27 May 2001

It's Mark's birthday, and he's doing a very good job of it so far. Yesterday we went to the Rhythm and Brews Festival in Suisun City, because he declared that one of his birthday events. Not an ideal birthday event, but you know. Mark says, "Now we know never to try anything new again." Which is a valuable life's lesson to learn as you're getting old. Er, older. Right.

Today he's going to open presents and have his mom's mud pie (as made by me, but I don't intend to change her recipe). I'd rather have my mom's chocolate cake for a birthday dessert, but it's not my birthday. (I would also rather hear from the people who have my book than wait any longer. Evidently the Stones were right and we can't always get what we want.) Not to say that my mother-in-law doesn't make good mud pie. She does. Just that we all have different Birthday Stuff.

Anyway, tomorrow we're going up to House of Nanking for lunch, also a birthday event. See? He's really making an effort here. Give him another few years, and he'll be a pro at this birthday stuff. Almost as good as a Lingen.

I'm reading The Red Magician, and while it doesn't have the same flaws as the other Goldstein books so far, it doesn't have the same virtues, either. I'm not really sure what I think of it. It's set during the Holocaust, which could be quite powerful -- as in Jane Yolen's Briar Rose -- but so far it hasn't really come out that way. We shall see.

I think I'm through the rough patch on Reprogramming. The last couple hundred words I wrote last night were easy, and I could have done more if I had been wider awake. I think that's a good sign and I'm swooping down upon the ending. (Then, of course, will come the massive rewrites, but for now, I'm just thinking about finishing it.)

I'm going to make presents and mud pie now. Have a happy Mark's birthday.