Scarlett Letters

1) I had a perfectly marvelous 55th birthday, and I'm hoping that as I have begun, so shall I continue.

2) I have acquired new tap shoes that fit me better and I'm delighted with them. I took my first class in them yesterday. My feet felt better, I didn't get unreasonably tired, and I mastered the steps we were doing a little quicker, I think, for not having to compensate for shoes that were too long. I'm actually looking forward to practicing!

3) I am excited about the new Doctor. It was time for a woman and I find myself ready to reengage with the series. I liked Matt Smith well enough but found the storytelling in his seasons weirdly disjointed. I liked Peter Capaldi, but after disengaging with Matt Smith's Doctor, I found myself unable to reengage. I am curious and excited about Jodie Whittaker as 13. I'm in and look forward to her premiere. When, now, is the regeneration episode?

4) Farewell to actor Martin Landau and director/auteur George Romero. Landau looms largest in my experience as Commander Koenig of Moon Base Alpha in Space: 1999 and, of course, as Bela Lugosi in the film "Ed Wood." I know, I know, Mission: Impossible--but I was too young to be captured by it at the time. As for Romero, he changed the world with "Night of the Living Dead." He certainly changed the horror genre, giving us a new kind of monster that has survived generations and multiple iterations. Respect to both of these gentlemen.

5) I need to devote a couple of evenings to finishing laying down the ideas for the board game I've been thinking about. This idea will not let go.

It was awesome.

OK. Wait. That doesn't actually constitute a full and accurate description. Strike that. Let's begin again.

I had a couple of goals for the day: 1) See friends. 2) Do whatever I want.

See friends
I started the day with breakfast at Icon Grill in the company of EB and MO-K. I chose this location because the food is flat-out terrific and because I love the environment. I've purchased art off of its very walls and I love seeing what else might be available. I chose the company because it was bound to be fine, and it was. I had pancakes with strawberries and blueberries. It came with white-chocolate syrup, but I chose not to partake of that particular indulgence--too much, too sweet, too early. There was bacon. There was an egg. There was a mimosa. There was tea. There was excellent conversation. I left happy.

Do whatever I want
The heatwave that has been baking Seattle to a crisp finally broke on Thursday, which meant that I could finally enjoy my balcony a bit. I spent the next couple of hours sitting on said balcony on my folding beach chaise with a book and cats. Lovely, relaxing, good.

The afternoon, I spent at Apollo Nail Spa at the top of Queen Anne getting a mani-pedi in the company of, again, EB and MO-K. I chose my favorite neutral for my fingertips, mainly because it has a shimmery quality that I like and because if it chips, it's not crazy-obvious. For my toes, I picked a metal-flecked gold. My toenails look like they've been touched by King Midas. :-)

I had dinner at Roti with suricattus, whom I haven't seen in far too long. We talked books, books, books, and then headed over to this week's Clarion West party. A great many good folks were in attendance, too many to name check here, but enough of the local sf-f literati to make it a pleasant literary group. We decamped a little earlier than I would have preferred--but it was probably the better part of valor.

Sadly, I didn't sleep very well, with neighbors coming and going at all hours, and cats being, well, cats, it was a night of constantly interrupted sleep. There may be a nap later today. In fact, I'm pretty sure there will be.

All in all, though, it was a fine way to close out kind of a tough year and to open a new chapter. We'll see what this new one has in store.

Tuesday night, the evening before my birthday, SA invited me as his plus-one to attend the press screening of Pacific Rim. My feeling? Make no mistake: this is a big, dumb movie with mechs and monsters by Guillermo Del Toro. It's got awesomely alien creatures, amazing giant robots, and some awfully fun performances by the supporting cast. What's not to love? Well, as one friend said, that St. Crispin's Day speech for one thing--not exactly inspiring; and the film's treatment of its one female character wasn't really up to snuff.... But still, it had Ron Perlman being all bad-ass in those amazing shoes. And MONSTERS! ROBOTS! So, yeah: good dinner, good company, fun, stupid movie. Not a bad way to get things rolling.

Last Saturday, my friends Harold and Eve threw a birthday deck party for Harold (July 12) and me attended by many of the usual suspects, which was quite lovely indeed, with most delicious food made by their own four hands.

And tonight, I got together with someone I knew years ago at Wizards--he and his wife took me to Chinook's for seafood. His birthday was the 8th, hers the 9th, and mine the 10th, so it was another mutual birthday celebration, and quite pleasant.

And tonight starts my long weekend, to which I've really been looking forward.

I wanted it to be a quiet birthday and, in its way, it has been. There's been celebration, but it hasn't been a big deal and I've quite enjoyed that, especially the walk in the woods on my actual day. It's been, as we say, a goodness.

1) My birthday is tomorrow and I still don't know what I want to do with the day. On the one hand, I feel like the best gift I could give myself is a trip to University Village for a haircut and a meeting at the Genius Bar to deal with my borked iPhoto (assuming appointments are available for each so close to the date). In other words, the best gift I could give myself is to feel better about how I look and to get a daily-use tool back in working order. On the other hand, I feel like I ought to go have an adventure somewhere, whether it's a trip to Woodland Park Zoo to see the new jaguar cubs or to sit on the beach and sun myself at Golden Gardens or maybe rent a car for the day and take a day trip: Centralia for antiquing (not that I need anything, mind) or somewhere I can take pictures (maybe the Skagit Wildlife Area. Treats, I suppose, are more the order of the day than practicality. Must make a decision soon, though. Last year my birthday was a perfect, perfect day, full of celebration; this year I want to be fairly low-key--just simple.

2) Last night, I went with varina8 to see Fill the Void at SIFF, an Israeli film made by a Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox Jewish) woman director with a cast and crew of both Haredi and secular members. It's a practically unprecedented project and a very, very good film. There was a lot of press about it when it first came out, which is how I first learned about it. (Excellent interview with the director and with the star of the film.) It tells the story of a young woman, Shira, who's about to get married when her older, married sister dies in childbirth. When her brother-in-law tells the family he's going to take the new baby and move to Belgium to marry again, Shira's mother, unable to deal with this second loss, proposes he stay and marry Shira instead. Shira must choose what she's going to do. The film is sensitive and beautifully shot, with lovely, understated performances. It's won all sorts of awards and, I think, deserved the recognition. Recommended.

3) Sophie's had digestive issues lately. An impromptu visit to the vet on Saturday resulted in getting some medication for her. I know she's OK; her behavior is otherwise normal and healthy. But she's clearly had digestive distress. I'm glad I could take the time to get her looked at.

4) Zeke broke the malachite lion figurine that I brought home from Kenya. I'll be getting out the epoxy to fix it. I have something else I have to fix that way, too.

5) It's busy, stressful days at work right now. I'm trying so hard to be focused and productive, but there's stuff all around that's distracting, stressful, personalities at the office who intend to help but just make things more fraught. It's the way of business, I know. Generally speaking, I'm liking the work and the people. It's just a tough time there right now. I'm going away for the weekend in two weeks; I can't wait for the break.

So last Saturday, after a small celebratory birthday brunch, jackwilliambell and I went to the Skagit Valley Highland Games in Mount Vernon. As previously mentioned, we met paulcarp, mcjulie, jkling, and Ivy there, watched sheep herding and caber tossing, poked around the vendor booths, and listened to and watched the pipe and drum bands. Somehow, as interesting and fun as the caber tossing was, I found the bands just thrilling. I may not be an especial fan of bagpipes, but all of these bands were so good. I really enjoyed the music.


On Sunday, we took advantage of the lowest tides of the year to go tidepooling at Golden Gardens park and beach. It was an overcast day, cooler than I expected, but the silvery light made for interesting photography conditions, and made colors pop everywhere. I had a wonderful time poking around the tidepools, seeing anemones, seastars, crabs, and fish. This particular crab, which was about the size of my whole hand, when I approached it, reared up on its back legs and snapped its claws at me! Twice! Raaarrr! I'd never seen that before. I burst into laughter, which I'm sure was not the intended effect. When it realized that I wasn't going to leave it alone, it began to burrow into the sand; that's when I decided to stop harassing the poor little guy. Just a few steps later, a fountain of water about four feet tall shot up out of the goo; I'd been spat at by a geoduck buried beneath the surface! (Actually, it was probably just being a geoduck and its fountaining had nothing to do with me, but it's fun to think of it that way.) Later on, I turned around to discover a great blue heron standing about ten feet away from me, surveying the shallows for snacks. It was a wonderful morning (see the Flickr set here). We then spent the rest of the day sitting on the beach relaxing, and watching a man get his beached sailboat back into the water.

I came out of it all sunburned for the first time in years. While I regretted the burn, I didn't regret the day. It was perfectly lovely.

Today I'm going to take advantage of the fact that I don't have to be anywhere and go to the zoo to finally visit the new meerkat exhibit. I'm so looking forward to it! Then this weekend, it's parties and Foolscap stuff. Busy busy busy!

So...there were things this weekend that weren't about markbourne, though they were tucked into the corners because he was the priority. Still, I want to note them because there was goodness, and goodness is important.

davidlevine and kateyule arrived on Thursday evening. We went grocery shopping to ensure the fridge was stocked for the three of us, then just hung out before hitting the sack.

Friday was my birthday. Besides the very well-documented surgical events of the day, I received several lovely gifts from friends and many good wishes, all of which were hugely appreciated.

Saturday morning, jackwilliambell made absolutely delicious French toast with challah and sourdough bread--two very different taste experiences--using his grandfather's recipe, which included things like vanilla and cinnamon. There was bacon, wine, mimosasl it was just a lovely little celebration. I should note that Jack gave me a "Penguins on the March" T-shirt (nicely tailored with a v-shaped neckline) and a power drill with a set of bits. I'm now well dressed, armed, and dangerous.

Jack bought a new car this weekend, so we went and retrieved it from the dealer. We rode to the Eastside on his bike, then I drove the car, following Jack on his bike, to his place. The car's a pretty little red convertible and a lot of fun to drive. We dropped off his bike and then went to the hospital.

Jack and I cut out around 8:30 to go catch "Moon," a really good independent science fiction film. There's almost nothing I can say about the movie without spoiling it, except to say that it's set on the moon in the future and that it's about the person who maintains a mining base there. Alone. For three years. The rest, well, go find out for yourself. It's definitely worth seeing.

This morning, davidlevine and kateyule took me out for breakfast, and then we strolled the Fremont Sunday Market. I found a beautiful rosewood elephant made in Kenya, a birthday present to myself. I was, otherwise, a model of self control. Spent the rest of the day at the hospital, as you may have seen from my last LJ posting.

Tomorrow I'm back to work. What I really want more than anything right now is one full day of not doing anything, not leaving the house, having time to myself, and just taking care of mundane household stuff. My plan for tomorrow was to go to work and then go to the hospital. I'm going to monitor myself carefully tomorrow, though, and see how I'm feeling. I'm just exhausted and I may end up just wanting leave work, come home and go to bed. We'll see.

And so here it is: At 3 PM EDT today (that's 11 AM PDT), I'll officially be 47 years old. As juliabata, also a July 10 baby, points out, I share my birthday with Nikola Tesla, Marcel Proust, David Brinkley, Fred Gwynne, Arthur Ashe, Ron Glass, and Arlo Guthrie among others. Plus also markbourne, my twin brother of another mother (you know, my blond-haired, blue-eyed twin brother) and Spanky who is 15 years old today. Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day here in the great Pacific Northwest: sunshine, 80-degree temps.

Lots else going on today: Mark's surgery and matociquala's Clarion West party, to name a couple. In theory, I'll be attending both. Well, I won't actually be attending Mark's surgery, but I will be at the hospital for e_bourne's moral support. I think of today's as Mark's double birthday: new year, new heart valve. Here's hoping it's the start of many good, new things.

As previously mentioned, my dad died at 47 in 1973. I was 11. It didn't occur to me until just recently that I've been approaching this birthday with a certain amount of trepidation. I guess I feel like if I get through this coming year, I'm clear until at least 56, which was the age my mom was when she died. I've been saying all my life that I hope longevity skips generations; naturally, I still feel that way.

I'm hoping the coming year will hold some goodness; 46 certainly did. It's the first time in a long time that I have very little idea what's coming up for me. Work is fluid, I have no nailed-down travel plans (though there's been some discussion of my attending my 30th high school reunion, on which more anon), writing has been difficult lately as has been jeweling (if it's not a word, it is one now!). So it's a year of mystery for me.

At least I'm still here and that, undeniably, is a goodness.

My birthday on Thursday was perfectly lovely. Work was relatively low stress. Lunch with the_monkey_king was delightful, as always. Had dinner that evening with The Usual Suspects at Luigi's Grotto where, upon seeing we were a small group, they asked us for a per-person budget and then made us a fabulous, family-style meal. JH and I went for ice cream (small, small servings) afterward. I was asleep by midnight and could not have been happier at the end of it all. A really perfect day.

Yesterday, the team took me out for my farewell lunch. I still have about a week left on this job, but one of our team members is going on vacation before then and didn't want to miss the event. We went to Canyon's, where the food's perfectly adequate; mostly I was there for the company, and I had to tell the team the truth: this year has been the best year I've ever spent on a team at the Large Software Company in Redmond. I genuinely enjoyed working with the group. I felt like I made a contribution to the team that mattered. I felt like I was taken seriously. If you have to work somewhere (and most of us do), that's not a bad way to spend your time. I made the right choice a year ago. I hope I can be that smart about employment again.

After work I met BC and FM to go see HellBoy II: The Golden Army. I give the movie a B+ (okay, okay, A-) for stunning visuals and costumes, likable characters, a story steeped in myth, and a vision of a sort of alternate New York that's wildly imaginative. And the good news is that if you didn't see the first film, it's really not a problem. You're provided with all the information you need right at the front of the movie.

( The rest of my pretty extensive comments, with spoilers, are under the cut )

The short version here is that this is a beautiful movie to watch, a fun adventure with huge ambition and a cool story to see unfold. The pacing is a little off and some of the character stuff rubbed me in the wrong way--though your mileage may certainly vary. But it's well worth seeing, a visual banquet and a lot of fun.

Foot: My foot really hurts. I wonder if I've redamaged it somehow. It's just bad tonight. I'm scheduled to see the doctor two weeks from now. I'm thinking about not going to work tomorrow and just spending the day with the foot elevated and iced. Now's not a bad time to call in sick; I'm smack dab between projects.

Crafts: I finished my frame-and-mirror project for my cubicle and brought it in today. It looks really good. Wish I had a picture of it that I could post here. I'm quite proud of it.

Birthday: markbourne and his E bestowed upon me a belated birthday present last night, a purple hand-knit washcloth that E made. It's beautiful and I'm going to use it until it's in shreds.

Writing: I woke up this morning with a way to completely restructure the beginning of the novel I've been poking at for a while now in a way that will actually make the book work, rather than keep it chained to the seed idea. Seed ideas can be problematic, I think. My experience with this particular situation is that I fell so in love with the seed idea that it just kept dragging me away from the functional part of the story. With this morning's revelation, I've come to integrate something that I'm sure I heard in the Kris-and-Dean workshop lo these years ago: that seed ideas are great as long as they actually produce a story, but must be discarded if they don't work in the end. Or maybe it wasn't them. Anyway, I'm putting the seed idea away for another time. Its time will come. Eventually.

TV blogging: Project Runway: Finally saw the season's second episode. (My icon is in tribute to tonight's TV viewing; wrong show, I know, but it felt this way to me.) ( Spoilers hereunder ) Next episode looks interesting. Wonder what comes next.

Sympathy: I send thoughts and prayers out to dochyel and family on the sudden and unexpected loss of their beloved kitty Tegan, whom I had a hand in bringing to their doorstep. She was beautiul, well-loved and lived a good life as The Rabbi's Cat. I'm sure both of her household predecessors and Flatbush will welcome her on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge. I bet that between the three of them, they know where all the good catnip is.

That's it for me. I have a litter box to clean.

I had a lovely Saturday.

After a quick story crit for jaylake, the day started with a crepe brunch (as part of my rolling birthday celebration) at Cafe Bouchee in Fremont with a chorus cast of characters (ironymaiden and her C, pixxelpuss, crooked_hill, livingdeadpan, and miss_swamp) all of whom are delightful (and patient) company. Our crepes took some time coming because they were all made from scratch, but were all worth waiting for. I had the chicken and goat cheese crepe. We discussed everything from chorus business (predictably) to Eleanor of Acquitaine. I was treated to dessert by the owner of the place herself, a delicious, delicate creme brulee with a curly red candle on top.

I spent the better part of the afternoon trolling for cubicle furnishings. I actually found nothing I wanted to pick up, but walking in the sun—on my cane, which is beginning to feel more exhausting to use than helpful—felt good. The sedentariness necessitated by the foot has been very hard for me to take, so getting up and out, even if I was slower than I would have preferred, made me feel a little more human.

(Side rant: Why are there no decent craft stores in Seattle? I hit JoAnn's, but it only nods at non-fabric crafts. Why doesn't Michael's have a store convenient to Seattle proper?)

I spent the evening reading (Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross, about which I'll write more when I finish it), reviewing the notes from Thursday evening's workshop, and then chose to Pay-Per-View "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (which I've seen before but wanted to see again) rather than taking myself out to the flicks. PPV is less expensive, and it allowed me to elevate my abused foot.

Now, it's a lovely Sunday morning, bright and sunny. I started the morning, as I often do, reading, then turned on "CBS Sunday Morning," which is (IMNSHO) the best magazine-style news on television. They ended the program, as they always do, with two minutes of nature footage, this time a trout stream in the Midwest somewhere; I love this bit of the show.

Now I have to figure out how I'm going to spend today. The day is filled with social options, all of which involve quite a bit of driving. Though I'd like to go write with the crew on the East side, it means doing a drive I'm loath to do on a weekend (because I do it every day during the week). If I don't do it, then I won't have access to Michael's. Dither, dither, dither. I should just go shower and Make A Decision. Nothing will happen today if I don't.