Or at least it seems that way when you hear an hour and a half long interview with you and your writing partner.
But actually I HATE the sound of my voice. Seriously. It makes me cringe.
Anyway, for those interested, we did an interview at WordBalloon with John Siuntres - a great guy. We talk about Jumpscars, our upcoming Oni work and everything else under the sun.
You can check it out at:
http://wordballoon.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=322148
Monday, March 17, 2008
In honor of "my people", I need to give a shout out to this most irrelevant of days.
I'm not sure when it started... a year or so ago, I think... Nunzio and I were in Boston visiting my family and while we were out walking, we passed a statue (one of many) in tribute to the Irish immigrants of Boston. As it so happens, I am half Irish (also half Scottish, with a few other random heritages mixed in). I decided from that moment on to speak frequently (and sometimes embarrassingly loudly) of "my people."
Now whenever we're in Boston, we always go to Kinsale's, a great local Irish pub, for a meal. Though somehow, we always end up ordering the "traditional" nachos. And I sing great praises of the potato, a wonderful invention, really.
I'm not a trained psychologist (though I did major in Psychology as an undergrad), but I think this strange behavior is a direct result of who my husband is. Nunzio is the son of an Italian immigrant and a Dominican immigrant. Family gatherings include a lot of great ethnic foods and hints of fabulous cultural traditions. And I'm left being Whitey McFreckles who sits at their table watching in great fascination and with much envy.
So, I've embraced my roots, donned a green shirt and plan to buy some Guinness before the day is done. And, oh yes, I'm a definite supporter of Carly Smithson on American Idol.
Now... on a more relevant note, Nunzio and I are doing a podcast tonight for Word Balloon. Not 100% sure when it will be available for download, but we'll keep you posted.
Anyway, I wish you all a hearty St. Patrick's Day!
Saturday, March 15, 2008
The strike is over, and we're awaiting the go-ahead for our feature script and awaiting notes on our TV movie treatment. And awaiting some payments as well, so the financial dark cloud that came with the strike is lifting soon, too.
The medical scare from last year was a Christina scare, but it turned out to be a very large fibroid (which is now surgically removed) and not anything major. And, miracle of miracles, her parents came out to help when she had surgery, and despite there being family issues (between her mom and her brother) that we could have been dragged into the middle of, the visit went smoothly and they were a huge help. And, as a bonus, we then got Greg Rucka and Jen Van Meter, our two dearest friends, to come down and help during the post-surgery recovery, and any time we can spend with them is a great thing, regardless of circumstance.
And my second attempt at teaching, despite having fewer students and being distracted by the more-pressing concern of tending to Christina's open incision, is going well, with another group of very promising students. I hope to teach the class again in the Spring.
Life is not all skittles and beer, though. Christina suffered internal bleeding after the surgery and developed a large hematoma. That hematoma started draining through the incision once the staples were removed and though that drainage has stopped, it kept the incision from fully healing. So we're five weeks removed from the surgery and she still has an open incision, which is healing slowly. Plus, as I said, we're waiting to move forward on these two projects, as opposed to moving forward (which would both get us paid more and give us that wonderful feeling of writing something that we'll see on a TV or movie screen someday).
So, life slowly inches towards being really good. So long as Christina is recovering, it is far from perfect, and the recovery feels like it's taking forever.
But whenever I get cranky about that, I remind myself that we're fumbling towards the end of the bad times, and (if all goes well), towards some pretty good ones.
One thing's for certain, the dark days of 2007 are over. Now we wait for 2008 to turn into something great and hope that I didn't just jinx it.
