I have just finished listening to the first act of Tosca by Giacomo Puccini, a production by the Metropolitan Opera. The evil Baron Scarpia sings to the background of the very sacred Te Deum about how he wants to ravage the beautiful, flamboyant Floria Tosca. Bryn Terfel (Jones) did a fabulous job as the evil chief of police. He'll get his in the next act. His performance literally brought tears to my eyes. It is such an emotional experience.

I just posted the real third chapter to Boys Will Be Boys (with "The Real Story" added to the title to help clarify things). I added "The April Fools Edition" to the name of the previous version so it should be clear enough which one is the real one and which one the joke. Hopefully no one's too upset with me for my little April Fools joke! It's the first time I've done any kind of April Fools joke, anywhere, so I'll blame inexperience if I went too far with it or offended anyone. ;)

Well, Sorority Boy is finished. I may or may not do an Epilogue, so you all can know what happens to one of our favorite college girls. I honestly don't know right now.

This story began for me back in 97 when I was at Goodfellow Air Base in San Angelo Texas as a way to cope with being in a place where I didn't have the opportunity to dress when I wanted to or needed to. I transcribed those hand written notes into the first part of this story and this ties up a lot of the loose ends.

Sorry to have kept you all waiting, but Chapter 4 has just gone to Gabi for editing.

As soon as it's back, I'll post.

I hope it meets with expectations.

OK, some Iranian cleric has found the answer to why we have had so many earthquakes lately. Women! Women in provocative dress, to be precise. Seems the almighty is angry and letting us know about it by shaking things up. (Myself, think he's quaking with laughter, but who am I to contradict a Holy Man?)

Um' well, I understand the idea behind overclocking a CPU and infact used a machine for several years that had been overclocked by a friend of mine who was an INTEL engineer. That was 1998 or so. So here is this video, but I don't understand what they are saying about it. Does it mean that they are running a 300 Hz chip at 5000 Hz?

http://www.custompcblog.com/industry-news/what-is-coltan-tan...

Much Peace

Gwen

Paragraphs

Paragraphs in English are interesting things, because they aren’t really anything at all.

That’s not the way they started out, of course, as we can see by the word “paragraph” itself, from the Greek “paragraphos,” which means “beside the writing.”

I am a little concerned. I can tell I might be headed for a down. I hope not, I need my energy to figure out my next step, and to make some more stories. Ah, well.

Just read a story on the BBC website, about a lost Wallaby, in Dorset, England.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/8636299.stm

That is a long way from their natural home, though actually there are some to be found out in the wilds of Derbyshire.

Wonder if Cathy, Angharad and Bonzai will make any claim of ownership.

Brian

I'm alive.

To say I'm doing well would be an overstatement, but life continues. I have managed to rouse myself to start editing for John in Wauwatosa, and that's going reasonably well.

(Think about it. How serious and depressed can you stay when John gets his manic muse going?)

Amazon? Ma'at? I hope they'll get fully untracked, but no promises on when that might occur.

My thanks to those who've offered encouragement.

Nicole (a.k.a. Itinerant, Nikki, ...)

PS: Thanks to Angharad for continuing my favorite soap opera. ;-)

I posted a new story two days ago. In terms of reads it is my most successful yet, and I am very grateful to the readers and those who have commented, but that is not the point of this blog.

Every now and then I re-read some of the comments to my stories as well as the stories to see if I might be able to add anything. What I notice is a pattern to all comments, whether they are for my stories or someone else's, and that is this. Several people pick out a part of the story and only comment on that, others comment on the whole story, and still others like to nit pick about this or that, and it has nothing to do with the story.

If you’re looking to read an excellent story, you might just want to read Boys’ School by Sarah Lynn Morgan.

http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/11243/boys-school-chap...

This is a story for those who love scintillating/realistic dialogue, compelling characters, and engaging plots.

As you may have noticed — I have a tendency to complain ad nauseam about votes, comments, and hits.