Mmm, Wednesday. I got my freelance work done early -- I'd watched one movie earlier in the week, and had basically written the review in my head already, and the movie I had to watch this morning was unexpectedly short, so I was done by 11. Now I have the whole day free to play video gam -- ah, that is, to work on my fiction. Yes. Indeed. I do plan to continue revising Poison Sleep and maybe work on a story. Though I don't rule out the possibility of some video games.

Last night I went into the city and had dinner with Nick Mamatas and my wife at a good tapas place (mmm, crab and potatoes, mmm, sausage, mmm, lots of free bread). He read at Modern Times (photographic evidence at his journal), followed by the heroic Daphne Gottlieb, who came to perform even though she was very sick (she was upright for the first time in five days). They both read wonderfully, and now we have a copy of Nick's book, Under My Roof, which I'm eager to read.

Afterward a few of us -- including my old A Certain Magazine co-worker Mandy -- went out for drinks and dessert at the Phoenix, which is where I almost always wind up after readings in the Mission. We hung out for a long time, chatting and eating apple pie and generally making merry. Heather and I finally begged off around 10, and we made it home by 11. It was a good outing all around.

I've been cooking more lately, thanks to a good cookbook I got for Xmas (How to Cook Everything). The last successful experiment was a crunchy curry chicken. Basically a couple of chicken breasts spiced up with curry powder, then dipped in simple batter and pan-fried. Crunchy, flavorful, and yummy, and the house smelled good for two days. I also made some rosemary and garlic potatoes that were supposed to be crunchy, but I overcooked them during boiling and they wound up a sort of rosemary and garlic mashed potato mush instead, sigh. Still tasty, but not what I'd had in mind. I'm sure I'll do better next time.

Next on my list to try is the lime chicken, pan-fried in cornmeal batter. Could be yummy. I might make it tonight.

The Preliminary Nebula Ballot has been announced, and I'm pleased to see works by several good friends and friendly acquaintances there -- Toby Buckell, Jeff Ford, Ellen Kushner, Bill Shunn, Paul Melko, Chris Barzak, Mary Rickert (twice!), Dora Goss, Scott & Justine Larbalesterfeld, etc. Makes me happy. Good luck to all of them!