I finally got around to reinstalling my graphics tablet, and have discovered that, with the right adjustments, it works rather beautifully in Adobe Photoshop CS2. That's a pleasant change.

It also works in that newer Flash. I'm not sure which one...I don't like the looks of it, though, and should probably get around to reinstalling the old Flash5, so that I might be able to draw more things like 'that thing that looks like a 4 year old drew it' [as the great and mighty 'defender of children' called it] on the splash page.

I happen to like it, and I'm currently waiting on the replacement hoodie from CP with that drawing on it -- the one they sent me the first time wasn't Direct Print, and it was supposed to be. I've been waiting for Direct Printing to come to something I actually thought I needed at the moment [warm stuff] so I could try it out, and they messed up the printing...but they're great about correcting errors, so I can't hold that against them at all.

Maybe I'll get a picture of it when I get it.

For the past few days, I've been trying to work with Gremlin on that whole Wasted thing. Just trying to come up with stuff. I think I've got a few ideas, but it'll probably take a while to really get things going. The reinstallation of the graphics tablet was a step toward that.

Other than that...I spent many weeks looking for a book that magically turned up yesterday, just in time.

See, I've been on this Stephen King ReRead binge, partly because I have been for a while, but also partly because I just joined the Stephen King Library -- one of those Book of the Month sort of almost scams, except this one seems limited and also seems to feed an addiction of mine -- hardcover Stephen King books.

I actually got the first two books [and my free join-up gifts] while my computer was being all crappy.

The book also includes the original Jerusalem's Lot story, and another more recent short story about The Lot. I forget which collection it's originally from.

The offer [which was sent to me by mail], also included a 'free desk calendar' and a 'skeleton keychain', which is also offered on the website.

Well, that was a tangent, wasn't it? Where was I....

Oh, right, the missing book. I wanted to re-read the Dark Tower series, all in a row now that it's finished. I hadn't been able to for a while, because our copy of The Gunslinger discovered that trying to fight its way out of a wet paper bag was bad because it itself was made out of paper [that's my nice way of saying it was destroyed in one of the many flooding accidents at Meadowlark, as was our copy of 1984]. Turns out, we had ANOTHER copy of The Gunslinger hidden away in a box, which I found a few weeks ago and immediately began reading, after gathering together all the other Dark Tower series books I could find....

One of those books, Wizard and Glass, turned up missing. Prior to that, I'd known where it was. This bugged me, but since there were at least a thousand pages between me and it, I thought it would turn up in time.

It took me a little bit longer getting through the books than it usually does, thanks to my brand new habit of falling asleep while reading because the waterbed is too damned comfy, but the book did turn up, just in time. What bugs me is that it turned up exactly where I'd spent the last few weeks looking for it over and over again -- on the bookshelves downstairs.

See, I thought it was there, but every time I went looking for it, I couldn't find it. And I was very thorough. Most of the shelves are double-stacked [and some books are still in boxes -- we have a lot of books], and I was careful to take them all off and put them back, one by one, just to be absolutely sure I wasn't missing it. So, I don't know what the hell is going on, because it wasn't where I found it the day before.

I mentioned to Gremlin that I'd probably find it exactly where I'd been looking for it, and that it'd be proof of something weird and nasty like 'I've woken up in another reality, and have been living in the wrong one for quite some time.' The next day, right around that time, I found it.

It may have just been a case of extremely severe selective blindness, though. Or my cat is fucking with me. Or there's a magical book black hole in my basement, and sometimes books manage to escape. Or Cthulhu is fucking with me. Or...well, I don't know.

I'm also kinda wondering if any of the other books have disappeared to take its place. I know it's not [or it better not be, at least] any of the last three books -- all first edition hardcovers, and all of them should be on my dresser right now. If they're not, then something's really gone wrong.

I guess that's probably why I brought up the book club. I'm hoping to get some form of hardcover version of the first four to round out my [rather pathetic, as of right now] collection.

I think I'm going to get back to Wizard and Glass now.

Oh, by the way, since I forgot to mention it here and in the Peter Popoff Post, the blanket behind the items in the pictures is my wonderfully soft Gir fleece throw.

I just thought it needed to be said.