I start blogs here, there, and everywhere. 

But here are links to my latest two

My "personal" blog:

and my Library-themed blog:

Email SlimpsyBoogins@yahoo.com

And here are some DIY blog entries from when I'm

mad at blogspot or livejournal or whatever:

September 4th, 2010

          I recently started an actual blog through Blogger.  Mine is called "Smells Like Library."  I put a navigation button for it above.  I know some other Librarians and Library techs who have library-related blogs, and it just seemed like fun.  Mainly because I have LOTS of thoughts and opinions about books and library stuff, and I can only torture my husband with that so much.

ORANGE STREET FAIR

          Damn it is HOT today.  It just figures, because this is the weekend of the City of Orange "Street Fair," and it's always hotter than a pig's asshole for that.  I've lived in Orange all my life, and we've always gone to Street Fair, and always complained about how hot and crowded and gross it is.  But, being an Old Orange family, we are obligated to go.  Not sure why.  It's a compulsion of some kind.

          They block off the circular plaza and the first block in each of the four directions.  Each street is a different International theme, so on Asian Street you have sushi and stuff, on the Switzerland Street (or whatever it is) you have some little round pancakes called abelskiver, etc.  Most of the booths are run by obnoxious organizations like high schools, or churches, Boy Scouts, Lions Club, and other crap like that.  There are booths for the Democratic and Republican parties, each handing out little paper fans on sticks with their candidates' names.

          And BEER, BEER, and more BEER.  Most people go to Street Fair to eat themselves into a grease-smeared coma and get drunk and listen to really loud music by shitty cover bands. 

          So of course we went to Street Fair on Friday night, as soon as it opened.  I guess just to get it over with.  The first "band" we saw performing on the main stag in the plaza was a bunch of teenage boys with a singer who was obviously supposed to be the OC's answer to Justin Bieber.  Yes, it was THAT bad.

          I had 2 1/2 beers, which is a lot for a mostly non-drinker like me, ate some pizza, ran into an old cousin-several-times-removed, and then we hit the road.  Ended up at Barnes & Noble, which is way better.

HAUNTED ORANGE GHOST WALKS

(It was only a matter of time)

          A notable new presence at Street Fair this year was a gothed-out booth for the "Orange County Paranormal Society," and "Haunted Orange Ghost Walks."  My response to it was exactly the same response I have to Street Fair.  I looked at the cheesy booth, thought, "Oh my god, that is SO LAME," and headed right for it.

          They were really going for a Haunted Mansion look, with black wreaths and faux-Victorian decor.  But I am a sucker for that, unfortunately.  Even my mom and my aunt were drawn to it, mostly because they grew up in Orange, and know the town and its families intimately.  We may end up going on one of these historical ghost tours, and we will be TOUGH CUSTOMERS.  I will keep my arms crossed with disbelief the whole time.

          I'm actually third-generation Old Orange.  My grandfather and his 8 brothers all graduated from the same high school I did.  So did my mom & dad.  That cousin-several-times-removed I ran into at Street Fair on Friday night was the principal's secretary at my high school.  Weird, right?

August 16th, 2010

AAnthony & Ramona Szczerba

The Last Supper

The original "Mary Ann" & me

(she's a former student, and shares a name with my female protagonist in "Wonderland")

Picture I doodled at the SLG booth

Another con doodle

And another

Now THIS one is destined to become

a classic

August 14th, 2010

          Last night from 5 to 7 I signed copies of the new comic for a bunch of really nice people who showed up thanks to Beach Ball Comics' awesome publicity skills.  I got to sit at a custom-built (by owner Thomas Gaul) counter for special guests which is raised so that I wasn't craning to look up at people.  Plus they had a cup full of various Sharpies for me to use, my comics nicely-displayed across the counter-top, and even hot coffee and cold drinks behind me on a little bar-type thing. 

          When the signing was over, the owners took us to dinner at Park Ave., a most fancy restaurant we didn't even know was right there in Anaheim.  They grow their own produce and herbs and things in a garden, and they invite you to walk through it whenever you want.  We ate outside and there were pretty white globe lanterns hanging from a big tree.

          Two people in our party ate ANTELOPE.  Dude.

ESTHER

          In household news, Anthony and I adopted a 2-year old Chihuahua mix from the shelter!  We named her Esther, and she's adorable and cuddly.  Can you believe she was already potty-trained?  What a clever little minx.  We got her a pink polka-dot collar with matching leash.  I know that's gender stereotyping, but we've never had a girl pet before, and she hasn't complained about it, yet.

          Her favorite toy is a fuzzy squeaky bunny, and she sleeps all night curled up between us like a little cinnamon bun.

          Before she was turned in to the pound as a stray, someone had shaved her hair off for some stupid reason, so we had to sign a release when we adopted her, saying that we understood they didn't think it was because of a health condition, but couldn't be 100% sure.  Our vet says she's fine, and her hair is already starting to grow back nicely.  We figure some 'tard was allergic to her, or she had fleas, and they thought shaving her would fix the problem.  Poor little naked girl dog.  She looked like one of those hairless dogs at first.

2010 COMIC-CON

          I had one of the best years ever at Comic-Con.  Things seemed to go really smoothly, from taking the train down to San Diego, getting picked up quickly by our hotel's shuttle service, getting our badges instantly at the convention center (no waiting!), and seeing lots of cool friends and fans.

          Our friend Matt went with us this year and shared our hotel room, which was totally fun. 

          Doing signings at the SLG booth was great, as always.  I love chatting with the other creators, and with our publisher, Dan.  I bought a vintage My Little Pony named Sky Rocket, with glitter body and tinsel mane, and I tried to make Dan pet her silky mane, but he said, "Don't come near me with that thing!"  Then when I tried to convince him that petting her silky mane would make him feel better, he shouted, "I'M NOT TOUCHING THAT GOD-DAMN PONY!"

          Dan's really fun, and despite the fact that he's a pony-hater, I really enjoyed getting to hang out with him.

          I got to meet Ann VanderMeer, editor of "Weird Tales" magazine, and have a nice talk with her, then saw her and her husband, author Jeff VanderMeer, speak about their various works.

          I saw a bunch of former students from the school where I work.  It was great, because a large group of them who graduated in June wanted to go to dinner with me, so I got to visit with them before they all scatter to colleges far and wide.  We wanted a group picture, and one of them suggested we pose like the Last Supper, with me as Jesus.

          Before I started my signings on Sunday we met for coffee with Ramona Szczerba, our friend who is a brilliant collage artist and steampunk enthusiast.  She was the one who told us about the VanderMeer panel, since she has done some freelance for Jeff and Ann.

          I should have written about the convention sooner, so I'd remember more details, but right after we got back I went back to work in the school library, busily preparing for registration and orientation, and then we adopted Esther, and we've just had lots of stuff going on.

          Part of that "stuff" was that documentary director John Wellington Ennis arranged to come to our house to interview Anthony about Monopoly.  Anthony did a great post on his "Pop Circus" blog about the history of the game, including some drama about who the real creator was, and John happened to see that, because he's doing a film called, "Pay 2 Play," which uses Monopoly and its sordid history to illustrate political campaign funding corruption.  (Hope I got all that right!  Whew!)

          John set up his professional film equipment right in our living room, with the giant light, the big microphone, big camera on a tripod, etc.  Anthony acted like a total pro on camera, and it was really cool.  I skulked around in the background, trying not to get in the way.  But I took some cool pictures of it.        

The most adorable little Esther

Her pink girlie collar

Anthony & John Ennis

Anthony in the bright lights

July 28th, 2010

          I just now discovered that Andy Hirsch, the amazing artist illustrating "The Royal Historian of Oz," has a new blog/website.  Here it is:

http://aforandy.com/follow/

          Why don't nobody tell me these things?!

July 9th, 2010

          I was standing in line at the ATM, waiting for a mom with three wily little girls to finish her transaction.  The girls were about 5 to 7 years old.  Two of them were holding hands and dancing. 

          One of the dancing girls said, "What if the whole world was made of Oreo cookies?  Millions of Oreo cookies?"

          The other dancing girl replied, "We could eat our HOUSE!"

          "And all the bushes!"

          The third girl had been standing to the side, watching the other two warily.  She primly added, "I can only eat TWO cookies."

          The dancing girls immediately replied, "Okay, you eat two cookies and we'll eat ALL THE REST!"

June 26th, 2010

          Well, "The Royal Historian of Oz" #1 is supposed to be a June release, and SLG assures me it will be in stores the very last week of June at the latest.  And that means this week. 

          I've been invited by two local comic shops to do signings to promote it.  One is Metropolis Comics in Bellflower, and the other is Beach & Ball Comics in Anaheim, not 10 minutes from where I toil during the daylight hours.

          Here's what I've agreed to at this point: Pre Comic-Con Signing/Party at Metropolis Comics on Wednesday, July 14th, from 6 to 8pm.  They said Doug TenNapel (Earthworm Jim, Catscratch) will be there, and possibly Steve Niles (30 Days of Night).  I've met Steve before and he's very nice. 

          As soon as I get my copies of RHofO#1, I'll set up an in-store signing with Beach & Ball Comics.

WHY THIS WEEK HAS SUCKED LIKE ASS LEECHES

Auto registration sticker ripped off:

          It began last Friday when I got pulled over by a fucking cop because apparently my auto registration sticker was stolen, and the most recent one visible is '07.  Didn't get a ticket, but it was annoying.  Anthony was sweet enough to handle scheduling an appt for me with the DMV, but the soonest we could get was July 13th.  So of course I was pulled over AGAIN just yesterday by an over-eager copy who looked about 14 years old.

Truck busted into overnight by thieves

          Sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning, some assballs busted my truck's driver's side window out.  Broken glass all over.  Luckily I don't keep anything of value to anybody else in the cab.  I'm just relieved they didn't steal Irving, my dashboard monster, or the furry black Dust Sprite that hangs from the rearview, or the truck squirrel, which is fastened to a little cubbyhole in the dash.  They left my glovebox open, and HA HA I did NOT leave my iPod in there this time!

Slab leak in kitchen

          It took 4 plumbers 7 hours on Thursday to fix a slab leak under our kitchen which had resulted in us having no hot water for several weeks.  They re-routed it through the attic, so at least they didn't have to tear up our floor. 

Leaking dishwasher

          They discovered that while fixing the slab leak.  Apparently it's been leaking a LONG TIME, but draining out behind the dishwasher, where we couldn't see it. 

Termite inspection and treatment

          Just to make sure every single fucking day is at least a little stressful, we had to schedule termite inspection for Saturday morning, and our window was 8am to 3pm.  But they showed up at 8:30, which was good.  Then they had to climb into our attic to treat the neighbors' unit right next to ours.

          Next week better be a LOT less sucky.

May 1st, 2010

          My husband and I just got back from an early showing of the "A Nightmare On Elm Street" remake, which I have been most eagerly awaiting.  I totally loved it.  They fleshed out the concept of Freddy as a pedophile bent on revenge, which gave it a really chilling creep factor.  And thank god they actually kept the wise-crackin' one-liners to a bare minimum.  I think there were two, and they weren't that bad, and were offset nicely by how vicious Freddy was being at the time.  The story was just different enough from the original to keep it from seeming stale.  And this new version keeps the tradition of creating surreal dreamscapes, which is what sets this franchise apart (and makes me love it so much) in the first place.  I'm sure many people will disagree and heap loathing upon this film, as they so like to do with remakes, and horror movies in general.

          I also loved Rob Zombie's "Halloween" remakes.  Both of them.  Yet they got HORRIBLE reviews, even in genre magazines like Rue Morgue and Fangoria.  I mean, people really, REALLY hate these movies.  And I don't understand why, because I love the whole feel of them, that stylish retro '70s vibe that I, for one, think Rob Zombie is really good at.  I dug the way the first Halloween remake went all the way back to Michael Myers' childhood and showed him slowly become the silent inhuman thing we all know and love.  And I think Scout Taylor-Compton is a great, quirky choice for the new Laurie Strode.  She has a subtle and almost Drew Barrymore-style "crimp" when she speaks that I think makes her interesting to watch.

          When it comes to the "Friday the 13th" remake, I was less enthused.  I watched it, didn't hate it, but didn't love it.  Eh.  Whatevs.  But then I never liked the original.

          If I had an award to hand out for WORST horror movie remake of all time, it would go to "The Haunting," from 1999.  That was such blasphemy, compared to the eerie black & white perfection of the 1963 original.  But even that pales next to the book by Shirley Jackson, which is a true masterpiece of menace and psychological tension.

          But I do tire of horror genre aficionados who hate just about everything.  It's like they have to prove how awesome they are by showing that hardly anything meets their very high standards.  And they all loved "Pan's Labyrinth," which I hated.  I thought it was mostly really fucking boring because of all the ugly political crap, and the bits of surreal fantasy, although great-looking, weren't nearly enough to save what felt like a very misguided movie.  To me. 

          Now I'm ready for a truly scary alien invasion movie to come along.  Something sort of like "Close Encounters," or the better scenes from "Signs."  Something more horror than sci-fi.  Know what I mean?  Anyway, that's what I would like now.

April 24th, 2010

          I finally made one of those duct tape wallets, using silver, blue, and purple duct tape and I LOVE IT.  I am awesome.

          Then I was doodling and I kept drawing narwhals, narwals, or narwhales, depending on your spelling preference.  For some reason I keep drawing a pissy-looking narwhal/narwal/narwhale trying to read a book, which is hard when I don't draw arms for him, plus he's on dry land, but then he ended up with a Helper Woobie to turn the pages.  It's a complicated problem of logistics.

April 12th, 2010

          I am indeed very sorry I don't have a picture to prove this, but I was driving down the street with my mom yesterday, when she suddenly shouted, "LOOK AT THE PONY!"

          She claimed to have several times seen a woman walking a little bitty pony down Batavia, but was always by herself when she saw it.

          Except for yesterday!  The mystery pony was on a walk with a woman, and a man with a dog.  The pony was so adorably little it was hardly taller than the dog.  It was brown and white spotted, with shaggy mane and tail. 

          My mom was like, "Turn around!  Let's go back and look at it!" so I did, but when we got back to where we'd seen the pony, it WASN'T THERE ANYMORE!!!  Like faerie magic it had disappeared.  We looked down all the side streets, but there was no sign of it.         

          Oh Mystery Pony, where have you gone...?

April 11th, 2010

Here's an adorable cactus garden complete with Ankylosaurus.  My best pal Jules brought it to me yesterday morning.  Her creative husband Dug made it for Anthony & me.

THE TRAGIC END OF

SPRING BREAK:

          Well, it's the last day of Spring Break. 

          I finally finished an 11"x14" color drawing of a vomiting blue unicorn, and framed it, with glitter detailing.

          We've been helping Matt (one of our very best friends) move into his new bachelor pad in Fountain Valley.  This is totally exciting because Matt lived in Utah and then Maryland for about 15 years.  Now we hang out all the time again like we did in high school.  But it's better because there's no homework.

          We're also his gay style consultants for clothes and interior decorating.  I will have to create an invoice and fee schedule.

          Finally met with our tax lady on Friday.  Better late than never.  I always feel horribly unprepared and stupid, with my overstuffed folders of receipts.  I totally forgot the spreadsheet she always asks for.  She has to patiently explain the whole process to me every year all over again.  I feel like that student who forgets his homework EVERY SINGLE DAY. 

          But whatevs.

OZ NEWS:

          I finished the script for "The Royal Historian of Oz" #2 (for SLG) at the end of January, and now Andy Hirsch is all done with pencils and well on his way through inking it.  It looks amazing!  Issue #1 will be out in June.  I'm not sure when I'll get the go-ahead to write #3.  Maybe I should ask?

          Soon I'll have to really concentrate on my PowerPoint presentation for the National Oz Conference in Fresno in May.  I'm doing it jointly with Gina Wickwar, author of "Toto In Oz," and "The Hidden Prince of Oz."  We've never met, and are just corresponding via email.  I'm excited about this conference since there are so many cool authors/artists who will be there, such as Gregory Maguire(!), Eric Shanower, Michael Cart, and even one of Anthony's favorite visual artists, Graham Rawle.

          The working title of the presentation that Gina and I are doing is: How Dare You Write About My Oz?! (the Official Oz Society in fact & fiction)

AT THE MOVIES:

           Anthony and I watched "Pandorum" last night.  I had hoped for more horror, and it ended like that animated movie "Titan A.E."  I also wish there'd been actual alien monsters instead of just mutated humans.  But I'm a sucker for space movies, and the sets were really cool. 

           At least it had the perpetually handsome Dennis Quaid, and that cute blond guy from the stupid Twilight movies.  I feel I can say that without incurring my husband's wrath because of THIS POST he did about Ricky Martin on his blog.  Hmph.  In other words, I see your Ricky Martin and raise you a Dennis Quaid.

April 9th, 2010

March 31st, 2010

ZOLOFT DREAMS

Stolen Police Car:

          Last night I dreamed I was drunk and accidentally stole a police car.  I drove through a Carl's Junior, then decided that's not what I wanted, so I drove through a Taco Bell, but forgot to ask for no onions.  I ended up getting my husband to help me ditch the car somewhere.

Vampire-Themed Roller Coaster:

          Two nights ago I dreamed we were at an amusement park, getting ready to board a vampire-themed roller coaster.  You could choose different versions of the ride, and we chose the scary one.  But it turned out not to be very scary because the mascot of the ride was a pink unicorn vampire.  It kept eerily appearing and disappearing, and eventually DID become kind of scary just because of the anticipation.

Adoption:

          Three nights ago I dreamed my husband and I had adopted a black puppy, which Anthony named "Malcolm."  It was an adorable pug.  We also adopted a small Hispanic boy, who was supposed to be around 3 years old.  Even though we have no plans or interest in adopting a human, in the dream we were THRILLED, and totally emotional about it.  I picked the small child up, and was holding him, and he started growing strangely heavy.  I realized it wasn't a child at all, but a full-grown man.  I set him awkwardly down and demanded, "How old are you, REALLY?"  He admitted he was 23, and had only pretended to be a child so he could make it to the U.S.  I was really worried about how sad Anthony would be when he found out we didn't really have a child.  Plus it was Christmas Eve.  But I sympathized with the young man's plight and was already thinking about how we could help him get set up on his own, and help his sister, who was in a similar situation.  WTF?!

March 18th, 2010

BEST SENTENCE I'VE READ ALL WEEK:

          "It's just like a nice picnic!" cried Mrs. Reta Rabbit as she put bibs on the Bunny-Rabbit twins so the strawberry sodas would not soil their pretty little bunnykin waists.

-from Raggedy Ann In the Deep Deep Woods

by Johnny Gruelle, copyright 1930

Saturday, December 5, 2009

WORD OF THE DAY

"Tatterdemalion"
Definition: n. A person wearing ragged or tattered clothing;

a ragamuffin.  adj. Ragged; tattered.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

A NEW SAYING

Here's a phrase I woke up with, bouncing around in my head:
"Don't poop your tutu."

It would be used thusly: "Hey dude, it's just a spider. Don't poop your tutu."

Thursday, November 5, 2009

WANNAMAKER

          The other night at Mom's house, Dan asked Anthony the origin of his last name, which started a casual little conversation about name origins. My mom nonchallantly mentioned that her maiden name, "Wann," was most likely shortened from "Wannamaker."

          I felt blind-sided. I'm sure no one has ever told me that before. For some reason I was left reeling from this info, and it keeps bouncing around in my head. I remember finding out when I was a teen that "Kovac" was Americanized by dropping the "h" from the end, so it was originally "Kovach." That seemed like stunning, fascinating news at the time. But the difference between "Wann," and "Wannamaker" is even BIGGER. WTF?!

          "Wann" always seemed so unusual and interesting. "Wannamaker" is pretty cool, too, though. I know this isn't as weird as finding out you were adopted, or that your father isn't really your biological father or something, but names are IMPORTANT. I just can't believe nobody ever thought to mention this before!

          So I actually come from the Slovak "Kovach" family, and the French/American Indian/etc "Wannamaker" family. Not sure how this affects my life, but I'm sure it's important.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

SURGICAL

          The other morning when I opened the library, one of the students walked in, looked down, and said, "Um... whose inflated surgical glove is this?"

          Sure enough, there it was on the floor, like a bulging powder white udder. I said, "I KNOW that was not here last night when I left."

          I don't know what the hell happened in there overnight, but I jammed the inflated glove into the small trash can under my desk. I didn't have the heart to pop it.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

DONUT LADY

Oh, mysterious Donut Lady.
The way you confuse me with your broken English, but most of all
the way you insist you recognize me
from long ago...
You claim I used to come in with my mother when I was very small
But I don't remember that at all. My mother preferred bakery shop pastries.
I cringed as I walked through the door this morning with my baggie full of quarters
a poor man's donut fund
As feared, you insisted once again that you remembered my mother and me
This time, though...
This time you dropped a few details, such as
I am an only child
My mother keeps her hair short
(Both true)
Could it be, Donut Lady?
Could it really be that you are a face from my past, once forgotten
but discovered again?
Or is it just that all Gaijin look alike...?

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

SICK

          The library was filled with sneezing, coughing, nose-blowing kids the last few days. So much so that it creeped me out, like I was in the plague ward of a hospital. Last night I woke up wheezing at 1:30 am with a seriously runny nose (it meant business), punctuated by occasional sneezing and coughing. Fuckin' sucks, man.

          By 3:30 am I was making a trip to CVS to get Zyrtec-D. Anthony was awake, too, with his usual insomnia. Having to put on shoes & socks and a jacket in the middle of the night and make a cold foray into the outside world is totally bogus. There were only 3 visible employees in CVS, none of them paying attention to me, or even willing to feign customer service. I thought about rewarding myself with a candy bar from the front counter, but felt too weary to eat it.

          Called the automated absence line at 5:00 am. Then I dragged myself in here to the computer, figured I'd better email the librarian I work with at her home & work email, warn her that I'm out sick.

          In other news, I just found out yesterday that one of our teachers got nasty with a female student, and is at least getting fired, possibly going to jail. It's a particularly messy scandal since this teacher happens to be married to another teacher on our campus, and they have 4 or 5 kids, one of them with Downs Syndrome. Also, apparently there was some weirdly inappropriate situation going on since last year, in which the female student in question had been temporarily living with this teacher and his wife, and I'm not sure why. They were "tutoring" her or something, but obviously he ascribes to a very broad definition of "tutor."

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