Yesterday morning Mari picked me up along with my luggage so I could begin my stay at her apartment. I’m minding the place while she and Doug are vacationing with her folks in California, you see. It shouldn’t be too strenuous a job: make sure the cat is fed, that sort of thing.

The afternoon and evening were spent hanging out and watching movies with the likes of Celina and Kirsten, making it a real #KNRK chat channel get-together. Until last night I’d never seen Fight Club, by the way. It’s an interesting movie, but I probably won’t go out of my way to watch it again. Not my style, you know?

I’ll probably update rather infrequently, for various reasons. It’s a holiday week for starters. And then there’s those video games to waste time with… who needs the Internet?

Right. Like I was updating all that frequently to begin with. I know. Well, be good humans. I’ll post as I get the urge…

‘Twas a bit damp out this morning on the way to work. What started out as cold rain with some white stuff mixed into it quickly became a slush storm. In fact, you could call it…

The Great Slush Storm of 2003!

That is, if you were thinking like a local news organization. Which I don’t advise, personally.

Anyway, I was walking to work from the bus stop and as I walked underneath the Ross Island Bridge I realized that it was a perfect place from which to snap pictures:

Neat, huh? Mind you, it made the walk to work sort of interesting. See, I didn’t think to put on my “bad weather” shoes. Whoops. I didn’t fall, but I did slip a few times.

Nevermind that my umbrella kept getting heavier and heavier. At one point I thought, “Why is my arm getting so tired?”

“Oh yeah. Duh.”

So, what’s the weather like in your neck of the woods, eh? I bet it’s not as much fun as this today!

To save energy, I’m just going to repost what I wrote on the NaNoWriMo forums just now:

Sorry, folks. I won last year, but this time I’m merely a “participant.”

There’s a very nice and intelligent man, my ex-wife’s father and my childrens’ grandfather, who’s laying in a hospital room right now on a morphine drip because the cancer has eaten so much of his spine that he’s in constant and excruciating pain. If that wasn’t enough, I have two significant personal events this month, and work projects of significance are due to land any day now.

In all this, I find that my priorities must be reestablished. I can’t take care of what’s important if I’m tired, stressed and have sore fingers from hours spent typing every day and night.

In a weird sort of way it’s a relief, since I find that my technique for streamlining the generation of wordcount has left me within a few days’ writing of the end of my story. Well, what would I do then? I don’t know, and what’s more I don’t want to have to figure it out. It’s only a contest with myself to produce 50,000 words, and I’ve done that before. I learned some lessons, and that was my main goal this year. Mind you, they weren’t the lessons I thought I’d be learning, but life is often that way.

I shall cheer you all onward to whatever goals you’ve set for yourselves. Will I do this again next year? Maybe not. You see, one of the things I learned this time is that if I want to tell the stories in my head, the printed word may not be my best medium…

Hear ye, hear ye.

Saturday, 8 November 2003, shall be henceforth and forthwith and forthforth and hencewith known as Happy Lilith Day.

That will be all.

Can’t update. Must NaNo. 5,400 words and counting.

Expect fewer postings this month. Think of it as the flipside to the Blogathon. Or something.

Okay, back to the novel. See you later!

I’d have posted this sooner but I wanted to get my 2,000 word quota in for the day on my NaNo novel. (No special website for it, I’m just writing the damned thing and I’ll post my progress when I damned well feel like it.) Anyway…

Merripan hosted an All Hallow’s Eve gathering of family and friends at her apartment last night. Some were in costume, the rest of us were casually dressed. (Among the notable costumes? Dalemar’s “inspired by Michael Landon” wolfman gig, Lilith’s “inspired by that Spears chick” naughty-schoolgirl bit of nothing, Doug and Mari as Doctor and Candystriper, and Firedancer Fred’s homage to Brandon Lee’s “Crow” persona.)

On the way to, Lil’ and Lyse and Anxiety and I picked up Leon, who has recently moved to the Portland area. (Once he warms up to our peculiar brand of humor, I think he’s going to make a cool addition to the group.) We made our introductions and our way to the Freddy’s near Merripan’s place. Once again Lilith and I proved that we have no business going shopping together, as we managed to scandalize the rest of our merry little band in our own special fashion.

It bears mentioning and repeating that Merripan’s one helluva cook. Her jambalaya was right up against the upper limit of how spicy of food I’m willing to eat, and yet I not only finished off one serving but went back for seconds, which I also finished off. Yum.

I met (and have already forgotten the names of) a number of new folks, and everybody was good fun company. Flirting and teasing and snark filled the room, which is an almost perfect ambience for a Friday night party as far as I’m concerned. I even took my own teasing in stride since it was all in good fun… and yes, I certainly earned most of the snark directed my way!

The only downside was my allergies picking last night to make themselves apparent. It’s the first time this year I’ve had any serious trouble while visiting the home of a cat owner, and I’m still rather surprised by it. It took almost two hours after I’d left the party for me start breathing normally again. Bleah.

Still, all in all, one of the better Friday nights I can remember. Thank you, friends!

(Mari, who has a better recall of detail than I, has posted her recounting as well.)