So far I am liking Flight of the Conchords on HBO.

The plot: Two guys from New Zealand are in a band in New York. In between their adventures, they sing songs and imagine they are in music videos.

One thing I don’t understand: people who say marriage is work. My marriage is anything but work. Being married to Kyle is a constant source of joy and happiness in my life. It has been five years now, and I have to say–fastest five years of my life! Time flies when you’re having fun.

Kyle and I in the snow in Kentucky two years or so ago.

The other week I played hooky and went to the zoo. It was fun. There was almost no one there and I got close to the animals. I liked the owl that swiveled its head to stare at me and the monkeys with handlebar mustaches, but best of all were the flamingos.

I had no idea that flamingos were so weird. They snort like pigs. They stand in hostile groups and then start fighting over nothing, their long necks twisting around like snakes. Their eyes are scaly and yellow. They aren’t pink so much as orange.

The signs said that scientists aren’t sure why flamingos stand on one leg. Most likely is has something to do with preserving body heat. In any case, they were so strange, I could have watched them for hours.

They were starting to fight here.

Book buyers want a good story to take with them on the airplane. . . . When the reader hears strong echoes of his or her own life and beliefs, he or she is more apt to become invested in the story. I’d argue that it’s impossible to make this connection in a pre-meditated way, gauging the market like a racetrack tout with a hot tip. …

You can’t aim a book like a cruise missile, in other words. People who decide to make a fortune writing like John Grisham or Tom Clancy produce nothing but pale imitations by and large because vocabulary is not the same thing as feeling and plot is light-years from the truth as understood by the mind and by the heart.

When you see a novel with “in the tradition of…” on the cover, you know you are looking at one of these over-calculated and likely boring imitations.

Write what you like, then imbue it with life, and make it unique by binding in your own personal knowledge of life, friendship, relationship, sex and work. Especially work. People love to read about work. God knows why, but they do. – On Writing by Stephen King.

Too bad book marketers don’t understand this. They encourage writers to imitate other writers because they believe the book is easier to sell that way. Naturally, writers take the bait and begin analyzing the market instead of writing what they love.

I’ve met these writers who are trying to cash in on the marker by writing about fairies or chick lit or whatever the hottest trend is. I can’t do that–I have to write what interests me, or it comes out lifeless. So it’s nice to see that one of the richest writers in the world agrees with me.

We got a kitten!!

Update: So, we got the kitten at a pet rescue place. He is two months, supposedly, though the vet says if he is, he is big for that age. He’s a Siamese/Lynx Tail mix. His tail looks a little bit like someone dipped a feather in ink, so we named him Quill.

He and Miles are getting along. Miles hasn’t hissed or growled at the kitten, but his nose it definitely out of joint. He hasn’t slept on the bed since we got Quill, and he has only purred in my lap for two very brief intervals.

That said, he and the kitten seem to like each other. They are grooming each other a little bit and spend hours playing a game where Miles stares at the kitten while the kitten hops around and bats at things for Miles’ benefit. When the kitten comes too close, Miles makes a snippy meow noise. Then, all of a sudden, they will run to a different part of the house and start all over again. It’s all fine except for when it suddenly goes too far and Miles will put his mouth around the kitten’s throat! I don’t like that, even though I really don’t think Miles would bite. Because of this, I have to watch them play this game, which never seems to end. In fact, they are doing it right now.

Erm… It’s laundry day.

I made up some oregano pesto since my plant is going crazy. It was delicious! I thought the oregano would have too strong a flavor for pesto, but it works wonderfully. Here’s the recipe:

1 c fresh oregano
20 pistachio nuts (pine nuts, walnuts, and hazelnuts would all work too)
3 garlic cloves
pinch of salt
3 tbs Parmesan cheese
1 tbs romano cheese (I used swiss, actually)
2 tbs butter
olive oil

Grind salt, oregano, and nuts together in a food processor. Add olive oil until it forms a paste. Add everything else. Put on pasta. Enjoy!