Ephiphanation

Bar Harbor Trip, Oct 8-10 2011

2011-10-11T10:55:00.000-04:00

It doesn't seem like very many posts ago since I blogged about last year's Bar Harbor trip that Garin and I took for our anniversary. Just goes to show how much I've neglected this li'l ol' blog, I guess. Vacation journals just don't seem to fit anywhere else, though, so here it goes.

This was less an anniversary trip than a trip with friends, but since we didn't do anything spectacular for our anniversary (dinner out, exchanged gifts), this counted as pretty much our one vacation of the year. Some of our friends camped, but Garin, Alicia, Devin and I decided on a motel instead. Garin booked one that's walking distance from downtown Bar Harbor, and it turned out really well. It was very nice, clean, comfortable and had a nice little front porch that stretched the entire length, with chairs and tables we enjoyed sitting at while we sipped our hard cider and beer :) But most of the time we were out and about.

It was a long drive, 6+ hours, and we switched off driving (carpooled w/ A&D). We took off a little before 6am Saturday morning. I'll do my tried-and-true day by day blocking of events:

Saturday
We packed Friday night, thankfully. Got up at 4:40am and got ready. Met w/ A&D at the park and ride (I drove from our place to there so I could say I did a share of the driving ;p). Stopped at Dunk's on the way out for breakfast sandwiches and coffee. We read off Trivial Pursuit cards to keep the conversation going.

When we arrived, we checked in and hit the town for a late lunch because we were starving. Beth said not to eat heavily because we had reservations at XYZ, a swank authentic Mexican place, for 5:30pm. We ended up at Carmen Veranda and despite ordering lighter things and splitting them, stuffed ourselves.

Our timing turned out to be perfect for low tide, so we walked out onto the sandbar that gives Bar Harbor its name. It was beautiful, as the weather was all weekend, warm and sunny (very windy). We decided against walking the trail in the interest of time and just strolled the bar, checked out the very shallow tidepools (more like puddles) and watched seagulls drop clams onto the rocks to break them open. I'd never seen that at such close range before. After a bit we walked back to our motel and got ready for dinner.

We took a somewhat roundabout path but ended up at XYZ after Beth waved us down in Southwest Harbor so she and Patrick could lead us in. Yes, we were "late" for just about everything this weekend :p but it didn't end up mattering too much. It was a very classy little place, and I really do mean authentic food: no tacos or enchiladas here. I had a chicken mole, since I'd never had mole before despite seeing it everywhere (it tasted better in a tortilla, which made it really filling, so I didn't eat even half of it), and Garin had something with goat that was pretty nice. Most of the others got chiles rellenos (next time, Gadget). I had sangria and then a margarita (they were strong things). I had an almond torte to finish and Garin had extremely strong Mexican coffee. It was incredibly pricey, probably the most extravagant meal of the trip, but a great experience.

On the way to XYZ we saw the bungalows that look like treehouses and fantasized about "when we're all fabulously rich" and can afford to get there by private jet instead of 6+ hour carpool, and rent bungalows together and save money by buying food to cook ourselves instead of constantly eating out. That theme carried throughout the weekend. Gotta dream :)

After dinner we went back to the campers' campsite. They tried to get a fire going but their wood turned out to be green or damp or both so it was very smoky. It would've been better if we weren't all so exhausted from the drive (the campers arrived the day before), so after a while we said goodnight and went back to the motel to go to bed. We figured we needed our rest for the next day's biking.

Sunday
We had to meet Beth and Patrick at the bike rental place at 9:30 AM so we got up around 7 and got ready. We ate at a place that was part diner and part convenience store. It was convenient as we got Powerbars, since at the time we had been told that the ride was going to be 17 miles one-way (it turned out it was only 10, much to our relief) and we figured we might need an energy boost partway along.

As to the biking, I was ashamed of myself; I did rather poorly on the way out. It was partly the fact that stationary biking is much different than actual biking; I had a kind of heavy breakfast (hard to avoid);; I wasn't as mindful of my breathing until the point where I was having actual trouble; and the inclines, while they don't look very steep, feel steeper and go for longer. You'd think that'd make it easier, but no. I had to get off and walk quite a bit, not because I couldn't move the bike up a steep hill but because it was that or pass out, throw up, or any other number of unpleasant things. The most I can say for myself is that I didn't do any of those things and I didn't have to stop completely. I kept walking (trust me, it feels even worse if you stop).

We decided to take the "around the mountain" route when we came to the fork for that and the around the pond route, and that turned out good since the big hill was down in the direction we were going. Sure was "fun" dodging piles of horse poop, horse riders, people trying to bike up, hikers, older folks and little kids wandering into our path, etc. But it was gorgeous, and exhilarating.

Those of us who decided to hike weren't there right away when we got to the Jordan Pond House, so we wandered around near the pond (gorgeous! I think I'm overusing the word) and enjoyed the sunshine. When they showed up, we got to be seated immediately because everyone else wanted to sit outside so there was no wait for inside. I got the lobster stew, which was delicious, and of course the famous popovers :) Confession time: it was the first time I've ever had a popover, at least that I can remember. They are very good.

The bike back was easier on me. Garin thinks I got stronger. I tried to be mindful of when it started getting harder or we went into inclines and started breathing in a more conscious cadence. What also helped is that we took the "around the pond" route and that turned out to be more level in general and downhill in the direction back, which was a bit of luck. :) I didn't have to get off the bike once, which was a point of personal pride.

We turned the bikes in back in town and went back to the motel to relax and wash up. Beth said she'd call us when everyone wanted to meet in town for dinner. We were just about to wander downtown to window shop when she called. We ended up at Geddy's. Even the waitress said they hadn't expected to be so swamped, and a few things got to us either late or not at all (Patrick's potato skins got lost in the kitchen I guess). The drinks were pretty weak and overall we paid more than we should've. Not long after dinner, we said goodbye to the campers (since we weren't going to see them the next day) and did a little shopping.

Most of the stores had end-of-season clearance sales. Tourmaline is insanely expensive, I don't know if just in the touristy parts of Maine or in general, so even at 50% off a lot of it was too pricey for me. I ended up getting some dangly cluster earrings with chips of different colored tourmaline, and a pendant of blue-green seaglass wrapped in silver wire. Then we got fudge (blueberry and Guinness), Garin got an ice cream cone (chocolate chip cookie dough, and about 1/3rd of it was just dough) and we walked back to the motel. Three deer were crossing the road near the motel, and Devin spooked them to try and keep them out of the road (so he said) but one crossed anyway. I thought he was going to get a few hooves to the chest. o_O

Monday
Our travel-back day, and also the day we decided to show Devin all the usual tourist spots, since he'd never been to Bar Harbor before. First we stopped at one of the inns in town that Alicia had noticed served breakfast for about $8 a plate. It was a very elegant, classy place, and we tried to act accordingly. I got something they called a "creme brulee marscapone blueberry french toast." It was delicious: cinnamon egg-battered slices of baguette with marscapone cheese and blueberry compote on top. And they served it with real maple syrup! It was that fancy a place (most places give you the fake stuff and offer the real stuff for extra $. Of course this place was extra $ all around so at least they included it). Garin got eggs benedict with lobster, very tasty also.

We never got to Jekyll and Hyde's so we went there to browse around, but the jewelry there was even more expensive than the other place even with a storewide 50% off (except some cases they decided to cover in blankets instead of marking exempt, so they could say "everything in the store" on the sign outside). I got a pair of silver studs in the shape of an ankh for a little over $3.

The sand beach was really hot, and the water didn't seem that cold (it was still cold, but not as cold as expected). I wished I had a swimsuit so I could go in the water. Some people (mostly kids) were swimming. Since it was hot and we were still sore and tired from the biking the day before, we drove rather than walking the cliff walk, and went to the Thunder Hole, which sadly was not even close to thunderous since the tide was going out and the sea was so calm. We tried to describe it to Devin and told him he'd just have to come back and see it next visit. :)

The tour wouldn't be complete without a drive up Cadillac Mountain to walk around on top and see the views. It was very windy but sunny and the view was hazy but beautiful. We all noticed that it seemed like more leaves had changed color in the few days we were there because the foliage was brighter than it was when we arrived.

We would've liked to have more time, but we wanted to get off the island by 2 PM to try and get back home around 8, an optimistic projection that didn't pan out. We got off the island a bit after 2 but with the stops we had to make for food and restrooms, we of course took longer. We did take the highway all the way back, which helped.

There was an Asian restaurant, Shinbashi, that we saw on the way up that had a "grand opening" sign, so we decided to stop there for lunch on the way back, figuring that after all the rich eating we should get something sort of healthy. We stuffed ourselves, of course :P Alicia shared her edamame with us (so simple but good). I had an Alaskan roll (avocado, cucumber, smoked salmon) and wanton soup. Garin got rock shrimp tempura (in a spicy sort of mayo sauce) and a "nanuto" roll (it had cucumber as the wrapper). Devin had a huge pile of teriyaki tofu. Alicia got avocado roll and crab rangoon. It was very good; we wished it was closer to where we live instead of in Ellsworth, ME. I recommend it if anyone's near there either living or traveling. Dinner, at McDonald's in Epping, NH, was much less stellar but we wanted something quick so we could continue on.

So we ended up getting home about 10 PM. I decided to forego unpacking and just get my lunch and self ready for work the next day, so I ended up in bed a little after 11. Today I feel rested enough and incredibly grateful for such a smooth trip with great times, food, friends and beautiful scenery and weather. :)

I don't know when we're going to be able to do it again (we have to take a look to see how much damage we did to the bank accounts), and we're going to have to spend, eat, and exercise like penitent monks to make up for it, but it was totally worth it.

The Trident of Merrow now available in paperback!

2011-08-24T09:54:00.000-04:00

Go here to purchase!

I realize I neglected to post way back that it's available on Kindle also. This is the book Kris and I wrote together, The Trident of Merrow. Here's a blurb:

Toshala Flemmish has been waiting for her chance for years.

A tomboyish steam mechanic, she has been beneath the notice of Germaine Billings since they were children. Today is different. Today, Tosh has a new dress, a new look, and will not be denied. Unless of course she's kidnapped by pirates at the behest of a monster from her childhood nightmares. Now Tosh is getting the attention she's wanted all along as her father sends Germaine in pursuit of the pirates.

The race through the seas and skies begins, and unless she can escape, Tosh will be sacrificed to resurrect a demon god who will plunge the island nations of Aquan beneath the ocean.

Personal note: Guys, I'm really sorry I'm so terribly neglectful of this blog. With a Wordpress blog for the writerly stuff, a private Twitter account for personal stuff and a public one for writing stuff, Facebook, Goodreads, working a day job... well you get the idea. A lot of my personal stuff goes on Twitter or on Facebook because people I actually know are actually reading it, unlike this thing, probably.

GAH, TOO MUCH SOCIAL MEDIA!

From the land of the ice and snow

2011-02-06T10:04:00.001-05:00

It may be because previous winters weren't so bad, or because the other place had an army of lads to get ice off the roof rather than one old man, but we never had ice dam water leak problems in our old place :(

This is some serious shit. He just got the blower in to get the carpet dry, got the ice and snow off the roof, and we got hit with ANOTHER huge snowstorm. I guess last night's brief ice storm was too much, because now we have water dripping down from the top of the OTHER bedroom window. If we end up with a wet carpet again I'll be pissed, but since maintenence didn't remove the blower, I guess we could just set it up again.

I want to move. :(

New app!

2011-02-04T08:50:00.001-05:00

So we Droid users finally have a Blogger app! Maybe this will make me blog more often (especially when I'd otherwise post a huge, multi Tweet thread).

Weird Dream Theater - The NIN Concert

2010-12-08T07:49:00.000-05:00

The premise behind this dream seemed to be that I was going to a Nine Inch Nails concert with some friends, those being Garin, people I know from work, and my friend Mike from high school. We were outside the venue (which seemed to be a sports stadium) and I wanted to take some things out of my purse before we went in and leave it outside (people seemed to be leaving a lot of stuff outside, since there were coats and bags everywhere). Eventually I ended up removing a tall trash bag full of candy from my purse (I was removing it a handful at a time and putting it in the trash bag) and everyone, including Garin, got fed up and went in without me.

After I gave up on my candy bag, I went in to look for them. The place looked like a movie theater on the inside (with lines and a ticket desk) and had a veritable maze of stairs, hallways, and rooms. I went up some stairs, down some others, walked through this dirt-filled stadium that looked like they raced dirt bikes in, etc. The whole time there were milling crowds of people around me.

I found Mike in one hallway and we went around trying to find everyone else. Once we stopped in a room that had a help desk like the ones they have in Borders or something to ask an employee to look up a book. Mike kept flirting with me, standing too close, grabbing my arm, etc. I was still married to Garin in the dream so this was weird.

Eventually we went through the halls again. I lost Mike somewhere along the way. I ended up in a small movie theater, like the ones they have at UNH in the MUB (yes I realize only fellow UNH alums will know what I mean). No NIN, no Trent. I guess either they canceled or were delayed, because instead they were playing Top 40 pop music and flashing stuff on the screen like they do before movies in some theaters (facts about the songs and bands, more in the style of those cable/satellite channels that only play music).

By the time I found where my friends were sitting, including Garin, and climbed over several rows to get there, I woke up.

National Novel Writing Month

2010-11-04T09:28:00.001-04:00

November is National Novel Writing Month, or as a lot of us call it, NaNoWriMo (or even shorter: NaNo). Here's more info about it, on the official site. I've never officially signed up or anything; apparently you check in with your word count everyday or something. I guess I'm not willing to make the time commitment, but I do use this month as an excuse to get going on projects I've left by the wayside.

It's not too easy finding the time to write. Now that I have a 40-50 minute each way commute, that's an hour and a half to two hours out of my day that I used to use for other things when I lived 5 minutes away from work. Add to that chores (me shouldering more of them because Garin's busy with school), working out (which is definitely a necessity - I'm still overweight and if I can't lose, I'm at least trying not to gain over the winter), cooking, spending time with Garin, and getting to bed on time. There are days when Garin is so busy with homework that we don't get to spend any time together aside from eating dinner, so I could do it then, but I have a lot of other things I like to do: baking, knitting, reading, video games, the TV shows we keep up with on Hulu and Adult Swim, etc.

NaNoWriMo is what people use as a way to cut all the excuses and make an effort to, for one month, try to hit a certain wordcount a day. It doesn't have to be good, or even a viable novel. It's just to get people to write and get in the habit of writing. No one expects to really get a whole novel out of one month; it takes a lot longer than that. But at least they might get a framework or a good chunk going.

Enough about the theory, on to what I'm actually doing:

Negatives: Short synopsis - Jane, a 17 year old amateur photographer, has returned to her old high school after getting kicked out of her private Catholic school for displaying nude photos at a school art fair. While at the mall with her friend Megan one day, she takes photos of a brother and sister, Aster and Cyrus Diego, who Megan says are rumored to be vampires. In the photos Jane sees what she thinks may be ghosts surrounding the pair. As Jane investigates, the Diegos become increasingly drawn to her to the point of obsession.

I finished Negatives a while ago, but like any story you let sit and re-read, I end up wanting to go back and change things. I altered a few things at the end, added more details here and there, and spiced up the scene where Jane and her old friend Glenn (named for Danzig, not Beck, btw) realize their attraction to each other.

Aside from Negatives, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to go back to what Kris and I had dubbed "The Witchbreed Chronicles," which started with...

The Trident of Merrow: Toshala "Tosh" Flemmish, 17-year-old, tomboy, freelance steam mechanic, has been kidnapped by Captain Jebidiah Blüd, one of the most feared pirates to sail the seas of Aquan. Blüd claims Tosh is payment for the loss of goods he blames on her merchant father, Hagen, but Tosh soon discovers Blüd is employed by a Strega, one of the nameless witches who worship Merrow, dark god of the sea. The Strega needs Tosh to find the titular artifact, which will grant her the power to control the sea itself. She puts Tosh under the care of her much-abused teenage son, Massimo, a "witchbreed" (as the Stregas' children are called) with the power to summon sea creatures by playing his flute. As Tosh and Massimo become friends (and more) they seek to stop the Strega's scheme. Meanwhile, Hagen has sent Germaine, his foster son, and his crew after Blüd to get Tosh back.

Trident of Merrow is complete and we submitted around for agents, submitted to one publisher who seemed interested but hasn't gotten back to us yet for sure. Sigh. There's a scene I want to fix that has to deal with Tosh sabotaging the steam engine of an airship. For some reason I thought steam engines would explode. Dumbass. >_< So, I can still make it work if I change a few assumptions and methods and whatnots.

I still can't figure out how to make the second novel, Witchbred, work, no matter how I try.

Either it's because I'm too caught up on what Kris and I got started, and since Kris isn't writing right now, there are certain scenes I feel I can't write simply because he knew what he wanted to do with them when he wrote the outline and I don't trust myself to guess. So far the general plot runs something like:

Brion Brinhold (Germaine's quartermaster) hunts pirates as captain of her own ship, the Strega's Folly, with her brother Gage, Massimo, and Tosh. While happy with Tosh, Massimo is moody and rebellious in the face of what he sees as unfair bias against witchbreed in the wider world and feeling that Brion doesn't respect him. Further trouble comes in the form of Evangeline, another witchbreed with whom Massimo forms a close bond, causing insecurity and jealousy in Tosh. In addition to this, the Folly clashes with the Order of Brayshaw, a collective of pirates and other malcontents who seek to overthrow the Crown, as well as the machinations of various factions of Strega looking to get their hands on Tosh and Massimo.

I've been listening to a lot of angsty music lately (no, me? Really? Pssh...) and so I'm more in the mood for brooding, anguished, badass Massimo, which means skipping ahead to...

Strega Hunter: Quick synopsis: After Tosh's reported death (hanged as a pirate in Sturmwald), Massimo seeks revenge against the Crown and the Strega by leaving Brion's ship to join the Order of Brayshaw, figuring their wide web of contacts is his best chance to find the witches. Meanwhile, a girl named Morgan Chaucer is trained in magic by Lady Bianca Nelson, one of the more benign faction of Strega known as the Traditrice (traitors) who turned against Merrow long ago. As Morgan's power grows, Strega machinations continue, Massimo learns the assassin trade from a man named Grynn, and Morgan continues to have strange dreams about a stranger with golden, catlike eyes...

I know none of these synopses make much sense to anyone who hasn't either talked to me about all this or read some of what I wrote about it (a lot of it hinges on stuff I haven't included above because, um, spoilers). The point, I guess, is that Strega Hunter was pretty much brainstormed and completely outlined by Kris, but neither of us had written anything of it yet, whereas we had started writing Witchbred and fleshing it out. So the third book has less... baggage. Plus, writing about Massimo being tormented by grief and burning with righteous rage is just so deliciously fun to write. I don't know why I love this brooding dark melodrama but I do oh so much. Morgan's part is harder, since on the surface it seems so innocuous, at least at first.

What I'm trying to do is just write without really thinking too hard about it. That is so hard to do, to turn off your inner editor during the first draft. Even professional writers have what is termed, most technically, "shitty first drafts" and we're supposed to just pour everything out, no matter how stupid it looks at the time. Another thing I'm trying to do is write whatever scenes are begging to be written even if they're out of sequence. Right now that means Massimo's more than Morgan's.

But first I have to, you know, sit down and DO it.

Bar Harbor Trip - 1 Year Anniversary

2010-10-05T10:29:00.001-04:00

This past weekend was my and Garin's one year wedding anniversary, so we planned a weekend trip to Bar Harbor. We took a weekend because we didn't want to spend more than we needed, plus it's tough for Garin to skip classes. Bar Harbor was where he went camping for his bachelor party, and he told me how nice it was and how he wished he could've brought me with, so I'd been wanting to go.

It was a long trip. It poured all day Friday, and we left at 1pm, taking about 6 hours to get there w/ a stop for lunch. When we arrived, it was pitch black and pouring off and on. I didn't see the scenery until the next day. We checked in and ventured out in the rain to have dinner, figuring we'd get our seafood urges out of the way. The more popular places were packed, so we ended up in this '50s-themed diner that also happened to have lobster (I think just about every restaurant had a steamed lobster option) for not much. I got that and he got lobster mac n' cheese. For inexpensive it was still pretty good. I don't know why the place was so deserted.

A lot of the shops were closed by the time we were done, so we window-shopped a little and got ice cream before heading back to go to bed.

The next day was clear, cool and windy. We ate the hotel's continental breakfast, went to the national park and drove to the sand beach first. Then Garin convinced me to climb The Beehive. I wasn't sure I was going to make it, since I've been fighting a mild head cold, and my legs felt like lead (after a day of not being used much, and it being morning, I shouldn't have been surprised). So it was trial by fire. The paths were not only soaked but turned into little brooks from the previous night's rain. Not exactly a good match with rocks and leaves.

Going up the Beehive wasn't easy, but more fun than a regular hike. I wasn't all that scared and it wasn't that hard until I got near the top and started to tire out. By then the climbing was more or less done and there was plentiful space to pace and drink some water while my heart rate slowed down (we were smart and brought the Nalgene in its sling on this trip). Climbing on real rocks (albeit aided by some metal rungs in the most difficult places) is much easier, in my opinion, than climbing a gym's rock wall. More handhold options, for one, and less vertical for two.

The path down the back was still pretty steep though not so much climbing down (I would not have wanted to climb down the side we climbed up! Not being able to see where you were going would make it much more treacherous). I ended up slipping twice: the first time I landed on one knee, the second on both of them. Nothing broken, though I twisted my ankles a little. You know when coaches say "walk it off"? It works (on minor injuries like this). Keeps it from stiffening up. It didn't hurt much once I got going again, no more than working out has normally hurt my shins and calves. Other than that, though, my legs felt much more energetic and I felt pretty good. Just needed some exercise, I guess!

I did tell him that it was the last hiking he'd make me do that weekend ;p I told him it's funny, every time we're on vacation I'd like to do a spa but he would rather hike and, well, hiking is less expensive :p Someday I will do a day spa thingie. Someday maybe I'll have a soaking tub (one of those ones that are shaped like an oblong bowl, not really a claw-foot but not a regular tub either) and I can spa myself at home. Soak in some salts and stuff, sounds nice.

We went to see the Thunder Hole, which was pretty cool. I didn't take photos, but I think even video wouldn't do it justice (but you can probably find one on YouTube or something, I haven't looked). It's so cool to see the water rush in and just get shot out with a boom. The water was so frothed up it looked like whipped cream.

We drove the loop road to the summit and walked around up there with a ton of tourists, many different languages being spoken. Then we decided to get some lunch. Went to some place called the Docksider and had a fried haddock sandwich (me) and a fried shrimp sandwich (Garin) and a cup each of chowder. Christ, even the chowder was at least $5 for a CUP of it up there. It was full of clams, though, and thin like the one we make ourselves instead of all floured up to be thick. I kinda like it like that.

We went to the nearby harbor (Northside, I think) to see if there were any harbor cruises. There was a cruise that went to a bunch of islands for shopping purposes, but I decided I'd rather spend the $24 per person on shopping in town if I was going to spend it anywhere.

Garin and I had planned to bike the carriage roads, but it was kind of chilly and we didn't want to get too worn out, so we figured we'd take a carriage ride. Wrong: you have to book in advance and they were full up for the whole weekend. Sigh... oh well, something for next time, I guess.

Instead we paid $3 apiece to look at a bunch of old arrowheads, axe heads, flintknapping tools, etc. Not worth the money, honestly. The wild garden was a little more interesting, though I think it would be better in the summer when things were blooming instead of slowly dying.

Back to the hotel with us! We changed clothes and went out window shopping. I got a blueberry soda from The Man Store (it was yummy) and since most shops will let you bring in your little yippy dog but not food or drink, we didn't go in most of them on one side of the road until we finished our sodas. This time we decided to brave the wait at Geddy's Pub (honestly, 20 min isn't that long of a wait). Garin remembered sharing some drink with someone last time "that was like a bucket of alcohol." Well, turns out it was a Volcano, and we split one while we waited for our pizza. Good wood-fired pizza, very nice. A little buzzed, we continued our window shopping although by then it was around 9 and places were closing down. Back to the hotel and bed.

Sunday was our last day, and we'd have to spend most of it traveling. We checked out and went to Jeannie's for breakfast, and it was good but waaaay too expensive. I mean really, $3 for a side of bacon that was THREE STRIPS OF BACON? I love bacon, but a dollar a strip was way too much to ask. I guess we should've gotten our money's worth with the lobster omelet Garin got last time, but we got pancakes instead. Ah well.

More shopping. I was hoping to find some of that Maine Tourmaline that everyone sells up there because it looks like watermelon and that's kinda neat. No such luck: even the beaded necklaces, with small beads, were at least $100. No thanks. I'm wondering if I could find it at Gemstar, and if it would cost less there.

We had our fill of shopping after a bit and decided that on our way out we would drive around the island. Well, it we underestimated the time it would take to do it, so we didn't make it all the way around. We saw enough, though, I think. Garin showed me where the campground was that he had stayed. We decided to take Route 1 more of the way than we had, since we were leaving earlier than we planned and could take the "scenic route." Well, the scenic route was mostly restaurants and shops selling the aforementioned tourmaline, blueberry-related stuff, lobster, weathervanes, etc.

The real problem was that we missed route 3. That, believe it or not, added something like another hour to the trip! We stopped in some town where the only way across the river was one single bridge, with an active rail crossing at the end of it, so the traffic was always nuts. We watched the parking lot where the car was and wondered how the hell we were going to make a left turn out of there when we left.

We went to this place called Sarah's Cafe. Now, this could probably be another blog post in itself. Right away I had misgivings when no one was at the hostess stand and we stood there for several minutes waiting to be noticed. Then we were seated at a table that had cash sitting on it because the waitress hadn't retrieved her tip. Overheard a table that got the wrong check. I got soup and sandwich, the soup was serve yourself with dire warnings "don't 'mound' please or we'll charge you for a refill ($1)." I went through four cups before I found one that didn't have crusted-on crud. The split pea was way too peppery.

Our food took forever to come out. It was good, mind you, and the homemade bread was very nice. It took forever to get our check, which had a payment already on it with change and everything. I suspect that someone accidentally got our check and paid it without realizing it. She brought us the wrong check the first time. The waitress didn't come back, so we took it to the register before we saw the sign saying to pay your server. Garin had left her a 10% tip. We finally paid up and left.

It seemed like it took forever to get out of Maine. People drove insanely on the highway, as always. Even once we got to New Hampshire, it was another two hours before we got home a bit before 8pm. Man was it a relief to be back.

So, the tl;dr version is: Bar Harbor was nice, the weather cooperated, we saw a lot of cool things and the drives to and from were really really long. Happy Anniversary to us (and many more)!

Invert is the Devil's effect

2010-09-29T07:23:00.001-04:00

How do you like my spoooooky profile picture? ;p

I wanted to put up a picture but didn't want to be so identifiable. I think it looks appropriately creepy.

It also kinda looks like I'm a drow.

What happens to a dream deferred?

2010-09-28T08:47:00.000-04:00

Honestly, never much liked that poem.

I don't like my job. Everyone who knows me is painfully aware of that, given how much I bitch. When I first started, the work was totally different, I had a lot of friends here, and I was busy but happy. Now it's like I'm just telling people overseas how to do the things I used to do and spend most of my time sitting on my hands, or writing entries like this one. I really really wish I could quit. If the economy was a little better or we weren't relying on my income and health insurance while Garin gets his physics degree, I might just do it. As it is, nothing I'm qualified for interests me, and even the things I'm not qualified for and are available are uninteresting.

Everyone suggests training in this or that, but I can't see putting all that effort into training in something I have no interest in, just to get a job I don't really want except as an escape from here. One hell into a lesser hell?

I don't regret going to college for English. I really enjoyed my time there and I studied something I enjoy. I still enjoy writing, I really do, but it's looking more and more like it's going to stay a lifelong hobby. And honestly, that's fine. It comes in fits and starts just like the rest of my hobbies. I'm in a bit of a drought right now, for instance. They always end, and I'm not as anxious about them as I used to be, and maybe it's because I'm feeling kind of gloomy about everything lately but it feels like I've been watching a dream die slowly and thinking, "just pull the plug already."

At first I thought that once Garin finishes school and gets a job good enough to support us both (I may be dreaming here), I'd quit and be a happy housewife, writing during the day. In my career aspirations, after I stopped caring about appearances and good-looking lies, I'd written that my long-term career goal was being a published novelist.

I've always known that as "careers" go, writing isn't one of those lucrative ones, unless you hit the lottery of "bestseller" and even then, it's still not much of a jackpot. I still have hopes of publishing a novel someday, but as I've been working my everyday job, that thought hasn't been enough to sustain me.

Maybe it's partly because my co-author doesn't seem so interested in writing anymore, much less trying to get our current novel out anywhere. We've been waiting on a reply from a publisher for months now and the longer it is, the less I think it'll happen. Yes, I could be proactive and do it myself, but why try and get a novel out when the three planned sequels aren't likely to happen?

I could write them myself, like Garin suggested, but that's not really the point. Kris thought of most of the plotline. He knows (or knew at the time) what he wanted to happen in certain scenes. I have the outline but I don't know what to do with certain parts of it. As for going off on my own thing, I'm not sure how. And the whole joy of writing this thing was writing it together, blending ideas, writing styles, bouncing things off of each other, throwing it back and forth until it was smooth, like a pebble in a rock tumbler. Without that, and without motivating each other, it's just going to sit, like it is now.

Maybe I got too dependent on his idea floods and now I can't think of anything on my own. That's what I'm afraid of. I never expected our lives to change so much that we'd barely even talk to each other anymore.

I've toyed with the idea of being a pastry chef ever since I started decorating cakes at Shaw's back in college and realized how fun it was and how good I am at it. It's art, really, and I've always loved being creative and turning out something beautiful. I love baking and making desserts, though I've never gotten all that complicated on my own. Now people keep suggesting I go into it.

So, instead of looking at the job boards and getting depressed, I started looking at programs. SNHU has an associates program in baking and pastry arts that looks pretty good. And now that the wheels are turning, I'm seriously considering it. The current idea is that when Garin gets his BS and gets a job, instead of just quitting and cleaning the house and baking bread all day, I'll look into enrolling into this program or one like it. For the first time in, I think, ever, I'm thinking of starting an actual real-life career in something I enjoy doing. I've never thought about being any kind of "career woman" and have always thought, like my dad, that "it's a job, I do it to make money, it's not my life."

I kind of wish I'd thought of this back in high school (though I hadn't started cakes or even much baking or cooking back then and didn't realize I was into that sort of thing) before taking all that time getting a functionally useless degree. But then, if I hadn't gone to UNH I wouldn't have met Garin and my life would be a lot different right now. Plus, like I said above, I don't really regret the English degree. It's just that I'm starting the career thing "late" and I have a feeling my family will be thinking, "Well when the hell are you going to have kids? Pretty soon it'll be too late!" Still, I don't think I can think that way. Having kids really takes up years and years of your life, and by the time they're old enough for me to think about getting into something like this, I'll have changed my mind. I think I have to do it while my resolve is fresh.

Maybe I'm not meant to have kids after all. I guess we'll find out.

Be kind to those who serve you

2010-09-16T09:11:00.002-04:00

I always say that everyone should work retail for at least a month, in order to see what it's like on the other side of the counter so perhaps everyone would be a little more understanding and civil. There are good and bad employees as there are good and bad customers. It's just that customers always have a little more power in the situation.

I can see getting irate when an employee simply refuses to offer a solution or try to help you at all. When an employee is being obstructive, then anger is understandable (even if not wise). When an employee is trying everything they can to satisfy you, give them a fucking break, people!

What brings this on, you might ask? Well, I was in Borders yesterday, buying Crashed and Wired. I couldn't find Wired (just came out) but my cashier was super sweet and looked in the back for me and found it there. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

When I walked up to the registers, there was an older man, British accent, arguing with one of the other cashiers. I didn't get the whole story but from what I could glean it seemed he had ordered a magazine and they didn't have it. It seemed like maybe he took too long to pick it up and they put it back into general circulation or something. He was pissed, and he was taking it out on the girls behind the counter. The usual, "I can't believe this. This is ridiculous!" and etc, muttered maybe my way in hopes I would sympathize, but he wasn't the one I sympathized with.

The girls were doing whatever they could. They found out that the Concord store had a copy. One of the girls mentioned she was going by the Concord store the next day and could pick it up and drive it up here for him. Now that is above and beyond. I would never presume to impose like that (in fact, I was afraid to impose on my cashier when she offered to go hunt in the back for my book, but she was so "no big deal at all!" that I said yes). No good for this guy, he wouldn't be back until Wednesday and he wanted it now now now. Right, okay, if you get mad enough then they'll use their magical powers to conjure one out of thin air. Everyone knows that. ::rolls eyes::

It became clear that this was his best option, so he agreed. He needed to order it over the phone from them (they had the other store on the phone) and the girl said, "You have to pay with a credit card. Can you do--?" "No!" he shouted. "CASH!"

By now I was pissed at him myself. I'd been super timid and sweet to my cashier in an attempt to, I dunno, counterbalance him? To remind them that the rest of us aren't all like that? I don't know, and I wonder if that's the reason my cashier was acting so sweet (she did seem the almost overly friendly type, though).

They managed to work something out. He started dictating some more, "When you go to pick it up, remember it's this thick." He held out his finger and thumb something like an inch apart. "And it's not a MAGAZINE, don't call it a MAGAZINE, it's a soft-covered journal..." Oh great, rude, irate AND pompous. A winning combination! He said he teaches up here. I have a feeling he's a Dartmouth prof. It would figure.

I rolled my eyes. My cashier smiled and I smiled back apologetically, I guess in apology for the stranger who was ruining everyone's day. I'd been there. I'd been the one accused of "bait and switch" and all the rest. It fucking sucks and I hate to see it inflicted on anyone else. That's why I go out of my way to be pleasant to retail workers most of the time. They need something to keep them from eying their wrists and that razor.

All the way home I thought of ways I should have told him off. Everything from, "Why is this so important? Is someone going to DIE because you couldn't get this today?" to admonishing him for being so horrible to people who were trying everything they could to please him. I'm too timid to ever do so, but maybe one day I'll have the courage to do what those poor girls couldn't, because the customer is always right (yeah right) and no matter what abuse they take they can't defend themselves.

Hit the beach, no need for tanning oil

2010-08-12T07:12:00.001-04:00

Saw this ^ ad at the top of my e-mail page today. There are no words. Not many, anyway.

Should I make fun of the "whole other country" thing or the fact that they're suggesting we hit their (oil soaked) beaches?

Forgive my rudeness, but I'm of the opinion that we should give it back to Mexico (if they even want it back). If they want to actually be another country, that's fine with me. Let's just say I won't be updating my passport to go there.

Ed and Shellie's wedding weekend

2010-08-09T08:33:00.000-04:00

I had a good weekend! It started Friday, which I took off because we attended the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner (Garin did a reading at the wedding so we were included). The vineyard (Flag Hill Winery in Lee, NH) was beautiful, a lovely setting. Dinner was at Rosa's in Portsmouth. I had spinach garlic ravioli in a cream pesto sauce. The photographer was there and at one point asked if he could take a photo of my and Garin's drinks before we started in on them. That was kind of awkward... After dinner, the guys went out for a night on the town while Jess and I went back to the hotel room that we were all sharing.

The wedding itself was very nice, and the weather couldn't have been better: warm but not too hot, a good breeze, no rain, low humidity. I was in a good position to take photos so I got a lot of good ones. Garin did a good job on the reading. Shellie was lovely and everything went smoothly. Since we were at a vineyard, I tried a couple of their fruit wines (raspberry and blueberry). They were delicious! I also tried a shot of their maple liqueur, and that was also very tasty but definitely a sipper, not a shooter (as Misha and Garin found out the hard way). Dinner was great (especially the mashed potatoes) and we danced more than we ever had at a wedding. I guess we had the energy. Shellie was full of energy but crashed at the end of the night as I figured she would. Getting married is exhausting. So we went on to the after party without her and Ed.

The Portsmouth Brewery was really packed, and some of our friends had gone to the Coat of Arms so Garin and I went there instead. I had a Candy Apple martini and then later what was basically an alcoholic milkshake (Chocolate Raspberry). Pretty much we all drank and partied less than we thought we would because we were tired, but that's probably for the best. We hung around there until around midnight and went back to the hotel.

Jess and Misha had to scoot Sunday morning because Jess had to work later, so Garin and I met Alicia, Devin, and Ben at IHOP. There was a crowd, as usual, but we got in pretty soon after everyone arrived (they don't seat you 'til the entire party's there anyway). We stuffed ourselves and then Ben split and the rest of us went to the beach.

We parked on the side of the road in Rye and set up in a relatively rock-free area. The tide was going out but still far enough in that when I went out to wave jump, I had unsteady footing on slippery rocks. I wore my sandals in but it only helped a little. The water was cold but strangely it doesn't bother me when I'm at the ocean and standing in the waves. I stood in up to my knees and looking out, feeling that strange pull, and before I knew it I was wading in deeper. So I stayed out there until my legs gave out from all the slipping around and trying to keep my balance. Garin and I went out again later on once the tide went out far enough that we could stand on sand in the water, but I didn't go in as deep or stay as long.

Alicia brought a kite and managed to get that going pretty high for a while. There was a steady breeze, and the sun peeked out from time to time but mostly it was cloudy. Temperatures were pretty mild and the humidity wasn't too much. We made some sand creatures, did crosswords, napped, waded. It was so nice. I have to get to the beach at least once a summer. I miss the coast a ton; the river isn't the same at all.

A few hours later we got hungry and so we picked up, changed (we managed to use several towels to create a decent enough changing room in the back of the car) and went to Ray's for an early dinner. I got fried clams and made the mistake of using the lemon wedge provided. Lemon doesn't go so well with those suckers. About now the scratchy throat I woke up with was starting to get more sore, despite the liberal application of pink lemonade.

After we ate, we went back to the cars, said goodbye, and went our separate ways. Garin and I got home about 7:40 pm or so, and I managed to unpack, clean up the dishes I didn't have time for on Friday before we left, rinsed the salt off in the shower, packed my lunch and got ready for bed by 8:59, so I got to sleep on time. This morning I woke up with a sore throat and am feeling generally cruddy, but I came in. If I get worse, I may stay out a day or two this week. We'll see how it goes. I could have caught something from anyone: our group has the bad habit of tasting each other's drinks. Didn't we learn anything in kindergarten? Oh well, I just hope I wasn't the Typhoid Mary and that everyone else stays healthy.

18th Century Internet

2010-08-04T10:12:00.000-04:00

This is a current Twitter meme that I'm enjoying a lot. I posted several, but since my feed is protected, the larger world may never see them. So I'm posting them here. More to come if I think of them:

Who hath purloined mine bucket?
Ye have induced such mirth in me that I cannot help but proclaim it audibly!
I find this sore amusing; I am driven to the floor with paroxysms of laughter!
Prithee, what is your vintage, lady/lordship, and place of residence?
Hark, that lady thither is a matron with whom I would enjoy fornicating.
Seeking social intercourse with fellow citizens of foreign parentage such as Moors and Iberians?
Reduce a mote of thy bulk per day with this passing strange old tip: tightlacing thy corset.
Reveal thy bust or quit this place forthwith!

Word peeves: celibate

2010-08-02T13:20:00.000-04:00

I'm kind of annoyed that "abstaining from sex" is the first definition of celibate. That's how people use it nowadays, as a synonym of "chaste." But whenever someone says, "I'm staying celibate until marriage" I just want to say, "Yes. Yes you are. By definition."

From Dictionary.com:

cel·i·bate
/ˈsɛləbɪt, -ˌbeɪt/ Show Spelled[sel-uh-bit, -beyt]

–noun
1.a person who abstains from sexual relations.

2.a person who remains unmarried, esp. for religious reasons.

–adjective
3.observing or pertaining to sexual abstention or a religious vow not to marry.

4. not married.

The Phantom Snark: China Delight... isn't

2010-07-30T07:30:00.002-04:00

Welcome to a new feature of my refreshed blog: The Phantom Snark, where I review various things (restaurants, businesses, products) as I feel like it. Today's victim:

China Delight of Claremont, NH
I'll warn you right off: they must have taken the photos for this site right after the place opened, because it does NOT look like that now. It is dim, dingy, and depressing inside. Scroll down to see the menu: you'll notice the "dinner for one" choices are all combinations of Pu-Pu Platter items. That was my first warning.

Now, if I had bothered to look at the reviews for this place, Garin and I would have steered clear. Gross food, poor service... well we saw it for ourselves.

The place looked like it was once nice... probably when Mr. Moody more or less owned the town in the heyday of the mills. It could have been a bank or hotel lobby, perhaps. Now the chandeliers are half burnt out and the place is just kind of dim, filled with nice furniture that is totally out of place with the rest of the atmosphere.

The staff barely noticed us when we walked in (there was no hostess). One waitress appeared to be socializing with one party. So we kind of stood there waiting to be noticed until one of them came over and showed us to our table.

I looked at the menu, saw the aforementioned "dinners for one" and got that sinking feeling that I was in a shitty Chinese restaurant.

Now a little background: I used to love Chinese when I was a kid, and we had it rarely. Then when I was older, my parents ordered it out so often that I got tired of it. The worst Chinese I'd had up to this point was from the Panda Express in Amherst, NH, which I'm not sure exists anymore. It wasn't inedible, just blah.

Garin and I decided to order "Four Delightful" and some vegetable lo mein. While that was being taken care of, I glanced around and saw:

It looks like they have to bring the food up from a lower floor, up some stairs. Recipe for disaster, you ask me.
I could see into what is either some part of a kitchen or other back room on the same floor as us, and saw those big, white, plastic buckets that just make you think that they pour all the food ready-mixed from buckets and heat it up. Barftastic.
Against the back wall, with no partition up to hide it from view, they have a table set up where apparently the waitresses hang around, put all their junk on, drink and do the books. If you have to do that, at least put up one of those paper screens... it would even add to the damn theme, if you could call it that.

The waitress wasn't rude, just indifferent (she ended up getting, I think, a 14% tip, which is the lowest we've given in quite a while). She came by once to ask how things were (I always unthinkingly parrot, "Good" even if the food is hideous) and then seemed to ignore us even when we were clearly ready for the check and sitting there awkwardly.

As to the food: the "Four Delightful" was swimming in sauce, drowning in brown slop that tasted like a combination of soy and teriyaki. In comparison, the vegetable lo mein was merely bland. I ate a little because I was hungry, but I was so grossed out that I couldn't finish even the small amount I put on my plate.

When she asked if we wanted to take any of it home, we refused the "Four Delightful" but Garin boxed up the lo mein, despite my warnings that he'd be eating it all on his own. I think we brought it home, it sat in the fridge for several days, and then we tossed it out.

While we were waiting for our check, I looked at the online reviews for the place, something I should have done before. One star all the way around. I couldn't help but agree. Even if you're looking for "American Chinese" food and have a family that usually only gets the Pu Pu platter, pass this place up. It's not just lousy, it's actively awful.

The Mystery of the Inaudible Alarm

2010-07-29T07:05:00.004-04:00

So, this morning I woke up, and right away realized something was wrong. It was something in the quality of the light: it was brighter than it usually was when I get up. I grabbed my phone to check the time.

It said 6:49. That’s ten minutes before I usually leave in the morning.

“Fuck!” I said, waking Garin. I checked the alarm to see if I’d somehow shut it off in a stupor and fallen back asleep. It said “silenced after 10 minutes” which is what it does if you ignore it or don’t hear it.

The alarm (which is a loop of the chorus for Dethklok's "Awaken") had been going off right next to my head for TEN MINUTES and neither of us woke up. O_o

I think only a morning person such as myself could go from zero to sixty as fast as I did. I jumped out of bed and into the shower. Then I leapt into clothes, skipped makeup and doing anything with my hair (got a cut yesterday, it does all right by itself, I love short hair), brushed teeth, went downstairs and poured a container of cereal and another container of milk (I didn’t want to give myself indigestion by gulping it down before I left; I’d eat it at work after I relaxed), threw it in my lunch bag (so glad I pack that the night before), decided I’d have the work coffee (it’s not too bad), gathered my things and went to my car.

I pulled out of the parking lot at 6:06. I knew at this point that I’d definitely make it on time (the time I left at 6:15 when experimenting with when to leave, I got to work five or ten minutes before work started) so I could relax. I had to stop for gas so I did that. Then I drove through the usual traffic and road construction (nothing too vexing) and got here with ten minutes to spare.

It’s times like these when I’m glad that my normal schedule gets me to work twenty minutes early. Sure, people think I’m nuts, but days like this when I get up “late,” which is about the time lots of my coworkers get up, I still have enough time to get in without driving recklessly.

Any man who says a woman can’t get ready in under an hour even if her life depended on it can suck it now. XD

Neveready

2010-07-28T09:12:00.000-04:00

Some of my friends have already decided they don't want to have kids. I never did get into the subject of whys with them; I'm sure they have their reasons. Garin and I have decided sure, someday, when we really feel like it. This took some convincing on my part, since he seems he'd be perfectly happy not having any.

I'm in my late 20s now and wondering if I'll ever feel like it, or if it'll be too late by the time I do. Okay, I know it's never really too late to, say, adopt, but considering the process that goes with that, it seems like make-your-own is less of a hassle. And a lot more fun (winknudge).

Among my reasons for not wanting a kid now (no house, Garin has no job) is a selfish one: I feel as though I have precious little goof-off time as it is, and I don't want to give up the time I have. Okay, so I sleep 8 hours, work 8 hours. Where does the other 8 hours go? Well, getting ready for work and driving there, driving home and doing chores and errands. Making dinner, doing dishes, that sort of thing besides shopping, going to the library, various appointments. Sometimes I get an hour to an hour and a half for Garin and I to hang out, either watching something on Hulu or one of us playing a game or playing one together. Add my hobbies (reading, crochet, jewelry-making, writing) to this and where the hell would I have the time to raise a kid?

It's a full-time job. And I know it's not easy. I guess I'm just not ready to dive into all that. But yeah, I am a little scared that I'll never be ready. Well, what's the worst that can happen? I get to my 60s and I'm alone with no family, no offspring to take care of me or be my legacy? Well yeah, that sounds kinda sucky but also maybe not the best reason for having children.

I guess one day the urge will just hit us? Or it'll happen by accident @_@

Reboot

2010-07-27T07:38:00.000-04:00

After reading a lot of junk about people being burned for their "youthful indiscretions" online, and the idea that you can let old things "expire" after awhile, I decided to start Epiphanation over again. Same name, same URL, but all the old posts are gone (I did export them to my computer, so I can still look at them).

I don't even know if I'll post much: I tend to be a Twitter junkie instead (and it's protected, so you need to request to follow it). But if I do, it'll be here.