This Is Not A Blog

10:58pm: Random irregular reminder that I don't actually post here.
I log in so I can read my friends list, but I don't actually as a rule post at LJ. If you, my friends, are looking for my posts, you can find them by "friending" the syndicated feed nicolejleboeuf. Which is itself basically http://www.nicolejleboeuf.com/allrss.php, an RSS feed aggregating all the various places I do blog. Which feed is also happily spamming itself at my twitter and facebook, and also on my personal home page.

So you've got options.

5:08pm: Reminder of the "I Don't Post Here" principal, plus technical update
If you have me friended, you may want to know that

1) if you actually want to see me post, you should also friend
nicolejleboeuf  as that is a feed that consolidates all the blog posting I do in all the places I actually blog, which as a rule doesn't include the vortexae LJ, and

2) if you have nicolejleboeuf friended, and you're wondering why nothing's showing up there, well, it's back now. Or it should be shortly. (If you don't see any entries when you click through, follow the "recent articles syndicated from Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little: All Blog Activity" link.) It will probably announce its back-ness by obnoxiously spewing its entire contents all at once into your friends list, as LJ's auto retrieval thingie does its thing. Sorry about that. Metroblogging had a site upgrade, which meant the URL my script was grabbing was no longer the right one. I was a little slow on the uptake about that. Finally fixed it this morning. (I obviously need to encode better failure tolerance into the script.)

And also

3) I have been very bad about watching my friends list lately, and promise to improve. No fair my expecting anyone to read me while I'm not reading anyone else, is it?

Hugs,
--
Niki

1:20pm: Media and Moods, addendum.
Oh yeah. One more thing, which I forgot due to constantly having to remind myself it actually happened and I wasn't hallucinating it or anthing.

Rockline. Wednesday night, May 9. Rush's Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson were on. And. I. Got through. On. The Hotline.

"And next we go to Niki in Boulder. Niki, what's your question?"

OMG I TALKED TO GEDDY ON THE PHONE! [hyperventilates, falls over, dies and iz ded yay]

Why, *yes* I recorded the show, why do you ask?

1:11pm: Mood As Catalogged By Various Media Experiences
Just saw Spiderman 3. Liked in bunches. Left happy and slightly teary. [Makes a raspberry at the critics.]

During the S3 outing, saw the trailer for Harry Potter 5 movie. [Sticks hands in kangaroo position and shakes them in "Cheeeeeese, Grommet!" fashion.] Was not sure I recognized every scene as having actually occurred in the book. [Throws hands in the air in a "Meh, who cares?" fashion. Does the "Cheeeeese, Grommet!" thing again.] Only, when the heck does it open? Stupid trailers. [Shakes fist at screen.]

Also, caught up with Doctor Who. Liked ep 6 quite well. Am intrigued by the season story arc which has come into hit-you-in-the-head obvious view. Squawked happily during ep 7 trailer. Also, would like to borrow the Carrionites' voodoo doll and an adequate DNA representation of this Eurovision Song Contest thingie that's getting between me and "42". [Growls, but cannot sustain grumpiness, because, dude! He's back! Yay!]

And that is all.

2:52am: A rare exception to the "I Don't Post Here" thing
Yes, I know, "I don't post here, go friend 'nicolejleboeuf'," yadda yadda yadda, BUT. No one on my friends list is talking about Doctor Who Episode Four, "Daleks Of Manhattan." This must be remedied.

Because I just finished watching it.

And this is the first episode since the 2005 reboot that has even come close to making me go, "...WTF?! No. Just, no." For several reasons, most of them involving the Empire State Building but some of them having to do with Incredible And Previously Unaccounted-For Mobility On The Part Of Something.

Not that that'll stop me groaning and moaning about the whole "to be continued" thing, mind you.


...obviously I need to revisit the comment threads I babbled in last week. I am very, very sorry that I haven't yet. I am a bad LJ'er.

8:58pm: Semi-regular reminder that I don't blog here
I blog a bunch of other places instead. All of them are conveniently aggregated under a single RSS feed, which you can add to your LJ friends page here or subscribe to with some other RSS reader here.

I still read my friends page, though! Hi everybody!

OK, that's all I got.

9:03pm: Psst! Over there! Look!
No, I haven't stopped blogging. But I've stopped mirroring posts here by hand. Thanks to a fellow VPXer who happens to have a paid LJ account, my uberRSS is now available via LJ Feeds under the name nicolejleboeuf. (You can also see it on the front page of nicolejleboeuf.com.

FWIW, I'm blogging in three places again. There's the actually writing blog, the metblogs, and the brand new BurnzPost.com. Which is why having an uberRSS is so handy.

That's all. We now return you to your regularly scheduled Friends page, already in progress.

10:56pm: Recent Metroblogging posts
Metroblogging Denver: Cognitive Dissonance
2007-01-26 19:19 CST

[About neighborhood names you never thought you'd see in Boulder]

So, pretend you're biking west along the Boulder Creek and Goose Creek bike paths, because you've ju...

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Metroblogging Denver: Cafe Play! On the Hill! Fun!
2007-01-23 22:22 CST

[About a brand new hang-out I will certainly be spending too much time at in the near future]

They just opened. December 7th, I think he said. It's in Boulder on the Hill (1155 13th St, next to ...

4:18pm: Blog posts following yet another hiatus. Last one for a while, is my plan.
actually writing blog: A Chimera-Spotter's Field Guide

2007-01-18 15:15 CST

Writing a story, we are told, is like sculpting an elephant: you start with a marble block and you remove the bits that aren't elephant. Except it's more like sculpting a chimerical beastie no one has ever seen before except you, just once, in a dream afte . . . .

actually writing blog: Eleven Thousand Words For The Trunk Novel

2007-01-17 0:00 CST

Did very little today but write, for a change. Only it wasn't the short story I'm meant to be working on. It was the "trunk novel," the one that will probably never see another reader's eyes. It doesn't even have a working title or a slot in my manuscript . . . .

Metroblogging Denver: Eagles Fans Eat Crow At The Lazy Dog
2007-01-14 0:00 CST

Look, I'm sorry. It couldn't have happened to a nicer team. But someone had to lose.

It can be kind...

9:51pm: Blog posts from vacation. Also, blog post explaining the lack of blog posts.
actually writing blog: More Radio Silence, With Explanation
2007-01-05 22:22 CST

So from Dec 22 to Jan 2, I was on vacation; John and I were visiting the New Orleans-area family for the holidays. Which sort of explains that. And since our return I have been sick as the proverbial dog. Now, you'd think that lying in bed all day would pr . . . .

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Metroblogging New Orleans: New Year's Eve Thank You List
2007-01-02 0:00 CST

Thank you, Z'otz, for your Esplanade location, with its 24/7 schedule, its free wi-fi, its things-wi...

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Metroblogging New Orleans: Who Dat?!
2006-12-31 12:12 CST

This is just to say that, thanks to the radio station currently calling itself The Rock Of New Orlea...

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Metroblogging New Orleans: Metairie-ite Discovers The Bywater
2006-12-29 13:13 CST

I never really know what to blog about when I visit home these days. I want to report on things like...

1:08am: Blog posts for Dec. 23 2006
Metroblogging Denver: DIA After The Blizzard: A Schmuck's Eye View

So I was going to blog the Boulder Theater after catching first The New Cars and then Bonerama ("Shake Your Groovilator") with Cyril Neville's Tribe 13 ("We are the Wild Tchoupitoulas--get out the way!") at that venue. And I was going to blog the Cinema Grill in Aurora after catching The Prestige there before it disappeared from theaters entirely. But I got behind on the blogging thing, and then, well, snow.

Just a wee little bit of snow. A mere... oh... 18 inches to 3 feet, depending on where you were.

Saw enough people skiing cross-country-style up and down 30th Street in Boulder on Thursday, the day after the blizzard, that it stopped striking me as unusual. Fell over in a few snow drifts carrying my groceries home. Saw the expected handful of cars stuck trying to turn left through the waist-high bank the plows built up in the middle of the street.

And then there was the matter of my husband and I making our flight to New Orleans....

11:55pm: Blog posts for Dec. 15 2006
actually writing blog: Ending the Radio Silence

work progressing: How My Baby Brother Lost His Hand
3,841 wds. long

We apologize for the inconvenience, but there was no Actual Writing to report on all week. Today Actual Writing has occurred and so our Actual Writing Coverage can continue. Thank you for your patience.

The first draft of the story is not done, but the shape is a lot clearer, especially now that the main character has decided that everything that happens is in fact her fault. She might be right, too, but I couldn't say. I wasn't there. I'll have to defer to her judgment on this.

Also. Long walks home from downtown Boulder, knitting needles busily in hand, are very good for brainstorming. You should try it. And then you'll be as sore about the shins and knees and elbows as I am, too. And it'll be good for you.

11:27am: Blog posts for Dec. 8 2006
actually writing blog: On Using yWriter for Short Fiction. Also, Yule Logs On Bikes.

Today I could have easily been overtaken even by a very out-of-shape Muse. I found me a Yule Log lying alongside the Boulder Creek Path, and I strapped it to my bike (cf. illo). The rest of my ride home was slow, careful, containing as few sharp turns as p . . . .

11:15pm: Blog posts for Dec. 6 2006
actually writing blog: New Fiction While-U-Wait

I really really meant to come home from work today and get 2,000 words closer to THE END of The Bookwyrm's Hoard. Only I got tackled by a new story on my way home. While I was biking. I didn't know the Muse could run that fast. . . .

11:52pm: Blog posts for Dec. 5 2006
(Because I've been a total slug all weekend. Recovery mode from NaNoWriMo as both a participant and a regional ML. Bleah. Tomorrow, as always, is the first day of the rest of my life.)

actually writing blog: Another One Bites The Dust, Redux

I have got to think up new titles for blog posts that simply say "X will not be published in Y." Most of them start with "Another." In any case, Aberrant Dreams will not be publishing "Heroes To Believe In." I know this 'cause I got another rejection slip. Writers get those. I must be a writer or something. Onward!

12:30am: Blog posts for Nov. 29 & 30, 2006
actually writing blog: NaNoDoneNow
2006-12-01 0:00 CST

Not, however, the novel. I took my own advice and jumped forward to the Gala Bookstore Grand Opening scene, and didn't even get through that before crossing the mythical 50K line. I did have another one of those plotting breakthroughs, though. I realized I . . . .

Splendid Gardening: Hiatus For the Holidays
2006-11-30 13:13 CST

As the muzak at the first restaurant you ate at or first retail establishment you shopped at since Thanksgiving has surely told you, the winter holidays are upon us.

That means vacation! Yes. I’m headed down south to visit the family, and I’m taking my fruitcake with me. While I’m there, I intend to eat both [...]

Splendid Gardening: December Means Satsumas!
2006-11-29 19:19 CST

“Sat-whatsis?” Satsumas!
OK, so it isn’t going in my garden. I’m nowhere near ambitious enough to try to grow a potted citrus tree. Yet. (Just you wait.)

Satsumas are an extremely pleasant member of the Tangerine Clan. They’re tangerine sweet. Clementine sweet. They’re seedless. They’re segmented. And they have thick, wrinkly, leathery skins that come right off. [...]

10:56pm: Blog posts for Nov. 28 2006
Splendid Gardening: End-O-Month Status Report!

For those playing along at home, Chez LeBoeuf-Little contains the following plants in the current state:
George & Georgette, Spaths - got pruned recently. All the dead, dying, or overly pale leaves came off. I also dumped on top of them the excess pasteurized compost from the pumpkin project; the soil they’ve been sitting in is [...]

actually writing blog: Obligatory Fruitcake Post

Every year, around this time, some version of this conversation occurs: Me: "Oh my Gods! It's November!" John: "Well, yeah. Hence all this NaNoWriMo stuff." Me: "No, but, it's November! And I haven't started fruitcake yet!" John: "Oh. Must you?" Yes, I m . . . .

11:58pm: Blog posts for Nov. 25 2006
actually writing blog: Sorry To Disappoint You

Generally it's a good idea to sic your dreams on a plot conundrum. However, I'm afraid that Charles Welton will not be piloting a miniature giant robot in an attempt to assassinate Gwen during her reading/signing/wine-and-cheese reception at the bookstore' . . . .

11:58pm: Blog posts for Nov. 24 2006
actually writing blog: More Plot Revelations

Dude! I know where the quill is! And I know what it does! It came to me on the bus Wednesday night--I was using the hour-long bus ride between Boulder and Denver to get my daily 2K written. I was working on the scene with the one sympathetic family in the . . . .

Splendid Gardening: E Z Basil

Eating is inevitable. Which means cooking is probable. Which means eventually you’ve gotta make groceries sometime or other. Next time you’re out doing that particular chore, take a wander around the produce section and find the herb selection. Most of the grocery stores where I live, Safeway or Whole Foods or whatever, they sell fresh [...]

Metroblogging Denver: Change of Schedule

It's not like this only just happened or anything, but some people don't know yet. In case you are one of those people, know this: The Brewing Market in Basemar Plaza (in Boulder at Baseline and Broadway) is no longer...

11:18pm: Blog posts for Nov. 21 2006
actually writing blog: Boring Status-Check Post

Not much to say today other than it was a 3,400 word day, bringing me past the 33K mark. Also, as I've been telling friends, it looks like--unless I'm horrendously overestimating how much plot comes after the climactic scene at the bookstore's grand openin . . . .

Splendid Gardening: Eat your greens! Or else!

It occurs to me that the average reader is probably unfamiliar with brussel sprouts in their native state. This occurs to me because 3 out of 3 people to whom I showed my recent Whole Foods purchase were all like, “What the heck-o-la is that?! (And do you plan to hurt me with it?)”
To which [...]

Metroblogging Denver: Coffee, Writing, Sunrise At Joe's

Hello. Welcome to my office-away-from-office.

I may have mentioned that NaNoWriMo thing that I do. ...

12:02am: Blog posts for Nov. 20 2006
actually writing blog: Suprise! Political Content

Regardless of how the finished product looks, please believe me when I say that I very rarely set out to make a political point with my fiction. In fact, I can only think of one example--the post-Katrina New Orleans ghost story I began writing, flush with . . . .

11:40pm: Blog posts for Nov. 19 2006
actually writing blog: A Couple Of Quick Observations

First: When your main character is reluctant to do a certain necessary thing--like, say, confront the parents of the missing children in hopes of alleviating their suspicions--it helps mightily to give her more than one reason to do it. It's a good idea to . . . .

Splendid Gardening: Time to Bury the Pumpkin

It was time. The seedlings appeared to have hit a plateau in their growth spurt, and their recognizably squash-like leaves not only remained small but appeared to have begun yellowing. Maybe they were beginning to drown despite my attempts to create a well-drained environment. Maybe they were just too close to the composting process to [...]

12:09am: Blog posts for Nov. 18 2006

Metroblogging Denver (rss): Winter Comes To One Boulder Plaza
It's open! It's open! Ice skating season is open! The ice skating rink at One Boulder Plaza (13th st...

Also: I have now seen Pan's Labyrinth. It hurt. In a beautiful, beautiful way.

1:50am: Blog posts for Nov. 16 2006
Splendid Gardening (rss) : Necessity Had Kittens

...and named them "Inventions." Ha! I joke. In any case, this post is about Making Things Less Of A Pain In The Butt. I’m speaking specifically of my cat-proof greenhouse rig.

The tarp thing has a lot going for it. The cats can’t munch on the seedling lettuce, and condensation on the inside surface indicates that [...]

12:20am: Blog posts for Nov. 15 2006
actually writing blog (rss) : Brief Status Update, With Short Story Angst

Hullo. Broke 20,000 today on the novel. Tess arrived at the bookstore with all her friends; the Talemouse nipped ahead in the plot and changed the course of events in a very specific way. I'm planning to break 25,000 tomorrow. To that end, I'm hoping to ha . . . .

Splendid Gardening (rss) : Cat-proofing an Indoor Garden

In the photo at right, I present two strategies: Cat deterrent, and cat distraction.

The first morning I discovered a pea seedling on the floor, rolling around in its Jiffy Pot, missing a third of its soil and three-fourths of its leaves, you can imagine how I felt. I was ready to wring some kitty necks, [...]