Well, I asked for it, so I cannot complain, but still.

I'm allergic to cats, it turns out. Also ragweed. Not so much to anything else (well to dogs some, too).

My allergist is sympathetic. She said, "Don't worry. I know you aren't getting rid of your cats." Very resigned. She does think I should keep them out of the bedroom. I'm going to get an air purifier as she suggested and clean the bedroom, bedding, and all, and then close the door. I'm not sure I'll be able to live without Nuala snuggled up beside me. Probably not. But I can keep them out of the room the rest of the day so that'll cut down on a lot of the dander (they sleep on the bed during the day). Fortunately, that's the one room in the apartment which has a door that reliably latches.

*sigh*

I just HAD to ask, but then I am getting pretty tired of being permanently stuffed-up.

I'm an enthusiast. I love things. I can also fall out of love with things, and then in my Mr. Darcy mode, my good opinion, once lost, is lost forever, but even then I usually feel more betrayed than disdainful.

I fully concur with Mr. Ebert's take on the Oscar snark (and with Kenneth Turan's take, excerpted in Mr. Ebert's article). If all you're capable of doing is ridiculing things which probably aren't your cup of tea to begin with, then what good are you?

Not much, kids. Not much.

I have retired from most blog-commenting (a la io9.com and its ilk) and similar venues because it's a tiresome sea of unclever, reflexive snark (someday, I WILL shoot someone who uses the phrase "jumped the shark." And no jury will convict me). All the people out there taking the uncreative, undiscriminating snarking path? They're boring. They're all very, very boring.

But the worst offence I find online and really anywhere is the "I didn't like it, ergo it is bad" approach to critiquing. This stance presumes that the person providing this egocentric opinion is the baseline for all experience. It presumes everything is All About Them.

This is a fundamental thing for anyone presuming to be a critic, and if they do not understand the difference between "I didn't like" and "it was bad" then they need to get out of the business. Things can be wonderful and just not anything the person viewing/reading likes. There is a great deal of stuff out there I don't like but which I can see merit in. There is also a lot of stuff I think is bad (but another thing that will get someone shot by me is using the phrase, "it didn't live up to the hype" as a criticism), but I generally can give reasons having nothing to do with my enjoyment levels as to why I think the thing in question is bad.

In summary, most snark is boring and thoughtless. It should at least be clever; it should also be used against worthy targets and not as buckshot sprayed at anything that moves.

If you can't say something nice, come sit by me, but if you can't say something clever, please leave the internet.

I was a very sick puppy last night, but now I'm fine though distrustful of food. I'm going to have some tea and take it easy and will be tossing out some suspect things in my refrigerator.

It's warmed up outside, and the snow's almost all melted, but it's overcast and glum which matches my post illness mood. I think lazy TV watching is  in order.

Or I sincerely HOPE so.  Some random things of note during this nasally-challenged past few days:

• Dayquil/Nyquil, where would I be without you?
• Nuala was trying very hard to get herself murdered last night.  I don't know why, but she felt it very important to keep waking me up. She is very lucky she is so adorable. Liffey who never, ever, EVER wakes me up, though is currently my favorite.
• Go download this free iTunes song by Regina Spektor before it isn't free anymore -- it is everything a new year's song should be, sweet, simple, melancholy, elegant... (if the link doesn't work, go to the iTunes Store and search for "My Dear Acquaintance")
• What Not to Wear is a perfect distraction from constant nose-blowing.
• No, really, I love Nyquil.  And Vicks VapoRub.
• Wow, does a person get dehydrated from all the nose-blowing!

Caught ookie cold and feel weird today. Staying up too late, as usual, wandering around the internet looking at stuff. Cleaning out emails. Generally just not doing anything but listening to music. Haven't been to the gym in a week -- need to go tomorrow and kick something, but my muscles WILL punish me for this neglect. I fear them. Look for a whiney post about how my muscles hurt in about two to three days.

The grandson of a woman I used to work with said this, and we all started saying it, and now, years later when he's probably in COLLEGE, I'm still saying it. Means, 'course, "I have a headache."

Was home sick from work today and still feel ookie but better. And my eye hurts (though that's allergies... grrr). So off to bed with me to, one hopes, be all ready to face the Real World once more. Blurgh.

Darned allergies, anyway. I am on daily Allegra and have been for years, but at the end of the day, before pill-taking time, sometimes the irritants slip through and ARGH! So my eye hurts.

Week's almost over -- yay! Weekend! Yay! Plans are set for Indian cuisine and movie-going. Probably book-shopping and coffee-drinking, too. The wild life, but I like it.

My novel continues apace. I don't write about my writing. Heck, I don't talk about my writing, but *shrug* -- why not? Habit, probably. Superstition? Nah. Just habit.

At CascadiaCon this year, I found out that an average novel length is about 80,000 words. To which my brain said, "Oh? Well, I'm not even 2/3rds done and I'm almost at twice that." So this tells me I need to chop things up a bit. So I've chopped part one off and am giving it a more complete arc so when it ends, it also has an ending rather than a cliffhanger into part two. I'm nearly done with that. A few weeks should wrap it up, then I can proceed to part two and wrap THAT up and then onto part three and DONE! And then part four which was always supposed to be it's own book anyway. The realization that I had three or four books rather than one in the works, though, was a bit of a shock. A nice shock, as it means I'll actually be able to say "I finished my novel!" much sooner than I thought. For the record, it's a fantasy and quite a dark one, at that.

Not that this explains my lengthy silence on the blog, but it was a contributing factor.

Wanted to follow-up on the message board drama as it has, quite suddenly, engendered some anonymous responses after sitting there for ages.

That's all resolved. I put out a call on the board for help or a vote to kill it and the troops rallied, allies joined the cause, and all is well in Words of Prey land. Thanks to all who care about that tiny little message board. I do love it, though it was not something I took on by choice. It's a safe little haven in a crazy board-filled world.

I have a wicked cold or the leftovers of flu, actually, I think, as I was running a high fever a couple of days ago and one usually doesn't with just a cold. My throat is KILLING me. Hate that. Also in semi-dark the ambient light strobes unsettlingly. Bit bothered by vertigo. Not pleasant. But much better than I was a couple of days ago with said temperature. I always get a flu shot then this season with the alleged shortage, I wasn't able to, and now here I am, sick for the first time in AGES. Grr. And right after vacation. And on the weekend.

No fair.

On the other hand, I've finally disassembled my computer and properly reinstalled my DVD drive (it was in kind of crooked before) as well as removing the old CD drive which I no longer needed after all and reattaching my Zip drive because it does come in handy for backups and the like and was of more use to me than the CD-read-only drive it's replacing on the great chain of connections.

Now I just need to get some blank DVDs so I can burn my torrent files and watch them on my TV instead of on my computer. Not enough memory on the old girl to handle too much of that in any case.

And I had fun in London! A proper report will be forthcoming as soon as I defeat this rotten illness of whatever stripe it is.

Everyone at work is in some state of sickliness, and I’m trying not to be because I have weekend plans! One begins to imagine symptoms, though, when one is trying to plan something and everyone around is full-blown unwell. Crazy.

My eyes are fuzzy from staring at the computer screen at home, at work, at home again for too many hours. I didn’t even make it to the gym tonight, and I am ready for a break from the one-eyed desktop monster.

I went to buy chocolates as a present for the friend I’m hanging with this weekend (from a local store which makes the best chocolates in the world -- DeBrand’s) and TOTALLY forgot that it was Valentine’s Eve! I’m a moron. But it was amazing. They had it so planned out and organized that I was in and out in five minutes even though there was a crowd at the counter and several people lined up the whole time. They know how to run a chocolaterie, I’ll tell you THAT.

Happy Valentine’s Day!