I’ll have a Weekend, please: shaken, not stirred

I’m so tired. It’s been a long week, and thank goodness it’s Friday tomorrow, because if it turned out to be another Wednesday that felt like a Friday, I’d just… I don’t know what I’d do, but it’d involve a lot of whining and foot-stamping, and maybe a little rolling on the floor.

Let’s do a MADCAP-RE-CAP!

Friday, Sept. 11th, 5:30PM–Downtown at PDX Grill happy hour for Andy’s birthday palooza with Kaku and the Spangler-Babbits Co. Had a Lavendar Cosmo (<3) and then a White Cosmo (also <3), and then we ate the beef satay and spicy fries; there was much rejoicing.

Friday, Sept. 11, 8:30PM–Over on NE 13th and Flanders. Lost. Propositioned by pot-head; we declined. Got back in the car to meet Spangler-Babbits Co. at the Rogue Brewery on NW 13th and Flanders.

Friday, Sept. 11, 10:30PM–After a CANNON of free beer (chocolate stout + Hazelnut ale = the “Snickers”), a free t-shirt, a free pint of Dead-Guy Ale, and a LOT of laughter, plus bathroom signs that didn’t make any sense (you guess while buzzed and need to go: Barley vs. Hops), drove home (safely) and went immediately to bed.

Saturday, Sept. 12, 5:00PM–Kaku’s parents’ place for BBQ. There was much chatting, much laughing, much delicious salmon and steak, much cheesecake, and a good time had by all!

Saturday, Sept. 12, 10:00PM–Kaku’s apartment for a viewing of Ironman with his awesome surround sound system. There was much giggling, much exploding, much heckling, and a good time was had by all!

Sunday, Sept. 13–I don’t actually remember what I did on the 13th. Took it easy and relaxed, caught up on Apex stuff, while Andy studied. Packed for Monday’s work trip up to Bellevue, WA.

Monday, Sept. 14th, 7:30AM–Went to work as usual, but with an extra bag for overnight stuff. Andy started finals.

Monday, Sept. 14th, 8:30PM–In Bellevue, WA, after a 4 hour drive on I-5. Listened to half of H.G. Wells’ THE INVISIBLE MAN. Checked in at the Silver Cloud Inn, went to get sushi with bosses. There was Japanese beer, and a good time was had by all!

Tuesday, Sept. 15th, 7:15AM–Checked out of the Silver Cloud and went to the Hyatt for the convention! Got to meet a lot of people face-to-face for the first time in person, and it was a lot of fun! Shoes hurt like a b@#$! though…

Tuesday, Sept. 15th, 9:30PM–Arrived back home in Portland. Went promptly to bed.

Then the week started up as usual, though Wednesday felt like Friday, and I still need to feel like I actually slept. >.< Have been keeping up well with Apex submissions, though, now that I’ve switched to managing them during my lunch break. Now I just need to make sure I keep on top of the free-time writing.

Writing Stuff:

Here’s a brief recap of the current “would-like-to-do” writing to-do list:

X Write Chapter 7 of the “Novel”
– Write Chapter 18 of “The Thief Dilemma”
– Post Chapter 18 of TD
X Finish “Sidrie’s Last Battle”
– Edit “Sidrie’s” to final draft
– Submit “Sidrie’s”
– Edit “Swallow” to final draft–SEE NOTE
– Submit “Swallow”

NOTE: So while Sidrie’s is in rough draft, and definitely needs some work on the tail end, I ran “Swallow” by my first cold reader this last weekend. Determined that the whole thing needs to be re-worked from the beginning. Oh, lord. Don’t know if it’ll be getting submitted this month.

But! I did get some writing in yesterday. Andy needed to go to Palio’s to get some studying done, so I brought my laptop to top off some Apex work and to get some of my own writing done. Managed to hammer out about 1,400 words of the new version of “Swallow”, now tentatively re-titled “My Sister’s Smile Hides More than Her Teeth”. I’d finally (after three days of torment) picked out the new narrative voice and POV, and had actually started jotting down the few opening lines that popped into my head at the end of the work day yesterday. It was practically writing itself!

Now I’ve got to get to work on it tonight. I’m already a half-hour late. Ugh. >.O I just want to go to bed.