Hi! I'm Shira. I write stuff. Here's info on some of it.

Poetry
* "Wool and Silk and Wood" in Electric Velocipede #15/16, November 2008
* "Unruly Harvest" in Polu Texni, December 2008
* "About a Girl" is a poem and a perfume; check it out at Violette Market!
* "When Her Eyes Open" in Lone Star Stories, February 2009; it was reprinted in the 2009 Eaton Science Fiction Conference's speculative poetry sampler, and was nominated for the Rhysling Award.
* "Twelve" in Cabinet des Fees, March 2009
* "Nine Things About Oracles" in Electric Velocipede #20 (2010)
* "The Library, After" in Mythic Delirium #24; it has been nominated for the Micro Award and the Rhysling Award.
* "The Changeling's Lament" in Stone Telling #5; it has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, the Tiptree Award, and the Rhysling Award.

Short Fiction
* "The Angel of Fremont Street" in ChiZine, January 2009. It was shortlisted for the Million Writers Award.
* "Fortune" in Ravens in the Library: Magic in the Bard's Name, the s00j benefit anthology
* "Valentines" in Interfictions 2, November 2009
* "And to My Wife" in Electric Velocipede #20 (2010)
* "Salt Brides" in Abyss & Apex, October 2010; it has been nominated for the Micro Award.
* "Between Truth and Life" in Steam Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories, January 2011.
* "The Portal to Heaven" in Electric Velocipede #21
* "Fortune" reprinted in ChiZine, May 2011
* "Valentines" reprinted in Apex Magazine, June 2011
* "I Am Thinking of You in the Spaces Between" in Apex Magazine, October 2011; it's on Tangent Online's recommended reading list and is a Million Writers Award Notable Story.


In process: Cicatrix is the seriously bent portal fantasy, Places You Haunt is the Vegas mythpunk, and Shayara is the political thriller urban fantasy.

Conventions 2012
* I'll be at Arisia, Boskone, Conbust, Wiscon, Readercon, and PiCon - where I'll be the Guest of Awesome!

Where Else am I?
You can find me at Facebook. You can be my fan there, too. I'm also on Twitter and Ravelry. Not on MySpace. :)

Rabbit rabbit!

BOSTONIANS! Judah and I have two tickets to tonight's Jonathan Coulton concert we would like to sell you! Anyone interested?

Essentially, we're in tired post-con recovery mode still. JoCo is awesome, but he'll be back, and we'd feel a lot better about getting things done around the house.

Speaking of getting things done, there are deadlines all over the place, man. So today is a writing day, and this is your warning that I am not doing any tasks that are not writing.

Drop me a writing prompt. Just because.

And tomorrow I hope to get up to a canter, because my goodness, I have so much to do.

I slept until 11 today! Unheard of. Clearly my body needed it. My body doesn't always allow itself the things it needs, mind...

Today I've had energy to do laundry (hey, that involves lugging a heavy thing over multiple sets of stairs), clean up a bit, and tackle the mountains of open tabs and e-mail. (When I'm as brain-tired as I've been the past few days, I just cannot even deal with e-mail.) I think I made the extended deadline for the Readercon bio-bibliography; I still find that format super-excessive! I'm down to Inbox 12, with almost everything that remains being stuff I need input from other people to take action on or stuff that I need to keep visible for the next week or so. The goal is to get All That Is Not Writing done today, so I can jump into writing tomorrow; my hope is that some of the poetry that's been lurking around the sides of my brain will come out and play.

I want to try out for the play trowa_barton's directing, but looking at my June schedule, thinking about my July schedule, and thinking about my novel deadline - in addition to days like today, which are frustratingly full of nonwriting Stuff - makes it very clear that I should not do that right now. Ah, theatre. Someday again.

*looks at schedule* I'm not busy on July 21st yet. But we'll probably do a college tour then.

I'm breathing.

Hey! I can breathe through my nose again! Let's do some BPAL reviews.

Leather Phoenix: matcha tea, wild frankincense, champaca, petitgrain, star anise, aged oudh, rose taifi, narcissus, Himalayan cedar, 11-year aged patchouli, and black leather accord.
In bottle: Leather and patchouli hits first; battered leather jacket worn in head shops. Cedar underlying that, and little spikes of anise. More a new-age shop, then.
On me: Leather leather leather, which falls away swiftly to just the hint of it, soft leather wrapped around warm skin. This blends so well - it's rare that I don't get individual notes. This is the new-age shops of my early twenties. I can practically hear quiet meditation-y music, hints of chimes. Incense in the background.

Gathering Wild Mushrooms: Wild mushrooms, hay absolute, ginger root, hiba wood, and ginseng.
In bottle: This jumps and sparkles! Ginger and ginseng, of course.
On me: And it's so different on me. On me, it's smooth pale wood with hay scattered atop it. Still not getting mushrooms. I love this - it's light and soft and really texturally interesting - but I wish the ginger and ginseng didn't disappear on my skin! Is hiba similar to hinoki? Because I swear I'm getting hinoki here.

Ecstatic Revelry: Blackened amber, cardamom, cumin, labdanum, tobacco tar, patchouli, and raw honey.
In bottle: *koff* WHOA that is a LOT of SCENT. At first it's just BAM, but it resolves to resin and cumin.
On me: Sour. Sour, sour, sour. Something in this doesn't like my skin chemistry. I think it must be the tobacco tar or blackened amber; I know how their tobacco and amber notes work on me, but not tar or blackened. Sadface! I wanted honey and cardamom!

On the Death of His Mistress: Plum musk, ambergris accord, matcha tea, oakmoss, patchouli, violet leaf, and cypress.
In bottle: *side-eye* Very perfumey. Also very sugary?
On me: I think maybe the violet leaf is sharpening this? With the ambergris? And the plum musk? I have a lot of question marks? The oakmoss is lurking way, way behind that sharpness, and I'm not getting the cypress at all. This is nice, but it isn't me.

* Home safe! Two-hour flight delay, but home safe.

* I love everyone. Judah maintains that, also, everyone loves me. I am tired right now, and so I just want to snuggle down in the love and down comforters and sleep.

* I estimate that I'm at about 30% capacity, after being at about 20% yesterday. Judah asked last night what time I intended to start writing today, and I laughed. Well. He's never been on a weeklong trip including an intensely active five-day con with me before. At least one recovery day is absolutely required. My brain is barely able to manage LJ right now, let alone Cicatrix.

* SO MANY ideas for next year.

* SO MANY crushes I can totally never act upon.

* So much fun, even though I was still recovering from being sick and was unable to get even close to my normal energy levels all weekend.

I am going to see if I can nap now. Detailed con report soon, I hope.

Wiscon = awesome and I will post about it tomorrow or Thursday, depending on my exhaustion level! But!

Bostonians: Anyone able to pick us up at the airport at 7:24 tonight? Halp. We'll struggle home on the T if we must, but my body is already screaming "what have you done to me", so if a ride is possible, that would be better.

I spent the early part of this morning trying on all of the dresses in my closet. (WisCon is a dress-up con.) Due to my weight fluctuation over the years I've been sick, I have a lot of things that need to be let out and a lot of things that need to be taken in; I have very little that actually fits, and what does fit, I've worn to countless cons already. I was feeling desperately cranky. Especially because I knew I really wanted at least one new dress - I have a bookmark folder of dresses from Anthropologie, Modcloth, Trashy Diva, PinUp Girl Clothing. And every so often, over the past few months, I've pulled out the bookmarks and then had to sigh and say no, not yet. Because we moved, and we had upfuckery with some of our utilities, and it's just been one of those years where every time you think you're caught up there is Something Else. And all of the money has been going towards stuff for the household, and I couldn't justify something just for me.

So I tried on a dress, I went to show Judah, and he gave me a critique on it, and I went AUGH and stomped off, because yes it's not perfect, but it fits okay, and I just cannot even. He followed me and we talked out what was bugging me and how much better I'd feel if I just had one dress that fit me and that I hadn't had for years and years. But we were out of time to order anything, so feh.

And he said "I still owe you a birthday gift. Let me buy you a dress."

<3

I fussed at him over spending money on fripperies and he reminded me that this was his money, not mine, and he did owe me a gift, and having a new dress that fits and looks good is obviously psychologically important. And he drove me to Anthropologie, and we went dress shopping.

...we didn't find anything. I am oddly proportioned and can't always find stuff off-the-rack, but I can sometimes find stuff at Anthropologie. Today it was stuff that wouldn't've looked good or was strapless or just didn't fit right.

But the point is, and this is not just about the dress - he listened to me, he understood that this was about something bigger than just a dress, and because it was within his power to try to fix the problem, he did. This is a thing I love - that when either of us is upset, we work to find out what the real problem is, and we do whatever we can to fix it. Because it's never really just about a dress; here it's about me getting put last, even by myself, and him saying no, you deserve better.

I won't have a new dress for Wiscon, but sometime soon, I will have a new dress. By Readercon. In the meantime, I have yarn.

1. Anyone in Chicago have an airbed (or futon or spare bedroom or whatever) and room for Judah and me Monday night? We fly out Tuesday... we could stay in Madison Monday night and bus out Tuesday early AM, but if we can have a sleepover with someone, that's better. :)

2. lawbabeak is looking for vegetarian-friendly restaurants within walking distance of the Marriott Marquis (near Peachtree Center station on MARTA) in Atlanta. DragonCon people, any recommendations?

Now I dive back into trip-planning, which at this moment consists of selecting and printing out knitting patterns. 64 Crayons looks like fun wrt my current obsession with All the Colors, and would make good idiot knitting during panels and readings. Need to pick a more complicated project for plane and bus travel.

Anyone got suggestions for this one:

I may be blonde, but I'm not 20 and I don't actually physically kick ass.
Is anybody else tired to death of young, sexy, kickass heroines with attitude? Where are the heroines whose brains are more important than their brawn, whose understanding of human nature is more important than their facility with firearms? Are there no mature women who are interested in things that go bump in the night?

Totally copied and pasted from last year, with minor updatery.

Say hi!
I know a lot of people! This means I will often be with people. Please do not let this dissuade you from coming up and saying hi - my friends are friendly people too! I may take a sec to recognize you, or I may recognize you instantly. It will be a surprise to all of us, what happens. Seriously, though, I do love meeting people, and I'll be sad if I don't get to meet you, so come say hi. I'll be the short one.

No, really, I'll be the short one.
4'11". Further data: Curly calico hair that currently hits my shoulders, rectangularish gunmetalgreyish glasses, almost certainly wearing fabulous jewelry. Curvy. Probably accompanied by the delicious Judah (see his profile pic).

Gender
I identify as genderqueer, but I use female pronouns. Some people can totally tell when I'm feeling more on the male side of the gender spectrum, and some can't; I don't expect you to. Keeping in mind that I'm not cisgender is good enough for me.

Please don't.
* Wiscon is less crowded than other cons, so my startle reflex is less primed, but still: grabbing or hugging me from behind or playing Guess Who will not work out in a way that you enjoy. I would love to hug you! Make sure I know you're there first.
* Having my hair played with is a very intimate thing. If you're not sure if we're that intimate, we're probably not. If you think we might be, ask. :)
* No photographs, please! If you do catch a bit of me in a photo you must post to Facebook, don't tag me.
* I am currently on leave from BARCC due to vicarious trauma. For self-care reasons, I need to not spend the con talking about rape and other sexual violence. If you bring it up, I'm likely to safeword out of the conversation. All of my dealing-with-sexual-violence spoons right now need to go towards Cicatrix and general recovery from constantly doing anti-sexual-violence stuff; I am taking this break now so I can get back to this work and be healthy about it. I can help you better long-term if I'm not worn to a frazzle, and unfrazzlement takes time.

Logistics
I'm arriving Friday morning, leaving lateish Monday or early Tuesday; rooming with Judah. If you don't have my cell phone number and feel that you require it, e-mail me.

My body wants to kill me.
* Seizure response info can be found here.
* The anti-seizure med I'm on is colloquially known as "the one you can drink on". Please do not look askance at me when I have a Manhattan; it is totally okay by my neurologist. Note: I do need to have my last drink ~2 hours before bedtime, because of my other evening meds. (Fending off "are you sure that's safe?" is not a huge issue in the grand scheme of things, but it gets wearying to do so again and again, so I tell you.)
* I have celiac disease. This makes the "feeding' part of "care and feeding" difficult. I believe Wiscon's restaurant guide has a list of GF-friendly restaurants. I would love to go to lunch or dinner with you. Please understand that when I need to know what restaurant first, it's not that I'm being a diva, it's just that I don't want to be sick for a week. If I say no, it's not that I don't love you, it's that I'm not sure about my ability to eat safely where you're going. You don't have to amend your dinner plans for me, it's cool, we can hang out later! Indian food tends to be safe, and there's an Italian place nearby that has GF pasta.
* I feel like I don't have to emphasize this as much at Wiscon, because Wiscon is more disability-aware than other cons. But basically, I am a grown-ass woman and I can manage my disabilities, and I know people mean well when they constantly touch base about whether I'm okay, but it gets tiring and I get to feeling othered. So please assume that I am okay. If I do need any kind of assistance, I promise I'll let you know.

Where I'll Be
Dishing out cookies at the Gathering, on my panels, at my reading! I will be attending the Dessert Salon and the Genderfloomp dance party, and I'll probably be bouncing merrily along the sixth floor all night. Like Edward Bloom, I am a social person.

My Schedule
Friday
1:00-4:00pm: Coffee, Tea, and Subversion: Enjoy coffee, tea, ice water, and/or cookies! Members of the Interstitial Arts Foundation serve up refreshments and a bit of chat about the interstitial arts and the work of the Foundation. (As usual, I'm looking for Lovely Assistants! Hang out with me at the Gathering and dish out cookies!)

9:00-10:15pm: The Moment of Change: Feminist SFF Poetry Open Mic : Come join the authors of the "The Moment of Change" for an open mic evening in celebration of the first-ever anthology of feminist speculative poetry! "The Moment of Change" is edited by Rose Lemberg and forthcoming from Aqueduct press, and includes poems by Ursula K. Le Guin, Nisi Shawl, Amal El-Mohtar, Delia Sherman, Vandana Singh. Bring your own feminist speculative poems to read, and join Rose Lemberg, Shira Lipkin, Sofia Samatar, and Alex Dally MacFarlane for an open mic extravaganza to celebrate the release of the anthology and feminist speculative poetry in general.

Saturday
2:30-3:45pm: Crossing boundaries and bending genres: Meet the Interstitial Arts Foundation:
Larissa N. Niec, Ellen Kushner, Rose Lemberg, Shira Lipkin, JoSelle Vanderhooft. The Interstitial Arts Foundation (IAF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study, support, and promotion of interstitial art: literature, music, visual and performance art found in-between categories and genres--art that crosses borders. One of the specific goals of the IAF is to foster conversations among artists, academics, critics, and enthusiasts--conversations in which art of all types can be spoken of as a continuum, rather than as a series of hermetically sealed genres. Currently, the IAF is seeking to grow and develop new projects. In this town meeting-style session, we seek input from (1) artists and writers about ways in which the IAF might be of value to them as they seek to promote their boundary-crossing work, and (2) readers and enthusiasts about needs they perceive for the support of literature and other art forms that expand the conventional boundaries of gender and other restricting borders.

4:00-5:15pm: The Wild Ones reading!: Q: "Hey Jane, what are you rebelling against?" A: "Whadda you got?" Rose Lemberg writes about liminal identities, naming magic, languages, and birds. Shira Lipkin will bring you to the home you never knew you'd lost. Alex Dally MacFarlane lives and works in London, where the foxes cross paths with her at night. Patty Templeton writes hellpunk in a hand-basket, full of ghosts, freaks, and fools. Join four women of varied writing styles for a ruckus of a reading.

Sunday
1:00–2:15pm: Blogging While Female: Shira Lipkin, Jacquelyn Gill, Susan Marie Groppi, Michelle Kendall, Therese Pieczynski. Online writing has become an indispensable tool for authors and fans, however abusive behavior is rife and women bloggers are disproportionately targeted. Even women writing online about seemingly inoffensive topics---technology or fashion or book reviews or gaming---attract far more abuse than men blogging about identical topics. In reaction, many women curtail their public presence by writing under pseudonyms, screening their audience, or simply spending less time online, leading to under-representation in the larger blog-o-sphere. What strategies can women bloggers employ to minimize abuse, while still making themselves heard and maintaining a conversation? Can online platforms do more to help? What can male allies do to change the underlying culture?

2:30–3:45pm: I may be blonde, but I'm not 20 and I don't actually physically kick ass. Shira Lipkin, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Holly McDowell, Karon Crow Rilling, Nancy Werlin. Is anybody else tired to death of young, sexy, kickass heroines with attitude? Where are the heroines whose brains are more important than their brawn, whose understanding of human nature is more important than their facility with firearms? Are there no mature women who are interested in things that go bump in the night?

As usual, if you can only get to one thing, get to my reading! I am so excited to be reading with rose_lemberg, alankria, and pattytempleton!

First off, yay, "I Am Thinking of You in the Spaces Between" is a Million Writers Award Notable Story. :)

I need to write more short fiction. And poetry. The Accursed Novel has taken over.

Speaking of The Accursed Novel, I did get back on it on Friday. Brutal chapter argh. Will do more today.

Weekend was good - I actually got some socialization in, both one-on-one with thewronghands and at a party! Also we painted my office yesterday. Silvery grey. Also I did the first coat in the kitchen this morning (first rollered coat; Judah's in charge of the cutting in), and will do the second in a bit.

Other people whose "grippers don't work", as lawbabeak puts it - any tips for stuff like house-painting? I've been doing hand exercises whenever I have to reload the roller with paint, and sometimes I just have to guide the roller as flat-handedly as possible. I welcome suggestions. "Just let the mens do it" is not a viable solution; Judah's essentially working two jobs and can't get this done any faster than he already is, and it is so far beyond Adam's skillset.

We are leaving for Wiscon (Chicago first) on Wednesday. I have a lot of meep about this! I don't feel as prepared as I'd like to in general, and those extra days in Chicago on either side are nervous-making - I know how to feed myself safely in Madison. I don't in Chicago. Figuring this stuff out on the fly can be stressy and distressing. I'm stocking up on Larabars, which I find revolting, but they'll provide me with calories while I search for actual and non-odious food.

And there are just so many other things that need to get done before I'm gone for a week. Meep.

I'm breathing.

So today, writing, second coat of paint (and fervent wishing that I had the fine motor skills required to cut in so that room could be *done*), and making the grand list of everything that must get done.

Hi. How's your Monday?

ALL OF THE BOOKS ARE SHELVED YAY!

This house is much bigger than the last house, yes. The problem (in terms of book-shelving) is that it also has a) radiators that take up half of otherwise-useful shelf space and b) lots of very big windows. I love the windows for all of the natural light! But e can't have the walls of bookshelves we're used to having, so I had to get creative. And mostly sacrifice my craft room; it's still good for craft-stuff storage, but I had to line it with two-shelf bookcases (it's a sunroom, is why all the low bookcases), which took away most of the actual crafting room.

Anyway. Last night, Judah built a custom-fitted long and low bookcase to go under the biggest windows in the living room. Today I moved books from shelf to shelf and finally got to crack open the final two unpacked boxes. (I don't know if you know this but Jane Yolen and Roger Zelazny write/wrote a lot of books.)

Now all of the boxes are unpacked. Except some of Adam's, but I am not in charge of things that are not mine and do not belong to the household at large. And all of the books are shelved.

(Judah's reaction when I IMed him that the shelving had occurred: "I bet that feels AWESOME." Which is a clear and adorable I don't know why exactly this matters to you but I know that it does.)

So yes. 50 Cent (and after him, Edwin Abbott, if you don't count numbers before As) to Zoran Zivkovic. SHELVED. With room left for books that I know are in our TBR stacks. With two empty shelves to expand into. What? YES.

Hi.

*stretch* Now I shall go take a walk, after which I shall write. (That is my new routine - walk, then write.) Tomorrow we'll work on painting my office, and then thewronghands is coming over to help us with horticulture.

I just like saying horticulture.

Then some Actual Socialization. I know. And Sunday, more painting after the CNC class Judah's teaching. Full weekend, as ever. But I am finally feeling a bit of accomplishment here. *nod*

I am still having massive resistance to my writing, because the way this novel works is that I am digging up Deep Personal Painful Shit whether I intend to or not. And I took leave from BARCC to do this damn thing and I gotta. I can breathe without coughing now. Time to stop slacking.

But the thing that's got to be written now, it is a personal big bad, and I do not want to feel the way writing it is going to make me feel.

I have realized that what I need is to stop being so damn mean to myself about the resistance to writing. My hindbrain has reasons. For one, and I realize that this probably makes no sense to most people: When I'm writing Cicatrix in particular, I go into sort of a fugue state. This reminds my body and hindbrain of having seizures. My brain is perfectly aware that seizures are the thing what will probably kill me. So every time I sit down to work on this thing my brain is like JESUS CHRIST IT'S A LION GET IN THE CAR.



I'm aware that this is ludicrous! Unfortunately, my awareness does not fix it!

So I freak out and don't write and then I yell at myself for not having written, and then I get upset because someone is being mean to me, but I'm the someone, so "well, just don't hang out with them anymore" is not the solution. Plus, in writing this, I'm excavating pieces of my kid-self, and my kid-self kinda went through a lot of shit and needs to not be yelled at. So I'm looking at ways to reward my kid-self, and all I'm comin' up with is puppies. The kid-self has this fixation on puppy ears. But really, have you felt puppy ears?

I can't have a puppy because my husband loves me insufficiently is allergic. So I must come up with something else.

So yes. I need to find a way to apply self-discipline that is productive and not mean, because I need to get this novel the hell done. The only way it's getting done is if I manage to sit down and self-eviscerate every day.

I am so awesome to be around when I get like this, y'all.

In conclusion, I need to work on this thing now that's gonna mess me up for the rest of the day, hooray for me. Hi. Bye.

Here, We Cross is orderable, and now I can tell you about it!

In rose_lemberg's words: ""Here, We Cross" collects twenty-two queer and genderfluid poems from the digital pages of Stone Telling magazine. This chapbook is a celebration of speculative poetry that is diverse and varied; here you will find poems with speakers or protagonists who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, genderqueer, trans*, asexual, and neutrois; speakers who struggle with the body and the society’s imposed readings of that body. It is a painful book, a triumphant book, full of works that soar and breathe and live. Just like us."

"The Changeling's Lament" is reprinted here, with 21 other poems by such luminaries as tithenai, sovay, cafenowhere, samhenderson, alankria, alexa_seidel, domparisien, ajodasso, snakey, and many more, and you should go forth and acquire it.

In other news, I'll be reading, signing, and Q&Aing at Annie's Book Stop in Worcester the evening of Thursday, August 16. This is the day before my Guest of Awesome stint at nearby PiCon. You should totally come to both! (Many thanks to p_m_cryan and novelfriend for having me!)

Okay! More coffee.

Adam had a doctor appointment this morning and ended up taking the day off. (His diabetes continues to be under control, and he lost a few more pounds! Yay Adam!) And the requires-signature package we were told to expect (by FedEx, not the sender) came early, so after I paid the bills, Adam and I were able to run to Target for three-shelf bookcases (I've given up on finding a two-shelf bookcase, and no one but me goes into the craft room anyway, so it doesn't have to match) and a few other necessities and Home Depot for more paint.

For those keeping track:
* Living room = Grassy Field
* Foyer, stairway, hallway, soon to be kitchen: Caribe
* Soon to be bedroom: Butterfly Garden
* Soon to be office: Sparrow

If I have leftover Butterfly Garden, I may use it in the craft room. Or I may go for something wacky in there, I dunno. It has lots of windows (it's a sunroom), so it'll still be bright.

I have no idea what to do about the dining room; right now it's peach above the wooden chair rail and hospital-ick green (the original color of the living room, foyer, and stairway) below. It'll have to be something that works well with the Grassy Field and Caribe, as it borders the living room and kitchen. We'll see.

But yes, this is a DO ALL THE THINGS day. Adam's finishing up bookcase #1, and then I can get started shelving. The only six boxes that remain packed are books. This can get done today.

EDIT: This can't get done today, because three book boxes = two bookcases, so the remaining three book boxes > the remaining one bookcase. *sigh* BUT PROGRESS.

Originally posted by samhenderson at How to Flirt in Fairyland and The Moment of Change

Still low-energy and recovering, but still alive. My accomplishments today: my first walk since coming down sick on May 1, and a shower. Livin' large. My body is uncertain about the walk being a good idea, but I'm sure it'll come around eventually.

Elayna yesterday: "Happy Mother's Day even though I'm sick and you didn't get any gifts." Aw kid. Yes, she's down with it now. Judah had it last week, and Adam's done with it, so at least this'll be the end of this particular ick in the household - and at least she wasn't sick on SAT day!

Mother's Day shopping was apparently a comedy of errors. She tried to get me the "Shut Up, Shinji" t-shirt that Topato must've only been offering for like a month. So no gift from her, as she has to choose something currently available. But I love that she wanted to get me that. Adam ordered me a book, but then got the inter-library loan pickup notice on that selfsame book (he mostly picks up my library books, because the library is on his way home). I also use my wishlist as a remember-to-request-this-from-the-library list. I read fast and don't have money. So.

Judah made me GF s'mores pancakes and the breakfast potatoes I love; the guys suggested brunch out, but Judah's food is better than any restaurant food, plus my house is less crowded than a restaurant and I don't have to wear shoes. Also, on Saturday, Judah painted the rest of the stairwell and upstairs hallway. So I regard this as a pretty good Mother's Day weekend regardless.

Right. Enough internet procrastination. I should (hopefully, brain permitting) get to writing.

...I'm getting really tired of having to build up energy for a few hours just to stay standing long enough to shower, and then having to rest afterwards.

Body. Stuff to do.

Other than the exhaustion, there's still the colonization of my chest by snot goblins and resultant coughing, but other than that I am mostly okay? But this is getting really old. I cannot work like this. And I need to work.