… is on hold for this week. Sorry.

I’m organizing an exquisite corpse on Twitter. I currently have four participants: Me, two coworkers, and a woman I know in NOLA. If you want to participate, let me know by Friday. The exquisite corpse will start on Monday. By Sunday night, I’ll decide the order in which people will be contributing. There will be five rounds. The hash tag will be #ecp2010. (Stands for exquisite corpse project 2010.)

If you’re interested, leave a comment here or send a tweet @cleogoblin.

The Werewolf Project: 9,875
The Shipping Project: 15,007

I realized two things recently. One, the obvious, is that I haven’t been updating much at all recently. The second is that you probably have no idea why. I’ve been remarkably busy during the last seven months or so, doing the following:

• Work
• Helping to organize my French conversation group
• House hunting
• Going to Paris
• Moving
• Fixing things around the house (and the resulting stress)
• Writing fiction again

Another part of why I haven’t been writing as much is that I’ve been posting more things, mostly links to cool news articles, on twitter and facebook. These two short-form social media do seem ideal for sharing quick “this is cool” links. Still, it sees like it should be possible to maintain both a blog and a presence on short-form social media, if I make the time. There are certainly far busier people out there who manage to.

As part of the effort to blog more, I plan on starting a weekly post on French vocabulary that I’ve encountered through reading, listening to podcasts, and other means. I’ll also continue to post book reviews, and I’ll try to include updates on the writing projects I’m working on.

I’m actually really excited about my writing projects. There are two: one about werewolves, and one that I’ll call the shipping project, although the connection to ships is rather loose. At the moment I have 8,500 words for the first and 15,000 for the second. My primary project is the werewolf one, though, so that’s what you’ll probably hear more about—although most likely in very vague terms. I tend to be a bit secretive about my writing when I’m working on it.

Testing post from ipod.

Maybe the US is just as bad as everyone else when it comes to those who are different.

Problems with racism in South Korea: Fascinating and disappointing. Most days I am very happy I live in a diverse country.

On meat and greenhouse gases: A more nuanced look at how food production affects greenhouse gas emissions. Eating local, traditionally farmed meat might be better than eating non-local but vegetarian products.

As you probably noticed, I’m not including the full references for these, as it’s beginning to seem a bit excessive in a blog post. I think you can figure it out.

My friend Neil is doing a comedy show on October 9th. If you have a chance, you should check it out.

Here’s a bit about the show in Neil’s own words:

Hi there! I’m excited to announce The Attack of the 1-4-5 Show, which invades Center City Philadelphia Friday, October 9. The show’s new venue is the Tuscany Café at 222 West Rittenhouse Square, at the intersection of Locust Street across from the Free Library. The ticket includes newcomer Mike Casey, 1-4-5 favorites Mike Eiswerth and Carolyn Busa, the amazing Joey Callahan, and of course, me.

Doors open at 8pm and admission is $10. Seating is limited so arrive early and, uh, often.

Hope to see you there!

Neil “Oh, not him again” McGarry

If it’s anything like his last show, it promises to be hilarious.

To anyone who has lost a loved one today or any other day, my deepest condolences.

I’m sure some of you knew this already—perhaps better than you wanted—but in some areas, wildlife is making a comeback and occasionally becoming a pest in human developments. According to the article, you can put chicken wire around trees to help keep the rodents away.

If you’ve already been attacked, you can get new trees at local nurseries and garden centers, various online nurseries, or the Arbor Day Foundation. If you get fruit trees, remember to check their pollination requirements and to invite me over to help with the eating.

This post refers to:

Dean, Cornelia. Return of the Once-Rare Beaver? Not in My Yard. New York Times. June 8, 2009.