1) i drove my fine self to noe valley and checked out the san francisco mystery bookstore because apparently i have been living under a rock and never knew it existed? it must have been all that positive thinking that made my dreams come true! it's probably for the best in regards to our shelf space and wallets that the past two years i've remained clueless, but this place is awesome-o. rows and rows and rows of mystery and crime fiction, many of them in paperback form, many with deliciously campy old covers. i wanted to grab armfuls and run, but my arms are pretty skinny as it turns out and i only walked away (read: bought) with four. favorite moment? when i dropped a couple books on the floor and the shopkeeper whipped around and said "YOU DROP 'EM YOU BUY 'EM." with a totally straight face. comedy!
2) i cooked myself up a juicy steak. cc casually mentioned he'd had some for dinner and suddenly, frantically, i needed to have one for myself. i had not a clue how to cook it, but with the kind help of friends and the internets (sear 3 minutes on each side, followed by about 5 minutes in an oven set to 350 degrees - use an iron skillet with those grill mark things) i soon had a most delicious dinner in front of me. i cut up two tomatoes, sprinkled them with olive oil and salt and pepper, poured myself some lemonade and was ready to stuff. since it was a real dinner and all, i even sat at our table and used a napkin! i have to admit, the whole thing felt a whole lot better than the typical peanut butter toast i eat come the eating hour. i'm all growed up!
i'm back in texas, folks. i thought it might miss me, so i brought it on home. don't be jealous! ugh i knew it; you're jealous. again. sigh.
on the plane ride here, i read half of this book. as you can see, it's about a girl falling in love with a vampire. while on the plane i didn't question this premise: yup, yup! fangs, love, blood, high school. it all made perfect sense, 30,000 feet above ground. then clay picked me up at the airport, we enjoyed some dinner out, returned to the hotel, watched a documentary about cochlear implants (better or worse than the men's hula documentary we spent two hours watching last week?), and then, come bedtime i started reading again.
and i'm all - in love with a vampire?! what?! i go away for a few hours and i'm suddenly, and possibly irrevocably, annoyed by this book. don't get-a me wrong, i'm still reading it like crack, but sentences like:
"he was a different edward than the one i had known. and i felt all the more besotted by him. it would cause me physical pain to be separated from him now."
make me shudder in protest. i'm pretty sure a victorian girl wrote that in her diary about her first cousin. not a chick from arizona in lust with a creepy vampire stud. but who am i to judge love? i'm in texas right now. voluntarily.
my entire elementary, middle, high school and college careers proved i only work well on deadline. currently, i put an hour or so a day into my draft, whilst slowly sipping tea and looking out the window at things. this, my friends, is not how books are finished.
and so it's time i impose some hard dates upon myself to get this thing rolling serious style.
june 1 = hand it over to my First Reader (as yet to be determined). oh excuse me! i just threw up in my mouth.
the next deadline will = start sending the thing out; since that'll be based upon the june 1 results i won't put anything definite out there yet. but i'm thinking in the october 1 vicinity? surprise! more throw up.
and for now? breakfast in fort worth followed by a little modern art perhaps. followed by a boat load of editing.
no, no i'm too busy to write, you see! i'm drinking a homemade coke float. and it's delicious. and important.
here's the recipe:
take a glass. it should be tallish.
put a few tiny (or large! go crazy!) scoops of haagen daaz vanilla frozen yogurt on the bottom. (i hate vanilla ice cream, but for some reason vanilla froyo is acceptable and even, occasionally, delicious.)
open a can of coke. real coke, not the stuff with the fake stuff.
pour it in.
guzzle and delight and sugar coma.
two uncharacteristically warm days brought out lots of people and all their skins to my daily walking route along crissy field. me no likey. humans? on my beach? move along, people. nothing to see here. nothing to see.
thankfully, the wind and fog returned today and left me to walk in curmudgeonly peace. did i used to deal with crowds better? have i finally just accepted my inner old man?
so yes, i was happy to have my path back, but then after my walk i wanted to do a little yoga on the grass near my car. sure sure, i'm quickly morphing into a hippie skip. i'll be sure to wear some flowers in my hair. but then! some man was just sitting! in his truck! facing my grassy knoll! i swear this is a san francisco thing; people just sit in their cars. the hell? how'm i ever gonna zen out when creepy men in white pickups are staring?
to be honest, sometimes i even get annoyed when i hear someone walking up fast behind me. why. are. you. on. my. sidewalk? my brother says he's got the same issue, so we comfort ourselves with the thought it's genetically inevitable.
but at the same time i'm very excited about the book club i'm forming with three other girlies. i'm hosting the inaugural meeting at our sturdy little apartment and fully intend on rocking some of amy sedaris' stuff. and rocking it hard. (oh, i've been meaning to ask: amy, will you marry me?)
apropos of nothing, i suppose, except to prove i do like people sometimes. just not mosttimes.
1) i drove my fine self to noe valley and checked out the san francisco mystery bookstore because apparently i have been living under a rock and never knew it existed? it must have been all that positive thinking that made my dreams come true! it's probably for the best in regards to our shelf space and wallets that the past two years i've remained clueless, but this place is awesome-o. rows and rows and rows of mystery and crime fiction, many of them in paperback form, many with deliciously campy old covers. i wanted to grab armfuls and run, but my arms are pretty skinny as it turns out and i only walked away (read: bought) with four. favorite moment? when i dropped a couple books on the floor and the shopkeeper whipped around and said "YOU DROP 'EM YOU BUY 'EM." with a totally straight face. comedy!
