Thumper Thinks Out Loud

Thumper has a new toy. It's a NEC Mobilepro 780--like a hybrid between an PDA and a laptop system--and will hopefully function as the thing upon which I will write my next best seller, as I bounce from place to place, restaurant to restaurant, in search of the Best Place To Cough Up Words.

Today's blog entry is being brought to you from Pizza Pucks in Vacaville, CA (yes, Spouse Thingy, I went without you! :::insert evil laughter:::) Most of my better writing is done away from my desk; there are too many things to distract me there, like the Internet. And TV. And things in the kitchen calling out to me (its usually junk food; for some reason I never hear a cucumber or tomato call my name, nor do the dishes sing out, "Come and wash me come and wash me!") When I was writing Finding Father Rabbit I often lugged my laptop to the cafe at Barnes & Noble, or to the base library, but face it: those suckers can be heavy. They're portable but not especially enjoyable to carry around.

If this thing weighs half a pound, I'll be surprised. It functions like a PDA, with a touch screen and stylus, and it will run programs for the Pocket PC, but it looks like a miniature laptop. It's spiffy. And it was an awesomely good find on Ebay, possibly much better than the Alphasmart I've drooled over for the past 3 years,

Bored yet?

So I'm sitting here in Pizza Pucks, and yes, I'm getting strange looks. For one, I think I'm the only person here who wandered in alone, and I'm definitely the only one tapping away on a keyboard while waiting for food.

What? I should sit here with a book or a magazine in order to blend in well? BTDT...and, well, I need new glasses; right now reading is kinda difficult.

Actually, I think people are just curious about what I'm doing. About 3 years ago I had a regular PDA with a portable keyboard that I would haul around with me, and I frequently sat in the Travis AFB food court to write. People looked then, too, but the portable keyboards were relatively new at the time, so they were curious. And not shy about asking. It once took me 20 minutes to write out 4 or 5 sentences because of all the interruptions...but I didn't mind. I was practically asking for it, sitting there with a new toy that surely other people coveted. One woman wanted to know about it because it looked like something her grandson might like for his birthday. A couple other people just wanted one because it would be a new toy to have (not that *I* would ever be like that, nooo...)

No one's asking this time, and that's just fine. Of course, if I were working on a book instead of a blog entry, things would be different. I'd probably have people crawling out of the woodwork to ask questions.

Still reading? You haven't dropped dead from sheer boredom yet?

Oooh. Pizza's here.

'Tis very good, It's pepperoni. Here, have a sniff...

Next up on Thumper's new toy: I have a book to finish. I've been working on an FMS book for over 2 years, and it's very slow going. I'm better with fiction, where I can make chit up and not worry about whether or not every detail is exactly correct. Where I can give character cancer without having to know all the particulars about which kind, when just a general knowledge will suffice.

That's the problem With FMS. Even though millions of people have it, including yours truly, there's not a whole lot known about it. They still don't know the cause and there's sure as heck no cure for it yet. That's not what the book is about, anyway; it's about the people who live with it every day, the people who have to figure out who to manage having chronic pain and manage having a life at the same time, especially when so may doctors don't even believe in it, and some of those who do don't grasp how bad it can get. They figure, "eh, eat better and start exercising, and you'll be 99% better."

If that were the case, people with FMS would be a lot happier. And thinner. And would have kick-ass muscles with which they could kick the shins of the next doctor to tell them it's all in their little heads.

Oh, and the pizza is still good :)

And I am going to have so much fun with my new little toy. I suppose I'll have to find places other than eateries to write, though, or else I really will wind up weighing 300 pounds. While I aspire to many things, morbid obesity is not one of them.

I'm not even happy with borderline obesity.

Ok. The pizza is almost gone; there's still a slice, but I am stuffed. I'll leave it here on the table if you want it. Now I'm gonna hit "save" and turn this thing off, hoping that it really did save to my flash card. Then I will get into my other new toy and head home, where I will post this for all.

Still reading and not dying of boredom?

Damn, you really are a dedicated reader!