March 27, 2009

It all comes out in the wash

I've been cranky more than usual lately, so I've been avoiding blogging, since I don't really want to take it out on the rest of the world. But in the last week I got a haircut and got a whole crappy first draft of a story out (I don't know if I'll do much else with it, but even writing crap is better than writing nothing, so that still feels good). And last night I had sushi and a raspberry lemon tart, and we watched Prisoner of Azkaban, so things are going ok. That's really all. Just trying to remind myself that things are going ok.

March 14, 2009

Books are now trying to lure me across state lines

One of my three favorite living writers is at a book festival this weekend in Tucson, doing readings and signings, and playing music with his wife. Tucson is about six hours from me. If I had left this morning, like I seriously thought about doing, I'd be past halfway there by now.

I've seen my other two favorites within the last six months, both at the same bookstore, so I was thinking it would be really cool to get to see all three within the same year. But alas, I did not go. And I guess that's ok. I don't know what else I'd do by myself in Tucson all weekend, anyway.

But don't think I won't be thinking about it, in the back of my mind.

March 10, 2009

The other kind of post

Every now and then we get these slow periods at work where the three of us in my little group completely run out of work to do. Today was one of those days, and it's starting to seem like the whole week will be like that. So I was pretty languorous with my break this afternoon. Not that I'm ever in a rush to get back to it.

I called my mama (Hi Mama), and I'd mentioned that I went to the post office on my lunch break. She got all excited and wanted to know what sort of exciting things I was mailing. They weren't that exciting, but still. There's a reason Griffin and Sabine is one of my favorite books. Real mail is fun.

I read Nick Bantock's memoirs once (The Artful Dodger. It's really good, if you like his books), and the part where he talked about getting the idea for those books is one of the parts that stuck with me the most. He said something about how he was at the post office one day, and a woman in front of him had fantastic-looking mail, and it got him thinking about what sort of mail he'd love to get. He said something also about how you have to send good mail to get good mail.

I like sending mail. I've got this nice stockpile going of stationery and notecards, and really good pens, and I even have some sealing wax. Every now and then I'll send someone a letter, just for fun (tonight I'll be writing one to Mama, since she asked for one). But I never seem to keep it up. It'll be one or two, and then that's it for awhile. Sometimes I think that maybe if I had the right person to write to, I'd keep it up. But how often do a George Bernard Shaw and a Mrs. Patrick Campbell find each other?

March 5, 2009

Snippets from the week that just won't end

Last night, Boy-Creature was flipping a silver dollar his grandfather gave him and it came up tails nine times in a row. It made me want to watch "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" again, so I rented it, and "Little Miss Sunshine," because as much as I hate to admit it, I still haven't seen it. Boy-Creature watched Ros and Guil with me, because I wouldn't stop going on and on about how good it is.

Five minutes into the movie, he was asking all sorts of questions. He kept asking me to explain, and then when I couldn't, he accused me of not knowing what was going on in the movie. I kept telling him I did, but it was too hard to explain. We watched the whole thing, and he still couldn't figure out what was going on.

I love absurdism.

***

There's a theater here that does nothing but musicals, all year long. I signed up to be on their audition email list. They're doing Oklahoma next year. If we're still here, and I audition, it'll be the third time in my life I audition for Oklahoma. The first time I did, I played Dream Laurey. It was in high school. I wouldn't expect to get as big a role this time around.

***

So far this week, I've bought two journals, a new fountain pen and converter, a bottle of pretty mauve ink for the pen, and two skeins of yarn. Did I mention I got a raise?

***

This guy I knew in high school posted a Facebook status tonight that said he was just killing time until the weekend. I commented that he basically just described the whole point of my day job. I hate the mornings when I show up a little bit late to work, because then I have to stay a little bit later. I'm there eight hours, no matter when those eight hours start, but the later those eight hours are, the slower time seems to go.

***

Every time I see someone in a movie or on TV who puts on their Chucks to go for a jog, I shudder at the thought of what that will do to their knees and lower back. I wear Chucks ninety percent of the time, but I have a very nice pair of Adidas, in case I once again get the rare urge to go for a jog. Shut up, I jog sometimes. Just because I could sew the ribbons on a pair of toe shoes with my eyes closed doesn't mean I never jog.

***

Boy-Creature was all excited to show me the new Harry Potter trailer when I got home from work today, but I ruined his fun by telling him that I saw it two weeks ago when I saw "Inkheart" on a Sunday-afternoon whim. It seems like I find out about things before he does a lot. I ruin his fun a lot.

***

A friend of mine from college called me the other day to ask, "Where's that one used bookstore? I quit my job at Hollister and I need a new one." Considering the rest of us didn't want her to take the job at Hollister in the first place (my favorite reaction was when our senior reading advisor asked, "But what will you do with your soul?"), I was proud of her. I also thought it was marvelously intrepid of her to just up and quit the job she didn't like. I can't tell you how many times I've thought of doing that, but I'm the responsible one, and I will probably never quit a job before having a solid, satisfactory backup. There are many areas of my life where I'm more than happy to be intrepid. Not knowing how I'll cover bottles of ink and piles of books and yarn stashing is not one of them.

***

It's finally Friday tomorrow. I plan on celebrating by going to my favorite coffeehouse and scribbling in a notebook. Wish me luck. Maybe I'll end up with a short story, or something.