Archive: May 2006
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May 27 06: three days of nothing: preliminary report
We’re in Ithaca for the holiday weekend; we drove up with our friends Andrew and Yuri to stay with Tom and Genevieve for three days of resting and eating and drinking. Paul and Tom will be doing a couple of long bicycle rides while we’re here, as well, because they’re planning to take part in the AIDS Ride for Life in the fall and they’re ramping up the training. (I am very proud of Paul for doing this.)
Has it really been so long since I lived here that I’ve forgotten what this season is like? I associate the Finger Lakes region during the spring-summer transition with green lushness of trees and grass. How is it that I don’t remember the flowers?
Because the flowers, they are many. The sidewalk plots burst with broad-petaled poppies in this riotous shade of flaming persimmon. Lilacs bloom in yards and fields everywhere, from pale twilight grey-purple to electric amethyst, and you can smell them in the breeze; honeysuckle as well. And dandelions. Are the dandelions new, somehow? Because I’d really think I’d remember them. We drove through the countryside between Cayuga and Seneca lakes this afternoon, and some of the lawns and pastures look like they’re under a layer of snow. Not all the trees have leaves, and many of the plowed fields are still waiting patiently for something to come up through the dark earth, but the flowers have siezed their moment—old as spring, and yet somehow a revelation.
Hope your weekend is starting with as much promise. I’m off to pour myself a glass of something.
May 17 06: shout-out
Congratulations to my sometime football-and-beers companion Manoel Felciano on his well-deserved Tony nomination for best featured actor in a musical. Mano plays Toby, the mad violinist/pianist in the fabulous revival of Sweeney Todd. And he’s great. I knew this would happen.
May 16 06: geek moment
Reasons to love OS X, part 9,318: Using labels, smart folders, Automator, Transmit, and iCal to create a roll-your-own offsite backup solution that runs every day without your having to think about it. Thanks to Timmargh for spelling it all out.
May 15 06: chicago and/or bust!
Okay, it’s official. I am signed up for the Gay Games. Here’s my schedule:
Day I (Saturday, 15 July)
800 Free, seeded at 10:40*
200 IM, seeded at 2:28
Day II
4×200 Free relay
Day III
4×50 Free relay
Day IV
100 IM, seeded at 1:12
Day V
400 IM, seeded at 5:45
4×100 Free relay
Day VI will, of course, be the Pink Flamingo. Not sure what this year’s theme is.
Days I and V scare me. Day VI will, doubtless, scare everybody else.
*All seed times in short-course meters. I am not presently able to swim these times, but I will be by then. I hope.
May 11 06: rec’d
Well, crap. “Slow” came back from GVG today. At least it took him 6 weeks to reach his decision; I guess that’s an accomplishment as it is.
confession
I have an irrational desire for a velvet skull-and-crossbones fez.
There. I said it.
(The shrunken-head one is nice, too, actually.)
May 9 06: out of the nest
Someday I may be able to be calm about the dark arts of composition and submission, but not yet. It gives me great pleasure to be able to say that Optimistic Short Story, aka “Albedo,” spread its hypothetical wings and left the nest today. Weight: 9,600 words; version number: 2.2. It’s good, it’s done, it’s good and done, and it’s on its way to meet with an anthologist. What happens next is up to the forces of Nature—red in tooth, claw, and pen.
I was tempted to hand-deliver the thing to its destination, but for once in my life I showed a little self-control. I can be professional about this. I can.
Heartfelt thanks to all who helped me stick feathers in it along the way.
May 3 06: trailer park
Hey, some movie trailers!
First, be aware that there’s a Cthulhu movie coming out and it has Tori Spelling in it. I’m feeling squamous and rugose already! Ia! (Contains a naughty word.)
Second, the full trailer for Superman Returns is up. If I weren’t already chomping at the bit for this one, I would be now.
And third, The Promise is presently screening at the TriBeCa Film Festival and it looks like gorgeous fun in the vein of House of Flying Daggers. Although one hopes it will make more sense. Opens Friday, I think.
May 2 06: still alive
Right. Where was I? Ah, yes: informing such readers as are out there that I was going to throw myself off the roof, because it was April 5th and it was snowing outside. And then I stopped posting for a month.
I have been reminded that these sort of dramatic disappearances are Bad Form. Apologies if you were alarmed, or anything.
Here are some things I did with my April:
- Returned from the UK and the Real Live Gay Wedding. Note that Western Civ still seems to be ticking along just fine. I’m confused: where’s my Earth-shattering kaboom? I’ll post a representative photo or two shortly, as requested.
- Gave a performance of Carmina Burana, as part of the Juilliard Choral Union’s final show of the season. It was only the two-pianos-and-seventy-eight-percussionists reduction, alas, but still: what a gas.
- Signed up at last for the Gay Games. I have two more weeks to decide which events I’ll be swimming, but I imagine that it’ll be the 200 and 400 IM, maybe the 100 fly and the 200 free. I’ve been told I’ll be doing three relays as well. Long uphill slog to get in shape for this, as I’ve been lazy lazy lazy these past few months.
- Wrote entirely too many math questions for sixth-graders in New Mexico. But hey, it pays the rent.
- Spent three out of five weekends in the company of my sister’s family. The delicious Avery turned 3 yesterday. Her little brother Nathan is 7 months old. Where has the time gone? Spending time in the company of laughing little children who think you’re great is a superlative tonic for the soul, and I highly recommend it.
- Continued work on the never-ending Leo. I get to it in fits and starts, usually while riding on trains or in cars, or in little secret “just one or two rows” sessions when I really should be in bed. I’m about halfway through the front, and it’s looking vastly better than the back. The stitches are tighter and much more regular; I guess that, having put about eighty skillion loops on the needles by this point, my technique has improved tremendously. I begin to wonder if I’ll finish all the bits and decide that the back of the thing simply must be frogged out and done over. If I show signs of seriously considering this, somebody please intervene.
- Oversaw a major server migration for the swim team’s internet presence. Moving to new hosts (the fabulous tigertech.net, hosts also of this website) gave me the chance to upgrade our MT and Gallery installations, plus learn a little about setting up cron jobs and the differences between Mailman and Majordomo.
Things I did not do in April:
- Receive a response from F&SF regarding “Slow.” If a magazine famous for its sub-two-week rejection turnaround time suddenly takes a month in getting back to you, is that a good sign? Or a sign that I should have sent the thing return-receipt-requested? The suspense is starting to make me a little crazy.
- Finally let go of Optimistic Story. I’ve settled into a perpetual state of ‘one more beta reader, and then I’ll trust the thing.’
- Begin the novel, for which I blame Optimistic Story’s refusal to leave the nest. Convenient, isn’t it? On the other hand, the pile of notes continues to grow. That’s something.
So anyway, now you know I’m not dead. I do have swim practice in six hours, though, so it’s time to hit the sack.