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13 Things Which Made Me Happy

17/6/2010

Whew! I'm busy-busy-busy this week! Still, there's been a little time to sit and reflect, and so I've had a chance to ponder this week's Thursday Thirteen topic.

So, please allow me to present:

Thirteen Things Which Have Made Me Happy!

That's me! All the way in the back of the pic! LOL!

1) I did my first ever public reading from my novel, Ask Me if I'm Happy. One of my bosses at the language school where I work asked if I would like to do a reading at the End-of-Year party this year, and since I was still here in Reggio (for once - I usually leave at the start of June), I agreed. It all went quite well, and I'm pleased to hear from my coworkers and several students that the selection I read did, indeed, stir their interest in buying the novel. Fingers crossed they'll remember in Autumn! LOL!

What a smile!

2) Seeing my hubby enjoy himself so much at various events this week made me very happy. We had the England/USA World Cup game, a trip to Fontanellato, Italy (not far from home) for a musical event, my reading last night - so many things which he's enjoyed, and so I've enjoyed them that much more!

Fabian when he was in the lead...

3) Watching the Tour de Suisse. My boy is currently in second place, one second behind the leader. This makes me happy, especially because my boy won last year, and because by most accounts, the part of the race which should be hardest for him is already over. Got my fingers crossed (again)!

Mia with Zio Alle!

4) My niece, Mia, told me I was beautiful. I reckon she's an expert on the subject, so I'm sooo pleased to hear it from her. :)

5) I got quite a few edits done - the MS is shaping up nicely and I have high hopes for completing and fleshing out a few key scenes while I'm in the US.

Heinrich Haussler, post-crash.

6) I developed new ideas for my WIP - watching the Tour de Suisse, complete with huge crashes, riding in the rain, and all the cycling drama on display has fueled my brain to get more done on 27 Stages when I have the opportunity. Not that there was a problem, I just can't work on two manuscripts at once...

No! Doodle! That is the *opposite* of help!

7) I've almost finished packing already! Considering that I'm leaving tomorrow morning, this is quite impressive! LOL!

8) Thanks to the party last night, I added to my collection of miniature Swiss flags! LOL! I know, it's weird. A running joke that's got a little out of control, but they make me smile. :)

9) The weather has been unseasonably cool this week. That makes me happy - everything I had to do has been easier to get done, thanks to the cooler air. Right now, it's raining buckets. The Italians are grumbling, but I can't help being happy.

10) Also thanks to the weather, I've slept really well this week. That's not normal for me, in June.

11) My flight leaves in the late part of the morning from Milan. So, I don't have a super-duper extra-early wake-up time, tomorrow. It should be daylight when we start our two-hour drive, which is great!

12) I have only one connection on my flight home. Atlanta. While that's not ideal, at least I have a good idea of what to expect. That helps. And then there's the fact I have a few hours there - so, no rush to get through Immigration or Customs. In as much as a 20-some-odd travel day can be reduced-stress, this one hopefully will be. (Touch wood!)

Me and Samuele - at last!

13) Finally, the thing which had me smiling all the way home from Fontanellato on Sunday night: I got to get a picture with that feller I've mentioned a few thousand times since I started blogging, the one whose music inspired so much of Ask Me if I'm Happy, and who I've adored since 2003, the first time I heard him sing - Samuele Bersani.
Which is to say:
SAMUELE BERSANI!!!!! OMG!!!!
Yeah, if I squee any louder, only dogs will hear me. LOL!

Oh, never fear, y'all. I know.

I wouldn't forget.

Even with all the wonderful happy things which have happened for me this week.

So, here ya go:

Yoann Gourcuff - French footballer

Ciao for now! :)

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Thirteen Cycling Races

10/6/2010

21 Comments

Okay - relatively short and sweet this week.

Not a lot of time to put in, but I had fun, anyway. :)

This week, I present to you:

Thirteen Cycling Races!

The cycling season starts earlier than ever now, with the Tour Down Under in January. Australian cyclists are making an especially strong showing all over the world this year, I might add. Woot!

The Tour of Oman in February is one of the earliest races on the calendar, too - and the first winner of this brand new race was my boy, Fabian Cancellara! Double-Woot!

A beautiful race to watch, Paris-Nice proved quite interesting this last March. Alberto Contador won, but it wasn't easy - which is what made it exciting. Heh.

Milan San-Remo, also in March, is always fascinating to watch. Occasionally, riders come seemingly out of nowhere to win - like Fabian did back in 2008.

The Tour of Flanders in April is legendary amongst cycling fans. Some of the toughest climbs around - on cobblestones, no less - make this one-day race particularly challenging.

Photos: Cancellara in 2008, 2009 (after his chain broke on the final climb) and finally, 2010.

The Giro d'Italia, in May, is another favorite. One of the three Grand Tours of cycling (along with the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana), almost every professional cyclist wants a win here under his belt.
pictured above: Alberto Contador in 2008
pictured below: a disastrous rainy stage end from 2007

The Tour of California moved to May this year, which meant it conflicted with the Giro d'Italia. But that didn't stop some of cycling's heavy hitters from taking part.

In June comes the Tour of Switzerland. My boy - who happens to be Swiss - won it last year. He's riding again this year. Go Spartacus! Go Fab!

July. Do I really need to mention the Tour de France? Okay. I just did. ;)

August brings a couple of races, too. One of them is the Tour of Ireland - beautiful to watch, by the way...

Also in August, the final Grand Tour - la Vuelta a Espana - or Tour of Spain.

In September comes the UCI World Championships. My boy, of course, won the Time Trial competition. I was happy. :)

In October, we have the Race of the Falling Leaves - or as it's more properly known, il Giro di Lombardia.

And there we have them: Thirteen cycling races from throughout the year.

And for you greedy lot, there's just a tiny bit more to enjoy.

I'm not in denial about why you keep coming back.

So here ya go:

C'mon everybody! Get in the pool!

Ciao...!

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Italy Porn (for Ladies Only)

10/6/2010

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I went in search of an article for my final lesson, today. As I always do, I dropped by Newsweek.com to check out the articles -- I often find something interesting and wonderfully current there, after all -- and I found this article.

Gelato for the Soul - Italy Porn (for Ladies Only)

Hmph. Now, I'm pondering whether I should be encouraged or discouraged? Time will tell, I suppose. (It always does.) At any rate, I've got my fingers crossed the trend will continue -- without getting tired -- into the Autumn of this year.

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Blurbs, line edits and impatient characters

8/6/2010

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Wow. What a week. I've spent days and days doing the following things:

Line edits/adjustments for Ask Me…

Creating a blurb for Ask Me…

And then, just for fun, I worked on my cover art and the header for this website.

The line edits/adjustments took two days. It would have been one day, but the computer had a Microsoft Brain Fart ™ and lost much of what I'd done. Okay, it lost all of what I had done. But after another day-long marathon I have it completed.

The blurb, however… Three solid days of kicking my own tokhes. That's right. Three days, to write eight lines of text – one hundred sixty-three words. If I'd written the entire manuscript at that speed, it would have taken me…

Okay, I don't know. I think it works out to roughly 5.6100176 years or something like that. I stink at math and I'm brain-fried from trying to get all this done before the bulk of the Summer heat and my trip to the US are upon me, so I could be a tad off in my calculations. Actually, I know I'm off, because I'd only calculated using the current manuscript, and didn't include the 127 pages which were cut (the Alternate Rialto section, for those of you familiar with it).

Anyway, I'm exhausted. My office is too warm, and I still have a lot of writing to do. I've had 27 Stages on hold for quite a while, during the edits on Ask Me…, because I can't work on two manuscripts at once. I tend to merge the characters or lose focus, and I can't afford to do that right now.

So, I keep working on the final polishing of Ask Me… (the end is in sight, I swear I can see it! No, wait, that's just a curve in the road…), and keep storing ideas for 27 Stages away, making notes here and there and occasionally allowing myself to visit Abby and Federico – just to keep in touch, of course – between stays with Emily and Davide.

The funny thing is, when I started writing Stages, I was convinced that Abby and Federico would never blossom for me the way Emily and Davide did. Now, I see I was wrong. I can't wait to get back to those two, and the other cyclists, and the Tour d'Europa (and just in time for Le Tour de France, I might add) and all the insanity surrounding them. But I have to be completely finished with one before I can indulge in the other.

I just hope Abby and Federico understand. They keep torturing me with a storyline that wants to continue after the Tour is over – and I can't have 27 Stages become fifty chapters long! Then again, Emily and Davide are trying to get more time with me, too – in another book – so perhaps Davide will go to the US with Emily…?

And then there's my "lifeguard" story, as it's come to be known… Eros and his sexual confusion, bless him, intrigues me from afar…

AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!

Yeah. Let me finish this one, and then the next one, and then the next one, and we'll get to see where it leads, eh?

Oh, yeah - the cover art? Took the least amount of time of any of this stuff!

Ciao for now!

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13 Things I've Been Focused On (In My Life)

3/6/2010

12 Comments

Hello, all! Welcome to this week's Thursday Thirteen!

I thought I'd share something a little different this week. Well, maybe it's different, maybe not. Those of you who know me well can make the call better than I can.

You see, I have a tendency to get really focused/fixated on things. Some would say I become fanatical or obsessed, but I disagree. "I'm not obsessed, I'm focused" I say. It's all relative, anyway.

So, I present to you:

Thirteen Things
I Have Been Extremely Focused On In My Life
(at one time or another)

1) Monty Python's Flying Circus. Yes, it's true. I've been fascinated by the British troupe of comedians since I was roughly eight years old (God bless PBS). Michael Palin was one of my first British crushes (and there have been many, many of those), as some of you know.

I watched the show obsessively and saw "Live at the Hollywood Bowl" so many times when I was twelve that my mother feared for my mental health. I seem to have come through it all unscathed, and I've managed to drag my sweet hubby into the fanaticism along with me. Bwhaahaaahaaa!

2) Duran Duran. Also when I was twelve. And another thing which worried my mother half to death. I was obsessed with Simon le Bon (C'mon, he was delish, no?) at the time. Never mind that he was literally more than twice my age (only just), I found him dreamy beyond words.

Duran Duran's show in Charleston, West Virginia was the first concert I ever attended, too. Heh. Oh, and I had the poster pictured above. So did my sister. (She loved/loves John Taylor.)

3) The Beatles. I collected everything I could get my hands on: posters, books, badges, photos - you name it, I wanted it. From age thirteen onward, I was obsessed with the Beatles (John Lennon, especially). Music in general was an obsession, but my musical interests had a tendency to merge one into the other. Interest in one artist frequently led to interest in another.

Because I had all of Paul McCartney's albums, I soon came to know the work of the next artist(s).

4) Pink Floyd and David Gilmour. Because I loved the Beatles, I kept reading about Pink Floyd. My sister was a fan, and I liked some of their songs. When I was fifteen, Pink Floyd regrouped with Gilmour as the nominal leader. A Momentary Lapse of Reason came out when I was sixteen. I loved it. And I developed my long-standing crush on David Gilmour soon thereafter.

Dude. I'm actually on this DVD. Seriously. The little white blur over Michael Kamen's shoulder when the camera has the audience in the background? That's me. In my "I am GilmourWhore#1" t-shirt. (I had a website... Oh, nevermind... long story.)

5) Kate Bush. A natural progression. Gilmour produced her first album after helping her to get a record deal. I became totally obsessed with her bizarre, quirky - and innovative - style. I still love her.

One of the best pencil sketches I ever did was a copy of this cover, too.

6) Music, of course. In case you hadn't noticed, a lot of my obsessions were focused on music. I wanted to try my hand at producing music, as well as writing it and playing it. I never managed any of it. Though I still remember a few melodies I wrote for my poems. So, I kinda wrote some songs. Arguably.

7) Guitars. Guitarists. Where does one end and the other begin? Does it matter?

The photo here shows a Peavey T-15. I had one of these - the body was red, the scratchplate cream. I loved that thing (and I wrote those melodies I mentioned above on it). I played all the time. Plugged in, unplugged, in my dreams.

Never really did learn how to play, though. I lack the dexterity in my fingers and hands. Pity.

8) Cycling. Throughout it all, this interest burbled beneath the surface to break through from time to time. When I was sixteen, it started to grow - along with my cousin's ambitions to be a pro cyclist. It went underground for a short while, though, only to re-emerge when I made it to Italy, where there was real interest in the sport (and not just because of Mr. Armstrong).

Seriously, though; do you blame me?

I mean, come on!!!

Okay. Flash forward a few years, and you get:

9) Queer as Folk (USA version). From the very first episode, I was hooked. HOOKED! I thought the direction looked familiar (it was directed by Russell Mulcahy of Duran Duran vids fame), I thought the guys were hot, I thought the storyline was over-the-top-fanTASTIC!

Since it concluded after I moved to Italy, I watched the whole series on DVD.

Twice.

10) Jarvis Cocker. As much for his sense of humor and his sense of style as for his music and lyrics (which are AMAZING). A friend introduced me to the work of Pulp, and I was fixated on their lanky frontman in no time.

He inspired the novel which brought the hubby and me together.

'nuff said.

11) Photography. I started learning it in high school. I'm still learning. I've loved it all through the years. One day, I'll actually get pretty good at it, I think. ;-)

This is one of my lucky shots from September, 2006, on Lago Maggiore, Italy.

12) The X-Files. I was a total geek for this show. Again, I collected all I could get my hands on. The videos. The DVDs. The magazines. The comic books. I even had the Mulder and Scully action figures for the first movie and put them on my writing desk. Inspiration, of course.

13) Doctor Who. Starting when I was a kid, I loved the Tom Baker version of the Doctor. Last Christmas, since I was in the States, I watched the Doctor Who marathon on BBC America.

Love. It.

And one of my students was a dead ringer for the Tenth Doctor. Uncanny!

*Bonus*! 14) Writing. Throughout it all, I've been writing. There were times when inspiration took a hike and left me high and dry, but that's fine. I kept slogging away until my Muse returned.

Now I'm making a teensy bit of headway, so I'll have to keep it up, I reckon. Heh.

Yeah, I know.

Keep going...

And remember...

Let the winds take you wherever they may... ;-)

Ciao!

12 Comments

13 Things Which Made Me Happy

Thirteen Things Which Have Made Me Happy!

Thirteen Cycling Races

Italy Porn (for Ladies Only)

Blurbs, line edits and impatient characters

13 Things I've Been Focused On (In My Life)

Kimberly Menozzi

Please note: Thanks to an increase in spam comments, I'll be approving the comments before they post. Sorry!

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