I made chocolate chip cookies last night. And actually baked them! :) They turned out really good, too, nice and gooey. I also went to the library and got three new books to read, one a collection of fantasy short stories.

I'm up to 146 pages in Magpie - yeah! - and Chianxi is about to die. I hope to reach 150 pages by the end of today.

In other news...I'm supposed to go see Cabaret this weekend with friends. A friend of mine put together the choregraphy. But of course no one is returning my calls, so we'll see about that ;P

And for some reason I don't feel like blogging. So I'm going to go eat my burrito for lunch and read :)

- D

Only two pages in Magpie today. Blah :(

But that's because I was upset. So there :P

Rehearsals went well last night, I'm feeling much more comfortable working with this director. She's organized, funny, and nice. But the organization is the big plus in my book. My last director was completely scattered, never wrote anything down, and we hadn't even blocked the second act until three days before opening night. Which is not good ;)

Started reading one of my books on Venice - finally - but haven't found anything useful yet. Probably because the book is currently discussing the politics and history leading up to the Renaissance, rather than the Renaissance itself (that comes later). But at least I can feel like I've started work on that novel. An inch at a time... :)

No crits posted today, though two subs printed off. I'm just not feeling in the mood. Actually, I'm feeling kind of weak and trembly, and light-headed. Tonight is going to be a rest night. And I taught at lunch so I refuse to feel bad about not going to dance class tonight. I already got exercise :) And some nights you just need to veg...

A half hour til coach potato time! :)

- D

Nine pages this morning on Magpie! :) Woo hoo! "Productive-Dena" has taken over my body :P Except one scene has practically no setting, and I'm thinking that part of the reason is that I feel more comfortable writing in the female POV and that one's all men. (As eBear pointed out, all my villains are male and my heroes female. Hmmm...). But it's just a first draft, and it's on the page, so I'll settle for that. For now :) But I'm up to 34,250 words, 137 pages. Yeah! I may actually reach an end on this thing at some point.

Finished reading The Golden Compass last night. I did not care for it. Fascinating world-building, to an extent, and excellent descriptions, but it was dark. I really wouldn't recommend it for children, and it was originally marketed as a YA book. The writing is fine - though I thought it started slowly - but I didn't find the protagonist particularly likeable. And there were times, especially towards the end, where I felt like the author had his own hidden agenda in telling the story, and it was a disturbing one. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the whole book felt off somehow.

Had quite a different experience with Diane Duane's Book of Night With Moon. Not a children's book, but one I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to a teenager. Fascinating world-building with a deft touch, I especially liked how she'd introduce a term, say "heiff," which means composure grooming, by giving first "composure grooming" to remind the reader, then using "heiff" from there on out. Her protagonist was extremely likeable, the conflict set up quite well, and everything "made sense," ie, how she blended mythos, cats as wizards, and her use of dinosaurs, unfolded in a logical way that was completely solid. I was very impressed by the complexity of plot and characterization and hope someday to write something as good.

btw - this journal will be devoted to writing - specifically geared towards my YA audience - and I will be posting more personal entries at livejournal, www.livejournal.com/users/dlandon/, as soon as I can figure out how, exactly, to use it ;)

One hour till lunchtime! :)
- D

Dude, what a weekend :P I feel like my life is a roller coaster. I hate roller coasters.

Friday night I was supposed to meet a girlfriend for drinks, only I didn't know the name of the bar so I asked her to meet me at my office. Somehow our wires got crossed, so she didn't show up, I couldn't remember the name of the bar and only knew it was done near the waterfront (not helpful), and she doesn't have a cell. So I walked around down there looking for bars hoping I'd recognize the name when I saw it, finally gave up and went home. Not before the shoes I was wearing (which aren't really meant to be walked in) gave me blisters, though ;(

Saturday...met up with Brit, Hilary, Katie and Lisa at the Lowes on Boston Common to see X2. Only to discover that on Saturdays matinee pricing stops at 2pm! We were pissed, but we were there, so we paid $10! (which I will never pay again) to see it. It was good, I liked it, entertaining and fun. Oh, and the people sitting next to Katie and Hilary (we had to split up) started smoking pot in the middle of the movie. I mean, who the hell starts a) smoking, when it could set off the fire alarms, and b) smoking an illegal substance in a public place?

Then we drove out to my house, made burritos and drank Coronas out on the back porch. After we'd stuffed ourselves full, it was back into the city to Jake Ivory's - a piano bar - where I saw one of my male co-workers and hid from him. I work with dorks. He was wearing white pants and loafers with no socks. I rest my case.

Got back to Lisa's place by 3am and crashed on her pull-out couch. Had to wake up at 9am (ugh) when she went to play tennis, drove home and went back to sleep. Met Hilary for church and had an awful, no good, very bad run in with the ex. And his current flavor of the month Blah Brunette. (ok, ok, I'll try to reign in the bitter anger :P). So I went home and was upset all night, except that someone (hee hee, hi ebear!) called me their hero for being honest with Blah Brunette (whose name I don't know), and called me ballsy. Which makes me happier than I was about the whole thing :P

Then Tim called me today (playing phone tag all weekend) on his break at work (he's doing merchandising at Banana Republic) and we're meeting for lunch tomorrow. And Joel called and left a message Sunday night while he was at rehearsals. So some things are looking up ;) And I wrote a letter that I'd really been wanting to write (apology and explanation) and sent it off. It could either turn out to be a very good thing, or a very, very bad thing, and I'm just crossing my fingers and praying right now...blah. Life is a roller coaster, so complaining that I hate amusement parks is counterproductive...

- D