I learned something new today from this website: Writer's Almanac

"Isaac Asimov died in 1992 after contracting AIDS from an HIV infected blood transfusion he received during a 1982 open heart surgery operation."

I was past my 18th birthday by 1992 - why don't I remember this happening?

What more could a cultural antrhopologist ask for? It's an analysis of google's traffic/search patterns for the year. Thanks for sharing, google!

For your entertainment: a story about my brother's kid. This one is still a very small baby (Caleb) - or at least he was when this happened. Being the amazing child he is, he slept through the night within a month of being born. He's pretty cheerful when he wakes up, too.

Still, he was sleeping in the crib in his parents room because the nursery wasn't ready yet (and the parents weren't ready to have him all the way across the hall). So one morning my brother woke up to his usual morning radio-alarm. But it was a day he could sleep in, so he hit the "snooze" button for another ten minutes of quiet. Of course, that's when the baby started to fuss... and fuss... and fuss... it was quite unusual for him. His mother got up and tried to console him to no avail. He fussed for ten minutes and then the radio-alarm-clock went off again.

And he settled right down.

Only a few months old and he's already in charge of what music gets listened to in the house. His parents even ran a little experiment to see if it was all just a coincidence. No, he really really likes listening to music. So far he hasn't shown a preference for one kind over another, but something tells me that won't last long.

Books: Too much christmas shopping to get any writing done.

One of the many reasons I like my parents so much is that no matter how old they get, they're still young at heart. Today is my father's birthday. He's well into his sixties and my mother isn't far behind. An extra brother and his wife are here for the holidays, so there's a not-small group of us here at the house.

For his birthday we all went to a matinee of "National Treasure." It being not a new, new movie and it being 3:30 in the afternoon we managed to have the entire theater to ourselves. Private screening. Sweet. We talked loudly, threw things, took up two rows with all our coats etc. and the ticket-taker brought us popcorn refills. Then we sang happy birthday over the end credits.

Upon our return home, my father was presented with a clue for his own treasure hunt. They were cute little riddles my mother spent a few hours making up this afternoon. She made them all rhyme, which was fun.

I saw the movie a few weeks ago so I provided suggestions. The first clue was hidden outside in the snow (and we made plenty of jokes about needing snow cats and a big explosion for effect) another one was hidden on the back of the copy of the constitution my mother has on the wall in the hallway. Along the way he found his various presents along with a clue. One of them required that he sit down and have his birthday dinner before he found the last one (taped to the bottom of the cake plate) and finally his last - big - present was hidden in the storage/play room under the basement stairs. It was a printer, so quite the treasure.

Anyway, he's planning to retire next year, yet gets into the spirit of a themed birthday party. Aren't I lucky?

PS. Enjoyed the movie both times. It stands up to a second viewing very well although it's really a good movie, not a great one. There are several plot holes, but the funny lines make up for it. "Your dad has a sweet ride."

Books: Another reader reported in. Another mostly-thumbs-up report. She complained that it's a draft, but that could possibly be because the last thing she read from me was a lot closer to a final draft than a first draft. Anyway, the plot thickens.

I actually got Christmas cards in the mail this year! Some of them _might_ even arrive before Saturday. Some of them might not arrive at all since I guessed on some of the addresses.

Also I played with the sealing wax I got for Christmas last year. I'm quite curious about three things:

1) how will the old-fashioned seals make it through the modern mail machinery?

2) Where can I buy more sealing wax? I love this stuff. It's an opportunity to play with fire, squish things and end up with something pretty. What more could I ask for?

3) How do you clean off a seal that has wax stuck in the tiny grooves? I discovered this happens (and worse) if you use a seal that's too warm. (For instance, if you've been trying to clean it off by melting the wax off in the candle.) I've tried most of the usual remedies. I'm not sure the wax is close enough to candle wax to have the old-wives-methods work. I'm wondering if there's a long lost art of keeping your seals clean, and where can I find out about it in this age of information? I'll keep you posted.

You really must go see... my brother has done a little photoshopping. He's looking forward to being a dad. Fixed up some pictures to give some idea of what it'll be like.

Devin's blog

Okay, so yesterday it sort of occurred to me - hey, I have a blog out there somewhere, don't I? Yeah, when my chi is unbalanced apparently I forget things. Sort of coming back to normal now, though. Well, at least what passes for normal.

Today we went on the traditional annual Christmas Tree Hunt. This time I brought my camera along so those of you who don't know what it's really like to get a Christmas tree can be educated, and those of you who have been on the hunts previous years can relive some memories.

It's got everything... love, death (several), devotion, weapons, and a triumphant traditional ending - grilled cheese, tomato soup and all.

But I'm not going to stay up late putting the pictures up tonight. I'm prepping Breakfast with Santa Claus for some local kids at the unbearably early hour of 8:30am. (Not my idea)

Books: I got up the guts to give two chapters to my brother, father, sister and friend Sarah. The general consensus is "confusing, but in a good way. i think."

Taking the long view... I'm feeling pretty good.

Living in the moment... bleagh. I think my chi has gone into hiding.

Not feeling that great, not getting much done. Mostly feeling motivated to work on the Christmas presents I'm making for my brother's family. As it's a surprise, I can't go into much detail now, but I'm sure I won't be able to help bragging about it later. I'm humble like that.

It's a tactile thing that doesn't require much focus once you get going. Good for me and my absent chi. Not good for being real productive toward paying gigs or cleaning my house. But I tell myself... for everything there is a season.

Books: can't..... focus.... batman....

Have you ever wanted to shoot reindeer with a tranquilizer blowgun dart? Now you can! In this fun little game from my flash-game-designer brother-in-law, Tom.

Reindeer Games

It ranks right up there with what we used to lovingly call the "Santapult." I wonder if that's still out on the net somewhere. We made it back in '97 I think. The dark ages of the Internet.

Watched "Iron Monkey" this evening. I really enjoy it so much more watching it in Chinese with English subtitles. It's amazing how much acting is in the voice of the original actors. It's the combination, I suppose, of voice and movement - especially of the eyes. But I'm surprised how empty the elements are alone.

Also tonight I helped my younger brother get ready for a date. He's 21 so it's certainly not his first, but I was sewing on buttons and reminding him of good old American table manners since he's been in Europe for a while. Made me feel very domestic.

Books: Working on a user manual these days. That and making Christmas presents keeps me busy.

Books: Tonight I worked on an editing project. It's for a book about how to write narrative for video games. I'm involved in it with a group of other Industry writers. I have to admit it's a little weird to spend so much time thinking/working on meta-writing. Writing about Writing. Makes my head start to hurt.