Tidbits
April 24
For our anniversary, Heather made me a little spider out of beads, and a beaded web for the spider to live in.
This is just the latest of the hundred million reasons I love her so.
I don't think I've mentioned, my poem "Laughing Blood" is up this week at Strange Horizons. The Disemboweller is a figure from Inuit myth, who operates pretty much the way I describe; though I delved into her personality and motivations a bit more than most stories about her do. I hope there will be other "Bestiary" poems at Strange Horizons sometime in the future... we'll see.
I had a wonderful writing experience tonight. I finished my review of Caliban and Other Tales. For the first time, I really got into writing a review. I'm not sure if I can explain... normally, writing reviews is a very conscious effort for me. I flip through the book, write a line, think a while, write some more lines, rearrange them into a more logical order, try to figure out transitions, and so on -- it's not something I fall into, the way writing fiction and poetry can sometimes be effortless, like levitating. But tonight, for some reason, all the pieces clicked neatly in my head, I knew what I wanted to say, how I wanted to say it, and I just wrote. For the first time, I actually enjoyed the process of writing a review! (I always enjoy thinking about books to review, figuring out what to say, but the actual writing process has always been something of an effort). I don't know if this review is any better than the others I've written, but I'm fairly certain it's not any worse, and it was much more fun to write, so I hope it happens that way again in the future. Maybe my brain is finally beginning to understand how to write reviews. I am forcibly rerouting neural pathways...
Today, at work, I cut back tree branches with this great tool, a long pole with shearing blades at the end. I climbed around on the roof. It was great fun.
I worked out tonight. Groan. Very difficult; I got one of the old precor machines, the brokenish one where even if the resistance is set on "1" it's insanely hard to walk. It sucked. Sit-ups are getting easier, though. Maybe I can keep it up this time, not stop exercising after a couple of months of diligence. Having Heather as an example helps.
I got my oil changed today. Why is that such an effort for me? I mean, I go, I pull in, I sit in my car reading, other people do all the work. They growl at me for going too long without an oil change, and I feel chastised, but that's the only actually unpleasant bit. I'm such a creature of habit and routine. Any deviation fills me with dread.
Well, except fun deviations. The eating-at-Chez Panisse-on-Friday deviation is most welcome. Scott is so wonderful for buying us the gift certificate. It's like Christmas is coming all over again. Yum.
Anyway, my car no longer sounds like it's going to die at any moment, though I still need a new air filter. I'm much more comfortable with the idea of us driving my car up to Napa for the weekend now, too.
Mmm. There's doubtless more to say, but the hour grows late, and my mind grows fuzzy, so good night.
Words written since February 1, 2002: 56,950
Words written since last entry: 600
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