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Wednesday, 31 March 2010 (many roving eyes) 7:37pm Desks are being rearranged at work. Not mine, though, which is a good thing because I'm happy where I'm sitting. I did hear one of the managers mention that we're entering the second quarter of the year, financially speaking. I'd been told when I was hired that if I was going to go full-time, it would be during the first quarter. I haven't, and I'm almost afraid to ask, because what are they going to tell me? oh, right! we totally forgot about that. yeah, why don't you start working full-time now? that'd be great! Kinda doubt it. Home again. Normally Marta and I spend Wednesday nights together, but she's not here, nor will she be this Saturday. Oh well. There'll be times when I'm gone for a week, too. (Keeping my fingers crossed that I'll get to go on tour when Bottomfeeder comes out.) I'm working on my final edits for my Gender Outlaws essay. All that was requested by the editors were a few grammar and punctation things, nothing about the actual context. Which feels extra-nice because they mentioned several times in their group emails that the majority of the pieces in the book had to have expository passages at the beginning excised for time. Except mine, becuase it doesn't have anything like that. Go me. Though I do have to explain what the title ("vestri pen0r quod vos") and the word "jorm" mean. | ||
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Tuesday, 30 March 2010 (in the new century) 8:11pm Marta and I didn't make out of the house until around six, but that was okay. We had dinner at the sushi boat place in Japantown, shared a crepe for dessert, then went to Pete and Sarah's for the mid-season Caprica finale, and then I dropped her off at her place, and I won't see her again for a week, which kinda sucks. At home now, writing. I seem to have overcome my aversion to writing at my bedroom desk, at least for the time being. Hopefully that'll last. | ||
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Monday, 29 March 2010 (making miracles is hard work) 11:12am Excellent Bad Movie Night last night. It was our fifth anniversary, and in spite of the fact that we got almost no external promotion about it—the SF Weekly hasn't covered us in several months, and none of the other indie media outlets thought it was a milestone worth noting—we got a full house. Yay for word of mouth, which is really what keeps us going. Makes me proud of the show, though my proudest moment was when Dr. Hal, who was there along with Puzzling Evidence, complimented the pre-show compilation (footage from Red Nightmare, If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? and the 1952 Red Dawn) which I'd made. It always makes me happy to think he respects me. And, of course, just the fact that two of the founders of the Church of the Subgenius are friends of mine and came to my show, and Puzzling Evidence recorded it, makes me happy. I have today off, and the plan was for Marta and I to spend it together. Which we are, but our further plans of doing something fun got derailed by plumbing issues. Now we're waiting for the plumber, who's supposed to be here early in the afternoon. I'm sure we can still find time to fun things, though. And if not, well, we're using this time to get work done. We both have plenty. | ||
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Sunday, 28 March 2010 (that kind of person) 11:51am At Marta's place. Stayed the night here for the first time last night, since her boyfriend is out of town. It was nice, if a little weird at first. I guess I haven't stayed over at someone's house since...gods, since whenever last time I spent the night with Ilene, and that was always platonic aside from a little cuddling. This has actually been a rough weekend for Marta and I—we bailed on Drive-Out Theatre early and didn't go to the KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival at all, and there have been issues and tears—but we're still together, and will be for a long time. Certainly through tomorrow, since I'm taking the day off from work so her and I can spend it together. She's heading out of town on Tuesday, so we're getting in the time while we can. I read her the first chapter of Landing on Water last night. The new first chapter, what was previously the sixth chapter. It's actually much stronger than I'd realized, and I'm getting a better since of how the rest of the book will be structured. That's something I'm finally learning—book-writing, like any kind of storytelling, is all about the structure. | ||
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Saturday, 27 March 2010 (having someone cry red) 5:01pm It's a pity Noe Valley didn't have this much parking available on Saturday afternoons back when I was dating Ennui. And she doesn't live here anymore anyway. Marta and I have discovered Elisa's Spa. rediscovered it, in my case. We'll make it there soon, I'm sure. | ||
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Friday, 26 March 2010 (a symptomatic disconnection) 10:33am No gym this morning, and no Mocha 101 today, because I have shopping to do and somewhere to be tonight, and, really, what else could I possibly squeeze into the day? | ||
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Thursday, 25 March 2010 (one of the better-kept secrets) 12:45pm After Marta left this morning, I went to the YMCA to do weights beforing taking Figurski's spin class, as he'd suggested last week. As I was returning to Phoebe after the class was over, I walked smack dab into a trailer hitch and, intertia being a bitch, I toppled into the street. Thankfully, the car that was approaching had enough time to slow down. Otherwise, I might have been...well, it didn't happen, did it? I'm also thankful I was still sufficiently endorphinated from the class that the spill didn't hurt as much as I might have otherwise. Nothing's broken or sprained, and the cut has been antibioticized and bandaged, though I do have a nasty shiner on my leg. Which is better than one on my face, I suppose. I got good news beforehand, though: my essay "vestri pen0r quod vos" has been accepted into the anthology Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation, which is coming out on Seal Press this August. So that's pretty awesome. At Mocha 101 now. Work will be done. 4:34pm Frak. I've totally lost my momentum on Landing on Water. I realized yesterday that the story doesn't truly begin until about a hundred pages in—right about where this diary starts, coincidentally or otherwise—and have excised those pages, but there's still something all wrong about the current structure. I need to rethink this. On the plus side, I'm fairly confident that once I do figure out the structure (which itself is simply the answer to the question what story am i telling?), the rest will fall into place and it won't take nearly as much time to write as Bottomfeeder did. Let's face it, I've already written this book. I wrote it at the time. The rest is just editing. | ||
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Wednesday, 24 March 2010 (not my intention) 10:51am Re-filed my tax return, and they liked it this time. That's one down. I've also started putting out feelers for another job. Just in case. | ||
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Tuesday, 23 March 2010 (original sin's a bitch) 9:27am The book rejection wasn't my only big piece of Fail yesterday. My Federal tax return, which I electronically filed on Sunday, has been rejected. The scariest one is that the Employment Development Department has decided that since I'm making money—a whopping four hundred dollars a week, which I've been dutifully reporting on my claim sheets since November—I don't need to get Unemployment Insurance anymore. Or, in their words, benefits are reduced because you reported earnings. Which, again, I've been doing since I started working here part-time in November, and they've already been sending me a severely reduced benefit as it is, but enough to help me make ends meet. There was still a couple thousand left in my balance, but the new stub doesn't even mention the balance. They still included a new claim sheet, oddly enough, and I'm going to send it in as usual. Gods willing this was just a hiccup and I'll keep getting the checks until the balance runs out. Otherwise, I'm kinda frakked, unless they finally decide to hire me on for real. In the meantime, this means it's time to start poking around for another job. I want to stay here, but I need to make a living, too. | ||
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Monday, 22 March 2010 (the element of spirituality) 11:34am Cally was back in the spin class this morning! And I discovered something: I don't get nearly as much of a workout with her as I've gotten with someone of the other instructors last week. No wonder I like her so much. The woman on the bike next to me was surprised that I was familiar with the Loverboy song Cally was playing, since, as she said: wouldn't you have been, like, two years old when it came out? Once again, I'm grateful to my mother for the excellent genes. I've gotten my first major rejection from this round of submissions. A glowing rejection, as my Agent points out—the publisher mentioned several times in the email that the writing was strong, but the the story isn't commercial enough—and it means I'm on my way to getting an editor. Gotta be rejected before you can be accepted. (Story of my life, really.) | ||
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Sunday, 21 March 2010 (an angry red nucleus) 10:52pm Wow. I was pleasantly shocked by the turnout at Bad Movie Night—a nearly packed house for Steel Dawn, of all things. My little show just keeps on gaining steam. Or not losing steam, anyway. And next week, it turns five years old. Brought home some artwork of mine (which is to say I own it, not that I created it) which had been hanging in the lobby of The Dark Room for a long while. Whatever else went wrong between us, it can't be said I never kept that promise. | ||
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