Serene of the Oakland Serenes

1) Look what stonebender and loracs got me! Isn't she great?



2) Still loving school. Teachers who put assignments up a week late and don't shift the deadline? Not so much.

3) Work is getting better because (a) I have an assistant; and (b) I'm forcing myself to leave work on time every day, which I think is actually making me more motivated to be productive during my work hours.

4) There's a person at work (we don't work together, but I see her most days) who looks a LOT like my dear friend hobbitbabe, and seeing her makes me happy.

5) My chosen family member wild_irises is going to be one of two Wiscon Guests of Honor in May, and while I wish I could go, I can't. So the family's taking Deb out to dinner tomorrow to celebrate. I love it that people I love are doing such cool things.

6) Speaking of that, clever_doberman and my friend/co-worker Danny have a voice class recital tomorrow evening, and the family's going to continue on after the celebration dinner and go listen to our friends sing. Should be nice.

7) I've been on a total Korean-food kick. Check out what our dinners have been looking like lately (well, minus the writing; I added that for you. You can see a bigger photo by clicking on it, and you can look up the dishes if you're interested at my new favorite cooking site, http://www.maangchi.com -- only five of the dishes you see are filled with store-bought things (pickled garlic, gochujang [red pepper paste], Korean barbecue sauce [I can make it, but it was on super-cheap sale], pickled herring, and the seaweed); I made all the rest, mostly with the help of Maangchi's videos.

A difficult day, in which our narrator faces her parenting fail, a teenager has a lot of hard decisions to make, a friend deals with the death of his husband, another friend deals with her mother's increasing illness, and Microsoft Word just will not cooperate. Still, there's a lot to be grateful for, and the fact that I've been on the verge of tears all day doesn't diminish that:

1) Lunch with folks from work and the surrounding disability-advocacy community, all of whom give a damn about doing good in the world, and all of whom are fun to talk to.

2) The Best Job Ever, where I get to read and write and help people, all for money.

3) Nasoya Silken Creations Vanilla, the best soy pudding I've ever had, ever.

4) The lovely way my tummy feels when I eat soy pudding instead of milk pudding. ;-)

I'm sure there's more, but eesh, I really need to get to bed. 6am comes early. G'night, my lovelies.

Some quick notes before I go from mostly-not-here to almost-completely-not-here:

1) ...because I'm busy working on the magazine, which I hope will be at the printer (or the DIY equivalent, depending on some factors) by the end of the weekend.

2) Mom doesn't have colon cancer. She does, however, have something else going on, because she nearly collapsed at work today. I wish that woman could get some kind of relief from all her suffering. It's very frustrating not to be able to fix it.

3) Hypothyroidism apparently makes one more sensitive to cold. In my particular case, this means that my feet always feel cold, but *from the inside*, so that covering them doesn't have as much of an effect as I expect it to.

4) The Best Job Ever is still totally the best. My boss said she's going to fill out my six-month review (I've been there 7.5 months, but whatever) and say I'm "superb", and she especially wanted me to know that she's going to mention on my review that the flexible work schedule is working out well for everyone involved. Whee!

5) I have been getting gorgeous, happymaking snailmail from all over the world. I am so very grateful to all of you for your care and time and effort and energy and and and.

6) One day a while back, I noticed that I had a "Least Complicated" earworm for the second time that week. Now, most times when I go to fill in my "Music" slot, my brain gives me a "Least Complicated" earworm even if that's not what was going through my head seconds before, so most of my "Music" slots now say "'Least Complicated' earworm". Aren't you glad I'm the scintillating conversationalist I am?


Okay, nose-to-grindstone time. Watch my smoke! :-)

Not everyone will be able to (or want to) do this one, but I thought it would be fun.

Make a list of the people on your friendslist whom you know to be published writers (define that however you want; I'm not your mom).

Post ONE link to their work (your favorite, or one you think is underrated, or one you just think everyone should see, or whatever).

That's it. Go.

ailbhe: http://www.lulu.com/ailbhe
autographedcat: http://www.aphelion-webzine.com/authors/WynneRobert.html
charliegrrrl: http://www.softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-932360-81-6
dbubley: http://www.fatso.com/bigtruth.html
final_girl: http://www.cleispress.com/book_page.php?book_id=175
firecat: http://www.powells.com/biblio/4-9780471778646-1
imnotandrei: http://www.io.com/~selk/problem/stuff.html
isachandra: http://vegancupcakes.wordpress.com/
pameladean: http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=17-9780312859701-0
pantryslut: http://www.strangehorizons.com/2007/20070212/dead-f.shtml
papersky: http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780765349095-1
sistercoyote: http://www.theharrow.com/journal/index.php/journal/article/view/2169/555
wild_irises: http://laurietobyedison.com/WomenEnLarge.asp
wordweaverlynn: I actually don't know where to find links to Lynn's work. Lynn?

Tonight: This Film Is Not Yet Rated at the Shattuck Cinema in Berkeley. 7:25 showing, meet up at 7 if you wanna come. (Meet up with me and sogwife at 5:15 at Tully's if you wanna go get dinner first -- we haven't yet decided where to eat, but we both work within blocks of the theater, so we decided not to go home before the show.)

Tomorrow: Laundry

Saturday: A friend's party in the city -- I never go to the city, so that tells you how much I adore this friend.

Sunday: Date with stonebender. We will not be attending Folsom.

Next Thursday, 9/28: Dinner at my place with dryadgrl (and, I assume, her family)

Saturday, 9/30: rmjwell/RA's party

Sunday, 10/1: Family dinner at stonebender's place for my b'day

Busier than usual, but still only one thing a day, right? :-)

...and this is one of them.