snow showers bring?

Certainly not Mayflowers or pilgrims. Snow showers mostly bring a need for Trish to find a ride to work, so if Car-girl can't do it, she has to pay Christy or Theresa to do it, & a couple more buckadingdongs in the afternoon, for one of the drivers: it's raining now, slated to turn colder, snow overnight; up to 2 inches & my style's getting schizophrenic again; I really need that extra dose of Scientology-fucking Abilify. We'll know later this morning if Car-girl can give Trish a ride; for now, she's sleeping off her ear infection. I noticed yesterday that as long as she had something to do -- laundry, dishes -- she didn't say anything; once she was sitting still it began hurting again.

So yesterday, after Trish & I ate our breakfast of pancakes & sat around drinking our Scooby-dew & she left for work, I ran over to the store & picked up 5 cans of the pineapple that's on sale, 10 for $10. Trish loves her pineapple, as long as it's chunky & not crushed. Then I watched part #2 of the boxed set of Return of the King. I didn't feel like writing; wasted some time on Hot or Not & trying to find a chat partner on ICQ, then actually did sit down with my short story. I think that there are still too many elements derivative of Star Trek. The opening scene has the character in "the ship's lounge", for example. Never mind that she's smoking a Rasta cigar with Andy Roach & Joe Clip, it sounds Trekkie. Sure, I've converted the thing into a barrel-shaped, rotating vessel with a warp-field generator on the front of the craft, but even then, "warp" may prove too Trekkie of a term. I wanted something that would stand out from the "hyperspace" of the alien drive, but then, "drive" might possibly prove Trekkie, also. Bottom line is, something in that intro has got to go -- while at the same time effectively hooking the reader into the story. Although something controversial like legal marijuana may be an effective way of drawing some readers into the story -- & turning off others -- I'm not really sure that the entire opening scene can't be dropped. That leaves me with the original opening, but that may involve too much in the way of introducing characters too quickly. What I started to do yesterday, & stopped 'cause Trish was due home, was to rework the bridge scene & replace it with a tele-conference conducted on the ship's computers. This makes more sense, anyway. I'll do some more work on this before Car-girl comes (she promised me a late TA); if she doesn't want to work today, I'll do what I can with the story.

So Trish arrived home on time, & her parking was near-perfect. She went back & redid it, but it was better the first time. We ate an early supper of chicken thighs, including mashed potatoes, which she made (she's better at following the recipe on the box than I am) & frozen vegetables. We took the chicken out too early, though, & had to nuke it. I watched a little TV, then Trish went to bed early, 'cause of her ear infection. I ended up falling asleep in the chair for an hour, & fell asleep again in bed, rapidly, after taking 2 Scientology-fucking sleeping pills. Got up to rain & cold. I hope work will go well with Trish today.

I almost forgot to say: we called Trish's mom & step-mom yesterday. Ruth wanted to talk to me, but didn't have time; Rosemary mostly told me to stay away from haldol -- I hope my mother-in-law hasn't been Scientology-fucked -- & that she doubts the MPP's ballot initiative will pass, which I told her, it's running slightly ahead in the polls, but of course the drug czar will come in at the last minute, & waste a bunch of the taxpayer's money illegally campaigning against it.