved, the customer must sign to confirm the information they have given is true and is not misleading or fraudulent," she said.
Messiah's credit card has since been cancelled but his credit status doesn't stop there.
Ms Campbell again challenged security measures when she applied for her cat to be a secondary account holder on her electricity bill.
The ploy worked and Messiah's name was added to Ms Campbell's Red Energy electricity bills.
A Red Energy spokeswoman said no responsibility rested with the secondary card holder and there was no problem with having a pet's name on a customer's electricity bill.
"We never intended for people to sign up their pets as secondary account holders but we respect our customers' wishes," she said. "However, we doubt that their pets will be able to take full advantage of the service."

genre to fear

Does anyone have a genre that they want to write but they fear it because...well they're afraid they might suck? I do. I'd love to write horror like Stephen King but I'm really afraid that my ideas are stupid or scenarios are too cheesy. Boy, if I had King's talent, I'd go crazy. I come up with horror ideas everyday. Like today, I was doing a drive in car wash. They tell you to put your car on neutral and sit and wait for the conveyor belts to move you through the assembly line. I had this image of someone going through a car wash alive and coming out dead in their car. Or the car wash isn't really a car wash but some sort of portal to a cult...how about the machines just stop working all of sudden and you sit there for several minutes. Then after 5 minutes or so, you get out, you're covered in foam and all of sudden the machines start back but this time they come after you....you get the drift. Or a few months ago, I was involved with a writing group and there was this one psycho writer (there is always one in a group) that invited everyone to her lake house in the country. She was a widow and also had lost a child-all of which were buried at the lake property-you see why I decline the invitation. You can see my imagination going overtime....oh ya. I can see it now. We all go up to the summer house. It's at least 20 minutes from another person or civilization. And one by one, one of us disappears. I could see myself coming in after a swim "hey where's Jackie?", "oh, she went for a walk, she'll be back soon." Right. Jackie never comes back and soon there is only me and the psycho alone.....

What I'm listening to

The cat who Sniffed Glue by the Queen of Feline Detective Story, Lilian Jackson Braun. KoKo is at it again. This time solving the murder of two young couple that had all the world going for them....Meow!

What I'm Reading

Who Wrote Shakespeare by John F. Michell. It's a great book about the identity of the bard. It's a 400 years old question of course. Michell gives the case for Ben Jonson, Francis Bacon, and of course Edward de Vere-the name that many scholar suspects wrote under the Shakespear's name. De Vere -Earl of Oxford was a cousin of Queen Elizabeth. If you want to check this book out, get it used on Amazon.com for about $2.44 USD.