Events trample brain; brain in recovery.

[squeequeg]

See that? That's the face of the earth. Here I am, down here, having fallen off it.

It's been a very busy month so far, and I'm only now starting to take a breath. I had three weekends in a row that were packed to the gills with Stuff, I've been trying to get the Awful First Draft of Provisionally Titled Gate Novel complete so I can stop disliking it, and the busy season has started at work. To top it off, I somehow came up in the rotation for my writers' group again, so I had to cobble together the vague short story idea I'd had into something readable. Still don't know whether I've succeeded in that.

Way back at the end of September, thomascantor and I went off to San Francisco and environs for a week. I love San Francisco, and I loved getting to see many wonderful people in Oakland. I miss you guys. Thank you for having us over.

The weekend itself was a little iffy, as I'm not so good on family vacations with young children, nor am I fond of six-hour minivan rides. I'll leave it at that. However, I did spend time (and too much money) at Borderlands Books, and I discovered the city's only independent pirate supply shop. Any store that has drawers marked "Bilge" and "Song" and "From the Deep" as well as trapdoors in the floor has to be cool. Arr!

We'd only been back for a few days (and reasonably free of jet lag) when a wedding for which thomascantor was choir director took place on the Cape. I'm afraid I went from nervous to clamming up selfconsciously to occasionally stepping out of my shell, but even just being a spectator was wonderful. The bride looked absolutely stunning, the groom handsome (and we all covet his coat), and the bridesmaids beautiful -- partly due to sigerson The Wonder Seamstress doing her last-minute alteration magic. Also, the choir sounded fabulous. I love my baritone gentleman.

I think I enjoyed the wedding more having helped out beforehand (as only a gofer; I lack the necessary organizational skills to event-wrangle). We also claimed to be the "problem table" at the reception: this is what happens when you stick a lot of musicians together and give them little shiny things that can be flung or flipped across the table. I ended up with a glitter leaf or three in my water glass.

Also, this is the only wedding I've been to where there were fire dancers and silks at the reception. Wow. sigerson and sen_no_ongaku, can we imitate this? You pick out the guests and I'll set them on fire? Or maybe flamethrowers instead of rice? (I really shouldn't be allowed to make wedding suggestions.)

I'd been looking forward to this for a while. For those of you who don't know, Viable Paradise is a one-week writer's workshop on Martha's Vineyard, specializing in fantasy and science fiction. I recommend it to any starting writer in the field. It rules. I attended in 2004, at VP8, and had a fantastic and productive time. (The novel I'm currently shopping to agents was critiqued there. By "critiqued," of course, I mean "taken apart into little bitty pieces, dross scraped over to one side, and rebuilt into a much stronger, shiner form.") My brain was fizzing for months afterward.

This reunion came at the end of VP10, and it was great to see so many people still buzzing from the experience. I did feel a twinge of envy, but more gratitude that I could come back and see this in action. thomascantor and I also took some time for ourselves over the weekend, both for watching Friday night's Battlestar Galactica episode (omg) and for walking on the beach in the bright October sun. I found sea glass, he skipped stones (ten times on one stone!) and we found what might have been either a jellyfish on the beach or the result of someone sneezing into a circle. The jellies really are more beautiful at night, when they glow and stream out of the tidal pond into the ocean.

It was great to see everyone, and I just wish I'd had more time. I admit I had one "too many people! run away!" moment, for which I apologize, but overall it was fantastic. Also, I am now, thanks to a particular editor's drink-mixing abilities, free from any danger of scurvy for the next month at least. (It also cures sobriety very well.)

Next weekend looks blessedly unbooked, which is a very, very good thing, because the weekend after that, we're hosting a dinner party. The apartment's currently a pit, and I'll be doing some serious cleaning and moving-of-furniture (shut up, wavyarms) over the next few days. I also need to learn how to make a decent mole sauce. Rendering Templars down does not seem like the best option, plus they're hard to find these days. Maybe I can substitute Freemasons; I hear they're recruiting.

Comments

[krasota.livejournal.com]

McSweeney's is awesome. I love the store and I think their writing program for kid's is KICK ASS. We have a handful of their lit mags and anthologies.

I need to get back to SF. We have lots of friends and loved ones there.

[stealthmuffin.livejournal.com]

I just walked around going "oo!" (or, in the case of the lard, "ew!") for a while. It was great to just suddenly find this shop.