Other than that, all well. Had a beautiful day in the wine country for Ann's (Kev's mom) birthday, complete with picnic lunch at V. Sattui, which also had some surprisingly decent wines in their free tasting. Afterwards I think we came back to Los Gatos and got Chinese for dinner? It's a bit blurry. Sunday we had lunch with Kev's sister's boyfriend's father, then helped Ann select wood flooring, then made yummy dinner with lots of stuff from their garden (is there anything better in summer than a fresh mozzarella, avocado and tomato salad, with delectable French vanilla tomatoes?). Afterwards, swung by Susan Lee's place for a while -- hung out with visiting Jay Lake, Diana Sherman, and local Jed. :-) Very pleasant. Lots of gossipping. Came home before it was too late and crashed with Kev, slept hard until late this morning. We both had a hard time getting out of bed somehow. But we managed it, and I swung by Petroglyph and picked up the plates I'd painted on Friday -- Kev's mom decided a while back that all of the family should make plates in matching colors to use on special occasions. I'm really pleased with how mine came out. :-) Then it was dropping Kev off at the airport, sadness, and me at the train. Which brings us back to this extremely chilly cafe.
Oh -- a quick note. McSweeney's has put a copy of the Fountain Award winner online, Alison Smith's "The Specialist". Appropriate to note right now, given that the story is also rather chilly in many ways. Be curious what you guys think of it...
On another note entirely, had an idea for another book, dammit. Don't know what's going on -- suddenly the ideas are coming fast and furious. This one wouldn't be fiction, though. I was talking to someone the other day and mentioned that next year December will be the tenth anniversary of this journal, and that I was planning on sitting down and reading through the whole thing. I was thinking about that on the train coming up from San Jose this morning, and realized that what might make for an interesting book would be a memoir that used the journal as a starting point -- a mix of excerpts and commentary, with a focus on what does or doesn't get told in an online journal, and why. Also lots about writing erotica, writing in general, my involvement with the spec fic community, my love life, my sex life, etc. Cut out all the boring shopping lists, just stick to the meaty stuff, the interesting entries. What do you think?
All of this undoubtedly influenced by finishing Amitav Ghosh's In An Antique Land, which really did a fascinating job of mixing historical investigation with memoir and very readable theorizing about identity. Great book. It'd be very satisfying to write something similarly rich, and though I know there's lots and lots of dull stuff in this journal, if it were well-edited and commented, I think it could make for a really good read...