Weekend Updatery

Saturday was super busy. Mason and I had missed kuk sool wan all week because he was sick (and I was lazy), so we felt compelled to go to the Saturday class. It was actually kind of amazing. We'd had a rough start to the day -- some yelling and tears and serious discussions about behavior and attitude -- and, magically, afterwards both our moods had improved dramatically.

Which was good, because after a fast lunch and an aborted attempt to make chocolate chip cookies (actually Shawn finished them for me), I had to rush off to my signing at Uncles. I never know how I'm doing sales-wise at these things because my brain isn't wired that way. I never think to actually count the number of books people are taking off the pile, but I did notice that some of my friends (and ex-lovers) SHOWED UP. That was amazing. I saw my friend Holly --- actually, two of my friends named Holly showed up, though one in question I had not seen in probably thirty years. She used to live in my neighborhood and was probably one of my first EVER friends. We used to go play Star Trek in the "marsh" (really, a dump) and Barbie dolls in the back yard (well, I had superheroes. Aquaman was probably the luckiest he's ever been in his life, because he must have married Barbie a dozen times.) At any rate, it was awesome Holly showed up and bought a book. She said the nicest thing too. She said she thought I was the only person she knew who actually went into the profession that suited their personality the most. I grew up to be what I was supposed to be.

Of couse, when I was 12, I probably wanted to be a lawyer or a poltician or a college professor/teacher. Well, I *most* wanted to be a Jedi or a knight in shiny armor, but, I would *settle* for lawyer, etc.

I guess in the end I refused to settle.

That's worked out so far (knocking on wood.) :-)

Okay, back to the signing -- I did notice that the books I'd brought (Archangel Protocol, Fallen Host and Messiah Node) were gone at the end. So I told Don at Uncles that I'd come back on Sunday with a few more copies for him to have on the shelves. Oh and since Andrew and Joe came, I can now OFFICIALLY announce that I will be a guest of honor at Gaylaxicon 2012!

Yay!

I hung out as usual for an extra half hour or more, and I would have tarried even longer except that I'd forgotten that I'd signed up for a jool bong (nunchucks/u) seminar back at kuk sool wan. Hopping in the car, I raced back to St. Paul and made it in time to change at the dojo and spent the next two hours whacking myself in the head with a stick.

Weridly, I don't seem to have any visible bruises despite the extremely hard knock I gave myself upside the jaw. (And, yes, these are the FOAM padded jool bong. Believe me, they're still plenty hard.)

Sunday was a much more relaxed day. We did make it back to Uncles with more books, and Mason and I managed to find a few books of our own. I'm currently reading one I picked up last time. It's a YA fantasy called THE THIEF by Megan Whalen Turner. I'm probably going to end up blogging about this one, as it's kind of a strange read. It starts out very slowly, but becomes more and more compelling the longer you hang on. Of course, today when I need to focus on writing the last three big scenes in Ana #3, all I really want to do is finish reading this story.

I also started painting an old bookcase that has been languishing in the basement. It's going into Mason's room because he's in desperate need of more book shelves. He gave me instructions on the color he wanted -- bright orange -- and I stopped by Sherman Williams on the way home from a quick Kowalski's run to pick up a quart of it. I got one coat on, and then concentrated the rest of my efforts on making a roast whole chicken and some trimmings for dinner.

A good weekend, really. I didn't get a ton of writing done, except on Friday night. Oh, that's right, we went to a wedding reception Friday night for Shawn's brother's stepdaughter. The food was pretty bad, except for the cake, but they had an awesome dejay who played a ton of gay anthems, such as "We are Family" and "YMCA." My Facebook friends tell me this is typical fare for a straight wedding, but I found it strange (yet refreshing!) Mason and I cut a serious rug. And, as I posted on Facebook, I would happily marry Shawn in some sort of traditional way if we could have a dance. I LOVE dancing. L-O-V-E it.

Pumped from shaking my groove thang, I pumped out a thousand words in less than an hour. The rest has been slow going, though I really think I only have two or three more scense left until this book is drafted in the first. Of course, it will need at least one, though likely two goings through before I turn it on April 15. I seem to be right on target for that, fingers crossed VERY tightly.

All right no more stalling! I'm off to write!