Yes, oddly enough, they both have birthdays today. I can't figure out whether that's more or less unlikely than the fact that I and Beth (who both dated Paul E., back in the dawn of time) were born not just the same day, but the same year. Life is odd.
Either that, or I have the date wrong on one of them. That could be too. But life would still be odd, I think.
I'm feeling a bit punchy with tiredness still. Yesterday was one of those get up at 6 and go go go until you drop kind of days. I remember exactly 10 minutes, from 4:30-4:40, when I didn't have anything to do. I just sat in a chair and tried to catch my breath. When I finally got home at 9, I watched Voyager, which was blessedly good and interesting and required nothing from me. I tried to crochet for a bit, but my arms were too tired. I need to find a hobby that doesn't use my arms or hands at all. Karina called at 10, and it was good talking to her until I fell asleep on her. She had to shout into the phone to wake me up enough to hang up.
This morning I've been trying to reduce the appalling pile of e-mail I had waiting when I got back. I'm down to 60 messages, which is a vast improvement, but still feels overwhelming. And a lot of the ones I took out of mail just got printed (like the SH questionnaires) or filed (like the BW stories) to be dealt with later. But that's okay, I think. I'll try to send out contracts and checks today, which will get a nice big pile of paper off my desk. (If you're a SH author reading this, please be patient with me. I pay you as quick as I can, really I do...)
Speaking of which, another great issue is up. I love it that it just goes smoothly up, rain or shine, even when my brain is clearly turned entirely off. If I were trying to do it all by myself, not only would it not be one twenty-fifth as good, but it wouldn't come close to going up on time every week. But I guess y'all know that from the erraticism of this journal. (Heh. Erraticism. Good word, I think. I'll keep it.) I think what I like best about the fiction story (Jennifer de Guzman's "Underground") is that while the overall guns and drugs and general mayhem story is going on, the real story that interests me is in the head of the male protagonist. I love that kind of story...
Yesterday was bright and sunny, though a bit cold, which was one of the few things that helped me get through the day (lots of tea also helped). Today is grey and overcast, and while in some moods I like that, today it just makes me want to go back to sleep. I'm still so tired; not a good day to be trying to read history, I'm afraid, but that's the main thing I must do today, and I really must do it, so tough luck for me. I wish there were someone here to keep pricking me with pins or something when I dozed off. I guess I'll just set up at the dining table instead, rather than on the futon or in the papasan, in the hopes that an upright posture will help with wakefulness.
Speaking of people here, Kevin is coming for a week or so starting April 12 or so. (I was very sleepy last night when he was trying to tell me his plans, so it's all seeming rather vague). At the moment, I'm almost too tired to be glad -- but I think when I wake up more, I'll be glad. And he's probably the house guest needing the absolute least amount of care -- if I don't do anything to prepare for his arrival (no cleaning, no grocery shopping, nothing), he really won't care. That can be a bit frustrating in reverse, when I arrive in Chicago to find that there are no clean towels left, and no milk for my tea (sometimes he remembers, sometimes not), but it's rather reassuring right now.
Okay, if I keep babbling here, I'll never start my reading. I'll talk to you later, my sweets.
3:00. The first history book, Stanley Tambiah's Buddhism Betrayed, is actually exceedingly good. It is clear, well-organized, and connects all sorts of other things that I've been reading about in the earlier history books, making some coherent sense out of them. I'm about half-way through at this point, and if you're interested in recent Sri Lankan history, and in how Buddhists monks end up agitating for political violence (and occasionally killing people), I can strongly recommend this book. It's written with the intelligent layman in mind, rather than for a purely academic audience, and so there's a minimum of academic jargon.
Despite all of that, I keep putting it down to do other things, which is why I'm only halfway through at 3 o'clock. I'm hoping to finish it by dinnertime, though, and then probably break on the history for the day. I'll try to get to bed by ten, and get up at six and read the other book for a few hours. I could, theoretically, just try to push through tonight, but I think my brain would implode. It needs to breathe a little between books.
Still 60 messages in my inbox. Still checks and contracts to do. But I've unpacked my bags and hung up all of my clothes and caught up on things with Roshani and chatted a little with Jed. That plus half a history book isn't so bad for half a day...