School's Out

School is officially out for the year. No teacher or student would ever have the audacity to tell you they were sorry for this event, but this has been a good year. My students this year were overall a good group.

Z is with his sitter today so I can have one day to sleep late and relax before it’s Z and momma time all summer. I decided to use it to go to the movie and see Angels and Demons. It was fair. I might have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t reread the book again so recently. There were several changes from the book, which I’m generally cool with as long as the changes make sense and don’t eliminate key elements of the story. *cough*HarryPotter*cough*

As for Z, he’ll be going to his wonderful Ms. T. for a few hours two or three days a week. It’s mostly because we don’t want to have him have to go through the “trauma” of starting over with his sitter in August. Tomorrow, however, we will be going to our first “Baby Time” of summer reading at the library where my SO works.

Whining

I have finally had to give in. Eleven years ago I had carpal tunnel surgery on my left hand. I’ve never regretted it and the doctor said I’d have to have the right hand done eventually. Being right handed, teaching and writing for a living, I put it off. And off. And off.

No more. I’m having to wear the brace day and night. It makes writing nearly impossible. I don’t like the idea of surgery. Still, my right hand has gotten to the point where it is numb/sore more than 70% and I can’t work on the computer for more than a few minutes at a time even with the brace.

So, I finally broke down and made the doctor’s appointment. You see, I moved after having the first one done or probably would have had this one done sooner. But so much can go wrong, and I’ve seen a lot of people who have had the surgery and had horror stories. I couldn’t have been happier with my original doctor.

I have to admit, I checked out the website for the Dr. and wow. Major cutie. Needless to say, the SO has decided to accompany me on the trip. Spoil-sport.

WOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!

I'm on vacation,

I'm on vacation,

I'm on vacation!

I finished up my last day of post planning (which implies it happens after planning rather than that it is post instructional planning time). EEEK! I just did a teacher thing! I am not allowed to do teacher things until July. One month without teacher things. No correcting anyone's English. No giving other people's children the "teacher look" out in public places when they're being bratty.

I now have time to dedicate to my other profession, writing. Last summer was incredibly productive. I finished Mating Stone, wrote Lovers' Stone (due out in July) and started Soul Stone (contracted but no release date). I'm hoping this summer proves just as productive. I recently submitted the sequel to Measure of Healing to my editor and hope it will prove acceptable. I'm starting on the third in that series and I have a couple of other pieces, one short and one I don't know what it is yet. It's very different than anything I've worked on because it's starting first person and because the primary voice in my head is female. I never work from a female voice. It's always my guys talking to me. So this is a new experience.

My dogs will soon become spoiled because they have Momma home all the time. That's okay, I get spoiled too. I will also soon become nocturnal. I just have to wait a couple of days to finish some dr. appointments then I can become the owl I was born to be. Sleep in the day while the SO is at work, work all night. I love summer.

I'm seeing the doctor about my recent medical crisis and hoping that the first thing that will happen is that I'll be able to stop giving myself injections. I currently have to give myself two shots, one at night and one in the morning to keep my blood thinned out. The injections I don't mind. They don't hurt much. It's the bruising that has me looking like I've been beaten in the stomach or am wearing a belt the color of a bruise around my middrift that I mind. Pretty soon I'm going to run out of places to stick myself.

Okay, I'm off to see if my strange female person still wants to talk to me. Her name is Mem and she has quite an interesting story so far. Here's a bit.

I can’t imagine what life would be like today if it hadn’t happened. It seems such a fundamental part of the way the world is that I can’t even conceive of living in any other reality. Yet if you’d told me ten years ago it was going to happen, I’d have…well, I don’t think I’d have laughed at you, but I’d certainly have thought you were crazy. That or a bit too deeply involved in some RPG, or role playing game. Those used to be really popular. Especially among twenty-something college students and guys who still lived in their parents basements. Okay, so some perfectly normal people were into RPGs, it still wasn’t the sort of thing you revealed on a first date if you were over twenty-one.

It seems so strange, like a false memory or a dream, to think of a time when we didn’t believe in them. We flirted with what we imagined their lifestyle would be like if they were real. We played dress up and pretend for a night in October or for a few hours at a party that we were them and that they were more than just a myth. We even stopped being afraid of them.