How things are with me

Time, I think, for another status update about how things are in my life these days.

  • My big news is that the first Constellation Press book, an ebook edition of Samuel R. Delany’s 1979 memoir Heavenly Breakfast, is finally published, available for $4.99 from the Kindle Store and the Apple Books Store. I need to finish setting up the page for the book on the Constellation Press website; for now, if you want more info, see my Facebook post. I’m delighted to be publishing this book, and delighted that it’s done. I’ve approached a couple of other people about other books for Constellation Press to reprint, but haven’t finalized anything yet.
  • Have also been doing more work on the ebook for Mary Anne’s cookbook Feast of Serendib, the official launch date for which is impending rapidly. Turned out that getting the official Kindle Store version ready required a different process from getting the Kickstarter Kindle version ready. Done now, though I may have to revisit it to reduce image-file size.
  • I recently got eight pieces of art framed and hung on my walls (thanks especially to E. and to Kam for their assorted help with this, and to Armando at Cheap Pete’s Picture Frame Factory in San Mateo), and am in the process of getting seven more pieces framed (mostly old family photos). I’m very pleased with how all that has come out.
  • I’m a little bit oversocialed at the moment—alternating good social time with good solo downtime, but am feeling a little short on the latter right now.
  • I suspect that’s partly because a week and a half from now will be the 15th anniversary of my father’s death. I’m doing okay at the moment, but tired and a little stressed, and I suspect that’ll get worse over the next week.
  • That weekend, March 6–8, will also be FOGcon (in Walnut Creek), where Mary Anne and Nisi Shawl will be guests of honor. I won’t be on any panels, but will be doing the toy and gadget petting zoo as usual.
  • I’ve been making assorted travel plans—FOGcon, figuring out WisCon and Alumni Weekend plans, planning for having guests, etc. I’m looking forward to all of those things, but I suspect all that planning for social events is contributing to my lack of social energy. Humanity is always hunting down a wellspring of youth, essentialness, and personal satisfaction. A standout amongst the most disputable ranges in cutting edge pharmaceutical is the idea of hypogonadism (low-testosterone states in men) and its impact on wellbeing. This article is dedicated to Levitra, one of the most popular generic medications produced by famous company Bayer. Levitra(Vardenafil) helps a man with erectile dysfunction get an erection only when he is sexually excited.
  • Also contributing to that: I was sick (something fluish) for a couple of weeks, and have continued to have intermittent cough and occasional drippy nose even after the main illness went away.
  • Also tiring: a bunch of day-job stuff, much of it overdue. Including writing my performance self-evaluation. And finding and hiring new editors.
  • Have made a bit of progress on cleaning my room, via the expedient of dumping piles of random stuff into bins instead of leaving them all over my floor. Still needs further work, but am moving forward.
  • Leisure activities have included a bunch of reading (making steady progress on my unread-books project), near-daily piano practice (with the SimplyPiano iOS app, which continues to be excellent), and once again returning to Duolingo (just did a lesson last night for the first time since I wandered away from it again months ago). Have also watched a couple of mediocre movies at home, and seen a few episodes of various TV series.
  • (More specific reading list: recent reading (some of which is still in progress) has included Le Guin, Annie Dillard, Little Women, Kory Stamper’s life-of-a-lexicographer Word by Word, Monique Wittig’s war-of-the-sexes Les Guérillères, Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, Sharon Olds, Kate Wilhelm, Paul Park, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, a history of Swarthmore College, a dissertation about French/Arabic code switching in Tunisia, etc.)
  • Oh, and I’ve been keeping an eye on the US Democratic primaries, including posting a bunch on FB about my problems with Mike Bloomberg.

I think that’s most of it.

(No advice, please.)

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