Thursday, January 16th, 2003 - Sweet Life Um, hi there. I know: long time, no write. It's not that I don't love you, it's just that life has been too weird and busy. I didn't know where to start here. Still don't, but I'll do my best. Let's see, my Mom left yesterday after a month-long visit. She mostly hung out with Holly, kept her sane, helped with the baby, cooked us wonderful meals (and did the dishes!) and so forth. This meant, of course, that I got some really horrible guilt trips there near the end for not spending much one-on-one time with her, but overall it was really lovely having Mom out for so long. It took some of the pressure off, especially since she had her own little studio in the pretty part of Berkeley. Her mother passed away right before Xmas, which was very hard on her (not being able to go back) and made me sad, too; the one Xmas I don't come home -- usually I'd have been there. I hope to do a longer entry about Grandma soon. The baby Aleister is doing well, and his momma Holly is already taking Flamenco and will start teaching her belly dancing classes soon. Two weeks after he was born you wouldn't have ever guessed she'd just had a baby. Man. She's absolutely beautiful right now, all glowing and happy. She's got a pretty good attitude about the baby, too, even when he's screaming his head off. Our landlady finally noticed the addition to our house, much to our amusement. She hadn't even noticed that Holly was pregnant! She muttered something about looking into whether or not he needs to go on the lease, so I'm gearing up for her inevitable flimsy excuse to "do a walk-thru" (inspect our home). This time, I'm telling myself, I'm going to look into how much legal right she has to do this instead of bowing to her demands. Anyway. My teeth are a mess, which you already know if you read Tim's journal. I definitely have one, maybe two root canals in my future. This is in addition to 4 other cavities. My insurance sucks, too, which means thousands of dollars out of pocket. I'm looking into obtaining other insurance -- I think I saw some online that said "pre-existing conditions ok!", but that just sounds too good to be true. So, you know, if you have some money burning a hole in your pocket and you want to donate, please feel free to use the button over there to your right. Work is ok. Some stuff I can't talk about here, some of it I can. I wrote a really good reivew of the latest Rocco movie, Fashionistas, which means its selling like hotcakes. (Very adult site, so don't follow that link at work.) I love most of the people I work with, especially Heathen and Richard, so that makes work fun -- well, more fun than it would be otherwise. Best stop trying to talk about work now. I've been sick the entire month of January so far. I called the advice nurse today and was told to give it another week -- the bronchitis that's going around lasts about 2-3 weeks and it's only been 2 for me. Not much they could do anyway -- it's not like antibiotics would do me any good. I'm just tired of hacking coughs, stuffed sinuses and body aches all the time. I'm trying to be cheery in this entry. Life is ok, really. I get to come home every night to my sweet Tim, and just putting my arms around his body and breathing in his Timness makes much of the stresses melt away. He's so solid and real and such a good thing in my life, and when it feels like it's too much I try to focus on him. Then Holly might flit through the room with Aleister gurggling in her arms as she sings him a jazzy lullaby she's made up, and I keep on counting the blessings that surround me in my home. Life can be hard, sure, and it is a lot of the time. But, ultimately, I'm happier than I was two years ago, when I had more money but no love. I have someone to get through the hard times with. Life is good. Discuss.

Exercise Log: Walking mostly. Need to do more; I miss my gym membership! Writing log: Wrote some of a short story, but that was like two weeks ago now. Sigh. Current Publications: "Wetting the Bed" and a collab with Tim Pratt, "A Serious Case of Fairies" in Floodwater In the Shade of You nominated in the long poem category for the Rhysling and will be reprinted in the 2002 Rhysling Anthology! "How to Suck" reprinted in From Porn to Poetry: Clean Sheets Celebrates the Erotic Mind I've been reading: Currently Reading: Mort by Terry Pratchett Read recently: Optic Nerve, Vol. 3, 4, 8 & 9 by Adrian Tomine The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold The Fall of the Kings by Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman Donate money to my teeth, my grad school application fees, our writerly projects (Floodwater and Flytrap!). Every little bit helps!

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