Today was a v. long but ultimately rewarding day. I woke up a little after seven, went through my hacking cough routine as I tried to wake up and remember how to breathe again, and then showered and dolled myself up so that I could go to my monthly romance writer meeting in Berkeley. I had to get up slightly earlier than usual because Vivi also had to shower, but we made it out the door on time (if you're aiming to be on time to the meeting rather than getting there an hour early to chat with all the other attendees). We walked in about five minutes before the meeting started, got settled, and then sat through an absurdly long discussion about the tax ramifications of various activities engaged in by our chapter (with no actual knowledge shared or point to discuss, as far as I could tell, other than a general expression of dismay followed by half an hour of uninformed speculation). Yes, I'm bitter about that, since I dislike wasting my time (or rather, I dislike other people wasting my time; I'm totally fine wasting my own). But the rest of the meeting was great. Even better, a few of us seceded from the general lunch group and had lunch together downstairs, so Vivi and I ate with Kristin, Allyn and Amber, all of whom were a blast and a half.
But all good things must come to an end (although I'll see Kristin tomorrow, since I'm going up to her cabin for a couple of days of writing retreat), and so Vivi and I went to Starbucks and grabbed a drink before I dropped her off at the airport. It was slightly earlier than she needed to be there, but since I knew getting back over the bridge would take over an hour, I couldn't afford to hang out any longer. So we bid each other a fond farewell, I struggled vainly against traffic, and then I took an hour-long nap as soon as I got home, which was the only thing that kept me going the rest of the night. I had a dinner party to attend, and I thought numerous times about bailing, but I felt that that would have been the height of rudeness, particularly since I'm still establishing my friendship with the hosts. So I rallied and went over, only to discover that Jesse (the male half of the hosting couple) was just as tired as I was and had wanted to cancel as well. Somehow that made me feel better, and so I was in for the rest of the night.
Dinner was lovely (lamb, yogurt and eggplant, all of which would have been anathema to me during my small-town-life childhood, but was delicious now), and the company was even more lovely (Jesse and Maya, Chandlord, Katrina, and some other nice random strangers who were strangers to me but obviously not strangers to Jesse and Maya). I stayed until ~11:20, and then Chandlord and I caught a taxi back in our general direction.
And now that I've been obscenely social for nigh on two weeks, I need to retreat into a hole and write. I shall accomplish this by going on this writing retreat tomorrow, and hopefully I can concentrate there and not have to talk much, since I'll have to start talking again when I go back to work on Tuesday and I'm not sure I'm ready for it. Luckily my bronchitis is getting a bit better (cough is the same, but tiredness is improved), so hopefully I can get some shit done. Goodnight!
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