…the President to pardon Toby and Zoe and Charlie to end up together. Really, that’s all. Those are my two unresolved storylines. Then it can all end happily ever after.
Update: Well, I got half… And the Charlie moment was the most touching of the show…
Oh wait. That’s because it is.
The obesity book I’m writing is kicking my butt. It’s the part of the job I was hired for that I have put off as long as (and longer than) I can and I finally publicly gave myself the artificial deadline of needing to finish it before I could go to the festival tomorrow.
The book consists of five “chapters,” an introduction, a conclusion, and the requisite back of the book materials.
My current progress:
Introduction: Done
Ch. 1: Done
Ch. 2: 80% done
Ch. 3: 30% done
Ch. 4: 60% done
Ch. 5: 90% done
Conclusion: Done
Back of the Book: 85% done
It’s nearly 1 a.m. I so do not want to go to bed without finishing this. I have taken a preemptive nap. Ch. 3 (where all that nasty science is contained) may be the part that defeats my plan. Or maybe I’ll fill it with junk science. Or just my opinion masquerading as science. You don’t think anyone will notice if I increase the amount of sugar the government recommends, will you? I mean, if I’m the expert they ought to believe me, right? Huh. So that’s how the bad guys do it…
Update: I did cheat mildly and decided to omit certain planned elements from my draft of the book. On one hand, we could say that I had been untrue to my original vision. On the other hand, the text file of the book currently stands at 55 pages and that’s before laying it out in book format. I’d like to think that it’s for the good of the reader tht I left those (less important) portions out.
The sun has risen, so I’m going to go to bed for a little while so I can be fresh for the festival in a few hours. (Or I could leave now, stop for breakfast, and get there when they open…)
Today was a really nice day even if it did begin at 6:30 and just seems to be wrapping up now at 1:30. That would be a.m. on both sides. Ouch.
We arose at the same time as the sun so we could finish cleaning before our 7:45 a.m. meeting. At this point, finish cleaning equated roughly with making it passable enough that we weren’t ashamed of having people inside.
Giving up on the dream of making the meeting on time, we called to say we’d catch up with the group at its next destination, about an hour later and pulled ourselves together. (The extra time helped — when we walked in the door later on, we marveled at how nice the Burrow seemed when it was clean(er)).
On the morning’s agenda was Hands On D.C., a public service project where citizens help paint and clean and improve the city’s schools. We ended up at the middle school near our house and spent several hours painting hallways. We didn’t do a lot, but it was something.
In the afternoon, I stopped at the used bookstore by our house. Its owners are moving to L.A. and closed the store earlier this week. Today, though, they were giving away the rest of the stock they didn’t feel like moving across the country. I came home with a couple of books to give to others, as well as a few for me.
Then I headed down to the Mall to catch up with Eri, who is in town on vacation. We pedaled down to Hain’s Point to see the giant and then to the Mall, where we hung out for a while at the D.C. WWI Memorial (where else do you get to have a marble monument in the woods pretty much to yourself?). We moseyed back north to the Burrow, caught up with John, and headed down U Street for some Ethiopian food at Dukem.
We ended up with some tasty food after a few entertaining mishaps involving the word “No.” Rudi enjoyed the Ethiopian honey wine John introduced him to and Eri will probably never forget her introduction to a new cuisine. On the way back home we stopped at Love Café. Eri and Rudi went for cupcakes (hers German chocolate, his chocolate with strawberry frosting). I had a slice of chocolate raspberry torte that was the size of my head. (I can’t believe I ate the whole thing!) And John won dessert of the night with his raspberry cheesecake. It was amazing.
Eri biked back to her hotel about half an hour ago. We’ll catch up again tomorrow to visit the farmers’ market and the zoo and to watch The West Wing.
All in all a really great day!
For each of us, there is a breaking point, a point after which no more can be borne.
I have finally reached mine.
Serious cleaning and sorting has actually commenced.
You haven’t had photos in a while. Let’s remedy that.
Update: Nevermind. The digital card ate my photos. So you’ll just have to trust me that the Canada goose family was very cute. And that many turtles were out on the canal on Sunday. Posey perched on my knees is re-capturable.
But what I’m most disappointed about is that the loss of the photos of the two trees along the Potomac filled with what I believe were dozens of Great Cormorants. It was so amazing, and no one else on the path even seemed to notice these huge birds populating the tree like ripe apples.
I know it wasn’t me.
Instead of cleaning today, I went to the farmers’ market where I visited with our friend John and chatted with some of the farmers before coming home with ramps, strawberries, asparagus, morels, lettuce, eggs, milk, grape tomatoes, blueberry scones, pink lady apples, and lilacs. I also lazily read the paper and listened to a new cd. I took a brief nap. I read some of my book. I knitted a few (a very few rows) on my sock. I cuddled cats. I took a leisurely two-hour bike ride along the C&O Canal Path, where I took some wildlife shots. I ate a yummy morel omelet Rudi made. I watched The West Wing and a sappy Hallmark Hall of Fame movie.
No, the Burrow is not clean. But tomorrow my soul will remember that I spent the weekend doing frivolous and frolicksome things and that will make a mundane Monday much more manageable.
After I two-step the vacuum around the living room, I’m off to bed. Good night!