Today is HUG YOUR CAT DAY.

Don't forget the Band-Aids.


straight on till sunset
One difference between me and a lot of people is that I actually like getting older. I mean, I bitch about it a lot, but y'know, I bitch about everything. (People might think I'm ill if I stop...) Okay, so maybe I have a lot more responsibilities than I used to, but I have a lot more freedom as well. Maybe my body feels the effects of illness, injury, and unhealthy living longer and more resoundingly than it used to, but you know what?


I like being able to live unhealthily if I damn well feel like it. I like being the undisputed queen of my household. I like having finally figured out what I want to do for a living, and being able to do it. I like that my brothers and I have gotten to a point where 'older' and 'younger' no longer matter-- we're all just adults. I like having done with the sheer agony of relationship-seeking and -building. I like having learned a lot, and knowing that there will always be new things to learn. I like that when I look at my face in the mirror, I see bone structure, not baby fat. I like that I can see my mother in my face; and my own face in my daughter's.


I like who I am, and who I've become. And I wouldn't turn back the clock if you paid me.


Well. Maybe if you paid me.


poem: life in ashes
it isn't about
forever, see?
it's only about
the moment, this
moment, this very
right now-- as
transient as smoke, and
as lovely. it's
about inhaling, taking in
all the tastes, regardless:
the sweet and the acrid,
the fulfilling and
the deadly. it's about staring
thisclose at the flame, and not
flinching-- or
flinching, but staring on
anyway. it's knowing that time
burns us all up in time, but not
today.
but not today.
it isn't about
clinging to life;
it's living.

Grammar and Punctuation: the past tense
The past at last! (How 'poetic'...) Most fiction is written in past tense, which is why proper application of the past tense is so crucial for creative writers. But please note that the usage rules I'll be covering following the examples apply to all tenses.


simple past: Nikki wrote about grammar.
past progressive: Nikki was writing about grammar.
past perfect: Nikki had written about grammar.
past perfect progressive: Nikki had been writing about grammar.


The progressive tense mode (whether simple or perfect; past, present, or future) is used primarily when expressing an ongoing action. In the present tense, this refers to something that is happening right now (E.g., 'Nikki is writing about grammar nowadays'), while in the past or future tenses, it applies to something that happened or will happen at the time that a separate action or event happened or will happen. (E.g., 'Nikki was writing about grammar when Sage interrupted' or 'Nikki will be writing about grammar when she next updates her blog.')


The perfect mode (whether past, present, or future) is used to express an action that either has a definite duration or refers to a specific point in time. In other words, you would say 'Nikki wrote about grammar' if you simply wanted to convey that Nikki once did so, and may very well continue to do so. If you say 'Nikki had written about grammar', you are implying that Nikki wrote about grammar at a particular point before now, and perhaps no longer does.


Therefore, when writing in the past tense, you should generally use past perfect when referring to events that occurred prior to the established 'current' timeline. So


'Dean was appalled. He has not accounted for the additional expense of pink milk' would be INCORRECT; while
'Dean was appalled. He had not accounted for the additional expense of pink milk' would be the CORRECT usage,


because Dean's faulty accounting is an event that occurred before Dean became appalled. Confused? Just remember, as a rule of thumb, 'is' goes with 'has', 'was' goes with 'had', and 'will' goes with 'will have'. And feel free to write me if it's all still clear as mud to you.