Hello, and how’s everybody tonight? I’ve just lit some Egyptian Sandalwood incense and may just treat myself to a second glass of wine. Things are definitely okay.

I got the GP finished and to the copy shop today. So help me, if I have to retype everything and redesign everything and set up the styles ONE MORE TIME, fur is going to fly. Cat graciously and cheerfully did a last-minute (because of timing) but thorough proofreading job last night, and she has my deepest thanks. Silly holiday, giving me even less time to deal with the issue. I’ll be picking it up from the copy shop first thing tomorrow and getting it in the mail.

Yesterday I mostly spent working on the GP (see that retyping and redesigning, etc., thing above). I took the sad hard drives to the disk recovery place, and the lady there was polite but rather pessimistic. I suppose that’s part of her job, to not give false hope, but still. She said she was the Mac expert, but some of the language she used sounded PC-ish, so who knows. She said they’d call yesterday afternoon or today, and they didn’t, so I’ll be calling them tomorrow morning as well. I don’t expect them to have anything finished this week, what with the holiday, but I’d like an update.

Folks came over for sewing last night, and once I finished the GP, I went out and assisted. Catarucia has a set of almost-finished tunics (see below), and Andrew started a tunic out of some gorgeous drool-over purple linen. (When he and Reina, his wife, showed it to me, I picked it up and tried to make off with it. I failed, alas.) Reina wants a cotehardie out of it, and I had one of my rare but pleasurable flashes of brilliance, and threw scraps of gold brocade on the table and declared that this would be used for beaded undersleeves, and trim on Andrew’s tunic. I can’t describe how well the colours went together. Absolutely stunning. This is the gold that’s already half of my neverending beaded cotehardie project (although I realised I’m nearly done with panel 3, and thus have only 1 more panel to go! because I’m only beading the front), one side of a two-sided fencing cloak, and someone else’s sideless surcoat. I’m glad the last bits will be put to such good use. Although I will truly have to restrain myself on the next LA Fabric District trip and not buy the same linen and make a cotehardie for myself.

Cat and I watched TV last night and tonight, and are getting caught up. We’ve watched all the “Enterprise” eps on the DVR (some of which she’d already seen), and there are two “Tarzans” to go. I imagine it will fill up again while I’m gone for T’giving, although some shows aren’t having new eps because of the holiday.

Speaking of the holidays, what DVDs and videos should I take to the 4-day Annual Homeless Waifs Party? I’ll be bringing “Buffy” and “Angel”, but what else? (Only US videos, alas.) Suggestions welcome. Maybe “Dangerous Beauty”. It’ll be a mix of SCA and non-SCA folks. Hmmmm…

I ran errands yesterday and today as well—I even mailed the first set of Yule presents today! I’m truly amazed. I also stopped in Goodwill in search of a cast-iron frying pan (didn’t find one, but I did at Big Lots, for a truly cheap price because none of them were marked and so they gave me the price of a “similar” Teflon one), and walked out with two bags of books. Mostly Nora Roberts, two Robert B. Parkers, and a couple of other things.

I’ve already read one Parker and am partway through another. I’m not sure what it is about his writing, but I read him fast, I’m sucked right in. But, the books don’t stay with me. I remember bits and pieces, but I could probably re-read most of his Spenser novels (which Andrew kept, rightly, given that he was a Parker fan long before me) and they’d feel new to me. I think both the fast reading and the lack of long-term impact are results of his style: little description (although what’s there is incredible) and lots of dialogue with few tags (sometimes I have to read back to figure out who’s saying what). So it’s interesting to me that I like them so much.

(I like Sue Grafton’s style much better, but I also read most of hers while drugged out on pain meds after wisdom tooth surgery. Then again, the ones I’ve read since then I’ve liked, too.)

I always mean to talk about what I’m reading here, and I never seem to get around it. I think that’s because I read in bed, and then fall asleep thinking about what I’ve read, and then by the time I get to the computer in the morning, the thoughts have been stored away. I certainly won’t diss any writers here; it’s not professional. If I don’t like something, it’s often because I recognise that it’s a style I don’t like.

Anyway. I know my preference is for description, and lush writing. It’s what I like to read, and it’s what I usually end up writing. But it may not be right for everything I write. One of my Blackwood House critiquers felt I had too much description and not enough dialogue. She’s probably right given the type of book it is (and we’re still waiting to hear what the editor thinks). If that’s the case, then I shouldn’t try to write that type of book anymore. (But let’s see what the editor thinks first. I could be bribed.) FWIW, I count Guy Gavriel Kay as the most brilliant writer I’ve ever encountered, and Barbara Hambly is a close-second favourite.

I’ve gone way off track here. I hope ya’ll have had as much fun with it as I have. [g]

So tonight Catarucia came back over and did more sewing, and we’ve mostly got a 2-tunic set finished for her (she’ll be doing some finishing at home). In between giving her assistance, I made a tunic for one of the fire victims, and played with my Turkish coat pattern.

My Palm won’t Hotsync, but I think I know why, and it’s something I can’t easily fix unless the hard drives are fixed. Ah well. You’ll just have to wait longer for the interim journal entries.

Tired now. Must curl up in bed with latest Parker novel (the first Jesse Stone novel—not terribly impressed with the protag or the pov shifts, which are unusual for Parker—right now Sunny is my favourite protag of his, followed closely by, of course, the great Spenser himself).