I'm engaged!

On Thursday night, Janet and I were in bed talking (and only talking because of my distraught stomach), and I asked her to marry me. And she said yes. We picked out a ring Friday afternoon at a small jeweler's, customizing the setting and the diamond to just what Janet wanted and what I could afford, and she'll pick it up next Thursday. I wish I could be there to put it on her finger, but I'll just have to wait to put another ring on her finger a little later down the road. We don't know when the wedding will be yet, since a lot of it depends on the paperwork for these guys, but if all goes well, we're hoping for the end of this year. Cross your fingers for us.

Well, I'm back now. The second week in Singapore was pretty much a wash, but at least if I was sick, I had a great nurse taking care of me. I would have felt ten times worse if Janet hadn't been there. But we did manage to get out a bit the last few days, and we did lots of stuff in Singapore when I first got there, so I don't feel gypped on getting to see stuff. I know Janet was disappointed we didn't get to go to some of the places she wanted to show me, but we'll just have to do those another time.

I'm so happy to be home and sleeping in my own bed, especially after the nightmarish flight from Tokyo to Detroit that would never end. There was this guy with his knees in my back almost the entire time; by the sixth hour of the eleven hour flight, I was ready to toss him out the back exit of the plane. After my parents picked me up from the airport last night, I came home and went right to bed.

Today I didn't do too much, as the jet lag was really bad, but I did get my mail from my friend John, went to the store for some little things, and grabbed a copy of the May Locus with my picture in the pool photo. I shaved most of the scruff off my face (I hadn't shaved in over a week), leaving the goatee because I missed it, and discovered in the mirror how much weight I'd lost. I hopped on the scale and found out I weighed fifteen pounds less than when I left. It seems the only way for me to lose weight lately is to get really really sick. Dammit.

Oh, and as Rudi pointed out in the comments of the last journal entry, the table of contents for Electric Velocipede issue #5 is now posted at the Night Shade Board. My story "Songstress" will be in the double issue among stories by three of my Clarion classmates, James Hartley, and Paul di Filippo. I'm very excited about the lineup.

Okay, I'm off to bed now. Holy crap, I'm getting married!

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Now Reading:
All the Names by Jose Saramago

Stories Out to Publishers:
8

Books Read This Year:
21

Novel Word Count:
9200