West Coast Birthday Delay

Because of the various things going on on my actual birthday, we postponed celebration until today (parenthood demands such things, and the nice thing about being older is that I simply feel like "hey, what the hell" rather than getting sulky about it.

So this morning I got breakfast in bed (a banana strawberry pineapple smoothie, toast, and scrambled eggs) and my various gifts: the new Linda Thompson CD from Sarcasm Girl; a beautiful selection of teas from Lupicia from Avocado, and a gift certificate for a cake-decorating class from the Spouse. Also a Lantz nightgown from my in-laws (my mother-in-law knows this is an indulgence I generally don't spring for myself), a lovely check from my dear aunt Julie, and various birthday cards I had been holding on to until the celebration should arrive. After opening and exclaiming over everything, the girls and I played Bears in the Cave, a game from their childhood where we all lie in my bed and I keep telling them to shush while the Fierce Hunter (played today by the Spouse) threatens to shoot us all. Maybe you have to be there to understand the allure of this game to any participants over the age of four?

This afternoon Avocado and I have to stop at the library so she can pick up some books for school, then off to her skating lesson (blessedly there's no practice tonight because Friday and Saturday were "Holidaze" performances with the Tremors), and thence to see The Golden Compass. All in all a fairly nice day is planned.

Now I'm going to listen to Linda Thompson. Have a good day, y'all.

What Do You Have To Say? - You Make Me Feel Like Writing

[Error: unknown template qotd]Some people become psychologists. I became a writer.

The thing which most makes me want to write is the lab aspect of it: trying to figure out why people do the things they do. As a weird kid (don't most of us think we were weird kids?) I was constantly blindsided by actions and reactions from my parents and my peers, and I began to tell myself stories about why that behavior. As I grew older I became less interested in reverse engineering human behavior ("why did that kid kick me in the shin and run away?") and more interested in seeing what effects a given situation might have on a given person (The Stone War was written, in part, as a way of explaining my passion for New York City and in part as an exploration of what the destruction of what you love can do to you).

I also write because the process, as painful as it sometimes is, is so much fun.