When It Don’t Come Easy

(I figured since so many of my hits come from my culture references – lines from movies, song lyrics, etc – I’d keep that alive. If you haven’t heard this Patty Griffin song. Clearly I don’t know you. Cuz it plays on my computer constantly. Speaking of search terms, people looking for WoW Draenei p*rn… please leave your mom’s basement and get a life.) Time is running out. This weekend, I’m making an unexpected but super awesome preliminary trip to Montreal with (who else) the God-Mama-Auntie! If I can get my lovely car sold (which makes me sad), I’ll be able to open a bank account while I’m there testing out the subway and hopefully signing on a dotted line for an apartment. If I get back home on the scheduled day, I have a matter of hours before the family piles into the car for our pilgrimage to the promised land. Disneyland. Whatever. And then I’ve got like four days to work before my sister, JenJen, arrives! And then she’s gone and – assuming we’ve received our CAQ in the mail, which we need to get the study permit at the Canadian border – we’ll spend one day saying goodbye before piling into a u-haul and driving across the country, stopping in Wisconsin to see family (yes, you heard me right – I suppose after seven years of marriage, we’ve made them wait long enough… I only hope that Black mailman I heard so much about is still around!!).

This all makes me rather happy that two of my three big projects are off and mailed. What I love about these endeavors (literary, of course) is that I found them in the order of impending deadline, each more exciting (and daunting) than the last. So, as I began work on the next one, the feasibility of coming out victorious in the now-complete one increased. Of course, I’m referring only to my mental processing of said feasibility. And, with the magazine contest and the California Writers Exchange Contest being submitted, I have only the major, kindred-spirit Bellwether which requires me to do in less than two months what I have previously done at my leisure. And I mean those last three words in the most literal and indulgent sense possible. Aside from which, there are eligibility concerns so that simultaneous to working on a tall order in terms of the manuscript to be submitted, I also have other little (big) worms burrowing around in my brain to which I must attend.

And at the tail end of last month – which ZOMIGOD is actually over – I went to San Fran for the day to have an on-camera interview with my mentor, Marco. Which of course was tons of fun and not just because I’m sitting in front of a camera being interviewed for like three hours. But yes, that. I’m hoping to send him some still pictures and …

For the last twenty minutes, I’ve been creating a folder of pictures to send him. So. I’ll. Be back. Prolly not though.

 

I Heart Search Engine Terms

Especially when multiple people have gotten here by typing, “Pretty Black girls”. You know it. *Fistbump*

And even though I have no idea how this relates to me, I welcome you, searchers of “surgery to stop you hands from pruning” and “morrow family reunion + portland”. Enjoy!

 

I Feel Like I Must

..tell you that at four am, on USA (at least here in Cali), the finale of Law and Order: Criminal Intent is airing again.
I will be there.
So should you be.

 

It Begins

I MUST SPEAK IN ALL CAPS.
I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR THE SEASON FINALE OF LAST SEASON’S CRIMINAL INTENT SINCE THE BEGINNING OF OCTOBER.
EVERY TIME THE GUIDE SAID IT WAS COMING ON – ALL TIMES I WROTE DOWN ON MY CALENDAR, LITERALLY – IT WAS THE WRONG EPISODE.
TONIGHT. RIGHT NOW. IT IS ON.
I. AM. SPARTICUS.

 

Slow Down, Mace, You’re Killin’ Em.

We are home, here in Santa Cruz, trying to get reacclimated – which apparently isn’t a word. It’d be one thing if we were just moving back, as is, but we have a splendiferous house “guest” (who hasn’t been a guest since we were fourteen) for whom we must reorganize Ezzie’s room. Plus, we’re all still in progress about one project or the other and these couple of days (ie yesterday and today) that I know we need to settle still seem like lost time… le sigh. We took a nice long hike around campus though yesterday, which was nice.

So basically we’re home but it hasn’t sunk in yet.

Other than that, … well, it’s all about my work so I’ve nothing to comment, I guess. Seeing as talking about my work here still seems pointless. Like, who are you people?!? Haha. Seriously.

Right. Well. I guess I need to go make a to-do list so we can kick back into overdrive this week. Ezra starts preschool on the 15th of September!!! WAAAAAAA! It’s not like it’s more than three hours but dang. Whose idea is it to be away from their children for three hours a day?!? Lame.

 

It’s 2:57 AM. That’s why.

I’ve finally found the drawback to being an entrepreneur or having great liberty (ie spatially and structurally) in one’s career… no work husband. Real husband and work husband aren’t supposed to be the same husband!! I’ll eventually have to hire someone for that. But then you’re the person’s boss and work husbandry can’t involve subordinates! Le sigh. I’ll figure it out.

Jennifer, are you watching Gaffigan on My Boys?

That’s right. I’m directly asking my sister a question on my blog. That’s because she doesn’t return my calls and I decided to call her out. BAM! Speaking of my sister, I was thinking about all the reasons my family was special when I was young. The top reason? Because we are attracted to quoting the least quotable and most arbitrary of movie/television quotes. That is our talent and we are brave in its endeavor. Whole scenes, people. No one-liners for us. Want proof? Jennifer (if she values her life) will follow with her part:

“Why you tippin’ in here?”

 

Still By My Lonesome

Night two of solo Santa Cruz time. Well, to be honest, I spent the evening at Katie’s bachelorette party. Trying not to be preoccupied and most of the time, achieving it. Although I went through all the pictures in my phone. And also hate when I party with people now. Mostly because it doesn’t change my behavior but they assume it does and then they reference when you partied for like the next two years, while I’m like. Yeah, it’s done. Let’s move on. Anyway, I’m trying not to be a wet blanket. But seriously. I feel like it’s so overrated. I can have the exact same experience sans the obligatory round of shots. Plus, come on. It’s Santa Cruz. Was there even one remotely not “meh” looking person? Nay. Did I come home to an empty house? Yes. Am I not interested in ever seeing the night’s pictures again? Yep. And maybe that’s just me being a party-pooper. But I don’t think so. It’s just, once the night’s over, I’m over going out. Le sigh. Whatever.

So I had to come home because I don’t wanna have to be “on” tomorrow. If we hang out tomorrow, cool. If I wake up and don’t wanna talk, then I’d rather be home than on someone’s couch. Plus I feel like I’m too old to sleep on couches. It’s bed, communal pallet on the floor or nothing, people. Seriously. Isn’t there some rule about that?

This is totally a pissy post. I should probably go. And not work on anything unless I’m gonna snap out of this.

 

Happy Times with Sadface McGee

Fun times. I just got home to Santa Cruz about twenty minutes ago. Alone. Yeah, my family’s in Sac. Just me here. By myself. For days. It’s pretty cool. As was the drive back down. Good thing there’s bugs on all my light fixtures. …

So, I’d mentally composed this blog when I was at about Vacaville and again at about Campbell. Too bad it’s entirely gone. That and I really don’t like Robot Chicken all that much. Squidbilllies. Now that’s a freakin’ hilarious if oft-too-gory show!

Um. I’ll be back later. This sucks.

 

The Celtics Justify My Love

I’m so tired of headaches/migraines. For real, for real. Oh and the title shall be the only reference to tonight’s game.

So, Ezra tells us tonight that he’s going to be a farmer when he grows up. Because he wants to have cows. It’s in the blood that deep, huh? Well, at some point Pop-pop will have to sit him down and tell him the detailed account of growing up on a dairy farm. But honestly, I don’t think people should present their experience as evidence that you won’t like it – or that it’ll be like that for you in the first place. But would I prefer Ezra continue his wildlife/foreign language interest and not move “back” to the family stead in Wisconsin?  Yes. Yes, I would.

What else? Tomorrow I move Josh back up to Sacramento for his summer internship/course… and then go back and forth myself like gas isn’t $4.49 here. Because it totally makes sense to do so to go physically in to work like three hours a week. But the alternative is to live separately for the summer. Yeah. Meanwhile, doing a bunch of paperwork to prepare for September deadlines. Tra-la-la-la-la.

Other than that, Ezra is just continuing to grow into the absolute sweetest thing ever. Almost anything I say to him lovingly, he alters appropriately and says back to me. Before he went to bed, I whispered in his ear that I’m so happy to be his mommy. He responded, “I’m so happy to be your son!” He also does the “awww” a lot when I say something loving to him. The cognitive development is sometimes ridiculous, awe-inspiring to say the least.

 

If I Weren’t So Darn Lazy…

I’d probably write a blog entry to accompany this link.