The Devil Malingers
August 26
Sniffle. Good afternoon. I'm at home, on a Monday, no less. It's almost 2 p.m.-- I've been sleeping all day, except for a couple of emergences to juice myself and to take a shower when the ickiness became too much for me. I'm sick-- I hope it's just a cold, and not something I picked up from Heather (who's on antibiotics for an ear infection). I seem much better for all the sleeping; my throat is much less sore now, my head less stuffy.
This is not my ideal way to have a three-day-weekend.
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I had a lovely weekend, though. On Saturday we had dinner with Sean and Ling at Little Shin Shin, a nice Chinese place on Piedmont. Afterward, we all attended Avi's housewarming party, and had a quite wonderful time-- Heather and Susan and I stayed until after 1 a.m. Good talk, good food, much laughter... it was good to finally meet Avi, who is a thoroughly charming man.
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Yesterday, Sunday, Scott came up to visit (hurrah!). Oakland was just a stop before he headed on to see someone in Berkeley, but he stayed with us for a good long while. Oh, it was so nice to talk to him! He's probably what I miss most about leaving Santa Cruz. We went to Piedmont Ave, had amazing sandwiches, blended vanilla lattés (which Scott concurs are Best New Crack), and flower-shopping. A good time.
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The Devil has seized me. Heather gave me Diablo. I generally resist the siren-song of video games by simply not buying them, but I've wanted to play Diablo forever, and Heather had it anyway, sooo.... I've spent several hours this weekend wandering in dungeons, slaying baddies and generally becoming a badass. I'm having lots and lots of fun. My character is named John Shorne, after the 13th century clergyman who became famous when he "conjured the devil into a boot." Heather and I are planning to write a contemporary fantasy that features the return of that wily master of demon-management, so it seemed appropriate to name my hero after him... in much the same way I name the hard drives of my computers after fictional characters in my novels...
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I feel bad about calling in sick; I'm not sure why. Because it's a new job, I suppose-- my fourth week, and already I'm sick! But it's not as if I'm malingering... I was a wreck at 8:45 this morning, and while I'm better now, it's taken a lot of sleep to make me so. I'm just slaving in the bowels this week anyway, sorting books... which I enjoy, and which needs to be done, but which is hardly a high-priority task. Bah. My puritan work-ethic. The same thing that complains when I play Diablo instead of writing fiction... it doesn't seem to kick in when I watch The Sopranos with Heather, though... maybe because my work ethic realizes that social time with my girlfriend is muchly more important than my latest scribblings.
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Okay. That's enough for this disjointed catch-up session. I'll see y'all later. Be well.
