- Spent 4 days in Stockholm with Thierry. Discovered Swedish gym thanks to our host Perrine. Baked tons of goodies for Perrine & Nicolas. Watched Anchorman. Trudged through slush, discovered a lovely city, with lovely architecture, great design everywhere, cool shops. I'll be back.
- Finished translating the Rough Guide about the Beatles.
- Started to write my new book.
- Done a couple of interviews.
- Spent time with friends.
- Cleaned. Cleaned. Cleaned.
- Bought tons of clothes on sale. Like, a lot.
- Caught a new cold. Like I needed this.
Things I haven't done and should have :
- Taken pics in Stockholm. I forgot my camera at home. Err, I guess you're all pretty lucky, you won't have to do a pity comment on Flick'r on one of my blurry pics.
- Played with my dolls. In fact, I haven't touched them in months. Not even to try on some new & lovely clothes I got. Once the economic crisis is over, I'm thinking of selling them. I definitely lost my dolly mojo. All my dolly-playing friends seem to move out of town, so without Blythe buddies, it's not much fun.
Blythou out.
Vacations are out of the question for the time being, but I already plan to take a couple of weeks off once it's over.
Strangely, I have trouble sleeping right now. I wake up every night at 4 am and can't get back to sleep before 6-ish or sometimes 7. Then, my alarm goes off at 7:30 and night's over, thank you, bye bye bed. I'm currently riding on an adrenalin high, so far so good, but I hope it's going to get better soon before I look like a dead zombie-vampire-corpse with the energy level of a stoned on Valium snail.
So forgive me if I don't comment. I'm here. I'm just saving my fingers for work.
Blythou out.
ETA : my publisher called right this minute. He's got more projects for me. I'm starting to think sleep is overrated.
I really wanted another gadget to fill my geeky life. And I thought it'd be great to have a small electronic Star Trek-y device instead of stuffing my shelves with books I'll read only once.
Apparently, I'm in a minority because e-books haven't been that successful yet. I don't understand humanity, really. What's cooler than pretending you're a Start Trek character while reading the latest Bill Bryson in the metro, eh ?
Blythou out.
So, let's have a little life update, eh ?
My new book, the rock'n'roll chick survival guide, will be released in a matter of days and I'm doing a couple of signings next week. I've never done that, this is a leeeetle scary (what if nobody shows up ? what if only nasty assholes show up ?).
I suck beautifully at Guitar Hero. And I don't have a minute to spare to improve my non-existent skills.
I've pre-ordered the wii-fit. Next month, I'll get to do different work-outs to complete my daily dose of exercise. Yeah !
And finally, I'm feeding my new I-pod touch some fresh meat. Today's serving includes Johnny Cash, Iggy & The Stooges, Neil Young & Roy Orbison. And the Damned, because it puts me in the mood while I translate Punk The Whole Story (the huge Mojo book about punk rock). And I love their cover of Eloise, which is one of my favorite slices of over-the-top pop of all times. Hell, if I'd had a daughter, I would have called her Eloise after that song (and after the book, Eloise At The Plaza). And it's the name I've picked for my future chihuahua.
Oh, and while feeding my I-pod, I realised that I really like The Donnas' latest album, Bitchin'. It's basic, ballsy, cheesy, in-your-face metal/rock, the lyrics are all about sex and partying, but it somehow appeals to the zone of my brain that takes no offence when Led Zep and the Stones sing macho crap (while I usually go ballistic when I hear young women say "I'm not feminist" as if it was the grossest thing in the world... BECAUSE YOU'VE GOT TO BE A FEMINIST IF YOU'RE RIGHT IN YOUR MIND, BITCH, OOOPS, I MEANT GIRL).
Blythou out.
And everyone at my publisher's loves the wonderful illustrations done by French artist Colonel Moutarde. She's even designed a little paper doll that you can dress with rockin' clothes... Somebody's going to play dollies when she's got spare time, which isn't soon, because I have a 6 page article to finish and then I'll pack and fly to Tokyo.
Sorry for the "I'M SO HAPPY EVERYTHING IS SO WONDERFUL" post, but I thought it'd be a nice change from my usual grumpiness.
Oh, and when I come back, I'll start translating another book. I don't plan on slacking in '08.
Blythou out.
And frankly, it's a pretty strange experience. Almost too personnal at times...
My publisher wants to launch it with a splash, so it's exciting and a bit overwhelming too. But I can't deny I'll be happy to hand my manuscript to him soon.
Then, and only then, I'll be able to really think about my Tokyo vacation.
Blythou out.
And I've decided to include i-pod playlists to go with various activities, such as cleaning the appartment, cooking for a party, waking up after a hangover, working out, traveling, etc.
If you have songs you'd like to submit, please do so in the comments and specifiy into which playlist it has to be included. As far as musical styles are concerned, I'm looking for rock'n'roll stuff, of course, but also pop, power pop, punk rock, metal, garage, surf, etc. Vintage material's welcome as well.
Of course, your name will end up in the special thanks section of the book !
Blythou out.
Oh, and I've pitched two books to my publisher yesterday and he's approved both. Does that mean I'll have to learn to type with my toes in order to be twice as efficient ?
And in the poopy news dept., my second GR hasn't showed up yet. She left Hong Kong at the end of August...
Blythou out.
WAOW ! I love this guy ! He's published my first book, immediately hooked me up with Travis with whom I've worked on book #2 and now he wants book #3.
Book #2, an oral history of the NYC underground clubbing scene in the early to mid-nineties should be out in September.
And my publisher's looking for a British/or US publisher. I've already translated the manuscript.
So yeah, somedays, life doesn't suck at all.
Blythou out.
And the new server for the daily rag 20 Minutes on which I'm supposed to upload my articles is a major piece of technological crap. I basically waste 50 minutes to upload each article, edit it so it fits into the alloted space, but I can't edit the text once it's into said allotted space.
I have to save it, go back to the basic text form, then save it again and hit the "view before printing" button, check if it fits, repeat, lather and rinse. Of course, this stupid server lacks a work/space counter, the style sheets are a mess and are totally confusing, and this forces me to do the job of a copy editor, BUT I'M NOT PAID FOR THIS SHIT !
So on Monday, at the next meeting, I'll inform my boss that I refuse to waste more of my precious time and that I'm not using this server until it works properly. Oh and if they want to make us do some extra work, they'll have to pay us extra.
I seriously wonder why I don't drink more. And use booze to wash Valium pills. I'm either super strong willed or far too resigned to really care.
Thank god the work on my book is nearly completed, the translation of the text in English is almost finished and working with Travis, the photographer, is a dream. This provides me a leeeetle bit of sanity in an ocean of craziness.
Blythou out.
- Mood:
crazy
Liz/
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
woollyrockers arrives today from London for a spinning 'round town, a visit to the blythe exhibition at Galeries Lafayette, some Nouvelle Vague sight-seeing and fabric shopping. Sounds like we're going to indulge in some weel deserved dolly fun. Oh, and she's promised to help me reorganise my Blythe shelf... The girls will be thrilled since they've been sitting there forever, waiting for some change of clothes and photoshoots.I'm eagerly waiting for some pics of
tibiloo's new baby. I'm sure she'll become a LJ star in her own right. The first glimpses of her I got were heart melting... But I don't want to spoil her secret so I won't say more.I'm in the process of self-kicking my butt in order to get some more interesting work. I'm tired of some of the things I have to do to earn a living. I'm esp. tired of some disgusting inner politics going on. I realized that my work load in a paper I write for I've started to decline once I said I won't write a blog there for free. Sorry, I don't write for free, unless it's for my own pleasure. It stinks, I'm pretty sick and sad about that situation, but I won't reconsider and give up because of some insidious pressure.
Work on my upcoming book is coming along nicely. The photographer I'm working with is great and we share a sense of humor as well as similar tastes in art & music. And he's loaned me a Patrick Dennis book I adored as well as the Auntie Mame movie I'd wanted to see forever.
Thierry WANTS a chihuahua like crazy ever since I made the mistake of taking him to a petstore where a bunch of pups were playing and doing everything they could to charm his Visa off. Sadly, I've decided I won't have a doggie, because I don't want to satisfy all my desires for fear of not wanting anything more. And it's too much of commitment for me. I hate commitments. I've also given up the idea of going to Japan for that same reason... Fear of not desiring anything. It sounds silly, I know. And Thierry's starting to freak out, thinking I don't want to build and plan anything. Which is true.
So really, it's still a big of a mess up there. Ups and downs. Same old... Sorry to bore you to tears with all that shit.
Blythou out.
And now, I wonder how I'll manage to keep my trap shut until the package reaches her. That's why I'm seriously thinking of having it shipped by courrier.
Too bad I won't be here when she opens the package. But I love playing the good fairy once in a while. And since we won't be going to Japan in October after all, I can spend some of my "me me me" money on gifts.
I'm sure it'll be good karma and that an anonymous admirer will give a teacup beige shorthair chihuahua one day.
Blythou out.
But I got a fantastic bouquet of exotic flowers from my publisher who came to dinner yesterday and the girls all got excited about it and want to pose around it, with their Hawaiian re-ment.
I haven't updated my LJ properly forever, so here's a quick update.
- Mood swings galore. I feel good, then crappy, then great, then shitty. Lather, rinse & repeat.
- I'm starting to think something's wrong with my health, but I won't bore you with that.
- Starting soon on a new book. YEAH !
- The Blythes are still emerging from their closet. They're happy about it. So am I.
- I love Pilates. I try to do a 55 mins. session twice a week at least.
- We're going on a day trip to see a bird reservation sometimes next week.
And finally, we're making plans for a short vacation this summer (since we're thinking of *finally* going to Japan next fall). We'll go back to Finland since we loved it so much last year... We'll stop in Helsinki on our way there and on our way out and we'll go trekking around lakes in between. So Finnish dolly peeps, expect a visit from the French gang !
Blythou out.
