Yesterday I got a check in the mail for about half what I make in a year at the day job. The check is for the signing portions of the advance for Blood Engines and Untitled Sequel.

It's soooo pretty. Such a nice number. I live a life where an extra hundred bucks in the mail is cause for great huzzahs and celebration, so this kind of sudden cash is rather mind-croggling. (As I told Heather: "It's not fuck off money, but it's fuck yeah money!")

Heather and I have a plan. Our plan is: blow off our bills and debts, flee to a country with a favorable exchange rate and no extradition, and live like kings, outlaw kings! under assumed names.

Heh, well, okay that's not really our plan. We mused about it briefly but couldn't settle on a good destination and besides, life on the lam would give us indigestion. Heather says we have to pay off our debts over the next couple of years, and then, next time we get a good hunk of writing money, we can light out for parts undecided with packs on our backs and songs in our hearts. I'm holding her to that.

The real plan: live like kings, lawful kings! this week. Last night we went out to Kirala, a yummy (and usually too pricy) sushi restaurant, to celebrate our good fortune. Soon I'll place an Amazon.com order that's been accumulating for a while, with lots of books, and a nice new laser printer, and a big external hard drive, and other goodies/necessities. This weekend we're going up to Sonoma for our one-year anniversary, and we'll have nice dinners, massages, wine tastings, the whole shebang. It'll be decadent and wonderful.

Next week, we'll stop living like kings. We'll pay off a big ol' hunk of credit card debt, and pay various overdue bills, and get the car worked on, and other mundane and not very interesting things. I'll salt a big chunk of the money away so I have it on hand to pay taxes when the time comes. Then we'll live like we always live, except with much lower credit card bills every month, and generally more breathing room financially, and life will be much as it was before, but better.

We're getting our new couch today (lord willing and the river don't rise). It was supposed to be delivered yesterday, but the guys with the truck never showed up at the furniture store. The store owner was apologetic, but what're you gonna do? So supposedly it's being delivered today. I'm waiting for the call. We shall see. I don't want to spend another night sitting on the camping couch. It's quite comfortable if you're in the woods and the only other seating alternatives are rocks and logs, but it's not so great in our living room.