I’ve got an upper respiratory infection and probably have had one for a while. I only just yesterday got on Houston’s gold card, so today I was able to see a doctor and get some much needed prescriptions. Not only that but I am back in treatment for fibromyalgia and finally have a prescription for muscle relaxers again. If you live in Houston and don’t have insurance, you should really have a gold card (even if you make more money than I do).

The new edition of M. Christian’s The Bachelor Machine should go on sale soon from Circlet Press, featuring a new introduction by yours truly. In addition to excitement over seeing my words in print alongside this favorite author of mine, I’m also especially pleased that the new edition features a dialogue between Chris and Cecilia Tan. It was a freebie given to reviewers of the old edition and I once lamented that most readers would be unable to enjoy it; now it’s in its own appendix. I will be sure to post here when the book is available.

The second Houston Art Nerds salon is tomorrow. Our theme this time is ‘Storytelling,’ but as always we welcome artists in all media. If you’d like more information, visit the Facebook group or contact me directly.

I think RWW’s buzzfeed is a great example of the potentials for the service as a place for active and intelligent discussions about news and webcontent. I’ve also been experimenting with using buzz through the google maps application on my Android phone, but this still seems unstable and buggy. Of course, some concerns have been raised about the effect of location-based services. Yet services like Facebook, Twitter and Google which integrate my location have done wonderful things in my life — especially in enhancing my ability both to plan organized social gatherings and meet my friends for impromptu ones. I think we end up with issues of surveillance versus sousveillance: now that the location cat is out of the bag, it will take draconian legislation to put it back in again. What tech activists really need to be doing is to pressure the government and corporations to protect our privacy even while enhancing our the opportunity to give it up voluntarily. I’m deeply concerned by how quickly ISPs roll over for government surveillance and yet I want to enable the creative, empowering sharing of personal data that these services also allow. I think it will almost certainly take an active, tech-education population to ensure we forge the right balance.

In any case, I’m thrilled to have been quoted in ReadWriteWeb’s discussion of this topic. Hello to any new visitors to kitoconnell.com that stop by because of that link. I update this site a few times a month but the best way to follow me is on twitter.

The newest, biggest stress in my life involves my living situation. I’ve been living with two other roommates for about a year, and was not hoping to move anytime soon. But through circumstances essentially outside his control, the actual lease-holding roommate is going to be forced to make either myself or the third roommate move out. I’m already basically broke and struggling to get myself on a more stable financial footing, so this has been an unpleasant development to say the least.

Maybe you can help me? What I need are leads on pre-existing places looking for roommates in the Houston (or possibly Austin) area. Even moreso, I’m looking for potential roommates in the Houston area who might want to go in together on a lease with 2 or 3 other intelligent weirdos. I’ve done some searching and there are some affordable 3-4 bedroom houses for rent out there and I know I’ve only just scratched the surface.

My requirements for places I will consider are:

• For Houston locations, somewhere inside the loop.
• Accessible to reasonable amounts of public transportation
• 420- and noisy, kinky sex-friendly
• Pet friendly. My cat is antisocial and will probably live mostly or entirely in my bedroom.
• Cheap. I’m paying a maximum of $300/month for both rent and bills and want to keep it under that if possible. But I may be willing to trade added chores for reduced rent.

If you have any useful information then please leave a comment, email kitoconnell at pobox dot com, or use the mobile number on my homepage (yes it really works).

There have been some ups and downs as I adjust to a new city, a new social circle with new people in it, and unwinding from the stress and mental weirdness of 2008, but overall I’m happier than I’ve been in a long time. The lack of writing has been eating at me, however. I haven’t established good writing habits again, and I can feel my muse suffering from not being expressed enough. It’s a weird feeling, a voice whispering at the back of my brain but unable to find the way to express itself lately. I’m working on fixing this, and have written a poem recently and been thinking on some fiction. I’m hopeful I can keep myself accountable by posting here again, and also renew my involvement in my languishing online writing community.

Recent activities: I’ve been expressing myself online a lot via my twitter feed. I’ve been watching the Wire and Buffy for the first time and thinking on serial storytelling. I’m doing freelance webgeekery for my mom’s company. I had a wonderful Flipside and I sure am craving Decompression.

As a result of my Houston explorations, I’m doing some thinking on dive bars, stoner havens, and other liminal spaces. Share your experience with these urban treasues in the comments to my post on Words Words Words.

I have been working hard on the Continuous Coast project. My story I published earlier this month for the project has been read about 300 times, which isn’t bad for a silly little bed time story on a project no one’s heard of yet. I’ve been trying to line up more bands for Lufton Runner, with some exciting success. I’m trying to find time to build the project’s web presence. I’m helping critique other project members’ work. I’m playing fictals in interactive chats. If I’m not getting as many words on the page, I am trying to be gentle on myself as I am balancing all the above with a number of real life changes and upheavals and Things To Be Done ™ of varying importance.

I need to put some time in on my own words, and even just my own stories for CC, soon.

I did, however, write a poem recently.

In honor of the new year, we just published our first short stories from the world. You can read my contribution, a Zayzan bedtime story called “Pol’s Tale,” and the stories by Reesa and Steve on our Continuous Coast preview.

Happy New Year to everyone! I had a delightful one celebrating the first urban ‘burn’ — the Resolution Clock burn at First Night Austin. It was glorious to watch such a beautiful effigy burn in the heart of my favorite city, surrounded by loved ones and heartfamily. We also listened to Arc Attack and then spent the night chilling and partying at Neal & Summer’s house.

2008 was a difficult year.  I am looking forward to 2009 as a year for beginnings, and for change.