tonight we're drinking from the bottle

I have absolutely nothing of interest to report - I'm feeling some urgency about the move, which is all I've done today. I had to go to my storage unit and clear out my old (small, with just some stuff I should have donated awhile ago + some things I wanted to keep and didn't have room for here) and sign the paperwork for my new (much larger) storage unit. That took four hours, between the move/setup and the horrendous traffic getting back (3 miles in 35 minutes does not make me a happy camper). And I spent the last five hours digging through paperwork and sorting stuff and making sure that the things that are vital for either my trip or my financial records are all together and won't get lost in the move.

But I also had a delightful conversation with Katie this morning, and another delightful conversation with [censored] tonight, so it wasn't all drudgery. And I made myself a great omelette this morning (bacon, shallots, spinach, and pesto), and I had zucchini lasagna tonight that I'd frozen a month ago, so it also wasn't like I was suffering.

But I will be suffering tomorrow if I don't get some sleep - I have a lot to do, both socially and industriously, so I should get some rest. Goodnight!

i'm better, so much better now

So much to do, so little time. So of course I procrastinated more than I should have today - I got a lot of stuff done, but I procrastinated on leaving the house to take care of the outside errands because of the rain. But I did everything I absolutely had to do, and I sorted through all the clothes in my closet, which was a big task. That still leaves books, and shoes, and handbags, and kitchen supplies, and bathroom supplies, and a variety of other things for me to purge, but at least clothes are a start.

But I took a break at nine p.m. because Chandlord came over to discuss her recent trip to Myanmar + my upcoming move (in both a personal way and a landlord way). She drank sparkling water and I had a boulevardier, and it was great to hear about her trip. It made me both a) eager to get going and have fun in Bali and b) sad that I'm not going to see her for a few months. But it was great to see her despite my mixed emotions!

Then she left, and I took care of some tings, and now I need to sleep so I can ramp up my move situation tomorrow. Goodnight!

shut up and put your money where your mouth is

It's a cold, rainy night in San Francisco, and I'm leaving in ten days. So did I spend the day getting stuff done? Kind of. But mostly I spent it seeing people and running random errands. I went down to Palo Alto to have an early lunch with Alyssa (which also gave me a chance to say goodbye to Joanie's, which I adore). Then I went to the post office and had a highly frustrating time closing my post office box (in their defense, the internet was down and they basically couldn't do anything that anyone was in line for, so I wasn't as annoyed as I might have been). Then I went to Container Store and ogled everything and bought some containers, as one does.

When I got home, I took a nap, and then I started sorting through papers and deciding what to shred and recycle and keep. I also watched some Top Chef, which I'm powering through - this is why I don't usually watch tv, since I'm bingeing like nobody's business. But I took a break to go to Gardenias and have dinner with Jenni - I hadn't seen her since the end of August, so we had a lot to catch up on. It was super fun, and hopefully I'll see her again before I go.

Then I came home and sorted more papers and watched more Top Chef - and now I should sleep so I can do some real work tomorrow. Goodnight!

hey i heard you were a wild one

There's not much to report about my day...I had a lot to get done, and I accomplished most of it. I also went to San Bruno and worked with Anne, Barbara, and Deborah for a few hours, which was a good way to get away from my moving situation. And then I came home, did six loads of laundry, and watched a bunch of Top Chef.

And yes, that's all entirely boring, but I need to sleep - goodnight!

bad medicine is what i need

It's quite possible that I'm starting to panic over all the stuff I have to do in the next week. Things started to get real this morning...I had an appointment with a travel clinic to check in on my vaccinations, since I'm pretty serious about making sure I'm not going to get preventable tropical diseases (although many of them are unpreventable, unless you cover yourself in DEET all the time). My vaccines are mostly up to date, since I've been to India multiple times and my old employer was pretty serious about prepping me for that - but I got a flu shot, and I also got another round of typhoid vaccine (this time I'm doing the live doses that last for five years, rather than the shot that lasts for two). And she warned me about rabies and monkeys, which is not a reminder I needed, since I think monkeys are fucking creepy.

sssanyway. After that, I went to Philz and worked for awhile. Then I went to Mangosteen and had pho, and then I came home and wasn't feeling totally well, so I took a long nap instead of working. Then I called [censored] to talk about [censored]. Then I messed around and answered emails and took care of things around the house while watching 'Project Runway.'

But now I need to stop being overwhelmed by my to-do list and go to bed so that I can actually accomplish something tomorrow - goodnight!

today we escape, we escape

I had a lovely day, thanks for asking! I spent the morning drinking iced coffee and reading/writing/answering emails in bed, which was exactly what I needed. Then I ate some lunch, showered, and met up with Tom for a writing date at Another Cafe - I hadn't seen him since before I went to Tahoe, and I hadn't been to Another Cafe in months, so these were both v. overdue. I was supposed to write, but we spent the first 90mins talking (as always happens at a writing date). Then, I worked for half an hour, and was just getting into it again, when it was time to call my parents.

So I said goodbye to Tom, and I called my parents while I walked to the marina. They were in fine form, and I got a long walk in without really realizing how far I'd walked, so that was good. When I got off the phone with them, I went to Nectar, my fave wine bar ever - the owners weren't there, but their bartender (Jack) was, and so I sat there and intended to have one glass of wine while writing, but instead had a lot of wine while talking to Jack. He kept pouring, and he gave me some tastes of stuff, and I was reminded why I loved that place, and suddenly all was right with the world.

Katrina came over at some point, and she had a taste of something as well before we settled up and went down the street to our dinner reservation. We went to Mezes, my old favorite Greek place, where it turns out my favorite bartender there is no longer working - but we met up with Lauren (aka Subz) and had a delightful girls' night out. So delightful, in fact, that I had a twinge of regret over the fact that I'm going to Bali...but I will still be friends with them when I get back, unless they ditch me for each other, which is always possible.

When we were done, Katrina dropped us both off, and now I need to sleep because I have lots of things to do tomorrow. Goodnight!

so what, i'm still a rockstar

I just fell asleep reading a book at the grand old hour of 10:15pm on a Saturday, so I think it's time to go to bed for real. I spent most of the day taking care of tings and debating whether I wanted to venture out into SF (answer: no, and this is why I need to take a break from the city). But I eventually got in my car and fled for the peninsula, where I sat at Peet's and wrote for a little bit before meeting Heather (aka dear respected madam) for a v. early dinner. 5pm is exactly when I like to eat sometimes, though, and tonight it was perfect.

We went to Town in San Carlos, which I've been to before with the Shedletskys; it's a steakhouse, and we each had two great glasses of wine, and we had an amazing fried cauliflower appetizer that was beyond delicious (it had this nice spicy sauce and some goat cheese, and all together it was perfect). We also split the special, which was a perfectly aged, perfectly cooked porterhouse steak. The porterhouse, for those of you not in the know, is basically a T-bone - meat on one side of the bone is typically cut into a New York strip, and meat on the other side is the tenderloin. The porterhouse was so fucking delicious, and it was perfect for the two of us - and I brought home just a little bit that was left over, and I'm already happily contemplating leftover steak and eggs for the morning. Now the only question is whether to reheat the steak and make eggs over easy, or whether to chop the steak up and make a scramble with steak, onion, jack cheese, and salsa. Decisions, decisions....

sssanyway, we had one of our usual long, rambling, delightful conversations, and we continued it by going back to Peet's and having tea until they kicked us out at nine. Then we parted ways, and I came home and started reading a book, but had to 'rest my eyes' because I'm becoming an octogenarian, and I only woke up to take my contacts out because I'd left the lights blazing and realized I should probably take care of my toilette before sleeping through the night.

But now I've taken care of everything I need to take care of, and this blog post will have to be enough for the night - goodnight!

dj blow my speakers up

I've been staring at my screen for far too long tonight - today was a pretty decent day, all in all, and I did some excellent work on the book. I also got a mani/pedi, which was not strictly necessary, but was certainly v. appreciated.

But that's all I've got for you - I need to rest my eyes so I can write in the morning. Goodnight!

someone call a doctor, got a case of a love bipolar

Today was extraordinarily better than yesterday. I woke up later than I should have and was scrambling this morning to get stuff done, but I checked some things off my to-do list and generally felt productive, so I'll take it. After eating an odd lunch (leftover sushi that I'd picked up at Whole Foods last night + a slice of peanut butter toast when the sushi wasn't enough), I drove down to San Mateo for a writing date with Anne. It was just the two of us since Barbara was sick, and we spent a lot of time talking about life and crafting (she's running her son's school's craft fair tomorrow, where the kids all make crafts, and it sounds like a nightmare since she's given herself RSI from punching thousands of paper products (she said that last year she punched 13,000 items and had to wear a wrist brace until the end of January as a result) - but she claims it's not a nightmare because she's a better person than I am). But I also got some decent writing done, which made me happy.

I had to leave earlier than usual, though, because I had coffee plans at my old office with my old boss (Sriram). He must have heard that I was on campus on Monday to see Tomas, because he emailed me the next day to see if I wanted to get together - and thanks to the vagaries of our schedules (which is why we haven't seen each other in six months), the only possible way to make it happen was if I went down late this afternoon before my dinner plans. So we had 45mins to catch up, and it was great to see him - it's always fun to catch up, even if this time I only got string cheese and a banana out of the deal (which, to be fair, is exactly what I wanted - and I stole a Mountain Dew and an iced tea on the way out).

Then, I went to a different Starbucks and wrote for another forty minutes, which was good. And then I went to Vive Sol, where I had girls' night out with Joann and Jen. This was all rather impromptu, but v. appreciated, and we caught up over margarita (singular - I was the only one who had one) and enchiladas (v. v. non-singular). It wasn't the same as our old get-togethers at Fiesta del Mar, which has gone out of business and is being replaced by some slick new real estate development, but it was quite tasty, and the company was obviously wonderful. And they should have been happy to see me, if for no other reason than that we used my membership with SHN to buy them a pair of Hamilton tickets before they go on sale to the public (sorry to the rest of you - I could only buy two).

After we caught up on the most pressing issues of the day, we also discussed travel plans...which partially embarrassed me because my packing job for Bora Bora/Easter Island/Chile was possibly the worst packing job I've ever done (and Joann is a packing master, so I felt woefully underprepared the entire time), and partially got me super excited for all the places I want to go. And we caught up on work, life, etc. We'll have some more time together before I leave the state, but that's only two weeks away...

...and I have a million things to do before then, so I should get some sleep now so I can hit it hard tomorrow. Goodnight!

falling out of love with molly

I feel like I should just draw a veil over today and try again tomorrow. But I at least got a bit of work done, and took a walk, and bought groceries, and set up my new phone (I'm back to Android after a sojourn in iPhone-land - thanks to my desire for the new Pixel and my more practical desire to switch to Google Fi, which will make for cheap/easy data worldwide + the ability to get better service at my parents' house). I also binged some of last season's Top Chef, which was not strictly necessary but was better than aimlessly browsing through twitter.

But tomorrow's another day, and I intend to seize it - goodnight!

faking the books

Today was genuinely pretty delightful. Blocking the internet in the morning continues to help me focus (although I still have enough internet that I can answer email and take care of basic tasks - I just can't go down an endless rabbit hole of political coverage). I got off to a late start since I went to bed so late last night, but I spent the morning/early afternoon hours taking care of a wide variety of necessary activities to move me closer toward my goals of writing a book + moving out of my apartment (spoiler alert if you didn't know: I'm moving out of my apartment in less than three weeks, and it seems like as good a time as any to mention that here).

So yeah - did I tell you that I'm moving out of SF? And that I'm going on a grand world adventure? It starts with driving my car to Iowa in mid-December (always a dicey proposition), followed by three weeks in Iowa for the holidays. And then I go to Bali for six weeks, followed by London for six weeks, followed by Venice for a week, followed by Milwaukee (because Milwaukee is a natural way to end such an adventure).

I'll be blogging a lot more about this in the future (especially when I'm in these places, obvi), but I'm pretty excited for this next adventure. I've been feeling the travel itch for a long time, and have also been traveling a lot already anyway, and it just felt like now's the right time for me to go someplace and have some adventures and hopefully write SPINSTER HONEYMOON (especially in a place that could add some additional fodder for the story).

sssanyway. the next few weeks will be insane as a result - moving and also finishing a book should not happen at the same time. So of course, I took a couple of hours off this afternoon despite that. I walked down to Hayes Valley, where I had a v. late lunch in a pop-up type place that serves lunch inside Noir Lounge when Noir is closed during the day - my salad was exactly what I needed. Then, I went to Warby Parker and got new glasses (highly recommend them!), and then I went to Philz and caffeinated and wrote for a couple of hours.

Then I came home, took care of household chores (including cleaning my bathroom, which is a joyless, thankless task), and then spend the evening hanging out with Claudia. I hadn't seen her since before I went to Salem, so she came over and I ordered Thai and we opened a bottle of wine and had a proper catch-up. And I realized that I'm not feeling all that many emotions over going to Bali because I'm gone all the time anyway - so right now it just feels like a bit of a longer trip than usual. Also, if I spent six weeks in Bali, that will be the longest stretch of time I've spent in the same bed in at least two years - so it's no wonder that this kind of travel feels approximately as stable as anything else I've done recently.

But now I'm falling asleep on my couch and it's time to rectify that and go to bed - goodnight!

wrap her up in a package of lies, send her off to a coconut island

Today was rather shockingly productive, considering I was not feeling #inittowinit for awhile (especially after I had some bourbon, but I'm getting ahead of myself here). I woke up this morning and forced myself to sit down and write for twenty minutes before I did virtually anything else, and that seemed to help get me into story mode even though I didn't have time to keep going. Instead, I showered, ate a snack, and drove down to Mountain View, where I had lunch with my old coworker friend Tomas. I hadn't been to campus at all since April, I think, and I've been v. removed from the gossip as a result. So, we caught up over one of those lunches that maybe would have wowed me ten years ago, but now doesn't feel totally worth driving down for (yes, I'm still spoiled even though I haven't worked there in a year and a half).

Then, I drove to San Bruno, where I had a writing date with Anne, Barbara, and Deborah. I often don't get much writing done with them, especially when we haven't seen each other recently - Barbara spent last week in Hawaii and Deborah and I have had alternating travels for several weeks, so I wasn't expecting much in the way of productivity. But I eventually settled down and got four pages, which I'll totally take. This was even with the distraction of email and texting and scheduling social activities for the week - so that was good.

Then, I sat in my car and called my mom, and then I drove home and quickly ate a frozen enchilada and made myself a boulevardier and called my friend Maya. She and I have been trying for weeks to get time together to talk about writing stuff - she lives in NYC, which makes the scheduling tricky. But we finally talked tonight, and it was great - we both want to make similar career switches over the next year (she also writes historical romance and wants to write something closer to YA or women's fiction), and we're going to start talking monthly and sending chapters to each other, and I'm excited about that.

I was also excited to discover that I make a mean boulevardier - I probably could have happily had five of them tonight. But since it's pure alcohol (bourbon, campari, and sweet vermouth), five of them would have put me under, and I need to work tomorrow and not spend the day recovering from a hangover. So, I limited myself to one (heroic, I know). Then, I turned on the tv and played a couple of episodes of the last season of 'Top Chef' so that I had some background noise while I was working. I've been meaning to finish reformatting the paperback for LORD OF DECEIT forever, and I really need to get it done - and some cooking in the background was the perfect complement to my eye-straining endeavor of redoing the InDesign file so that the book size can be 5"x8" instead of 6"x9".

So, I finally finished that - I still need to redo the cover to fit the new trim size (smaller overall size, but wider spine because there are more pages in the smaller book), but I'm going to attempt that tomorrow. For now, it's time to sleep and hopefully dream of something like Bali instead of something like running from Nazis (in other words, I'd prefer sweet dreams instead of my usual nightmares). Goodnight!

a different line every night guaranteed to blow your mind

Today was lovely, and I'm on a roll (belatedly) with the writing, but I'm going to stop while I'm ahead and get some sleep so that tomorrow won't start as late as today did. I got up around 9:30 (note: I didn't go to bed when I said I was going to last night), showered, ate some eggs, and met Katrina at Cafe du Soleil for what was intended to be a writing date. Instead, we had a delightful lunch and a couple of coffees each (plus some orange juice for me to improve my vitamin content), and we ended up talking about writing and work and life and Bali for five hours. This was exactly what I needed, since I hadn't had some bona fide friend time in awhile - I've been kind of hermity lately, and while I was out of the house for Thanksgiving, that wasn't the kind of 1:1 bonding that I was in the mood for today.

So, we had a lovely conversation, and then I came home and continued exercising my vocal chords by calling my parents. Then, I took care of some tings, ate some supper, played some sudoku, and eventually forced myself to write four pages, which I will totally take. Ideally I will get triple that tomorrow, but for tonight, that's good enough to get back into the story. Goodnight!

these seconds when i'm shaking leave me shuddering for days

Today was super quiet - I spent the morning working in bed while the rain fell, and then I needed to get out of the apartment and take a walk before I went mad. So I walked to Japantown and went to my favorite stationery store and stocked up on cards, and I bought some Mountain Dew on the way back because I've hit that part of the writing process, apparently.

Then I came home and alternated between procrastinating and working and watching tv - I'm slowly getting back into the book, which is slower than I would like but I'm trying not to stress yet. But I just hit a wall in terms of staring at screens, and I need to go to sleep immediately if I want to be productive tomorrow - goodnight!

baby we were born to run

I awoke in Pescadero this morning...actually, I awoke several times, thanks to the toddler army (Lauren's son is almost fifteen months, and her sister's two kids are four and two, and they were all quite expressive this morning). But after I mainlined some coffee (and stopped in at a cute coffee shop for more, where they were selling vintage stuff - including a Charlie's Angels thermos that looks like something I saw in my youth for $80. Note to interested parties: if you're in possession of that thermos, you should sell it), I drove back up the coast. I took Highway 1 all the way up, and it was simply, perfectly gorgeous. So simply, perfectly gorgeous that I was rather loath to come back to the city...

...but I had to, so I did. I did some work when I got here, but I was way too tired, and I ended up sleeping for an hour. I was also thinking about cooking, but instead I indulged in takeout Indian food, which was exactly what I really wanted. And then I wasted the evening on a combo of general procrastination + Project Runway - but I prefer to believe that I was stockpiling strength so I can hit it hard tomorrow.

And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

i've had my fun and now it's time to serve your conscience overseas

Happy thanksgiving, everyone! I'm in Pescadero, where I had too much wine while celebrating with Lauren (aka Subz)'s family, and the wine plus the fact that I blocked myself in while helping to move a camper van into prime position (long story) has conspired to keep me here overnight. But today was lovely - I worked all morning, and I did some laundry, and I made some gravy as my contribution to dinner. Then I drove down to Pescadero, which meant I had an idyllic drive along the coast, which filled my soul with joy. And Lauren's family isn't the same as my family, but I've had a lot of events with them at this point, so I was quite happy to share the day with them.

But I'm typing this on my phone, and I should take advantage of the opportunity to sleep before the toddler army wakes up at five a.m. - goodnight!

find my sun in the dark side of my shadow

Today was one of those rough mornings where I thought I should tackle the manuscript head-on and instead sat around and avoided it, which always leads straight into a death spiral of doubt. This was despite getting up and making a frittata and some coffee and taking a shower early, all of which usually help to jumpstart me.

But, unlike usually, I actually remembered this afternoon (in the middle of a writing date at Starbucks with Anne) that this particular type of block is almost always because something's wrong with the story and not because I'm a lazy disaster - I wish I would have remembered this yesterday, but remembering it today is about three days earlier than I usually remember it, so I guess that's progress? Anne and I had spent the first portion of our writing date talking about all and sundry, but then after I realized the problem, she and I talked through that instead, and I think I have a better plan for how to tackle the next few scenes. Of course, that meant I didn't get that many words on the page this afternoon, but it's all good.

When we were done writing, I grabbed a few things from the grocery store next to the Starbucks (the lines were surprisingly short, thankfully), came home, and did some stuff around the house. I should have written or worked tonight, but I was feeling strangely tired, and I accidentally fell asleep at nine. So I'm going to indulge my sleepiness and go to bed, and hopefully get some decent writing done in the morning before pursuing my Thanksgiving plans. Goodnight!

something about you makes me feel like a dangerous woman

I'm falling asleep on the couch (again...I already did that once tonight), so I'm going to muddle through this as best I can and go to bed asap. Today was a great way to refocus and adjust, though. I slept late, had some coffee and made myself a v. tasty omelette with ham and cheddar (thanks, past self, for buying some breakfast food before I left for ye olde Iowa), and then spent the rest of the morning and much of the afternoon doing a comprehensive sweep of my to-do list (and doing some of the things that have lingered on it).

In general, I think that some of my planning is an exercise in procrastination-masking-as-productivity. However, I'm glad that I took the time to really outline things today - between finishing my book and getting ready for some crazy travel, I basically have more stuff than I can possibly do in a month. Or, at least, it felt like that. But by making eight pages of notes on what I need to do, and then assigning orders and due dates to all of them, and mapping out the next two weeks' worth of tasks, I'm feeling more hope than I did that maybe I'll accomplish everything I need to do.

But by 3:45p.m. I needed to stop and move on to my next task. So I took a shower, and then I walked down to SoMa for an early dinner at Tsunami Sushi with my friend Durand. I haven't seen him in forever, and it was so good to catch up - he now works for my old boss Claire (the big boss), and we have mutual friends (he was in India after I was and we went to South Africa together), so we had a lot to discuss. So much that we were there for 3.5 hours, which flew by like nothing.

Then I came home, and now I've fallen asleep twice while writing this - helped along by a much stronger rainstorm than I was expecting tonight. Goodnight!

maybe tomorrow the good lord will take you away

I'm back in San Francisco after my whirlwind surprise trip to Iowa - it was #worthit, but now I need to get some sleep and get cracking on finishing Lucy and Max's book. I have approximately eleventy billion things to do in the next month, which is less of an exaggeration than I would like for it to be. Also, tonight I bought a plane ticket to Bali for January, so I need to wrap up a whole lot of stuff before that happens.

But today went as smoothly as it could have gone. I got up at eight and had breakfast with my parents, and we talked until 9:30, at which point I was perilously close to being late for my flight. So I showered v. quickly, packed even more quickly, said goodbye to the parents, and drove to Des Moines. Luckily, the Des Moines airport was as efficient as it always it - it probably took me no more than five minutes from the time I pulled my rental car into the rental car return line to the point when I was through security (maybe it took me seven minutes...but that's pretty good for dropping off a car and going through the airport and up the escalator and through security). So, even though I was later than planned, I still had time to grab a salad and a subpar coffee before boarding my flight.

The flight to Dallas was on time and uneventful. I sat next to a v. nice lady who was on her way to Austin to visit her grandkids, so we chatted off and on, but I also wrote for an hour, which was great. In Dallas I got some more coffee, then boarded my flight to SFO. It was also on time, and I had time for a nap, some solid writing, and a bit of hypochondria over the fact that they guy next to me sounded like he was Patient Zero in a Michael Crichton novel about ape-borne pneumonia.

So when I got to SFO, everything was good - but I didn't want to ruin my happy buzz by sitting in traffic and getting home and having nothing to eat. So, I hung out at a wine bar and ate meat and cheese and drank some pinot noir and wrote some more. When I'd written all I could write, I turned my attention to other tasks (see: ticket to Bali), and I worked pretty steadily for a couple of hours. Maybe it was silly to sit at the airport after my flight landed - but the people watching is great, and they're used to weird people hanging out, and the drive home was only twenty minutes since I waited traffic out, so I'll take it.

But now, I need to sleep - again, I have to do eleventy billion things in the next month, and that requires doing stuff tomorrow. Goodnight!

he said the leaves are falling down, such a beautiful sound

I meant to go to bed an hour ago, but I fell down a rabbit hole of researching travel gear (one of my favorite obsessions!), and now I desperately need to sleep so that I can do some actual travel in the morning. I had a great short trip home, but it's time to turn around and head back to SF for a few weeks....

Today, though, was nice, and entirely uneventful. I slept in, and then I went upstairs and had breakfast with my parents. I mostly hung around the kitchen for the rest of the day - at some point, [censored] left to go back to [censored], and so he missed out on the excellent cheeseburgers that my mom made for supper. I also watched some fine CBS programming (NCIS: LA, Madam Secretary, and Elementary - a v. good night of tv, in my opinion). And I shared the second half of a bottle of pinot noir with my dad - I'd opened it last night, and it was still delicious tonight. It was from some vineyard called Illahe from the Willamette Valley, and I'd bought it in Iowa a few months ago - I hadn't seen it elsewhere, but I may need to track some more down sometime.

But now, I shall sleep, and hope that my travels tomorrow are uneventful and that I can reimmerse myself in my book. Goodnight!