This has been your whine for the day.
In other news, most things are going pretty swimmingly. We're *finally* making final selections for BW. I cannot even explain why this has been so slow. But I have hopes that within a few weeks, I'll actually know what stories are going to be included, and can let those few poor authors still dangling on tenterhooks know the status of their stories. I'm feeling immense guilt for the people whose stories I have held for months now, whom I'm going to have to reject; I don't know who they are yet, but I know there will be some of them, because we're down to about 30 stories for 15 slots at this point. We're in the serious wrangling stage, where four editors argue fervently and plaintively for their personal favorites. I suspect this makes for a better book, but at some point it'd be nice to do an anthology where I didn't have to answer to anyone at all for my selections. Pipe dream, I suppose.
I have a brief paper to write for Friday, but I'm not going to even worry about it today because it's just a delineation of the key structuralist argument (that all relations are differential, basically), and at this point, I think I can do that in my sleep. I'm going to be a bad grad student and leave it for Friday morning because I'm tired enough today (after a long and exhausting yesterday) that I just can't face it.
I do need to do a little real work today; I'm going to try to revise "Wild Roses" for Marcy, making it a little sexier, so it's a better fit for an erotica anthology. Should be pretty easy; fingers crossed. Other than that, I'm mostly planning on doing some cleaning, paying some bills, general household stuff like that. In the afternoon I need to work with Mary Gaitskill on final revisions to her story (we're doing them over the phone), and then go to a planning meeting for this interdisciplinary conference we're putting on in late October. You'll probably be hearing more about that as we get closer to the date. I'm in charge of food. :-) Then this evening, some people are coming over for potluck (oh, right -- I need to cook something this afternoon too; I think I'll make a shrimp and potato biryani) and the watching of Enterprise, the season premiere! Much fun.
I'm tired for two reasons -- one is just that Tuesday was a heavy work day, as is usual for Tuesdays. The other is sadder; yesterday was sort of emotionally tiring. One group of friends are having problems; at the very least communication problems, possibly more. Doesn't really involve me, but it's distressing to see them distressed. And sadder than that, I got a letter telling me that a couple I know is getting divorced. :-(
It really discombobulated me, getting that letter. I don't actually know either of them well; they're casual friends for me, though one of them is a close friend of Kevin's. But I was there when they first started dating; I was around, watching that relationship grow and develop. We double-dated occasionally. I like them both, and I thought they were good together. When they got married -- I dunno, I guess some part of my mind relaxed a little and assumed that they were now settled. This is the first time I've watched a relationship go from start to marriage to end like this; it just feels wrong. I guess in some part of my brain, I still somehow expected marriages to be more stable than that. I'm not sure why -- romantic notions? Cultural expectations? I feel like I've lost a little innocence, a few of my illusions. Maybe a good thing in the end, but no fun for now.
I hope they're happier apart than they were together.
10:30. Forgot to note -- I'm doing a reading tomorrow night on campus, as part of the graduate student Working Dog reading series. If you're in Salt Lake and interested in attending (it's free), drop me a line and I'll give you details and directions. Thursday at 7 p.m.
3:00. Burned my arm cooking. Dammit!! Looks like it's just a first-degree burn; red and a little swollen, but it may not blister (or only blister a little). But really really annoying. I have a wet towel wrapped around my arm now, which cuts down on the stinging, but makes it harder to do stuff. Like type. And I still have some stuff I need to get down for the meeting this afternoon. Arghhhhh....