Four days ago, I had to wear my heavy leather coat and scarf to school. Today, it'll be in the upper 70s, and they've brought the manure onto campus to help with the natural areas and such. Great piles of it are located all over, and the smell is everywhere. As I was walking by the Atrium (the outdoor seating for the Library food court), people were eating out there among the stench, and it made me wonder how they didn't taste it in their Chick-Fil-A sandwiches or giant baked potatoes. Fortunately, I can open the window in my office and not smell it, which is great since there's no AC in here.

I watched David Lynch's Lost Highway last night for my Narrative Analysis class, after having not seen it since it first came out on video, and was once again astonished at truly weird it is. I was also surprised to discover that the scary no-eyebrows character was played by this guy. I'll be interested to hear what discussion comes up in class, since I only have a very vague interpretation of the movie. One thing I did point out to Janet was how much Bill Pullman looked like Kyle MacLachlan in this film, which made me wonder if it was intended or accidental. I also need to watch Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai this weekend for my Japanese Fiction class.

And this weekend is the annual Renaissance Faire, which Janet and I may try to attend. There's also the Wake County Library Booksale, which is always a good way to find cheap hardcovers, like we don't have enough books already. But thanks to two small bookshelves in the dining area and the big bookcase Ol' Mike and Elizabeth gave us as a wedding gift, we're starting to find homes for the books piled on the floor.

Lots of miscellaneous stuff:

Got a six-month razza-fragga blue-form rejection from RoF.

Yay Hellboy!

John Kessel has a new story up at SciFiction: "The Baum Plan For Financial Independence".

Alan DeNiro is serializing a novelette, "Home of the", at his blog Ptarmigan.

There's a new interview with Karen Joy Fowler at Strange Horizons.

Jonathan Lethem has a new story up at The New Yorker: "Super Goat Man."

My email interview with Zoran is coming along nicely, now that wedding things have died down and I have time to ask him questions again. It's turning out to be a good interview so far, though I am in no way as erudite as Tom Arden in his interview with Zoran in Interzone.

And what you've all been waiting for...a photo of Pepper!

I'm heading over to the parents' this weekend to pick up the formal photos, and will post them soon.

Y'all have a nice weekend. Enjoy the weather.

Now Reading:
Hellboy: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola

Stories Out to Publishers:
5

Books Read This Year:
23

Zines/Chapbooks/Fiction Mags Read This Year:
6