June Blog Chain

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Doing AW‘s June Blog Chain again. Might the last for a bit. I got a lot on my plate right now.

This month’s prompt:
Bugs

Yep. Bugs. Simple and easy. Prose, poetry, play. Fiction, nonfiction. It’s all good, all bugs.

Instructions:
Simply post your blog’s URL in this thread to join. I’ll let you know in this thread when it’s your turn. Once your turn comes up, you have two days to complete a blog post using the prompt. When you are finished, please add a link to your post on the thread.

Each post should be less than 1000 words if possible.

Bugs

“Don’t let them escape,” she cried.

“I’m tryin’ not to,” he answered.

“Oh my god. Get them.” She was horrified.

Silas wasn’t a very forgiving overseer. Not even a drop of compassion flowed through his veins. She and Orrin would be written up and their pay docked. The last thing she could afford was to have her pay docked.

“Hurry and get ‘em back into their containment units, Chessie,” Orrin’s tone was forceful while his voice was low. “Mebbe they won’t notice. Or mebbe we can tell ‘um they died in the unit.”

“That won’t work Orrin. They added the unit weight monitors yesterday. The units just got calibrated,” her voice held the resignation she felt. “It’s useless. I’ll file the report.”

“Shit.”

It wasn’t a minute after she hit send on the report, the communicator on the console started beeping. She didn’t want to hit the green button, but she did.

“Ms. de Marco?” asked Silas.

“Yes, this is she,” she answered, albeit reluctantly.

“I see from the report, your team lost a little under a gross of cockroaches,” he said. His voice held neither disapproval or approval.

“Yes sir. That’s correct,” she said. “It was my fault, sir. Mr. Abernathy bears no fault.”

“I noted that on the report as well,” he stated.

“It’s the truth,” she said emphatically. “Although Orrin helped me when I tried to get them back. They ran, sir. We couldn’t catch them.”

“The loss of the gross will cost the company just under $10,000 dollars, Ms. de Marco. How do you propose to rectify this situation?” Silas asked her.

“Well, I’ve given it some thought, sir. I would be willing to be docked half pay and work over time for the remaining portion,” she suggested.

“Acceptable,” Silas told her. Again, no inflection in his voice to indicate emotions running one way or another. “Computer please note the date and time of the agreement.”

“Agreement noted and entered,” a chipper female voice acknowledged.

“Will that be all sir?” she asked miserably.

“Yes. Good day,” Silas sign off. The communicator beeping one long beep to indicate the call was over.

“Crap,” she cursed.

“Doan worry, Chessie. I kin share my rations. I know you need ‘em,” Orrin offered.

“This can’t go on Orrin. We need to figure out a way to get the overflow when we open the units,” she said.

“How kin we do that if the company hasn’t?” Orrin asked.

“The company doesn’t care Orrin,” she said. “They dock the workers pay if any of those bugs get out. So they don’t have a profit loss. No profit loss equals no motive to fix the situation.”

“I guess that’s true,” Orrin agreed.

“Well we might as well eat lunch while we think about it,” she told him.

“Alright,” he agreed readily.

Orrin hit a series of buttons. Two bowls appeared with grayish extruded paste in them. He handed one to her and kept the other for himself.

“Hot sauce?” he offered her the bottle.

She took it. While the paste was nutritious, it tasted bad.

“Thanks. I can’t stand the taste plain,” she told him. “Since I started working here. Seeing how they live, I have to put something on it.”

“I just like the hot sauce,” Orrin grinned at her. “Even if the paste didn’t taste like shit, I’d put some on there.”

She didn’t say anything in response. There wasn’t really anything to say. So they finished their meal in silence. Each lost in their own worlds. She was pretty sure they were two vastly different worlds, but still, Orrin had his moments.

He wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box, but he was funny and nice. He was real nice. He’d helped her out on more than one occasion.

“Do you think we’ll ever get anything else to eat?” she wondered out loud. “I read about all the food that didn’t survive and I can’t imagine what they’d taste like.”

“I dunno, Chessie. Mebbe someday, the ground will grow things again. Or they’ll find somethin’ sides us and the bugs survived,” he said. “Until then, at least we kin eat all we want. Working with the food gots some benefits.”

“Yeah, at least my kid won’t starve,” she said sadly. “He just won’t have much besides food for a while.”

“Naw, girl. I told you I’d help out. And I will,” he said good naturedly.

“I can’t let you do that Orrin. You’ve been helping me out too much,” she said. “Who knew taking care of the food was so difficult?”

“They’re just particular. They don’t want ‘em to get out in case some other folks start to breed ‘em too. Then if everybody could grow ‘em and breed ‘em, the company’s profits would go down,” he said in a surprising moment of insight.

“Yeah. That makes sense,” she said. “It was just easier when I work part time in the office before Eric died, you know?”

“Yeah. I do,” he patted her shoulder. “Welp, it’s time to water the little buggers. Got to keep ‘em plump so they weigh more for sale.”

“Better than feeding them,” she shivered. She hated feeding them. Hated dealing with the corpses. The cyclical nature of the how they bugs ate human corpses, getting fat and then the bugs were ground into paste to feed living humans. Well, it just kind of freaked her out. If she’d never worked in this department, she wouldn’t have it in her face. She could have pretended. But when you’re the one feeding the damn things, it was real hard to pretend.

“Now ain’t that the truth.”

“You’re right. Let’s get back to work,” she sighed. “But one of these days, I am going to figure out how to get them from one unit to another without losing any of them.”

“That’d be a good thing, Chessie. Help us both out,” Orrin grinned at her.

Micro-farming cockroaches was essential now they were the only source of protein left on Earth. Well other than humans. But no one wanted to go there. At least not yet.

Participants and posts:
orion_mk3 – http://nonexistentbooks.wordpress.com (link to post)
Diem_Allen – http://mindovermistakes.blogspot.com (link to post)
Ralph Pines – http://ralfast.wordpress.com (link to post)
articshark – http://www.drslaten.com/blog (link to post) <————————–me
Lady Cat – http://randomwriterlythoughts.blogspot.ca (link to post)
U2Girl – http://ancatdubh.org (link to post)
MsLaylaCakes – http://www.taraquan.com/ (link to post)
SuzanneSeese – http://www.viewofsue.blogspot.com/ (link to post)
robynmackenzie – http://iwanttobeawesomewhenigrowup.com/ (link to post)
Sunwords – http://susannedoering.wordpress.com/ (link to post)
Angyl78 – http://jelyzabeth.wordpress.com/ (link to post)
susanielson – http://somesemblancethereof.blogspot.com/ (link to post)
HistorySleuth – http://historysleuth.blogspot.com (link to post)
SRHowen – http://srhowen1.blogspot.com/ (link to post)
Lyra Jean – http://beyondtourism.wordpress.com/ (link to post)
xcomplex – http://arielemerald.blogspot.com/ (link to post)
milkweed – http://www.thistlequill.blogspot.com/ (link to post)

 

Smutty Sunday 6/2/13

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http://www.kristenashley.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/cover31216-medium.png

 

Gonna do something a little different for my smutty sunday recs this time. Normally, I try to give recs in various genres so that there’s a little something for everybody instead of just for the smut and smex readers.

But I got an advance copy of Kristen Ashley‘s book Fire Inside, her second Chaos Novel from Netgalley. It rocked. Seriously great reading. But before I go into all the reasons why this book rocked, I have to let you know that it is really the third Chaos novel. And we have to talk the the first two before we can talk about this one.

The first Chaos novel was Motorcycle Man. It was the last of her Dream Man series and probably my favorite in that series. It wasn’t my favorite because there were hot dudes on motorcycles. Although, that fact did add to its overall goodness. It was good because the characters in the book were great. I like Tack. And I like Tyra. I would want to know them in real life. They were interesting people living out an interesting life. Sure they had some shit to overcome. That’s called plot. This book also introduced me to the Chaos Motorcycle Club dudes. And what fascinating dudes they were. What I really like most about this book though was that Tyra had her dream life planned out. And she was going to go for the brass ring. She wanted it all, she let people know and then she made it happen. She didn’t want to compromise any component in that dream. She didn’t. Tack was her dream man. He was also good with giving her all the components of her dream life. So it all turned out good but it went bad before it could get there.

The second Chaos book was Own the Wind. It is the first in the Chaos series. It is about Shy and Tabitha. They had secret crushes on each other. Hid those feelings which brought other lovers into their lives. Were enemies at one point and then became friends. It wasn’t until much later they became lovers. Full circle. I didn’t like this book as much as Motorcycle Man or Fire Inside. But it was still a good read. You can’t like all books to an equal degree cause it is just impossible. some you just like more than others. The female character in this book wasn’t one I connected with as well as the other two. So there you have it. I gotta think the dude it hot. But I also have to like the girl. I liked Tab, I just didn’t like her enough. If you see what I mean.

Now, we get to Fire Inside. This is Lanie and Hop’s story. Hop is a Chaos brother and Lanie is Tyra’s best friend. Lanie’s old boyfriend, Elliot, got killed in Motorcycle Man. Lanie has taken years to come back to herself. Hop has been there watching it. They are attracted to each other. But it isn’t until Lanie propositions Hop that they get together. There’s drama in this book. But it’s the good kind. Where there’s personal growth, facing demons and becoming a bigger person. Living large instead of getting by small. I really liked Lanie. I really, really like Hop. And I really liked Fire Inside. Get it cause you’ll be rooting for Lanie. But you will be totally cheering for Hop. I liked the girl character in this book as much as I liked the guy character. So buy it and love it like I did.

Men Should Read Erotic Romance

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Normally I post random thoughts on Friday. But this Friday, my random though deserved a separate post. Men should read Erotica and Erotic Romance. They should do this for a number of reasons. Here’s a perfect illustration why.

*I used to be in a book club. It was a chick lit book club. But we had a dude in it. And he’s the one that turned me on to erotic romances. He told me he read them because his wife appreciated it.*

So guys, read erotic romances. Your women will appreciate it. Really they will.

First, read it because it’ll help you get into the mind of a woman. Now I’m not telling you to use lines from the things you read. But if your at a loss for what a woman wants in a particular situation, use the readings as guide posts. If your feeling at a loss because your brain is from Mars and her brain is from Venus, women writing men characters can give you a glimpse into the wants of how women might want you to respond. This isn’t rocket science dudes. And even if you don’t think any real life dudes would behave the way males behave in romances, still it’s like an outline for how she wants you to behave. Get as close as you can while still being authentic.

Second, read and reread the sex scenes. Seriously. Reading explicit erotic romance can make you a better lover. Trust me on this, you want to be a better lover. After many martinis and lots of heart-to-heart girl talks, LOTS of men need to do better. If you don’t think this is about you, it is. Your girl just won’t tell you. I will. Read some frickin’ books. Learn some new techniques. Figure this shit out cause YOU really need to. Really. I can’t stress this enough. Can’t. Stress. This. ENOUGH. This post is about you. Seriously.

If you’ve ever wondered what women want or the woman you are with can’t verbalize what she wants, read some frickin’ books and try out a variety of the things being written in those books. It’s a pretty sure bet, at some point, you are going to hit upon what your woman wants. If you’ve gotten into a rut or you don’t think your current technique is all that, don’t read dude publications to fix things. You want to read women’s writings, thought and wants. I mean it is women you are sleeping with. Who better to give you pointers on how to be a better lover than women? Ummm, no one.

Third, even if you’re not in a rut or your woman thinks you sex it up fine, it’ll still expand your mind. You’ll get ideas. And they are kind of fun to read. It’s not called mommy porn (a term I loathe but fits here) for nothing. Even though most dudes are visual, there’s only so much shitty porn on TV you can watch before you’ve seen just about everything. Reading erotica and erotic romance will help broaden your horizons and you can visualize as you read. It totally engages your imagination. See it’s a new avenue to get your stranger sex fix.

So there are a lot of reasons guys should read Erotic Romance and Erotica. For them and for their partners. Of the three reasons above, I find one of them to be the most relevant to me. But I hope I given some dudes some things to think about because all of the reasons are relevant to guys.

Cool Summer Drinks

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Here are some delicious summer drink recipes. Some have more alcohol, some have less. They are all refreshing. I will share some more as the summer goes on. lol

Campari Spritz

I had this a lot when I took a month touring Italy. It is light and freshing. Plus, it’s low in alcohol but high in bubbles. A perfect combo, yeah?

1 part Campari
3 parts prosecco
1 part soda water

Put into a wine glass. You can garnish with oranges or ruby red grapefruit slices. Yumm.

 

White Wine Sangria

Most people have had red wine sangria. But for summertime, white wine sangria is the way to go, especially if you live in warmer areas. And that’s saying something cause I am a red wine drinker. Don’t get me wrong, I like red wine sangria just fine. But the white wine one is really, really refreshing.

 

 

Ingredients:

1 bottle of Riesling or Gewurztraminer
1 bottle Vihno Verde or Sauvignon Blanc
1 can pineapple/oj frozen concentrate (not the little ones but a big one or you can use two little ones)
juice of one orange plus slices
juice of one lemon plus slices
juice of one lime plus slices
2 oz brandy
4 oz Cointreau or Grand Marnier
1 liter ginger ale or club soda or italian lemonade

lots of summer fruits cut up- green apples, strawberries, pomegranate seeds, mixed berries, etc.

Put all of the liquid into a large container or punch bowl, add citrus slices and cut up fruit. Viola white wine sangria. Let it sit for a bit for better fruity flavor. If you are going to let it sit, leave out the fizzy part(ginger ale et. al) until right before serving.

 

Blackberry Vodka Fizz

I saw this recipe using bourbon. I’m not a big bourbon drinker. So I substituted Vodka. It was still pretty good.

4-5 blackberries
1-2 oz vodka or bourbon
ginger ale
club soda

Muddle the blackberries with a little ice. Add vodka then fill 3/4 way with ginger ale. Add club soda until glass is full.

 

Music Monday 5/27/13

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Esthero is probably one of my all time favorite singers. Ever. Her Breath from Another CD is in my top 10 CDs of all time. I would take it with me anywhere. Her voice can be sultry or bright. And while she has good musicians playing with her. She can rock the songs A Capella and they would STILL ROCK. Here are a few songs I really like. Enjoy!

This first one is with the illustrious Cee-Lo Green

This one is from her Breath From Another album.

This is from her latest album Everything is Expensive.

 

Smutty Sunday 5/26/13

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Okay smut readers extraordinaire. Here are some reading recommendations. In no particular order.

Eric Flint has a series about the Ring of Fire in which a group of people with in the zone- the ring of fire, are all thrown back in time. Lots of history to go along with the whole time travel concept. It is a brilliant read. Brillant.

Next month Nalini Singh is going to have her last Psy-Changeling book in her series come out. It is 11 books of goodness. And I am waiting with bated breath to read this last one. I have read all of the others and they are fab-u-lous. Seriously rocking good reads.

For all you 50 shades fans out there, Sylvia Day has written her Crossfire series and they are so good, so magnificent, I don’t let myself think about the fact that the series isn’t going to be finished for another year or so. If i think about it, I might cry.

I usually try to get in a nonfiction book. But this time, I am going to recommend a nonfiction topic. Go to your local bookstore, it is better if you can find a good used bookstore, and find books on something you want to learn about. I just bought a bunch of books on tea ceremonies. The ones I have are in regards to Japanese tea ceremonies. But I also plan to get books about English tea ceremonies as well. And recipe books that go along with this subject. It behooves us all to keep learning new things. Trying new things out. Stepping outside out comfort zone and opening our minds. Pick something, flower arranging, watercolor, etc. Get some how to books, or books about its history or something like that. It’s kinda fun.

Random Thoughts Part 5

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Haven’t had any random thoughts for a while. Been too busy. But I had some today.

Why do cable people make you wait all day for them to show up? Why can’t they just tell you it will be at such and such time? Or about such and such time so you can get other shit done? I think it is a power play. I know some people will say it is because they don’t know when one job is finished and they can’t get to the next job until the one before it is done. But seriously? I just don’t get… they will be there sometime tomorrow. Really? If I didn’t need my router so badly, I would be all like… maybe I will be home sometime  tomorrow. Arghhhh!

Every time we have a tragedy, everyone puts that they’re praying for the victims of the tragedy. Seriously? Did you not get the joke about the lottery ticket and the woman with kids who are starving and about to be kicked out their house? She just kept praying. Finally god told her she needed to help him help her and get off her ass and buy a lottery ticket or something so he’d have something to work with. Same goes here. Jaysus. Praying is all good and well for the non victims. But you know what they need more than prayer? Donations. Of money, of supplies, etc. Praying make the non victim PRAYOR feel good but doesn’t do bumpkiss for the victims. So donate and then pray. Or pray and then donate. Or just donate. Make the donation your prayer. Sheesh. Do I have to spell it out already?

I don’t understand the whole fanfic thing. Why write something not original? Why not read something original? Is it because you are jonesing before the next book the series is out? Or the series is over and you didn’t get enough? Seriously, don’t get it. Daydream about your favs like the rest of us. Don’t be all ripping it off. And if you do, don’t be looking to make a buck off it. The idea isn’t yours. Do all that hard work, turn over all the $$ to the original creator/author/licensee or come up with your own original idea. It’s as simple as that. If that were the rule, we wouldn’t be having Amazon Worlds and the like. I am just blown away. We obviously need one of Bill Maher’s new rules here.

Pesto baby

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This is a basic pesto recipe. I had some fresh pesto in the Cinque Terre a few years back. It rocked. In fact, I loved it so much I have been dreaming of the day I can go back for a visit, or in my dreams, to live.

Since that time, I have been making pesto in the spring and summer. Instead of just using it on pasta, although it is good for that, try it on grilled chicken and lamb chops. That’s right- lamb chops, or better yet, a full rack of frenched lamb ribs. It is delicious.

And while the recipe below is THE basic basil pesto recipe, pesto is only limited by your palate and taste imagination.

Pesto

1/4c toasted pine nuts- I buy a huge Costco bag and stick it in the freezer to keep the oil from going rancid. Take a little out at a time and toast it. I put left over toasted pine nuts back in the freezer.
1-2 cloves garlic
a huge bunch of basil
olive oil
1/4c parmesan cheese- I prefer grated for this but shredded is okay
salt pepper

Stick all the ingredients except oil and cheese in the food processor. Whirl. Slowly add oil as the machine goes. Add enough oil that it is slightly runny. Stop machine. Add parmesan. Pulse. Don’t overheat the cheese. Pulse until incorporated. It should be thick but not paste like. More like not so thick pancake batter. If that makes sense.

Taste. Add salt and pepper to taste. Do this last because parmesan is usually salty. If you add salt beforehand, it might get too salty.

** good herbal substitutes: cilantro and parsley- also good on chops. Spinach & sub out pine nuts for toasted walnuts- good on chicken and as a spread for dipping. Some people like sundried tomatoes as a pesto. See how the combos are only limited by your imagination? It’s true.

Music Monday 5/20/13

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A few albums helped get me through law school. P.M. Dawn cut the Bliss album during that time period. I used to listen to the CD over and over again. So much so I had to buy a second CD because I messed up the first one listening to it so much. So many good memories. So here are a few P.M. Dawn songs from that album. Enjoy

Cool Places on the Interwebz

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When I first wake up on a Saturday morning, I have the house to myself. It is bliss. Quiet, peaceful and devoid of distractions. It’s almost like a scene out of a movie. You know, where the film makers pan to the breaking dawn, glorious waves or something else that symbolizes how wonderful a quiet, beautiful day can start.

Then, the rest of my household awakens and chaos reigns for the rest of the day. Taking my zen with it.

So, instead of trying to get words on a page, I cruise the internet. I have some go to sites.

Steep and Cheap and Woot are the first places I look. Hey, I like to shop and I like bargains. What can I say?

Then I check out writer websites. First up is the Grinder to check dates on the manuscripts I’ve submitted. Savvy Author is next to see if there are any interesting announcements, upcoming pitch contests and seminars that sound good. I keep a window to Absolute Write Water Cooler open pretty much all day. It’s an awesome community of peeps who write, edit and publish.

I also have other areas of the internet that interest me. Like Mark’s Daily Apple. It’s a primal living site and Mark talks about all things primal. From clothes to food to exercises. It’s cool and informative. Another gem, a jewel really, is Dr. Davis’s website and blog called Track your Plaque. If you or someone you love is serious about heart health, or needs more information on how to reverse, or at least stop the progression of heart disease, Dr. Davis’s blog is a must see. MUST. SEE.

At some in the future, I will list more blogs, sites and interesting places to visit on the interwebz. But for now, this is it. Enjoy.