Let's just say, from a work standpoint, this was not a productive day. I had to go over to the company's main building to update my official resume (had to be behind their firewall). Got bounced around trying to find a place to work(since I work at the client site, they took my office away from me) and what should have been an hour tops turned into a four hour marathon. However, since my position is being written out of the updated contract I'm on, I do need to get a new assignment.

Luckily, my company is really good about making sure we are "gainfully" employed. A couple of friends of mine got laid off when their contract dried up. Even when I grouse about my company, I realize there are a lot worse places to work out there. (Course, if I ever get that big publishing contract, I'll be able to buy that nice chateau overlooking Big Sur and quit my day job. . . yeah, right.)

Anyway, after the morning's entertainment, I get to work just in time to remember I have a meeting at 1300. I barely make it there and as soon as I get back to my desk, I find my daughter has just called from school. She's not feeling well an is in the Health Room. Call the school, talk to her, school is out in 40 minutes anyway, so I sign out (not that I'd done anything other than sign in and read my e-mail), drive to the school, pick her up and come home. She went straight to bed with no arguing and slept until dinner time, so I guess she really was sick. (sigh again.)

At least, we made some progress on unpacking the house tonight and no one complained too much about what I made for dinner tonight. Luckily, Hamburger Helper is one of the things I have mastered. What I'm waiting for is this weekend. I think it's time to christen the Webber BBQ grill for 2005! Folded a couple loads of laundry and finally got ahold of my folks, so I could wish my mom a belated Happy Mother's Day (sigh, thrice.) Made a minor repair on my daughter's clarinet, so Dad is apparently good for something.

The daughter unit is at that strange age (12). She's not quite a young woman, but not quite a kid either, plus she's starting puberty and getting that pre-teenage attitude. If I don't take the vorpal shinai to her between now and when she reaches adulthood, she'll probably manage to survive anything this world throws at her. She's scarily like my brother Of course, Mom says his son is eerily like me, which is really weird. It's almost like we got each other's kids by mistake.

Coventry is coming together pretty well, once I had the opportunity to start working on it. I managed to knock out 1018 words tonight. wishweaver and I are going to do a page by page review of the first 50 pages tomorrow night before I start writing again. There are advantages to being married to a writer, even if our styles and interests are different. We can provide that "sanity check" every story needs. (Did you really mean to imply X? No, that's supposed to be Y. Oh, it seems more like you're saying X (or even Z) here.) Just means, I need to tighten that section up to be certain to say Y (unless saying X would make the passage stronger, in which case I'll simply claim it to be a stroke of genius and co-opt it for my own. ;)

Now, that I can see the end of Coventry, it's time to not only start planning on getting back to work on my own novel(s), but it probably wouldn't hurt to start trying to find some more work-for-hire jobs. The money's not bad and it's fun to play in someone else's sandbox now and then.

15,433 / 25,000 (61.0%)

Music listened to: Heart - Barracuda

Web site of Note: Folktexts: A library of folktales, folklore, fairy tales, and mythology written or edited by D. L. Ashliman. If you write fantasy, this is a great site to peruse for inspiration. Even if you don't write, it's still fun to see all the variants to tales you heard as a youth.