Sunday, January 23, 2011

so long to devotion, you taught me everything i know

I forced myself to take the day off, and it turned out to be a completely lovely, rejuvenating sort of day -- one that I would not have had if I had told myself that I would write some absurdly unrealistic number of words instead. I woke up around ten, made myself some oatmeal, and then booked an 11:30 appointment to get a pedicure, since my toenails were starting to embarrass me at the gym -- I may not have the budget or inclination to keep up with all the yoga moms running around in their matching lululemon outfits, but I can try to look like I'm not a complete sloth.

The pedicure was lovely; while sitting in the chair letting some other poor soul deal with my feet, I read most of a novella (whose title I almost didn't repeat here, since it embarrasses me, but I will say it in the name of brutal, self-effacing honesty -- "The Ghost Shrink, the Accidental Gigolo, and the Poltergeist Accountant"). It's been sitting on my Kindle for a long time, since I abandoned my Kindle for awhile in favor of print books, but I decided to read it today. And, even though the title might not lead you to think this, I thought that it was utterly cute and charming. It was a novella, so the plot was less intricate than the larger novels that I read, but I liked the heroine a lot. Also, I know the author personally; she won the Golden Heart in a different category the same year that I won mine, and we sat together at the awards ceremony. It's quite strange to read books when you know the authors, which is something that I'm going to have to get used to as I make more friends within the romance community.

After the pedicure, I finished the novel while eating a sandwich at Printers Inc's outdoor patio; the weather was absolutely smashing today, so I'm glad I spent a bit of it outside. Then, I made my way to the theatre for a matinee showing of "The King's Speech"; I'd been meaning to see it for ages, and finally decided to just go by myself, since it's in the theatre just down the street from where I live and I thought none of my friends would want to go to a movie with me ever again after the other monstrosities I've dragged them to (which was sad, since Jess emailed me tonight asking if I wanted to see it -- oops).

I thought the movie was wonderful -- Colin Firth definitely deserves an Oscar for it, since he captured such a depth of emotion and repression as the man who became George VI (the current Queen Elizabeth's father). I could hear other people in the audience making actual sounds of distress as he tried to speak with his stammer -- it was quite moving. Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter were great, as was Guy Pearce as the ridiculous Edward VIII (who abdicated for love -- how stupid), and I thought the script was quite good. Of course, I could be totally biased, since it rolled a whole bunch of my obsessions (the British monarchy, World War II, reluctant heroes, etc.) into one neat little package. But I highly recommend it, even if it is one of those quiet films that you could just as easily see on DVD as in the theatre.

Following the movie, I came home and lost myself in a wikipedia wormhole for awhile, before pulling myself out again to run a couple of errands (dropping off a UPS package to return the unused textbook for that class I dropped, and buying hair scissors so that I can trim my own bangs when they get too dire). Then, I went to Starbucks and had some tea while staring a new book -- Zoe Archer's WARRIOR, the first in a four-part series that I had also downloaded to my Kindle awhile ago. I continued the book over some sushi, then came home and finished it. The verdict was that it was good, but it just made me want to work on my own stories -- which I suppose was the point of taking a day off.

So, having had my day off, tomorrow beckons, and I think I'm starting to feel the rush of desperation that I get when I haven't written for a couple of days. I'm also not feeling the compulsion I was feeling yesterday to try to get my job back; I suspected it was a passing thing, and I'm pretty sure I was right. Now it's time to sleep so that I can accomplish something less self-indulgent tomorrow -- goodnight!

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