Weekend With Mermaids

June 17

First of all, go to Speculon. I'm serious. Right after you finish reading this entry, go. Read the wonderful super-good "Curtain Call" by Jenn Reese. I read it aloud to Heather yesterday morning, and apart from being a damn good story overall, there's some lines in it that just sing. Great stuff. Also read our own M'ris's story "Butterhead"-- a deliciously weird dark fantasy, the writing of which was at least partly slightly a little bit influenced by some conversations M'ris had with me. Buttery, evil goodness. Read the other stories, too, which I haven't had a chance to read yet. Lawrence Schoen's always a treat, though, and I trust Timprov's judgement, so the other one's probably lovely, too. I'll read them tomorrow...

Also read the poems! The poems I picked! My first selections as poetry editor! David Kopaska-Merkel's beautiful "Under Mars," Jon Hansen's quiet and chilling "Lunchtime," Barbara Hendryson's evocative "Return of the Candy Monster," Mary Anne Mohanraj's sad and lovely fairy tale "Beneath the Lemon Tree," and Tom Williams's clever and visual "The Hole of Darkness" (though to be honest I should say that Timprov bought Tom's poem-- after buying it, he decided to start running poetry regularly, and welcomed me onto the staff as poetry editor). Enjoy all the yummy content, and the spiffy new site-redesign (which is still in-progress, but coming along very quite nicely, I think).

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I had a super weekend with Heather. I drove up to Oakland Friday afternoon. Heather and I spent most of the evening making dinner-- going grocery shopping and cooking and eating and so on. We made blackened catfish (that was my part of the cooking, and it was very much not especially good; I didn't make it nearly spicy enough). That part of the meal gave me a good story idea, oddly enough, about a catfish... Heather made some lemony broccoli pasta, which was as delicious as the catfish was un-spicy. Then we went to the variably-scary liquor store (it's scariness increases and decreases as a function of the time) and got some Ben & Jerry's; mmm. We did dishes, and ate ice cream, and I read just a tiny bit of Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life"-- enough to get totally hooked. I sprawled out on Heather's bed. The plan was for Heather to take her contacts out, and get a glass of water, and then she'd come to bed and we'd have a tasty romantic time...

Instead, I fell asleep. But Heather talks about that, in a much funnier way, in this entry.

I made up for all that falling asleep the next day, I think. I don't talk about sex overmuch here, and that's not likely to change (I get shy, y'all)... but that part of my relationship with Heather is very very very very very very good. That's six "verys." That's good. The other parts of our relationship are equally good. Which is wonderful.

We had a somewhat lazy Saturday... much lingering in the bedroom, and bread and pears and brie for breakfast. We both finished "Story of Your Life"-- Ted Chiang is a god. Not a prolific god, but man, quality counts so much more than quantity, and he's got quality in spades.

We had a brief visit from M'ris and Timprov so M'ris could borrow a book, but they didn't stay long, alas. We made dinner for Susan, salmon with honey-mustard sauce and a tasty cous-cous concoction. Then we all watched Slam, a very good movie recommended by Susan. I consumed... much wine. I didn't repeat my recent drunksploits, but I did get a very pleasant buzz.

Today we had a big and decadent breakfast (and Heather actually asked to try some of my chicken apple sausage! and pronounced it good. I don't expect her to be as carnivorous as I am, but I'm glad she can see why I like eating this stuff). Then we wandered a few blocks to the nice downtowny section near Heather's house, and had coffee at Gaylord's. I read Sacrament while Heather wrote-- and she finished a story, tentatively titled "The Janitor's Night Dive." It's a good, complete, short, cool story. I wish I could write something so concise. She read it to me out on the sidewalk, and it's beautiful... my girlfriend's so cool.

We had a celebratory dinner, and then hung out at her house and talked for a while about this and that... finally around 10 o'clock I pulled myself away. It's always so difficult to leave her! All the more reason for me to move to the East Bay after my job is finished at the end of July...

I sang along with Aimee Mann on the drive home, and thought about fiction, and worried about finances (that's the only thing I worry about at all lately, which is actually not such a bad situation-- everybody worries about money). I'm terrible when it comes to financial planning. I'm usually okay, I pay my bills on time and seldom find myself absolutely broke, but I should think more about budgeting, spend less money going out to eat, work on building a more substantial savings account...

So. Mostly total bliss, with a little tacked-on fretting, of which said fretting was mostly a function of too much time on the highway with too little mental stimulation. All in all, y'all, I can't complain.