This was a very fun weekend, and I got a crapload of reading done.

Saturday late morning, my parents picked me up and we went shoe shopping. I needed a new pair of black dress shoes for my wedding, but also to replace the ones I already had, which hurt my feet anymore. We tried seven different stores in one mall, and three stores at another before ending up at Nordstrom. Oh my stars and garters, I have never had better customer service in my life. The girl who was attending us was helpful, attentive, friendly, and extremely knowledgable. And that was a major factor in buying the shoes there.

Then we went to the Greek festival at the state fairgrounds, and got to eat some yummy Greek food (pastitsio, spanakopita, dolmades, baklava) and watch the dancers on the stage. The live bouzouki band that they usually have never came onstage while we were there, though at 4:00 I guess it was between prime meal times. Still, it was a lot of fun; no plate smashing, but we did yell "Opa!" a few times. We walked around and looked at the different booths (a lot of which were of jewelry, moreso than any other year), and ended up at the pastry section. I got a choose-your-own box with baklava, diples and chocolate-topped kathaisi. I almost went into diabetic shock just being around all this wonderfully sweet food. Then we went to the tent outside, looked at the horrendously overpriced pottery, tasted extra-virgin olive oil (now with more virgins!) on bread, then left.

That night I stayed in and read some in The Scarlet Letter, which I only had until this Wednesday to read. I also, put in the mood by the festival, watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding on DVD, and ate a triangle of baklava.

The next morning, I woke early to get some more reading in, and caught the very end of CBS This Morning. Around noon, I called Jamie to see what time he wanted to go wander around the Carrboro Music Festival, and he said around 2:30. So I kept reading, and I finished! Yay me! And it was much better than when I was in high school, now that I actually knew what was going on. And the ending was really suspenseful, to my surprise. That Hawthorne guy is all right. I have The Blithedale Romance next, and will be writing a seven-page paper on it by next Wednesday.

So I drove the forty-five minutes to Jamie's flat, getting there at 2:30 on the dot, hung around with him and Steffi for a bit, gave the kitty some pets, then we were off. Their place is very close to downtown Carrboro, so we just walked. It was a nice day yesterday (if a little warm), and it was good exercise walking everywhere. The music festival spread throughout all of downtown; stages were set up in front of shops or banks or inside the arts center. My buddy Taylor played at the arts center at 5:00, and did a great set, despite busting his two highest strings on one song. Jamie said they were hands-down the best band we saw yesterday, and I'd have to agree. Steffi had leave near the end to go volunteer at the Weaver Street Market and didn't get to hear the last three songs, which is unfortunate because those were new and sounded fantastic. After the show, I briefly talked to Taylor and thanked him for plugging Four Seasons in One Day in his latest email newsletter.

We got a bite of dinner to eat, and it was so much food that I had to wrap up half of it and bring it home. We walked back to Jamie's place, passing a tuba quartet in a park pavilion. Made me miss playing. We visited a for a little while longer at his flat, then I left for home. Watched the end of 10-8 and the cool season premiere of Alias. Got in bed and read the first two stories in Tim's collection (as a momentary break from Hawthorne), then turned off the lights.

This week is not nearly as busy as last week. I have a position paper due on Thursday, but it's on Rushdie's Fury, so I'll at least enjoy this assignment. I have four stories to critique tonight for fiction writing. And that's about it. I got The Scarlet Letter finished ahead of time, so I'm looking good.

By the way, go check out Dora Goss's journal. She updates in bursts, posting two weeks' or a month's worth of entries in one shot. Dora's another up-and-comer, with stories in LCRW and Realms of Fantasy and Polyphony 2, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Small Beer Press put out a chapbook of her fiction sometime in the near future.

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Now Reading:
The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Stories Out to Publishers:
6

Books Read This Year:
38

Zines/Fiction Mags Read This Year:
34