Haven't been posting much because Jed arrived Saturday, and I've been spending every waking moment with him. Saturday evening we had dinner at Think (oh, the red pepper ravioli), and then I took Jed back to my place to see how pretty my roof is. Of course, it was dark, so he couldn't see it so well, but it was nice and breezy; very pleasant.
Sunday we had brunch with my friends; he successfully passed the brown girl gauntlet. Kevin left to go to Montreal for a conference; he'll be gone almost two weeks. Sunday afternoon was the first DesiLit Chicago workshop, which went quite well. It's going to be meeting on the first Sunday of the month from now on, with any luck.
Monday disappeared in a haze. Monday morning (I think?) Jed and I watched Cafe au Lait, one of my favorite poly movies; I could definitely see some of my novel influences in that. Jed liked it as much as I do. :-) Honestly not sure what we did until dinnertime, when we picked up some KFC and joined Sujata, Devi and Purvi for the fireworks, which were impressive as always. My favorites are Phoenix and Birds and Waterfall, I think. Afterwards, we joined the horde leaving the park -- a million people were there. It felt surreal, walking the streets, knowing that they were just as jam-packed for many blocks up and down, in front and behind. Like something out of a SF film, when the aliens are coming.
Tuesday we mostly worked for a change, up in the garden. I alternated writing with bits of gardening, tying up the tomatoes and roses, repotting some agressive perennials, filling in some soil and mulch. Jed baked and then sunburned. We got into a fierce argument about the nature of art and excellence and the value of judgements (all as they pertain to fiction editing), but while we didn't end up agreeing, we did find mutually respectful places to stand. Ask us what we think of blind submissions sometime. :-) I reaffirmed that I really am an absolutist in an acknowledged post-modern universe. Afterwards we went to go see Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, funny and goofy and angry and sweet in turn. And then home, where we discovered that my roof is just high enough to get a 180 view of the suburban fireworks (one floor higher would be even better, ah well). We watched for a long time, and then went to bed.
He leaves today. It's too soon.