sandstorm

Today was a quick descent back into the grind - I was still feeling tired after yesterday, so I slept in and also took a nap from 5:30-6:30pm, but otherwise I mostly worked and tried to get caught up. It's probably a lost cause - but I was in the office from 9:30 - 4:30, then took a break for a couple of hours, and then worked from 8 to 11:30pm. That's not exactly how I wanted to spend my evening, but it was better than falling even further behind, I guess.

But since I've been staring at screens for hours, I'm going to abandon this and go to bed - goodnight!

a fresh poison each week

Nothing to share with you today - I stayed home sick, which mostly meant that I sat around on my couch and watched the Roast of Bruce Willis, which was funny (but not as funny as I'd hoped). And now, after spending a lot of time lying around / napping (+ a long conversation with [censored]), I am going to go to bed and continue to recovery process - goodnight!

my church offers no absolutes

I had a v. lazy day, which was exactly what I wanted. I had to run some errands this morning, but I was back in my house by 11:30ish, and I spent the next six hours doing pretty much nothing. I intended to write, but that mostly devolved into bullet journaling - but no regrets there, since I hadn't done a monthly spread in awhile and wanted to capture some highlights from the last couple of months (of which there were many, since the last couple of months have been super fun despite all the chaos in my work life).

Sometime after five, I should have eaten soup and forced myself to be productive. Instead, I went over to River and Woods, where I had poutine and wrote in my journal for another hour or so. Then I came home and took a brief nap...and then I had a v. late call with my parents. I had thought they were out of town today, but they were out of town yesterday - and so I was waiting for them to call me, while they were waiting for me to call them. Oops. So I got the usual update about kittens and trains and round barns, although it was pretty abbreviated, so I'll have to talk to them again tomorrow.

And then I tidied up a bit, pulled out my work laptop, and did a couple of quick things to prep for tomorrow. And now, even though it's early, I think I'll go to bed - goodnight!

hold on my darling

Somehow it's midnight, which is way too late for me - so you'll have to trust me when I say I had a good day. I mostly ran errands this morning, including a much-overdue trip to the grocery store; I spent the afternoon writing (or at least trying to). And I made chicken tortilla soup - the weather has cooled off a bit, and so while it's still not soup weather, it's not 'my face is melting off' weather either. While I was making it, we had a sudden brief thunderstorm with a particular roar of thunder so loud that it set some car alarms off. But then things calmed down and I was able to eat in peace.

I could have gone out tonight (someone invited me! I know, you're shocked!), but I wasn't feeling it, so I stayed in instead. I ended up watching 'First Wives Club' in the name of research - I'm still a little distracted by the idea of writing another historical sooner than originally planned, and my current idea is inspired by that title. I actually wasn't sure the movie held up all that well - I found all the characters to be somewhat annoying stereotypes. But it was good to watch it - especially in terms of understanding the 'beats' of the story. Once you start paying attention to story beats, you realize that most movies are perfectly timed for certain things to happen at certain minutes (because audiences are wired to expect those arcs), and this movie was no exception.

But now I really should be asleep - goodnight!

even on a cloudy day

I'm super tired, even though I mostly let myself sleep until eight... Work was good, but I'm behind, and there's so much to do and so little time in which to do it if I want to maintain my sanity. But I made it through the day, went to my regular building to pick up a package, and ended up spending an hour talking to a coworker (who I mostly 100% agreed with today, shocker).

By the end, I was beyond done, so I went to Verde and treated myself to Mexican food and a margarita (but only one because I'm a lady). Then I ran a couple of errands, came home, and did absolutely nothing productive ever since.

And now it's bedtime - goodnight!

shake me down

Today was an exercise in pain since I didn't get enough sleep last night - I woke up at 6:30am like I needed to, went downstairs and got some water, and promptly crawled back into bed for another 45min because I couldn't imagine staying awake at that point. But I eventually dragged myself out of bed, showered, and then went to the second day of my offsite. I was really cranky to be there - not because I don't love the people I work with, but because I get antsy and bored with vision/mission statements and was ready to answer some questions about our collective fate instead.

But I got to play with legos to take some of my aggression out - someone helpfully brought stuff to play with to help with the brainstorming, and while it may not have helped my brainstorming, it did keep me from strangling anyone (#smallvictories). I also took a break at some point to eat cheerios while sitting on a balcony, so that was pretty soothing. And the offsite actually went really well, all in all, despite my crankiness - so don't read anything into my annoyed mood.

We had a happy hour after, and I stayed for exactly and hour before bowing out and coming home (with a stop at my regular office building to pick up some packages). When I got here, I did a whole lot of nothing for a couple of hours - tried on some clothes (including the dress for Santy Claude's wedding, which fits well except for the fact that it's eight inches too long), kind of took a nap, ate some peanut butter, etc. Unfortunately, I had a call with Singapore/Hyderabad at 8:30, which got me out of my mellow groove. But now I'm going to ignore the work that has piled up and go to bed instead - goodnight!

i am full of wonder

I am also full of exhaustion. I got up at 6:30 this morning, had a video conference at 7:30, then ran an errand before heading into the office. I had an offsite all day today, which meant I had to have obligatory dinner with everyone after. We went to Chimera, which I hadn't been to before; the food was pretty tasty, although my chow fun was more bland than I wanted it to be (#firstworldproblems).

But then I had to come home so I could do another call at 9:30pm - today was truly poorly scheduled. I took a twenty-minute nap before the call, which saved my life - or it woke me up, since I just did work for another hour like a total idiot. Someone take my laptop away.

But now it's time for bed - goodnight!

cruel to be kind

Today was okay, all in all - I went to the nice office in the morning, which meant nicer breakfast and plenty of free space to try to concentrate. I went back to my office in the afternoon, where I straightened up my desk (it is no longer affected by the prank my coworkers pulled on me) and canceled a bunch of meetings so I could get some work done.

By 5:30 I was done, so I joined some coworkers at the brewery across the railroad tracks from our office. I can't drink beer, but I can eat the tacos they sell on the patio, so I had two of those for dinner. But I left abruptly at 6:30, since the sun was beating in my face and I didn't want to die. I stopped at Whole Foods on the way home, where I bought milk and several different kinds of cold brew coffee.

When I got home, I really just wanted to do nothing - but since that's what I did last night, I couldn't indulge again. I did watch most of 'Ten Things I Hate About You', which happened to be on when I turned on my tv - Heath Ledger breaks my heart every time, since I wish we could have seen what his talent would have done if he'd lived to a ripe old age. But then I worked for the last two hours - not enough to really get caught up, but my inbox is more respectable.

But now I need to sleep - goodnight!

feeling like an animal with these cameras all in my grill

I was pretty cranky all day today, to be honest. It doesn't help that I'm on day three of a headache, so I worked from home this morning. When I went to work, I discovered that some coworkers had played a prank on me and removed my desk, replacing it with a bookshelf with some of my stuff artfully displayed - which I think I was visibly annoyed by, since I have meetings straight through for the next four days and don't have time to put my desk back in order in those random free moments that I occasionally get. I mean, I like pranks, but I was not in the mood - which someone must have picked up on, since I got back to my desk at some point at the end of the day and discovered they had put everything back. Ha.

So I spent all day in meetings, then left to drive into Denver and have dinner with Katie. We went to Root Down, where we had a v. lovely evening of food and conversation. I also stopped at their house after to meet their new hamster, who was quite friendly; James and the girls were good too. Then I came home and was planning to work, but my headache was still driving me a bit nuts - so I watched House Hunters, and now I'm going to bed early and hoping some sleep will drive the headache away. Goodnight!

i'm living on such sweet nothing

I have a headache and really need to be in bed, but I suppose today could have been worse. I got up this morning, messed around the house, and then ran an errand that took a couple of hours. But then I came back to my house, rendezvoused with Vivi (who had spent the night in my guest room) and took her downtown to grab lunch. We tried to get into Snooze, but the wait was 45mins...so we walked down the street and ended up grabbing lunch at Next Door (which is next door to The Kitchen). I had a very delicious hamburger on a gluten free bun that felt like it saved my life, and Vivi had tacos, and we spent some quality time talking about writing and life and our oft-nomadic lifestyles...

Then I didn't really want to come back to my warm apartment, so instead we drove up into the mountains and visited Nederland. It's a totally appropriate thing to do if you just want to kill a couple of hours in the mountains - the drive is gorgeous, it's only thirty minutes, and the town is weird and charming. So we walked around a bit, and then had ice cream in a cafe that is made of a series of connected train cars (so #onbrand).

When we got back to Boulder, Vivi grabbed her stuff from my apartment and I dropped her off at the bus station so that she could catch the shuttle to the airport, since I wasn't nice enough to take two more hours to drop her off there. Then I came home, did a bunch of romance-related business until like eight, then talked to my parents (v. late for them, but they were gone most of the day), and then did day job stuff for the last hour so that I could accomplish something that needed to be done before tomorrow.

And now, it's time for bed - tomorrow's madness will come all too soon. Goodnight!

scare your sons scare your daughters

I'm back in my own bed, sad that conference is over (and even sadder that I don't have air conditioning), but glad to get back to my regularly scheduled life. Today went as well as it could have gone - I got up in time to have breakfast in the club lounge, then pack all my stuff and load my car before going to a workshop on audio books. I went with Grace, and I don't think we learned anything, but we had fun hanging out.

After that, we rendezvoused with Barbara Samuel for one last lunch; everyone else was already gone, but Grace, Barbara and I walked down the street to Modern Market, where we had salads and a final round of conversation before heading back to the hotel. I spent a tiny bit more time with Grace, and then she left for the airport while I headed to Boulder. I brought my friend Vivi with me (for those of you who were on my wine bus birthday party many years ago, she was my nomadic writer friend who joined us). She's staying with me tonight before heading home tomorrow afternoon, so we drove back to Boulder together. We spent most of the afternoon talking, including a lovely early dinner at Pizzeria Locale.

But by approximately 7:30pm, I had completely hit my introvert wall - so I abruptly said that I loved her but needed to go lie down. I have since spent the rest of the night lounging in my room while she lounged in her room, which was a pretty perfect end to a writing conference - I relaxed and caught up on twitter and napped a little and messed around online, and it was v. restorative.

But now I need to sleep - I have to run some errands in the morning, and Vivi and I will hang out in the afternoon before she heads to the airport, so that should be fun. Goodnight!

your trojan's in my head

Conference is drawing to a close - I'm not ready for all aspects of my real life (especially the lack of air conditioning and the overabundance of day job tasks facing me when I return), but I am ready to sleep in my own bed and stop eating crazy amounts of food during a myriad of social activities. Today was pretty nice, though. I went to an early workshop about publishing young adult for the indie market; when I finish this YA I intend to shop it to publishers first because the YA market is really different from romance, but I was curious about my options.

After that, Barbara S and I walked over to the Delectable Egg and had breakfast and caught up - I'd been looking forward to some one-on-one time with her, so I'm glad we caught each other this morning. We also ended up having lunch together a couple of hours later with our mutual friend Heather - lunch was overkill at that point, but I sucked it up and ate some salad anyway. I also gave $5 to a street performer just because the lucky bastard happened to be playing 'Amarillo by Morning', which probably surprised him, but if you were me or [censored] or Drewbaby, you would understand why I did this.

Then I came back to the hotel and spent some quality time in the lounge with my journal and my headphones, plotting out a five year plan. I haven't done a planning exercise in quite some time, and I'm feeling the lack of clarity when it comes to my goals and aspirations. I'm not done yet, but it was a good start.

Then the rest of the afternoon was all social - I met Lisa (a Twitter friend); Elizabeth (another Twitter friend); hung out for a bit with the Barbaras and Grace and Veronica and Sherry; had dinner with Darcy; and then came back to my room and had two glorious hours of napping/relaxing/not wearing pants. I could have easily remained in that paradise, but at 9:30 I rallied and put on a dress and went downstairs to meet up with Grace and Veronica - Grace won an award tonight (not the RITA, but still very exciting), and so we celebrated in the bar.

But now, I really need to sleep - goodnight!

scheming on a thing that's a mirage

I had another lovely day at the conference - I'm feeling inspired, but I'm also feeling like this is a bit too much like a vacation and not quite enough like I'm doing serious business. This could be because I just needed a break; or it could be because I haven't written much in the last year, which is starting to be a crawling, gnawing monster under my skin and along my spine.

sssanyway. I got up this morning in time to have coffee and journal a bit before my first workshop of the day. I met up with Veronica and we sat together for Sherry Thomas's workshop on revisions - Sherry and I have pretty much the same revision style (aka scrap the first 10k words entirely, write the first half, then scrap that and write yet another draft). I was hoping to discover a way to fix this, but it sounds like it's unfixable, so that's great. But Sherry writes gorgeous books, so if that's the outcome, I should probably be cool with it.

After the talk, Sherry and I went out for at Marlowe's, which was super fun; I really like that we've somehow become friends over a handful of conferences and some occasional email/twitter exchanges. When we came back to the hotel, I grabbed an iced tea, planned to sit somewhere in my journal, and instead ran into Grace - which was perfect because I was wanting some quality time with her (although I joked that this was pretty low quality time, but it was delightful, as always). We hid in a corner where no one could find us and talked about life and children and teeth (she told me a horror story about her son's dentistry experiences, which involve Old MacDonald's Farm in a way that now creeps me out). Then, we went to Barbara Samuel's workshop on the first 100 pages - and I was reminded once again that the first and second draft of my first 100 pages inevitably suck, so I should stop worrying about making them perfect right now.

After the workshop, I was desperately tired, so I came to my room and took an 18-minute power nap. Then I met up with Maya, Veronica, and Grace for dinner - we took a lyft to Lola's, which is my favorite Mexican restaurant in Denver. It turned into a super fun evening - Maya hadn't met Grace or Veronica before, but everyone hit it off, so the conversation devolved quite quickly from the usual 'getting to know you' questions to conversations about combative urination (#dontask).

Then we came back to the hotel (after scarring/amusing the lyft driver) and hung out in the lobby with Barbara F and the director of ebooks at Kobo (whom I'd befriended in Hawaii a couple of years ago, so we'd agreed to connect tonight). But we were all fading fast, so I came up to my room an hour ago and messed around until now.

And now it's time for more sleep, hopefully better than last night's, and with some quality time to write tomorrow. Goodnight!

hot as a fever, rattle of bones

I had a v. successful first day of my romance conference, thanks for asking! I got up unusually early (both for conference and for normal life) so that I could meet Veronica and attend the Day of YA event (#protip: YA = young adult books). 'Day' was a bit of a misnomer, since it was from 7:30am to 12:30pm, so it probably should've been called 'Torturously Early Morning of YA'.

I'm not a member of the YA chapter, but it was good to do the event - for one, I met a couple of Colorado writers, and for another, the speakers were mostly pretty good. The keynote speaker was Pintip Dunn, who went to Ivy League schools and practiced law before writing a bunch of books, but she did all that while suffering from intense fibromyalgia that is so bad that she can't use a keyboard. She actually wrote a book while lying flat on her back every day underneath her glass coffee table with her laptop screen showing through the glass so she could dictate her words to it (she was so sick that she couldn't sit up), and she's written her last six books on her phone since she can somehow type on the smartphone screen if she's careful. In other words, I need to suck it up and write a fucking book while I'm still in possession of a body that is capable of doing it.

sssanyway. The agent/editor panel was a bit too basic for me, but then there was a two hour plotting-type workshop that I quite enjoyed. After the Day of YA, I parted ways with Veronica, dumped stuff in my room, and met up with the delightful Maya Rodale for lunch. We went to The Kitchen (there's one in Denver in addition to Boulder), and it was a perfectly boozy afternoon - we shared a bottle of rosé, and we each had steak frites, and were so delighted with each other's company that we're planning to have dinner tomorrow (unless she sobers up and comes to her senses).

After closing out the restaurant, we grabbed coffee, then came back to the hotel, where I changed and relaxed for approximately five minutes before Katie came over after work to hang out. I was eager to introduce her to my writer friends, which goes against all my usual instincts to keep all my friend groups separate so that they can't all piece together just how weird I am. But Katie came to the hotel, and the group slowly gathered over a drink in the bar, and Maya stopped by to meet Katie too.

Then, Katie, Veronica, Grace, the Barbaras, and I went to Linger, where I'd made a dinner reservation, Poppy and Barbara's daughter Kristen met us there, and we spent a couple of hours gorging ourselves on one of the best meals I've had in awhile. The concept there is world street food, and it's pretty incredible that they can do such different dishes so flawlessly - we way overordered, but each dish was better than the last, and I wanted to eat all of it. I think I've convinced my friends that Denver is pretty cool - other than the fact that it's a million degrees, it's a good place to live, and the restaurant scene in particular is quite delightful.

Then we sadly parted ways with Katie (everyone liked each other, which was good since I didn't want to have to make any hard choices about who to cut from the program if they weren't kindred spirits), and the writers all came back to the hotel And now I need to sleep - I have a packed schedule tomorrow, so resting my eyes and continuing to ignore my email (sorry friends!) is my current best choice. Goodnight!

lay where you're laying, don't make a sound

I had yet another hectic day at the office - meeting after meeting, with no end in sight. But I ended the office time around four, when I weirdly ended up signing a bunch of my books for people who happened to be around - I had a box of them at my desk and was grabbing some to take to my conference, but I gave a bunch away. So, that was weird and entertaining, and hopefully they're all still speaking to me when I get back.

Then I dashed home, threw a whole bunch of stuff in a suitcase (more stuff than is strictly necessary for four days, but I didn't have time to edit), and worked for another hour or so while traffic died down. Then I drove into Denver and met a bunch of my writer friends for dinner at Tupelo Honey. I've never been there, and I'll probably never go back - the meal that I had was super tasty and the wine was good, but they only had like one gluten-free thing on the menu (a sweet tea brined half chicken, which was tasty). It's Southern, which is not gluten-free friendly, and so I suppose I'll have to let this restaurant live on in my memory rather than ever going back.

Still, the dinner was super fun - I hung out with the usual suspects (the Barbaras, Veronica, Deb, Poppy, and Deb and Poppy's boyfriends, which was an unusual but not unwelcome addition). Grace's flight was delayed, and several other usual suspects aren't coming this year, but it was fun to relax and hang out and talk writer stuff.

Then I drove some of us back to the hotel, where I checked in, unpacked, and settled in. And now I really need to sleep - I have a 'Day of YA' thing tomorrow with Veronica, where I intend to learn as much as possible about the young adult market, so hopefully it's interesting (and hopefully worth getting up at 6:15am for). Goodnight!

but we keep loving anyway

I had a really long day at work, so apologies to the several of you whom I ignored over text/ping/email - I started working at eight, had a meeting from 8:30-9, drove to the office, and had meetings straight from 9:30 to 5 (although I forced my noon meeting to end a few minutes early so I could make a sandwich).

However, I at least got a bit of a break - I came home, rendezvoused with Veronica, and had dinner with her at The Kitchen. I really adore that place; my glass of wine was slightly too fruity for my tastes, but my porkchop and grits were delicious (and the company was pretty good too). We then went to the Boulder Bookstore, which is one of those stores that prides itself on its selection - so of course it has a huge room that reeks of incense and has all sorts of books on witchcraft, the occult, spirituality of all kinds, etc., but can't deign to carry a romance section. Gross.

Of course, I still bought a book, but this shouldn't surprise you.

Then we came home, and even though I should have been maximizing my friend time, I instead read twitter for a bit and then worked like a crazy person for the last two hours to try to catch up on stuff (mission failed). And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

like the future was supposed to be

I'm not ready to go back to work - but I only have to get through two days in the office before I'm on vacation again. It's quite possible that my multiple vacations in the last six weeks is causing a vicious cycle...when I'm in the office, I'm totally slammed, so I can't wait to get out and relax again, which is promptly ruined by going back to an overly full inbox/calendar.

sssanyway, I also need to make it clear that last night's nausea was absolutely not correlated with Veronica's presence in my house. I assumed that was obvious, but Veronica was concerned. So, let it be known - I'm thrilled that Veronica is here, and it's not her fault that I was stupid and rented a place without A/C and so overheated last night, which is almost certainly why I suddenly felt so nauseated.

sssanyway again. Veronica got here yesterday around three, and we had a delightful time catching up, getting manicures, and having a leisurely dinner at River and Woods before I suddenly felt nauseated. Today was all better though - and it rained and was only seventy degrees, so my house cooled down and I felt much better.

I spent the morning working on personal stuff, which made me happy. V and I eventually had a late lunch at Motomaki, followed by a v. necessary stop at Staples (post-its are a required purchase for writers whenever writers are feeling stuck with their plots, as both Veronica and I are). Then we came back to my place, and I did some more work and took a nap. V ended up leaving me to my own devices tonight so that she could see a friend in Denver - and I wasn't nearly as productive as I had planned to be, but I still did four loads of laundry and called my parents to get the latest gossip about our town (although it was 95% about their new kittens, which is way more entertaining than town anyway), so it could have been worse.

But now I need to sleep so I can seize the day tomorrow - goodnight!

heaven restores you in life

I had a great day and Veronica is in my guest room, but I'm suddenly feeling nauseated, so I'm going to sleep. goodnight!

tell them how your pleasure's set up on slow release

Today was yet another long day - this one mostly consuming emotional energy, as I had multiple meetings with multiple people who all wanted similar pieces of advice in terms of how to figure out their careers. I like doing that kind of stuff, but four in one day (plus a lunch where I was a speaker giving career advice) was kind of a lot. And also, it's kind of funny that I'm seen as a good source of advice since I've quit twice, lol.

But I left at five to get a pedicure, and then I had dinner with Christine at Salt. We ended by going to the bookstore as we usually do, so it was a nicely relaxing night.

But now I must sleep - goodnight!

the wild dogs cry out in the night

My day was full of meetings starting at eight a.m. and going almost straight until five, including two with my VP (unusual, but not for dramatic reasons). I got off to a sluggish start since I didn't get enough sleep last night, but I'm determined to change that - it has been way too hot in my house without A/C, but the swamp cooler I ordered from Amazon arrived today, and it's already making a difference in my bedroom despite being set up an hour ago. So here's hoping that I sleep better now that my room feels like a normal bedroom instead of a desert that happens to include a mattress.

However, despite the work still piling up, I left the office at five, came home and dragged the swamp cooler in from the patio where the delivery guy had left it, and walked straight to Pizzeria Locale. I indulged in a v. tasty gluten free pizza and a couple of glasses of wine; I've been laying off the sauce (both pizza sauce and wine sauce) in an effort to be healthier, but it seemed like my health would be better served tonight by having wine and ignoring email, so that's what I did. My phone also conveniently died while I was there, so I journaled and ate and drank and completely ignored the world, which was pretty much the perfect way to relax.

Then I came home, took care of tings around the house, set up my swamp cooler, wrote a couple of personal email...and now I'm going to go to bed earlyish and hope that I recoup some of the sleep I lost this week. Goodnight!

that crooked ace up your sleeve

Long day...so long that I missed free lunch and instead bought a poke bowl at 2pm (but that was tasty, so #noregrets). So that's all you get tonight - but don't worry, this weekend and next week will mark a return to fun, so not everything is bleak. Goodnight!

wake me up when september ends

Today was too long...but I also wrote before and after work, so no regrets there. And I ran some errands, bought some groceries, tidied up the house, did some laundry, etc...so even though it feels like it was all work because I just answered emails for the last two hours, it really wasn't that bad.

But it will be bad if I don't go to bed right now...so goodnight!

there are things that the homilies and hymns won't teach you

too tired to blog - I got up at 5:45am Iowa time, showered, took the shuttle to the airport, ate breakfast, and had an entirely uneventful flight to Denver (in fact, it landed thirty minutes early). But I had to go straight to work, and the slog was brutal - I was there until 6:30, then came home, opened my laptop, and worked for the past three hours. Dumb.

But now I'm going to sleep (or try to sleep, since my apartment has been shut up for two weeks and it's like ninety degrees) - goodnight!

angelica, eliza....and peggy

This edition of #smalltownlife is nearing its end, but today was pretty awesome. HAMILTON is in Des Moines and I bought tickets when ticket sales opened last November, so my parents, [censored], and I got to see it during the matinee show today. I'd also procured tickets for Aunt Becky, her scandalous pirate husband, and uncle Mark and aunt Kathy, but they were a couple of rows behind us.

So, [censored] and I rode up together, and we stopped for lunch in Indianola on the way. When we got to our seats, we discovered that they were perfect - right in the middle, not too far back, and the Civic Center staggers their seats enough so that even a shorty like me isn't blocked by the person in front of them.

And the show was, in my humble opinion, totally awesome. I think I liked it better than the SF production I saw last year - Burr and Eliza were particularly excellent, and everyone else was pretty delightful. Also, the better view made a huge difference in terms of noticing little details of the choreography.

So, I loved it, and I cried at the end, and it was pretty great. After, [censored] drove to his house three hours away, while Mom and Dad and I had dinner with the rest of the family at a Mexican restaurant in downtown Des Moines.

And now, I need to sleep - I'm in a hotel in Des Moines near the airport since my flight is early tomorrow, so my parents kicked me out here after supper, where I promptly spent the last three hours reliving the show. So, it's time for sleep - goodnight!

last dance with mary jane

I'm too tired to blog - I slept late and spent most of the afternoon messing around, including another trip to the round barn, which is usually the extent of my attempts to get out and enjoy the scenery beyond my parents' back yard. We also had supper in Seymour, where I had the usual prime rib while the dead deer heads stared down upon us.

But now I should sleep, since I have to get up and pack tomorrow before going to Des Moines for another adventure. Goodnight!

i'm way too good at goodbyes

I'm super tired and want to go to bed immediately, but I'm worried that if I don't blog tonight, my mother and [censored] will break down my door to make sure I'm not dead. This would be total overkill since my bedroom door is unlocked, and also since they saw me less than an hour ago - but the sanctity of the blog as the single source of truth for whether I'm alive each night must be maintained at all costs.

sssanyway, the last two days have been super lovely - it was nice to have another mini vacation, although stacking so many vacations so close together isn't really helping with my corporate motivations (and by that I mean it's far easier to imagine running off to Bali again when I've had a few days away from the grind.). Katie ended up coming down last night, and so she and Hannah (another friend from high school - fun fact, Hannah and I are also like fifth cousins) came out and spent a couple of hours in the kitchen talking about all sorts of gossip and other inappropriate things (including a joke about cutting the mustard that I hope to never forget).

Eventually, Hannah had to drive home, so Katie, [censored] and I hung out in my room until it was way past time to sleep. I awoke earlier than I wanted to this morning, but since the only plan on the agenda was to hang out with Katie, that wasn't a bad thing. My dad made breakfast, and then I spent most of the late morning / early afternoon on the porch with Katie, my dad, my mom, [censored], the cat, etc.

Then, Katie and I went down to the round barn, where my mom gave us a tour of all the buildings. Katie and I parted ways after that since she had to go back to Des Moines to rendezvous with her other family (clearly my family is more important, but I'll let it slide this time since I'm guessing her children might have missed her). But I'll see Katie again in a couple of weeks, so this isn't really a hardship.

Then my mom and I came home, and I took a nap / relaxed / tried to cool off. Then we had leftovers for supper (but when leftovers are this good, it doesn't feel like a chore) before playing two games of Ticket to Ride. [censored] won the first one, and my mom won the second, and I was generally just wasting my time, but c'est la vie.

And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

they go along to take your honey (la la la la)

Happy fourth of July! I had a very peaceful day in ye olde Iowa - I slept later than I did the last couple of days, and that set the tone for a whole bunch of laziness. I spent some quality time this morning/afternoon talking to my mom, and then my dad came in from mowing, and then [censored] showed up and insisted on taking me on a tour of [censored]. And then I spent the rest of the afternoon on the back porch with [censored], talking about everything and nothing, as per usual.

Later we had a v. fourth of July supper - bratwurst, the first sweet corn of the season, potato salad, and baked beans. Then we played a game of Ticket to Ride and I was super close to winning, but [censored] came out of nowhere at the end to pull out the win (congratulations, I guess). And now, after I actually answered a few personal emails (but not most of them), it's time for bed - goodnight!

not quite a year since you went away

Another long day of working, but I did most of it while sitting on the back porch, so it could be much worse. It's easier to take ridiculous meetings while looking over my laptop screen to gardens and ponds and rolling fields, so in some ways I didn't mind it at all.

I had to stop at three even though I wasn't close to done; my sister and my youngest niece came over, so I hung out with them for a couple of hours. When they left around five, I then did another couple of hours of work before throwing in the towel. I then ate supper with my parents (ribeye and baked potatoes, can't go wrong), and then we sat on the patio again until it was close to dark and the mosquitoes were in search of a meal.

And now it's time to sleep - goodnight!

stuck in a moment

I had a v. boring day in ye olde Iowa - mostly because I worked the entire day, which felt like most days, just taking video calls from my desk in my Iowa bedroom instead of conference rooms in Boulder. But I took a break to have breakfast with my parents (yum), and I spent a bit of time outside, and I stopped working at 5:30, so it could have been worse. Then my mom gave me a tour of her gardens, and then I sat on the patio and accidentally took a nap.

After that, it was all pretty chill - I ran into town to look for coffee (no luck), then came home and ate supper, and then sat on the patio and played with kittens. My parents were down to one cat, who was born last fall and still doesn't seem fully grown, but they basically raised her after she was abandoned by her mother, and so she's way more affectionate than any other cat they've had in the past decade. She had kittens a few days ago, and I think she thinks my parents are supposed to help raise them too, because she keeps bringing them to us for us to hold them. That's a little bizarre since their eyes aren't even open yet - but it's pretty cute, so it could be worse.

And now I should sleep - I should have worked tonight but I wasn't feeling it, so I'll have to get a lot done tomorrow to make up for it. Goodnight!

it's hard to say it, time to say it

Wow, last night's entry went totally off the rails. I was falling asleep as I was typing, and somehow I thought that I had cleaned it up and written something passably coherent, but apparently I was incorrect. I wasn't even that intoxicated - just ready to fall asleep, and my brain started playing tricks on my fingers.

sssanyway. Last night did not end at Maven - we had dinner at Maven at 6:30, then headed toward the Mint, where we were planning to do karaoke. On the way, Adit and I walked by the apartment where we lived together, and while the smell of urine at the Safeway down the street and the crazy homeless guy weaving around on the sidewalk barefoot while holding his shoes reminded me why I left San Francisco, I was struck by some intense waves of nostalgia. Or maybe that was just the urea causing hallucinations.

sssanyway again. We discovered that the old bar down the street from us, which used to be the Residence and was our third or fourth choice of bars when we couldn't get into Churchill or Blackbird, has (as of this week) become a tiki bar called Last Rites. I normally don't go to tiki bars two nights in a row, but we went into this one and it was quite delightful. It was too crowded for us to sit down, but we had a quick drink there, and the rum went a long way toward helping me catch up to my friends after driving them around wine country all day (although since they went for a rum drink as well, I was destined to never catch up).

Then we went to karaoke at the Mint, which was super fun - Claude, Vidya and I all managed to get songs in, which felt like a real accomplishment. Then we adjourned to Grubstake, where we finished the night eating plate of cheese (and bought more bottles of hot sauce for the road).

Today, of course, I had to get myself out of bed and to the airport, since my sojourn in the city of sin is over for this round. I had a direct flight to Des Moines (yay) on Frontier (boo) - I'd never flown them before, and while it wasn't the worst, it certainly wasn't the best. It didn't help that Frontier flies out of Terminal 1, which is a dismal hellhole compared to the renovated areas of T 2/3; it also didn't help that the air outside was also a dismal hellhole due to wildfire smoke, and so my flight was delayed by an hour. And also, some kid threw up in the check-in line and I heard the ticket agent tell his grandmother that they might have to stop him from flying; apparently he faked his way into seeming better, because when our plane was finally ready to take off, we had to wait while they kicked the grandmother/kid off the flight and cleaned up more vomit. #ihatepeople

But the flight itself was uneventful. When I landed in Iowa, my parents picked me up; we went straight to Johnny's for dinner, which was fairly unexciting/disappointing (the food, not my parents). And now that I'm home and have taken a look at my hopeless work to-do list, I need to go to bed - I'm working from home tomorrow and Tuesday, and I need to get a lot done, so wish me luck. Goodnight!

what the hell is on joey's head

Today was Claudia's bachelorette party, which meant fourteen hours of socializing...which is still much less than the nineteen years that I've known Claude and Adit, which somehow feels impossible. I got up early this morning and picked up gluten free pastries at Mariposa Bakery (incl a breakfast sandwich for myself, which was ridiculously good), and then I rendezvoused with Adit and Vidya and drove to the east bay to pick up Claude.

Then we drove up to Duckhorn, where we tasted some v. delish wines that they don't sell in stores (this seems like a scam somehow). Then we had lunch at Bottegga, followed by a tasting at Gloria Ferrer, which I always love.

I had to stay sober for most of this since I was driving us back, but as soon as I parked my car, all bets were off. And my night ended with dinner at Maven, a rum-based drink at Last Rites (a tiki bar that opened thie week on a shitty strert in the most undesireable lostcaton.

But I'm falling asleep on my keyboard, so further expatnion will have to comeM- OODNIGHT