What One Girl Knows

Another poem has been accepted for publication. "Throat" to Ship of Fools. It took a bit of sleuthing to figure out which literary magazine it was, though -- the editor wrote on lined paper (no letter-head), and with no mention of which magazine he represented. But I figured it out.

These acceptances are encouraging, though frankly, I'm not inspired to write anything at the moment. My temp assignment ends next Friday, and the supervisor of my supervisors took me aside and asked if I was interested in working permanently for the company. Now here's the weird part. I am. I like the 34th floor. I like researching stocks and bonds, and most of my co-workers (hmm, let's say 96%). It seems so remote to the rest of my life, my identity as a writer, that it feels refreshing. She mentioned one twilight shift (2-10 PM) and God knows how many night shifts (midnight-8:30 AM). I talked to Jason about the twilight shift, and decided the hours were really better for me. I hate getting up in the morning, and I like to write late at night. But when I spoke to the supervisor, she said she'd forgotten they offered the position to someone a few days before she spoke to me. So far, no word on whether that someone accepted it or not.

I felt crushed. Is that weird? I kind of think it is. My goal in life is to become a published writer and creative writing teacher, not a financial personnel. So this twist is a bit startling.

My computer time at the library's about to end. Must get internet again at home soon!

Am wearing my new turqouise and brown cowboy boots, dressed like a cowgirl. Well, kind of -- I guess cowgirls wear pigtails.

Jason's mother's surgery went well. At first, her leg was so blocked they couldn't insert the stint. And then, once the stint was in place, her blood pressure dropped, so they had to go back in and re-insert it. She's at home now, with no pain and a lot more energy. Jason came home last night -- picked me up from work, actually, which was great, because I bought my cowboy boots during lunch, and lugging it home on the bus wouldn't have been much fun.

Rumour is Dan Jackson has a girlfriend!! Woo-woo. He should EMAIL ME and tell me about it sometime.

My posts are always so schizo. I'm a subject-jumper. There's a couple of movies (Little Children, Miss Potter, and The Painted Veil) that I want to see at the theatre, but we can't ever seem to find the time to go.

Wow. Just realized what a showboat I am. I never mentioned the BIG, BIG news, that Jason won the Pavement Saw first book award. Right now he's wrangling over his table of contents with the Editor. It's exciting to say the least. His poem, "Barcelona," was also recently accepted by Pearl.

In toot-my-own-horn news, my poem "Portrait of Marriage" was accepted by Plainsongs, a lit journal from Nebraska. Two poems so far this reading period -- I think that's not bad. Another couple this year would make me ecstatic. Oh yeah, and a published story would be verrrry good too. Seeing as I'm supposed to be a fiction writer and all.

The problem with working full-time is the lack of time leftover for writing. The last time I wrote a poem was the week before Christmas, a first draft of a story the first of December. I'm slacking off.

Jason came back from his outpatient surgery in Dunkirk Saturday afternoon, good as new. No more hunching over from the pain, pale cheeks and low grade fever. He goes back to Dunkirk Tuesday night, for his mother's surgery.

Much obsessive nail-painting. Today it's black, yesterday glittery purple. Lipstick too. Jason said, "Hey, what's going on here?"

I've discovered that the 9-5 job brings out the consumer in me. The superficiality in me as well. Today I went to Eckerds and bought a tube of hair conditioner and lipstick in a bruised red color. That's part of my New Year's Resolution -- to be more conscious of my appearance. I'm working into it slowly -- jewelry first, then nails, hair, lipstick, clothes. It probably won't last very long, seeing as I'm more inclined to spend my free time NOT in front of the mirror.

Jason has been ill, biding time before his scheduled appointment with the urologist. Poor Jasey.