Tim gave us some great sentiments today that I thought I would echo.

I really am a lucky guy. I have friends who are artistic and fascinating and fun to hang out with. My parents and I have a good relationship. My sister is one of my best friends. Three of my short stories have been thought good enough to publish, and I hope many more are to join them. I work at a job with some of the smartest people I've ever met.

I may not be exactly where I'd planned at this point in my life, but I'm damn close. I get to fly down to Florida tomorrow and talk about a theme that caught my eye in Neil Gaiman's fiction. I get to put down all my rambling thoughts in this journal, and be constantly suprised by how many of you out there read it and feel inspired to comment. I get to write down the weird stories floating around in my head and send them to magazine editors for publication consideration. I make a good living and live in a great apartment.

I have a phenomenally talented girlfriend who is beautiful and sexy and brilliant and funny all at the same time. Someone who gets me and loves me for who I am. Someone whom I love so much that I'll be braving a 24-hour flight to Singapore to be able to see her in around a month and a half.

I worry for this country in the coming times. Hopefully, we'll be able to get in there and get rid of Saddam Hussein quickly, before too many lives are lost. For as much of my blustering about this administration's handling of foreign affairs, I do agree that Saddam does need to go away. My biggest worry about the coming military action is the provocation of further terrorist actions against our country in response. I hope hope hope that we can take care of this quickly.

As for my thoughts on France, everything I'd want to say was said in this past week's Weekend Update during SNL. I could rant on about how even if you change the name of French fries to "freedom fries", you're still eating a French product, pommes frites. Or rather, a Belgian product. The Belgians invented the process of frying a potato into little sticks for consumption, and these little greasy treats have been insinuated into an integral part of our culture. I could blab about how French words form a major part of our language (courtesy Jed Hartman). I could bluntly state how the Statue of Liberty, our most potent symbol of patriotism, was a gift from France. I could do all of that, and I guess I just have.

You can be against the war and still support our troops. I hope they all come home safe, though I know how unlikely that will be.

And this entry has gotten too political, so I'll end by saying that if anyone is going to ICFA in the next few days, feel free to walk up and say hi. My paper will be presented Thursday morning at 8:30, and I plan on being at all the major dinners and cocktail parties and such. This will be my very first academic conference, and I'm so looking forward to it. I'll bring back a full report when I come home on Sunday.

Into the breach we go.

Be safe.

---

Now Reading:
The Wood Wife by Terri Windling

Stories Out to Publishers:
13

Stories Sold This Year:
3

Novel Word Count:
um, uncertain