Stacy Horn

Jane Gilsenan, who lived to be 111, just died. She was interviewed last month and when asked if she had any tips for living so long she said, “I have none, and I wouldn’t give them away because I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.”

WHAT?? WHAT?? I want to live forever and when forever is done I want to do it again. Not Jane. She said, “I can’t say I regret it, but I wouldn’t want to do this again.”

I just don’t get that. Blows my mind. The full article is here, with pictures. I’m hardly the Pollyanna type, in fact I think a lot about life and people suck, and I’ve had to endure some nearly unendurable things. Who hasn’t? But there’s enough to make it worthwhile. More than worthwhile. Maybe extreme old age is a lot worse than I think.

A building I shot walking along the river. Don’t those poles remind you of the masts on a ship?

And I couldn’t upload cat pictures. KILLED ME.

This is from a series of Buddy lounging in odd places. Like this place. It’s on top of a thin, almost 5 foot tall cabinet that sits in the bedroom. Why? It’s a small, hard spot in a room with so many soft, comfy spots. There’s no room, he’s in danger of falling. Why??

This spot I get. It’s in a small cabinet. It’s box-like which we all know cats can’t resist. This by the way is where I store office supplies. Notice how uncluttered it is! (Because of my recent purge, all cabinets, drawers, shelves, everywhere, looks like that.)

I was walking along 14th Street the other week and I passed by the designer Alexander McQueen’s store and saw this in the window (he committed suicide). Sad.

In case there is someone left on the planet I haven’t told, the paperback of my book Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy and Other Unseen Phenomena from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory came out today.

Woohoo!!

You can buy it here!

This is the slightly different cover. It has a new P.S. section, where I tell a couple of ghost stories, (one of which I’ve already posted on the Unbelievable blog) recommend other books to read on this subject (with explanations as to why I’ve recommended the ones that I have) and I also try to correct the bleak impression I gave at the end of the book about the field of parapsychology.

I’ve scheduled my first reading, and there’s information about that on the blog.

So this is a good day! I’m pretty sure I’m allowed to buy cake on the way home from choir practice tonight. Or something in the cake family.

Is there such a thing as cake ice cream?

I take back all the bad things I ever said about humanity.

Yesterday I sent out a mass email about my book being issued in paperback and instead of responses like, “leave me alone” or “you’re a spammer” and “p.s., you’re ugly,” I got responses like:

“Stacy, I would read anything you would write, even if it was on toilet paper!”

“Stacy – Relax, ya gotta do what ya gotta do to make a living these days!  Pushing your new book is what you’re supposed to do!  Besides, most of us look forward to hearing from you. Your new book sounds very interesting – can’t wait to get my copy and settle in for another great read!”

“Stop apologizing. I love your writing, and I’m sure everyone else does, too.  Don’t feel bad about marketing yourself – we understand it’s what you need to do. It’s what you should do.  It’s cool.”

“You can always keep me on your list, I love getting your book updates, I do plan on purchasing this, and your e-mail was a wonderful reminder.”

Here’s another picture from Brooklyn, where I should just move to already.