Well, I survived my first week at my new job. I'm doing pretty much what I was doing at my old job, but in a friendlier environment, with a lot more people (my last company only had six employees, including me). A few of us went one day for lunch to a new Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant that had opened nearby, and I thought of the people at Clarion and all the trips to the Asian House.

And, shock and surprise, I started writing again tonight. It's a crime/suspense story that's been rolling around in my head for a while, originally called "Christian Spice" and renamed "Are You There God? It's Me, Nikolas". It's set mostly in a bakery in Dundalk, Co. Louth, Ireland (the setting Karen suggested I use out of the five I jotted down for her in-class assignment), and concerns the Greek Mafia (which I think is fictional, though I know there was at one point a Greek Mob operating out of Astoria, which is located in Queens, New York). Last week, I picked up a copy of Crimewave, a British fiction magazine, and was inspired. No one is more surprised than me.

Janet heads to New York on Sunday to visit a few Clarion folks, then will ride the rails back to North Carolina the following Monday and will stay with me for another two weeks before flying home to Singapore. Yay! I'm so happy I'll have another couple of weeks with her.