These Are Lovely

Vintage travel posters.

Because We Love Some Good Navel Gazing on Process

Daily routines of writers and other creative sorts. I'm partial to Collette's approach of physical fitness and blood transfusions via a young donor (one step removed from Helen Mirren's bathing in the blood of virgins).

But, oh! Am I feeling Kafka's pain:

It is rare that writers of fiction sit behind their desks, actually writing, for more than a few hours a day. Had Kafka been able to use his time efficiently, the work schedule at the Institute would have left him with enough free time for writing. As he recognized, the truth was that he wasted time.

The truth was that he wasted time! The writer's equivalent of the dater's revelation: He's just not that into you. "Having the Institute and the conditions at his parents' apartment to blame for the long fallow periods when he couldn't write gave Kafka cover: it enabled him to preserve some of his self-esteem."

Well, That Was Actually Kind of Genius

I left two-and-a-half hours before my networking event . . . and got there five minutes before the shindig started. Dear god, that was the most horrifying commute ever (by contrast: the ride home took 45 minutes).

But it was worth it, I think. It's actually kind of brilliant to set up an event whose sole purpose is professional networking. We all hit the ground running, equally new to one another, and passed out a flurry of business cards. The only down side for me was that, although I thought I had registered, I actually hadn't. So my experience was way more random than everyone else's (who got placed at tables, by courses, according to their industries, undergrad majors, and graduation year). It would have been helpful to corral all the publications-related people in one location.

The amusing thing was, the other accidentally unregistered person was also a writer, freelance. So he had some good tips as we bounced, randomly, from table to table and begged and bartered for meal tickets. I'll be following up.

Meanwhile, I've got a sense of the county's job market (13 percent unemployment!!), thanks to the speaker. I've also got a stack of cards, some vaguely promised work, and new Facebook and Linked In contacts.

I'm a Networking Fool

I'm heading out in a bit to go mingle with some fellow undergrad alums at a dinner geared toward NETWORKING! It should be all kinds of fun (she said, while gnawing her fingernails down to the quick). I'm especially looking forward to the 2-hour drive, north of the city, in rush-hour traffic. I told B where it was, and what time, and his eyes got huge. That's not a good sign.

The Beauty of the Weekend Project

We have accomplished the following in home renovations/updates:

1. Replaced the cracked, stained, and old plastic panels covering the kitchen lights. In conjunction, the dead light has been replaced, and while the kitchen isn't something that you want to see in the full glare of light, you really have that full glare, from which nothing--animal, vegetable, or dirt-related--can hide. Incremental steps. And now I can really see what I'm cooking.

2. Actually chosen paint colors for a bathroom redo and conceived some easy updates to tone some of the seventies fabulousness of it all and get incrementally more storage.

I'm kind of psyched to get painting.

Here's a Dude Who's a Keeper

Quick, snap him up before someone else does:

If you’re reasonably tall (5’6-6’, no more than that because, while I don’t mind being eye to eye with you, I won’t ever be looking up to you), you’re passionate and intelligent so as to be good company, sexually liberated, and attractive - really attractive, fat chics need not apply (hehe, I’m so self-amusing). Capable of holding a steady job but without making it your #1 priority - since it could interfere with our sexual activities. Family oriented but not anytime soon, rather when you are 30+ at least, open to spontaneous sexual activities (you know, outdoors sex, the odd 3-some with a cutie we pick up somewhere or one of your girlfriends), likes the outdoors (nudity optional), and doesn’t complain when I go fishing with the guys.

And it goes on from there. In case he didn't mention it four or five times, no fatties need apply.

I'm Here To Tell You, We Get Spring Here Too

Let me go on record to say how amazed I am that there are actual weather fluctuations here in paradise. I expected it to be an even seventy degrees all year round. That's somewhat the case, but also in the mix are stretches of HOT (summer) and stretches of cold, overcast, and rainy (winter, with "cold" being redefined here to resemble the cusp of Midwestern winter, where you haven't quite turned on your heater but you probably should since you're running out of blankets).

So now it is gorgeous, sunny, and warm. And I and the other eighty billion people discovering that it's spring are out on the path, running like maniacs in our t-shirts and shorts. Nice.

It's Awesome That I Made It to the Final Four, Right?

Got the official notice that I did not, in fact, get the job I interviewed for last weekend. Sigh. The good news is, I made it to the last round of 4 candidates, out of 200. And the other good news is that it seems like a recipe for failure for whoever does have the job.

I tell you what, it is a crazy competitive market out there. You can be sure that for every job you're tossing your hat in for, there are--I'm just estimating here--approximately one zillion others in the mix who are more qualified than you.