Old-school licenses, middle-class finances, spit-and-polish perfect

[missroserose]

Seems like it's been a while since I did one of those random bits-of-life updates that nobody else really cares about, most people don't read, but that often grow in personal value as time goes on. I guess that means it's time to do another one. So, without further ado:

• Ever since the yoga class I was taking ended, I've been slacking off on it. Still doing a routine a few times a week, but with significantly less frequency - and I'm starting to feel it when I wake up in the morning (stiff sore muscles and joints = boo). It seems like lack of variety might have something to do with it, so I ordered a couple new DVDs, each of which includes a slightly more varied selection of routines. I'm also thinking that if I can do at least one routine per day for the next month, I'll get myself one of the super-nice thick yoga mats they have at the Balance store (a local climbing/yoga supply place that's located in the Rock Dump).
• Things are looking fairly good financially. I finally got car repairs and taxes and things paid off, and (with some not-insignificant thanks to my mother) we've got a fair chunk of cash stashed for the wedding. We should be able to do the wedding and possibly the honeymoon without having to go into debt, which makes me very happy. This wouldn't be a middle-class financial story, however, without something ominous on the horizon; in this particular instance, Kitty needs her front bumper cover replaced, as one of the particularly nasty crop of potholes this year has de-attached the already-weakened right side. She seems to still be in drivable condition, but I should probably get it checked out nonetheless, and I'm sure that's not going to be cheap to replace. Sigh. (On the plus side, if/when I get it replaced, all the scuffs and dings and dents she's collected from previous years of plowing through snow drifts will be gone. Yay!)
• Had my one dental appointment today, which ended up requiring three shots of novocaine - it all wore off only about an hour ago. I also finally got down to the DMV to trade in my old-school laminated driver's license for a spiffy new solid plastic one. Hopefully now the bouncers at Seattle clubs won't think it's fake (I nearly had my old one confiscated, but I think at the last minute the guy decided not to bother 'cos I was from another state). I think the picture came out cute, too, in a girl-next-door sort of way. Although, given that the entire left half of my mouth felt stuffed with cotton, I'm surprised my smile isn't crooked.
• On that note - holy carp, has it really been five years since I got my license? I guess it has. Which means I've been keeping this blog (for a given value of "keeping") for about five and a half years. Dayum.
• Brian read me Neil Gaiman's latest novel, The Graveyard Book, which is absolutely one of the sweetest and most authentic stories I've ever read. I'd say it absolutely deserves to have won the Newbery medal, and I highly recommend it. I know I'm a big Gaiman fan so my recommendation might be viewed as biased, but I'd like to think that's not the case - there are several stories he's written that I admire but that haven't grabbed me in the way this has. And while The Graveyard Book isn't quite a spit-and-polish perfect story, it has that emotional resonance that makes it feel like it's about real characters who are important to you. Which, I think, is what separates a perfectly decent story from a truly great one. 
• Brian invented a drink recently and requested I put it up here, which I'm happy to do because it is simple and delicious.  So, here it is:

Stygian Sunrise

1 oz vodka
1 oz pomegranate liqueur
orange juice

Build over ice in a short glass.  Fill with orange juice; garnish with a maraschino cherry or an orange slice.

Comments

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

If you're concerned about staying motivated on the 'every day a yoga' plan, would public tracking/posting help?

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Probably not, to be honest, and it'd just clutter up my blog with useless posts ("Did yoga today." "Today too." "Trying to do yoga today"). But I appreciate the thought nonetheless.

There's a story to go with that story...

[bkleber.livejournal.com]

I heard an interview with Gaiman about his Graveyard Book. Apparantly he had the idea for the story not too many years after becoming a published author, but stopped writing it midway through because he realized he wasn't doing as good of a job of it as he wanted. Every few yers he revisited the story, but still decided each time he wasn't a good enough author. Finally, recently, it occured to him that his skill as an author wasn't growing, and wasn't going to grow any more - he was as good as he was going to get. So he gave it another try. And he was pleased at how it went.

Re: There's a story to go with that story...

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

That does sound like Gaiman, yes. And I'm not sure how one objectively measures that they're getting better (or not getting better), but considering what an excellent storyteller he already is I'm tempted to think him getting even better would cause a singularity that would make the universe collapse in on itself, or something. :)

Re: There's a story to go with that story...

[bkleber.livejournal.com]

I think he said that ~every 5 yers he'd try to write the story, but still wasn't happy with how it was going - and, based on that, decided he still wasn't good enough.

As for the singularity - it wouldn't make the universe collapse in on itself..It would simply result in all of his adoring fans glomming on even harder. (And whether we could pack in enough to undergo gravitational collapse, well, that's a different story entirely!)