kaleidotrope

I woke up early this morning to take my car into the garage. The anti-lock braking system light has been staying on lately, which is a sign that the system itself isn’t working properly, if at all. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to do anything for me. They reset the system, they said, and I should see how long it took for the light to come back on. They didn’t charge me anything, which is good, because it didn’t take any longer than sitting down in the car and starting the engine.

Of course, I then drove back home, shut the engine off, and then tried again…only to find that the light now went off.

Apparently, it’s something a Honda dealer is going to have to take a look at it. The car is safe to drive without it — it’s not the brakes themselves that aren’t working properly, and another customer at the garage said his Honda’s been having the same problem for two years. But I’ll probably do a little internet research and then maybe take it to the dealer. The car’s ten years old at this point, and well out of warranty, but the ABS is a safety feature that’s supposed to be working.

After that, it was a pretty quiet day, trying to get through lots of Kaleidotrope submissions. I still have over one hundred to go. But every now and then, a really great story will sneak into the mix, and I remember why I’m doing it.

Then this evening, I watched a double-feature of Frankeinstein and Bride of Frankenstein, neither of which I’d ever actually seen. They’re both okay, but Bride is definitely the better of the two movies, ridiculous camp more than horror, but entertaining.

And that was Saturday.

My father wasn’t feeling well last night or this morning — a stomach bug that seems to have only hit him and the dog, both equally, although both are now very much on the mend. So I spent the morning running a few errands for him, picking up dry-cleaning, buying a few groceries, that sort of thing.

Then I sat down for lunch, and wound up watching Galaxy Quest for the I-don’t-know-how-many-th time. Hey, it was on cable, and I wandered in near the very beginning.

After that, it was editing stories for the Fall issue of Kaleidotrope. One of the great pleasures of editing is re-discovering why you accepted a story in the first place. I’ve liked all the issues I’ve put out — three online, free of charge, if you’d like to read them — but I think October’s may be one of the strongest and oddest yet.

And then tonight I watched Shane. I was worried it would be too dated and a little silly, but it was quite good. Not everything about it works — it is a little dated — but it’s deservedly a classic Western.