My surreal poem The Art of Weaving received an Honourable Mention in the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, 18th Annual Edition. This may well be my last nod unless I start writing again. It is an important incentive. It has always been my dream to see my work (not merely my name) in the same book as Neil Gaiman and other horror and science fiction luminaries.

Losing 2 years of work had been quite a blow to me at the same time when work swept me up in its wake of which I never quite recovered. Perhaps I just need to retreat to that place I am always at when I write, curled up under my blankets with my art book and black pen. Or it is simply a matter of commitment as it was when I first started. Not leaving the spot till I've written 5 poems, publishable or not.

It is a place to start weaving again. Tomorrow night. Actually, it is already tomorrow.

The premiere issue of Tales of the Talisman is now on sale at Project Pulp. This gorgeous glossy issue includes 2 of my poems "Medusa in LA" and "Passing Through". :)

Boy's been hanging with Buffy quite a bit. A strange but endearing relationship. :)

While watching Buffy this evening, Buf leapt up onto the couch and cuddled against me for the whole duration of the episode. It was very sweet and her Dad was quite amazed.

Just 2 minutes ago, the two were lounging in the corridor when I called Boy. I was so surprised to see him get up, walk by to the computer table and let me pick him up and sit him on my lap for a few minutes before he decided to wrangle himself out of my embrace and lie on the floor by my feet instead. :D

It's been his favourite spot for a long time, despite it being rather hazardous. He has had his tail run over by my chair several times when I get up in a hurry. I do remember to keep an eye out for him these days. He does blend into the carpet...

my cat annie - delightful videos of a very interesting cat.

(Source: Working with the Cat Welfare Society)

I woke up yesterday morning to Kaku's gentle mrrow mrrow. Got up, petted her for a really long time and then opened the bedroom door to let the bedlam in.

The kids really appreciated me being home, I could tell. Boy was constantly following me everywhere and the Three Naughties sat with me all afternoon and evening as I watched Buffy reruns.

Tux chatted with me while I picked him up ("mrow ow", he said) and Sam animatedly sang out a mrreeeow mreeow while sitting on the stairs past midnight.

Boy howled some but quietened down instantly when I called his name and blinked at him. I think after being away, all of them are worried I'll leave again. I reassured them and carried them all.

They've all settled down to sleep now, except for me Cheese Taster-filled tummied human mother person.

For most of my life, I had been haunted by an old movie I watched as a child. The story was about a woman with special powers, the sea, and a giant turtle bigger than a ship.

One of my life's goals was to swim with turtles, in their domain the sea. I achieved that last week. It reminded me of the source of that inspiration.

Remembering just the actress's name, I searched IMDB for Connie Selleca. And there it was... right at the bottom of her credits list was The Bermuda Depths (1978). Here's a review.

Confident I'd have that DVD in my hands in the next month or so, I searched Google... only to find, along with many disappointed and similar haunted souls that it hasn't been released!

There are a couple of VHS versions on Ebay but I am still mulling. Dang...

... at my DeviantArt site.

Last week I spent most of my time underwater, exploring what would seem to be another world, another dimension, as physicist Michio Kaku saw it as a child.

I spent hours swimming with turtles, met eyes with a baby shark, communicated with a squid, and saw a baby manta ray. It was truly out of this world.

On Saturday morning, I returned home to find that astronomers have discovered a 10th planet 97 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun.

While reading Phil Plait's brilliant Bad Astronomy Blog just a few minutes ago and staring at the picture of the Moon, I suddenly felt a wanderlust to visit another planet again.

The reality check that kicked in before about the actual dangers of space travel and our technological unreadiness to actually explore it faded somewhat and I began to dream about it again.

I conquered my fear of wide-open spaces during this trip to Perhentian and have won back the explorer in me. It is most likely I will never step foot in space during my lifetime, but in my mind's eye, I will, many times, my whole life.

My Mom dropped her phone while trying to reply my SMS this morning while buying fish at the wet market. It went a little haywire. Of course I felt duty-bound to buy her a new one.

We spent about an hour scouring the latest deals, declining a pretty Samsung clamshell model when we heard the electronics may cause the screen to blackout after a year or so.

Finally we spotted a sweet Nokia 6610i, which is the same one my Dad has. The sales chappie explained the inner workings of the phone to my Mom who was suitably impressed by his good service.

By virtue of the good product itself and pleasant service, we bought the phone at $128 (Mom's contract was only a year old so it was a $100 top-up). Dad was relieved when the shopping was finally over. :D

I bought my first scuba gear today from Lucky Plaza.

Tusa TM-8000Q Imprex Hyperdry Mask $69
Unidive fresh air snorkel $32

Although I've gotten my Open Water three years ago, I feel as excited as I was then going for my first dive trip.

It is my life's dream to see turtles swimming alongside with. :D

An Important Scuba Link: Maintaining your Mask