I have a deep desire to…

I have a deep desire to wash my hair, because I don't really like going to bed smelling smoke. But if I wash it, it'll still be wet when I go to sleep (I don't own a hair-dryer, which I sometimes think is a bit of a nuisance), which is not ideal. But really...ick. Ick ick ick. And my eyes are still stinging.

Despite all that, had a lovely time tonight. Department grad student reading; all quite good tonight. Steve Tuttle read a really charming zoo story that I think Jed would like a lot; I should ask him if I could get a copy to send Jed. Not that Jed has time to read... Afterwards, we went to the Twilight bar for drinks (mostly people had beer; I had a Madras, which I think is vodka, orange juice and grenadine? Maybe?) and conversation. Much conversation. Good conversation. I was in an awfully good mood, in part because Erin Miller, a friend who graduated last year, is back in town this weekend and was hanging out with us. I like Erin a lot. I suppose I was also in a good mood just 'cause...well, life is good right now. A lot of last year was so terrible, due to the break-up. I couldn't concentrate on my courses, etc. But as N. was explaining to Erin, since about mid-March, I've been having a really good year. Things looking up with Kevin. Losing some weight (and getting a lot more compliments...though perhaps some of that is just because I'm looking happier). Winning the Steffenson-Canon fellowship. And most recently, Strange Horizons making the official Hugo nomination list. Woohoo!

I've known about that last one for a few days, but I wasn't supposed to say anything yet. But now it's all official and announce-able, so please, feel free to spread the word far and wide. Here's the full set for that category:

BEST WEB SITE (365 ballots cast)

Locus Online, Mark R. Kelly editor/webmaster (www.locusmag.com)

SciFi.com, Craig Engler, executive producer (www.scifi.com)

SF Site, Rodger Turner, publisher/managing editor (www.sfsite.com)

Strange Horizons, Mary Anne Mohanraj, editor-in-chief (www.strangehorizons.com)

Tangent Online, Dave Truesdale, senior editor; Tobias Buckell, webmaster (www.tangentonline.com) I think it's really interesting that three of the websites don't publish fiction at all -- Locus Online, SF Site and Tangent Online. SciFi.com is, of course, the big Sci-Fi Channel website -- they're huge and impressive, and Ellen Datlow's SciFiction is part of it. So they certainly do fiction (new fiction every week, and a classic reprint every other week). But y'know -- they have massive television money behind them. I'm just so pleased to know that we're even able to compete with them, given the community-based shoestring we run on in comparison. And our making the ballot really says something about the level of support we have in the SF community; I'm just so very pleased. Totally. Utterly. Astonishingly. :-)

The ConJose website has the full Hugo nomination list. Enjoy!