Thus Marks Another Circuit of the Sun Go Round

This is the bright, shiny, currently somewhat phlegmy (but not phlegmatic!) Spoony Quine, writing to you from fabulous Mukilteo, Washington -- Land Where the Sun Don't Shine In The Winter, But Fries Us All Damn Day in the Summer!

Today starts both a new calendar year, and a new blog, this one to be chock-full of mad science-writing, wackmobiles, spurious brainchildren, and of course, late-night partying complete with snacks, various computational devices rocking the house via the BOSE speakers, motion-blur sickness, and digitally-enhanced colors!

New Years' -- yet another excuse to dance like a mad science writer! Truth be told, I wasn't the only one, but the other non-floorbound housemates were too embarrassed to be in the same photo.

Vada wasn't much impressed, either.

Fireworks exploded over the islands at various times around midnight, but not very many at a time, as my long-exposure attests:

Dude! Do not clink your champagne glass against my camera when it's in the middle of an eight-second exposure! Let's try that again:

Better, although it looks less exciting. But then something more exciting to photograph emerged when we spotted the first Chocolate Cheesecake boat of the New Year!

You can almost hear me and Brianade singing, as we stood out in the cold, "The cheesecake boats are coming, we'll party toniiight!" (Special thanks to Kevin Meaney for polluting our minds with such musical phrases.)

In reality, we didn't have cheesecake, but we did have ice cream with the raspberry-habanero syrup my mom sent us for Christmas, inadvertently teaching Vada a Very Important Lesson in Culinary Caution. Let's just say, she needed a few minutes to get the puss off her face, while I laughed hysterically.

*

"Ice creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmmm!"

"Shut up, Lou!"

"Oh, sorry!"

"We'd better get to bed soon."

"Good idea. Later this morning, I gotta get up and watch football."

(Dialog based on a true story that happened just now.)

Back to the narrative:

Excitingly, this is my inaugural post of not just a blog, but a writing experiment, utilizing both material that does not yet exist -- that is, events and scientific discoveries that I will write about as they happen -- as well as material predating this blog in features with names such as "It Came From The Slushpile!" and "Where did I go wrong?"

I realize that this post is not as grand as I had imagined it to be, as my intention had been to include a taste of my science writing, or at very least a fair chunk more madness. Why didn't I?

Admittedly, laziness did play a large part, as I had come up with the idea for this blog three whole weeks ago, yet wasn't sure whether or not I should actually start a new blog until about a week later, whereupon I came down with a nasty sinus infection which left me feverish and unable to do much more than compound my normally-busy daily routine with naps, spending much time with people I don't normally get to see, as well as many hours of using my new printer to 'paperify' albums-worth of digital photos, which I then sent to relatives who have not even seen pictures of me in five years.

So now I know better; whenever I devise a new online project idea, I should just start it immediately and think about whether it's really important, much less a good idea, once I've invested a truckload of time into it! After all, it's bound to start out better if I do!
` Granted, I spent three whole days augmenting my notes to be used for online projects such as this one, but didn't actually start thinking about the content of the first post until I dragged myself out of bed and joined the party. (Veggie sandwich rolls and shrimp-covered mountains of cheese have a way of awakening my willpower -- thanks, Brianade!)

So, if you liked this post, thank my ability to improvise on short notice. That, and the fact that my fever finally seems to be breaking. And the food. As for me, I'm still kicking myself for letting indecision and illness interfere with my dastardly plans!

As I finish my champagne, here's to a Happy New Blog, and a More Prolific and Less Hectic New Year! Let's just say, considering the fact that I now have a place to live, an internet connection, no 24-hour disruptions of my sanity for months on end, no current crises, and not a whole lot of school/work either, my projects on the interwebs are bound to go well for once, or my name isn't Spoony Quine!

And it isn't. But that's what people call me.