Spider (he's our hero)

June 1

10:30 a.m.

Good morning, dear ones. I'm writing on the capricious laptop in Heather's kitchen in Oakland while Heather sleeps in the other room. I've just been writing a little-- another 1200 words on my little gods story, the one I began at WisCon. I would guess it's almost halfway done, so it won't be too terribly long.

So. I'm terribly behind. The day before yesterday I went to visit Marissa, and we had a fine and frolicsome time, and talked about books (those we're writing, those we're reading), and had juice, and generally re-connected after too too long apart (all my fault, I know, I know). Then I came up to Oakland to stay with Heather for a few days (no work until next Wednesday, hurrah!). We went to Good Vibrations to buy some goodies, and then she took me to Ichi's, her favorite sushi bar. The place lives up to its reputation-- delicious food, and a casual and comfortable atmosphere.

Yesterday Heather went to work, and I spent the morning revising a bit. "Three Bites at a Cherry" has been re-titled to "Rowboats, Sacks of Gold." It's a better title. Trust me. Around 10:30 Susan called. I went around the corner to her house and rescued a spider from her wrath, returning it to the wild. I love spiders, and it looked like a sleek little poison-factory, beautiful and efficient, perfectly made for its purpose. It's probably harmless, though, and anyway spiders don't tend to wander around biting people for no reason, so Susan has little to fear. I also helped change a lightbulb. These activities made me feel like very much the hero, without actually requiring any particular effort on my part, which is good.

Susan and I went up to Berkeley to have lunch with Heather. We ate at a pub. I like pub food. I'm a simple man, y'all-- give me a club sandwich, some fries, a pint of cider, and good conversation (preferably with beautiful women, such as these), and I'm in immense bliss. Heather had to go back to work, so Susan and I wandered. She took me up to the bell tower on Berkeley's campus, which is a simply stunning view. I like shifts in perspective like that-- I love going up in an airplane, rising up out of the plane of the earth, and seeing how the appearance of the world changes. Susan and I stood 700 feet in the air, with the cool breeze providing relief (after the hellish temperatures on the ground), and she talked to me about fascinating things, like clockwork automatons (automata?).

We met up with Heather again after she finished work and we all wandered a bit, visiting the eucalyptus grove. Then we BARTed back to Oakland and parted ways with Susan. Heather introduced me to her friend the flower vendor, and he let her pick out a rose for me, free. Such a nice man, and I got a beautiful red long-stemmed rose. We walked to Heather's house, into the heat, and took a nap.

We joined Susan for dinner. She made an absolutely wonderful risotto-- I helped myself to seconds, and thirds. She also made a tasty fish-and-black-bean-sauce dish that I quite happily devoured. We three ate by candlelight, drinking wine, talking for hours in the flickering of the small fires-- about family, relationships, food, movies, music, and so on. I got a good little bit drunk. Heather and I left, as we were on the edge of falling-down-asleep, but I wish I'd been awake enough to talk to Susan for many hours more. A very truly lovely time.