Friday, January 25, 2008

if you were the ocean, i'd learn to float

Happy birthday, Sammi! My oldest niece turned sixteen today (crazy, huh?), and successfully got her driver's license. Congratulations!

The bittersweet intensity at work is increasing by leaps and bounds. Today, I was supposed to have lunch with Melissa, but she led me into the main conference room downstairs, where most of my team and several of the managers whom I work with were waiting to surprise me. They had made a bunch of things that were meant to look like the bib on a pair of overalls (although I missed the reference - I thought they were aprons), and the 'pockets' on the bibs held cards and notes wishing me luck in my writing endeavor.

The effort put into the crafting project and the beautiful/amusing results were really sweet, and reading through the cards afterward was almost enough to make me cry (even though I don't cry in general, and definitely don't cry at work). As much as it sucks that I have to say goodbye to a lot of people whom I really like and enjoy seeing on a daily basis, I have to remind myself that it's been months since I called my parents and complained about how stressed and miserable I am, or how much I wish that I was pursuing my dream of writing. The dream is going to be a reality, even if I have to sacrifice my social life in order to make it happen, and I think I'm ready to make that tradeoff.

Tonight, I came home, ate some takeout Chinese, and watched a taped episode of 'Boston Legal'. I also watched some Craig, of course, since he's my favorite. Then, I read (or reread) part of Janet Evanovich's 'How I Write'. The reason I bought it is not really because Janet Evanovich is hugely successful - I've actually never read any of her books. It's more because her ghostwriter was a woman named Ina Yalof, who came through my small town when I was in second or fourth grade, writing a nonfiction book about something (I believe rural hospitals?), and she interviewed me for some reason I can no longer remember. She and her husband invited me for breakfast at the inn after I met them at the school, and I can't remember what we talked about, but I do remember that I got to eat some delicious french toast (made by my grandmother, who was a part-time salad/dessert/breakfast chef at that inn for a time). Anyway, I'm not a particular fan of this book, but I decided to check out Janet Evanovich's website, since she claimed she got millions of hits per month. I was not particularly impressed, and was even less impressed when I saw that her daughter (also the webmistress) got married at Disney World, in a full-on Disney theme wedding, replete with all of the wedding songs coming from various Disney movies. Then again, who am I to judge, since I'm not exactly making stunning progress towards the altar myself? I'm also not a published author, so perhaps I should refrain from making disparaging remarks until I am. Of course, if I refrained from making disparaging remarks, I'd be a completely different person, so I'll probably just continue like I always have.

I think I'll go to bed now, so that I can accomplish something tomorrow. Goodnight!

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