This is nice, but tomorrow's post is going to be AWESOME!!!

I have returned from Baltimore. You did not know I was in Baltimore? That is because I did not tell you. I'm still not entirely comfortable with broadcasting my movements internettally, especially when it means that I'm going to be out of the house for a week or so. Probably old fashioned of me.

Yes, so, I was in Baltimore. Visiting my brother-in-law. A number of things came of this. I got a cold, though I don't know that that had anything to do with the trip specifically. I do tend to get colds when I travel. It didn't come on full until I got home, thankfully, because there's nothing worse than being ill in a strange house, full of noise and completely lacking kleenex. So I got to sleep in my bed for one night before transferring to the Sick Bed downstairs. Hooray!

I also read a lot when I travel. Especially if I'm visiting relatives. It's just a good way of not having to watch television, and it's something to do when, say, everyone else is at football practice or swimming in the pool. This time I read Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell. I recommend. There are some little things I would have done differently, but that's largely because I'm a different writer than Toby, and have a different way of approaching narrative and theme. As a reader I was perfectly content. The only real niggle I had was the name. Crystal Rain. I didn't know what to expect from it, based on the name, and it wasn't until 3/4 of the way through the book before I saw where the name came from. It won't be spoiling anything to tell you that some small portion of the story happens in the "Northland" which is largely uninhabited and snowy and all that. And since that's not where most of the characters live, snow is a bit of rarity, and when one of the characters is trying to describe it to someone else using a non-native language, he calls it crystal rain. And that's where the title comes from. Nothing to do with the themes of the book, or really even the plot. It's more of a throw-away commentary on a brief bit of the setting. So yeah.

Let me stick my neck out and suggest a title. Too late, I realize, but I'm going to kick this one to Toby and see what he thinks. The Eagle Stone. Read the book, it'll make sense.

Lastly. God, this is a long post. Do I keep going, or should I stop here and try to use my third thought tomorrow. Yeah, I'll do that. Don't want to bore you completely.