Friday 1/22

Friday 1/22 1pm

Lots of wind last night, though it didn't keep me awake much, just occasionally jolted me awake with a gust that rocked the rig. Been raining all day so far, but not a downpour. I just went out to feed the cats and put the bowl under my rig so it would stay dry -- the black male came out when he heard me, came trotting over to let me pet him as payment for food, and discovered the food bowl (whereupon I was ignored).

Called the carnival to see whether they'd made up their mind. They said not yet; will probably be another week or two.

A campground in Prescott AZ is considering me, part-time, with site and wage, possible long-term. We'll see.

Got a replacement bulb for the one that fell out of the fluorescent fixture, but it doesn't light up either. I think these fixtures are shoddy and poorly designed -- I got what I paid for, I guess. Will have to think about buying better ones.

Sorry to say that Kage Baker has a brain tumor, recently operated on. All the best to him. Try his SF books sometimes; they're good.

RIP Robert Parker, age 77.
A really good writer of mysteries, for the first six books. Creator of interesting characters, like Hawk, though he became a caricature in later books. An academic first (a professor of literature at one of the Ivy League), Parker hit big with the Spenser books and then began to believe the depiction of masculinity in his books, as evidenced by the author picture on some of his books (big mean-looking guy with big mean-looking dog on a choke chain). He wrote a few books not in the Spenser set and they were dreadful.

It's now 7pm, the start of primetime TV here, and there's nothing on but the Haiti concert. I think it's a good idea, you understand, but I've already given the Red Cross some money earmarked for Haiti and now I have nothing to watch. I don't understand why it has to be on all the channels. Foo.

11.30pm The weather report seems to say that tomorrow is going to be nasty but clear on Sun Mon Tue, and get nasty again on Wednesday, just in time for my foray to Tucson. Great. Just what I need, slogging into the teeth of a big storm, rain, wind, etc. Good thing I'm taking two days to do it -- I may need both of them.

I've taken to staying up late to watch the Craig Ferguson show -- he's way better than David and Jay and Conan and Jimmy and whoever. Ferguson is a naturalized American originally from Scotland (Glasgow). He has a nice line in sardonic humor. He's much more of a performer than any of the others and he has interesting guests. He just said: "The Mythbusters guys are heroes to me so it's a big deal they're here tonight. It's like Derek Jeter meeting Babe Ruth or Mel Gibson meeting Hitler." I think that's really funny (especially since I loathe Mel Gibson).

Interviewing one of the younger mythbusters guys, who loves robots, who started out at ILM and built R2-D2 and C3PO. Ferguson says "is C3PO gay? The guy says, "no, he's English." Ferguson takes a beat, looks at the audience, and says, "I think all our questions are answered." Funny funny.

Can't say I think much of the band on the show tonight: Hot Rats. Lots of sound and fury signifying nothing (thanks, Faulkner).