BRAINPAN LEAKAGE

Yo’kay…

I probably should have expected this, but I wasn’t thinking. Which makes the title of this post, and the post in and of itself all the more bizarre…

So, anyway, when I “hacked” the new theme – meaning, I downloaded a theme, made my own graphics, and edited the PHP and CSS files… Way back when, before the connotations applied to the word “hacker” became what they are today, rewriting code for your own puproses was what it meant. It wasn’t something sexy, criminal, or even movie fodder. We were just computer geeks making something work – or, work in a different fashion. And, yes, back then I was a hacker.

Yeah, yeah…digressing…

So, back to the issue at hand. When I hacked this WordPress theme to make it look the way I wanted I created a new banner graphic. The picture of me was taken from a photo shoot with Dorothy Morrison. You might recognize the wild look in my eyes – it’s from the Bobblehead Lady Video promo and Wingnuts button. What I “wasn’t thinking” was that some folks might have more than a passing interest in what is going on in the thought balloon depicted floating next to my head. Based on some incoming email, they do.

So, here you go. I somewhat larger version of the graphic, complete with a list of what is contained.

So here goes, in no particular order, even though it is enumerated:

Leading (small balloons)

1. Red X (An absolutely amazing liquor warehouse type store in KC)
2. Egg Nog (’nuff said)
3. A stiletto heeled pump (hey, I’m a guy, okay?)

Main Balloon

1. EK (She’s ALWAYS on my mind…)
   
2. Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
3. SPAM™
4. Kristin Madden playing with her nose
5. An algebraic formula / mathematical expression
6. “Don’t call me Kirstin…” (the mantra of Kristin Madden)
7. First page of Chapter 18 from Harm None
8. Design for a fictional M&M launcher (© 2006, M. R. Sellars)
9. Big, red exclamation point

And, yeah…that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

More to come…

Murv

I have to be honest. The picture you see at left has absolutely nothing to do with this blog entry… Well, kinda nothing.

You see, it wasn’t even included with the original posting of this particular entry. However, in the process of moving things from Myspace to the new home of Brainpan Leakage, I was also doing a bit of straightening up around the hard drive… Early spring cleaning, so to speak… Well, as luck would have it, I ran across this picture of EK and me from a costume party we held on our 8^th anniversary (remember, we got married on Halloween)…  8th anniversary…spiders…8 legs… yeah, we were all about themes back then… I’ll have to see about digging out some of our other costume party photos.  But, there I go digressing…

Anyway, so given the title of this blog entry, as well as the Addams family references, EK looking all dangerous & sexy in her “Black Widow” outfit, and me as her webbed over prey, just seemed to fit and I decided maybe I should post it here…

Even if it doesn’t exactly fit, well, it’s kind of a cute picture.

But, on with the original blog…

So I’m on a few of these other social networking sites. Yeah, I know, there are a ton of them out there, and I cannot possibly be on all of them or I would never get any writing done. But in the interest of “viral marketing” I do hang out on a couple of the others besides Myspace. Hey, it’s all about getting name recognition. People see me, see my name, then the next time they see it the little bulb lights up to trigger the “hey, I’ve heard of that guy before”… Then, maybe they eventually get around to buying a book or two. Then, I get to keep writing books. (Kind of a vicious circle, eh?)

Yeah, I know. Get to the point, Gomez…

Anyway, I’m sure you are wondering “why the Addams family lyrics for a title of this blog?” Well, I’ll tell you. On one of those other social networking sites, someone posted a comment to my page that went a little something like this:

“…You two must be a HOOT at Parent-Teacher’s day! LOL! (WHY did the image of Gomez and Morticia Addams meeting Mr. Rodgers just pop into my head? “its a lovely day in the embalming room, a lovely day in the freezer…oh, will you be my, won’t you be, my cadaver?” LOL!)…”

Obviously that isn’t the entire comment, but basically it came on the heels of some banter about Evil Kat, and the question that due to the genre of my writing whether or not she is afraid to go to sleep with me around. To that I simply replied that she is far more evil than I could possibly be.

At any rate, the Addams family reference as well as the P/T conference thing begged an answer (you know me, just can’t shut up for anything). So, I answered. My  reply seemed to tickle quite a few folks, so I thought maybe I’d repeat it here.

Yes… Parent – Teacher Conferences are VERY interesting… Primarily on the first orientation conference, after Wednesday (well, you started it with the Addams family stuff – besides, I don’t publish the munchkins name) tells everyone in her class that “Daddy writes books” …  So, the first conference goes something like the following (note: this is a fairly accurate recounting of almost every initial P/T conference we have attended)–

Teacher: Mister Sellars, nice to meet you. Wednesday just goes on and on about how you are an author.

Murv: Yeah, she gets a bit excited about things at times.

Teacher: So, what are your books about?

Murv: They’re paranormal suspense novels about a Witch who helps the Saint Louis Major Case Squad track down and apprehend serial killers.

Teacher: [horrified silence]

Murv: [Grin]

Teacher: So…ummm…uhhh…they aren’t children’s books then?

Murv: No. Not so much. I told Wednesday she’s not allowed to read them until she’s at least 35. Oh, and by the way, whenever I’m not out of town on tour I’m available to help out as a room parent for field trips and such. Just give me a call.

Teacher: [rushing to change the subject] Ummm, uhhh. okay…uhhh…So! Wendesday’s Mom! I understand YOU fix computers!

So, there you have it… That really and truly is pretty much how our initial meetings with the munchkin’s teachers go. Fortunately, after that things seem to settle down. Especially after I send postcards to the class when I am gallivanting around the country on tour. In fact, they even end up deciding I’m pretty okay.

Yeah, I’ve even been determined to be okay enough that I’ve actually done the room parent thing on field trips. (LOL)

More to come…

Murv