Stuff I keep forgetting to mention:

“The Queen’s Gardener” has made it to the “second-read” pile at Elysian Fiction, having been there for a year and a half. The editor is very contrite, and says I should hear in a few weeks. I don’t believe that, but I’m willing to let the story sit there a little bit longer. It’s one that I like a lot, but has made the rounds of most magazines.

Got a rejection from Usborne Fantasy Stories for “A Familiar(‘s) Tale”. It’s also been circulating for quite some time (having gone through a major polish once), so it’ll be a chore to find somewhere else to send it.

There are photos of the War at
http://www.keradwc.com/20031010_gww/
including a good one of me and a mediocre one of me, both taken on the same day.

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I woke up this morning with my back/neck hurting just as much, if not more, than yesterday morning. The ice pack didn’t seem to help, but five Advil did. And some stretching, although by the time I did the stretching, the Advil was probably kicking in. If it’s not getting better by the end of the week, I’m going back to see Doc.

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I was going to say, some days it isn’t worth getting out of bed, but in all, good things happened today as well, so I won’t be quite that cranky.

I managed to tweak a muscle in my lower left back now. I swear it happened while I was sitting in the computer chair. Argh, I tell you. Argh. So now I’m limping attractively, and can’t even go for a walk for exercise.

Not that I’d have time, because I finally got into my Sage e-mail to discover that my latest job (which I knew would be waiting for me) is due on Monday. Extremely tight turnaround in terms of what I budget for each day, especially since I’ll be gone all day Saturday at Harvest Tournament. Shi-it. I got a decent amount done today, although it was brain-difficult towards the end.

I also had a bit of a meltdown regarding how long Ken’s going to be away. I’m better, but it’s still going to be a lonely time.

So, employees at the main grocery store chains are on strike here. I confess I don’t entirely understand the whole strike thing, at least in this context. Negotiations were happening. Ken says they weren’t happening fast enough. But sheez, they were happening, and is it really better to strike, effectively saying, “You’re not coming to an agreement fast enough, so let’s add more pressure.”

They say that men have the “fight or flight” instinct but that women have the “negotiate and nurture” instinct (or something like that—essentially we want to make things better/make people happy). I can totally see that in myself. Ken and I had a conversation this weekend that made this so clear. It was about matters I don’t want to talk about here (other SCA people’s problems, not really my business except they’re friends and ask our opinion), and I was all, “Well, the first thing I’d do is sit down with the person and try to talk about it…” When, really, the situation has gone beyond that.

But I digress. I don’t comprehend how the pressure of the strike will make negotiating easier, but Ken worked at a grocery store for seven years while he was in college and didn’t want to cross this line, and I respect that. Unfortunately, we were greatly in need of groceries. Eventually we realised that Trader Joe’s was an option, and we went there and bought lots of food, although they were pretty wiped out of some things and I may have to go to Albertson’s to get bean sprouts for the Pad Thai. Or maybe I can find an Asian market nearby for that. I still have to got to Albertson’s to pick up my prescription, but that’s not really part of the grocery store, so I think that’s okay.

Anyway. We also picked up the repaired monitor, and I’m falling all over myself with happiness. For some reason, the laptop screen is perfectly fine for me size-wise, but the smaller monitor on the G4 drove me batty. The 21-inch monitor is one that Ken rescued from his old job years and years ago (they told him to take it away); it’s been repaired twice for a fraction of what it would cost to buy a new one. And it’s truly a wondrous thing when it comes to designing, or putting two Word docs side-by-side, as I do when I’m editing.

I did notice a coffee house next to Trader Joe’s. Hmmm. A place to write? Although a Starbuck’s opened within walking distance, and I could combine a spot of exercise with the getting-out-of-the-house-and-writing thing. Ironically, I don’t drink coffee anymore, but I’m still in search of a funky, comfy place to write.

“Angel” was on tonight, happily soon after the last one we watched (which we’d recorded whilst at War). A weird episode, darker and less funny than the last two. Next week’s episode intrigues me, though. The preview ran the “Viewer Discretion Advised” tag, which I don’t think has ever happened before. I mean, with all the blood and gore and mayhem and nastiness, “Angel” hasn’t needed a warning—so this next one _must_ be major. They listed “scenes of a graphic nature” and “partial nudity”, the latter which perked my ears right up. Partial nudity of Spike, we hope? Or of Wesley, which wouldn’t be bad. I suppose I wouldn’t kick Gunn out of bed for eating crackers (as Rik used to say) but he doesn’t specifically do it for me. Angel doesn’t do it for me, either, and although Fred is cute, she’s so skinny I’d be afraid I’d snap her in two. Ooh, let’s bring Faith back! Partial Faith nudity! Yeah!

And on that note, I should get some sleep.