Wow, I forgot how busy things get at the beginning of a semester. Hence the lack of postage.

The first week of classes went well, and I can tell that I'm going to have a phenomenal amount of reading this semester. We're starting the 18th C. BritLit class with satiric poems by Pope, Dryden, and Wilmot. They're written in heroic couplets (iambic pentameter where every two lines rhyme) or triplets, and despite my stupendous density when it comes to poetry, I'm enjoying these quite a bit. In the Japanese Fiction class, we started with Chikamatsu's play "The Love Suicides at Amijima," which I liked more than I thought I would; we even saw a portion of it on videotape in class on Thursday, acted out in black and white by real actors (as opposed to puppet-theater, which the play was written for). And in the Narrative Analysis class, we're reading a crapload of stuff from the university library's e-reserves. Gonna be a busy semester.

And it looks as if I'll be heading back to Singapore. Last time I was there, I got food poisoning, and on the night I was supposed to be meeting a bunch of Janet's relatives, I was parked on the toilet making faces of agony. So, because of that, and because many of her family members won't be able to fly to North Carolina for the wedding, and because they won't get to see her or me again for at least 18 months after we get married (because she has to establish a legal residency in the US), I'm going back to meet them. It'll be a quick trip at the beginning of February (a Friday thru Wednesday), and Janet's mum is trying to see if we'll be able to visit Hong Kong as well (where Janet's father's side is from, including her only living grandparents).

This past weekend, I went over to the Wagner House with my parents and tasted some items for the menu. This is the fun part of the wedding planning, the eating part. :) The spanakopita was pretty good for a non-Greek chef, and they had these chicken-wrapped-in-bacon things that were phenomenal. Though we're staying away from the tortellini; they were cooked in a garlic butter and gave me the trots later. (Aren't you glad I'm talking about all this scatalogical stuff?)

I think I'm just about over this damn cold; just a bit of coughing left. After going to the student health center last Wednesday, I found out they didn't have my immunization records, which means they could conceivably kick me out of school until they get the information. Though after talking with my mom, I realized that they should still have my records from when I was an undergrad, so I don't get it. I'm going to find out tomorrow just what the hell is going on.

Also tomorrow morning, I have a job interview with the North Carolina Literary Festival, which would be very cool to get. I went to the last festival in Chapel Hill two years ago and had a blast. It looks like a lot of responsibilities, but it's only 10-15 hours per week of work, so it should work out okay. Wish me luck.

Last night, after months and months of watching my yoga DVD gather dust on top of my TV, I put the disc in and did the twenty-minute upper body workout. I have a pleasant soreness in my muscles now, a soreness like an old friend, like when I was working out regularly at the gym. It's an indication that I actually did something beneficial for this bod of mine. I've been having a lot of tension in my neck and trapezius muscles, and after that one workout, I already feel better. Rodney Yee rocks.

Crimson Skies is a kick-ass 1930s dogfighting flight sim. I traded in all my older PC games last week, and it took care of half the cost of Crimson Skies; I was sad to see Freespace 2 go for only fifty cents, because I had such a fun time playing that one, but that's how it goes. I played Crimson Skies a bit over the weekend and really dig it. You get to fly through an alternate Moorcockian universe where the US is split into a whole bunch of nation-states after the Great Depression, and the only way to get anyplace is by air (either by plane or zeppelin). It's an odd bit of synchronicity that this is game I'm playing right now, since I just finished reading the Moorcock novella in Argosy #1, as well as the first volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. There are lots of similarities in all three forms of media, and it's interesting that I'm being exposed to all three around the same time.

Taking Greg's cue, I sent off "Don't Blink" to The New Yorker this afternoon. When it gets rejected there, I'll try McSweeney's next. I'm definitely sending this baby out to the big boys first. Here's hoping one of those editors slips and bumps their head and decides to accept my story before they get treatment.

And for the love of all that is good and pure, if you haven't read Richard Butner's new story at SciFiction yet, what the hell are you waiting for?

Now Reading:
Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet issue #13

Stories Out to Publishers:
7

Books Read This Year:
2

Zines/Chapbooks/Fiction Mags Read This Year:
3