under the heading of "life goes on, and we can still have good days even in sadness, damnit..."

Happy Birthday to divanoir and terri_osborne!


And in foodie updates, I can now scratch mussels off my To Be Eaten list. They were...good. Not great, but good. I'll have to try them prepared a few different ways to make a final determination. However, I can give solid marks to Paradou, on Little W. 12th Street in NYC. Excellent food, solid service, very pretty little space. And it's always fun to be back in the Meatpacking District, watching all the Pretty People trying to be Pretty... (also: should anyone feel moved to buy me a bottle of St. Germain for my birthday? I wouldn't say no. Because, yum.)

Now it's back to work. Forty-eight hours left in which to reach goal...

another Anna Leonard update

Yeah, that's a bit of all right....

(it will be available for download 1 September, I believe).

And remember, four more days to enter the LOLcatcontest and win a copy of THE NIGHT SERPENT!


*goes back to wordcount*

When you think it over do you ever wonder/ What it is that holds your life so close to mine?

Is it spamming when you do it to your own journal? Or just being trapped behind the desk for too many hours at a time with your brain set on TYPE?


WEATHER: Wow. A few rolls of thunder for warm-up, a slam that set off car alarms all around the block, and then the deluge fit for Noah to go whoa opens up and washes away anything not already swimming. Seriously. Didn't we just do this yesterday? (except this time I'm not trapped at a wine tasting, oh woes)
[for the first time in my entire life, a flash of lightning actually scared me. hard white light literally filled the office, followed by a hard ice-crack.]

FOOD: I've finally figured out how to make whole wheat pasta taste good. Cook until very dead, toss with olive oil, mix in scraps of lox and sugar-cured bacon, finish with grated grana padano. Nom nom nom. Does the whole wheat cancel out the bacon, healthwise? Also: weird-ass salad of dandelion, arugula, red cabbage, yellow peppers, and feta. Tasty. Does anyone know the significant difference between greek feta and french feta? I can taste a difference but I don't know what or why....

THE WORLD OUTSIDE: In the news, politicians are again being immoral, illegal, and generally disgusting in their claims that They're Not Doing Anything Wrong, Nosir. What say we just outlaw politicians?

WORK: 2900 words so far today. Rollin' rollin'.... Looking for another thousand tonight, 3,850 words for the day, and noting a few places that suggest I'm going to have to back-track on the timeline and shove some things around to keep the pacing tight. Later, that. For now, Hero must meet Future Sidekick. Hijinks ensue.

But first, more caffeine. no more caffeine.