chanaleh | state of the chanaleh, January 2006 edition (Reply)

jessruth said to me a week ago, "You haven't updated since Staxmas! I have no idea what you've been up to!" Yeah, I know; busy busy, not much to narrate. -- But when Tiger Boy says to me "Hey, you haven't updated in a while!"... I know I am overdue. :-)

So let's see.

The actual crunch is workwise: I'm typesetting a book that has, **has**, to be done by the end of January. If I can get a chapter out every 2 days, I might get it all done by the time of the GSC ski trip. Oy vey. It's fun -- I mean I absolutely relish it, taking this hideous mess and turning it into shiny clean book pages that look the way I think they should look -- and props are due to

queue for keeping my enthusiasm stoked and my spirits up. But it's just really intense work. I come home feeling like a wrung-out dishcloth.

My house is a shambles (though I've managed to keep up a rudimentary amount of cooking along the way). I've had no time and energy to do any of the shul stuff (programming and publicity) I'm supposed to be on top of... or even show up half the time (which is saying something for me). I never did send out my family Xmas presents, and the 12th day of Xmas has come and gone. I have a friend who wants me to do a freelance workbook layout project for him this spring, and while I'm excited about the idea in theory, I am just using up every single one of those brain cells in my daytime working life and haven't a one left to spare for recreational use. :-} Guess I could make the same excuse for the shul work I haven't been doing, actually. Wow.

On the other hand, I'm up to level 11 in my first round of Kingdom of Loathing. ;-)

Social stuff: Spent the Holidays here in Boston, mostly working as usual when I wasn't playing.

jessruth was here, as noted. Tiger Boy went away and

mangosteen went away and

ablock went away and I got to borrow the Pupmobile... which is doing much to sell me on this whole car-owning idea. :-} Spent some good time with

derspatchel. Went to some excellent parties (up to and including this weekend). Tiger Boy came home and we spent New Year's Eve at First Night and then at

gilana's.

Saw Narnia, and immediately started rereading all the books (I've since finished 4 of the 7 -- counting Magician's Nephew canonically as Book 6, of course). For once, I might have enjoyed the movie more if I'd refreshed on the book first; I was just sure they had made up a bunch of stuff, and while there was certainly padding, it wasn't always what and where I thought. There was a lot of detail that turned out to have been almost verbatim, and it was merely I who had forgotten. Very lovingly done, I must admit. I am also amused to see how much echoing of Tolkien is in the books; I adore Lewis, but his work is overall so different in tone and scope that it's always funny to me to be reminded that, oh yes, those two were not only contemporaries but buddies...

Oh yes, and... Tiger Boy's New Year's resolution for us is to go together to the weight room twice a week (a concept for which I had expressed enthusiasm several months ago, and then it never happened). Three sessions down so far; noting that it's been nearly 5 years since I set foot in a gym, I'm already starting to get the hang of it again. Rah. Plus it is an excellent excuse to get in an extra two (possibly four) hours of face-time a week, so, y'know. :-)

LJ stuff: Suddenly both jweiss and Kosher Boy have succumbed. Welcome,

brass_rat and

toyb, respectively. :-D

arisia stuff: Did I mention I'm selling buttons in the honest-to-God Dealer's Room this year? I may live to regret it, but hey, I have to try it once. You can find me at Table 8. And hey, Pup, Joelll, I'm crashing with you after all. *grin*

Um, and there is more upcoming, but I think this is it for tonight. Bed is seriously calling.