don't masquerade with the guy in shades, oh no

The wedding yesterday was fabulous...my hangover today was not so fabulous. Thank goodness for the end of daylight saving time - while I'm sad that I won't see my sun friend as much for the next few months, the extra hour this morning saved my life.

I was actually doing surprisingly well this morning. I woke up around eight and decided to eat something in hopes of settling my stomach, so I had eggs with John and Jess in the game room. The game room was last night's scene of the crime - I had organized an impromptu afterparty for a few people after the reception, with the help of the wedding coordinator, who I had befriended earlier and who was more than happy to help me procure alcohol and cabs for people, etc. But by the time we had breakfast, some magical persons had cleaned everything up as though nothing improper had ever happened there. The scrapes on my arms and legs tell a different story (one in which someone, at some point, tossed me into a bush). Still, the whole wedding day was awesome, and well worth the hangover I had already planned to have today.

However, while I was still feeling quite chipper this morning, my usual hangover trend happened, and by the time I loaded my car and reached town for brunch, I had reached the bitter, regret-filled hatred portion of my hangover. Terry knows this part of my hangover well, since it's when I usually stomp around looking for coffee before muttering something mean-spirited and retreating to my room until I'm more fit to be seen. It hit with a particular vengeance this morning - I'm reminded that I'm becoming more of an introvert as I age, since I really enjoy hanging out and having fun, but it costs me more energy than I get from it, and after 60+ hours of nonstop wedding socializing, by this morning I was all tapped out. And it probably didn't help that when we got to brunch, there were more people there than they anticipated, so we were going to have to wait ages for a table...

...so a few of us (John, Jess, Anthony, Dormain, and two people whose names I never bothered to verify, since I was beyond caring, but the guy had very, very nice teeth) hatched a plan, said goodbye to the appropriate people, and went across the street to a lovely French restaurant, where we had a fantastic lunch on their beautiful patio. I ordered a 14oz ribeye with fries, since I realized I barely ate yesterday and meat tends to cure what ails me better than just about anything else (and it was one of the only things on the menu that was gluten free). John seemed to be in about the same mood as I was, so we sat at one end of the table being surly while the guy with the nice teeth and the girl told their life stories, which I mostly ignored. At some point, Dan (a dude I attempted to befriend at the wedding, although he may have been scared off by discussions of sperm whales) showed up, since he saw us as he was headed back to his car from the official brunch, so he hung out for a bit and I foisted some wine and beer on him from the stash that the wedding coordinator had put in my trunk. And then I bid an insincere goodbye to my friends (nice teeth dude had disappeared at this point, so it was less insincere than it could have been), got in my car, and had three hours of blessed solitude while I drove back to the evil city.

I had to make a stop at Lauren and Nathan's house as soon as I got into town, since the wedding presents, a few decorations, the unopened alcohol, and the cake topper had been foisted upon me. I would have waited until tomorrow, but the cake needed to go in the freezer, so I hauled stuff into their house and then finally made it home around 4pm. Upon arriving here, Terry took one look at my face and knew what stage I had reached in my hangover (still bitter, more regret, less hatred, better able to verbalize but still likely to say mean things) and helped me carry the rest of the stuff up from my car. Then I talked to my parents (who probably think I had an awful time at the wedding - they should have talked to me yesterday, when I was all happy and weepy at the wedding and then excited and eager to have fun at the reception), and then Terry ordered pizza and we debriefed on all the wedding action and watched some tv. And now I really, really, really need to sleep - I'm no longer bitter or particularly regret-filled, but I will be if I don't sleep tonight. Goodnight!

it's a nice day for a white wedding

Lauren and Nathan are married! Really, that's all the detail you need. I am beyond thrilled for them, and had such an awesome day getting ready and celebrating with them. Actually, I woke up at five a.m. because I was so excited (or hungover, not clear), and I didnt really sleep after that. Oops. Anyway, I had a lovely time getting ready - I'm low maintenance, but compared to the other bridesmaids I'm like a makeup addict, so the hair and makeup artists had fun with me. Beyond that, I'm so happy that I got to hang out with Lauren while she prepared - it was so awesome, and she looked beautiful. And when she started to panic five minutes before the ceremony and all the new mothers on her bridal party (since all the bridesmaids other than me had babies under a year old) were just panicking as well, I calmly did what I'm trained to do - I found a bottle of tequila and some limes, and Lauren, her sister, and I had small shots before progressing to the future.

Anyway, the wedding was beyond awesome. The tables were gorgeous, the food was wonderful, and I got to sit by the people who have my love and yet spurn it (aka Vidya and kafria$. And the reception and band were awesome, and I had a small afterparty that resulted in jessica getting body checked, but that's the price you pay, rights? nd now I have to vote - good luck!

[editors note from the next morning: I never go back and fix typos, so I will let the last paragraph go unchanged despite it being a trainwreck, but in my defense I was typing on my iPad while falling asleep, and it autocorrected me in some strange ways. Not really sure how Katrina became kafria$, but maybe I'll start calling her that all the time]

but i won't stop until that boy is mine

I need to go to bed right now - I need to get up in eight hours to get ready for this wedding that I'm in (have you heard about it?), so sleep is vital if I'm going to look great in the photos without presenting too much of a challenge to the makeup artist (although if she's an artiste, she's surely up for it). Today was a lovely celebration of Lauren and Nathan (mostly Lauren) - I hung out with Lauren this morning and made her some eggs using whatever I scrounged up in her kitchen, and then we went down to Carmel-by-the-Sea (see previous post) for a lunch hosted by her grandmother (whom they all call Beauty) for the bridesmaids and immediate female relatives. It was totally lovely, and the food was to die for, which seems to be a theme at this wedding.

Post lunch, Lauren, Devon (her twin), and I went for manis and pedis before heading back to the ranch (which sounds waaaaay more rustic than it is) for rehearsal. After we were properly rehearsed, we went into Carmel Valley (see previous post) for the rehearsal dinner, which was v fitting with the vibe for this weekend - a fabulously gorgeous venue and a casual but delicious food offering. They had a taco truck (which doesn't do justice to how delicious the tacos were - I should have had ten of them), and the brought out hot chocolate and churros to finish it off. And my toast went quite well, if I do say so myself - I achieved the optimal alcohol:coherency ratio and was able to say what I wanted to say, so yay.

Post dinner, we adjourned to a wine tasting room across the street for welcome reception for everyone who was already in town, where I reunited with Terry after a v traumatic 32 hours apart. And I continued my quest to meet everyone at the wedding - I should have gotten them to stamp a card for me or something. We shut the place down (sorry, liver, and sorry face, which has to try to not look puffy in the photos tomorrow) at 10:30ish, and then John, Jess, and I played dice in the game room at the ranch (again, not rustic) and caught up since I've been a total hermit for days (weeks, months). But now, sleep. And tomorrow, if all goes well, Lauren and Nathan will get married - and, since I introduced them, they will owe me forever. Yay to indebtedness! Goodnight!

show me a garden that's bursting into life

I am in Carmel Valley, which is not to be confused with Carmel-by-the-Sea for reasons that should be obvious to anyone with a moderate grasp of the English language. I spent the morning getting ready and eating a subpar breakfast, but I left all of that behind me and drove down here this afternoon, with a brief but crucial stop in Gilroy to procure clear deodorant and a venti-sized vat of caffeine.

Properly fueled, I made it down to Carmel Valley around 3:45 and checked into my room, which is gorgeous and close as one can possibly be to the wedding venue (the ceremony is approximately a thirty second walk from my door). I hung out and made some notes about Nick and Ellie from the musings I mused on the way down, and then hung out with Lauren's mom and sister while waiting for Lauren and Nathan to come back from their massage. Suffice it to say that the venue is gorgeous, the wedding party is entertaining, and I think this is going to be a super fun break from my recent hermitville.

But the fun started tonight with a dinner for Lauren and Nathan's families to meet each other - or perhaps it was for them to meet me, since I was the only person there who both a) wasn't related to anyone else in attendance and b) didn't work at the restaurant. But it was really fun to meet all of them - and there were a lot of them, since Nathan's mom came from a family of ten and Lauren's parents have several siblings each (and Lauren has three siblings as well; Nathan's sisters weren't in town yet). I sat right in the thick of the action, across from Lauren and her siblings and next to her dad, who I think I could have gotten well and truly sloshed with had I not (prudently) volunteered to drive. I say prudently because I can't turn down free wine unless I'm driving, but I had already sternly warned myself to save my epic hangover for Sunday morning, since I have responsibilities tomorrow and can't look obviously hungover in the wedding photos on Saturday. I have so much restraint, I know.

sssanyway, the families are lovely, and since it takes me several rounds of meeting people before I remember their names, I'm glad I got some practice tonight. And now I really need to sleep - it seems like everyone in the world gets up earlier than I do these days, so I can't loaf around in my pajamas until noon tomorrow. Life is hard. Goodnight!

i can feel it coming in the air tonight

Must go to bed...I'm leaving for Carmel sometime tomorrow, which means that I need to get up in the morning and get dressed sometime before six p.m. (which may or may not be when I showered today...although since I put on new sweatpants after showering, I'm not really sure what that grooming accomplished). But I did everything today that I needed to do: write ten pages and pack my suitcase. And I had dinner with Terry, which was lovely. And I did several New York Times crosswords, which is my latest procrastinatory addiction (I've taken a break from my newfound love of knitting).

And...that's all. Sorry, I'm boring. But this weekend promises to be less boring, if only because I will have some alcohol and that always brings out the best in my blogging. That's a depressing thought, and I hope it's not actually true. But we shall find out this weekend - for now, it's time for bed!

i seen the lights go down on broadway

Sorry for missing last night - I had nothing to report. I don't really have anything to report today either, but I figured my mother would be v. sad if I didn't blog, so I shall come up with something. I spent the morning reading about the hurricane/superstorm and cleaning up the kitchen, and then I drove down to the glorious south bay to have lunch with Alyssa (remember her?). I'm not planning to start training with her again anytime soon, since I don't particularly enjoy driving down south three times a week to be tortured and then parted with my money, but I found myself missing her and so we got together for lunch instead. She seemed to be in good form, and it was good to catch up, so yay to that.

After Alyssa, I wrote for a couple of hours, then returned to the man to have coffee with a friend who recently started working for the Play team on the ebook offerings. Naturally, I had many, many opinions, so I perhaps overwhelmed him, but it was good to see him and I do like rambling about my pet passions, so that was fun. Then I went to Stanford library and spent a few hours pouring over books and maps and other tings. And now I should sleep - much writing needs to happen tomorrow if I am to go to Carmel without feeling guilty. Goodnight!

i was alone, staring over the ledge, trying my best not to forget

No words left...I woke up at Heather and Salim's, had dim sum with them (ill advised, since I'm allergic to it), sat in their backyard for a bit, contemplated going to Stanford library, and instead came home. And while I was home, I got caught up in stories - both my Regency story, which is destroying me, and my super secret non-gargoyle young adult project, which is clamoring to be written (probably because I shouldn't be thinking about it right now). So, I played the hermit, refusing dinner invitations and possible fun times to stay focused on all the words buzzing inside my head.

And now that you've wrung that many words out of me, I need to go to sleep - tomorrow I must get all those words out of my head and onto the page. Goodnight!

it's just I'm home less than I like to be

I'm typing on my iPad, so this will be brief - I woke up, did stuff around the house, ate some leftover moussaka, and then drove to Stanford to work at the library for a few hours. I didnt write as much as I intended, but I wrote several pages about the endgame plot and my have figured it out, so I'll take it. Then I met up with Terry and a friend of hers for some fiesta - they waited to go in until I showed up, since the waitstaff inexplicably loves me and brings us free guacamole even though I'm far from a regular.

And now I'm spending the night at heather and salim's - a planned sleepover, not a tequila-induced one like last time. I plan to have breakfast with them, and then go back to Stanford and write - wish me luck!

crazy train

No words left...I wrote quite a bit (and had a big breakthrough related to that secondary character I was doubting last night), then made moussaka, which was a two-hour endeavor to rid myself of some extra eggplant/hamburger/milk. The moussaka was successful, although I think I didn't love it because I spent so long making it that it was rather anticlimactic to eat it. And I watched the second game of the World Series, and played on my ipad, and talked to Terry. And now that I've exerted myself far too much on this blog post, it's time for bed - goodnight!

you can't carry it with you if you want to survive

True to my prediction, I didn't feel so hot this morning, and so I only managed to write a couple of pages over a medicinal dose of huevos rancheros at the cafe down the street. I had to throw in the towel early because I had an appointment for an afternoon of pampering to make me look more like a girl and less like a troll for Lauren's wedding next week. My old hair stylist is dead to me (or, not dead, but rather has moved to Minnesota, and it took me several months to come to terms with my loss and decide to seek out someone else), but I found a new stylist at her old salon who gave me a great haircut and an even awesomer blowout, so that's nice. And I got my eyebrows tinted and waxed by the eyebrow goddess there, and I also got a facial from her since I hadn't had a facial in months and months. And now my skin is fresh, my hair is pretty, and my eyebrows don't look like my grandfather's, so I think I'm ready for wedding pictures.

After all that, I went to the mall to buy shoes for the wedding, and I settled on a pair of nude pumps that I've been coveting for awhile anyway and had no reason to buy before because I am mostly barefoot these days. Then I grabbed an early supper at the mall, came home, and watched the first game of the World Series - and it will shock you to know that I turned it on on my own, without even waiting for Terry to get home. Amazing. After that, I got nothing done, but that's okay - tomorrow is a better day, and I need to sleep on the story anyway since a random new character showed up (or is about to show up - she's standing in the doorway of the room where Nick and Ellie are) and I need to decide who she is, what she wants, what she looks like, and whether she's even necessary or whether my imagination is spitting out random secondary characters who should stay buried in my brain for another day. Goodnight!

leave all your love and your loving behind

I'm in a much better mood than I was last night at this point. Also, I'm drunk. I would like to pretend that that's correlation, not causation, but I'm not sure I can tell you that with a straight face.

But first, the beginning. I woke up this morning and succeeded in not obsessing over the internets, thanks to my sim card being in my v. old-school dumbphone that I got in Singapore three years ago - I can receive calls and texts just fine, but I can't check my email or my goodreads reviews or my amazon sales stats on it, so that's an automatic win in terms of preserving my peace of mind. So I got up, took a shower, went downstairs, made myself some delish eggs (scrambled eggs with onions, andouille sausage, and cheese) and some coffee, and enjoyed my breakfast while reading my hometown paper from last week (highlights: they misspelled 'crowd' in a headline on the front page, and there was a pic of a woman spinning wool *directly from* her angora rabbit). Then I stewed over my book, and eventually walked up to the Peet's at Bush and Van Ness, where I wrote four pages or so while waiting for my car to be finished.

The car was done around 4pm, which was two hours later than I had planned, which put me behing on my dinner preparations. I'm over how much I spent on it; it wasn't the money that bothered me as much as not being an expert at all things and so not knowing whether this was something that was truly necessary vs. somewhat necessary vs. a total ripoff. You all know that I like to be right about everything, so this reaction will not surprise you. sssanyway, after the dealership, I went to Whole Foods to get some groceries, and then I came home and embarked on a v. fast death march towards dinner. I was hosting book club tonight, and I was making only things I've never made before, so that added to the stress...

...but it all turned out wonderfully. I bought the appetizers (guac and hummus), but the entree was a roasted eggplant and garlic soup that was *amazing*, if I do say so myself. It was amazing enough anyway because it is both gluten free and dairy free, which is v. hard to find in the "tasty" category of entrees. But the taste was lovely; it required roasting the eggplant, onion, carrot, and celery first (as well as roasting the garlic in a separate pouch), then combining it with broth, potato, tahini, garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas), salt, pepper, and lemon juice, and then pureeing it with my immersion blender. It came out seeming v. fancy and delicious, but it was quite easy to prepare - I would totally make it again. And I plan to try some of the other soups in the cookbook; my parents gave me this Culinary Institute of America Book of Soups for Christmas (at my behest) one year, but I was kind of daunted by the recipes...and now I am no longer daunted, so if you're reading this, perhaps someday you'll benefit!

I also made a gluten free apple crisp, using my Gram's recipe but substituting a speciality gluten-free flour mix for the regular mix, and it turned out perfectly. And we drank two bottles of wine (or rather, we split two bottles of wine, of which I had approximately 3/4s of a bottle myself since most people had to drive). And we discussed TURN OF MIND, which was mostly a discussion of how sad all of us were about the people we knew who had dementia, but it seemed the everyone really 'enjoyed' the book (if 'enjoyed' is the right word, which it's not entirely). And now I must really sleep, since I am sure I'm going to be hung over in the morning and I need to recover just enough to go get my brows waxed (and tinted, since they're going white, ugh) and my hair cut, and go to the mall to get shoes for Lauren's wedding. Goodnight!

the worst things in life come free to us

I'm kind of unbearably sad tonight...I would claim that I don't know the cause of it, but I'm pretty sure it's a combination of spending $3500 to fix my car and reading a novel with a main character who is succumbing to dementia. The car was unexpected because I took it in for a checkup (which it, admittedly, desperately needed, since I get the oil changed regularly but pretty much ignore all other routine maintenance) and they told me they had to replace the power steering rack or some shit. Boo. The book was more expected, since I chose to read it, but it really put me in the worst mood ever....

...and I suppose the reason it put me in the worst mood ever is obvious, since both my grandmothers and one of my great-grandmothers had some pretty serious dementia. Gram Wampler is still alive, but has slipped quite a bit, while Gram Holder passed away in 2004 and my Great-grandma Wampler died while we were in Ukraine, at which point she hadn't been able to speak for years. Tragic.

The book, TURN OF MIND, is really, really good, though; it was written by one of my creative writing teachers at Stanford, and she did a masterful job of capturing the decline in cognitive function and language ability and social skills and all the rest. The narrator is first-person for the most part, told from the perspective of a former orthopedic surgeon who is sliding into dementia and is also suspected of killing her best friend (although she can't remember whether she did or not). And I'm really glad to have read it, but I think it's going to haunt me. And it will probably haunt me because I saw too much of myself in the other characters, who slowly slip away from the main character because they have their own lives and can't stomach having the same fucking conversation over and over and over again, knowing she'll never remember it.

I don't really know what I'm trying to say here. I suppose it will haunt me because it made me think about what my feelings for my grandmothers tell me about who I am, and I'm not sure I like the answer. Is the impatience I feel toward them just my standard defense mechanism, where I've pre-grieved for them years before they're ever gone because it's easier for me to pretend that they're already dead and nothing but a memory? Or is that impatience something colder, more selfish -- a frozen heart, rather than one that can't handle the heat of its emotions? I suspect that my heart is a blocked, simmering volcano, not a frozen wasteland -- but that's probably why I'm struggling with Ellie and Nick right now, since I'm having trouble forcing myself to stay still and listen to all the long-buried emotions that I'm bleeding into their story, when all I want to do is burn everything and move to Thailand and forget that I ever wanted to be a writer, forget that I ever felt anything for anyone, and live in a moment where there are no choices and no divergent paths and no alternate lives that may or may not have been happier than the one I've found myself in.

Sorry, I should have posted a melodrama alert at the beginning. Tomorrow will be better, or at least cheaper, and I will hopefully drag myself out of this black mood (or at least channel it into the end of Nick and Ellie's story, which is fast approaching and would be approaching even faster if I could stop being sad about them). Goodnight!

can't you see what you've done to my heart and soul

The rain is coming down in San Francisco, thus ending our lovely October summer. Or perhaps it's not the end - but it feels like it must be. And I, for one, am glad to be free of our tyrannical sun overlord, since I like huddling up under down comforters and have a lot of flannel pajamas to rotate through.

I would have done more huddling today, in fact, but a) it wasn't raining yet and b) I had commitments. No writing got done, but I did spend some quality time with my roommate. True to our forms, I talked to her about survival gear and preparing for the apocalypse, and she dragged me to Bloomingdale's so she could buy a sweater and some boots. I may be able to keep us hydrated, but she's clearly going to look hotter while we're dying. Bitch.

The preparation book I started reading this morning is hilarious - as I told Terry, my decision was to buy a prepper book by one of the crazies, and then tone it down to fit my own views on the likelihood of an apocalyptic event that requires me to leave the city immediately. This book is all about building a 'bug-out bag' (BOB) with stuff needed to survive the first seventy-two hours - at which point you should have reached your 'bug-out location' (BOL), which you have already prepared as a safe haven. Nowhere in the book does he discuss that there are plenty of emergencies where having a BOB is a great idea, but where it's also going to be fine to hang out in your home (or near it) while services are restored. Apparently, in his view, whenever there's a disaster, you make a run for your BOL and then ask questions later.

What I would find particularly hilarious is that if all these people who have built secret hideaways in the Rockies/Utah/Idaho/Nevada were all prepared for a major cataclysmic event...and then that event turned out to be the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano, which would bury all of them under several inches/feet of ash. But I digress.

Anyway, the book is interesting, and at some point I'll figure out what's useful vs. what's crazy and start planning from there. Eventually, Terry and I went to the mall, then came home, and then I drove to the glorious south bay and had dinner with Alaska Matt, his wife Kia, and their (relatively) new baby, which was awesome - I hadn't seen them in ages, so it was good to catch up. And now I'm home and desperately need to go to bed; writing *must* happen tomorrow, and I must also go back to my short-lived vow to avoid phone and laptop since my neck is killing me. And how am I going to carry a BOB from here to my BOL with a sore neck? Goodnight!

you make me feel like i've been locked out of heaven

Today got off to an unusual start - I woke up at 5:30 a.m., which is v. v. unusual since I now only get up before eight if I have a romance writer meeting (once a month) or an early flight. But I didn't plan to wake up at 5:30 - instead, it was forced upon me because the fire alarm in my bedroom started chirping. If there was any way to keep sleeping through it, I would have, but it proved impossible, and so I put on pants and glasses and drove to Safeway to buy a battery. Then I came home, installed the battery, went back to bed, and slept until ten, thus demonstrating my dedication to my sleep.

When I finally woke up, I messed around on the internet, made a hamburger for breakfast/lunch (perhaps that's weird, but I had a package of hamburger I needed to use and there's really nothing better than a hamburger any time of day), spilled a whole glass of iced tea in the living room (no ill effects other than to my temper), and then settled in to write. I didn't get as much done as I would have liked to, but that's okay; I finished the scene that I was working on, and then made the mistake of taking a break to go to Philz and get a coffee and some fresh coffee beans. When I got home, I instead turned my attention to watching the last bit of Big Game while organizing my emails - I didn't *answer* any emails, but I archived everything I don't need to answer, which is actually progress in my book.

But I had to stop messing around eventually because I had a party in the south bay tonight and I had to shower/dry my hair/put on makeup/put on heels like a normal employed girl (which I am certainly not, if my aching feet are any indication - I can barely tolerate heels anymore). The party was a joint birthday party for the big boss (remember her?) and the big boss's husband, who I had also worked pretty closely with way back in the day. I had a great time, since I got to catch up with a lot of people that I worked with when I worked with her, including both people who are still at Google and people who have moved on to Twitter, Facebook, etc., etc. And I got to chat with the big boss and her husband, of course, and admire their house, which is totally gorgeous and makes me feel like I'm living in a hovel (albeit a hovel with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the roof deck, so as hovels go, it's not too bad).

And then I came home, glad that I am writing romance novels and not answering emails for a living (since I'm clearly terrible at email now, and it's only getting worse). And now I shall go to sleep and attempt to write more tomorrow - goodnight!

when i see your face

Nothing at all to report today...I suffered through my hangover, did some writing, did some errand-running, did some eating, and did some tv-watching with Terry. Yes, boring. But I will continue to be boring until I'm done with the current draft of the book, so get used to it. And now I shall sleep so that I can write more tomorrow - goodnight!

long nights, strange men

If I were to draw a picture of my blood alcohol level for today, it would look like a two-humped camel (aka Bactrian, although perhaps I shouldn't have reveal that I know that). Or, perhaps my picture of a Bactrian camel would look like my alcohol consumption - I'm such a bad artist that any squiggly line could be meant to stand in for any other squiggly line. Sorry.

sssanyway, I was actually productive today, despite that inauspicious opening paragraph. I woke up, did a bunch of work, typed ten manuscript pages into my laptop, and had just started writing new stuff when the cleaners showed up. Yes, this is a first world problem. But since they seem to prefer if I'm not here while they clean, and I have no desire to hang out and watch them and feel guilty about my overly posh life, I immediately left. I had to go to the post office anyway, so I did that...and then I was walking back toward my place, with the intention of going to Starbucks and writing. But I got seduced by the vision of an outdoor table at a bar, since it was a legitimately warm day in the city (not 60 degrees, but like 80 degrees - unheard of). So I got a glass of white wine and intended to sit there and write while nursing my glass. Instead, I had three glasses of wine and some ceviche, and I overheard the most ridiculous conversation ever from an unemployed 47-year-old who seems to enjoy sleeping with married women with low self esteem (his 'friend' turned to me as soon as the guy went to the bathroom and said that he hadn't seen the guy in years, which is a clear sign of how ridic it all was). But, I still managed to write four pages, so I'll take it. And really, days like this come v. rarely to San Francisco, so I have no regrets.

Or rather, I would have had no regrets if it had ended there. Instead, I came home at 7 and made the brilliant move/mistake of texting Adit, who promptly said that he could have dinner at nine p.m. (I'll chalk this up as research into how Regency people lived, since they ate/drank/partied nonstop). That gave me just enough time to sober up for a bit before I met Adit and had another two cocktails + some truly delicious food at Delarosa. Even that might have been survivable, but he missed his bus, and so we had another cocktail at Mauna Loa, which was definitely not advised. But it was good to see him on his own, since it's been months and months since we've done a proper catch-up. And I got home at midnight, which is an hour earlier than Terry estimated, so I'll count that as a win. And now I should really sleep so that I can write through my hangover tomorrow -- goodnight!

there'll be peace when you are done

Sorry for not blogging last night; I was already in bed when I remembered that I hadn't blogged yet, and as nothing particularly exciting had happened, I didn't feel the need to get out of bed just to tell you that I am boring. And that sad fact continues to be true today - I only left the house to check my mail and to sit up on the roof, and I spent the whole day alternating between writing, cooking, and obsessing over natural disasters. I fully recognize that cooking and obsessing were merely attempts to procrastinate from the writing.

But the cooking was excellent - I made home fries with andouille sausage for breakfast, with two eggs over easy to enjoy with them, and I was v. v. happy as a result. And the disaster obsession was...interesting. I recognize that I'm a little OCD about being prepared for stuff, and my current level of preparedness for earthquakes is less than I would like it to be. Google gave me an earthquake kit once, and it's still in my car, but it's like five or six years old at this point, and I'm sure some of the stuff has expired. And I have shoes and a first aid kit under my bed, and a bunch of year-old bottled water in the storage unit, but that's not really a plan. I was randomly adding stuff to my Amazon cart as I thought of it, but then I scaled back and just bought a disaster preparedness guide (trying to find one that is reasonable without trying to convince you that you need a second way-off-the-grid home deep in the woods + a beater truck converted to run on biodiesel + two years' worth of beans is surprisingly difficult).

And, despite my decision to hold off on buying anything until I have a plan, I also bought a really cool solar-chargeable AM/FM/NOAA weather radio. While we never have weather in California, it feels strange to me not to have a weather radio given the reliance on them in my hometown, and this model is particularly cool because you can also charge your smartphone from it, which seems like an incredibly useful feature. If you want one, you can get it here.

In other news, I wrote several pages of zee romance novel, so that's good. And I hung out with Terry, which was also good. And now, I must sleep so that I can continue being productive tomorrow, hopefully without being convinced that the world is going to end (which may just be wishful thinking on my part, since if the world ends I don't have to finish this book). Goodnight!

and in a pipe she flies to the motherland

Today took a v. abrupt, v. welcome left turn, which means I wrote about sixty words instead of six thousand words. I got up, puttered around the house, and then walked down the street to have breakfast at a cafe and reread the last ten pages of my manuscript so that I could figure out the next scene. I intended to walk to another cafe after that and work all afternoon...but instead, while I was eating, I got a phone call from Walter (aka Harold, aka the Talbotross), who said that he was three hours away and asked whether I had time to hang out this afternoon. I threw caution to the winds and pretended that I am not writing a book so that I could hang out with him, since I would surely regret indulging my hermit tendencies at the expense of getting to catch up with Walter for the first time in over a year...and according to the blog, I last saw him March 28/29, 2011, which was quite some time ago indeed.

Anyway, Walter showed up and we hung out in my apartment for awhile, and then we walked down to the marina and looked at the water, the boats, and the woman who has trained pigeons to let her cuddle them (ew). Then we came back to my place, hung out some more, and then had dinner at Chow (much more satisfying and sanitary than watching a woman cuddle a pigeon). Then we met up with John and Jess for a drink (alcohol for me and John, hot chocolate for Jess and Walter, as life should be). And now I should really sleep; Walter brings out a purely crazy level of awkward/awesome in me, and I need to restore myself if I'm going to handle having breakfast with him - he's sleeping on my couch, so I will see him in the morning before he continues his trek north. Goodnight!

diamonds in the sky

This morning was rough, as is to be expected after last night's shenanigans. My mom said that when she first checked my blog this morning, I hadn't written yet, which is a testament to both how late I stayed up and how early she woke up. However, I would assume (I did not ask) that she did not wake up to an alarm that had been going off for awhile, the remnants of a bunch of daiquiris running through her veins, and the unwelcome knowledge that she had to get up and be presentable to a classy bridal shower in an hour. Bleh.

But, Terry wins the roommate award (stiff competition!) because she went to Starbucks and got me coffee, and also drove us to the shower and then dropped me off after so I could retrieve my car from where I'd left it last night. And I think I pulled off the appearance of sobriety and responsibility quite well at Lauren's shower, even if I was feeling just a bit out of my element since I was struggling through a hangover while most of her other guests were talking about their small children, their cats, etc. I don't have small children for obvious reasons, and I don't have a cat because I refuse to be a romance novelist who lives alone with a cat, so I just drank my water and tried to get my brain to work. The shower was v. lovely, though; it was at Lauren's house, but her mom made some v. delicious crustless quiche and a nice salad, and I really like Lauren's female relatives, so it was great to get to see them. And the shower was garden themed, so I got Lauren some of the deadheading/snipping shears that my mom likes and a bunch of seeds for various herbs and lettuces, so hopefully she enjoys them (and invites me over to eat the fruits of her labors next year).

After the shower, I came home and promptly collapsed into a nonverbal, dehydrated heap, and I ended up taking a nap before talking to my parents, who seem to be in good spirits. Then I put some clothes on (since I'd gone all out on my nap and put my nightgown on) and went downstairs, where I ate some tuna and watched tv with Terry and her sister for several hours. And now, I must sleep; I have to be over my hangover tomorrow so I can return to my no computer/no phone/no driving/tons of writing plan for the week. Goodnight!

i'd rather run the other way than stay and see

I don't even know what to say about today - it was like I had two days, since I had one fairly awful day, took a nap, and then had one fairly awesome day. The fairly awful day started with getting up at 7:45 so that I could shower, make coffee, and leave the house in time to make it to my romance meeting, where I had to tell the assembled throngs that I'm not running for VP of programs again next year - it's the right decision since so much is up in the air for me, but it still wasn't easy. And the projector didn't really work for one of the most visual presentations we've had this year (by a cover artist), which I felt some personal responsibility for even though there's nothing I could have done. Bleh. But as usual, it was good to hang out with some other writers, and I had lunch after with a couple of my favorite members, so that was fun.

Post meeting, I drove back to the city of sin and went to the Whole Foods in SOMA, where I stocked up on all the ingredients necessary to cook for the dinner party I was supposed to have tonight. I had planned to make boeuf bourguignon, mashed potatoes, gluten free chocolate chip cookies, etc., and I bought a bottle of wine for the boeuf and a bunch of chips and salsa to snack on while the food was cooking. However, as soon as I got home, I opened my back door and discovered, too late, that the wine had rolled up against the door, and when I opened the door it fell out and shattered in the garage, which took ten minutes to clean up. Stupid.

But worse was that just as I was putting the cookies in the over, Salim called and said they had to cancel. That left Alaska Matt and Kia (and their relatively new baby), and so I texted them saying that rather than cooking I would just order in, and they responded by flaking too. While I understand the flake on all sides, I was still pretty pissed off (not at them, at the general state of the world). So I put away the bouef ingredients, ate a row of chewies, knitted, and then slept for an hour. I was v., v., v. close to just staying in and indulging in a pity party...

...but Adit had planned his birthday party for tonight, and I finally, sternly, grimly convinced myself that I had to go (despite the fact that at this point I was already half asleep in my bed). So, I rallied, and I'm v. glad I did; as sometimes happens, I went from zero to six thousand, and so I had at least four hemingway daiquiris and part of a vodka cranberry (on a stomach filled only with chewies, which may have been a mistake). And I saw all the usual suspects - Adit, Priyanka, Vidya, Katrina, John, Jess, Cathy, Tom, Julie, Deano, Minnie, etc. The last small group of us closed out the bar at two a.m., and then Adit, Priyanka, Chandlord, two other peeps, and I ended up at Grubstake, where I v. much enjoyed some v. cheesy potato skins in an old, converted trolley car. Yes, I'm such a hipster.

And now I really must sleep; I have a shower to attend in the morning, which is going to be super brutal, and at some point I need to retrieve my car and write ten pages. Goodnight!