Boxing Day Randomness

Ahh, Boxing Day… The living room is strewn with Legos and race track parts and the plastic bits and baubles of The Littlest-Bittiest-Teensiest-Weensiest Pet Shops. The Christmas tree is crisping in the corner and The Chairman of the Borg and I are slightly comatose in a sugar-and-sleeplessness-induced stupor.

God bless us every one.

Quick flashback: Thirteen years ago, the Chairman and I were in a taxi from Cambridge to Wilburton, England. We asked our driver what Boxing Day was all about (as we don’t celebrate it in the US). He didn’t know. He called his dispatcher. He didn’t know either. There then ensued a lively discussion between all the taxi drivers and the dispatch what the story was behind Boxing Day. None of them knew. The Chairman and I still laughed and laughed. One of the best taxi rides EVER.

Anyway…in the midst of the stupor, I thought it might be fun to post a couple of things.

The first thing should come as a surprise to no one:
Tonight is the BBC America airing of Doctor Who, The End of Time Part 1! Oh, how my geeky heart goes pitter-pat.

And for those who don’t get BBC America (*cough*StrugglingWriter*cough), be of good cheer. I’ve already seen a link or two for internet downloads on the internet.

Next up, a huzzah for technology:
Christmas Eve, I had dinner with my family at our favorite Irish pub (best Shepherd’s Pie EVER). I liked the music they were playing, but didn’t know what it was. I pulled out my iPhone, opened the Shazam app, tagged the music (“Willie Lennox” by Dervish), clicked the link to download from iTunes and voila. Now I’m listening to the entire Dervish album as I type this. Viva Dervish! Viva Technology!

Next, a little news on the writing front:
I do a lot of my Christmas shopping on the internet. The UPS guys know me by name. Around mid-December they start making daily stops at my house, and by Christmas Eve (when I finally sit down to do my wrapping) the boxes are piled up like building blocks. So, two days ago I sat down, and started opening the boxes. Among them I found not an ordered present, but the box containing my prize from the Wow! Women on Writing Summer Flash Fiction Contest (which I posted about here). Inside I found a number of wonderful items, the best of which was the congratulatory letter from the editors of the magazine. And the best part of the letter was the handwritten note at the bottom of the letter:

“P.S. – I loved ‘Across the Fence'”

I’m not a narcissist or even a very good self-promotor. But anyone who’s done this writing thing and knows the sting of rejection can understand how I felt reading that note. In this game, you gotta relish any pats on the back you get. Finding it among those boxes made it one of the best Christmas present this year.

Finally, an announcement:
I’ve decided to become a blogger for Kiva, which means now and again I’ll use the space on this blog to help promote the great things they do. Have you heard of Kiva? They’re a microloan organization that is on a mission to alleviate poverty in the world. And they’re doing an awesome job at it. You loan $25 to an individual trying to start a business. As their business earns money, they repay the loan. You can then either take your repayment in full, or turn around and reloan the $25 to another person trying to make a better life for themselves. It’s awesome. You should be a part of it. You can get others involved, too, by giving Kiva gift certificates. Starting at $25, Kiva gift certificates allow the recipient to make their own loans to entrepreneurs around the world and help alleviate poverty. Your recipient chooses the loans, receives repayments, and can choose to lend again and again! It is a one-of-a-kind gift that keeps on giving. And it only takes a couple of seconds to change someone’s life forever. So cool.

That’s all I have now for randomness. Must be time to partake in some Christmas cookies and start working on the next writing post. Stay tuned. And Happy Boxing Day!