Jon

Several weeks ago I'd planned to have a small movie night this past weekend, to celebrate my 33 1/3rd birthday. Given the craziness of the last couple weeks, not surprisingly, I failed to plan it or to invite anyone.

Fortunately, 2049live and ironlemur were visiting from Chicago, and we watched The Third Man, so I can at least claim to have fulfilled my plans. Though I didn't have a cake that looked like an LP. (No, I was never actually planning that -- it just occurred to me now.)

It's all right, though, as I spent a nontrivial portion of the weekend helping out with emergency work stuff. My role was limited, from a technical perspective, but time-consuming nonetheless.

Hopefully I'll plan a substitute movie night soon -- it would be good to make sure we still see people.

We have an answer on what happened to Ezra: a blood clot in the umbilical cord. While this doesn't make us any less sad, it's at least an answer. When Laura's off of blood thinners for the clot in her leg, we'll be doing the full panel of clotting disorder tests, and likely she'll be on blood thinners when we're ready to try again.

Not sure if we'll be joining much of the family at Disney in June -- it's expensive, and if Laura can't enjoy the rides due to the blood thinners maybe it makes more sense to pay down the credit cards, or at least not spend down the market-battered nest egg. On the other hand, even if Laura can't enjoy the rides we'd enjoy spending time with my siblings quite a bit. I still have to see if I can get the time off of work anyway, so I guess it's a bit premature to worry about that.

Speaking of worry, I'm dreading work this week. Not because I don't love my job (because I do!) but because of the volume of end-of-quarter work that needs doing. I'm involved in four separate situations involving last-minute problems and potential big money... it would be exhausting to think about, even if I wasn't already exhausted from day-to-day living right now.

I did have some interesting dreams last night -- in one, I was onstage. I'm not sure exactly what my act was, but I was fairly content and comfortable up there, whatever I was doing. There was a guy in the audience in a wheelchair, near the front, and I asked him his name, which was Joe. Someone in his group made a "Hey Joe" joke, and I replied that if I was closer to the drum kit I'd have given the rimshot myself. Everyone in the audience laughed, which surprised me and made me smile.

In another dream, I was trying to explain to someone why they were having more trouble writing their second novel than they did writing their first. I had two foam rings of exactly the same size, with the hole in the middle of each ring also the exact same size. I had a ball that exactly fit the hole, and I asked the novelist to pass the ball through the first ring. No problem.

I asked him to pass it through the second ring, but he couldn't fit it through. He measured and confirmed that the holes were exactly the same size, then tried again. Still no luck. I asked him what accompanied the ball on the second time through that ring that wasn't there the first time around. He didn't know. I answered: ego.

I realized it's been too long since I posted here when I realized that everything—photographs, bookmarks, and LJ posts—had scrolled off of my homepage. Oops.

I'm not dead, just working too many hours. Time not working is spent doing laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, and sleeping. But life is good, really; I like everything I'm doing, I just wish I had more time to do other stuff.

Of course, what did I do on today's day off? Laundry. And cooking: ironheadjane and I baked not one but two cakes: a lighter orange-almond cake made with olive oil, and a rich devil's food cake in two layers with orange buttercream frosting between the layers and and orange-chocolate glaze on top. I can't wait to get to tonight's event and taste both of those...

For dinner, herb-marinated grilled pork chops and corn on the cob. Soon, fireworks at veovix's place.

( A funny dream from the other night )

I've done a lousy job of keeping up with movies I've seen in this space, but recently I've seen Prairie Home Companion (it was about what I expected) and Beowulf and Grendel, which I liked a bunch. (You might not give a damn if you don't think "Squee! Vikings!") Like I said, I've mostly been working. Speaking of work, we're hiring tech support people in both Seattle and the Bay Area. If you're smart, you like Unix, and you like Internet protocols, let me know and I'll send you some additional details...

I'd say something like "more to come later," but I can't imagine when.

Last night I dreamed of a famous writer. He was something of a cross between Madison Smartt Bell and Nick Nolte, maybe with a touch of Jack Nicholson's character from The Shining. Initially he mistook me for someone else, but I gently corrected him, and explained that I was a struggling writer.

He agreed to help me with some stuff, to show me his process and to critique my work, among other things. We were still heading over to his place (through an indoor/outdoor graveyard also used for refinishing the furniture of the deceased) when I woke.

It's a bit disappointing. Like most people, I suppose, I've long been fascinated with dream guides. Amy Tan has a wonderful story about her experience with a dream guide in The Opposite of Fate that really gave me shivers, and there are numerous other accounts. I'd love to have my own personal story on this front, especially if I'm getting strong advice on my writing. (I get shivers thinking about it.)

For now, perhaps, it's enough to know that my subconscious believes there's a famous writer living inside of me. Even if he's still someone else.

ironheadjane and I got back to Seattle on Wednesday evening, and things have been something of a blur since then.

I'm trying to get caught up at work; when I left town, I wasn't of sound enough mind to prepare adequate notes on where I was and what I was doing. I spent most of Thursday and Friday trying to figure out exactly where I was on each project. On Friday, I managed to more or less finish that task, and started writing up notes for a paper I've been cogitating on for several weeks. It felt good to be doing something at least modestly productive.

( Geek Lust: iPod Nano and Sennheiser PX100 headphones )

Friday night, I grabbed some falafel with Emily, walked with Tonx to Twice-Sold Tales to show him a coffee book in the window (which he bought), and had margaritas with Tonx, Emily, and some of Emily's co-workers.

Today has been more errand-running: shoe-cleaning supplies, Ikea (new comforter and cover for it), and a failed jacket-buying mission at REI. I want a great-looking waterproof thing, with a zip-off or zip-in hood. Something I could wear with business-casual clothes and not feel like an idiot, but which looks decent even if I'm somewhat dressed down. And is a good spring/fall weight, or a winter weight but with a removable liner. This shouldn't be as hard as it seems to be.

( Family Stuff: Dreams, Disneyworld, Funerals, and Friends )

I feel like I need to say, once again, how supportive everyone has been of me and the family. It's really impossible to adequately describe the zillions of hours of cooking, cleaning, logistical support, and friendship that have been directed towards my family in the last week-plus. It's wonderful, and it's equally impossible to adequately thank everyone for it. But thanks to everyone anyway, inadequate though those thanks may be.

I've been keeping busy. I'm still trying to finish editing the first draft of the novel by the end of the month; it's kind of dicey as to if I'll get it done, but it's looking up a bit.

( More on the writing thing. Prize enclosed! )

Two Ideas is soaking up a lot of extra time, even though it should be a small project and not a large one. And then there's going to the gym. I'm going at least every other day, and doing an hour on the elliptical trainer. Sounds like something to work on my prose style, doesn't it? I wonder about a digressional trainer... Most of the time, I spend the hour listing to an episode of This American Life, or a BBC radio play, or a lecture. Something to engage my mind while my body is doing its thing.

I've been trying to enjoy my not-work time. There's wandering around, and listening to music. Laura and Tonx and Emily and I are working our way through the second season of Carnivale, and I recently started the first season of Deadwood.

( Recent Dreams )

( April Showers me with Plans )

All right: I've got 90 minutes more editing before ironheadjane gets home and we go to the gym. Then: dinner, and maybe Carnivale...