6 December 2002

Good morning. I got up ungodly early again. I don't know what to do about this. I think I just need to drink more water, for one thing, because I keep waking up thirsty. I'll give that a try. I started off well yesterday, but then I forgot. But other than being kind of tired from not getting quite enough sleep for the last week or so, I'm doing really well. (And again, it's frustrating not to be able to say why, but I really don't feel I can go into it here and now.)

So. I worked on the Chinese book yesterday, and then I had a good work-related phone call, and then I went up to have lunch with David. Returned to find that Mark was still home: he was feeling yucky and decided not to go in. He worked from home and wandered around looking miserable. We didn't actually get Timprov new glasses -- maybe today or I guess tomorrow. The way they're broken allows him to wear them as long as he doesn't do anything drastic with his head. Obviously not a long-term solution, but it'll do in the short-term until we can get him in. I worked on the Chinese book and talked on the phone to my folks and to C.J. and wrote Christmas cards and read Enigma and so on and so on.

Kev delights me, and here's why. Yes! It is Kevin and his Amazing Inverted Christmas Tree! I am quite amused.

So I think I'm going to get myself cleaned up and down to the library early. I'm done with all but two of my books, and I can get those renewed and pick up another couple on Chinese immigration while I'm there. It's really a now-or-never thing on the Chinese immigration books. (And I am going to be so sick of Chinese immigration by the 15th. Or, hopefully, earlier.) And I think I can manage without the two remaining on my list, but I'd really like them for the sake of completeness. I think they'd make it a better book, or if not, knowing that they wouldn't will make it a better book. If that makes any sense.

That means I have to get to Kinko's before the library. Ah well. At least the library opens at 11:00 today. Oddly enough, I'm not sure there are any other errands I need to run outside the house. I'm not going to the post office to ship presents until I go to ship my immigration book, and that should still be plenty of time for them to get there. Other than that...nothin'. I suppose I could go look at a clothing store for something for Mark for Christmas, but I don't really see why I should drive myself nuts at the cruddy local mall when I can go in Omaha and still have plenty of time before the absolute last minute.

I had half a grapefruit this morning. We'll see if it makes me hungry again. Crazy grapefruit. We have so much good food around here, I don't even know what to do with all of it. I bought myself fresh brussels sprouts to cook up with some ginger in Judy's recipe, and I suppose I can do those any time, since nobody else wants them. (At all.) I'm making a potpie for tonight, beef this time, to use up some of the fresh sage and some of the red wine, because if we leave it in the fridge until after New Year's, it will be horrible, and we're really bad at doing silly things like, oh, I don't know, drinking it. (It just seems like wine should not be one of those things you have to remember to use up.) We also have crême fraîche to use, and fresh tomatoes and pears, and all kinds of leftovers, and oh yes, that buttermilk. I've gotten two suggestions from you-all on that. One was a dessert, which I don't think we'd get eaten before we left, and the other is Scandinavian oatmeal pancakes. Let me say that again: Scandinavian oatmeal pancakes. Guess what's for breakfast in the morning. Thanks, Andrea! (Although I may be unable to resist nutmegging them.)

I still need to come up with more ways to use fresh sage. I was very fond of the sage brown butter for on the squash soup, but I'm not sure what else it goes with. Hmm. Maybe I should neglect the ginger entirely...but I'm not sure that sage goes well with brussels sprouts.

Anyone who thinks that nothing goes well with brussels sprouts can refrain from commenting, thanks, I'll take it as given.

Sometimes it seems like using the correct food items should not be a source of logistics problems, but it is, oh, it is.

I think when I'm in this mood, just about anything can spawn logistics problems for me. The library, for example: I won't be here all that much longer. Eleven more days. But can I go to the library and get only the two books I need/want for this book? Oh. Oh ho. Ho ho ha ha. Um, no. What I really want, though, is a stack of YAs I can plow through and chew on and enjoy. (What I really want is to never have read The Dark Is Rising and The Kestrel before, but that's obviously not one on the list of options.) So maybe I'll be able to stick to YAs and have it come out a bit restrained. Maybe. I've got YAs on the brain. I came up with another SF YA yesterday on BART on the way back from David's. It's getting to the point where I should think about splitting my novel project list into categories.

Uff da mai. Not just yet. I'll handle some rather more necessary stuff first, I think.

I'm still trying to get the BNL "God Rest You Merry" out of my head. It's catchy, and I'll just get the Ladies out when my head will jump in with Sarah McLachlan's bit on "We Three Kings." Which is, by the way, the only version of "We Three Kings" that is absolutely guaranteed not to make me think anything at all related to rubber cigars.

Okay. Potpie prep, shower, work, the end of Enigma, addressing today's submission envelope, Kinko's, library, oddly organized food, more work. Etc.

All of this sounds like I'm fairly stressed. And I'm a little anxious, I guess, but mostly I'm just working on fairly high processor speeds. I'm happy that way, too. For some reason, I feel like I'm pretty well in control of what I have ahead of me to accomplish. I'm not entirely sure that that's anything but a delusion, but it's a nice delusion, and I'm not sure that believing otherwise would be helpful. So I might as well be cheerful, optimistic, hard-working, and a little scary around the eyes. It works.