Author Reading: Naomi Novik; Massive Midweek Whining
Today I was plagued by many small examples of my failings, morning, lunch and afternoon, and then I went to Trader Joe's and bought approximately one million calories of junk food. As many as five hundred thousand of those may to make it to tomorrow's WSFA meeting. Today is July 17th; I am going to get through the August inferno by not thinking about it. And possibly duct-taping the AC controls to on.
Yesterday I triumphed over inertia and mugginess long enough to attend Naomi Novik's reading at the Bailey's Crossroads Borders. (Labelling Bailey's as your DC stop is... misleading. It's like saying you'll be in Boston - ie, downtown - when you actually are in Jamaica Plain or Brookline.) What I keep forgetting about catching a bus at the Pentagon metro station is that the entire metro system was built for A) convenience or B) laziness instead of A) paranoia or B) "security" concerns, and that the Pentagon is resolving this little problem by putting a man with a shiny black machine gun between the metro escalator and the buses. In case you hadn't gotten your adrenaline shot du jour, you know.
I'd known walking out the door that I was running late; I missed most of the introductory remarks, but made it in time to hear Novik read a short story about the first Western-style dragon-taming. Debt-ridden rake must slay dragon in ancient Rome; complications ensue. Novik followed up with a Q&A session that lasted until the store employees asked her to wrap it up for signing time. I was particularly enamored of the question about future stories that lead to Novik saying something about far-future ideas; an audience member said, "dragons in space!" and Novik said "yes". Possibly I may have applauded that one. And whooped a little. During the signing period I chatted with dsudis and other people whose LJ handles have utterly escaped my feeble mind. I badgered GS from WSFA for a ride back to the metro, because the only thing more fun than public transit is public transit at 9:30 PM. Yay, socialization! I need to do more of that.
Yesterday I triumphed over inertia and mugginess long enough to attend Naomi Novik's reading at the Bailey's Crossroads Borders. (Labelling Bailey's as your DC stop is... misleading. It's like saying you'll be in Boston - ie, downtown - when you actually are in Jamaica Plain or Brookline.) What I keep forgetting about catching a bus at the Pentagon metro station is that the entire metro system was built for A) convenience or B) laziness instead of A) paranoia or B) "security" concerns, and that the Pentagon is resolving this little problem by putting a man with a shiny black machine gun between the metro escalator and the buses. In case you hadn't gotten your adrenaline shot du jour, you know.
I'd known walking out the door that I was running late; I missed most of the introductory remarks, but made it in time to hear Novik read a short story about the first Western-style dragon-taming. Debt-ridden rake must slay dragon in ancient Rome; complications ensue. Novik followed up with a Q&A session that lasted until the store employees asked her to wrap it up for signing time. I was particularly enamored of the question about future stories that lead to Novik saying something about far-future ideas; an audience member said, "dragons in space!" and Novik said "yes". Possibly I may have applauded that one. And whooped a little. During the signing period I chatted with dsudis and other people whose LJ handles have utterly escaped my feeble mind. I badgered GS from WSFA for a ride back to the metro, because the only thing more fun than public transit is public transit at 9:30 PM. Yay, socialization! I need to do more of that.