For starters, happy birthday Claude!
Today was excellent, and while I still feel exhausted, it was exactly what I needed to detox from the work week. I made it down to Stanford in time for the last session of my class, and it was fantastic as usual. I was happier with my latest story in the light of day (rare, usually it's the opposite), and it got some good comments in the class discussion. Even though I'm glad the class is over because it's been difficult to balance it with my job and my romance novel, I think it's probably the single best thing that I've done for my writing, and so in that respect I'm sad that it's finished. The prof may try to continue the class in the fall, so we'll see what my schedule looks like then -- but when I got home today, I ordered her textbook on creative writing (she's written a textbook that's quickly becoming standard for college creative writing classes, which is another indication of how well she knows her stuff). So if nothing else, I can continue to play with craft and voice even without the class.
After class, I met Chris and Natasha for brunch (which is what I always call dim sum, even though we met at 12:45pm) at my favorite place in the world -- the Hong Kong Flower Lounge in downtown Millbrae. They had never been, and I was delighted to introduce them to the splendid wonders on the Cart of Happiness and point out the horrors on the Cart of Sadness. We ordered too much too quickly and so did not have room for my favorite thing (deep fried shrimp in bean curd) or egg custard deserts -- but we had bbq pork pastries, bbq pork buns, siu mai, har gar (aka shrimp families), a shrimp/scallop dumpling, shrimp noodle, shrimp/pork bean curd, and egg roll. Mmmmmm.
I had not been to the Hong Kong Flower Lounge in months -- possibly not since Tammy came to visit in August -- but as soon as I walked in it felt like home. Odd, I know, since the majority-Cantonese clientele surely had no inkling that I used to frequent the place as much as they do. But Tammy may be happy to know that the saddest, most depressed looking waiter (not the semi-impaired har gar kid, but the other depressed dude) got promoted to the Cart of Happiness; I know that it warmed my heart. I also had a lovely conversation with Chris and Natasha, getting all caught up on their recent trip to India and their current status, so hopefully we'll do this again in the future.
After that, I came home, did some light cleaning, played around on the Internet, took a nap, and then was told by Adit that I was having dinner with him, Katrina, Peder (aka Timmy), and Anthony (aka Anton). I complied, picking him and Anton up on the way to Old Jerusalem. It's a Mediterranean place in the Mission, small and cozy with fake wood paneling and huge murals that are apparently of old Jerusalem. I never ever think to go out for Mediterranean food of any kind, but this was truly winning. I had a chicken schwarma sandwich that was both delicious and huge, so I have half of it left over for tomorrow. It seems particularly fitting that I had to ask to take it home, since we spent part of the meal discussing me and Claudia's obsession with Marie Callendar's, which caters to 65+-year-old diners and likely sees a ton of requests for doggie bags, etc.
Anyway, dinner was lovely, and the family time was entertaining as usual. I parted ways from them because I am lame and don't have the stamina to go out, but I will likely meet up with Adit in a cafe tomorrow. This is a good thing; I may not be able to work on zee romance novel since I have a lot of work work to do, but I tend to be productive around him (counterintuitive, I know), so perhaps a few hours in a cafe with him could make a significant dent in my overflowing email inbox. Then it's back to the grind on Monday -- but a week from now, I'll be in Hawaii!
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