Whirlwind

29 January 2003

I felt better yesterday. So obviously I took that and ran with it. And ran and ran. Got the oil changed. Went to Trader Joe's, Target, Border's (for Grandpa's birthday present), Hallmark, the post office dealie, Office Despot, Kinko's, and the library. Then I washed the floors, did some laundry, changed the sheets, made bars, cleaned up the kitchen, made lasagna and salads, did yoga. Oh yeah, and worked on a couple of books.

The problem with being in that kind of human hurricane mode is that I keep coming up with more things I could do or could have done. I get a lot done, but I think I also make a lot more work for myself. For example, I got under-the-bed sweater boxes at Target. (They claim to be chests. Hah. You can't have cardboard chests. It's just not allowed. They're boxes.) So now I have to sort through to put sweaters in them. More work. Worthwhile in the long run, so that things won't be jammed in the armoire and wrinkled and ready to pop out if I grab one of the sweaters wrong. But definitely more work.

Either there were several large trucks going by in a row, or we just had a small earthquake. Huh.

I was furious with the library yesterday: I found another cache of Finnish/Saami books. I found them totally accidentally, because the titles caught my eye while I was looking in the Russia section. Now, I could maybe see putting Finnish stuff there, if it was 19th century Finnish stuff, but anything about Finnish cities in 1975 does not belong in the Russian section. And most Saami do not live in Russia. And this stuff should show up when you do an online search on Finland in their catalog! Arg! I think the thing that upsets me most is that they weren't misshelved, they were miscategorized. So when someone else goes looking for them, they'll be in the same wrong place.

I did manage to limit myself to nonfiction and children's books, though. So, rah. And some of the children's books I got are old favorites I'm trying out to see if they hold up still. I'll let you know, I'm sure.

In the meantime, I didn't have much book time yesterday, so I'm still reading Fire and Hemlock. Still loving it. Good, good stuff.

I keep getting sidetracked on other things while I'm writing this. Giving Omaha-visiting tips. Calling the grandparents. Unloading the dishwasher. I'm in task mode, is what. Which is evidently not the same thing as journal mode at all.

All right. So. I think I'm going to try to focus on getting book stuff done today: the rest of the Grey Place edits I wanted to finish yesterday, a chapter or so on Dwarf's Blood Mead, and reading/critting the first three chapters of Regresser's Evolution. That would be Jenn's book. I had a misunderstanding with a couple of friends about how much enthusiasm/efficiency was desirable for a first reader, when I finished my first book, and while we've long since cleared that up, I want to make sure Jenn knows I'm interested in reading her book and helping her get on with the process. So. Three book things, two of them my own. That should keep me busy enough, and if I find I need to pop up and do more things that aren't sitting in front of the computer (besides my yoga), I have plenty of house-ish things that can be done. Organizational stuff, mostly, at this point. There's always something that needs cleaning, it seems, and often something that needs recycling. Or I could read. And, of course, back at the computer again, I'm falling a bit behind on e-mails. Not a lot behind, just a little. Not that I want you to stop celebrating Communicate With M'rissa Week, mind you. I just don't want you to feel badly if I take a few days to communicate back.

I wonder how different this journal would sound if I wrote it at night. My energy levels are definitely different in the morning, and so is my focus, even if sometimes it seems like Rob's laser mounted on an ill-balanced washer. (I loved that simile. Loved it.)

I think I'd better stop now, before I start sounding like the love child of Jordan from "Real Genius" and my Aunt Jeannie (who can neither like nor dislike anything, but has to love or hate it -- "Want something to drink, Aunt Jean?" "Love it, love it!" You don't even know what we have yet! What if you merely like it? This could happen!).

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