This and that
Yesterday morning was the spring equinox. I usually post something celebratory, like the spring verses I used to send out in email every year, but I'm not feeling celebratory this year.
Saturday I think I mostly read submissions. In the evening, had dinner with Arthur at Suraj; the food was as good as always (I just finished off the leftovers a few seconds ago), but there was some sort of party going on in their back room and it was insanely loud. Not my ideal dining environment even at the best of times. Afterward, went back to Arthur's and hung out with him and Pam and Ray. Ray gave me a hug for what I think is the first time ever, and engaged in various other cute and charming behaviors. Arthur gave me a back rub.
Sunday must've involved more submission reading. And probably other things, but as has been true for most of the past week I have no idea what else I did. Oh, I guess I got a haircut, and some groceries. And read the beginning of the new draft of M's book, but didn't get very far yet. Spent much of the day being mildly grumpy and out of sorts about various things. Cheered up a bit by evening, though, and had a nice evening with Lola.
Today I went back to work. I was tense all day, expecting that people were going to come talk to me, not really wanting to deal with that. (I'm pretty solitary at work even under the best of circumstances.) There was a card from my co-workers, which I set aside to look at later, and a couple of emails, but the only face-to-face interaction was a couple of people saying "Welcome back" and a couple of brief exchanges about work stuff. A relief. Still, I think I'm going to work from home the next couple of days if I don't need to be in for meetings and such. It's not quite clear to me yet whether someone told the two groups I've been working with why I dropped off the face of the earth—there were several emails and phone messages from two weeks ago from a guy I was supposed to meet with about important project stuff. I'm sure he'll understand; I'm just hoping he hasn't spent the past two weeks thinking I've been ignoring him.
In unrelated news, still liking the Treo. A couple of friends have taken to sending me text messages on it; fun, but disconcerting. (Apparently you just enter a phone number into the text-messaging application and it sends the text message. I guess. I don't really understand it yet.) In theory I can even use instant messaging, like AIM, from the Treo, but I haven't tried that yet. Oh, and I can send and receive email from it; I've set up a separate POP mailbox at kith for that, but I haven't told anyone what the address is yet 'cause I'm not yet convinced I want to get into the habit of checking mail from a PDA.
What else? Oh, got a piece of fan mail; I think this may be the first time that someone I don't know at all has sent me a fan letter about my fiction. In this case it was for an erotica story, presumably "The Flood," though he didn't mention a title. (For those who are new around here, the story at the other end of that link is not at all worksafe.) So that was nice.
Speaking of praise for fiction, I've been really pleased to see readers posting praise for recent Strange Horizons fiction. The usual arguments about what's sf and what's not, and whether experimental sf is good, and so on, make good food for thought, but sometimes it's really nice to see readers just enjoying a story. (And yes, readers have also posted lots of praise for some of the recent stories that've come under attack, and that's great too. But I'm pleased to see a lull in the controversy anyway.)
Presumably next week we'll be back to arguing, 'cause we're reprinting a Donald Barthelme piece. Ah, well.
Speaking of the magazine, we're having our spring fund drive. If you like what we're publishing, we hope you'll drop us a donation. As always, we'll happily accept any amount you care to donate; I'd love to see a whole bunch of $5-$10 donations, though you don't get a spiffy membership card unless you donate at least $25.
Lots of stuff I've been meaning to post for a while, including some backlogged links. Maybe later tonight. Or maybe I'll watch a movie. Or read some submissions. Only time will tell.
