My Wedding Heat series was recently featured on the Radish Fiction app , drawing renewed interest in the stories. If I'm remembering correctly, I started writing Wedding Heat in 2012, after attending a wedding at a fancy resort. I didn't stay at the resort, of course. I shared a motel room off-site with 4 other people. To be honest, I hate it when people have their wedding somewhere fancy and expect their much less affluent guests to pony up for expensive accommodations. But I hate weddings, generally, so why did I even write this series? I wrote it because there are so many people at weddings (at least, there were before covid), and it's such a charged environment. Emotions run high. Desperation abounds. People fall into bed with all kinds of partners they might not normally attach themselves to. At least, that's what happens in my series. Thing is, the most recent story in the Wedding Heat series was published in 2014. Since then, there's ...
So apparently The Rolling Stones wrote this Rice Krispies jingle? I came across it when I was looking for that commercial from maybe the 80s or 90s where the dad makes Rice Krispie squares and it's so easy, but he dusts flour all over himself to make it look like it was an overwhelming experience. Remember that? Nobody else seems to, and I couldn't find it on Youtube. Maybe I made it up. Anyway, I had leftover marshmallows from our cottage trip, so I made a batch of Rice Krispie squares today. I was hoping they'd turn out big and burly and HARD, but instead they're soft and gooey and chewy. I'll still probably eat the whole tray, which is a little worrying since they contain 40 marshmallows. That's a lot of marshmallows to eat in one day. If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and visits every day, the easiest thing you can do is tell your friends about the site. Tell anyone you know--particularly people who are isolated and enjoy...
I know this is a terrible thing to say, but I think my brother-in-law might be the most boring person in the world. Every time he talks, I feel my soul leaving my body. I keep wondering why nobody shuts him up, but I guess I don't shut him up either, so who am I to talk? As I mentioned yesterday, we had a little Christmas gathering with my partner's family. It was just a few of us: my partner and I, his sister, his brother, and his brother's wife. I am the new recruit. I haven't been around this family long enough to have a proper place in it. I love my partner's sister. I like his sister-in-law. But his brother, oh man, every time he starts into another one of his diatribes about fixing a billing error that was off by fewer than five cents, I wish someone would hit him over the head with something heavy. He doesn't do anything, so he's got nothing to talk about, but he talks about nothing non-stop. I feel myself reverting to childhood, wanting to yank on...
I was watching a murder mystery the other day, and the detective found a clue in the victim's journal: it was an ancient sepia photograph of the woman when she was a child. The photograph was dated... 1984. 1984? Okay, speaking as someone who was also a child in 1984, I can tell you that none of my childhood photos are sepia-toned! I do have quite a few black-and-white pictures of my sister and myself, but that's just because my father was kind of artsy with his camera and he would sometimes buy black-and-white film. But the vast majority of photos taken in 1984 were in full colour. Definitely not sepia! I wondered how old the prop person on that TV show was, and if they thought photography in 1984 was basically the same as photography in 1884. This is a cover of a Bowie song, by the way. If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and anecdotes, the easiest thing you can do is buy my books (most are for adults only!) or check them out from your...
All good questions. Let me explain. My name is Giselle and I'm your new best friend. Well, maybe not "best friend." A best friend usually listens in addition to talking, but that's not me. What I will do is be here every day, starting June 1 2019, to share with you whichever song pops into my head. Why? What's the point? Well, here's the thing: I'm a writer. It's a pretty lonely job. Over the years, I've become increasingly socially isolated and you know what? It sucks. It sucks bad. The truth of the matter is that a lot of us are socially isolated, these days. And not just older people--younger ones, too. There are "friendly visitor" programs for seniors, but those of us under 65 are kind of lost at sea. I speak from experience. Let me be your friendly visitor! If you need a no-pressure visit every day, let me be your visitor. I'll bring a song--whichever song pops into my head, gets stuck in my head, or seems relevant...
The strangest thing has been happening lately: I've been losing time. Not having blackouts or anything--I'm talking about clocks. Watches. Really any device that tells you the hour of the day. It all started on a pretty important day. I had to meet my partner in the morning to deal with a life-changing event. I set the alarm on my tablet, but I also had my phone charging on the night table. I woke up before my alarm, looked at my phone for the time, and got out of bed--which is incredibly lucky because, when I checked the time on my tablet, it had lost 2 hours. How does that happen? It was 8:15 in the morning and my tablet said 6:20. I restarted it, and it changed its mind. Yes, it was 8:15. So I got on the subway and I kept checking the little clock thing I've got hooked onto my purse (for when I forget to wear my watch) and I thought I was making good time. When I met my partner, he was very flustered. It was only later that I realized my little purse clock was lo...
I got to find out what you do if you can't lift your head off the pillow but you have to get out of the house because someone has an appointment to check out your boyfriend's home that's for sale. We had decided to go to the community centre so my partner could work out at the gym there and I could work in the library. But my vertigo was bad. My health is just so bad, honestly, I can barely function some days--and yesterday was one of those days. So when we got to the community centre I said to my partner, "I'm just going to lie down in the car." My partner said, "You can't stay in the car! Children die that way!" I assured him that I wasn't a child. He tried to give me his keys so I could at least open a window, but I didn't want him not to have his keys. I wouldn't take them. He tried to convince me that this was a bad idea, but I wouldn't listen. I should have listened. Because the car got hot fast. And when I realized I ne...
I will always associate this piece with the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, which was one of my favourite movies of the 80s. It came out at the absolute perfect time, for me. I'm sure I've mentioned in the past that I wanted to be an animator when I was young. Part of that was because I loved drawing, and part of that was because I loved cartoons. Have I told you this story before? I can't remember. I've talked about it on Twitter, but I can't recall if I ever mentioned it here on the blog: when I was a kid, there was a lot of domestic violence in my household. I had a Smurfs blanket on my bed, and at night I would hide underneath it and pretend I was in Cartoon World, where I could play with the characters I loved from Saturday morning cartoons. When Roger Rabbit came out, it affirmed my escapist desires by presenting a world in which cartoons and humans coexisted. That's where I wanted to live. I haven't seen Who Framed Roger Rabbit? in... oh, 30 years, ...
I'll be honest with you: I didn't know Badfinger was a band until I googled musicians from Wales. I was familiar with this song, but I never knew who it was by. Now I actually understand the joke that mentions them in the Rifftrax riff of Psycho II (yes, that's an actual movie). (edit: the riff I was thinking of is actually from Amityville 4, which is another lousy sequel.) If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and anecdotes, the easiest thing you can do is buy my books (most are for adults only!) or check them out from your local library. Supporting my AudioErotica endeavour on Patreon would also help me hugely. I'm also an Amazon Influencer, so hopefully I can make a little pocket change when you buy stuff by clicking through my affiliate links . I also recommend subscribing to my newsletter. I generally e-mail subscribers with a weekly update, and I would LOVE to have you on the list. C...