December Notes
Posted on December 1, 2010 Posted by John Scalzi 25 Comments
I’m delighted to say that, at least where I live, snow waited until December to show up on the doorstep. Mind you, it apparently did not wait one second longer than it had to, but still. In my opinion, November is meant to be a snow-free month. December, fine, let it snow. They even have a song for that. So good timing, Mother Nature.
In other news relating to me, December is promising to be a busy month. I don’t plan to take another hiatus, or even to suggest I will write here less than I usually do, because that never works. But if I do end up writing less here this month and/or writing later in the day than I normally do, you’ll know why. As to what I’m doing that’s taking up my time, well, it’s no real mystery — I’m working on a book and on SFWA stuff. Plus, you know, the holidays and family and setting fire to those who annoy me. The usual.
I figure it’s a good idea to let you folks know this stuff because often if I haven’t updated the site by three in the afternoon I start getting the “hey, are you dead?” e-mails. No, I’m not dead, so far. If I do die, I’ll let you know (in fact, I have a canned entry along the lines of “Hey, remember when I said I’d let you know if I was dead? Well, guess what?”). Otherwise, for December, assume I’m alive, even if I’m not posting on my usual manic schedule. Thanks.
“setting fire to those who annoy me”
Holy crap, this is allowed!!?
Man, this changes EVERYTHING… :-)
I figure that when you do kick off we’ll get a post that looks like thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii…
So as long as things remain semi-coherent I don’t worry.
Do you think we’ll have a couple of rumors like Tom Jones did? He had found out through his daughter/manager that he was dead and later on the same day reading his obituary on an interview.
Uh oh, you better look out. I bet it could be a way of the cat getting even. One night, dark and snowy the frisky feline popping up on your computer and posting your demise. It could happen, the cat is probably just waiting to train the dog better as a look out.
setting fire to those who annoy me
Do you use the standard fingers on the temple gesture when setting people on fire? One hand or two hands?
You are using psychic powers to do this, right? Not something tacky like calling in a napalm strike, I hope.
Yep. Snow is pretty, but it took 1.5 the normal time on my AM commute. Ugh.
Scalzi is dead! This is merely a clever tactic by his killer designed to buy time! Go spread rumors! Exclamation points!
Scalzi. Scalzinator. King John of Scalzi. Reformatting the Scalzi drive…. Hey, do you guys smell smoke?
(That’s a Rob Schneider reference in case you thought I would actually taunt John like that.)
Well, thank YOU for passing along some of that frigid air down to North Florida, where it is expected to freeze tonight. We were all just commenting yesterday how warm it was–24 hours changes things rather dramatically.
have you seen this? looks like copyrighted sci-fi books have been grabbed and put in the public domain.
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/?p=2879
Does this mean that instead of running around writing and producing like a crazed gerbil on steroids, you will only be working like a normal run of the mill type A lunatic?
I’m only asking for those of us who look aghast at the amount of work you do, and hope that our significant other does not bring it to our attention. (Why can’t you get a second job — Look at how much work that Mr. Scalzi does etc ad nauseum)
I believe the preferred method of setting fire to a person involves LaserCats®, correct?
Should we start looking for “clues” as to your demise in your blog posts, the way folks did with Beatles albums back in the 60’s? (The Beatles always did insist that John was actually the Walrus).
Am now feeling all cool and unpredictable because I don’t check Whatever at the same time every day, and consequently have no idea what time you normally post.
Since I’m (roughly) across from you on the Arctic side of the Lakes, in southern Ont., we naturally got our first visible dusting of snow a couple of days earlier than you.
Amazing the tricks mother nature likes to play with weather. I’m about 60 miles west of Toronto, in the fringes of the “snowbelt” downwind from Lakes Michigan and Huron. A few years back, there was a major storm that buried Toronto under four feet of snow … and just an hour’s drive away, here in supposedly snowier country, we got just a trace.
A canned entry for your own death? That’s so sad!
I don’t suppose there is a chance of getting a preview of the canned entry?
Snow waited until Dec 1 in Ohio? OK, global warming is totally screwing things up. We got snow a week ago Monday night in Seattle. Freaked everybody out. Except for the Skiers, they’ve been doing happy snow dances since August…
rickgeo @16 No previews, once you open a canned entry, you have to use it right away or it will spoil.
I’m just a couple hours north, in A2, and today is also the first snow day for us. I’m not complaining, given we sometimes get snow in October.
Jeff S. @17: I think you can freeze it after opening the can, but you still need to thaw and use within 12-18 months.
Benjamin@15: Sad, perhaps, but practical. Think of it as an e-will.
I’m betting it’ll be something like Khan’s last speech in Star Trek II. That, or a trigger phrase that will cause all of his brainwashed fans to go berserk and beat up Wil Wheaton.
Revenge is a dish best served cold, y’know.
Geez, I’m in Calgary, AB and we’ve had snow since Nov 15. Not to mention a couple of weeks of temperatures between -30C and -40C; we even had the dubious honor of being the coldest place on the planet for a couple of days! The picture is pretty, but it isn’t really snow!
hugh57 @19: I’m not sure, but if you freeze and thaw the death notice, wouldn’t it become a cryogenically frozen notice?
I doubt he’s going to leak any part of the canned entry before he’s dead.
Now I really want to see that entry, though.
Guess that leaves only one logical option…*goes to buy firearms*
I know who’s been hoarding the November snow… Spokane, Washington just had its snowiest November ever recorded with more than two feet for the month.
Please take more of the December snow. We have enough to last us quite a while.
The snow here has been really wet and transparent; my wife likes to call it rain. So, for all those who like to think all of Canada is nothing but a winter wonderland. . . I give you lots of mud.
John, you know a canned entry ain’t good enough. You know that “primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of the article are not sufficient” for you to be considered dead. So don’t even bother passing away until it gets reported in a newspaper or published in some book.