Everything, all the time

Rejection from Intergalactic Medicine Show for “Matchmaker.” For anyone keeping score, that’s four rejections in six days.

However, I think I forgot to mention a sale! Teresa and I sold “Food for Thought” to Best Lesbian Love Stories 2009. We brainstormed that story on a drive from San Jan Capistrano to Westminster, and first subbed it in 2004.

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You know you’re an Eddie Izzard fan when all someone has to say is “penne all’arrabiatta” and you start to giggle.

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I spent almost an hour at the chiropractor’s today, trying to get my body back into alignment because every. single. part. of. me seemed to have gone walkabout. I have to admit, after a few weeks of feeling “energetic” (which I realized really was “normal” for most people), I’ve been rather despondent by this turn of events.

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Dave arrived safe and sound from the UK, although the shuttle trip that took 1.5 hours in May took 3+ hours today… Then again, it included two cushy gated communities, one of which Britney Spears is allegedly moving to. We went out for dinner at Armando’s because I’ve had no brain or impetus to gather food to actually cook.

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My faerie skirt is done donity done done done! (Well. Unless I add little flowers to the dags in front. The jury’s still out on that. And bells. It might need bells.) Morgana’s outfit is done. Brian only needed to do his leafy bits, and they’re done. Tomi is still phutzing, but she came into this late—she’s buying Ken’s ticket and is mostly just using her Russian, but she wanted to add to it.

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Tomorrow we collect 9 sweet kittens and their mama and deliver them to Morgana’s friend Michelle for fixing and shots and whatnot, and then we’ll have dinner before heading off to the Masquerade. Finally! We’ve been wanting to do this for years, and I’m gobsmacked that it’s actually going to happen…

Wait...what day is it?

Apologies for the recent silence. My back has been acting up, resulting in me taking half a muscle relaxant on two separate evenings, which resulted in the day between those pretty much disappearing in a fog. I'm now behind and confused.

Plus, I've been violating my cardinal rule of costuming by working on my Labyrinth of Jareth costume this week—and paying for it. Plus I've been helping Morgana with hers, because it's a project she wouldn't have undertaken (redoing her utterly gorgeous wedding outfit, a cream velvet German) if I hadn't said I would help. The good news is, my skirt is done except for covering the grommets (which isn't required for actual wearing, but is nice and prevents anything getting snagged). The better news is, it looks beyond awesome! But we still have to get together tomorrow night to finish up hers…

Plus our friend Dave from the UK arrives tomorrow, and LoJ is Saturday, and I've got a speaking engagement on Sunday that I'm not yet prepped for and then taking Dave to Pasadena for his conference. Did I mention our cleaning lady has essentially retired to care for her ailing father? And the house is a mess?

Ah well. It's not like anything tragic has happened. And once I have a moment to breathe, I'll finish up all the partial journal entries I have written and inundate you all!

Descent into...meh

A double-whammy of rejections:

• GUD passed on “A Father’s Blessing.”
  
• Podcastle nixed the audio rights to “Hell’s Belles,” which I still think would be great as an audio piece. Hmmm…
  

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Today was…meh. Whether it was the lingering effects of the muscle relaxant or the precursor of my now-elusive period, all I know is that I was grumpy, tired, unmotivated, unfocused, and still uncomfortable even after my chiro adjustment. My chiro said I could work out, but at a fraction of what I usually do, and it didn’t seem worth the time to drive to Bally’s.

Whee

My back/hip’s been bothering me for a couple of days now, and my massage therapist, who for several weeks has been struggling to fill the time because I’ve been in such good shape, could’ve spent hours on the muscles that were essentially making it hard to find my spine. =8-0 So I popped half a prescription muscle relaxant, took a long bath in Epsom salts, and generally called the day a bust. Hopefully tomorrow the chiropractor will put things back where they ought to be (and the relaxed muscles won’t pull things back out of whack 0.2 seconds later), and all will be well with the world.

For now, though: whee.

You can never have too much glitter and lace

Today Morgana, Tomi, Elizabeth, and I got together for a rare Girls’ Day Out. Elizabeth needed lipstick from The Body Shop, so we all trooped to the mall for lunch (California Pizza Kitchen, where three of us had salads and one of us had a Asian-wrap appetizer) and shopping. (Which is rare because most of us shun the mall for the most part!) Everyone but me bought lipstick (they didn’t have any shades that were good for me, and I like the brand I’m using anyway), and we came away with a few other products as well (moisturizers, under-eye-circle cream, etc.). Then it was off to Hot Topic and Torrid, where I loaded up on purple hair extensions, purple glitter eyeliner, body glitter (silver and a peacock mix), and purple glitter nail polish, all for Labyrinth of Jareth this weekend.

Afterwards, Morgana and I hit a couple of fabric stores and I picked up lace trim for my faerie skirt. I may not have time to put it on before Saturday—the skirt has to be wearable, and can survive without the extra bits if I run out of time. I hate working on any of it this late, but it is what it is. I’ve been so focused on work that costuming has taken a back seat these past few months.

Still, it’s going to look fucking awesome, and yes, there will be pictures!

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Woo hoo! It’s been confirmed that I’ll be signing at the “Readers for Life” Literacy Autographing at RWA Nationals this year! Last year Teresa and I were there (as Sophie, natch) but our books weren’t. This year I’ll be there as Sarah Dale—fingers crossed that I’ll actually have things to sign this time ‘round!

Glowing

Feh. Rejection from Lace & Blade for “Soulsearching.” And here I thought that was a perfect match. But since I think Lace & Blade is an awesome anthology theme, I’m just going to have to write another story before the deadline!

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Spa Day was über-fabulouso! We had eight ladies, although two left early due to other commitments or whatnot, so we had two tracks: facial and hand/foot. Plus massages done by my own amazing therapist, Melanie. (Six ladies got massages. I was the floater and ended up passing because Melanie was exhausted…but I was scheduled for my regular massage on Tuesday, so I soldiered on. ::gg::)

For me, I looooved the facial steam. Must do this more often. Perching on the edge of the tub was perhaps not the best thing for my back, but the foot scrub was deliriously wonderful. I put on a lavender nail polish when I got home, which made me even more happy.

So, six months of planning and prep went off famously (Morgana and I were the sole guild members at the first meeting in January and, I believe, for several thereafter; other folks came to later meetings for some prep). Not only did I have a fantastic and restful time, but another friend (not involved in the SCA, much less Spa Day) told me my skin looked good today!

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Another Sunday, another Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf with the local RWA ladies. Ellenie and I were prolific. Go us!