Author: Elaine

hearing a good review of ani di franco’s new record – sounds pretty treatful.

god, I could really use some new music. it’s been just the same stuff over & over again…too much revisiting of the 80s. ‘course, I won’t steal music from Napster – not that I have any fondness for the labels, but I actually believe that artists should own their work. and frankly, even the idea of wandering out to find the people that are giving it away is a little daunting. I don’t even know where to begin. most radio sucks, even if I got more than 10 stations. the end is all versions of buttrock, even if they don’t like to admit it – angry white guys trying to be black. bleh. so all I listen to is the resurrection jukebox on sunday mornings – yep, more 80s music. which, i guess, just means I’m getting on in years. 🙂

but it’s more than that. I’m not really a one-style listener – I’ve just been totally turned off by what goes by the name “alternative” now – and other popular music just sounds like the bad junk from the 80s. dumb teen pop.

grrrr. if I had an extra $25, I’d by ani’s new album, just on principle.

just got asked by a student in one of the English classes here if she could interview me – cool! she’s supposed to interview someone in the field she’s interested in….I can always wax philosophical about my job and my career path. 🙂

today my new assistant, Brit, started. he’s working mornings every weekday – sharing my space again is a little weird, but I feel much easier about it than I did when Kerstin was here. then again, (a) I know what I’m doing now (yeah, sure) and (b) I never quite got over the language barrier with Kerstin.

actually, having somebody else around made me super-productive this morning. I got a bunch of stupid little things done.

the weather this week is definitely on the wacky side. some wind, some rain, some sun. right now, it’s quite lovely out, or at least it looks so from my window. but I’d imagine that it’s pretty chilly.

ugh. I can’t listen to the news anymore. who does GWB think he is, Reagan? <shiver> don’t conserve energy, build “missile defense,” cut taxes for the rich, etc., etc., etc. makes me wanna run away.

or at least think of something happier – like the 3 (possibly 4) people who have expressed an interest in Q. one of them may be a woman – we’ve been trying to decide from her/his email. of course, that in itself is quite interesting. 🙂 I’m starting to get excited about this.

I really should do some writing, so I have something to bring on Thursday. maybe I can get Chad to leave me alone for a while this evening while I write.

okay, my server logged me out – let’s try this again.

I’m feeling sorta sad, looking at the Q web site. Andy & Joe & Kat aren’t coming back. which makes me much sadder than losing Nathan & Adora (and some of the other folks) back when we broke free from Gay City. but I guess I should be happy that we are getting new people who are interested in us, who are serious about writing.

which, I suppose, is what I have to face: Andy had really stopped writing entirely, and Joe & Kat weren’t serious about the back & forth of the group. hell, neither of them respected Bruce. and I almost got caught up in that…yes, we are in entirely different generations, and we haven’t got as much in common, as say, me & Kat, but I respect him so much more after all this. he practically threw out his whole novel because his original approach just wasn’t working. I don’t know that I could be that brave. (I think it was my intuition that my approach to the twins was all screwed up that caused me to dump it last.) and he’s dead serious about writing.

I really, really miss Kat, though. I didn’t lose her in the way I almost did after the Walter incident, but we haven’t had as much time together, which we so often did over the course of this last year – because of the writers’ group(s). I also miss her unique insights into my writing – the way she sometimes know what I really meant to say, even when I didn’t totally know it myself.

of course, her pickiness over The Paren’s Tale almost made me crazy, but that’s an entirely different story.

Elmer & Steven. hmmm. we’ll see what happens, I guess. I’m still holding out some faint hope that another woman will join our group, but I don’t think it’ll happen.

cold, windy, and raining. which somehow matches my mood.

don’t try this at home: downloading 1999 tax forms from the IRS web site on a 56k modem (current connection: 42.6). should’a done this earlier – and not just downloading the files either. but that’s a long story that I’d rather not go into here. (actually, I’m not downloading these for me, oddly enough.)

but, if I can do this, then I can finally settle an argument, and get something else out from over me. yay!

it’s been fascinatingly strange weather today. colder than most of the last week; my fingertips are icy. lots of rain. but this morning, Chad woke me to the loveliest blue sky outside our bedroom window. note to self: always have bedroom in room with south-facing window.

this morning is better. even though I am in the office (doing some personal research). but hey – I get to listen to “wait, wait, don’t tell me” while I watch the rain outside the window.

oh, so much anxiety this week. I keep saying “no good deed goes unpunished.” and I think I’ll just leave it at that.

but hey – my MRI came back, and it’s all good; nothing torn or broken. my bone marrow is in good shape too, not that I thought it wasn’t. 😛 Steve, the physical therapist, gave me more exercises, and said I was doing a lot better. yay!

gotta go take the chicken out of the marinade & cook it – thai peanut chicken, one of my favorites. <yum>

okay, I’m feeling better now. getting ready to dash off to my doctor appointments. I’ve had the morning to just relax & work thru things slowly, which is good.