Guh. Last night was another insomnia-filled toss-n-turn fest. I've gotten into this vicious cycle where I don't get enough sleep during the week, and end up sleeping way in on the weekends, as well as staying up late. So my body clock gets all screwed up Sunday nights, and I lie awake in bed until 1:30 or 2:00 a.m. Then I feel like crap on Monday, and don't get very good sleep the rest of the week. I can definitely see why they don't encourage you to work while going to grad school. If anyone wants to send about $15,000 my way so I don't have to work, I would much appreciate it.

Friday night, I got to see Kyler perform at Six String, and briefly ran into Taylor Roberts (whose CD I reviewed recently, and who sang backup for a few songs), as well as Aaron and his wife. I ended up talking to Aaron for quite a while after the gig was over; he just got back from a six-week trip to Ireland, someplace west of Galway, which is almost as west as you can go. He's getting his Ph.D at Duke right now, so he's just right down the road, though the only time I see him is at Kyler's concerts.

I also talked to the man and woman on the couch next to me for a bit. I brought my moleskine along in case inspiration struck for "In Jurong" (I'm a trifle stalled at the moment), and the couple next to me asked if I was a music critic. I'm not sure that two reviews (one pending) count as making me a critic, but it was just easier to say yes. I told them a little about Green Man Review, and had to sum up that the books I reviewed were kinda like Harry Potter. (They just looked confused when I mentioned "contemporary fantasy".)

Saturday night, my best bud Jason (J1; I'm J2) came over and we saw Once Upon a Time in Mexico at the local multiplex. It was pretty good, though way more violent than Desperado (which is saying something), and it had a few moments that seemed unneccessarily gory. But for the most part, it was a fun movie, and Johnny Depp just stole the show (his new favorite word appears to be 'savvy'). I was a little disappointed that Salma Hayek only appeared in flashbacks, but man, what cool flashbacks. We also saw, among others, the kickass trailer for Kill Bill, which looks like Tarantino's attempt at a good ol' fashioned kung-fu flick.

Other than that, I didn't do much this weekend. I read some things for classes, watched some tv, talked to my lady on ICQ, made some big changes to twocranespress.com. I missed Janet a lot and felt melancholy. I stayed inside way too much, that's for sure.

By the way, if you're in the Raleigh area, Michael Swanwick will be doing a reading on the NCSU campus Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Winston 029, so come on down. Ol' Mike Jasper already said he's coming and will be bringing my contributor copy of Intracities. Woo!

And finally, to close up the festivities in International Talk Like a Pirate Day, here's a joke, told this weekend by Taylor, on stage at Kyler's gig. So this pirate walks into a bar with a steering wheel on his crotch and orders a beer. The bartender obliges, but before he can ask about the steering wheel, the pirate moves off to a table and drinks his beer. After a while, he comes back to the bar, orders another beer. Same thing happens. When the pirate comes up the third time, the bartender says, "Look, before I give you this, I just gotta know, what's with the steering wheel on your crotch?" The pirate looks right at him and says, "Arrr! It's driving me nuts!"

---

Now Reading:
Little Gods by Tim Pratt

Stories Out to Publishers:
6

Books Read This Year:
37

Zines/Fiction Mags Read This Year:
34