The gas fire is burning away as I type, filling the living room with carbon-monoxide and warmth. Poor Patrick is ill, so he's lying down and petting Nika. It's a cold grey day outside. It'll be a while before I work up the energy for a big hike in the woods!

Yesterday was Productivity Day--I finished Chapter 20 of Queen of Thorns (2/3 done! woohoo!) and--with much pain and gritty determination--stayed up very late and finished the mind-numbingly tedious AND often-offensive academic book I've been trying and trying and trying to read for my thesis for the past month! I read and took notes on 197 pages of horrible text ("...the ontological facticity of teleological feminine unpredicability...") and slammed the book shut at midnight. DONE! (And only two days overdue.... Ah well.)

Now I'm thinking about Chapter 21 and looking forward to reading Flytrap Issue no. 1, which I ordered yesterday. Woohoo!