AETW: 169
editing: “Lily La Rouge” and “Devouring Heart”

And now we’re in the Atlanta airport, the first step of our trip home. (We change in SFO this time, and arrive in SNA, which is nice.) Based on being pulled aside for a security check (the wand waving thing), I now know how to smuggle a small weapon in. But I have no reason to or interest in doing that, and I’m not going to explain how, because this is a public journal. It’s just potential story fodder.

We spent a pleasant two days with Debi, Baylee, and Steve. We arrived Saturday afternoon after a reasonably leisurely checkout and drive to GA. We hung out with Debi and Baylee until Steve got home from work, and then we all went out for Chinese food. We stopped by their friends’ house for a little while after that. Then, Baylee wasn’t feeling well—she’d already called a doctor and we were pretty sure it was a UTI—so we went to the hospital and hung out in the emergency room (Ken and I stayed while Debi took Steve home, because he had an early morning for work). We got home at 3 a.m. and crashed. (Baylee’s fine—it was a UTI and she has appropriate meds and all will be well.)

Ken and I got up at about noon, and lounged, and showered, and eventually Debi and Baylee made their appearances. After Steve got home, we ran a few errands, picked up a massive amount of wings from Hooters, and headed to Stone Mountain. It’s a famous quarry from which the granite for the Lincoln Monument was taken. It now has a huge carving on its side of Lee, Jackson, and Grant, and every night they do a big laser show. The finale is when they outline the horses and riders and have them ride off the mountain. It was, unsurprisingly, very Georgia- and US-centric; a bit cloyingly so, but still a fun evening. What I don’t understand, though, is how people can be so loudly proud of their state, and then leave an astonishing amount of trash behind. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by the SCA’s “leave a site cleaner than you found it” credo, but yuck, you slobs. (We left nothing but crumbs.)

I think we need to reset the Power Manager on the laptop. It hasn’t been charging adequately. I’ll only have about 50% power on the plane (even though it’s plugged in right now while we wait). Grrr.

Got crits back on both stories, which both need a little work, but nothing major. I’ll see if I can get any work done on the plane. We’ll get home reasonably early—2 p.m.—but I’ll want to nap, and we have folks coming over for Sewing Night. (Although it won’t be busy, this being the Monday of Potrero.)

So, my personal writing dare/goal for September is to write 25K on AETW. That’s essentially 1K/day, not including days of SCA events. I also intend to work on short stories, get BH in the mail, etc. Wish me luck. Send me encouragement. Etc.

Well, the laptop battery finally died, but I have the Palm and keyboard. I got a bunch of e-mail done; most of what's left is stuff to deal with at home. I also wrote 200 words or so on AETW.

We just flew over Area 51! Well, close to it. The pilot said it's the closest he's been in 25 years of flying and we could get this close because the military isn't flying today. He also said that any unidentified aircraft that flies over it is never seen again. Bwahaha.

Home now. I took a 2-hour nap and, as expected, didn’t want to get up, but I did. We picked up a pizza (have free coupons to use up by the end of the month), bread, and milk; unpacked; went through mail; started laundry; and now folks are here for sewing. I’m inside writing, though. Got to get these two stories in the mail! And have to get to bed at a reasonable hour, because we have an early appt with an insurance guy re: health insurance.

Came home to a “no thanks” from Ballantine re: seeing WBG, and a nice cheque from Dyke the Halls for “Frozen”.

Okay. Both stories edited and mailed. Another story mailed. Last load of laundry in. Sleepy now. ‘Night.