kneaded_human's Friends

raistlinette

9:55PM - I fangirl my own life.

Pictured: our awesome summer. Not pictured: our awesome fromthemill, but someone had to document.

music_by_night

6:54PM - excerpt from Eat, Pray, Love -

People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life.

A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then leave.

A soul mates purpose is to shake you up, tear apart your ego a little bit, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light can get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you have to transform your life ...


This actually makes sense - and this has actually happened to me. I'm slightly freaked out.

Current mood: hot

grrm

10:34PM - Alone in London

Parris will soon be on her way home to take care of the cats, before they start rioting and have wild parties. So I'm pressing on by myself. Arrived in London a few hours ago. Signing at Forbidden Planet on the 11th.

Current mood: lonely

grrm

11:25AM - Dublin Days

And here we are in Dublin. Ireland has been exciting but exhausting. We had a huge turnout last night for the signing at Eason's, with a queue that seemed to go on forever, but I finally scrawled everyone into submission, and afterwards I signed all the stock as well. If you missed the signing, or happen to live a thousand leagues away, you can still get an autographed copy of the SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH hardcover or any of the Ice & Fire paperbacks by phoning, emailing, or dropping by Eason's on O'Connell Street. They even have a few trade paperbacks of DREAMSONGS.

Afterwards we adjourned to a nearby pub for a lively evening of Guinness and conversation with the local fans. I met the good folk who will be running next year's Octocon, where I'll be GOH, and hoisted a few with the hardy survivors of the Eason's event. Didn't stagger back to the our hotel till after midnight, by which time Temple Bar was roaring. Ah, if only I were twenty years younger...

The Belfast event on Tuesday was also a hoot and a half. The crowd was much bigger at Dublin, but in Belfast some of the cast of the HBO pilot dropped by to sign books and meet the fans as well. My thanks to Ron Donachie, Richard Madden (Best Dressed Man in Scotland), Alfie Allen, Kit Harington, Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner (and their moms) for joining the festivities. And to the lovely Ros, Esme Bianco, who dropped by McHughes afterwards for the moot. Matthew Hughes, one of the authors who contributed to our Vance tribute anthology, also turned up at Eason's to help me sign SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH.

In between signing and mooting, I've been hanging round the shoot, trying not to get underfoot. "How is it going?" everyone wants to know. I think it's going great. Wednesday's location was amazing, so real I could hardly tell where the real castle ended and our fake castle began. I saw Bran and Tommen swatting at each other in the yard, Joffrey taunting Robb, the Hound growling at Ser Rodrik, while Arya displayed her wretched needlework to Jon above, and it all looked wonderful. Saw some of the footage from the crypts too, and that looked amazing as well. Yes, some things are not exactly as they were in the books, that's inevitable with any adaptation... but these are my characters and this is my story, and it's thrilling to see 'em come to life.

Last night in Belfast I got to meet two more of the cast, quite unexpectedly. Some of the Moroccan players were in Ireland for costume fittings. I ran into Ian McNeice for a brief moment outside the hotel, as we were waiting for our rides, and the night before we bumped into Dany -- the amazing Tamzin Merchant, who is even more beautiful in person than she is on screen -- into the dining room. What a terrific cast Nina Gold has assembled.

Also toured the Paint Hall, though we didn't do any shooting there while I was in Belfast. Some of our sets are going up, and look great. And in another part of the building the huge castle sets from the big budget (compared to us, anyway) feature YOUR HIGHNESS are still standing. Their great hall is pretty eye-popping and they built an impressive castle yard as well.

Tomorrow I'm off to London . Signing at Forbidden Planet on the 11th, Then it's off to Marrakech.

Life is magical and full of joy (but no, I have not been seeking out football scores, so don't tell me. TIVO is getting all my games).

Current mood: excited

grrm

6:54PM - Belfast At Last

Late, wet, and bedraggled, but I'm here.

Tomorrow heads will roll. Well, one head, at least.

Current mood: cold

cowboys_bash

9:10PM - Metal Heart

Recently...well...rather today I guess, I have been tested a lot personally and professionally. There's this case I'm dealing with, ugh, it's just so sad and hard. I've dealt with a lot of people, I've been unofficially counseling for so long, but nothing ever really affected me, today was so hard.

I do fieldwork placements at a high school, it's an alternative high school and I work with grade's 7-9. A lot of them have shit lives and shit homes and have repeated their grades several times. I do one on one counselling with them, lead a girls group, speak to parents, come up with programs. Usual stuff. There is one client I have been meeting with, Christian. He's sixteen years old and in grade nine. He is an illegal immigrant. His parents were both born in Columbia. Christian and his sister were born in the United States. Their parents came to the United states and claimed refugee status, MEXICAN refugee status, meaning fraud, illegal. Christian's father died two years ago trying to cross the border.

Christian has a neighbor who has been supporting him, he got him into the english school system because he is high on the board of education. Prior to knowing the neighbor Christian was on drugs, in gangs, robbing cars. He has a criminal record in the states. The neighbor has gotten him off of all of these things. Since Christian has started in our school he has expressed his gratitude to being given the opportunity to learn. In fact, he's probably the hardest working student in our school and the best behaved. He's polite and kind and selfless.

Immigration has contacted their family, they have a meeting on December eighth regarding analyzing their file, meaning heading for deportation. Christian's mother has gotten a lawyer who is fabricating a story with her in order to stay. This lawyer is friends with the neighbor's lawyer and have informed the neighbor that christian cannot get a lawyer because he is only sixteen, this is not true. I called and got Christian a lawyer.
Today Christian, his neighbor and I went to meet with the lawyer. She basically told us there is no way Christian can stay here. he will be sent back to Columbia with his mother. The only chance he has is to be signaled to Youth Protection (DPJ) that he is living in an unfit situation and that his mother is not living with concern to her sons interests but to her own. This will result in separation from the mother and he can then be placed in a foster home in the united states. After one year he can apply to come back into Canada.

Fuck, fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

After the meeting I needed to do some serious support and grief counselling. I asked Christian how he was doing, he expressed such dissapointment, anger towards his mother for only doing what is in her best interest and frustration that he did not express interest in becoming an imigrant when he came into Canada at fourteen. I empathized with him and and agreed how hard it must be. The neighbor assured him everything would be alright, however, when Christian went to the washroom the neighbor lookedme in the eye and said "I didn't want to say it while Christian was here, but I am so very sad, I was so sure we could find a way for him to stay, it does not look good for us at all, I am so sad" I listened to him and validated his feelings and his help. He has helped change Christian's life around so much.

The hardest part is that he is leaving the Canadian system, in Canada there are more choices and options for him. He has no one in the United States. I asked Christian where he would want to leave though, in Columbia with his mother or in the united states alone and he said in the united states. I just feel so utterly helpless, I feel useless and like it's so out of my hands, it's not even that it's his choice, it's out of everyone's hands. Christian said it perfectly "you just get so settled in a place and finally do well, then you have to get up and leave again"

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck I just...this is the hard part. I try to be strong, I really try, I try to remove myself from these situations and tell myself I am not a miracle worker and it is not up to me to change things. But it is still really really hard, it's so hard, so tough. Right now I am just sad, so that I can be strong when I call my supervisor tomorrow.

I just feel like all of the kids I counsel, the one's who smoke pot everyday and deny an addiction, the ones mouth off and claim being tough and all the girls who complain. I just feel like, ugh...anyway, I just feel attached, I wish this kid was an asshole at least, but he's like the sweetest most polite fucking kid. Ugh....So hard....

Current mood: gloomy

Current music: Nada

flossyflotsam

2:00AM - jack of all trades, master of none.

Current mood: anxious

grrm

2:11PM - Moving On

The Scottish filming is done, and cast and crew are packing up today for the big move to Belfast and its Paint Hall, where the shoot will resume. So far, so good.

Parris and I are moving on as well. She'll be headed over to Ireland tomorrow to spend Samhaim with friends, while I linger here in Scotland a few more days to visit with Lisa Tuttle. We converge again in Belfast in November. Today we swung by the HarperCollins warehouse outside Glasgow, where I signed five hundred hardcovers of SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH. Ask for one at your favorite UK bookstore, they will be going all over the country.

Things are shaping up for the signing at Eason's in Belfast. Last night after the filming wrapped we stayed up late drinking with the cast, and I think we convinced a number of them to join us at Eason's. Should be a hoot and a half, assuming they don't come to their senses in the cold grey light of morning. I told them my readers were essentially harmless. Hah.

The cast is sensational, by the way.

Current mood: tired

raistlinette

6:20PM - No daylights!

( The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe. )

Current mood: tired