I'm tired (for which I blame my crazy schedule) and headachey (for which I blame the two margaritas I had at dinner), but I had a lovely day. If you're sick of hearing about me having lovely days, please say so and I will attempt to return to my regularly scheduled blah programming (or perhaps a local minima, which I'm guessing will appear like clockwork in February). But until you provide such feedback, I will blog the truth...
...and the truth is that today was nearly perfect. I woke up around 8:30, and was energized enough (and eager enough to drink the tea that my absurdly expensive teamaker had waiting for me downstairs) that I got up immediately and started slogging through emails, romance business, etc. By the time I looked at the clock, I realized that it was 9:47, and I needed to leave in thirteen minutes to make it to the glorious south bay in time to train with Alyssa. Since I was still in my pajamas, I was cutting it close. But, I made it just in time, and we had a great workout. She's now training Lauren (aka Subz) too, and Subz made the mistake of telling Alyssa that we were having a very Alyssa-unapproved dinner at Fiesta del Mar tonight -- so since Alyssa knew that, she punished me with some particularly grueling lunges. Or maybe we would have done that workout anyway, but I shall never know. But still, our training session was good, and I continue to be amazed at how her workouts are improving my flexibility, etc. The latest thing she's harping on is that I look at my feet too much when I walk -- which I think I do because of my old tendency to trip over anything and everything, including my feet, but my eyes are overriding (or at least conflicting with) my natural muscle feedback and I have balance issues as a result. It's all tres interessant, and I'll have to practice looking up more (if I can remember to do it).
After training, I showered v. quickly, got ready, and went to my favorite place (you guessed it - Joanie's Cafe) to have lunch with Becky and Christine, my friends from my historical fiction writing group. Becky works near California Ave and Chris lives nearby as well, so it was quite convenient for us to meet up and discuss writing. Given the intense, unending rejection cycles we've all gone through, we realized we probably should have met up at a bar rather than having a ladylike lunch, but it was good to talk to other writers for a bit. I remembered just in time that I needed to move my car (which gives away the fact that we spent two hours at lunch), but we parted ways with promises to do lunch again soon (yay).
Post lunch, I stopped by Target to buy batteries, since my bluetooth keyboard and trackpad are dying (v. necessary for my productivity, if not the health of my wrists). I didn't grab a shopping cart or basket in an effort to limit my purchases, but this wasn't utterly successful; instead, after seeing things on sale, I ended up schlepping five bottles of contact lens solution, two tubes of toothpaste, three lip balms, hand soap, and batteries to the cash register cradle in my arms. My errand thus successfully concluded, I adjourned to Starbucks, where I wrote six pages of Malcolm and Amelia's story (a new early scene between Amelia and Prudence; Prudence didn't even exist when I first wrote the book, but now I'm totally in love with her).
Smug with the fact that I met my wordcount goal for the day, I met up with Lauren (aka Subz) and Terry (aka Terrence) at the aforementioned Fiesta del Mar. I hadn't been there in ages, but the waiter was super psyched to see me; I grabbed a table but left my sweater there while I went to the bathroom, and when I came back he'd already brought me a special margarita (without me ordering it) and some complimentary guacamole. When Lauren and Terry arrived, he recognized both of them too, and we ended up getting our entire first round for free -- what a fiesta! So we spent a few quality hours discussing all sorts of things about our respective lives, and it was all quite wonderful.
After having spent 4.5hrs in restaurants and another two hours at Starbucks today, I was ready to come home after dinner. And so I did; I procrastinated on the internet for a bit, then decided to read a book. I wasn't in the mood for a romance, so I picked up THE THOUSAND AUTUMNS OF JACOB DE ZOET. It's been languishing on my shelf since my parents gave it to me for Christmas, but now is the time. I'm 57 pages in, and while the fact that I could put it down and go to bed isn't the greatest sign in the world, I put it down because it was a little dense for an all-night power reading session, not because I wasn't enjoying it. It's set in the Dutch trading post outside Nagasaki in 1799, when the Dutch East India Company was trying to hold on to its Asian interests and the Japanese were determined to keep all foreigners out. As I said, it's a little dense, but the writing is surprisingly delightful and has all sorts of lovely little word choices and odd linguistic surprises scattered through every paragraph. So far it's a winner, and it even seems to have the beginnings of a plot (shocking for a literary book, I know), so I have high hopes.
Now, though, I'm going to sleep; I need to make some serious headway with Malcolm and Amelia tomorrow, as well as see THE THREE MUSKETEERS (as an antidote to my literary reading) and hang out with Vivi (not her real name). Goodnight!
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