Rough Day

But there's really not much else related to that subject that I feel like putting in so public a forum right now. That may change in the future since I usually hate being cagey. I realize mostly only my friends read this blog, so I'd be happy to talk to any one of you individually. It doesn't have to be about what I'm going through. Most the time I think it's better if it's not. I may actively avoid it at times and hope no one thinks I'm crass for just wanting to talk about things that make me happy (usually my writing). Or I may just ask about you. But I'll never be upset if you ask. It helps to talk to people, period.

Having said that, as Monty Python would say, now for something completely different.

Here is a nice but completely unrelated picture, since the stubborn video doesn't allow you to embed it and we must have something to look at. This is a tree at the end of the nature reserve near my sister's apartment.

I was cruising the internet for Neil Gaiman news, as I am sometimes wont to do, and came across this reading of a short story he wrote called "Feminine Endings." (click the link in "Feminine Endings" and scroll down past the article, and click on that title in the video cue).

It's always worth hearing Neil Gaiman read. That man could read the phone book and it would sound good. But what interested me in particular about this reading was he seemed confident no one would have heard the story and said it wasn't published in any of his short story anthologies. Well, this is true but, being a dutiful reader of his blog, I signed up to get a "love letter" from Neil Gaiman (who in their right mind wouldn't, even if everyone does get the same letter?) and it was this story that I recieved in my inbox. Easily one of the best non-personal emails I've ever recieved. It is also in an anthology, though not one of his. It was put in: Four Letter Word, an anthology of fictional love letters written by several different authors. Anyway, it was great to hear him read it even though I had already read it contrary to his statement. I have one of those annoying personalities where I have to point out mistakes like this even though I know knowing this little fact that wasn't even worth it to the author to remember identifies me as a complete nerd and quite possibly a bit like the creepy character in the story he reads. I'm not stalking you, Neil, I promise! That's not me outside your window!