My Nikon D40 came today. (And I got a haircut.)

So far, it is awesome–fast, clean, and cool to hold in my hands. It’s already taking better pictures than my Canon SD-550 ever dreamed. Now if I can just figure out how to make it stop shutting off the screen every two seconds to save battery…

Awhile back, I made a list of things I want to do that I have never done. On this list, I included “shoot a gun.” This weekend, I did it.

The reasons I wanted to shoot a gun included: I had never done it before, I wanted to see what the big deal was, I wanted to do something that was scary/tough, I like Charlie’s Angels, I wanted to be able to judge action adventure movies better, I wanted a new experience, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about issues like gun control until I gave guns a fair try.

So Marcia and I decided to have the Girls with Gun Party. The goal was to be as manly as possible for a day. On Saturday, Marcia, Leona, Krista, and I went to BullsEye Range in San Rafael, shot a gun, and then came back to my house and ate steak that Kyle, Troy, and Chris cooked for us. (Meat is manly, and having men cook your dinner after shooting a gun is especially manly). (ETA: The term manly here is meant to be tongue-in-cheek. We do not want to be men and we don’t think shooting a gun is a strictly male activity.)

I went first. I was surprised about how easy it is to shoot a gun. Everyone said I would be knocked back by the force of the gun, but I could barely tell it was firing. I did okay for my first time. I hit the bad guy’s head, nose, chin, and throat.

We shot two .22 guns, a semi-automatic and a revolver. I liked the revolver better than the semi-automatic because it is easier to load and looks cooler and tougher. Also I could tell when it was hitting the target better.

Marcia and I agreed: shooting a gun is fun! Leona and Krista had mixed-but-overall-positive feelings. I would never go hunting or own a gun, but I wouldn’t be opposed to going to a range again or shooting a bigger gun at something-not-alive. Overall, we were glad we tried something new.

Watch out: We may giggle and have swirly hair, but we can also shoot a gun, now, too.

Update: Read Marcia’s account of the same thing, and view more of my pictures, here. Ditto Leona.

I meant to mention yesterday that my friend Justin’s blog was hacked, so he tracked down the hacker and posted his name and picture on his blog as well as links to his resume/website.

Now Justin’s post is up on Digg. It’s very funny for me to read all the comments people were making about the situation. Oh the excitement Justin’s blog causes sometimes…

Kyle’s birthday was a weekend extravaganza. We hung out with our friends, went to a wannabe-Speakeasy, ate Puerto Rican food for the first time, and spent Sunday with Kyle’s dad, who came down from Seattle to surprise Kyle. The three of us went to the beach, the redwoods, and took a tour of Korbel winery. We really know how to celebrate around here.

Here are a couple of pictures from the beach, which was fogged in, and the redwoods.

The pier off Bodega

I couldn’t get over the colors in the beach plants

Random woman in the mist

Kyle and Dennis doing important work.

In other news, I am going to get a new camera. I tried out the Nikon D40 and it is looking likely we’re going to splurge and get me one. I should have it in time for our cross-country trip. Hooray!

ETA: I wrote this after reading a swath of self-published books, which inflamed a long-term pet-peeve of mine in writing:

Think about it. When have you seen eyes flash? I mean, with emotion, not because they are reflecting light. Can’t think of it happening, can you? And yet, in book after book, people have flashing eyes. They flash in anger. They flash in desire. Sometimes they flash with impish glee. Always with the flashing and the eyes.

And for that matter, eyes do not twinkle. Nor do they smolder or blaze. In fact, what does that even mean, blazing eyes? That somebody’s eyes are on fire? Also, eyes most certainly do not darken dangerously. Never in the history of the world has eye color changed from someone being angry.

And while we’re at it, eyes are rarely emerald green, okay? Unless the person is wearing colored contacts, it just doesn’t happen. So if all your characters have ivory skin and emerald green eyes, you might want to re-think that. Ditto ice-blue eyes, although I suppose that happens in nature more often than emerald-green eyes do. But really, the vast majority of people have brown eyes. Yup, plain brown, completely lacking the drama or specialness of violet or black or teal eyes. And yet, I’ve heard people say that brown eyes are actually quite lovely sometimes. Give them a chance.

Here is how eyes portray emotions: we have hundreds of muscles in our face. When we have an emotion, some of those muscles move to suggest the feeling. This can be difficult to pin down. What would shift in a face to suggest that a character is angry? Would his eyes narrow? Would he tighten his mouth slightly as he stared straight ahead? Deciding on these details will make your description vivid and grounded in reality. It will also keep you from using so many clichés.

So please, writers-of-books-Joy-is-reading, stop with the bad eye descriptions. When you’re using eyes in creative writing, make them brown or hazel or blue or non-emerald green, and make them move like human eyes actually move. Your description will be better off for it. And I, in turn, will no longer have to visualize lightning bolts shooting across your characters’ irises every time they lose their tempers.

My handsome husband Kyle Rankin signing his books at last week’s LinuxWorld in San Francisco.

Thanks to Kat for taking this picture.

Ten notepads, two composition books, two packs of markers, one pack of crayons, and glue sticks. $4.50

Seriously, ten cents for a notepad! Back-to-school is like an office-supply nerd’s dreamland.

I will write something real on here soon.

Wine tasting again again. This time I went with 12 other people, which is the most people I have ever brought wine tasting. There was a lot of traffic that day, so we all got a late start, but it ended up being a lot of fun. We had a food-and-wine paring at J Winery and then tasted at Rodney Strong, Foppiano, and Christopher Creek. We finished up with Mexican food in downtown Healdsburg.

I was worried about bringing that many people tasting, but it worked out fine. Only the wine pourer at Christopher Creek complained that there were so many of us. Everyone else was accommodating. Foppiano had the best wine that day, I thought. Here are some pictures:

View

Apple on the ground

About half of us: Eddie, Dan, Gina, Heather, Geo, Rod (missing from the picture: Kyle, Morgan, Nikki, Justin, Stephanie, and Marcia.)

Arch with view in the background

Marcia and Dan