Brainless in Phoenix
I haven't posted since February 20th. It's not that I haven't been reading ElJay, or haven't been doing things, I have -- I just haven't organized my thoughts into anything coherent to commemorate in my journal.
It's interesting how these sorts of things have made it so that I am acutely aware of having readers for my boring, hum-drum life, and thinking, "Well, I could write that, but I need to be entertaining." Of course journal entries are not going to be entertaining 100% of the time; but I never kept a private journal. I used to write for myself exclusively and was deeply embarrassed if anyone actually read anything I wrote, but I never wrote about myself, I wrote fiction. I always wrote fiction.
ANYWAY, that aside, things have been actually going pretty swimmingly here at Headquarters, and I think perhaps I haven't been posting much because I feel someone guilty about that, as I see the world spitting, kicking, and generally taking a pisser on many of my friends, so here I sit in my happy place wondering how I can help when I really can't because I just don't know what I can do other than be supportive, and trying NOT to be happy and feeling even more guilty when their bad times are harshing my happy. I guess it makes me a bad friend, but...
I got my bonus and we decided to spend it, going out and getting a new vacuum cleaner (a Dyson!), some lumber to fix the Tiki bar, a new printer, and all the stuff to put up a glass tile backsplash in the kitchen. I got a little frivolous and indulged my Woot t-shirt habit, got a nice sweater on eBay (which I like well enough to buy another of, I may!); and I got tax refunds from both the Feds and the State, which helped us take care of the rest of the year's property taxes, and I got the registration for Idris and it's not nearly as bad as I feared (in Arizona, the registration/tag fees are based on the value of the vehicle; thus, the newer and better your car, the higher your tags run -- the 1988 Suburban is running $86 for TWO years plus personalized plates; Idris will be $180 for one year with ordinary plates).
I've also gotten back into a regular workout and have lost ten pounds since that last post. I've gotten into three pairs of pants which had gotten too tight. Still not in my "skinny" pants, but I'm getting better.
I did finally get the rejection from Harper Voyager, but I expected that.
I signed up for Camp NaNo, although I haven't really got anything new in my head; I have some serious editing to do on the double-NaNo from 2012 and 2010 (which was meant to be one story but somehow this last November I didn't even GET to the story I was telling in the 2010 version). My writer's group also gave me some good commentary on a "short" story which really may be better off as a novella (I so suck at short stories), and I've been puttering around on an article about gun control... haven't got a clue if there's a market for it, but it's been in my head for some time.
Last night we went to see The Met in HD, which was showing the current Metropolitan production of Rigoletto -- it was very good. It was the tape delay, rather than the live broadcast, because the live show was sold out; but I enjoyed it very much. I wish more theatre companies would do that for us folks out here in the West.
Happy story.
It's interesting how these sorts of things have made it so that I am acutely aware of having readers for my boring, hum-drum life, and thinking, "Well, I could write that, but I need to be entertaining." Of course journal entries are not going to be entertaining 100% of the time; but I never kept a private journal. I used to write for myself exclusively and was deeply embarrassed if anyone actually read anything I wrote, but I never wrote about myself, I wrote fiction. I always wrote fiction.
ANYWAY, that aside, things have been actually going pretty swimmingly here at Headquarters, and I think perhaps I haven't been posting much because I feel someone guilty about that, as I see the world spitting, kicking, and generally taking a pisser on many of my friends, so here I sit in my happy place wondering how I can help when I really can't because I just don't know what I can do other than be supportive, and trying NOT to be happy and feeling even more guilty when their bad times are harshing my happy. I guess it makes me a bad friend, but...
I got my bonus and we decided to spend it, going out and getting a new vacuum cleaner (a Dyson!), some lumber to fix the Tiki bar, a new printer, and all the stuff to put up a glass tile backsplash in the kitchen. I got a little frivolous and indulged my Woot t-shirt habit, got a nice sweater on eBay (which I like well enough to buy another of, I may!); and I got tax refunds from both the Feds and the State, which helped us take care of the rest of the year's property taxes, and I got the registration for Idris and it's not nearly as bad as I feared (in Arizona, the registration/tag fees are based on the value of the vehicle; thus, the newer and better your car, the higher your tags run -- the 1988 Suburban is running $86 for TWO years plus personalized plates; Idris will be $180 for one year with ordinary plates).
I've also gotten back into a regular workout and have lost ten pounds since that last post. I've gotten into three pairs of pants which had gotten too tight. Still not in my "skinny" pants, but I'm getting better.
I did finally get the rejection from Harper Voyager, but I expected that.
I signed up for Camp NaNo, although I haven't really got anything new in my head; I have some serious editing to do on the double-NaNo from 2012 and 2010 (which was meant to be one story but somehow this last November I didn't even GET to the story I was telling in the 2010 version). My writer's group also gave me some good commentary on a "short" story which really may be better off as a novella (I so suck at short stories), and I've been puttering around on an article about gun control... haven't got a clue if there's a market for it, but it's been in my head for some time.
Last night we went to see The Met in HD, which was showing the current Metropolitan production of Rigoletto -- it was very good. It was the tape delay, rather than the live broadcast, because the live show was sold out; but I enjoyed it very much. I wish more theatre companies would do that for us folks out here in the West.
Happy story.