25 November 2002

Against my expectations, I made good progress on the novel last week and over the weekend. I'm down to only three pieces I need to write, and so is K.T. And then - oh my gods, then - then the rough draft will be done.

Which is not to say we won't have just as much work again cut out for us in editing and revising. But from that point forward, I'll never be able to say I've never finished a project like that.

K.T. and I are going to do something to celebrate. We're not sure what, yet, but something. The current suggestion up for discussion is a day at a spa, followed by a nice dinner out.

My original thought was that, whatever we do, it should be just K.T. and I. Not that we don't enjoy the company of our respective spouses, but... we've done all this work; it seemed only fair that we get a reward just for ourselves that we didn't have to share.

But then, the more I think about it, the more I realize how much they've put up with over the last months, and how much more they'll have to put up with while we're editing, and yeah, they deserve some kind of reward, too. (Still, I think K.T. and I should be allowed to pick the restaurant. I don't care if Kevin doesn't like steak.)

We had a very good weekend, though. As I said, I got a lot of writing done. I didn't finish the crocheting piece I'm working on, but I think that will happen in the next day or so. I went to Target and bought some things I'll need to make a few Christmas presents, and I'll start on those as soon as I'm done with the current piece. (One thing at a time...)

When we stopped by the pet store to pick up litterbox liners on Saturday, I said - almost as a joke - "Hey, we could eat at Nawab for lunch!"

(Nawab is an Indian restaurant that took over from the mediocre Chinese food place that used to be there. We'd never eaten there - I really hate spicy food - but it's a fun word to say. Go on, try it. Say "Nawab" and see if you don't enjoy it.)

Matt said, "Yeah, sure, we could do that."

I thought about it. Not all Indian food is spicy. While he went into the pet store for the litterbox liners (the store houses enormous spiders; I don't go in there anymore) I walked over to Nawab's window, where they had a menu posted, to see if I could tell the hot from the mild well enough to chance it.

The menu must have said in about four places: "Curry" just means "sauce" - not necessarily "hot." Every entree is available with mild, medium, hot, or "Indian hot" sauces.

I thought, Well, that's promising. I told Matt, "Let's give it a shot." So we went in.

The shopping center where this is located is... Well, Williamsburg doesn't really have "bad" parts of town, but let's call it a "less affluent" area, and the shopping center reflects that. The pet store is small and crowded and slightly smelly (if I could find these wonderful litterbox liners anywhere else!), and the movie theater that used to be on the corner was a tiny little shithole (I can say that; I used to work there) and the pizza carryout place on the other corner is a little shithole, and - as I said - the Chinese place that used to be where Nawab is now was distinctly mediocre.

So I was expecting about the same from Nawab. I was wrong.

It was very classy. Real tableclothes and cloth napkins and quiet music (Indian in origin, of course) and waiters in tuxedo shirts and bowties. Matt in his Spock sweatshirt, and me in my baggy torn sweater, felt a little outclassed.

And the food - the food was wonderful. I ordered mine mild of course, and Matt ordered his medium (hedging his bets, he said). And mine was amazing, and Matt's was not too spicy for me to have a bit.

I want to go back and try all the other things on the menu that sounded marvelous. (Actually, during the week they have a buffet at lunch. I'm a teeny bit dubious - it's harder to control spice level on a buffet - but it's quite a bit cheaper than eating sit-down, so I might give it a try some day.)

I do believe we've got us a new restaurant on the rotation.

Okay, I know I shouldn't try to anticipate pregnancy this early - and it's not really all that likely this month, for a variety of reasons that are definitely TMI and NYB - but... It is possible. I'm not quite nauseous this morning, but I've got that weird tight feeling in my throat that's halfway to nausea. And there are one or two other TMI kinds of things that could be symptoms of pregnancy, or the could be early PMS symptoms.

None of them individually spell pregnancy - just the possibility of a rough PMS week - but taken together...

I shouldn't get my hopes up. I shouldn't try to anticipate.

But it surely would be neat to have some news for Christmas.

--Liz