The past couple of days

[elfs]

I can't express my gratitude to too many of you today. The past four days have been such an affirmation of my writing work that I'm just stunned. Thanks so much.

On to mundanity. Friday, after whining to y'all, I came home and eat Omaha's stunningly wonderful dinner of sweet potato casserole, glazed ham and steamed asparagus. FallenPegasus joined us, having a rental while he waits to see if his own car is a total loss after his accident on Thursday. Yamaarashi-chan's mother wrote me that she'd used up the eye medicine too quickly and could I get more? I contacted the doctor and the pharmacy, but I'd have to wait until the next day. That was fine.

Saturday, I rose and made pancakes. At first, I worried that they were going to be too thin, but I let the batter rest for five minutes and it rose well; everything was delicious. After spending part of the day just messing around, mostly with my desktop machine, we headed out to the Children's Museum in order to see the "Jump To Japan" exhibit, which just thrilled the kids. It didn't thrill me; I missed most of the kid's introduction looking for a parking space, most of which were taken by the NCAA playoffs fans. But when I got the Kouryou-chan and Yamaarashi-chan were having a blast, playing with everything. There were a pair of "make your own animation" stations, mostly stop motion with cut-outs, which Yamaarashi-chan took to immediately. Kouryou-chan preferred the stencils and tracing. The presence of a fiberglass Nekobus was just wonderful for them; they're both big Totoro fans.

Sunday, I was lazy and bought donuts from the grocery store. It was such a beautiful day the girls were sent outside for most of the day, and so were Omaha and I as I raked leaves and trimmed trees and did all the things that one's supposed to do on the first beautiful day of Spring. Lunch was tuna fish and hot dogs and homemade coleslaw and potato chips.

Yamaarashi-chan complained that she was hungry "all day" and "when I'm hungry at my Mom's house, I just go get it." That's a habit that has to stop.

The girls leaped about in my leafpile and had a great time before I dumped everything in the compost bin. The retaining wall is almost done; we just need to get the last blocks from the man who still has them.

Monday, I took Lain in to be repaired. And I've been missing it ever since; it's like not having a left arm. I keep reaching for it and it's not there. I can't LJ, or read mail, or read Usenet, without being at home, tied to my desktop, and even then not efficiently; the filters and summarizers and other things that I've tuned over the years are all on Lain.

Saw the kestrel that lives along 509 this morning. It had what looked like a mouse in its beak. Got a lot done at work. I'm still wrapping my head around the scale of my project; one of the things I'm stuck on concerns the way Webware and FormTool interact. The Page objects have access to the Session and Request data, so the states of things like table sorters and filters and forms is all there-- but the Table and Forms themselves are separate. I need to figure out how to make the interaction between the two more dynamic and automatic. I'm tired of re-writing the world every time someone wants one little custom feature.

Ate lunch at The Steel Pig, a nifty new barbecue in Seattle. The pulled pork sandwich was incredibly tender and delicious, but the sauce was unremarkable, contrary to the review I linked. The woman who runs the place has a Kiwi accent; fascinating.

On the drive home, I saw a stereotype: a cute Japanese girl wearing a too-short-for-words white tennis skirt, a ruffled tube top, a loose blue sweater, black shoes and big gunky socks. Her outfit screamed, "Look, I'm kawaii!" She was walking with two other people and had a happy smile. Reminded me of the quote, "Pretty girls make people happy."

Here's a question for you: why don't I drink too much? It's supposed to be the disease of all writers. After taking Omaha to work tonight, I came home and made the traditional Monday night dinner: pasta and sauce. The sauce was especially good, since I decided to try Omaha's trick and add a tablespoon of honey, and we had fresh basil leaves. Mmmm. But as I cooked, I had a glass of wine and am currently pleasantly buzzed. That's about it, though, and I don't get this way often: about once a month. Given how much I like the sensation, I'm surprised I don't do it every day.

I think I just don't have an addictive personality. Dunno why. Either that or I've got my drug of choice and its name is coffee. Or sleep. Or sex. Or writing. Or, I've read too many stories about men who drank their lives away and I keep thinking that I've got too few seconds in a day to get things done to waste them, or the braincells.

I remember Christopher Hitchens joking that "The recommendation is for one glass a day. You cannot skip all week and then have six on Saturday; it does not work that way." I can barely find the time to have one a week, much less one day. It's supposed to be good for the heart.

"The Deliverator is a type-A driver with rabies."

Comments

[mouser.livejournal.com]

Drink is the disease of writers that are burned out, or have convinced themselves that writing makes them better people (ego) or actually are alcholics, etc.

Plus, they don't have anyone to bop them on the head and tell them to stop.

(It's also fallen out of vouge as being too cliche.)

[jenk]

I have known writers who find that a drink (or three) puts their "this isn't good enough" voice into a more relaxed mode. They consider this a good thing; they can write more and worry about it less.

I've known writers who find a drink (or three) is the only way they know how to let go of the current story and be "off duty".

I think both of the goals have their place, but I prefer other routes to those particular destinations.

interesting

[http://users.livejournal.com/dominic-m-/]

I never noticed this until now but a drink kinda loosens up the way I write and makes thoughts come out more clearly and with less inhibitions. Im not a drinker at ALL but im just remembering a few times that I had a hornsby(hard cider) or a glass of wine and the like that I seemed to enjoy writing much more whilst pleasently buzzed and enjoyed the finished produt more than usual(minus the editing for misspells). I doubt I will intententionally drink now and then just so I can write with inhibitions but its a cool thought to have if I want to write something and cant get it into words properly.

PSA- good for the heart

[glendower.livejournal.com]

Red wine is good for your heart-- just as good as red grape juice. The chemicals that protect your blood vessels are actually the pigment in the red or purple grape skins. Blueberries do it, too. ;)

[featheredfrog.livejournal.com]

It's obvious that you're feeling better. Perhaps the day:night ratio being above 1 for the first time in six months has something to do with it. In any case, good going!

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't know that either of those would work for me. I think caffeine is a better solution, truth to tell, since I tend to write very, very fast and then whack out tons of crud, leaving what is hopefully a coherent story in its wake. And my internal editor and I get along pretty well; it tells me what I've got is crap and the only way to fix it is to WRITE MORE!