Scarlett Letters

Yep, I'm back in Oregon (what is it about this place?). I'm staying with jaylake for a couple of days prior to his next scan. It also means I'll get to see some other tasty folk, including davidlevine, kateyule, and calendula_witch among others.

My original plan for yesterday was to leave Seattle at about noon. Early in the morning, I took the car in for an oil change, which meant the car getting a full inspection thrown in. We discovered the need for a transmission flush and new rear tires (one tire had two nails and one patch in it--it was no longer safe). This ended up delaying my departure by an extra 90 minutes and costing more than I'd planned. I did not, however, want to drive ~200 miles in an unsafe vehicle (which was the point of getting the oil change to begin with, since I hadn't done that in longer than I care to admit). At any rate, the drive down was pleasant and without incident, and the car ran much better, much quieter than it has in a while. I arrived in time for dinner.

Random notes from the last few days:
-- Whether you're 7 or 12, reading includes one part sounding out words, one part guessing, and one part inserting letters that aren't there. "T" seems to be a favorite.
-- I still suck at math that includes fractions (which is why I prefer working with decimals). I still need to resort to visual aids to help remind me of simple, stupid things like 2/5s is larger than 2/15s. ::sigh::
-- Outlet malls are more fun than regular malls, but I still can't figure out why. Prices are no longer the bargains they used to be. Maybe it's the fun of thinking you'll get a deal. But the whole no-sales-tax-in-Oregon thing? Awesome.

1. Spanky has found the new recycling bin (i.e., a cardboard box). He has curled up inside it and made it his own.

2. Had dinner and cupcakes with ironymaiden and melkhab this evening--a perfect catch-up.

3. Merlin has decided that the only places he will deign to sit or curl up are on my bed, a gold chenille pillow, or some part of my body. He occasionally resorts to one particular spot by a window or, more rarely, the kitchen table, but otherwise, he's pretty much decided on these three places. I suppose that, at nearly 19, he figures he can pretty much do what he wants. I admit an aversion to arguing with him. I raised him from a kitten and he's ancient now. And yet, he still leaps like a five year old.

4. My shoulder still hurts. I've been doing my physical therapy exercises and going to sessions, but I'm still experiencing pretty regular pain. It's just kind of exhausting.

5. My friend M arrives tomorrow night from SoCal, coming into town for her 40th birthday. She's treating herself and a small group of friends, myself included, to some genuine luxury. I'll journal about it as the weekend progresses.

Tired now. Bedtime.

1. After last night's ill-advised binge (though I suppose binges are always ill-advised), this morning my body feels awful and I'm not hungry. It's habit keeps me thinking about breakfast.

2. Last night I dreamed about meeting women whom I knew as children at an open house/estate sale for a condominium in New York City. One of them had a tween-aged daughter who looked a lot like madrobins' daughter, based on the photos she recently posted. This dream may have been provoked, in part, by the anticipation of a trip to Snohomish (one of the antiquing capitols of Washington state), with e_bourne this weekend.

3. Took the bus to work yesterday, a trial balloon for doing it more regularly now that gas prices have in fact reached $4.00 per gallon here in Seattle. It wasn't great but it wasn't awful. The morning bus was, predictably given gas prices, more crowded than I have seen it the few times I've done this before. I enjoyed having the time to read and to actually listen carefully to NPR during the trip. The most annoying thing about it was waiting 20 minutes for my connection in downtown Seattle on the way home. It feels like an enormous waste of time. Still, it did save me a day's gas costs. I'm taking the car today mainly because I have things to do immediately after work that require transportation independence. But I may try to take the bus a couple of times a week from now on. The walking will be good for me and with the weather getting nicer (slooooowly) the fresh air will probably do me good as well.

4. I'm really happy we're heading into a three-day weekend. Time for everything I want to do. And maybe a little extra. We shall see.

5. My expectations for the new Indiana Jones film have been appropriately set by reviews and friends' LJ posts: not great but not bad (sort of like my bus experience). I can live with that. Don't know when I'm going to see the film; want to do it soon.

The last week-plus has been something of a personal rollercoaster, the details of which I won't get into here. Suffice it to say that I think the worst of the storm has past, and we're now returning to regularly scheduled programming.

Spent a big portion of the weekend priming the upstairs room with an able assist from joyful_storm. I find myself regretting, slightly, the liberal splotches of color I applied to the walls to see how they'd look. The regret is only slight, since they more than served their purpose, but because of their depth and richness, it's going to take many coats of primer to eliminate their presence before the final colors can be applied. Also? I'm not tall enough for this work, even with a ladder (or perhaps it's just that I don't feel secure enough at the top of a ladder).

I'm trapped in the middle of the book and unsure how to navigate my way through the muddle. I may end up doing the index-card exercise to see if I can't break it down and build it up in a way that makes enough sense for me to finish the damn thing. I'm beginning to not like it very much, but I think that's frustration more than dislike of the material.

Saw a beautifully restored version of "Metropolis" yesterday in the company of markbourne, e_bourne, ironymaiden and her C, in celebration of e_bourne's birthday. Between the restored scenes and seeing it on the big screen, it was like seeing an entirely different film than the one I know, and what a difference! Fritz Lang was a freakin' genius. The film was a feast, and the company quite fine.

Heard my first Christmas music on the radio on Friday evening driving home from work. "And so it begins," I found myself thinking. "The holidays are upon us." It felt a little like a tolling doom--weird, since I'm genuinely looking forward to Thanksgiving.

I have just enough chorus music to learn to be concerned at this point, with a performance looming on December 2. Hark, hear the bells....

I often have a hard time getting myself moving in the morning. It's not that I have trouble getting out of bed (especially today, when I woke at 5:30 AM and couldn't go back to sleep). It's more about planning and attitude. Well, last night I did my planning and this morning I had the right attitude. I got quite a bit done, got out of the house and ran the necessary errands, took a good walk, and did the writing I'd promised myself. I suspect there will be more tonight.

My reward for being productive today was to watch my DVD of Pride & Prejudice (the most recent version, a white elephant gift from gaelfarce, who coincidentally called in the midst of my watching). I find myself just adoring this movie. I often avoid contemporary romantic films, but I'm a sucker for a period piece, which is why this film, along with the Amanda Root/Ciarin Hinds Persuasion, Casablanca, Sense & Sensibility, and even Bell, Book, and Candle get such regular play around here. And in the wake of this feast of a film with its wonderful score, I'm feeling all floaty and, frankly, a little stupid-happy.

There will be dinner and, like I said, a little more writing, and probably a little tidying up around here. God knows it could use it.

Oh, and the cats? The cats are blowing their coats like nobody's business. Spanky's been shedding for about a ten days now, but Merlin's finally shedding in earnest. Only problem is, his fur is so fine that brushes barely catch it. I have to pet and pet him to get the fur out. As you can imagine, he just hates that.

I don't know what I did with today. Well, I took a walk. I paid bills. I napped. I spent a lot of time photographing things I want to put on eBay and then discovering that, given the secondary market, it may not be worth putting some of them out there. And after all that work, the thought of listing stuff tonight that I actually will be able to sell is repugnant. No eBay for me tonight.

I only barely worked on my scene for acting class, which means I have a lot of work to do tonight and tomorrow.

I'm restless as hell. Sitting at the computer is making me antsy, which makes writing nearly impossible.

And I think I've hit the equivalent of the muddle in the middle when it comes to the household purge. I'm looking around here and wondering if I'm just pushing stuff around rather than accomplishing anything useful.

Yeah, it's one of those evenings.

Hope I'll be able to sleep tonight. My pattern's been really peculiar lately.

May be going south this weekend. Decision tomorrow, methinks.

May be changing Kenya to Romania so as to travel sooner and less expensively, to help dig up a Roman fort, and to tromp the land of my people (my great grandmother, specifically). I'm told I'd blend in. Decision this weekend, methinks.

May be putting stories in the mail this week. Waiting for protocol answers from Those In The Know about particular issues, first.

Definitely had a good acting class tonight. We worked on improvs that will inform the scenes we'll be working on as we move forward. I have an actor friend who doesn't get the idea behind improvs, and I suppose that's true of some actors. But on the occasions when I've worked an improv to help flesh out a scripted scene, it's always helped me get a better emotional handle on what's happening, how I should be acting and reacting, what I should be watching for, how I should be watching. And tonight, my instructor said something to me that is analogous to something KKR said to me about writing. My instructor said, "You just learn the scene and play it any way you like. Let the director adjust things as needed." How is this analogous to what KKR said? Well, she said, "You just write the best story you can. Let the editor decide whether or not she'll publish it." Seems similar enough to me to constitute some kind of universal truth about creativity.

Merlin's curled up next to me, snoring. Perhaps I ought to get to the whole snoring thing myself.

People on my flist are posting interesting things, so here's this morning's scarlettina meta-filter:

matociquala on what to do when you run out of plot.

mimerki reveals that the Navy has produced a working railgun. Gamers rejoice. Godless commies beware. Narns: protests against this first-ever mass driver will commence tonight!

grubb_street contemplates the Flintstones theme song and alternate interpretations thereof. I myself have yet a third interpretation.

And for good measure: The Poe toaster strikes again. Someone get me some cognac.

I brought a new vacuum yesterday. It's blue and it looks like a starship. Or a space probe. Or some other science fictiony thingie. The carpet is no longer crunchy. Spanky has no more love for this machine than he did for my old Eureka World-Vac. Merlin, apparently, remains unmoved by technology.

Wrote 250 words yesterday. Better than none. I hope to improve upon that today.

Spring concert title and information (what little we have) are off to ladyjestocost for initial design. We're ahead! We've never gotten concert information out to a post designer before the previous concert went up. I'm thrilled.

That's all for now. I'm sure you're absolutely compelled by these fascinating details.

I think my gastric reflux has returned. No, I'm sure it's returned, and I'm not happy about it. I have COBRA and so I should probably go to the doctor about it, but I should have made the call, like, last Friday and didn't and still haven't. If I had any brains at all, I'd adjust my eating habits. As it happens, I seem to have no brains and no motivation. Big surprise. I just want to feel well enough to go to varina8's party this evening.

Rumor has it that the winds are returning tonight. It was and still is as still as statues outside today, though: no wind, some light rainfall, and nothing to indicate especially inclement weather except for thickly overcast skies. It's pitch black outside right now and I've no idea what to expect for the rest of the evening. I did go to the grocery store today to purchase fresh batteries and food that doesn't need to be cooked or refrigerated, just in case. Besides my jaunt to the post office, it was the only thing of any substance that I achieved today.

Come holiday time, I will often save any gift packages I receive in the mail to be opened one per night of Chanukah because it's nice to have gifts to look forward to. Tonight's package was a gift I purchased for myself. As you know, Bob, I spent quite a bit of time on eBay in service of the auction to benefit jaylake's neighbor the last couple of weeks. One of the side effects of being on eBay is, well, being on eBay. Tonight's self-gift was a tiny little indulgence that I won an auction for, a Longaberger Proudly American Button Basket, protector, and liner, a sweet little thing with star-shaped rivets that will not only be useful but also nice to display. These baskets are collectibles (especially in the Midwest), to which I was turned on by brumbjorn back when she was a Longaberger representative, and every now and then I add one to my collection. They appreciate in value and at some point I may auction off some of mine. As things stand now, however, I use almost every one that I have pretty regularly and they give me pleasure so . . . yippee!

Nothing else of note to post at the moment. I am feeling pretty bleh and wishing for nonblehness. And I don't want to eat anything else because that will only exacerbate the blehness. Bleh. So there.