I couldn’t just walk away. The bus was still there, still rumbling, when I left.

So I signed one of my books, stuck a postcard in with a note like “For Willie from Fangirl” and put the book on the bus the only way I could.

Think it’ll get to him?

As usual, I’m staying midway between SF and LA on my journey, because I have a friend in the area who is the president of the Sex Drive Advisory Board and we usually meet to picnic and palaver about future topics, direction, branding, etc.

And who pulls up in a bus outside but … Willie Nelson!

Walked the dog around the hotel as usual and kept an eye out for Willie (not usual) and didn’t see him, but at least three tour buses are rumbling out there and the artwork and license plates and so on — plus a woman we met on the walk — have all confirmed who ’tis.

Wouldn’t that be cool, to go hang in Willie Nelson’s room for the evening? You know he’d dig Jedi, and I’m a big fan in the sense that I really like his music, although I don’t know his life history, his album titles, or any of that other stuff. *shrug* It’s simpler than that. I love his songs. I’ve seen him live once a year for the past few years, although I missed him this year (hrm, is he on his way to the LA county fair? what month is it?). He puts in a great show.

Willie. Neat.

Oh yeah:

Non Sequitur

Talked with mom briefly today, and she noted that you know you’re too busy when…

… you’re happy that your apple doesn’t have a sticker on it

… you blow dry your hair and use your Sonicare toothbrush at the same time even though it gives you a headache in your nose

… if you’re a morning person, you find that getting up at 3:30 isn’t early enough. and if you’re a night person, staying up til 3:30 isn’t late enough

Just confirmed: I’m on the speaking roster as a “fun session” this November at:

Lexicom
The focus for this conference is “Your Online Identity” which mean exactly what you think: improving and protecting your identity on the Internet.

Here’s an article I wrote two years ago explaining why I was changing my byline from Gina Lynn to Regina Lynn, which is pertinent to today’s Darklady Sexpose online radio show where Gina Lynn (porn star) and I will be together for the first time:

Gina Lynn and (Re)Gina Lynn

The radio show is at 2pm Pacific/5pm Eastern today.

It was great talking with everyone today at the Second Life convention! If you didn’t get a chance to introduce yourself, or you had a lingering question for me, feel free to drop me an email anytime.

Teacher’s radical 9/11 views raise red flags | csmonitor.com

This article talks about academic freedom and whether a professor should be fired for suggesting that the 9/11 attacks on the world trade center was an inside job.

As one who regularly puts my opinions about controversial subjects out there to start discussion and encourage others to express their thoughts — my ultimate goal with Sex Drive is to get people thinking and talking, not necessarily agreeing — I like what professor Barrett is doing. He says he brings a bunch of views to the table and facilitates discussion among the students. His point is to inspire people to think.

Censoring that, firing him for speaking against the popular view, is a very dangerous reaction. This isn’t 5th graders. It’s college. It’s a university, where people are brought together to share ideas, to learn to think critically, to analyze, to research … how can you have a complete learning experience if you’re never allowed to get controversial?

And frankly, if by university you can’t separate yourself from a teacher’s opinion, I’m worried about you. Barrett expressed his opinion on a radio show, not in the classroom; and he says that he looks at his opinion along with many others as part of his class.

I love this quote:

…. says Jonathan Knight, of the department of academic freedom and governance at the American Association of University Professors. “The faculty member who devotes part of his course on physics to the proposition that the moon is made of cheese could rightly be accused of professional behavior that amounts to incompetence. But short of that, colleges and universities are places where ideas of the most unusual sort ought to be tested before students and peers.”

Now the state representative is saying that if the university keeps Barrett on, he’s going to propose cutting funding for the school.

Here’s what Barrett says:

Raising doubt over who caused the plane crashes on 9/11 is critical to understanding the Muslim world, he says. “I don’t inflict my views on students, but it’s important they understand that the vast majority of the world’s Muslims believe that 9/11 was an inside job, and important to understand why they hold those beliefs.”

Wired News: God Bless This Lube
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;

I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey

Christians sometimes get a bad rap in sex-positive writing. Some of them deserve it, considering how loudly they protest the existence of any type of sex-tech, from vibrators to online pornography to the Plan B emergency contraception pill.

Continued….

Someone asked me today how long is the “right” break between books. I said that I still haven’t lost the weight I gained from birthing the first one, so I’m waiting until next year. Heheh.

But the truth is, the right length of time between books is whatever it turns out to be. I have a couple of friends who take no breaks because they have series contracts or sell the next one before turning in the current manuscript. And I have friends who take a decade between proposals.

As for how long it’s going to take me between books, I guess we’ll find out, eh? I’m just about done with the proposal for book #3, which is complex, and I’m recasting the proposal for book #2 (not so complex) because I suddenly want it to be a for Dummies title (we’ll see if they agree).

And in the meantime … I just got back from a weekend with my family. My sister debuted a couple of new songs at her concert, my grandpa and I found some great French toast at a restaurant in town, my dad and I went to the movies so mom could get some work done (just like we did when I was 10, I just realized), and all in all walking the dog through the hometown had me reflective and predictive all at once. As I return to a busier than usual fortnight of work (day job and sex job both have extra projects this month, yay me), I find that I’m more conscious of the need to slow down from time to time, see my family, call my brother for one of those kinds of conversations only we can have and that drive everyone else bonkers.

Wired News: Lifelong Effects of Cybersex

Ten years ago I outlined a script for a porn movie, before I realized how few adult movies actually have scripts. Besides, in my vision, My Life as Aphrodite was an independent erotic film exploring sexual awakening, identity, power, fantasy and healing. Hence, a script.

continued…

Who wants to invoke Godwin’s Law first, you or me?

Retroactive War Crime Protection Drafted
The Bush administration drafted amendments to the War Crimes Act that would retroactively protect policymakers from possible criminal charges for authorizing any humiliating and degrading treatment of detainees, according to lawyers who have seen the proposal.

I still can’t believe almost half the country voted for this administration.

Posting here without the endorsement of Wired News. In no way do I or can I speak for anyone at Wired News. It’s just me. And I’m pissed.

Thanks, Philip Chien, subject of:

Wired News: Wired News Writer Faked Info

Do you have any idea how hard writers like me work to find quality sources? Do you have any idea how careful I am to build rapport and let my sources know they can trust me?

Every person I have ever interviewed, quoted, mentioned or otherwise alluded to in my published work has one thing in common: they exist. (I specify “published” because I have some stories and novel manuscripts that have made-up people because, um, they’re fiction, but they’re not published either. Yet.)

My job, as wonderful as it is, is not easy. If it looks easy to you it’s because I do a damn good job of making it look like I just sat down and jotted off something all la-la breezy. That’s called voice, by the way. I strive for conversational, funny, honest, personal, analytical. But it’s always true. And the people I talk to are always real.

That people like you, and Michelle Delio before you, would undermine and profane the efforts that other Wired News writers like me make … I’m sputtering. It’s vile. It tarnishes the whole publication, the whole profession.

And it’s so unnecessary!

One of your sources is dead, but supposedly he really said what you quoted. Fine. Tell us that. “‘blah blah,’ Collins said in 1995, two years before his death.” Connect him to the present day — was he unusually prescient? Was he wrong? Did he get proven right after being misunderstood in his lifetime?

But to make up quotes from someone you never talked with? I know it takes work but it’s not impossible to find a good source — a great one — to give you real quotes and information for your real story. The story might not turn out to be what you thought it would be, but that’s just fine. You tell the story you find, not the story you wrapped up neatly over the weekend and just wanted some expert lines tucked into to make it sound legit.

If Robert Ash didn’t want to talk to you, fine. You could have found another space historian or aeronautical engineer. As for your excuse that Ash was upset with you and had cut off communications, well, do you have notes or a recording of the interviews that you claim took place that Ash claims did not? A sticky note with his number and a date and time to call? Any suggestion at all that he is lying when he says he never spoke with you?

I think you should have to donate to a media literacy education program whatever you made from your Wired News stories, times ten.

Some things I’ve been eating lately:

cucumbers, sliced into sticks and tossed with lemon juice and sea salt

berries, more packs a day than I care to admit

grilled vegetables, with garlic olive oil and sea salt (new gas grill!)

sushi (well, duh)

And chocolate. I think in the past three days I’ve had more chocolate than I had in the previous three months. I don’t know what’s gotten into me. Well, I do, looking at the calendar, but still. It’s crazy! And tonight, of course, there’s no chocolate left, except for some semi-sweet chips in the back of the baking supplies cabinet.

I should explain here that when I have chocolate, I have chocolate. I’m talking 73 percent cocoa at least; lately it’s been the 90 percent. My sister says “It’s like they forgot to put the sugar in” and that’s exactly right. Usually, one square or less is enough, because when it’s this intense — this bitter, some might say, although it has ceased to taste bitter to me — a little goes a long way. How I ended up eating FOUR last night are beyond me but does explain my insomnia, eh?

Tonight I’m on deadline for a number of things, even had to flake on a Media Bistro event I intended to go to because it was so close to my house, and I went to look for chocolate and I ate one of the ancient semi-sweet chips and it tasted strange. Not strange like it was too old to eat, but strange in that it was too sweet.

I have a sweet tooth and because it’s Tuesday of my period I don’t thik 15 minutes went by without donuts floating through my head. But I could not stomach the chocolate chips. I had to throw them away. Then I had some Merlot and then I realized … oops, this is a migraine waiting to happen.

I’m also hyper aware that the emergency chocolate stash is now empty.

Periods. Gotta love ‘em.