C.J. Cherryh's Blog, page 194

Nearing new uploads on Closed Circle…

…there'll be something in February, we're pretty sure. Jane's getting a book ready; Lynn is; I'm writing a short story, which should be done soon. We'll tell you when.

We had a nice letter from Bookplace Cafe, and they sent us a nice congratulations on CC, which I've posted over there, along with a link, for more e-books. Sheesh, I used to play guitar, draw, catalog my photos, read, weave, and do my genealogy project, and nowadays I just work on manuscripts and skate when we take a break. I...

Weather is definitely warming…

OSG says don't trust February, but it's been generally trending warmer. Mmm. We have seen fishes: Ari and Maddy, Ishida, maybe Grant, and a couple of the orange ones, which we can't see well enough. We have 11 of them, and they shift about a bit. But they're staying under cover, near their bottom heater. They don't look to have dropped much weight, which is good. And we hope they stay torporous (that's the technical word for what koi do, not quite hibernation, but close) until March. I do...

Go ahead…ASK us why we had 2 AAA trucks in our drive…

because we went out to go skating and the car wouldn't start. We already knew Jane's car had a dead battery, because we'd tried to jump it a couple of weeks ago. Plus it has an air intake breakage.

Then we noticed the Forester tire is flat again. Sigh.

So we called AAA. But no, you have to call separately for separate cars even if they're stuck in the same garage, and thus—TWO AAA trucks. Plus a wrecker, because while the Forester turned out to have a dying battery, cranking some 228 out of...

Apple I-pad

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-10440943-260.html?tag=smallCarouselArea.0

…is apparently also an e-reader, as well as an I-pod, and will display in color. For those of you who are curious.

Jane's got a new version of the flyer posted on CC.

She thought it should look a bit more like CC. Plus be clearer on the fact it's a website. And it looks good.

Staying home today to take care of accumulated stuff…

And Jane has given me a one dime advance on a story.

I've been very oddly stymied during Nationals. I never have trouble writing. But I'd just finished a book, and Nationals happened, major distraction, and for once, I just couldn't get my head together. I'd decided to write a story, shortish, just for CC, and it wasn't happening. I stayed home yesterday and finally got a start on it.

Then Jane asked, last night, "When's the last time you didn't write to contract?"

Well, since about 1976...

Snowing this morning: 'flakes' an inch across.

Spokane bids farewell to the Nationals crowd with a pretty snowfall this morning: it's been mostly dry, even up to 50 this week; and the day they leave, a dusting of snow. I think it will warm up to a drizzle, but it was slickerly out there on the road curve this morning, and the morning traffic was slowing down.

Saw the coverage of the exhibition, and I'm glad they showed the deduction on Nagasu's skate. As Jane points out, under the old system, she probably would have won gold, BUT that...

Our Nationals is done.

We're not attending the exhibition. There are some skaters we'd like to see, but it's pricey, not included in our ticket package, and we are exhausted, but happy with the experience.

You'll know by now that Sasha didn't do as well as she wanted. She didn't complain, but there was something peculiar in the way she didn't warm up before her long-program skate. She'd fought her boots all the way through the short program warmup, still skated well; but those boots look new-ish, and she'd stop now ...

We're off to Nationals again.

Hopefully the reinflated tire will hold up. I'm going to see what I need to do about it next week, plus check the car out mechanically, just in case. Time for its checkup, as is.

We also just heard from Joan, who's just returned from a second round of surgery, this one successful: she's feeling so good she swears she's going to attend tomorrow night.

I think I'm going to cook spaghetti and chili tonight: good basic food instead of the fare we've had down at the arena area. If I can find some...

And guess where I'm sitting.

Home.

Got to the arena and discovered I had a half-flat tire. I had had a reader call me yesterday and ask me to sign some books before the evening program tonight. I'd gone home not feeling well—I think it's the Zamboni fumes in the underventilated arena. But I was to come back tonight, sign the requested books, and rejoin Jane—who'd called and asked if I could bring her more batteries. She'd also forgotten her seat cushion. So I got to the rink, paid my 5 dollars for parking, but the tire...