Slowly becoming one with the cosmos...

Okay-- the dragon in my blood that was 'Waiting' has settled down to brood happily over 'Rampant' again, the election is over (Go Obama!!! California--shame on us. Shame on us all) and the Christmas madness has not quite begun. I'm almost ready to join the human race again.

Or I would be if this pesky 'falling asleep over the keyboard' thing would stop happening! I asked Mate why it seemed I was always tired--his reply, "I don't think we're getting enough sleep," didn't SOUND sarcastic, but it can't be that simple, can it? I have the feeling I'll find out tonight--after 1 1/2 hours of tweaking the hell out of my neck to 'snuggle' with the short people as they watched a movie, I'm once again in danger of typing seventy-eleven rows of 'dddddddd' and thinking objectively that it could be the best I can do! (True story--did that last post seem a little disjointed? Now you know why!)

I've been trying to put together my thoughts for a blog post, and I've only got a couple of things--none of them profound.

Lessee--

Uhm, Harry Potter Sockyarn--I've got two skeins on reserve, on in my stash, and if it wasn't for the fact that they didn't have a Hermione colorway, I'd have to say I'm a fan. (Of course, Schaeffer did have Hermione colored!)So check it out if you haven't--it really is the ultimate in yarn-geekdom! Btw? I got Ron, Harry & Ron, & Dumbledore-- but Lupin was a close second, and, of course, Harry all by himself:-) (I still don't understand how they have Tonks but not Hermione... did they even READ Harry Potter?)

Did I mention shame on California? I did, but it bears repeating. And, as John Stewart just pointed out, how ironic that we've now passed an initiative to treat our food chickens more humanely at the same time we passed something to treat our real people less like real people. My faith in humanity might be slipping a little--I'm just too tired to tell.

Oh, hey-- I may get to teach Creative WRiting next year! Or at least they're putting it back on the books--the Vainglorious Prickweenie yanked it the year he came into power--in spite of the fact that the whole basis of the fucking class was to READ LITERATURE and dissect it by LITERARY CONCEPT and then APPLY THE CONCEPT (for those of you who know your state education standards, you can see the education standards just built right in here) the fucker decided that he would yank it, ask for a re-write of the standards application and ignore the paperwork the two years running I bothered to send it in. Anyway, my beloved leader in power now, who I will try not to let down, has looked me in the eye and said, "This is me, Amy, telling you, I WANT YOU TO TEACH THIS CLASS." I almost wept. Maybe my own personal high of getting to teach something I think I'm pretty good at and that I believe in, (as opposed to 'test taking 101' which, let's face it, our core curriculum has devolved into to some extent) has actually worked to restore some of my own faith in humanity. It's November--trust me, I know what I say when I tell you that the student honeymoon is over, and a little faith in my mission to the world is very very necessary!

And in chatting with a counselor about the paperwork, I got to talk about knitting and that was fun too! The counselor (whose daughter bonded with mine by saying the magic word 'Twilight') has just gotten nuts about knitting--but she almost made herself truly nuts to the point of UFO for life! She wanted to knit a 'beginner's lace scarf', so she cruised some of the internet sites and found Knitty--which we all agree is a very good thing. Then she pulled up the 'Waving Grains' scarf and brought me the pattern and said, "I want to do THIS!" which we all agree could be a very BAD thing. But she looked at the pattern for a while and then came to me and said, "You know, I think that might be a little difficult for me!" I was SO relieved! I didn't want to kill her enthusiasm, but Goddess, did I see some pain and suffering in her future! So we're looking for some easier lace patterns, and I think I may want to show her the joys of the basic feather and fan--so versatile, so simple, so perfect for the beginner wanting to step up:-)

And a shout out to Andrea, who left a comment here yesterday--and an answer to everyone else who's wondering:

Bitter Moon II is, to all intents and purposes, done. Because I had no money in the bank account when it was completed, I figured I'd take some nice folks up on another round of editing while I was waiting for my bank account to get a little fatter, and it looks like I might be able to release BMOON II in the winter, around my usual book-release time, so, YAY! Those of you who HAVEN'T shouldered the burden of this poor book's miserable birthing process will get a chance to read it in January. (Those of you who have, well, your copy will be coming in the mail:-)

And 'Waiting'? Well, I've spent the week tinkering--and unless Littlewitch or Galad have any notes for me (Galad was pretty sick and it was Littlewitch's birthday, I really just sent it to them as a pick me up, no notes necessary!)-- the waiting should be over for 'Waiting' tomorrow! (Which, btb, is also when I plan to update the website with all this info as well.

And that's about all--the kids are still cute, the husband is still wonderful, and in spite of my continuing dreamy-eyed exhaustion and the blind answer to the roaring of the dragon in my blood, I'd have to say I'm grateful. I've had some rather blunt, painful reminders that health and contentment are fleeting--some gratitude is definitely in order and I hope the gods are listening. Thank you for my loved ones and our health and happiness--they are a lovely gift.

(Oh yeah--the Cave Troll turns 5 next week--WOW!)