29 May 2001
I didn't accomplish a single thing that I'd wanted to accomplish over the long weekend.
Well, okay, I did manage to weed the garden. But considering that represented only about fifteen minutes' work, I don't feel too proud of the fact that that was my only real accomplishment for three days.
For the most part, I spent all three days planted in front of the computer. I wrote and edited stories. I updated my roleplaying website, adding some links and some stories. I exchanged some e-mail with the artist I'm commissioning to do a sketch of some of my characters. I exchanged dozens of e-mails with Karen and Ashby. I Halled. I talked about Halling.
That was pretty much my long weekend.
Actually, I wasn't quite that bad on Saturday. Saturday morning Kris called around 10:30 to ask Matt and I to meet her and Braz for breakfast - she wanted pancakes, and Braz wouldn't take her out unless Matt and I came, too. At least, that was her story.
So Matt and I hurriedly dressed (the phone had woken me, and Matt had only been up for about an hour) and met the Brandts at Denny's for brunch. (After insisting that she needed pancakes, Kris had a waffle. Much teasing ensued.)
Then we went back to the house for a bit, and I dorked around on the computer. Then Braz called: He needed to move some old furniture to the thrift store, and would Matt be willing to come and help? They'd take us out to dinner as payment.
Well, I'd been thinking that it might be nice to see K.T. and Ashby in person, before my brain dissolved and I started thinking of them as pixellated names floating on the right side of my screen. A little coordination, and we were set - Matt would help Braz move the furniture, and then we'd all go down to Newport News and meet K.T., Ashby, and Kevin for dinner at T.G.I. Friday's.
That turned out to be a good idea. I really like eating there - the Jack Daniels barbeque sauce must be tasted to be believed - but for some reason it doesn't come up often. So we all went out together, and much hilarity ensued.
We finished dinner fairly late - well after 10 - but decided to walk across the parking lot to the Barnes and Noble. I haven't been in a bookstore for a while, so that was nice. I bought myself a new sketchbook - this one is smaller, with spiral-bound pages so it should be easier to carry around and use. And I picked up Drawing For Idiots, which looked like it had good exercises and a format I could actually relate to. Also, I bought Steven Brust's To Reign In Hell, which I've heard was pretty good. And yes, before you ask, I managed to buy all that in the half-hour we had before the store closed.
I managed to get out of the house on Sunday, too - Matt and I went down to visit K.T. and Kevin and Ashby, stopping to pick up Chinese food on the way. The take-out place around the corner from K.T. and Kevin has the best steak-on-a-stick I've ever had. It's wonderful stuff. Unfortunately, they tend to run out of it a lot.
So I had K.T. call in the order before Matt and I left, to make sure they'd have enough. She made them check on the sticks, and then Matt and I left. When we picked up the food, the owner handed us two bags, rang up the order, and told me, "$26.62." I wrote the check, and we left. And just as I was getting in the car, I thought... General Tso's, Beef and Broccoli, Cashew Chicken, Egg Drop soup, Hot and Sour soup, and five orders of beef sticks for less than $30? I don't think so.
I had Matt look in the bags. Sure enough, we had one order of five beef sticks. We went back into the take-out place and ordered the rest of the sticks. I called K.T. to let her know we were going to be running a little behind.
The owner called us over. "Ve'y popular," he said. "Run out."
How many were there? Matt and I asked. Thirteen - two short of the total twenty we'd wanted. Well, two short wasn't too bad. "Ve'y popular," the owner said again. "We run out lot."
I smiled at him. "Maybe you should order more."
But Monday... Monday I planted my butt in my chair and didn't move except to get food and go to the bathroom. I felt like a complete slug - Matt cleaned the kitchen, paid the bills, struggled with a headache... I Halled. Pretty much all day, except for a two-hour break around six, when 'most everyone (including us) decided to do the weekly grocery shopping.
I must say I was enjoying it, though. My character Tarri and Ashby's character Sanriel are right at the beginning of a budding romance, and they're so cute it's almost unbearable. Ashby and I were laughing about it, off-channel. We'd discussed earlier over the weekend that it might take a crisis of some sort to force them to actually talk about their feelings. Well, last night after the 'Hall, as San was walking Tarri home, they sat down on a park bench and managed - if not to actually say what they were feeling, then at least to hint at it pretty transparently.
"Okay," I told Ashby off-channel as Sanriel and Tarri sat there snuggling, "it might not take a crisis to get them to talk. But it could very well take an earthquake to get them off this damn bench!"
But we managed, with much blushing and reluctance and hesitation, to get them moving again. I actually made it to bed before 1!
And yes, for those of you who are interesed (Karen) that transcript will be submitted for posting.
(Oh, just for the record: Friday night, went to bed at 2:30. Woke up Saturday at 10:30, went to bed again at 3:30. Woke up Sunday at 9:30, went to bed around 4. Woke up Monday at 9. I was really starting to worry that I'd eventually whittle my sleep down to only 2 hours a night. On the other hand, Monday was the only day I was at all sleepy. I told Matt, "Maybe the secret is that I just need an even number of hours of sleep!")
Word of the Day:
descry - to catch sight of; to find out or discover
Currently Reading:
- To Reign In Hell by Steven Brust
Current Projects:
- drawing
- garden