IF camp next month is not canceled (please, please pray for a lot of rain to fall between now and then in southern NM),

I am taking the beagle!

Bridey will SO love this.

Now, if I could JUST find her goddamn harness. She had it on after lunch...now I have a nekkid dog, and I have been through the house half a dozen times trying to find it!

Between a very long phone call, cable popping in and out, and a tornado warning, I just didn't manage any Dancing With the Stars voting on Monday.

But Marissa, my favorite, is staying anyway! I just love her, because if I were on that show, I'd probably react the same way she does.

No, she won't be in the top 3, but she deserves to be in the top 4. And she is.

The 100th episode celebration was pretty cool, although I was really hoping for at least SOME mention of Laila Ali's waltz when she blew the kiss at her dad...I thought it odd that she was not mentioned, interviewed, nada. Most other finalists were. Odd.

A lovely, low-stress weekend spent mostly in the company of my family. Yesterday was shopping and chores, today is schoolwork, editing, and sauerbraten in the crock pot (yes, the smell is about to make me NUTS!)

We got the small stone patio table out of storage, and while the kid was napping, A and I were able to work together at it -- he was grading, I was doing homework.

Lovely :)

Or rather, let's talk about the specifics of my physics of music class.

I bombed, bombed a physics test the Wednesday before spring break (almost 2 weeks ago). 

However, because of how my professor is grading the class, I'm still getting an A.

Out of a possible 26 or so points, I got 17 total. However, any points we earn over 20 is "extra credit."

So 17 out of 20 is 85%. 

85 and above is an A in this class.

Which is good, because it occurred to me in lab last Tuesday that I no longer have the faintest clue what he's talking about. It's like he and the rest of the class took some collective jump into the future and left me behind.

Seriously, I haven't the first clue. I more or less got the first 5 weeks' worth of material, and maybe understood some of the material for a week or two after that.

I am now utterly lost. I can't even tell someone what's being covered in hopes of some extra outside help, I'm that lost.

70 and above is a B. I will be content with a B, even though I still have an A.

When I go to the Pagan festival  -- Mystic Crossroads -- in June, the kidlet is not going with me. Between her nap schedule, my workshop schedule, and the fact that by then her familiar environment will be undergoing daily radical changes (as I pack up the house to move), it's best to leave her home with Dad and school and her bed and her friends and her routine.

However.

I can take Auggie Doggie -- if the motel allows pets.

What better way to teach him that it's okay to pee on a leash PRIOR to a cross-country (possibly) move than to keep him on a leash for the better part of four days. Where he's in the same place most of that time, rather than having to deal with a totally different environment at each stop?

Plus the positive socialization benefits (away from Karl, to boost his self-confidence) would be priceless.

Dogs are so literal. I remember once we had a foster puppy for a few months who we just let out into our fenced yard when it was time to pee. He was adopted by a family who didn't have a fenced yard, so they took him on walks. He didn't pee for three days. Finally, they took his leash off during the walk (not highly recommended) and poor Benny instantly peed a lake.

I'm trying to prevent that from happening to Auggie. Katie is a seasoned traveler -- no problem. Bridey is a retired show dog -- again, no problem. Karl can pee on leash, but I'm not sure he's ever pooped on leash.

I think taking Auggie Doggie would be a goood thing.

So yesterday I went to Roswell (about 90 miles away) to celebrate Ostara with a group down there. To sum up, I had a lovely time :) Good ritual, good people, yummy potluck :), all very nice and springy and welcoming and fun!

It was also the first time I'd been in ritual that a) I wasn't directly or indirectly responsible for b) A and my wedding or C) a large community ritual or D) some combination of the above...

since early 1995.

No, I am not making this up.

I've been invited back for Beltane. I plan to go.

I got home around 11:00 last night. Today I am tired but still smiling!

I must have struggled for the better part of an hour yesterday coming up with 10 questions for potential interviewers to ask me about the upcoming book.

See, when I interview people (like my last-minute call for interview questions for Jacqueline Carey a couple days ago when I haven’t read the Kushiel books, but that’s another story) I like to come up with my own questions, thank you very much. I just assume that the person I’m interviewing is sick of answering the same thing over and over and the fans are sick of reading the same thing over and over.

Also, I didn’t know what to ask. I’m too close to the subject, and it’s hard to think of what other people may not know about it.

Damn, that was hard.

Yesterday, the deadline for the Story From Hell, I get the story BACK from my boss, wanting a whole new set of changes. And THEN she asks me, "did I send you the editorial guidelines?" Um, that would be a no.

So I've got them. And her edits. 

The author is gonna be pissed. Remember, she doesn't want to put too much work into this because it's "royalties only."

My first assignment, and I blew it.

Sigh.

So, the major overhaul story with a week deadline (and a few more grey hairs for me) was sent to my boss on Saturday. It's as good as I can make it; the author gave me almost everything I asked for (would it have pained her so terribly to assign an age to the bloody boy???). I can't complain (much). Yay! I did it!

Today I get an email from someone I've never heard of but he's a "mentor" to one of the other writers I'm currently editing who said it'd be okay if he cold-contacted me. Mmm-hmm. The email? He's pitching his book -- to me!

I forwarded the whole thing to my boss, because my first reaction would be to email the guy back and say something along the lines of, "dude, I am as low on the totem pole as you can get and not be underground. I can't help you."

On the other hand, it was kind of...interesting to have a book pitched to me. Too bad I think it's crap.

Also, the publisher is closed to any submissions NOT recommended by writers already published there. Guess he thought he could circumvent that by coming to me. Nice thought, but no.

And if the recommending writer ever does that again, I will pull his nuts off.