Wednesday, February 6, 2008

World enough and time...

I've been reading other people's blogs, and yeah--sometimes I forget it's Thursday until I see the Thursday Thirteen. My kid says she always knows sometime during the day I'll say, "Today is (insert day here), right?" I tend to lose track.

When I'm tired, I do that a lot.

I think it is time to travel--maybe not on Amtrak, although I love the double-decker long distance trains. The Empire Builder goes right through the Wisconsin Dells, and along the top (totally empty) half of Montana. If I didn't have a teenager, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Taking her internet away would reduce my daughter to a catatonic state cure-able only by a humongous application of money at the Mall of America.

So in the interests of list-making, I've been putting serious thought into "where to go" and "what to do".

Jodi's top Five list of places she wants to go in the next few years.

1) Hawaii--why not? My book is set on the Big Island, and I used to live there. I'd like to drive the Hamakua Coast twenty years after.

2) Singapore--the world's most OCD city-state. It's clean, safe and they speak English. I set Dead Gorgeous in Singapore, and Cowboy asked me why. Hard question. I dunno--because uhm...I have a map?

3) The DC conference. I can't go to SFRWA, but I'll be trolling for food at DCRWA. I like Harlequin. They have deli-meats and cotton candy.

4) Fran's Chocolate Shop. I am going to stop beating around the bush, pull out my credit card and buy some damned chocolate. I've been driving past Fran's for years, envying the people who can afford to drop fifty dollars on a box of smoked salt caramels.

5) The new See's outlet shop. My mom told me about this one, and it's an instant-do. Cheap See's? I'm so there.

10 comments:

Jeanna said...

Going through the Dells, on your way to someplace better, not such a bad thought. Back home to Hawaii sounds great. Singapore, how exciting.

Anonymous said...

Now that I see the list I'm like, "yes, of course." But I would never have guessed anything on it on my own. Except maybe Hawaii.

Jennifer McKenzie said...

Go for the chocolate.
No jet lag. LOL.

Unhinged said...

I think it's ironic and auspicious that I have eaten FIVE pieces of See's candy today. The caramel covered with dark chocolate is my favorite, followed by the dark chocolate-covered toffee.

I'd like to go to Hawaii, too. I got a $200 travel voucher from United for all the hell they put me through, and it's probably only a little bit more to get there from California...

They speak English in Singapore?!

I can't wait til your book is released!

Unhinged said...

Uh-oh, you've been spammed, Jodi!

Lauren Murphy said...

I say buy some chocolate and then take of for Hawaii!

Unknown said...

yes, I've been spammed a couple of times. AWAY you stupid weird-bot. I delete you.

Being an rs writer, I wish I could delete you permanently. lol.

But Jeanna, the Dells were so cool. There was an "amusement park" in them, I could see it from the train, like a water park with real stone!! And it was pretty.

you know I'm a chocoholic, Alice. :) (I want to visit Belgium for their chocolate, instead I visited that new shop up in Levenworth. TWELVE dollars for four pieces of incredibly delicious, way too small chocolate. I had to share, and I didn't want to.)

See, Unhingey--it's fate. Fate is telling me that I want to wear orthopeadic shoes, dress in a nurses uniform and sell dark-chocolate marzipan and Kona truffles to the masses. I'm fighting this urge to apply...

(and singapore has CLEAN bathrooms. They issue you a ticket if you forget to flush, and their buses have big billboards on them, "Thank you for being courteous.")

hawaii isn't that expensive from CA to HI. The outer islands are better. Oahu has too many Wal-marts and 7-11's.

Gwen Hayes said...

I'm going to make you drink a lavender mocha.

I liked it okay, until there were little bits of dried lavender in my mouth...but maybe the girl made it wrong, lol.

Unhinged said...

...and singapore has CLEAN bathrooms. They issue you a ticket if you forget to flush...

Ohmigawd! I wish this was in effect in the hoity-toity place where I work. It's a design center, big as a shopping mall, and only the very, very rich can afford to buy anything there. Celebrities make an appearance every now and then with their designers. Sarah Jessica Parker was talking on her cell phone right outside our office!

Anyway, back to my point. I can't tell you how many times I've entered a restroom and found piss on the seat, and crap in the toilet. There are six floors, two wings, and some scattered restrooms, which means there has to be at least 15 different restrooms throughout the building.

Once I was in a stall doing my thing and there was a lady next door going #2. It was so RANK, I had to hold my hand over my mouth. Anyway, after she was done, she burst out of the stall and ignored the sinks along the way. I was DISGUSTED! And then I was pissed because anyone coming in to the restroom was going to think I made the smell.

Life stinks sometimes.

Jeanna said...

I just might have to dig out a photo to see if you're talking about Mt. Olympus. I'd write a short story about the Dells. If I could remember. Let's just say I lost my car there for a few days or possibly weeks, and at one point found a note on the windshield saying I left my keys in the ignition, the idle was set too high, someone had been taking it for a drive, and they put air in the tires.
(It was a '68 Mustang.)