Day in the Life of an Idiot

I'm not even sure I can list everything that I did over the weekend in the amount of space LJ allows!

Let's give it a try, though, shall we?

First of all, I've still be plagued by this lingering cough. It's morphed into something more sinus related, but, whatever it is, it's killing me... slowly.

On Friday, I attended a birthday party for jiawen at Mirror of Korea, which was a whole lot of awesome. I met some cool new people and got to know some people I'd met before a lot better. In fact, I had a conversation that night that's haunted me the whole weekend. One of the women there talked about how the world is becoming more conservative, and my initial reaction was the opposite -- since all my friends on the left are becoming more radicalized by all the weirdness on the right. But, I've been slowly considering her point. With venues like Fox (Faux) News spreading so many lies, is the average American being pushed more right/more conservative? We're certainly losing ground in places like California in terms of GLBT rights, and in places all over the world that are being posioned by religious right organizations... it's hard to say.

Anyway, Saturday was INTENSE. It started with a call from my friend Paul who lives in Pennsylvania. We were friends in high school and his family still lives in LaCrosse. He was flying through the Cities on the way to visit LaCrosse, so we met up at... (wait for it)... the Mall of America. Or, as I like to refer to it: the Maul. I was Mauled by the Mall, too. I only agreed because Paul said he'd be willing to take Mason on a few rides at the amusement park, and Mason has been DYING to do the rollercoasters there. (Meanwhile, I would rather die than go on one.) Turns out Paul and his family aren't big fans of rollercoasters, either, but they did go on several rides with Mason... including this crazy "spooky plank" thing that's hard to even describe. It's not really a "ride" per se. It's three story structure that's made up of high wires, basically, as well as other catwalk kinds of things. It's meant to be a bit like a crow's nest on a ship, but is much more sprawling. Anyway, Mason and Paul's wife got on harnesses (you have to wear mounteering harnasses) and braved that thing. All the way up... almost. The funny part? Paul, who has to walk real catwalks as part of his job at as a theatre electrician, got to the first set of stairs with his daughter and chickened out. Not that I blame him. I told him that I knew myself well enough that I could see a scenario where I got to the middle of one of those platforms and froze. They'd need the fire department to talk me down.

Then we braved the Mall/Maul traffic to get back home for "a little lunch" as we say here in Minnesota, and then back out to a birthday party for one of Mason's school mates. It was held in an industrial park warehouse. Seriously. The interior had been transformed (mostly, there were still cavernous ceilings and loading dock doors), into a bouncey house play area. There were enormous air-filled slides, obsticle courses, etc. All those funky, LOUD (with all the air compressors going) bouncy structures you see out at county fairs, only jamed into this odd, industrial warehouse. Still, it was really kind of innovative, and the kids could have cared less. The adults could have used an in-house Starbucks, but that's another story.

They fed us pizza and cake, and then Mason and I ducked out a bit early because we had yet one more social obligation: a wedding reception for our friends Richard and Frank... who'd gotten married at one of those states where such things are legal. Richard is a work colleague of Shawn's besides being a great friend, who lives out in Arizona. He has a lot of friends and family in Minnesota, though, and it was held at his sister's house. Mason was pretty exhausted, but Richard and Frank have given him many gifts over the years (including the only stuffed animal Mason has ever bonded to, his rabbit, Sirralabouydoh) and he was specifically invited. After Mauling and boucing, though, he was pretty wiped out, and mostly spent his time in a quiet corner of the house, reading. It made it easy for Shawn and I to socailize, though. And I ended up having a great time, though by this point I'd mostly lost my voice. I did manage to pitch my books to a couple there, so...

It's always such a funny thing, telling people you're a writer. Inevitably they ask if I'm published by one of the Minnesota preses, and I always have to say, "No, New York. Perhaps you've heard of Penguin USA?" I always feel a bit snotty, but the assumption is kind of a dis... though I think it's meant to give me an "easy out" if I am only a local star, as it were. I finally figured it out Saturday night, though. It's as if I tell people I'm a movie star. They look at me an think, "Okay, this isn't Brad Pitt, so she must mean she does independent films or something." Plus, you figure there's NO WAY someone you're sitting next to at a party has REALLY been in a Hollywood film. That's an LA/New York thing. Not a Minnesota deal, right?

I think it's the same for people when I say I'm a writer. They haven't heard of me. Why would they have (although sometimes people do know Tate Hallaway). So they figure there's no way I run in the same circles as people they have heard of. Like sometimes I like to shock mundanes by saying, "You've seen True Blood? It's based on a book that's published by my publisher. I shared an editor with the woman who writes that series." (Not any more, but we're still at the same house!)

It's like I'm "woman on the street #2" in films starring George Clooney.

Anyway, Sunday was much more relaxed. We got our Solstace tree and did our annual running across University Avenue dragging the huge tree tradition. Every year, we buy our tree from the Y's Men's lot that's just across University from our block. Every year, they ask if they can help tie the tree to our car. Every year, we explain we're just going to drag it home. Every year, we're nearly killed by a semi... okay, not quite, but dodging cars on University is tough enough, add a tree and a six year old to the mix and it gets pretty chaotic.

It's a beautiful tree. We've had taller, broader ones in the past, but this one still fills the space and it's by fair the straightest tree we've ever had.

My friend Harry came over and drank eggnog and chatted while we decorated. I think I managed to convince him that he doesn't have to be a writer to be my friend. Harry's passion is theatre/arts therapy and he's knee-deep in starting up his own practice. I really admire him. This is the second business he's started from scratch, the first being a wildly successful computer programming business that he was able to sell and finance his education in theatre/arts therapy, which is nothing to sneeze at. Now he's starting from the ground up again later in life, and, despite what he'd tell you, is off to an amazing start. He's really breaking some new ground -- for himself and for the therapy community here. I wish him only the best and I have a lot of confidence in his abilities. If I had an ounce of his self-starter-ness I'd... well, I'd have RESURRECTION CODE done, for one.

Speaking of which, I earned a new writer badge. I finally had that experience of hitting the go button on the answering machine and cringing at the sound of my editor's voice asking, "so... about that book..." (no pressure!) Yes, Virginia, I missed my deadline. AGAIN. But I sat down with my calendar and some serious fretting and considering and I think I've got an answer to when the damn book will be done. The worst part is that New York keeps calling. I just got the editorial letter/edits from Anne on the young adult book, ALMOST TO DIE FOR, and a January deadline for that. However, I hope to whip through those before Christmas so I can focus the next month on finishing RESURRECTION CODE.

Eek.

Anyway, how are you?