Star Trek

Oh Star Trek, I will forgive you these things, because you move so damn fast and your characters are so damn good.

This is a Star Trek remix, and it's wonderful. That said, here's what actively annnoyed me (noet these aren't plot points. I could give a crap about handwavey Star Trek plots. This is a soap opera in space):

1) Uhura should have totally decked one of the guys in the bar. With how awesomely they re-did her, I was actually surprised this didn't happen. Uhura is pretty awesome. It made me teary eyed to see how far she's come. That said:

2) She is one of three female characters. One of them dies, and it is kind of boring. The other is Kirk's mom, who has this ridiculous giving-birth-in-an-evacuation-shuttle scene. At least she didn't die. It reminded me of Padme. I grit my teeth and bore through the thing, cause I knew the rest of the movie would be awesome. As J. pointed out, in Star Trek the families come with the crew, so it was not ridiculous for her to be there, just a ridiculously laid out scene. Would have much preferred her in uniform being rushed to a shuttle where she *then* goes into labor. Also, cut the fucking com with her dying husband. That was overmuch for me, even in a Start Trek movie. I wanted her to firm up her jaw and accept the sacrifice, teary eyed but tough. It was a little smarmy for me.

3) Gods, why do they go on with the overlong creature chase and Scotty-in-the-pipes hijinks? These scenes are both about 2-3 minutes too long. Not 7 minutes too long thank god, but they're still running long for "wacky hijinks."

I am so happy these characters didn't suck. This was well written and very well executed. A perfect reboot. If they did this to every series they reboot, I'd be a lot happier with them. They didn't sacrifice the heart of the show for special effects, and they had a great team of actors. It is, effectively, a soap opera, and without those character quirks, tensions, relationships, unique skills, weaknesses, foibles, and snark, you've just got elves in space.

This is why Firefly was so loved: it's about building great characters and letting them run wild.

I didn't even pay attention to the absurdities of the plot until later, because I just didn't care. I loved the people.

At the end of the movie I thought, "Wow, Gene Roddenberry would have crapped his pants to see this."

Because it felt a lot more like what he was trying to do. It actually *felt* like a diverse cast. It felt more like the future. Hell, it felt more like *now* than most tv shows and their lily white cornbread casting. And yes, everyone is young and beautiful, and our two primary protagonists are still white and male, and we only have three female characters, one of whom dies, but:

It's come a long way.

Thank you for building a cast for Star Trek that doesn't suck. Now don't screw it up.

Money Shot:

"For some men, the only thing more intolerable than the sight of a powerful woman is the sight of a powerful woman they don’t want to sleep with."

Zing!

Runner up, from the end of the article:

"Still, nonsense about women, weight, and “health” is particularly pervasive and destructive. Indeed, if we were really concerned about medical risk factors that actually do have a significant negative correlation with a candidate’s life expectancy, the most relevant is one that has afflicted 108 of America’s 110 Supreme Court justices: being a man."

Srsly, Why Am I Deadlifting 125 lbs?

The sounds I make when I lift this weight are not sexy.

The work trainers have upped the ante for me this training round, as said a while back, which is nice. I'm feeling stronger, and I needed it: I put on about 6 lbs in 4 weeks when we moved into our new place (for some reason, the increased amount of sex does not even out the increased amount of eating out one encounters when cohabitating).

Things here are starting to fall into routine, tho, and the weight is slowly going back to normal (my goal, as ever, is to maintain my weight). I'm biking to work every day, hitting the gym twice a week, and maintaining my morning weight routine. I do need to get in two more days a week of regular structured exercise, and I'm working on that.

We're also cooking a lot to save money. J. is planning on returning to school properly next quarter, which means I'll be the breadwinner for a bit (student loans will help, too), so we're looking to cut costs across the board.

Concerns over my A1c has curbed my interest in those tasty English muffins with peanut butter at work ("But they're low(er) carb!" just isn't a great excuse when they wreck havoc on my blood sugar all day. But man, that's been a tough habit to crack. I tend to be really hungry when I get into work now that I'm biking in).

Last week was an awesome sugar week, in no small part because I snacked mainly on string cheese and peanuts and didn't bake any of my low-carb cookies. I don't know how other diabetics eat complex carbs regularly (OK, I don't know how they can eat them regularly and maintain A1c's below 6. My goal is 5.7-5.9. But then, I'm ambitious like that).

Good to be back at the gym *properly* as opposed to in a non-structured way. I'm much better with structure.

Off to eat some meatballs and asparagus. Mmmmm mmmmm.

Then, as ever, to write and write and write.

I have a lot of work to do this month.

Escape Pod

Just sold a story to EscapePod. For those who prefer to listen to their fiction instead of reading it, I'll let you know the day it's available for download.

Huzzah!

And Sometimes You Stand and Fight

A 17-year-old high school marching band student beat up two assailants who tried to mug her as she walked to school in this high desert community about 40 miles north of Los Angeles, sheriff's officials said Tuesday.

My martial arts teacher once said that the cowards are the ones who attack you from behind. This means that if you show any amount of backbone, they're more likely to back off than somebody who, say, punches you in the face. These are the sorts of people who are also less likely to be armed, which definately helped our heroine.

I would have liked a little more back story on this student, tho. I'm always interested in why some people fight back and some people don't (again, them not being armed and her knowing how to use a baton probably helped).

Why We Love Stories About Sparta

With key Greek city-states in submission, Philip of Macedon turned his attention to Sparta and sent a message: "If I win this war, you will be slaves forever."

In another version, Philip proclaims: "You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city."

The Spartan ephors sent back a one word reply: "If."

(from here)

Why Lazy Writing Screws Women Over

Hollywood at work:

Kevin and I started with a concept: What if we did the entire thing in one shot? We follow a girl from her bathroom mirror, to a car ride, to a convenience store, to a seedy party where she finally shoots and murders someone. All in one shot. Problem then, became exposition. Was this just to be a conceptual idea? Or were we going to explain why she kills this motherfucker? And who exactly was this dude anyway? The words "seedy party" though, definitely got us excited. We began to see a pimp. Picture Roy Scheider from Klute or Gary Oldman from True Romance, mixed in with a little Alfred Molina from Boogie Nights and Willem DaFoe from Wild At Heart. And who was the girl? Just some scorned chick? Nah, how about something more interesting. Like a beautiful young woman hellbent on killing the pimp that murdered her sister. No! How about her identical twin sister. And how about, these weren't your normal twins. But two girls who shared a strange, abnormal bond. And how about this guy is a real class act. He's a suburban brat who thinks he's smarter than he is. Oh, and he's utterly psychotic.

You see how they start out all right:

We'll have this great female protagonist, yes... and we'll follow her... and she kills someone because... because...

And that's where it all seems to break down. After all, what reason could a woman possibly have to kill someone?

Wait, I know!

She'll get raped! OK, but she should be a super assassin, so we'll have her twin sister get raped, but she can feel the things her twin sister feels, so she'll actually be getting raped!

AND THAT'S HOW WE'LL OPEN THE MOVIE!

This is the same kind of lazy writing Joss Whedon is doing with Dollhouse.

"Not sure what to do next? Have somebody get raped!"

Sweet God, people. You do know that women have lots of traumatic, story-worthy things happen to them that don't involve rape, right?

Because opening your story with your protagonist getting raped? It's just not interesting. Your story is full of cheesy caricatures, but not in a Kill Bill way, in a stupidly LAZY way.

What drives me bonkers is that these are supposedly experienced script writers. I realize they're writing under deadline, for fun, but sweet fuck, you guys, it's not hard to write a good script with awesome characters who don't suck. It's really not.

But hey, let's try something else on for size, for fun. We have to write a script that follows the same constraints these guys did. Low-low budget, that can be shot in a week, preferably in one shot (but can take or leave that). So instead of:

We follow a girl from her bathroom mirror, to a car ride, to a convenience store, to a seedy party where she finally shoots and murders someone. All in one shot.

How about:

We follow a girl as she suits up for "work." Black stockings, black boots, black leather jacket, duel pistol holsters, knife strapped to her ankle, extra bullets and brass knuckles in her bag. She gets on a motorcycle and heads off to a seedy pool party. She pulls a shotgun from her side bag, shoots in the door, kicks her way in, and aims at the Big Bad and says, coldly, "This is for my brother." She shoots him. He goes over. She leans in close to blow his whole head off and we hear him say, "Your brother's not dead." She says, "I know," and kills him. Then she opens up a can of whoop-ass on the whole pool party with all her sweet-ass weaponry and kills everybody there. Then we see her start to torch the place. She gets back on her motorcycle and stops at a bench in what appears to be a park. A man is sitting on the bench. She sits next to him. "Didn't think you were coming," he says. "I don't think they'll be a problem getting that cancer drug approved," she says. "The big wigs are out of the picture. Just watch who you piss off next time. I can't clean up all your messes. We're not kids anymore. The stakes are a lot higher." She checks her cell phone, stands. "I may be out of touch for awhile. Say hi to dad for me." She walks away, we pull back, and we see that they're at a cemetary. On the headstone is their father's name and a eulogy indicating that he died of cancer.

Blah blah.

Slightly syrupy? Sure, but I wrote that in all of ten minutes. I'm uncertain as to why Hollywood can't come up with something more original than, "Chick gets raped, let's make a movie about it," in an hour, ten days, ten months or ten goddamn years.

Come, guys. Lazy writing is boring, and I'm sick of your boring-ass, victimized, brutalized female characters. Think outside the fucking constraints of your fucking institutionalized sexism.

Lazy, lazy, lazy.

"How many real adult times have you been in love?"

Inquiring minds want to know.

Why am I Deadlifting 125 lbs?

Well, I did tell our trainers I wanted to work on strength training.

Ooof.

Barbarella

That was... that was... that was a special, special film.

Oh, and they're doing a remake.

DEAR GOD WHY???

There are few films that are totally iconic of their times. This is one of them. You can't remake this movie. Outside of the context of the late 60s, early 70s, it makes no sense.

I mean, it made no sense anyway, but that was the point. It was just like the 60s.

No results found... Because most authors' webpages suck...?

Under Construction

Story of my life.

Jane Austin & Zombies Has Arrived

I bought a copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for J., secretly knowing that I could steal it from him when he wasn't looking. Then Steph called dibs on it when we all went out to dinner, and now I'm 3rd in line. Still, I've been sneaking peeks, and I can say this much:

Reader, it's awesome.

These are the stories - and heroines! - I wanted to read about 20 years ago.

Why Other Cool People Like "The 300"

WIN!

I'm always delighted when I find women who thought fan-"boy" movies like The 300 and Fight Club were full of awesome.

Because they were.

"I've never met a writer..." The Writing Life

Me, Steph, J. and The Old Man went out to dinner last night to celebrate The Old Man winning a shiny Fellowship that will make it possible for him and Steph to eat come January.

Talk inevitably turned to Jim Butcher's new book. J. and The Old Man are big fans of Butcher.

"Are you coming with us Wednesday?" J. asked The Old Man. "You know Jim Butcher's going to be at The Greene."

"I don't know... probably not. I have a big test Thursday."

"You don't want to see Jim Butcher?" I said, incredulous. The Old Man bought Butcher's latest book the day it came out and finished it four hours later.

"Oh, I don't know..." the Old Man said. "I've never really met a writer before."

J. and Steph just kind of looked at him for a minute. I snickered.

Then we all burst out laughing.

"To be fair, you weren't a writer when I first met you (ten years ago)," the Old Man protested, turning to me. "You were just a wanna-be."

Quote of the Day

"A moron writes words. A moron flails about for telling details--declarations, clichés, sentence fragments. A moron owns a frying pan. A moron has an extensive collection of pornography. A moron makes assumptions--about gender roles, about sexuality, about class. Or he fantasizes--about sports cars, Rolexes, cash. He prefers the company of men, but not in a gay way, REALLY. Irony escapes him. A moron pretends that women have no interest in the martial arts because the thought that they might hit him is scary. A moron is not good with words. Not words, not ideas, not talking about men. He is paid by the word. Two-fifty. It doesn't matter what words he puts down, because those who do not agree with what he says are not men."

From here, and context.

Wiscon

For better or worse, I won't be able to make it this year. I owe bunches of taxes this year and I needed to put my book checks toward furniture, heat, and a car.

So, no Wiscon.

Next year, tho, I'll be peddling a pretty sweet-ass little book. So I think attendance is mandatory.

The Roots of Urban Fantasy

An interesting history of the "urban fantasy" (AKA vampire porn) novel.

As an aside, I'm kind of embarrassed to say out loud that, shit, man, Rusch is a really terrible writer. I'm sure she writes good *story* (which would be why she sells so many), but she really doesn't have a lot of technical skill. Lots of interesting stuff to chew on here, just not articulated as well as it could have been.

Sorry. I had to say that out loud.

Now go forth and create the next reimagined gothic, people! I'm bored with vampire porn.

4 to 46

I do wonder when we'll hit the tipping point. Think it'll take as long as 10 years? The buildup, sure, I understand that taking 10 years, but once you hit the tipping point, the rest should come on down just like dominoes.

Til then, keep on truckin.

Spring 2010

I was editing an RFI at work today that mentioned the date, "Spring 2010."

My immediate thought was, "My book comes out in Spring 2010."

I've started to associate that ENTIRE PHRASE "Spring 2010" with the release of God's War.

Heaven forbid when I actually get a solid release date.

Kcast 1.0

I'm working on a project to record all of my short fiction in podcast form (and hopefully some GW snippets soon). These will go up on my website once it's live. The header (Kcast and etc.) will likely change, and I'd like to get a better audio recording device, but here's a taste of what I'm up to:

The Women of Our Occupation (.m4a)
The Women of our Occupation (.wmv)

I'll probably record this a couple more times to get the tone right.

Next up is "Wonder Maul Doll," which pretty much nobody's ever read (it originally appeared in a little anthology called From the Trenches), but it's a seriously brutal women story. Hurrah!

Thoughts?

Is This was Women's Suffrage was Like?

It's fascinating to watch the three steps forward two steps back tidal wave of social change. I can't help but think this is what it was like with women getting the right to vote... This slow, building tide. One state here, one state there, until the whole country finally realized:

1) The world's not going to implode when something "changes"
2) You can't stop the tide of a cause that, well, actually makes sense

Hate may have a long lifespan, but it'll eventually topple in the face of human goodness and decency. That's what I want to believe, anyway.

It's why I'm a fantasy writer.

One for the Road

Empowering our Daughters

"Men don’t want to fuck feminists, and if no one wants to fuck you, what power have you got as a woman?"

I Really Hate April Fools' Day

The news is already absurd and fabricated. I don't need people to deliberately absurdify and fabricate it.

White Phosphorus Used in Gaza

These jelly-fish cloud bursts are about what I imagined Nasheenian/Chenjan bursts would look like in God's War.

As noted in the video, it's illegal as per the Geneva conventions.

House Photos are Up!

Check it out!

What Audio Books Should Be

I want one!

Words for the Road

"A man [sic] is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do."
- Bob Dylan

One for the Road

I Can Haz an Old Victorian House

Holy crap, I officially have keys to a big old fucking Victorian house. Yes, it's huge. It's 5 bedrooms. With a basement. A garden. Near a park. Bathroom and a half. 5 bedrooms, did I mention? And a turret room. A fucking turret room.

Holy crap. Holy crap.

J. and I got a Chipotle lunch to go and just sat up there and had lunch today in this big, gorgeous, empty house. My official move date is the 20th, but we have keys. And a big new stove. And washer/dryer will be delivered the 23rd.

God, this is a big, amazing house. I never dreamed I would live in a house like this, even if it's just a rental. It's just... I just can't believe it. We were sitting up there and I was just... I just couldn't believe it. It's amazing.

And it's all ours! Just the two of us in this big, huge, but amazingly cozy house. I'm in love with this house.

I love my life. I can walk to work.

I can walk to work!

It's just... I am just utterly stunned at this house. I can't believe I'll be living here. I just kept wandering around. I just can't believe it.

It's this huge writer's house. It's just right for a writer! It's like where a writer would live! It's like... it's a great house.

I realize we're all in danger of losing everything at any minute. All of us, every one. I know that better than... well, much better than I did before. I totally get that. And it's why I love the good things so much fucking more now. I could lose them any minute, but this one, wee moment where I have them?

Oh, it is glorious, like summer in Alaska. The most glorious thing in the world, that bright, brilliant summer glory after 8 months of winter.

I have a house!

Why I Wrote God's War

I'm on page 92 of The Electric Church. I picked this one up because it's about a Gunner, an assassin, who gets hired by the government, puts together a team, and goes after a religious organization. This should sound a tad familiar to those who've been following God's War. The main character is snarky and poor and uneducated but good at what he does. Huzzah! Good times.

So now, as said, I'm on page 92 and our wise-cracking white male hero just put together his team for the job.

And, you'll never guess it!!

His team?

Our wise-cracking white male hero's team?

Wait for it....

It's full of wise-cracking white male heroes!!

No, I'm serious. I'm on page 92 and the only woman in here with a first and last name paired with any kind of power or authority (or, you know, action) is the one he "accidently" killed at the beginning of the book.

I think, at one point, there were some people described as yellow. And some people from Ireland. I think there was a (male) Hispanic sounding character named at one point.

This is the sum total of cultural diversity in NYC 2050!

Oh man.

See, this is why I HAD to write books.

At some point they have to have a token woman character as the love interest, right? RIGHT?? And maybe she'll be Hispanic or something, right? RIGHT???

Oh well.

Another Wicked-Cool Cover

Here's to hoping that the God's War cover will be this awesome:

My Kind of Jane Austen

I never really got the whole Jane Austen thing. They were amusing books, sure, and well written, but I could take or leave them.

I admit that I'd heard of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies several weeks ago. I thought it was a stupid joke. Then I thought it sounded silly. I mean, come on, what is that, a mashup of Jane Austen and Zombies? What the hell does that mean?

Today I found a sample of what it means, and I have to say it:

This is my kind of Jane Austen.

Writery Updatery

Now that GW line edits are back safely with my editor, I also have an official "first week of June" turn-in date for book 2, so it's time to polish it up.

Working on getting through the stalled line edits on Black Desert now so I can get it out to first readers by March 1st.

It's good to feel like there's progress again. Things had stalled out there for awhile. A good thing, since it meant I could concentrate on my day job and personal life for awhile, both of which are full of win.

I'll be moving into a new place - an amazing restored Victorian - in this neighborhood come March 20th. Big housewarming party is nigh! (check out some of the other rehabbed houses in the neighborhood here).

It's an amazing house, and it makes me feel old, respectable, and writerly.

Better yet? It's shaking up my life a bit for the better. I always do better work when I'm living my life just a little bit on the edge (like trying to figure out how I'll be paying for heat!).

Honestly, These Speeches Just Keep Getting Better

I haven't been proud to be an American in over 10 years. I'm still, not, particularly, but I have hope that someday soon I will be.

Penelope

My God, James McAvoy is hot. The pictures just don't capture it. He's pretty and all, but he goes from nice-looking to hot really quickly on camera. The first few scenes I'm like, "Huh, yeah, generic lead." Then he starts warming up and I fall for him hard. He gets hotter every damn time I see him.

Also, why hasn't Reese Witherspoon played actual leading roles likes this? Please, somebody write me a film where we see more of her range like this. Awesome.

The rest? Eh.

I was holding out for her to keep the nose the whole way through. Reads too much like, "Love yourself and you'll magically transform into society's expectation of beauty," (tho the touch with the mother commenting on her looks after the nose vanish was brilliant) not "love yourself, and you'll be just the same - only happier."

Eh, parts of it seemed like progress? Other parts (wicked mother, evil witch, benevolent dad, aforementioned "beauty transformation" and I'm-really-not-buying-these-two-falling-in-love things) not so much.

What I'm Doing Tonight

Editor's line edits are done. There are a few all-over book edits from the editorial letter that I need to squeeze into the narrative now, and the best way to do that is to read what I've got currently and adjust accordingly. This is my last big chance to get everything into the book that needs to be in the book... and pull out all the extraneous bits.

Good times ahead.

And yes, that's my bug-tracking spreadsheet on top there. As you can see, I plan on filling out most of it during the read through.

The last two massive edits I did on this book prior to acceptance (for an editor at another publisher and for my agent, respectively), I added in a bunch of world building crap that I honestly have no memory of (magicians are allergic to gas lamps???).

I need a crash course in God's War.

Public Responses to Sexist Behavior

I love how absolutely dazed and perplexed he looks in this video, like he has no idea he did something completely rude and inappropriate.

This is what got me about the whole boobgate thing. I realize that we, as women, are taught to make nice. We're taught to just smile and take it. "Ha ha, yes, I'm just a squeeze toy." But the more people who publicly make it clear that this behavior is not OK, the less we'll see of it.

You'll note his response to the incident later, "The real scandal was that she slapped me - not my boob grabbing!" There's a whole subset of people who believe this is totally OK behavior.

I know we're taught to grin and bear it. But that's not the way you change the world.

Character Quote of the Day

From Babylon:

“We don’t get prizes in Nasheen for being pretty,” Nyx said.

Bound

A first reader of God's War argued that there must be a better term for the wraps/cloth one uses to bind one's breasts other than, "breast binding."

I finally sat down and did some research tonight, and I'm telling you: I still can't find a better term.

The closest I came to finding a less clunky term for it is a "binder."

Bra, sports bra, breast wrap, wrap, binding, kimono, corset... but no actual term for a piece of clothing or wrap meant exclusively for the binding of the breasts.

Considering how many thousands of years women have been dressing up like men in order to gain more freedom in the world, I find it funny that I can't find an actual term for this.

Anybody else know of one?

Drinking the Kool-Aid

I'm watching Obama's Denver speech about the stimulus bill. I've read the pros and cons. I've listened to the GOP arguments (largely summed up by, "Soooooooooociiiaaaaaaaaliiiiiiiiiissssssssm!"). I understand everybody's fears.

Yet we happily invested trillions of dollars into foreign wars over the last eight years while our own country failed. Wars that killed tens of thousands of innocent people.

And we're not willing to invest in our own infrastructure? Our own country? Our own people? We'll spend billions to rebuild Iraq... but not our own country?

There's a great TED talk by Bill Gates where he points out that there are huge, important initiatives that will never be addressed by the free market. His example was malaria. Hundreds of thousands die of malaria in poor countries. There's no free market drive to prevent these deaths... because there's no money in it.

I was reminded of what Lyndon B. Johnson said when he desegregated schools. To paraphrase, "Sometimes we don't do things because they're popular. We do them because they're right."

(Also, why does the president have to sign the bill ten times? That was a neat bit of trivia)

Got Sex?

It's an indicator of how male-dominated our society is that the fact that women have diminishing libidos and don't seem to care that much about it is treated as the problem, when in fact it's merely the symptom of a larger problem--that women feel overworked, underpaid, underappreciated, understimulated, and shamed about their bodies. If we treated the actual problems that women face, higher libidos would be the happy result, I'm sure. But in order to do that, we'd have to treat male domination like a problem to be solved, and since few people really want to do that, instead we're left with articles that note women's lack of libido, but carefully resist asking why.

Good Things

Narrowing in on a house rental within the right price range. Didn't get the one we wanted, so we're looking at a bigger house at the top of our rent range. Also negotiated with my current apartment complex, and they're bringing the price down on a renovated 3 bedroom. Honestly, tho, I'd rather have a house. Another two or three showings next week and we'll hopefully be signing for something.

In other news, a liberal application of NewSkin prior to affixing my Omnipod seems to have done the trick. 24 hours and counting and no burning red itchiness around and under the adhesive. You don't realize how much stress minor discomfort puts you under until it goes away.

As noted previously, line edits for GW are here! I've made a little progress this week, but decided to take this Friday off to really dig into them. I've been preoccupied with peak season at work (this week is the last week of peak season), and with some of my job stress easing off a bit, I feel comfortable getting these in the bag. I want them back out the door by the 23rd.

Another reason for the Friday off is just general exhaustion and burnout. I'm trying to do too many things at once, and monitoring how we were doing this tax season in order to provide myself with a guestimate of whether or not I'd have my job come March was a lot more stressful than I thought it would be. Coordinating house hunting when you don't have a car is also a lot more stressful than you might think. Pair that with the adhesive allergy, and it's just been a wearing couple of weeks.

Looking forward to the day when I can actually take off more than a day or two at a time again. May end up taking unpaid time in August. My grandmother is renting a beach house, and my folks are keen on seeing me. I'd rather be going somewhere exotic, but I'll take whatever I can get at this point. Cancelled Wiscon this year already in favor of getting a car come April.

Bring on the book checks, yo.

Who's Being Served?

Can you spot the difference?

Insurance PTSD

Everytime somebody calls me and says the word, "Insurance," over the phone, my heart races, I get sick to my stomach, and I pull out a pad and paper. I also get that hardline note to my voice, the one that everybody always thinks is me being "angry." In fact, it's not me being angry, it's me going stone cold because I know that if I don't, I'm going to burst into tears. My "angry" voice helps me get through a potentially brutal emotionally frought conversation with cold logic and reason.

When I hang up the phone, then I'm allowed to feel something other than cold.

I've also developed a nasty allergy to medical adhesive. Yes, the kind that affixes an insulin pump to the skin. Apparently, this is a pretty common occurence, to show no allergy and then just develop it after a few months of affixing medical hardware to your skin. Thing is, you know, why the fuck haven't they made hypoallergenic medical adhesive if this is so fucking common? WTF?

My skin burns, itches, and eventually flakes and peels and turns a violent crimson color around the site of the Omnipod. I had to pull one off a day early because my arm burned like it was on fire. I still have red welts from two weeks ago on my stomach, and I have an actual peeling burn on my arm where I put two pods near the same site for 5 days.

First things first, I did some research in the t1 forums and found some possible solutions to the allergy problem (skin prep treatments first, barriers next if those don't work), ordered them (this is why I budget $30 a month in meds), and *then* went home and felt sorry for myself. I try very hard not to think too hard or feel too much about anything in the middle of a problem. I leave all that stuff for when the crisis has passed.

I'm getting weird about medical stuff and insurance the same way I was weird after I got out of the hospital. You just get a little extra jumpy. You have these massively over-the-top reactions to "little" things like allergies to medical adhesive and inquiries from your medical supplies company.

The thing is, after going through some kind of massive trauma experience - like I did in the hospital, or the terrible three days thinking I was going to go without care - well, your fight-or-flight response gets broken. So you overreact to everything. It reminds me of the stuff I'll hear about war veterans, or survivors of abuse. Little things like getting on the bus or somebody touching your arm can just totally set you off.

Now every time somebody associated with the medical industry calls me, I'm afraid they're going to tell me there's something wrong with me or they're going to take something away from me. I get this hair-trigger fighting response. I buckle down, dig in my heels, and get ready for the worst.

Mmmmmmm healthcare in America.

How to Write Novel

Your milage may vary.

But this is pretty much what it is (I consume fewer pastries, myself).

Urban Fantasy Vs. Brutal Women

Though often annoyed, I've been trying to resolve myself to getting a sex kitten urban fantasy cover for God's War (complete with moon, over the shoulder glance, and back tattoo). I wasn't sure how to sell "Brutal ass kicking woman" on the cover who isn't all sex-kittened up. They all want to draw a sex kitten.

Then, this morning, I saw this:



And I went, "Oh hells yes!"

I like what this cover does. It's gritty and dark and the main character isn't looking off to the side or over her shoulder in that stupidly flirty, useless way you see on the urban fantasy covers. You're not being invited to oogle her. She's not being presented as an object. She's staring straight at you, just the way somebody who can fuck some shit up would. Add in the blood with that full on stance and oh yeah... this isn't a half bad portrayal of a brutal woman.

Granted, I'd prefer my heroine a little more physically imposing, and less pretty (she's got the face and body of a runway model, not a warrior).

This is how I prefer my book heroines. I don't want her in skin tight clothes (they did go with leather here - you can't win em all), I don't want her to flirt with me. I have no interest in seeing her half-clothed and "vulnerable" to "make up" for her supposed toughness. I'm sorry, but showing a half-clothed woman on your cover doesn't convince me you've got a strong, complex heroine. I want her to be SCARY. I want to believe she's going to fuck shit up. Those are the heroines I'm interested in (and interested in writing).

If I see one more vampire fucking novel cover, I might die. I really have no interest in reading another novel about the protagonist's deep personal angst about whether she should go to bed with the vampire, the werewolf, or both.

I want higher stakes, more complex characters, and heroines that don't all read the same. And I want that reflected on book covers. Because let me tell you, there's a half ton of books out there on the SF/F shelves I'm just not picking up... based entirely on the cover. So sad.

For discussions about what led them to finally pick this cover (and oh yeah is this the best of the bunch), go here.

The Arrival

I can haz line edits, baby.

Ohhhhhh yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

More Reasons to be a Good Diabetic

Klein said the findings support a new idea that Alzheimer's is a type of diabetes of the brain.

"In Type 1 diabetes, your pancreas isn't making insulin. In Type 2 diabetes, your tissues are insensitive to insulin because of problems in the insulin receptor. Type 3 is where that insulin receptor problem is localized in the brain," Klein said in a telephone interview.

In some people, this can occur with age, he said.

"As you get older, some individuals start to have less effective insulin signaling, including in the brain," he said, making the brain more vulnerable to toxins that cause Alzheimer's disease.

And:

Several studies have found that diabetics have a higher risk of getting Alzheimer's than the general population.

Oh joy!

THIS is why I want my 5.9 A1C.

No matter how bad it gets...

Quote of the Day

"Strength does not come from winning.Your struggles develop your strength. When you go through hardship and decide not to surrender, that is strength."
- Arnold Schwarzenegger

An Inconvenient Truth

Last night, I watched An Inconvenient Truth.

This morning, I saw this and this, and finally had a place to put all the pieces.

I'm glad I don't have kids.

Don't You Wish You Lived in Ohio?

I Earned a Penny!

My $50 in savings earned a penny! Wow, this is exciting! No, seriously, do you have any idea how long it's been since I had a savings account (that wasn't a 401(k) subject to market madness)? Ten years at least.

A whole penny!

I just put another $50 in there. As life starts to move toward including more than just me, it's time I started actually building a future with the money I've got instead of blowing it on Turkish food.

Mmmmm Turkish food.

Obama Disappointed Cabinet Failed To Understand His Reference To 'Savage Sword Of Conan' #24

Yes, it delights me to no end that Obama's a comic book fan. And yes, I love the Onion.

Writing

Yeah. It's like that.

Check your Interest Rate

I logged into my primary credit card account yesterday to make a payment after cashing an insurance reimbursement check.

While looking at the summary page, I was startled to see an interest rate percentage of 14.99%

Um.

Hold on here, crackerbarrel.

I have a variable interest rate of 6.55%. I've never seen it above 9.99%. I went back through my statements from the three months prior. It ranged from 7.1% to 8.5%.

My interest rate had nearly doubled overnight.

I gave my card company a call. They capitulated pretty quickly (why does it suprise me so much that I can get what I want so easily after that insurance fiasco?).

Apparently, Citibank has rewritten the lending terms. They're not offering my rate anymore (at least not for me), but what I could do was reject the terms and just let my card expire on the expiration date, which is in 2011. This lets me carry the rest of my balance at my old interest rate until that time (yes, I can still use the card, too. I'm just rejecting the new policy). She's going back and adjusting the finance charge for this month to reduce the month's inflated interest.

The idea behind this is that interest rates, hopefully, will have improved by 2011 and I'll be able to sign up for another term with my old interest rate (of course, I plan to have this card paid off by then, but because it has the highest credit limit, this is the one card I did want to keep on hand after both are paid off).

What I find hilarious is that Citibank raised thier interest rates RIGHT AFTER getting their share of the bank bailout money. Go Citibank! That's some awesome customer service, there.

Moral of the story: a very quick, easy phone call can save you 50% in interest payments.

How many people don't actually notice it when their interest rate goes up? How many people just go, "Well, shit, that's the way it is?"

Please check the interest rate on all of your credit cards.

That is all.

OmniPod Improvements

How I got three boxes worth of pods with a 20% failure rate, I'll never know. I actually suspect that until recently, that was the order of the day for Omnipod. Over the last three months, Omnipod has made some improvements.

We're down to a respectable 1% failure rate. I think the last one that failed was over a month ago. The shipment I just got also includes a much better adhesive, which is good news for people like me who are always knocking their arm against doorways. I just smacked myself good while walking through my closet and hot damn but if that thing didn't stay affixed to my arm.

The new adhesive does irritate slightly more. I noticed an urge to scratch around the edges a few times, which I didn't really notice so much with the other ones. But that's well worth getting and keeping those things on.

My blood sugar (barring today's miscalculation of how many carbs are actually in Subway flatbread) has been great. My mood's improved. Life is generally awesome. I can't wait to see what my A1c is on Friday.

Socking it Away

As much as I get on about not saving enough money (I'm trying to find a way to put $50 a month into a savings account), I realized when I did a detailed review of my paycheck this week that I'm actually putting $100 a month into the company 401(k).

You forget how much it is when you just fill out the percentage box on the 401(k) form.

I'm feeling slightly better about approaching 30.

WTF?

The little weather bar underneath my Vista gadgets clock says it's -13 outside. -13, seriously?

SERIOUSLY?

You know, in Alaska, I got this type of weather, sure, but it included perks like northern lights, low population density, and liquor.

In Dayton, not so much.

Also, I'm really not prepared anymore for weather like this. Maybe I'll call in cold.

Chilly Beans

It's supposed to be -25 tonight.

Holy crap, what is this? There's a reason I'm not in Fairbanks anymore.

I think I may be saving the gym for tomorrow. I don't have proper snow boots or gloves for this type of weather.

Look What Arrived Today.... OmniPoddery

Doesn't look like something that should have taken that much effort, does it?

Images We Should Be Protected From

Whew! I'm glad my government censorship agencies are on the job!

What are you doing in the Spring of 2010?

I'll likely be in Peru.

Well, that's what I was supposed to be doing, but I'll likely be promoting God's War instead, as it looks like it'll be pushed back from a Fall 09 to a Spring 10 release date.

This is due mainly to all the craziness at my publisher currently (and in the publishing world in general). I'd figured this was likely to happen cause, you know, the book was sold a year ago and... no copyedits as yet. It was sort of inevitable that the book would be pushed back.

I don't have too many complaints - the book's still being published, and 2010 will likely be a better time to be a debut author (2010, man, look at that, that's like the future or something).

In the meantime, a Spring 10 release date means I've got to wait even longer before selling more books (my publisher gets first right of refusal on my next book, which I can't present to them until I deliver book 3). And in the short fiction world, well, I haven't been writing much of it. I figured I'd just churn out books happily...

Now I'm feeling like a seriously slacker writer. Nothing of mine will see print until 2010? Bummer.

So, I'm back to toodling with some short fiction pieces. There was a time when I strove to keep about 10-15 stories in the mail all the time. Whatever happened to those days? Ok, well, I guess I sold the sellable stories, is what happened, and then never created more.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm working toward creating a backlog again. It's been kind of refreshing. I've been stuck in the GW world for so long that I think a part of me has gotten bored and stale with it - which is funny because it's an awesome world - I'm just so brain-rutted about it that I've ceased to be able to push my imagination as far as it needs to go, in some instances, and I can see that when I'm going back to rewrite book 2.

We'll see if some short fiction can help jutter something loose.

P.S. Peru will be way better in October anyway!!

How to Get an Insurance Claim Expedited (Without Cutting Off Anybody's Head)

Here are some tips on how to get an insurance claim expedited by your health insurance provider. I deal with UHC. Your mileage may vary:

1)Be sure all of your paperwork is in order. Before you start fighting, be sure the company has all the proper forms on file. There’s nothing you can do if the right forms haven’t reached them.

2)Send a formal letter asking them to review the claim. A formal request for review gets logged in their system. The one from your medical provider does too, but it’s not as potent as the one you send. Also, mention things like being prepared to file a formal complaint with the Attorney General. And mean it. If you aren’t prepared to do this, you aren’t ready to do what I just did below.

3)Prepare to spend 4-6 hours of time on the phone over several days. Once I get really good at this, I’d like to get it down to 1 day, but for now, prepare for about 2-3 days of haggling.

4)Keep a record of dates/names/times you contacted people. What company you called. What they said. Ideally, you’d never get disconnected or have to call back, but inevitably, you will be telling your story to several people several times. Cut down on the number of people you have to start the process over with again by hanging on the line and just being transferred as long as possible. Tell them you won’t get off the phone until the issue is resolved.

5)When you reach Customer Service, ask to speak to a supervisor. Whatever you do, don’t get stuck with a first-pickup person. You want to get to the third tier. Immediately state that you have an expedited claim. The second are the second tier folks may have different names: Rapid Resolution Specialists, Resolution Specialists, Resolution Managers, Customer Care Managers, Customer Care Specialists…Once you have a reference number (ask for this once you reach a resolution manager) you can just immediately ask the support person to transfer you. Customer Service is the first line of defense, and all they can do is read to you what you see on your own screen when you log into your insurance account online. Nobody can do anything to physically change your account until you get to at least a 3rd tier person. That means getting to the supervisor/resolution specialist’s supervisor, at the very list.

6)Have a list of ways that you will escalate the call. “If they say this, I will respond with this.” Sometimes you have to hang up and call back several times before you can frame your argument correctly. This is understandable, since we’re often pretty emotional when battling for health services.

7)DON’T EVER LOSE YOUR TEMPER OR GET EMOTIONAL. Don’t EVER lose it with a customer service rep. Be firm, but not hysterical. I lost it twice along the line, and got stonewalled both times. The first time, I had to call back and start all over again with a different rep. The second time, I apologized, explained the situation, and got the payment processed in 30 minutes. Stay calm, but firm. Firm is good. Have your situation story written down so you can recite it calmly. You’ll be repeating it a lot.

Here’s an example of how to keep a record of your contact with the various folks involved in resolving a major health insurance issue (and yes, I know, it would be wickedly funny if it wasn’t true).

PROLOGUE!

December 17th, 2008
So, Jason at CCS Medical, provider of my Omnipod insulin pods, contacts me and says they are withholding my Omnipod shipments until UHC pays outstanding claims from 7/1 and 10/1. UHC claims that the provider is Out of Network. This is untrue, as they have already signed paperwork with CCS Medical to get the in-network rate. They already have the pre-authorization form on file. They’ve had the paperwork for 6 months. Prior to that, it took a year of bullying from Omnipod just to get approved.

Now that it’s approved, UHC isn’t paying.

Jason says they submitted a formal review of these claims to UHC on 12/4 and have still not been paid. He advises me to put pressure on UHC. Mmmm pressure.

December 17th, 2008
I call UHC. The claims rep says it takes 30 days to review claims. I should wait another two weeks for the Dec. 4th claim to be processed.

I submit a written request for review of claims to UHC. This includes EOB documentation and threats about filing a complaint with the Attorney General (not just threats, actually. This same day, I request a list of the other outstanding complaints against UHC in order to prepare my own. I prepared early for the long haul).


December 22nd, 2008
UHC receives my request for review. CCS Medical calls and is told it will be another 2 weeks to correct these claims (I learn this on the 5th).

December 24th, 2008
I check the status of my claims. My online UHC records show that the 7/1 claim is in the process of being adjusted. Somehow. It involved a duplication of the claim, only with a “– “next to it, which I could not understand but figured must mean something was happening to the claim. There was no other explanation. Just the duplicate claim with minus marks next to it.

AND NOW IT BEGINS
!!!

January 5th, 2009

With three days left until my shipment is due to go out, I call UHC to inquire about what’s going on with the adjustment of the claim submitted on 12/4. I’m told it will be another two weeks.
I ask to speak to a supervisor. I’m told there is no supervisor. I just need to be patient.

I call CCS medical and tell them that the claim is being processed. The Rep from CCS medical gives me a breakdown of their previous contact with UHC (see above). She offers tips on how to bully my way past the customer service rep.

I call UHC back and use bullying techniques (buzz words like “rush,” “expedite” and “this is not acceptable” and “today.” Because resolution of this claim will result in failure to deliver much-needed medical supplies, I explain this loudly and often. The fact that it’s true, and the idea of going back to shots terrifies me, helps me with my argument. I do, in fact, need this expedited. Today. Now.). I am transferred to a Rapid Resolution Specialist. Specialist assures me that claim is being processed and will certainly be processed this week. If it’s not processed by Wednesday, I should call back then and hold a conference call with UHC and CCS Medical to get things sorted out.

At this point, I am exhausted, and out of fight. Fighting for a shipment reminds me of how much better I’ve felt since going on the pump, and how much shittier my life will be without it. That’s the thing with switching to a pump. If you’ve never had it, you don’t know what you’re missing. Once you’ve had it, you realize how much better your life can be. When someone tries to take that away, it’s terrifying.

I hang up.

January 6th, 2009
8:00 am –After a long night spent detailing my escalation procedures (including a list of “if they say this, I say this,” prompts to help me when I get overly emotional about it) I call UHC and ask about the status of my claim. They say it is still pending. I tell them I need to put a rush on it.
I ask to be transferred to Rapid Resolution Specialist. She fights it, but eventually transfers me after I tell her it needs to be resolved TODAY so that my medical supplies will ship TOMORROW. Again, the fact that I urgently needed medical supplies NOW was a good selling point, cause let me tell you, I wouldn’t be going through this for a bandaid.

The Rapid Resolution Specialist is surprisingly perplexed and helpful about my claim. She says they can put a rush on it, but it will still be 24-48 hours to process. She warns me, however, that I have a pre-authorization that expired on Dec. 31st. I ask if that will delay payments already not made. She says no. I tell her I’ll advise CCS Medical of this (having no idea who the hell handles pre-authorization forms).

She transfers me to her supervisor, since she has no way to directly change anything on the screen. Supervisor says she and another manager will get it to someone who can actually change the screen and it will be reviewed and out the door today.

RRS supervisor tells me someone WILL contact me either tonight or early tomorrow.
This whole process took about two hours, about an hour and a half of it, total, on hold with UHC. Most of it while the supervisors tried to figure out who the hell they could get to expedite the claim.

7:00 p.m. – Martika from UHC calls and says she spoke to Deanna at CCS. Martika told them my 7/1 and 10/1 claims had been incorrectly processes and would be paid. Martika says that Deanna has released my shipment.

Hooray! I am full of win!!

January 7th, 2009
8:30 a.m. - I call CCS Medical to verify that my shipment has gone out. I’m told it’s still on hold and will not go out today. I’m told there are no notes on the file from Deanna or Martika.

I find this annoying, but not, ultimately, surprising. This is, after all, why I called to verify.

8:45 a.m. - I call Omnipod to see if the holdup is on their end. Perhaps UHC called them instead of CCS?

I get transferred to Billing. Billing sends me to shipping.

I get transferred to Shipping. They tell me to contact CCS medical.

9:30 a.m. - I call CCS Medical back. I speak to L. I tell her to check the notes. I tell them Deanna should have released this from hold. I’m told Deanna didn’t have the authority to do that.

I’m told that it’s because my “pre-authorization form” has expired (as of 12/31/08). It was resubmitted to UHC by CCS Medical yesterday, after they received confirmation that they would receive payment. They could not submit a new pre-authorization form without getting payment first (??).

I tell them this shouldn’t be an issue. I was told all I needed to do to receive today’s shipment was to get them to pay the prior claims.

She says she will call back with more information.

10:45 a.m. - I call CCS Medical. I am told my shipment will ship today and is not on hold!
Hooray! I am full of win!!

11:00 a.m. - I get a call from L. She says I have been misinformed. My shipment will not ship today until the pre-authorization form is processed by UHC. She says they tried to get a rush on it but were denied. She suggests I try and get a rush on it.

12:30 p.m. - I call UHC.

I get Gail in Claims. I tell her August/October/Rush/Expedite/Medical Supplies.
I’m transferred to Coletta the Rapid Resolution Manager. I tell her August/October/Rush/Expedite/Medical Supplies.

I ask to speak to her supervisor, Debbie. I tell her August/October/Rush/Expedite/Medical Supplies.

Debbie tries to stonewall me with, “It’s still processing, process, process, time to process…” This is what every claim rep says first off. What you tell them is that these are urgent medical supplies and they need to go out TODAY. Must be resolved TODAY. Has been processing for SIX WEEKS. ALL FORMS ON FILE.

I lose it with Debbie. I’m afraid this slip up has ruined my chances of getting a resolution. I apologize and explain I’ve spent about six hours on the phone over the last three days with half a dozen people at three different companies.

She says she will contact her manager and call me back. She says she will get it paid today. I told her that’s great – should have happened yesterday. Now I need her to expedite the pre-authorization form. She says they already have a pre-authorization on file for 1/6 to 10/31 2009. She will work on this and get the payment made today.

1:15 p.m. - I call L at CCS Medical and say pre-auth is already on file. She says this isn’t true – UHC was just saying they have a record of it, but it hasn’t been processed. I tell L. that they will call me back today when the claim is paid, and I will get auth # then. L. advises me to conference call in CCS medical with UHC – calls are recorded, and shipment can go out immediately after end of call.

2:10 p.m. - Debbie calls back from UHC. She says the initial 7/1/08 claim has now been paid (record! It’s only been six months!). When I ask about the pre-auth and conference call, she says her department doesn’t handle that: “What we have on file is a… placeholder,” she says. “It’s still being processed.” I ask her to expedite (RUSH, RUSH, EXPEDITE. These are the KEY WORDS). She says to call the department that handles that and gives me the number.

2:15 p.m. - I call the Customer Care Management number (or whatever the hell touchy-feely name they gave this place). I tell her August/October/Rush/Expedite/Medical Supplies. I am told this is the wrong department and given a new phone number and transferred.

2:35 pm. - I speak with Chris? I tell him August/October/Rush/Expedite/Medical Supplies. He finds the actual name of the actual person (with a first and last name!) assigned to work on the actual pre-authorization and transfers me to him (My God!! I’m going down the rabbit hole!!).

2:36 p.m. - I get voicemail for Adam. I say August/October/Rush/Expedite/Medical Supplies call me back immediately here’s my number.

2:45 p.m. – I start to document the whole sordid history of this claim.

3:00 p.m. - Adam calls back!

I am achingly polite to Adam as I tell him the August/October/Rush/Expedite/Medical Supplies story. This is the fifth time I’ve explained it today.

He says this is no longer his case. He transferred it. He gets the name of the manager in charge of the person in charge of the pre-auth (Sandra – he also gave me her last initial. Deeper into the hive I go!). He puts a rush on it (his term is “stat”) and says they will call me back today on the status of the pre-auth.

4:08 p.m. – Jenn from CCS Medical calls and says that UHC has called them and approved the pre-authorization form . The shipment will go out today. She has already personally released it. She asks if I would like it to go 3-day air instead of 5-7 days ground. I say yes, since I only have 6 days of pods (that would be – 2) left.

I will receive my shipment Monday morning.

I hang up.

--------

There is no moral to this story. Oh, what’s the line, what’s the line…

One of the women turned to me just before they left. "We all battle dragons," she said. "There's no shame in losing."

"There'd be no battle," I said coldly, "without the dragons."

She grinned, slid her hat back on. "There will always be dragons," she said. "It's only a matter of who plays the dragon, who plays the sheep. Which would you rather be?"

The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became an Evil Overlord

Because, REALLY:

1) My Legions of Terror will have helmets with clear plexiglass visors, not face-concealing ones.

2) My ventilation ducts will be too small to crawl through.

3) My noble half-brother whose throne I usurped will be killed, not kept anonymously imprisoned in a forgotten cell of my dungeon.

4) Shooting is not too good for my enemies.

5) The artifact which is the source of my power will not be kept on the Mountain of Despair beyond the River of Fire guarded by the Dragons of Eternity. It will be in my safe-deposit box. The same applies to the object which is my one weakness.

Read the rest here.

Six Word Stories

I suppose we would call these "Twitter" stories these days. In any case, Six Word Stories from some of your favorite authors.

Six words:

"Bloody... burning cities. Newsflash! They won."

United Healthcare Update

Just got a call from UHC at 7:10 tonight.

They've called my provider and had them release my shipment.

Omnipods are shipping tomorrow.

Right on time.

See, all you have to do is spend 6 hours over the phone for two days, talk to 8 people, and threaten to file a complaint with the attorney general and you can totally get your approved healthcare costs paid!

It's like a miracle.

Anybody else need me to fight with their insurance company?

Pushing United Healthcare

I intend to write up a whole post about how to push at your insurance company.

Another two or three hours total on the phone today, with three different people. Got to the Rapid Resolution Specialist's supervisor, who contacted *her* supervisor, who got my claim to a claims manager (I know have a claim number) who ASSURES me that it will be resolved and PAID tomorrow morning at the latest.

Then they will CALL my medical provider, tell them the checks have been cut, and give them the check numbers.

This is what they SAY.

They've also told me "Don't call us, we'll totally call you!"

Ha ha ha. Yeah right, do you think I made it this far by listening to that rule?

If I don't hear from them by 9am tomorrow, I get to call and do it all over again.

I get further along every time.

Fucking asshats.

You know what? That persistence thing... about how 90% of succeeding as a writer is persistence? That rule applies to living, too. And all the things involved in it.

Good news is, after dealing with UHC, the idea of battling to get a $15 charged knocked off my Verizon bill was small potatoes. Called them immediately after and got the $15 credited to my bill.

I think I'm starting to become a brutal woman in some of those 21st century skills that have replaced the ability to wield a big sword and hit people with it.

Granted, I want to be good at that too.

You never know when you'll need a big sword.

Bit Torrent

Used Bit Torrent for the first time the other day. It's like Napster used to be, only faster and friendlier.

50 Things to Say (and Mean!) Before you Die

Why not?

Quote of the Day

"Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t."

~ Unknown

I'm So Tired

It really is stunning how many spoons get taken up arguing with five different people at three different medical companies for two and a half hours, then breaking and spending all afternoon and evening prepping for the next go-round.

They're important, worthwhile spoons, though, which is why I'm doing it. Spending these spoons now means having more spoons later. But my god, am I feeling totally mentally useless right now.

As annoyed as I was at the crappy batch of pods I got last go-round with the 20% failure rate, I haven't had any trouble the last three months with the new batch. It's been sublime. Using a pump means I'm more sane, stable, and sugar-happy than I've ever been. I have at least 75% fewer low sugar episodes. I can turn the pump off to avoid a low instead of eating to correct it. I maintain the most stable blood glucose number I've ever seen. I can't wait to get my A1c done.

Sure, there's the hardware changing and moving it around and all that, but jabbing yourself with needles four times a day isn't exactly hardware-less.

And because of the pump, I'm mentally and physically more "normal" than I've been in years.

And they want to take that away from me.

That's what I'm spending my spoons on.

And I'm so tired.

Tomorrow I get to do it all over again.

I need to be subsidized...

... Or, where are all MY rewards for bad busines practices?

The Details of Living

If you do not suffer from a life-ending condition and have never had to deal with health insurance companies, medical providers, pharmacies, drug companies, employer HR administators, and the like - all at once - count yourself among the bless'd.

It only took five phone calls with three different companies over two and a half hours for me to get my insurance providor to admit that they'd processed my medical supplies claim for my first shipment of Omnipods incorrectly.

On Weds, the 7th, I get to participate in a conference call between CCS medical - which provides my pods - and the "rapid resolution specialist" at United Healthcare.

This is because the 7th is the date I'm due for my next shipment of pods, which CCS will not ship until United Healthcare pays their 6-month-overdue bill

I have exactly 6 days worth of pods left. Baring pod failures.

You, too, could spend hours and hours of your life and mental energy on fun and exciting battles like this one, with five different reps from three different companies!

But it is living, which is something?

This is what it's like to be reminded, daily, that you're in a constant state of dying in America.

Imagine how much more productive a citizen I could be if I didn't have this constant drain of mental energy sucked into the bare necessities of living on insulin produced in a lab? What could I accomplish, living in an optimum state of health? How much better would our society be if each and every one of us was able to work, play, live, in a state of optimum health? Without the constant, nagging worry? The shuttle between medical providers, the back-and-forth arguments, the paperwork, the headache, the constant, aching, sleep-depriving stress of wondering if you'll get the medical care, coverage, and suppies you need at prices you can afford... Imagine a world without that worry.

Imagine.

Universal healthcare isn't scary. What's scary is living without it.

In The Zone

From here. There are some things you just can't make up... and be believed, anyway.

SENTRY: We spotted an Arab female about 100 meters below our emplacement, near the light armored vehicle gate.

HEADQUARTERS: Observation post “Spain,” do you see it?

OBSERVATION POST: Affirmative, it's a young girl. She's now running east.

HQ: What is her position?

OP: She's currently north of the authorized zone.

SENTRY: Very inappropriate location.

[Gunfire]

OP: She's now behind an embankment, 250 meters from the barracks. She keeps running east. The hits are right on her.

HQ: Are you talking about a girl under ten?

OP: Approximately a ten-year-old girl.

HQ: Roger.

OP: OP to HQ.

HQ: Receiving, over.

OP: She's behind the embankment, dying of fear, the hits are right on her, a centimeter from her.

SENTRY: Our troops are storming toward her now. They are around 70 meters from her.

HQ: I understand that the company commander and his squad are out?

SENTRY: Affirmative, with a few more soldiers.

OP: Receive. Looks like one of the positions dropped her.

HQ: What, did you see the hit? Is she down?

OP: She's down. Right now she isn't moving.

COMPANY COMMANDER [to HQ]: Me and another soldier are going in. [To the squad] Forward, to confirm the kill!

cc [to HQ]: We fired and killed her. She has . . . wearing pants . . . jeans and a vest, shirt. Also she had a kaffiyeh on her head. I also confirmed the kill. Over.

HQ: Roger.

CC [on general communications band]: Any motion, anyone who moves in the zone, even if it's a three-year-old, should be killed. Over.

From here.

The Weird Turn Pro

Weapons for Her

Japan has made several other contributions to the world of womanly weaponry, most of them used by the female ninjas known as kunoichi, who began slipping through the shadows in the 1500s. The kunoichi’s secret weapons included poisons, blinding powders and stealth weapons like the kushi (hair comb), kasa (umbrella), kakute (spiked ring), nekote (steel claws or fingernails) and hari (sharpened needle). These dual-function weapons went mostly undetected on kunoichi disguised as dewy-eyed geishas, but each could be used to kill, and the kunoichi trained hard to do so, quickly and quietly. Worn as jewelry, the kakute made it easy to slice a throat; the kushi could be holding hair one moment and stabbing a vital organ the next.

YouTube

Apparently, you can indeed upload videos to YouTube. They just take a really awfully long time. I'll be playing with this new camcorder during the break so I hope it's not just, you know, broken.

Too Much to Do, Too Little Time

Someday, writing will steal my soul!

Quote of the Day

"We are all born ordinary. It is our choices that make us extraordinary."

All I Want For Christmas

Due to the staggering cost of plane flights, I ended up staying in Dayton for the holiday, which wasn't the worst thing that could have happened, but I do miss spending Christmas on the Oregon Coast.

In any case, had a pretty fantastic Christmas this year with J. Too much Chipotle and carmel corn was eaten, also there were gift exchanges and much silliness. Which just sort of seems to happen. The silliness, that is.

J. got me the much-needed printer, which is super awesome and makes me uber gleeful. He also got me copies of Rosetta Stone, French level 2 & 3, which is just about the best thing ever, and kick started me back into my French study. It sure beats playing video games.

My parents sent me a fine electric mixer (it's red!), and David sent over a fine array of gourmet cheeses (always appreciated!) which showed up right on time on Christmas eve. Stephanie gifted me with a fine bonsai and pony ornament, which shall take center stage after I paint it some gaudy but appropriate color. Which I will do with the airbrush paint set that J. also discovered was far more useful for my pony mods than his miniatures.

I spent a little time over the break on some dayjob projects (that'll teach me to check my work email), but they, too, were generous over the holidays, and I arrived back in the office to find that we'd all been gifted with one of these fine toys.

Video blogging here I come! Apparently it creates videos perfectly compatible with YouTube. But man, I don't know if the world can handle a Kameron Hurley channel. Mainly, it will be about blood, bugs, and injustice!

Or something.

As said, I spent much of Christmas in and around bed with J., reading books, watching movies, and eating out and in. There was much cooking, and aforementioned silliness. All in all, a good vacation.

Next year, tho, I want more time off and more cash. I ended up digging out the credit card there at the end and putting about $100 on it. Blast it all.

Still far better than usual, but not ideal.

The best part?

I get Thursday and Friday off this week as well, and will be spending time up in Cincinnati with J. watching Spamalot.

Yeah, yeah, I know:

Too much boyfriend, not enough rollerderby.

Working on that.

Stay tuned.

You've Been Warned!

Stuff & Things

I am alive. I am full of stuff and things.

I HAVE A PRINTER.

30 PPM.

It prints double-sided.

That is all.

Quote of the Day

"The objection to fairy stories is that they tell children there are dragons. But children have always known there are dragons. Fairy stories tell children that dragons can be killed."

-G.K. Chesterton

Yucky People

My tolerance for yucky people has lessended considerably as I've aged.

Doesn't this stuff make you sick?

I'm having more and more days where I'm really not proud or comfortable with the idea of identifying as "America."

Americans don't do this. Or torture people. Or... well, yeah. Yeah, we do.

"We."

I just don't identify with this country anymore.

Things I Do in My Spare Time

Write words.

Merry Christmas from United Healthcare

United Healthcare Member Inquiry/Appeals
PO Box 30432
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0432

Dear Member Inquiry Representative;

I am writing to request a formal of review of the decision made by United Healthcare to deny my health service claim of 10/01/08 for a service already formally approved. Please see the enclosed EOBs.

My service provider, Degc Enterprises, provides me with an insulin pump delivery system to regulate my blood sugars. In-network rates and approval for this insulin delivery system were given by United Healthcare prior to 7/1/08 when the company billed United Healthcare for the first medical shipment.

Since starting the pump on that date, my A1c has improved from 6.5 to 6.1. I expect to see a further improvement at the end of December when I have my next checkup.

As a Type 1 diabetic, I cannot live without continuous insulin delivery. My condition is a genetic immune disorder, which I fully disclosed to United Healthcare through my employer. As is well known, controlled blood sugars are vital to the avoidance of complications for Type 1 diabetics.

My use of the Omnipod pump, provided by Degc Enterprises, has dramatically transformed my life. Unlike other pump systems, it has no tubing, which results in fewer accidental disconnections that could adversely affect my blood sugars. It’s these higher blood sugars which contribute to the expensive conditions diabetics are prone to – like blindness and amputation.

Initial cost of the pump is also less than that of many other brands of pump. Its ability to regulate my blood sugar with greater reliability and efficiency than other pumps also greatly reduces my risk of expensive complications. Since using this pump, I have experienced 75% fewer episodes of low blood sugar, which – if not caught in time - can often result in costly medical claims for your company.

It was for these reasons that my pump was approved and covered at an in-network rate on 7/01/08 (see attached EOB).

Until you have provided Degc Enterprises with the payment you have contracted with them to provide, they will be unable to provide me with the insulin pods which have allowed me achieve this improvement in my overall general health and quality of life. I will be forced to revert back to using vials and syringes as my insulin delivery method. This method will undoubtably result in erratic blood sugars and set me down the road, once again, to extreme – and expensive – diabetic complications.

Repeated contact with your customer service line has shown me that they have little control over the approval/denial of claims process. It is for that reason that if it becomes necessary to escalate this matter, I am fully prepared to lodge a more formal complaint with the Attorney General. If necessary, I will also recommend that my employer drop our UHC account in favor of a company more consistent in its approval process.

I am sure you understand that as a Type 1 diabetic, my life and health depend urgently on the quality of coverage and care I receive. My employer considers me a valuable asset to the company, and knows that my decision – and the decision of many of our employees - to stay on board is greatly influenced by the quality of our healthcare coverage.

Thank you so much for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Kameron Hurley

(or maybe, what we really need to improve America's health is a "fat tax". That would be so much easier than universal health coverage that works. I'm sure it would be just as good as real healthcare. After all, we wouldn't know the difference)

A Word Lesson

At what point did it go from a "bailout" to a "rescue"?

Tumbarumba: That Was Wicked Cool

A couple of weeks ago, I installed the firefox addon Tumbarumba. This app randomly embeds fragments of stories into ordinary web pages. When you spot them, you click on them to slowly unravel the rest of the story.

I installed the app and pretty much forgot about it until today, when I was reading a Wikipedia article with an overview of Jorge Luis Borges story, "The Aleph."

I'm reading along and reading along and I hit this total nonsequitor, something about "she being detail oriented" and I'm like, WTF there weren't any women in this story. I went back and re-read the stuff leading up to it twice.

Then I realized what was going on. I clicked on the weird sentence.

And another sentence was revealed.

Another click another sentence, in this fade-in magical webbiny way that gave me that awesome sense of awe you get when you slowly discover/uncover something previously hidden. Isn't there a word for that?

Then another, and another, and then you click on it and there's Greg Van Eekout's story, The Temp, sitting there in a faux Wikipedia skin.

It was like... it was like something weirdly magical. Like uncovering some secret thing. Super web magic.

It was spectacularly cool.

I love this app idea, but I'm shortly going to run out of stories (there's only a handful to get through, really).

It's going to need more stories to really kick butt, and they should be even a bit shorter to cater to internet audiences, but man... wow, that was neat. What a spectacular idea.

Sign up for Tumbarumba! It is full of goodness.

My Agent Makes the i09 Top 20 Movers and Shakers of SF List

Jennifer Jackson, at #16, the only agent (literary or otherwise) on the list.

Sweet beans.

(BioWare, where my buddy Patrick works, also made the list at #12!).

From the Trenches: $6!

From the Trenches, an anthology of SF war stories that includes my short story, "Wonder Maul Doll," is now on sale for $6 from Carnifex Press.

These are the last of the copies (the publisher is going out of business), so if you want one, snag it now.

Oh, IKEA, Sometimes you Confound Me...

So I've been looking into expanding my work/desk space for some time now. A simple 4ft desk/table can run $50 at the local mix n' stuff shop, but for the same price, I could get this great table/bookshelf combo from Ikea that even matches my current desk.

Just $50! Yay!

Excellent, I thought. $25 in shipping makes for $75, which isn't so bad for what is, basically, a whole new desk that will expand my workspace.

So I clickity clackitied and went to check out and then...

Shipping charges were $140.

No, no, seriously:

My order total, with tax was over $200.

From a store that's half an hour away.

Ikea, sometimes you confound me.

Bloodsong

There's this scene in the book where the kid goes to kill the mutant "dragon" (who turns out to be less and more of a monster than he suspects), and he ends up tearing and clawing his way into the guts of this creature that won't die, clawing and swimming up through its guts and tearing out its hearts while the creature tears into its own body even as the flesh tries to knit back together, trying to claw the kid out of its own flesh.

And at the end of this scene, I found myself a little stunned at breathless and was like, "Wow."

I still think Bloodtide will turn out to be the better book, but man, I love these books. I need to read more Burgess.

Took a long time for him to come onto my radar, mainly because he's marketed as a "young adult" writer.

Ummmm?

Whatever sells the books, I guess.

Highly recommended if you love some post-apocalyptic shenanigans. Mutants and nuclear fallout and fantastical fantasy tropes with SFish rationalizations and kingdoms and family feuds and in-your-face prose oh my!