My Muse is a B--ch

Seriously, Muse? I woke up today at 3:30 am because a little voice in the back of my brain said, "Work on Samurai High!" I blinked in the darkness and thought (with my best Tard the Cat face on): "Nope! *I* am sleeping!" But, try as I might, I couldn't fall back to sleep. So I hauled my sorry butt out of the nice warm covers (and out from under the cat pile) and went and fired up my laptop. Somewhere around 4:30 am, I completely gave up any pretense of going back to bed and made a pot of coffee.

I think it was worthwhile. I can't say that I made lightning progress, but I'm way, WAY happier with the first chapter--which is, by all accounts, the single most important one. The nice thing about this novel is that I have a very clear, established voice. The rest of the business is getting the right ATMOSPHERE, which has been very tricky at times. (The plot is already figured out in the proposal.)

Also, being up at this crazy hour meant I could check in with empty_mirrors about the latest peice of fanfic I've been struggling with, too. I have no idea why this last one came so hard (as it were). But, I wonder if I'm finally running out of steam for my never-ending soap opera from hell (or the Soul Society, as the case may be.) I got a rash of kudos on my Harry Potter/Bleach x-over that made me consider playing over there for a while, and several more people have commented on my not-terribly-steamy set-up for Komamura/Gin.... so maybe the answer is to go play elsewhere for a while.

Or take a break. I don't know. I don't really want to take a break because this is supposed to be how I relax and play, so I'll have to see if something else moves me.

Speaking of relaxing and playing, Mason and I are going to go off to the "big" zoo with Eleanor. I should remember to bring my camera in case the animals are being frisky and/or interesting.

The only other exciting thing that happened around here was that our microwave died rather... explosively. I was melting some butter for a bread recipie on Saturday and all of a sudden sparks started arcing. Our family reaction was priceless--Mason just bolted from the room. Shawn sat in her chair shouting, "Do something!" While I sidled nervously up to the spitting and hissing thing and quick hit the off button.

As Shawn later said, "Avengers we are NOT."

I pointed out that, while I might have been SLOW, I was at least moderately heroic.

But, it was such a funny observation that Shawn posted about it on Facebook. I thought nothing of it until a dear friend of ours seanmmurphy , called up and asked us how our battle with Thor went. I was confused for a second until he said, "Oh, and guess what? I have a spare microwave sitting around. Do you want it?" I was flabbergasted by his generosity! We'd just been thinking about the dent a new microwave was going to make in our pocketbook. But, Sean just hopped in his car and brought it over. Apparently, his new house came with a built-in and so he really had no use for the second one. It's HUGE and awesome and (to us, at least,) brand-new!

What amazing friends I have. I'm extremely grateful.

I also had a chance over the weekend to see an old friend pegkerr at naomikritzer 's housewarming party. That was lovely. Naomi put out a wonderful spread (I tasted all the cheeses!) and I was glad for the opportunity to catch up with Peg. Weirdly, though, I probably spent the majority of my time talking to Naomi's daughters. I say weird, because I didn't bring Mason. Both he and his mom were exhausted from our trip to the waterpark, so they stayed home to snooze. And, I suppose it still wasn't weird, per se, but I was really struck by how grown up they are--at least in terms of their abilities to carry on conversations. We actually had a very interesting discussion about the various fan fics that Naomi's eldest was reading (mostly Harry Potter) and got into our usual arguments about house placements.

I had a lovely time.

It was a good weekend all and all. Except last night... which was meant to be a date night for Shawn and I. We had a babysitter lined up and we were planning on going to finally see "Skyfall." But, Shawn got hit really hard with some kind of stomach bug. I just heard her turn off her alarm, so it seems she's not feeling entirely recovered this morning. But, we'll reschedule for some other time. It was just a bit of a disappointment since we'd planned things so far in advance.