A little tired, perhaps

It’s been a busy week.

My dad got in last Tuesday and just left last night—as always it was really good to see him but since he likes to decide everything last minute it’s been hectic. We had a good time, though, and of course the kids were thrilled to see and spend time with Grandpa.

Had my birthday bash on Friday (yes, I am now OLD)—and for those reading this locally who I forgot to invite, I apologize. Mea culpa. Too many plans zinging around at once—I was bound to miss someone. About fifteen of us went out to dinner (Righteous Urban Barbeque, on 23rd between Eighth and Ninth—friendly and fun and reasonably good though not phenomenal food). After that half of us traipsed over to a nearby pool hall (Broadway Billiards Café, on 21st between Fifth and Broadway—a little rundown but in a comfortable way, with plenty of tables and decent lighting, definitely the right choice) to play for several hours. It was great, and I was really glad so many people could come out for it—I was only sad that both jendaby and deltagrl wound up missing it.

Saturday morning I took jendaby to the doctor while my dad watched the kids. We were back before too long (I won’t go into details, but suffice to say there are some medical issues that, while not great, could be far worse and will hopefully resolve themselves soon) and my dad hung out for a little before driving down to Providence to attend the wedding of a family friend (the daughter of an old friend of his—the families hung out together back when I lived in Providence, a long long time ago). I opened presents and had a nice relaxed rest of the day and a very nice evening.

Sunday was quiet, or at least I don’t remember anything in particular from it. No wait, I take that back—had a nice morning, then went shopping at Target, where I bought a bunch of blanket sleepers for the kids, new shoes and a shirt for me, and some Halloween decorations. Whee!

Monday night feiran kindly came over to mind the children. I feel so much less guilty asking someone to watch the kids now that they both go to sleep (not just to bed but actually asleep) by nine!

Tuesday jendaby went off to the city to have dinner with deltagrl, xochitl42, and a visiting LJ friend while Dad and I took the kids out to our favorite diner for dinner. Highlights of that were my daughter spilling chocolate pudding *everywhere!* but not getting upset until she realized she’d ruined the paper doily that they put under the dish and my son flirting with (and completely captivating) a young couple at the next table.

Wednesday over lunch I got to meet jendaby’s friend, who was very nice indeed. Nice quiet evening at home.

Last night after dinner I drove Dad to JFK for his flight home. Funny thing about that: his flight was originally scheduled for 9:45, got delayed to 10:59, got moved back *forward* to 10:00, then got moved back to 9:50. I’m glad we kept checking! Got back home, we watched Supernatural, and then we conked out.

Tonight the game group is over, which is always good. Saturday night I go to pick serpentstar and his family up at the airport. Saturday is also jendaby and I’s fifth wedding anniversary, but we’re actually going out to celebrate on Monday instead.

What else? Turned in a pitch for something yesterday, so we’ll see how that goes. Hoping to finish up several other projects over the next two weeks because I’m thinking of doing NaNoWriMo this year (I know I’ve said this before, but this year I might actually be able to participate!). Waiting to hear back on a few other things. Working. The usual.

WarCraft Q&A

Last week, Lacey Waymire at the Shadow Council Strider invited me to do a Q&A about Tides of Darkness. It was a lot of fun, and it's now up here. Check it out!

Just catching up a bit

Thursday afternoon and all day Friday I had InDesign CS3 training for work. Boring instructor, varied student-comprehension, but some good material. I’m looking forward to using the program for real instead of just tinkering with it—it has some nice features that will make our work much easier.

Friday night the game group came over. Jendaby had decorated the house and made a cake because Saturday was my daughter’s fourth birthday! So we ordered food (she was allowed to pick whatever she wanted and went for fish & chips—gee, can you tell she’s our daughter?), sang her Happy Birthday, and had cake. She got to stay up a little later than usual, and then after she and her brother went to sleep we played, which was fun.

Saturday morning my little girl officially turned four. Wow. Time flies—I still remember her falling asleep on my shoulder as a newborn and now she’s in preschool! Amazing. Anyway, we had breakfast and then she opened her presents, and there was much grinning and squealing. I think her two favorites were the jump rope jendaby and I got her (one of several presents from us, of course) and the Little People Animal Circus her aunt got her, though she was also excited about some books and insisted they be read to her right away. We desperately needed to go shopping so after lunch we went to the store (Halloween decorations! Pumpkins!) and also to Home Depot, which the kids enjoyed. Then we ordered pizza—one of Birthday Girl’s favorite foods—and had more cake and finally got her and her brother to bed. I conked out for a while, finally woke up enough to wash up, woke up completely, and decided to sit down and write out a pitch that had been bouncing around in my head. I got it finished, which made me feel like I’d accomplished something myself that day but meant I didn’t actually get to bed until around 3.

Sunday was recuperation and more work. Jendaby had plans for the front yard so I hung out with the kids for a bit. I managed to get some work done on a project while they were watching a DVD, and then did more work while our daughter went outside to help jendaby garden and our son went into his crib for a nap. Afterward our daughter got a much-needed bath (she had had a great time outside and it showed!), then we had something to eat and all took a nice walk. Came back, got dessert, got the kids in bed (she was difficult, he wasn’t), went downstairs and finally watched the first two CSIs of the season with jendaby, then she went up to do some work and I tinkered with the family room window a bit more (spackle tonight or tomorrow!), checked email and LJ, and then traipsed on upstairs for bed.

What else? Got a disappointing email from a publisher early this morning—a mix-up regarding a project, nobody’s fault, really. They want me work with them more, however, so that’s cool. My dad gets in tomorrow and will be with us for most of a week. I’m working on details for my birthday bash this Friday. I’ve got a few irons in the fire that I need to stoke. That’s about it for now.

Back in the saddle

I’m writing again! Woo-hoo!

No, I don’t just mean this update. :) I mean fiction—specifically, fiction that’s not for an assignment or anything. Just fiction for fiction’s sake.

We were gaming one night a few weeks back, and jendaby came up with the name “Pisces Macnamara.” I immediately said, “wow, that’s got to be a character in something somewhere!” Somehow I added the appellation “wool bastard” to it. And this Saturday the opening lines to “Pisces Macnamara, Wool Bastard” came to me:

“It’s not often you find yourself facing a loaded fish. This one was a bass. They always make me nervous.”

I sat down to write that so I wouldn’t forget it, and wound up typing out about a thousand other words beside. Wow, that felt good! I’ve mentioned to various friends before that for me writing fiction is an addiction—I get a sort of high when I’m writing, like an adrenaline rush, and I get withdrawal symptoms (increased grouchiness, short temper) when I haven’t written in a while. This is the first fiction I’ve written in probably two months, and I suspect my occasional grumpiness since then has been those symptoms, masked slightly by the general good mood I’ve been in otherwise.

Anyway, I don’t really know where the story’s going yet, or how long it will be, or what I’ll do with it once it’s finished. But it feels really good to be delving into it!

In other news—hm, nothing tremendously newsworthy since the last update but things are good. Jendaby’s still busy with freelance work—go, her! She's also had outings the last two weekends while I watched the kids, which is cool. Our daughter is loving preschool. Our son is hysterical and knows it. My youngest sister was up for a brief visit this past week, which was nice.

I’m still tinkering with the basement windows and I’m just about ready for spackling and plastering them now, which will be the final steps before primer and paint. I’m also randomly cleaning up shelves, bookcases, filing cabinets, etc.

We watched the final episodes of Blackpool with deltagrl and justcomeinalone—much fun. I found out that one of my novels is going to be pushed back by a few months, which is disappointing but there’s nothing to be done about it. I watched Highlander: the Source, which was just as stupid as I’d expected. We’re checking out the new shows, and I’m enjoying Chuck and Reaper and willing to give Journeyman, Bionic Woman, and Life a few more chances to prove themselves worthy. Heroes is back—happy happy!

Oh yes, and I went to the dentist last week. First time in five years or so. She told me I have very healthy, very strong teeth—and one small cavity. My first ever. I’m going back tomorrow for a full cleaning and to have it filled. Ugh. I suppose I should be pleased that, in a little shy of four decades, this is the first cavity I’ve gotten. I’m dreading the procedure, though—not because of the drills but because of the possibility of needles.

It’s now October, which is always a crazy time for us: my sister’s birthday, my daughter’s birthday (four!), my birthday (far older than four!), our wedding anniversary (five!), my aunt’s birthday (also older than four!), and of course Halloween. Plus a good friend and his family will be visiting, as will my dad (though at different times). xochitl42 and I are going to see Bloc Party this Wednesday—first concert I’ve been to in years, so I’m psyched. I’m trying to plan my birthday (dinner and billiards, I think) and I’ve got a project to pitch by mid-month, plus something I’m working on with a friend right now. Busy busy.

And did I mention that I’m writing again? :)