This is going to be one of those original-miscellany sorts of entries, I think. First, I had a bit of movement on the getting-paid front, which is always welcome, especially now, when I have $26 in my checking account. I got paid for my year-end essay in A Certain Magazine, and for my contribution to the Forty Beers project -- which, by the way, it up now at The Fortean Bureau. Little short-shorts about beer, and Forteana, and such, by the likes of Greg van Eekhout, Nick Mamatas, Rudi Dornemann, Jay Lake (all Flytrap contributors!), Jeremy Tolbert. Pam McNew, Hannah Wolf Bowen, Celia Marsh, and K. Tempest Bradford.

I bought and read three comic-book collections yesterday. Kingdom Come by Alex Ross, which was lovely, but it made me wish that Alan Moore could have done his Ragnarok-esque "Twilight of the Superheroes," because that would have been similar but better. I bought it for the Ross artwork, though, naturally. His Hawkman is awe-inspiring. I also got the first two volumes of Y: The Last Man; I'd read the first volume before, back when A Certain Magazine did its graphic novels issue, but didn't own my own. It's good stuff, nice clean art, witty writing, enough mysteries and surprises and unexpected developments to keep it fresh and keep me reading, and reading much of it for the second time allowed me to catch nice little touches I missed the first time (including a James Tiptree, Jr. reference which simultaneously served as a bit of major-plot-point-foreshadowing; not bad for five little words!).

I also finally got a contract for my poem "Destination" from Asimov's, so that'll be published at some point in the relatively near future, I think.

The weekend was social and fun. My boss had a party on Saturday, at which I remarkably did not drink too much, though I certainly ate plenty, and chatted, and mingled, and so forth. The real treat was Jenn's company, though -- she came up to attend the party, and stayed the night with Heather and I. After the party we sat around in our living room, ate pizza, and talktalktalked away the hours until we were all very sleepy indeed. On Sunday we took Jenn (well, actually, she paid, being a fount of human kindness, but we suggested it and drove her there) to Mama's Royal Café for a breakfast fit for kings and queens of creation. Then we ambled a bit on Piedmont, spent money in the comic shop, and talked more, of course. It's so good seeing her. If only she didn't live so many hours away. She left us on Sunday afternoon, leaving us bereft, to languish in our apartment and read comic books woefully.

I did manage to get the DSL working for Heather's computer, though, so she's happy.

Today we woke to a sky gray as gorgon's milk, and it proceeded to hammer down rain for most of the day, except for a brief period of afternoon brightness, which I was outside to enjoy, working on the deck. I had a nice lunch composed of leftovers from the party, and I hauled books up and down stairs, and I generally worked. A nice day, productive, varied, and passing with great subjective speed. Now I'm listening to music (on iTunes, because I have DSL now, and could finally download it!), and surfing online (with Mozilla, because [see previous parentheses]!), and everything is rather glorious, and the air even inside my apartment smells a little bit like rain. Heather is off working out at the gym, so it's just me and the cats for now. In a moment I'm going to write two or three story openings to send off for a three-way round-robin collab, and then, who knows? I have books to read, wine to drink, good friends to think about, stories to write, a beautiful apartment to sit in, a beautiful fiancée who'll be coming home to me soon. I am filled with a towering benevolence.

This is what a nice weekend does for me.