On Christmas, my DH called his parents, and they talked to the Bear. I heard my MIL say, “Merry Christmas!”

The Bear looked puzzled. “Mommy’s Christmas,” he said, pointing to me. “Daddy’s Christmas. My Christmas. WHERE’S MARY?”

Meanwhile, I was right. The clock WAS one of his very favorite presents, despite the fact that my (elementary-aged) cousin protested his mother buying it strenuously. *g* His next favorite presents were Legos (hand-me-down and otherwise) and a hand-me-down space set that has a shuttle with all three rockets, a sattelite, and a moon rover, as well as a backdrop, moon rocks, and lots of plastic astronauts.

Eached Teaching Co. course consists of a series of half-hour lectures. It really is like a college course–about 300-level at a good universityfor this one–and the lectures are roughly equivalent to an entire period of lecture (since most universities include 10 minutes for class changes and the does NOT include all the usual classroom maintanence, discussion, and Q&A time). If you’re looking for documentary history-lite, you will be disappointed. But if you are looking for grad-level lectures, you will also be disappointed. *g*

The professor chosen for this course truly is a very good and interesting speaker. Dr. Garrett G. Fagan puts a greater emphasis on troop movements and generals’ actions in a battle than on the experience of the man on the ground, but he still makes it interesting. His take on the battle of Salamis is the THIRD that I’ve seen, and I have a feeling that there is a very good chance that many of the other battles are just as hotly debated. (The US Navy has their version for their midshipmen to study, and I forgot where I read the other…) But it does make for some good listening.

The first lectures are the weakest. Dr. Fagan says his area of concentration is the Ancient Mediterranean–and he isn’t kidding. One of the few references he made to other cultures was to the mid-to-late-mid-century “research” on the Yanomami people, and the accuracy of that anthropolist’s work is VERY hotly debated. The anthropologist wanted to prove that a sort of Darwinian-genetic imperative drove human conflict, not territorialism, and there is strong evidence to support that, first, he outright lied about the culture; second, that he paid Indians in trade goods for performing for the camera in ways to support his thesis; and third, that in actuality, the Yanomami are reasonably violent BUT that they fight over land, resources, and honor (NOT WOMEN) just like every other primitive society ever studied. (There are also more sinister accusations of the anthropologist’s involvement in the eugenics movement and of his responsibility for thousands of Yanomami deaths from measles.) Anyhow, that choice of support for Dr. Fagan’s claim could hardly be more poorly chosen.

The professor also completely missed a false dilemma in a definition of war proposed by another historian, and his own support for studying battles contained a few leaps of logic.

However, that being said, these difficulties were quibbles next to what I usually encounter in most works for popular consumption. I will admit to this NOT being my field of expetise (heck, neither is anthtropology…), and I hadn’t even heard of the Ten Thousand, for example, or a couple of the Sumerian battles. But the course has been really fascinating for several reasons. Most military researchers tend to project modern reasoning and military tactics upon the past, and it’s really interesting to hear of people’s motives in their own words versus our assumptions, and the role of simple dumb luck in many battles before the s-l-o-w development of tactics is amazing to me. It’s one thing to die, but it’s another to die stupidly…

The battles themselves are really interesting to hear about, especially the ones starting with the Egyptians that we know more about. The cultural differences between the groups are also explored, and Dr. Fagan heavily eschews pat answers, which his colleagues cannot always be said to do–one particularly idiotic claim is that “free men” will always triumph because they have more to fight for. Er. Yeah. A) That’s true only if you take an INCREDIBLY selective view of history, and B) that sounds like a justification along the lines of, “We won, so we must be inherently morally and culturally superior!”

I haven’t finished it yet, but I’m really liking it and am looking forward to the one about Chinese history!

This is going to be FUN!

–Lydia, the unabashed nerd

Guess what I’m getting for Christmas from y editor! Guess! GUESS!

Don’t know? LINE EDITS! Oh, goody! I love line edits!

WHAT A FUN CHRISTMAS I WILL HAVE!!!!!!!!

My motherboard died today. YAY!!!! *g*

Here it is: I am officially HERE TO STAY! Few people know this, but I had given myself a deadline to start pulling in a certain amount every book. I gave myself five books.

By some freak of luck, I did it in one.

I am completely flabbergasted by my statement. Never in my wildest dreams (I am a cynic, so my dreams aren’t THAT wild, but still…) did I imagine that VEIL could do that well, especially not with my advance and my print run which, though far from bad, were not at all out of line with other debut romance authors.

More than the money, though, I am touched and awed that so many people took the time to share my world, to read what I’d written–and hopefully, to enjoy it!

So thank all of you for making my dreams come true and for letting me share my dreams with you. I love you guys!

Yay for sophistication! I have to hand it to Signet again–I honestly think that they have shown the way when it comes to covers even for the international ones.

The title means REBEL OF THE NIGHT. I should have an excerpt up around March!

Oh, joy. I HATE getting behind like this….

I’ve never liked “mind altering drugs.” No, I’ve never even had a puff of marijuana. (No one has even dared smoke around me or really much refer to smoking around me, either, though it’s not like I’ve ever said anything drugs one way or another. I just think I’m kind of scary naturally without trying to be. GRRRRR!!!) I’m talking about alcohol and pain meds, like Tylenol codeine and such. I hate, loathe, despise the slightly tipsy/loopy feeling–simply can’t stand it and am rather bemused that anyone does enjoy it at all!

My mother projects her own issued onto me (love you, Mom!) and claims that I’m too much of a control freak to want to lose control. That’s not true. I like walking at the edge of my limits when it comes to other things, and I also adore being put in situations where I have no responsibilities and don’t have to make any decisions. (See you at Christmas, Mom!)

The truth is that I just like being myself, as myself. I LOVE being me, in fact. I am completely comfortable in my own skin. That doesn’t mean the skin doesn’t have pimples (dammit) or scars, but it does mean that it’s mine. I have plenty of shortcomings. I have tons of areas where I have No Talent. (You won’t be getting any pictures in your book if I ever sign one for you, that’s all I’ll say…) I also have plenty of character faults. But you know what? I’d rather be me than anyone else–much less me with three sheet to the wind!

Why? Well, I have no inhibitions that I care to lose. I just don’t suffer many inhibitions to begin with, and the ones I DO have…well, everyone else should be glad of them, too. *g* I don’t need to “loosen up.” I’m a lot closer to Alcy, who blurts things she shouldn’t, than Victoria, who doesn’t do things she should.

I’m just…happy with being myself. That doesn’t mean that I’m not trying to be a better person. (I couldn’t be happy with a person who wasn’t!) But it does mean that I am, quite simply, content.

Even when I’m bitchy.

Hehehe.

Person A goes to a restraut and orders bacon. Bacon looks great, so Person A eats it. Four hours later, Person A begins to feel bad. Person A goes to bed and wakes up four hours after that to throw up. Person A spend most of the rest of the day in bed, throwing up occassionally and with a temperature of 101.3, and asks for a total four things: 1) a glass of water, 2) a box of Saltine crackers, 3) two leg rubs, and 4) to be left alone. Person A gets 1, 2, and 3 with whining. Person A never gets 4 because Person B chooses not to keep small Person C out of the room where Person A is trying to sleep.

Person B finds some yoghurt in the back of the fridge. Person B doesn’t check the expiration date. Person B eats a bite and realizes it’s gone bad. Person B eats it anyway. Eight hours later, Person B begins to feel bad. Person B the next day glued to Person A, detailing every intestinal twinge as if it were a heart attack. Person B does not vomit. Person B does not ger diarrhea. Person B does not run a fever.

Person A is not feeling very charitable toward Person B at the moment.