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At least chocolate is back in my life.
Apr. 30th, 2019 10:39 amBefore I forget, the good stuff I didn't talk about when I was exhausted last week.
The Tolkien exhibit in NYC (on loan from Oxford) was amazing and absolutely worth a two-hour train ride and navigating several blocks of NYC. I honestly thought Yeats was going to sit down in the middle of the gallery and declare that we lived there now. There were handwritten manuscript pages of the books (including Theoden's exhortation to the Riders of Rohan), there were Tolkien's original cover designs in full color (much better than the jacket designs chosen), there were letters to friends and editors and the illustrated and illuminated letters from Father Christmas that he wrote to his children. There was original art, in beautiful vibrant colors, and maps he drew for battle-planning. And there was a page of personal sigils/emblems in full color that didn't quite make it into The Silmarillion, and one of them was a violet/green/pale design for Luthien Tinuviel, and if I ever get a tattoo that's going to be it. It's there for a couple more weeks, and I encourage anyone who can to go see it.
I have Easter chocolate coming out my ears, and it is blissful.
The school play this year was not at all bad--the school polytalent (singing, writing, music-writing) wrote it and wrote original songs for it as well. You could kind of tell where the story had been switched from her original small-town-secrets-and-murder plot to a more zany and comedic tone, but for a bunch of high-schoolers working on sheer zeal and a bake-sale budget, it was a lot of fun. Bonus points for one character singing a song she (the character) assured us was utterly original, and was actually verses/lyrics/riffs from about twenty popular songs, all melded together into one, with "America the Beautiful" tacked onto the end. It was hysterical, and actually worked.
The Kensington Day of the Book went fine. It rained all the way down there, but started clearing up as soon as we got to the book tent. It was more of an Appearance Day than a Bookselling Day for Yeats--he did a reading from the new mystery novel, did a panel with Kathy McMillan (she writes YA fantasy, I highly recommend Sword and Verse and Dagger and Coin) about fantasy "tropes trials and tribulations", listened to other authors from his small press do their readings, and got to chat with quite a lot of people. He also let me loose unsupervised in the local bookstore--he got two books out of it; he can't complain. It took us three hours to get home in Sunday traffic, but being out in the spring sunshine talking about books isn't a bad way to spend a day.
Hector did not accept his visit to the vet yesterday with any good grace, but it's done. He is 99% heathy and well at age 11ish, however, the vet thinks he may have an overactive thyroid, as his weight has dropped two pounds over the last two years without any change in his diet or activity patterns. They're doing some bloodwork, and we'll see what comes of that. His shots are re-upped, his wonky eye is no worse, his teeth are in good shape, and he still purrs at the drop of a hat. I was being thoroughly snuggled when the alarm went off this morning, so I think I am forgiven.
Someone from Enterprise left me a voicemail asking to call back and discuss my claim. I left them a very chilly voicemail reminding them that I have been assured twice by an Enterprise rep that the claim is being handled internally and the alleged damage is ambiguous, that I have a saved voicemail from said rep stating this very thing, here is said rep's name and phone number, and they can call me back if they want, but I was under the impression that this situation has been dealt with. I am 100% done with this.
I would still like a day where putting on pants and leaving the house is optional, but I'm not quite as tired as I was.
Reading Log: Angry Management by Chris Crutcher; Heaven's Coast by Mark Doty; Alien: Echo by Mira Grant; Valor's Trial by Tanya Huff; Ungovernable by Therese Oneill; The Rose by Tiffany Reisz; You Asked For Perfect by Laura Silverman
The Tolkien exhibit in NYC (on loan from Oxford) was amazing and absolutely worth a two-hour train ride and navigating several blocks of NYC. I honestly thought Yeats was going to sit down in the middle of the gallery and declare that we lived there now. There were handwritten manuscript pages of the books (including Theoden's exhortation to the Riders of Rohan), there were Tolkien's original cover designs in full color (much better than the jacket designs chosen), there were letters to friends and editors and the illustrated and illuminated letters from Father Christmas that he wrote to his children. There was original art, in beautiful vibrant colors, and maps he drew for battle-planning. And there was a page of personal sigils/emblems in full color that didn't quite make it into The Silmarillion, and one of them was a violet/green/pale design for Luthien Tinuviel, and if I ever get a tattoo that's going to be it. It's there for a couple more weeks, and I encourage anyone who can to go see it.
I have Easter chocolate coming out my ears, and it is blissful.
The school play this year was not at all bad--the school polytalent (singing, writing, music-writing) wrote it and wrote original songs for it as well. You could kind of tell where the story had been switched from her original small-town-secrets-and-murder plot to a more zany and comedic tone, but for a bunch of high-schoolers working on sheer zeal and a bake-sale budget, it was a lot of fun. Bonus points for one character singing a song she (the character) assured us was utterly original, and was actually verses/lyrics/riffs from about twenty popular songs, all melded together into one, with "America the Beautiful" tacked onto the end. It was hysterical, and actually worked.
The Kensington Day of the Book went fine. It rained all the way down there, but started clearing up as soon as we got to the book tent. It was more of an Appearance Day than a Bookselling Day for Yeats--he did a reading from the new mystery novel, did a panel with Kathy McMillan (she writes YA fantasy, I highly recommend Sword and Verse and Dagger and Coin) about fantasy "tropes trials and tribulations", listened to other authors from his small press do their readings, and got to chat with quite a lot of people. He also let me loose unsupervised in the local bookstore--he got two books out of it; he can't complain. It took us three hours to get home in Sunday traffic, but being out in the spring sunshine talking about books isn't a bad way to spend a day.
Hector did not accept his visit to the vet yesterday with any good grace, but it's done. He is 99% heathy and well at age 11ish, however, the vet thinks he may have an overactive thyroid, as his weight has dropped two pounds over the last two years without any change in his diet or activity patterns. They're doing some bloodwork, and we'll see what comes of that. His shots are re-upped, his wonky eye is no worse, his teeth are in good shape, and he still purrs at the drop of a hat. I was being thoroughly snuggled when the alarm went off this morning, so I think I am forgiven.
Someone from Enterprise left me a voicemail asking to call back and discuss my claim. I left them a very chilly voicemail reminding them that I have been assured twice by an Enterprise rep that the claim is being handled internally and the alleged damage is ambiguous, that I have a saved voicemail from said rep stating this very thing, here is said rep's name and phone number, and they can call me back if they want, but I was under the impression that this situation has been dealt with. I am 100% done with this.
I would still like a day where putting on pants and leaving the house is optional, but I'm not quite as tired as I was.
Reading Log: Angry Management by Chris Crutcher; Heaven's Coast by Mark Doty; Alien: Echo by Mira Grant; Valor's Trial by Tanya Huff; Ungovernable by Therese Oneill; The Rose by Tiffany Reisz; You Asked For Perfect by Laura Silverman
