I may have mentioned this before, but the Cheat River is one of the world's largest natural sluice-ways--which basically means it's this area's (and perhap's the world's) largest drainage ditch. I can imagine the spring runoff pouring down into the valley, the ground not yet ready to accept so much moisture, repelling it down into the river where there is this uncontrolled and unreasonable rush of water--until there is a sort of equilibrium: a point where the river calms and contains, and the ground starts to accept the water, starts to push it back into managable places, guiding it towards where it belongs.

The students are back. I think much the same reasoning applies. Dear lord does traffic suck.

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Too much has happened to write about it all, at the moment--back from Pennsic, which was a blast but too damp for me, which of course means I am already making plans for how to avoid the damp next year. No, not going is not an option. However if any of you have done extended camping (more than a weekend) and have any suggestions to share on anything from camp-food ideas to how to keep the covers dry when the air itself is swimmable, I'd love to hear your thoughts. I've already decided that next year will probably include a larger "tent"--possibly a canopy with Celtic hangings as walls, and a designated no shoes allowed sleeping section. Also lots of cheap towels for carpet which can be thrown away when they get inevitably drenched and filthy, so the floor will be mostly dry. Maybe wooden pallets under the air-mattress, but that may not be doable since I have only a small car to be transporting this stuff to and fro.

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I got to thumb through the latest Year's Best Fantasy and Horror the other day (haven't bought mine yet, but soon...). I am pleased that The Modern Art Cave, which also has a very nice review up at Strange Horizons right now, got several mentions, both in the summations in the front and in some of the Honorable Mentions in the back. Also happy to see that the Honorable Mentions included other works by Tim, Tracina, and myself (woo hoo, two in a row!!)--though again, they misspelled my name. (Only in the back, in the summation mention they spelled it correctly.) Doesn't change the fact that I love that book, of course.

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Had a work meeting on Sunday for the online high school I teach at, so I got to actually meet face to face a lot of people I work with online every day. Stan and Marianne (the bosses) made tons of food, from lasagna to curry to cheesecake... And, of course, we all got to see where the school is meant to be going right now, and discuss what to do about student problems and plagiarism, and generally joke around and be a little silly. (One of our students just won a medal in the Olympics--we gave her an A in PE.)

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Sean had to be at work early early this morning, and now I can't go back to sleep. It's alright though--I'll be giving it another go here soon. (I've been fighting off some bug or something, I think I need all the sleep I can get.) I'll talk to you kids more later.