you hear us come and go, we know

I made it safely to ye olde Iowa this afternoon after an entirely uneventful drive. When I woke up in Kearney this morning, I wasn't very eager to get out of bed - but I vacated fairly quickly, took a longer-than-desired detour into downtown Kearney to get Starbucks, and then got on the road. Of course, I discovered one of the perils of driving (did I tell you I bought an Audi?) across the midwest - the first gas station I stopped at didn't have premium fuel. The next one did, and so I continued on without issues, but it's something I'll have to be mindful of when looking for gas stations on the way back.

Crossing into Iowa showed how much flooding is still happening around the Missouri and Platte Rivers - the Platte was the highest I've ever seen it, and one of the main highways from Nebraska to Iowa (Hwy 2) was closed at the border due to flooding. 34 was open, but down to one lane in each direction, with power lines running through fields of water in ways that almost looked planned (but most definitely weren't). But I made it home without incident. Along the way, I listened to part of the audiobook of '99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret', which I've been wanting to read for awhile - she sounds both tragic and awful, and there's something fascinating about her even though she never should have really mattered much at all. But that, of course, is kind of the point - she grew up as a spare, would always be a spare, and yet still had to live up to the demands of the modern world as it came into direct conflict with the last gasps of old prewar protocol and class. So, the book is v. interesting, and it was good enough to keep me awake, which was a good thing.

When I got home, my dad poured me an iced tea and we hung out in the kitchen for the rest of the afternoon. My mom arrived a few minutes later, and so we had a v. casual, lovely evening - we chatted, then ate supper ('basketbobs', which are kebob ingredients thrown into grill baskets rather than requiring tedious threading), then watched some TV. Tonight's fine CBS programming included 'Instinct' and 'The Good Fight' (the 'Good Wife' spinoff), both of which were excellent.

And now it's time to sleep - goodnight!

now my morning has broken

I'm sitting in bed in Kearney, Nebraska, watching Guy Fieri slowly kill himself through a marathon of 'Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives'. Of course, I shouldn't judge, since he looks somewhat nimble while stuffing red-eye gravy in his face, while my legs feel like I'm eighty-five due to a couple of weeks of endless moving + periods of sitting still and letting everything freeze up.

sssanyway. I woke up fairly early this morning and tried to get through as much of my kitchen as I could - I didn't hit my goal of unpacking every single kitchen box, but I made a lot of progress. Things feel like they're starting to come together, and having most of my kitchen + my bedroom done makes me feel better about things. I still have a lot of kitchen + my entire office, and then I want to slowly furnish/decorate/paint/etc/etc - but the key word is 'slow', and taking time to find things I love rather than just buying something relatively quickly to fill a gap in my place.

Around noon, I'd done three loads of laundry, unpacked a whole bunch of stuff, and decided that it was time to prep for the rest of my day. So I loaded my old desk in my car, put my luggage in, took a shower, and then grabbed a late lunch at Blue Pan Pizza. It's two blocks from my house and has the best gluten-free pizza crust I've ever had. GF crusts tend to be thin-crust, which I've come to like and appreciate - but Blue Pan (and Wild Flour, which is the Boulder company they get their dough from) has solved the problem of making a real pan-style GF pizza. I don't know how they did it, or how it tastes like it actually rose with yeast and everything, but it was delightful. I'd heard Blue Pan was good, but after only one try, I'm a total convert.

Then I went home, grabbed the last bit of stuff, and took off for Iowa. I drove for five hours today, which is about halfway - so I should probably go to bed so that I can get home tomorrow early afternoon. That timing is a bit in flux since I accidentally stayed up a bit too late (the timezone changes around Ogallala, and my body thinks it's 11, but it's actually midnight). But my dad sent me a photo of my beloved A&E french onion dip this afternoon, so I have some incentive to get there. Goodnight!

pull the thread

I'm still just a wee bit tired from my move, so I wasn't in my absolute best form today. However, I did wear a new hot pink dress with gold pineapples in it, which made up for a lot. Also, I'll happy to report that my commute is, thus far, not a problem - we'll see if I feel the same when I start writing before work again, but this week was all good.

So I went to work, slogged a lot, and finished with a meeting with my boss and my VP, which is a bit of a rough way to end a Friday (although the meeting went well). Then I promptly left and made a stop at the Container Store, where I bought many containers to organize my bathroom. I spent the evening unpacking my bathroom and bedroom and doing some laundry - I'm happy to report my bathroom/bedroom is unpacked, which is good because it makes it easier for me to repack my suitcase.

Oh, and before I came home, I checked out my local wine shop - and I was delighted to discover how extensive their selection is and how great their service is. So far I'm really loving this neighborhood - there are so many good restaurants and cute shops, like some of my favorite neighborhoods in San Francisco, but significant less feces, so that's exciting.

But now I need to sleep - my goal is to get my kitchen unpacked in the morning so it's in some semblance of order before I go to Iowa. Goodnight!

one of my longshots paid off

I should have done more work today than I did - but I was pretty easily distracted, and I also had to run an errand in the middle of the day to pick up my car from the dealership. I also left at 4:15 to get my nails done - I'm considering today to have been a required health appointment rather than a luxury, since my nails were all broken off to the nubs and my fingers are so wrecked from moving that my phone no longer accepts my fingerprint as a sign-in option.

After that, I talked to my dad briefly, and then I went to my old apartment for the final time to do the move-out walkthrough with my landlord / real estate agent. That all went smoothly, and I'm happy to say goodbye to the place. Apparently he rented it to three twenty-something girls, so I almost wish I were living nearby so that I might hear how they get along with my downstairs neighbor (who yelled at his videogames all the time and also had a very moan-y girlfriend, but complained the one time I had Katie over and we talked in my living room late at night). #schadenfreude

Then I grabbed dinner at Motomaki, drove home, and spent the evening doing laundry, talking to [censored] and doing some work. And now I really must sleep - usually Fridays are chill, but tomorrow is my busiest meeting day of the week, with no time for lunch and a meeting with my VP at four, which should be illegal. Goodnight!

the best by far was you

My morning started off a bit unusually, since I had to drop my car off at the Audi dealer. During my car buying saga last fall, I'd installed a clear bra on the original car before trading it for a different car. The new car was also supposed to get a clear bra... But I've been busy and never bothered to schedule it. However, they called me a couple of weeks ago to remind me (good service, since they could have just hoped I would forget)...and I'm driving to Iowa, the home of gravel chips, this weekend, so this seemed like a good time to get this done.

They gave me a loaner car, so I proceeded to work, where I slogged all day. It wasn't as much slogging as I should have done - I took a break to have a social lunch with Kristen (there are days when I miss just being friends with her, rather than also being her boss, although being her boss is easy and we seem to be keeping the friendship alive). And I left at four, came home, and spent several hours unpacking kitchen stuff.

Sadly, that had to stop since I had a nice p.m. call with someone in India, and now I need to sleep - goodnight!

put em back up on the shelf

I slept for nine hours last night and it wasn't enough. So I slogged through the day, which felt a little surreal, since I was a bit out of it. But I'm pretty sure I didn't hallucinate them butchering a whole hog in the very-open-to-everyone demonstration kitchen space - I wish I could have watched it, but the bits I saw were good. I also didn't hallucinate leaving work and finishing my move - I pushed hard for an hour and got rid of all the trash, cleared out my fridge, took out all the empty boxes, and loaded my car with the last bit of stuff. So now that chapter is finished, and I'm super fucking glad it's over (even if the unpacking here has just begun).

Then I came home, ordered a pizza (there is a PATXI'S in Denver, just like in SF, which I knew, but I was v. excited to see I could get it delivered here), and spent the last couple of hours answering day job email since I'm so behind. I had to do that using the hotspot on my phone since I still haven't had time to connect my modem - maybe I'll do that tomorrow. But for now it's sleepytime - goodnight!

turn the beat around

I'm so so tired - but I finished my move! Or, at least, I finished most of it. I still have to unpack everything (which feels particularly unglamorous because I just packed it), and I have to pick up the last carload of stuff from my old place, but the bulk of everything is here.

But by the time the movers finished, I was exhausted - and so I unpacked a couple of boxes and hung up my clothes so that I can get ready tomorrow, but decided I wouldn't do anything else. Instead I walked down the street and found another Mexican restaurant - this one is called El Camino, and in addition to having great margaritas (a requirement), they made me some amazing nachos. I don't usually order nachos, but these really hit the spot.

But now I need to sleep since I have to go to work tomorrow - goodnight!

like a rolling stone

I'm way too tired to blog - I spent the entire day packing, with a brief break to grab an iced coffee and have leftover Mexican food for lunch, and also a break to call my parents, and also a break for dinner. And I had to take a break to ice my thumb, since I've strained it to the point of rebellion - scrolling relentlessly on my phone is bad enough, but all the painting, moving, prying, and grabbing of things the last couple of weeks has done me in. Yes, I'm old.

But I'm about at packed as I could have hoped - I should have taken out trash and recycled stuff, and I still have to disconnect my internet and pack up my technology, but it could be much worse. And that's a good thing, since my movers arrive in 7.5 hours. So on that note it's time for bed - goodnight!

party alarm

You'll have to trust that I had a good day - I did far more than I like to on a Saturday but probably less than I should have. I got up and packed some of my office early, then went into Denver and took delivery of my washer and dryer. While I waited for that, I also cleaned up my paint supplies and got ready for everything to be moved in on Monday - I took all the tape off the walls and pulled up the dropcloth, and with a couple of minor exceptions the office looks awesome. So it was worth the effort, even though that effort now feels like a distant memory.

Luckily the washer and dryer came at the beginning of my delivery window, so I came home, grabbed lunch on the way, and took a nap before hitting the packing again. I took too many longish breaks, but I'm happy with what I got done - my bedroom, office, and guest room are almost entirely packed, as is my living room. That still leaves a slightly daunting amount of stuff to get done tomorrow, but I think I'll pull it together.

However, sleep is necessary before anything else - so it's time for bed. Goodnight!

take a number

I have no desire to blog tonight- work was fine, then I had a slightly absurd time buying boxes at a uhaul facility, and I recovered from work and absurdity by having enchiladas and margaritas (and a long session brainstorming something for work) at Verde. Then I came home, should have packed, instead took a nap, and eventually did an hour or so of packing stuff. I may now officially be dangerously behind on the move... But I think I can catch up tomorrow. Now, though, I should sleep - goodnight!

heads will roll

Long day - I had meetings for most of it (with just enough breaks to not go crazy), and a couple of dramatic temper spikes to make me feel alive. I wasn't able to leave the office until almost 6:30 - I came home then and spent an hour and a half doing nothing but eating leftover pizza, drinking leftover wine, and generally being lazy. But I did eventually rally - I packed up a bunch of stuff in my living room, then spent the past three hours doing day job stuff to try to get on top of things. I was not successful, but I'm not drowning quite as much as I was.

But now I should sleep - goodnight!

take a number where the blood just barely dried

Today was pretty good, all in all - I got up early, was at the office by eight, and got a couple of hours of work done before my first meetings started. I actually had a couple of breaks in the day, which was critical for getting stuff done (although I didn't read any email - but that's par for the course).

I left a little after five, stopped by my new eye doctor's office to order contacts, picked up takeout at Kalita Grill, came home, ate the takeout, and then procrastinated for way too long - I went down a wikipedia rabbit hole starting with Juneteenth, which I've done before and will likely do again. But I did eventually emerge from wikipedia and managed to pack eleven boxes of books in my office. That comprises all my books except for a box-ish downstairs and my cookbooks (and a couple of tubs of books under the guest bed that are already packed). My goal is to get the rest of my office packed up tomorrow and most of my bedroom packed Friday - if the upstairs can be packed by Friday, I should be in good shape for moving Monday, since I'll have time this weekend to pack the kitchen.

But those are problems for another day - right now I need to sleep so that I can get up early and repeat these work feats tomorrow. Goodnight!

sun went down over pompeii

I finished painting my office, which is a good thing - it took more time than I had planned, which means I'm a bit behind on all the other stuff I intended to do with my four-day weekend. Also, I feel a bit robbed that I took today off - the water went out to the office today so it sounds like everyone kind of got a holiday for a few hours. But a four-day weekend was v. nice, so I don't actually regret it.

Other than painting, I didn't get much done - but that's okay, because the paint looks great and it was worth it to get it done. That said, I'm hiring professionals for the rest of the house - having proven to myself that I have the skill for painting, I'm going to return to my usual mode of throwing money at the problem, since throwing money is actually the wise choice when the time I spent painting could have been used to work or write a book. Still, this was a valuable exercise - I learned a lot about choosing paint colors and ended up with someone I initially didn't plan to pick, and I'm pretty sure I would have made some traumatic mistakes if I'd had to choose paint colors super fast to get the whole house painted this week.

sssanyway, the house is great and I want to be moved in already, which is not making me want to spend any time in my current place packing (even though that's what I need to do). I also met a couple who lives across the alley from me, and I explored the restaurant closest to me (FNG), which is only a couple of blocks away - they made a v. tasty burger and some awesome tots, which was exactly what I was craving for an early dinner. Then I drove back to Boulder, should have done a million things, and instead only did like two things.

But now I'm going to bed - I refused to work tonight, but that means I should get up and hit it early tomorrow. Goodnight!

model citizen zero discipline

I was a bit too self-indulgent this morning - I stayed in bed until nine, which was not what I intended to do. I ended up taking care of some stuff in Boulder before eventually grabbing lunch at Chipotle and then picking up a couple of minor things at Home Depot. So, I didn't make it to Denver until after one.

But, I did manage to put the first coat of paint on my office walls, and so far it looks great. It took longer than I expected, mostly because cutting in took way more time than planned - it was a combination of not being particularly skilled (and therefore slow) + having my hand cramp up partway through (my hand is too small for normal-people brushes, apparently). Still, the first coat looks really good - and I'm going to go back tomorrow when there's more light to do the second coat. Once I got through the first coat, I had no regrets that I chose to do this - and even thought that maybe I should press on and do the guest room, but that's probably a fool's bargain.

sssanyway, I finished the first coat of paint with few issues, other than a rather hilarious five minutes in which I accidentally touched the ceiling with the roller, then reached for a wet cloth to wipe the paint off -- but accidentally ejected the roller from the frame and dropped it straight into the paint bucket, which I had to grab with my bare hand to keep from losing the roller in the paint. I got the paint off the ceiling, but as I was washing my hands to get rid of the paint where I'd grabbed the roller, I accidentally spilled my Diet Coke all over the sink and floor. Oops. But once all of that was cleaned up, it was smooth sailing the rest of the night.

I did throw in the towel, though, and talked to my parents for a bit, as well as texted with [censored] and Drewbaby. Then I drove back to Boulder and had a quick dinner at Pizzeria Locale. And now, even though it's relatively early, I'm going to go to bed - and set my alarm for the morning so I don't indulge quite so much. Wish me luck with that - goodnight!

champagne supernova

In a very #onbrand type of injury, I may have strained my wrist from opening too many bottles of champagne. The details aren't on brand though - I had to dump about twenty bottles that turned to vinegar between living in storage and spending last summer in my way-too-hot apartment. I now feel utterly justified for all the whining I did last summer, since the hundreds of dollars of wine that I've poured down the literal drain have proven that the heat was entirely uncivilized.

sssanyway, dumping the champagne was sad but necessary, and I'm glad I'm not carrying it to my new place. I also did a bunch of other stuff around Boulder today rather than going into Denver - I ran some errands, pretended to pack, figured out what was under my guest room bed, bought paint, etc.

I also called my parents, as usual; what's not usual is that it's Father's Day, so I had to throw that into the conversation. I feel pretty lucky about the parents I've got, and also lucky that I've still got them, so holidays like this one are mostly sweet (although I found out this morning that our cousin Wendell, who hosts our family reunion, passed away, so that was a sad way to start the day).

I unfortunately had to do a bit of day job stuff tonight, but I'm in pretty good shape for taking the next couple of days off. And now I need to sleep since I intend to go into Denver and paint tomorrow - goodnight!

you wanna light it now, the candle from both ends

I spent almost the entire day in Denver, which was great. I didn't get up quite as early as planned, but I was out the door by 9:30ish, which is respectable for me on a Saturday. I grabbed a couple of pints of paint, stopped at the office to avail myself of the free iced coffee on tap, and drove to my new house, where I put the new samples on the walls.

While those dried, I walked down to the Highlands Street Fair, which was happening today only. I was only a couple of blocks away, so I scoped out some of the vendors, and then grabbed brunch at Matador. The bar there is promising in terms of places to hang out and journal - and the carnitas hash was excellent.

Then I walked home, with a quick stop at the public library booth to sign up for a library card. When I got home, I painted the second coat on the wall, and then finished masking the room - everything is prepped except for the top of the door, and I have all my materials except the paint itself, so hopefully this goes fast.

I did take a break to have an impromptu dinner at Katie's - I still don't know which of us is more excited that I'm moving to dinner, and it's great that we can do things in an even more casual and impromptu fashion. She made a great eggplant dish, and we spent some time in the backyard, until the girls creeped me out by smelling some honeysuckle and then telling me in a strange voice that it was time for heaven. Kids might actually be the devil sometimes.

After I left, I stopped at my place to check out the paint swatches in the dark, and I think I've made up my mind. Then I came back to Boulder, and now I need to sleep - goodnight!

i cover it slow, cover it slow

I took possession of my house today! This is v exciting and so far I still don't have any remorse, which is a bit weird given my usual aversion to anything that smacks of settling somewhere. But given how much money I spent on it, it's a good thing I'm not second guessing it, amirite?

I went to work for a few hours this morning first, and luckily those meetings were all good - perhaps even great, although I don't want to jinx it. Then I left and met up with the seller - he showed me the sprinklers, the alarm system, and a couple of other things to know. Then I grabbed a late lunch, picked up some stuff at Home Depot, grabbed some snacks at the grocery store, and went back to the house. I sat on the floor and stared at paint swatches for awhile, and almost talked myself out of painting....

But I talked to my parents first, who definitely weren't encouraging me to paint since they know better, and when I got off the phone with them I decided to proceed anyway. So I masked and laid down plastic and a drop cloth, and then I painted three swatches on three different walls, which means I'm committed to at least painting the office.

While the first coat dried, I walked down 32nd to grab dinner. The street was bustling and there's tons of stuff I want to try, which is exciting. But I ended up grabbing pizza and heading back to my place pretty quickly so that I could paint the second coat. One color is almost definitely out; the other two are possibilities but I'm not sure yet. So I'll have to check them out tomorrow and maybe paint a couple more swatches before making a decision.

But now I'm back in Boulder and need to sleep - goodnight!

sea island murders

Not surprisingly, I worked today. I have to say, things are pretty stressful at work. They probably shouldn't be - no one is dying, my work isn't life-or-death, and I get paid well to drink free iced coffee and come up with ideas (two of my favorite things). But there's a lot going on, most of it is high visibility, and there's occasional interpersonal drama woven into it - all of which is a recipe for me putting a lot of pressure on myself to be perfect, and none of which makes it possible to actually be perfect.

So, I feel like I've had a headache for days, which is likely because I seem to be clenching my jaw involuntarily, possibly all the time. This is probably something I need to see a doctor for, but the cruel joke is that I'm too busy. Some of that busy-ness is fun, though - and I'm cutting out early tomorrow and taking off Monday and Tuesday next week to do stuff related to my move, which will hopefully help me to cut some of the stress.

sssanyway, work consumed me today. I left at 5:30, came home, ate an Amy's frozen enchilada like I was back in one of the local minima of my youth (back when I lived with Adit, which somehow didn't cause me to clench my jaw involuntarily), and relaxed for a bit. I then loaded some stuff into my car that I want to take to Denver tomorrow - since I'm taking possession of my house tomorrow, I thought it would be a good idea to take some dishes, my lawn chair, all the painted posterboards I've made, etc. And then I worked for the last couple of hours - perhaps not the fun that I would have liked to have had, but getting through some things made me feel less stressed.

And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

fire is the devil's only friend

I didn't get as much done today as I probably should have - but that's the story of my life at the moment, since it isn't possible to get everything done. Rather than stay up and try to catch up, though, I'm going to go to bed -  goodnight!

flaws turned into walls and barricades

I had a surprisingly good day, all things considered. I took a meeting from home, then went to my new eye doctor - I finally broke down and found one since I'm almost out of contacts. I really liked the doctor I found - she was friendly and enjoyed showing me things with the model of an eye that she kept on her counter. She also told me to use warm compresses on my oily eyes, which my previous doctor told me for ten years and I totally ignored, so maybe the fact that two people have said it means I should listen. And she verified that the blood vessel I burst in my eye a month ago was no big deal unless it happens again, so that's all good.

But she dilated my eyes, which meant I couldn't really work for a couple of hours - and I wandered around the office with my sunglasses on like a crazy person. The rest of my day had meetings, none of which were bad. I then left early enough to drop a bunch of stuff at the recycling center, so that's a relief.

Then I went to pizzeria locale and wrote for an hour while having wine and pizza. Then I came home, took a quick nap, packed a few boxes, and took a late call with India. And now I shall sleep and do several of these things again tomorrow - goodnight!

already there

Today felt like a bit of a grind - not for any good reason, just because everything is generally grind-y right now. I got up in time to write for thirty minutes before my first call, and I wrote for an hour after work, so that was a highlight. But I had a whole string of meetings today, and coming home to look at all I have to pack is a bit overwhelming. I got a bit of stuff done around the house tonight - but between writing and then needing to do an hour and a half of stuff for the day job, it was slow going.

All in all, though, things are fine - I have my movers officially booked for 6/24, and cleaners booked at my current place for 6/27, so things are coming together. And I'm taking a few days off over the next two weeks to make sure everything happens according to plan. But in order to have the energy for all of that, I need to get some sleep - goodnight!

working double time on the seduction line

I didn't get quite as much done as intended today, mostly because I woke up two hours later than planned... But that isn't something I regret. I spent the morning doing some random tasks, and I also did a bunch of sorting and organizing - now the trick will be to actually haul away everything that I want to get rid of, rather than putting it off and then moving it to the new place anyway.

But I had to stop to make time for fun - I had dinner plans with Katie and James, so I had to shower and drive to Denver. I got to their place around 5:30 and made mojitos while they finished getting ready, and so we hung out in the backyard for a bit before heading to dinner. They had a babysitter, so the three of us had a v grown up dinner at Old Major. I generally like that place - the menu never excites me when I read it, but then everything is always excellent anyway. Their salad had this awesome Meyer lemon and poppyseed dressing, and Katie and I split a perfect steak and some excellent fries (but any fries cooked in pork fat are going to be good). And I shouldn't have touched it, but I had a bite of James's fried chicken and it was pretty incredible too.

James left early to relieve the babysitter, and Katie and I took our time settling up. I might have spent the night with them if we'd managed to keep the party going immediately upon arrival at their house, but instead we hung out in the living room and talked about a series of depressing topics (mainly pedophiles and dodgeball). So that helped me to sober up completely, which meant I could drive home and sleep in my own bed.

So now that's exactly what I'm going to do - and I'll be dreaming of a couple of weeks from now, when I'll be living in Denver and able to see Katie as much as possible (especially this summer, since summer here is glorious). Of course, I have a whole move to get through before then, which means I should sleep so I can keep slogging tomorrow. Goodnight!

the acid doesn't help, i'm paranoid as hell

I had to walk to work this morning since I left my car there last night, so I didn't get any writing done this morning. I also had a slightly frustrating day - not really bad, but several meetings were less than ideal, and I wasn't feeling it. That's sad, actually, since in many ways I was feeling it - I have a lot of ideas for what I want to do with my time, team, etc., but I'm bogged down in a lot of random quicksand instead.

sssanyway. That's not interesting. I stayed at the office until ~5pm, then grabbed takeout from Motomaki, came home, and spent the evening alternating between painting posterboards with paint samples, making lists of things to do, drinking wine, and browsing decorator blogs. I like a lot of the colors I painted tonight (all six of them), so I think I'm headed toward a possible palette. Now, though, I need to sleep - I have a million things I want to do this weekend, and sleep is necessary if I'm going to do any of it. Goodnight!

scotch and hotdogs

I had a pretty fun day, despite having to work - but I got up, messed around daydreaming about house stuff, wrote for a bit, and made it into the office in time for my first meeting at nine a.m. I slogged for a few hours, but it wasn't too onerous. At three, I slacked off and drank scotch instead - but it was at work and with someone who used to be my boss, so I'm counting it as work.

I'd won a scotch tasting in a charity auction over the holidays, and this was the week when the winners could finally all get together. So we sat in a conference room and tasted like eight different scotches, which was enough to get me fairly tipsy (a state that continued to worsen for an hour or so after). We took a break in the middle to grab snacks, and we were done by five - but it was a really fun couple of hours, full of many jokes (some of which were slightly inappropriate, since some of them know I write romance novels and asked me how I felt about tasting notes that included things like 'mouthfeel').

Needless to say, I couldn't drive home after that. So I talked to a couple of coworkers for a few minutes, then walked home - which felt like it took forever because it was really hot and I was really not capable of fast movement. But I got home, promptly laid on the couch and took a nap, and then spent the last few hours (after sobering up) alternating between procrastinating by reading D-Day coverage and doing a bit of stuff for the day job.

And now I need to sleep, since I need to get up in time to write and then walk back to the office. Goodnight!

no signs but the flames that are filling up the room

Nothing exciting to report today - I got up in time to write before work, was at the office for nine hours, grabbed some paint samples after work, talked to [censored], and then decided to treat myself to an enchilada and a margarita at Verde. Then I was going to answer email, but that's never what I really want to do...I think I would rather sleep instead, so that's what I shall do. Goodnight!

there's a time when every man draws a line down in the sand

I had a better day than yesterday - I forced myself out of bed, wrote a bit before work, had a totally amazing idea while showering that may have solved a plot problem (but probably introduced a slew of new ones), and then had an okay day at the office. I'm still not totally in a great mood, but it was much better than yesterday.

I eventually left a little after five, came home, tidied up some stuff, finally bagged up all the clothes that I disposed of during my Marie Kondo closet purge, emptied the dishwasher, and ate some tuna salad on toast (fancy). Then I was going to work, or write, but instead I did a couple of minor personal business-type things on the computer and mostly wasted time. That means I need to sleep now so that I can get many things done tomorrow - goodnight!

we go together like sound and sight, black and white, day and night

I had a pretty awful day, to be honest. There was no good reason for it - I woke up in a bad mood, I stayed in a bad mood, and I wasn't really able to rouse myself out of it until tonight. It was one of those days where everything rubbed me slightly the wrong way - like I'd woken up to someone running sandpaper over my skin, and every further touch just added pain.

Yes, this is dramatic - but my mood was dramatically bad. I wasted the morning, went into work, thought I would get some work done, and instead discovered that my computer needed to do a force install of some software, which wasted an hour. Most of that happened during a couple of meetings, but it seemed like every conference room in Boulder was broken in some way, which meant every meeting went awry.

By 2:30 I realized I just couldn't be on good behavior at the office - I was too close to snapping at people, and no good was going to be served by staying. So I came home, messed around a bit, and did my last couple of meetings from home.

I did eventually rouse myself - I reheated some v. delicious curry for dinner, and then I forced myself to take a walk. It wasn't what I wanted to do - I wanted to drink wine and play civilization - but the walk did way more for my mood than Civ would have. When I got home, I did an hour or two of work to make up for my angry sloth earlier, and then I did an hour of personal stuff. This involved buying a washing machine and dryer, which helped to reinforce that I am now a very serious adult. I also finished buying my tickets for Sydney/Auckland at the end of August, which helped soothe my fear over being a very serious adult.

And now I need to sleep - part of the problem this morning was that I stayed up too late last night, so I'm trying to avoid that mistake. Goodnight!

i just thought the drums of war beat louder warnings

Hermiting out today was the right call - while I should have seen my aunt (sorry B!) or maybe made a fun plan of some kind, it was pretty necessary for me to stick around the house and accomplish a bunch of stuff. I spent the morning taking care of a variety of mundane tasks until I realized I was starving. So, I grabbed motomaki for lunch (hopefully living off salmon poke isn't going to kill me, because I love it too much to quit). I also went to Staples and Home Depot, which is in the same complex as motomaki - at Staples, I got some posterboard and 20 boxes for books and other similar items, and at Home Depot I got some painting supplies for testing paint swatches.

Then I stopped by the local Benjamin Moore store to pick up some more paint chips, and ended up getting a couple of paint samples. I think I complained before that I've been in there three times and no one has ever said hi to me - this continued today, but when I found the paint guy and asked him for help, he turned out to be super friendly and helpful. It's still unclear to me what all is in that store or how you go about purchasing it (the paint guy is at the front, but that's apparently not checkout - checkout appears to be in the middle of the store). But I came home with three paint samples, which felt like success.

This isn't all the paint sampling I need to do - it was more a test run to see whether painting posterboard makes sense. The problem with paint chips is that they're too small to really know how they'll look on the wall, and the other problem is that I am not actually in my house yet, so I can't paint swatches on the walls directly. Instead, I put plastic down on my entire living room floor here and painted three posterboards. All in all, it was really quick and not too messy - and while I like the neutral that I picked for the laundry room, the pink I was testing for the office is perhaps a little too pink, and the green I tested for the guest room is perhaps a little too green. That said, the pink color is called 'kept love letters', which feels v. appropriate for a romance writer's office - and I do like it, so we shall see.

After that, I called my parents and talked for awhile, and also researched washers and dryers since I need to buy a set for my house. Then I made supper - I tried a new thai green curry recipe in the Instant Pot, and it turned out amazingly well. I discovered that I actually didn't have any brown sugar in the house (I haven't baked in ages), so I just left it out, and it was great without it. I also made some cauliflower rice to go with it, and all in all it made me happy.

Then I finished messing around with paint, folded some clean sheets, put away laundry, and spent the last couple of hours finishing sorting my books. This was probably a waste of time - I'm discarding around thirty, which could have easily just come to the next place in a fraction of the time I spent over the last two days going through them all. But it reminded me how many wonderful books are sitting on my shelves and how much I miss reading more regularly, so perhaps that will lead to a good outcome someday...

And now, alas, I need to remember that I have to go to the day job tomorrow and get many things done - so sleep is necessary, especially if I'm going to write before work. Goodnight!

don't worry, you will

I had a really nice day, thanks for asking. I got up of my own accord around seven and laid in bed doing nothing for an hour, but then I spent a couple of hours drinking iced coffee, reflecting on last month, and planning for this month. This feels like the eye of the storm between last month's crazy travel + work schedule and this month's work + move schedule, so I took advantage of the quiet to consider what I want to accomplish.

Then, I started purging my books - and of course it was a mistake to do this, because that really just meant that I sat on the floor of my office for hours reading snippets of a bunch of books. My mother would find this familiar, since this is where all attempts to clean my room always stalled. I got through over half of the ones I was sorting and have decided to get rid of some, but I've still got a ways to go (and many piles on my floor).

However, I eventually had to stop so that I could shower and drive into Denver. My friend Sherry is in town for the weekend - she was invited to speak at a convention that is going on in Denver this weekend (formerly ComicCon, now called something else), and so we met up for an early dinner. It was challenging to retrieve her from the bowels of downtown conference traffic hell, but I found her and took her to Linger, which was tasty - but in retrospect, although I like Linger on most days, I was in the mood for something totally different and more comforting. Sherry was also exhausted because she's in the middle of final edits on a book and also speaking at this conference, so it was a v. lowkey and chill evening. But as usual it was great to see her - if I were going to my family reunion next weekend, I might have swung through Austin to see her there, but I'm not (and she's not there now anyway), and I'm not going to RWA this year, so I'm glad we got the chance to catch up outside of our usual times together.

After we were done, I dropped her off at her hotel, came back to Boulder, picked up some stuff at the grocery store, came home, folded laundry, changed my sheets, and then did nothing but daydream about paint and mess around on twitter. And now that it's clear that I'm not going to be any more productive than I've already been, it's time for bed - goodnight!