Poll #667849 redefining my work ethic
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 14

Should I skip work to see Cory's talk at MIT?

any explanation you feel is necessary:

Tags: cory
Current Music: Delays - No Ending

Usually when I take benedryl I sleep like a log for 6-8 hours, and wake up only to shamble around like a zombie until the last bits of it burn out of my system. Last night, though, between the sinus headache and the general back pain from the night before (I'm apparently too old to spend 2+ hours sitting on ground as hard as concrete) I woke up 2 hours later having felt like I didn't really sleep, and then lay awake for 30 minutes trying to think if there was any better way for me to sleep (no, though I did get a wet handkerchief to sleep with over my face to make my head feel better), fell asleep without noticing it, and woke up *again* two hours later, but this time went back to sleep no problem. I think beyond the headache pain, every time I shifted around (such as to roll over, which I do a lot) it hurt, so I'd wake up a little from that, and plus I was listening to my whole MP3 library on random, which meant I kept playing songs I didn't recognize, nor like very much, so I'd drift into wakefulness because I was annoyed with it and wanted it to change. I also woke up slightly spindizzy at one point, which I think was just the sinus/benedryl combination, but might have been hunger as well. But the last of the whole milk went bad-ish yesterday, and I'd had to have my Honey Bunches of Oats with Almond Milk. Which wasn't *bad,* perse, but wasn't real milk, plus was too sweet. So I couldn't even shamble downstairs for a bowl of cereal, sadness.

But I woke up this morning feeling better--still sore in the hips and lower back, but less so. And they'd sold out of the lemon scones upstairs when I got there, so I nipped downstairs and got one there. So breakfast is a lemon scone and Pumpkin Spice Chai.

Oh, and my non-driver's ID was found by elevator inspectors on Friday, so I scrubbed it off, and ran it through the sterilizer.

I nearly read all of my books this weekend, until I got too bored with them last night and just went to bed instead of finishing anything. At the moment I'm on the 4th story of Magic for Beginners, though to be truthful I skipped The Hortlak, other than skimming for the Cannon reference ("Who will be fired out of the cannon? My brother will be fired out of the cannon.") and of course, reading the first paragraph because it's perfect. (the shh, secret is that I'd have swapped the Hortlak and the Cannon's order in the collection). I'm also about a third? of the way through Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves, and just started reading the Outskirter's Secret (in The Steerswoman's Road). Cory's book, I"m in the middle of the 'information wants to be free!" section of it, which I don't have a problem with, other than it's not the story that I'd started reading. Plus, usually I don't care much how the characters look, since I change them to match my mental image anyways, but I'm not even getting a mental image of the main character at all. And plus, I'm pretty sure I'm holding back on reading it for fear of finishing it. Which is also why I put Magic down midway through "Stone Animals" The Rosemary Kirstein book was good, but it's just not *grabbing* me. If anything, we're just holding hands.

I bought two CDs--13 tales from Urban Bohemia, the second Dandy Warhols album, and Ya'll Get Scared Now, ya hear, by The Reindeer Section. And three DVDs--Oscar, Big Business, and The Saint. It was a bad movie weekend.

Tags: cory
Current Music: The Dandy Warhols - Bohemian Like You

The baddest thing I did: Tell JJA that my friend thinks he's cute. Well, actually, I told someone to tell JJA. It's so 6th grade I could just cry. :)

The baddest thing I bought: A necklace. I never wear necklaces. I have a chili peper one that I love so much, and I wear that one about once a month, if that. And that's it. Every other one I usually freak out about after oh, 2 hours, and have to take it off (that said, I should add that I did get a necklace from stella this con and it's very pretty--pearls, white, and some black or dark stone intermixed as well (still too tired to think), and I haven't worn it long enough to know if I'll end up freaking out with it, but it's actually so far so good). I saw it on elisem's table without a tag which is the only only only reason I could possibly have gotten it--someone told me what it was tagged when it had a tag, and whoof. so far out of my price range that I would have been hard pressed not to drop it and leap back in terror. But it wasn't tagged, and so I picked it up, and it runs through your fingers like water and whispers a little, and looks like ice when it's not moving. And as soon as you pick it up, or shift it a little, it glows tuqoise and blue and violet like an oil slick (I think oil slicks are so pretty). I bought it without ever seeing what it looked like on me. Basically, I asked how much it was, it was the *perfect* price, and so I ran to get my checkbook before Cory's reading (more about that later). I didn't see what it looked like on until I was waiting outside the room, and there was a mirror in the hallway near by. I had checked the colors against my inner arm and it didn't make my skin look unattractive, so I knew it wouldn't be completely wrong, but I'm still kind of surprised at myself. I don't usually buy jewelry other than rings, and I've never bought myself a necklace that I can remember.

This is the sort of thing my necklace is, but not exactly. Mine isn't as wide, it isn't as long, and the beads are clearer/greyer, not so yellow/green, and smaller and round. So basically, it's the same material and the same style--it's a hedgehog labradorite necklace on a chain so the hedgehog part rests about an inch under the notch of my throat, and it's just long enough to be able to bite if necessary. This is key in a necklace, you should know. And it's soooo pretty. I'll try and take a picture of it some time soon, or maybe one of the pictures of me wearing it will be posted. Stay tuned, if you actually care.

Tags: cory

I checked in, got the fax with the membership transfer form in it, and got registered, no problem. I saw Toby while I was checking in, and he was talking to the guy in front of me in the line who I'm almost sure I know, but just can't quite put my finger on. Hmm. he might be a david. What davids might I know? Anyways, this was of course just a precursor to the rest of the evening and night. Lots of people I knew, or just knew I knew without actually knowing. And while I'm fairly distinctive looking, I don't expect everyone to remember me, except that I have a good memory for people who I've met before, so I smile at people who then stare blankly at me. creed_of_hubris, aka Fred Bush was in the line behind me as well, and I did recognize him and even knew why I knew him (though I might not have known his name without the name tag).

I registered and saw someone else I almost knew, or perhaps the same person as above. Still no name tag. How am I supposed to know who people are without name tags? And then I wandered around a little bit, looking over the rest of the convention center. Wandered through the ConCourse, thought, "goodness that's a distinguished (somewhat) older gentleman," and had the brain click into gear. "Jim!" And a handful of others, on their way to the marriott bar. Which was miles and miles away, and I was thinking I might be meeting up with Sharon and Rudi in a little bit, so I passed to explore a little more.

Wandered up to the third floor, found Alex Lamb, and patted his hair (it's fun! Like a plush toy, really.) and then found the wall o' pros, and looked up and down it for a while, and then saw Karen Meisner sneaking out of a slipstream panel to answer a cellphone. I always recognize her because she looks almost like a HS teacher of mine (a very cool fun HS teacher who wasn't all that much older than me, so this is a very good thing for Karen). And she recognized me, and we chatted for a few minutes, and Susan Marie Groppi came up as well. And I can't remember if she really looks like Kristin Livdahl, but I still always think she does. Perhaps she just looks like she should have a norviegian name, instead of...Italian? (And I should note that any comparisons I make between people are intended to be complimentary, or I wouldn't be making them in a public space.) and they went off to do presumably secret editor type plotting and so I found a wall to hold myself up on, and flipped through the book, looking for fun things to do over the next few days. The panels let out, and I saw Cory, who recognized me and smiled and said it was good to see me. (What? Kitchen boy who?) I gave in and called Ken, having decided that there would be no way that I would accidentally run into anyone at the convention center. And let me just tell you that there is something intrinsically wrong to calling Ken and having a woman answer the phone. Turned out it was Stella, they were all in the Marriott Bar. In the process of treking over there, I ran into Frank Wu, who played with my curls, invited me (and Hannah, and someone walking by) to a party tonight, and dashed off to the Pratchett trial. (Pterry, by the way, was wearing a shirt that said, "Tolkien's Dad. (J.K. Rowling said so.)" when I saw him briefly in the hallway.)

And I found the group in the marriott bar, and I'll be damned if Jenni smith-gaynor isn't about the cutest thing ever. She looks just like a real girl that someone shrank. ;) Hannah and Amanda and Sarah Bear and Stella and Bear and M'ris and others I didn't recognize. We sat for a bit, and I remembered that despite being *so* tired and all, I really needed to walk up to the house and fix the computer before anyone found out it was broken. Hannah and Sarah Bear came with me, and so as a reward, I gave them a whirlwind tour of the house, and then showed them John Kerry's house. And Hannah and I walked back along the esplanade, and then looked for parties and such. No good alcohol, but some nice sodas--Pellegrino Arancita rocks my world. and some various people, and then back to the lobby and we found Hannah's roommates and mine sitting in the bar.

What everyone said to me that evening: "Your hair is so cute." "You look really tired."

Amanda, I believe, attempted to push me out of the bed in the middle of the night. Bad Amanda!

And now I'm at work. At 2 ish, I'll be done with work, and head back over. I"m meeting Hannah in the dealer's room, where we may torture the slushgod, or we may behave ourselves and just look at things we can't afford.

Tags: cory
Current Music: The Stills: Of Montreal

Oh, Cory's new book has a lovely cover.



I covet the book. Covet covet covet. I will have to buy the hardback, which is sadness for me. I wonder if it's pre-order yet....

Dave McKean! I should forget my dreams of marrying Cory for he is surely involved in illict affairs with most of Tor to get a cover like this. (or, you know, wrote a kickass book, but honestly, which option is more fun to believe, really?)

Tags: cory

"Beat Me Daddy (Eight to the Bar)" by Cory Doctorow
"The Constellation Game" by Rudi Dornemann
"The Set of All Even Primes" by Jay Lake
"Salting the Map" by Alan DeNiro

As always, comments are welcome in the newsgroup, or via the comments address.

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And you thought I joked when I said we're all cool. Did you *see* that TOC? and the stories are even better, I promise. Though I may still have to kick Alan for salting *my* map with inaccurate details. An ethiopian restaurant by the capital? as if! (though I do often get Meskerem, the good place up in Adams-Morgan mixed up with Marakesh, the very fancy Moroccan place which is over by the capital) And sorry, Julian. While it *is* a story about prime numbers, it's got a distressing number of babies in it as well. I'm sorry.

Tags: cory

Oh, and Cory posted a part of a novel of his that I love so much. The blurb he uses there is probably my favorite line from the whole piece--"Alan's father was a mountain, and his mother was a washing machine -- he kept a roof over their heads and she kept their clothes clean."--the way it feels like a metaphor at first, until you read the rest of the paragraph.

Tags: cory

Well, we all went to the library today. See, we get to go through the archives here and read stories by past participants. So we each made our little lists and trundled off to the library's special collections room. Where we stood around while they tried to figure out what we were looking for. But it was worth the wait. It's also worth going to when you have more than an hour to spend on it.

Still, I read all of Nina Kiriki Hoffman's stuff, including a version of Savage Breasts with a different ending. I like the published version better, but this one was funny too. And then I read Cory Doctorow--read 3 and started a 4th before I had to leave. Good stuff. Everyone else was reading stuff and feeling better about their own stuff, but oh, no, I had to go and pick cool people to read their old stuff from. At least it was cool stuff. But I'm still further depressed by the thought of writing another story while here. I want to, really I do, but I'm totally clueless as to what to write now. I think I'll go wander through the web and research a couple things, to see if I can find something good to do with kelpies.

Tags: cory

One of the strengths here seems to be the continued exposure to your own flaws. Trust me, the fourth time you see someone else do a bad job at something you use, you start paying attention to how you're doing it even more so than usual. I see flaws in my writing that I didn't see before. I see places I need to work on, and areas that I still freaking am not paying attention to, though I mean to. I'm not cutting anything from this story though. Every time I think I know what the story doesn't need, I'm totally wrong. So they can just have it all, and tell me what I should take out. And I'm going to go back through and put in some scents, as the main character is blind: I've got the touch and hearing details well enough developed, I think.

I'll tell you one thing not to do when you're feeling depressed about the suckiness of your prose. Don't go wander through the Clarion Alumni page. And in particular, don't stop at Cory Doctorow's page. You will then decide to throw yourself from the balcony. Luckily Rudi's door was open, so he nicely chatted with me for a while, and we looked over the quote list for the t-shirt, and giggled at some of them (alas, all the seal sex ones have been removed, but there will be a seal on the front of the shirt at least.), and I ended up feeling much better.

Tags: cory
Current Mood: depressed
Current Music: WNNX: Jimmy Eat World -- Sweetness