Wednesday, September 15, 2010

you don't want to hurt me, but see how deep the bullet lies

I should have gone to bed an hour ago, but between writing, researching, and procrastinating, it didn't happen. Did you know that the people who used to make ormolu objects often didn't live past the age of forty? Ormolu (gilt bronze) is the really gorgeous (if you like things absolutely covered in gold) French decorative stuff from the 1700s and early 1800s, but the process was outlawed around 1830 because it involved covering the bronze object in mercury, spreading an amalgam of gold and mercury over the top of that, and then subjecting it to extreme heat until all the mercury burns away. The result is an amazing gold finish, but understandably, the dudes who did this for a living usually went insane or died of mercury poisoning at a fairly early age.

So I slogged all day today in a generally unenthused way, although I drove over to my old building for baked potato Tuesday (I can't believe it's only Tuesday - I thought it was at least Wednesday all day). I relocated to the balcony for a couple of hours in the afternoon since I was at risk of falling asleep at my desk, and the brisk air and sunshine managed to restore my mood (and wakefulness) enough that I was able to get through everything I needed to accomplish and leave around 5:30. At that point, I relocated to Cafe Borrone, wrote for awhile over my favorite sandwich, and then came home and wrote/procrastinated/researched for the rest of the night.

My overall word count was dismal because I rewrote two scenes, which took a lot of work but did not net a lot of words. This book is going to be the death of me, but at least my laptop isn't covered in mercury -- let's be thankful for small miracles. While I was sitting on my couch producing words, I heard some ridiculous hubbub, and when I turned off my music, I realized that tonight must have been the first night of Stanford freshman orientation, because I could hear the lovely strains of the band run. Lucky me. I felt somewhat nostalgic for a few minutes, but then I just ended up being glad that I'm a grown-up now and will never again have to meet Adit for the first time.

More writing awaits tomorrow, although perhaps not that much more, as I believe I have dinner plans. Goodnight!

Daily word count: 279 (13.95% of goal)
Productive time: 4hrs
RescueTime productivity rating: 0.85 (global average: 0.88)

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