I had a lot going on yesterday and today thanks to the loss of power and Internet the snow caused on Sunday. I also had a bad spell in the afternoon where that little voice inside my head that tells me that I suck came out for a visit.
I hate that.
I like to think that we all have that little, annoying voice in out heads. We do, right? RIGHT?!
That was followed almost immediately by a burst of imagination and inspiration that lead to some fairly random world building and the creation of a new world to play in – The Nine Kingdoms. I even drew a basic map:
Click for a larger view
Once I had the map drawn out, and creation of history and a new people to play with, The Cuan.
They appeared, wearing orange and black robes covering all but their odd, red eyes, and quickly proved their worth as advisers, gaining the trust of the Royal Family…
I also like this bit:
Runes inked into their skin allow them to tap into elemental magics – all but Water, which cancels out all other magics and is the only defense against a Cuan attack…
After that and getting some other stuff down on virtual paper, I went to bed. But I couldn’t sleep. It was too much on my mind. I decided to read a little something and see if that would distract me enough to get some sleep.
I’ve been reading Mad Skills by Walter Greatshell.
Last night I had two chapters left so I decided to finish the book, which I did. Having said that, I can’t tell you if I liked it or not. It is an odd little book. Little being the important word and the reason I picked it up. It’s all about a girl, Maddy Grant, who has an experimental medical procedure to try and restore cognitive function in her brain after an accident. A computer is implanted to replace and augment the areas of her brain damaged in the accident. The story is about her adjusting to what the computer is doing to her while becoming suspicious that maybe the people involved with the experiment are actually the Big Bad and up to no good.
Having finished the novel last night, I’m still a little confused about the plot, the main characters conclusions, attitudes and solutions and whether or not I actually liked it.
When I put that down, I was tired and assumed sleep would come swiftly.
That’s when the cats entered the picture. Both of them, Dakota and Shadow.
Dakota has a hard time getting up on my bed, so his jumping up there was a surprise. That Shadow was following him, not so much. He hunts Dakota pretty much non-stop anymore. At first, they both curled up and I thought it was going to be an easy night, but then Shadow started attacking the blanket monsters (he falls on his side, snatches up the blankets in a death grip, then kicks them mercilessly with his back claws/feet). When Shadow starts getting frisky like that, it causes Dakota to pass nuclear farts. I reached to get Shadow to settle down and he swiped my hand. It hurt like hell and continued to hurt for a while after. I turned the light on and found that the sheath of his claw that comes off or sheds like skin, was stuck in my thumb! I showed it to him and he tried to eat it (the sheath, not my thumb).
Things did not settle down. I turned over, Dakota decided he wanted to be on the other side of me so he walked down the bed, past Shadow, around the cape of my feet, up the western coast to my face where he plopped his ASS down on my nose. Of course, I was not thrilled. I picked him up, put him on the floor and he walked away. When he got to the foot of the bed, Shadow fell on him with a fury.
A fight ensued.
At this point, I kicked them both out, shut the door and went back to bed for the umpteenth time. Last I looked at the clock it was 2:30 am.
Blargh.
Life with cats.
~P
