wildfire

Forest fires have been plaguing the Los Angeles area since Wednesday night. I walked into work on Thursday smelling of a strange cocktail of cigarettes, motels and cookouts. The smoke is visible from a picture window in the lab-- we can clearly see orange flames licking the mountain ridges to the North. The pillar of smoke resembles a dilapidated mushroom cloud... the ashes and embers continue to clutter the air and blanket cars like evil snow.

These are pictures taken from our lab window. The fire now covers 85,000+ acres, and is about 5-10 miles away from us.

writing

I'd like to write some things. I believe it'll be a good exercise of the mind and a good outlet for my energy. A room of one's own and five hundred a year. The things necessary for a woman to write. What is my writing voice? Is it more serious than my speaking voice?

Virginia Woolf said that a writer must try to clear her mind and let her imagination sweep unchecked round every rock and cranny of the world that lies submerged in the depths of her unconscious being.

Hemingway writes in short sentences.

I dedicate myself to writing 30 minutes per day, possibly before bed.