12 August 2001

I just finished reading Tim's book, The Genius of Deceit, and it's good. Good good. Somebody should publish it. You all should read it. And I already got to. So there. And now Tim's writing another book that I'll get to read! Maybe even now he's writing it. Of course, I should point out that of the three books I have drafted or finished, Tim has read two of them, whereas of the four books he has drafted or finished, I have only just now read one. Do I have any reason for pointing that out? Oh, no, no. I'm Just Sayin'.

Mark brought me mini-carnations yesterday. I don't know why it is that I love mini-carnations when the full-sized ones leave me totally cold, but it works, whyever it is. And I love having flowers on the table. They're blooming just now. They were all closed up tight yesterday, but I like them that way, too. A few of them still are.

I got called for jury duty! That's everybody in this household, called in the last year and a half. Seems like a big coincidence, but at least we're only called for a day unless we get on cases. Me? On a case? Two words: nuclear physics. Sure, they might have run out of dismissals, but neither side is going to want me on a jury. It's sad, too, because I'd serve on one gladly. I would be the queen of analysis. Which is why, of course, they won't let me on. Sigh.

You know what surprises me sometimes? There are people who are genuinely enthusiastic about any of the presidents we've had in the last century. Who will write letters to the paper saying, "Woohoo, LBJ!" I am vastly confused about this. The best things I can say about presidents are usually along the lines of, "He wasn't too hard to recover from." or else, "He didn't fight Congress on a few good bills." I just can't imagine being thoroughly enthusiastic about a president. Or even, really, a presidential candidate. When I talk to someone who supports a candidate, I fully expect that he/she will do so because that candidate seems preferable to the alternatives.

I would say that it's typical for a libertarian not to be enthused about the Republican and Democratic candidates, except that I haven't been excited about the Libertarian candidates, either. And I can't really imagine that I will be. Is it supposed to be any other way? If I was really excited about a person, I'd be trying like mad to get him/her away from the presidency. Ah well.

I still think that the Republicrats owe us black Jewish lesbian presidential candidates next time, after all their talk about diversity.

At any rate. The newspaper periodically sets me off, but often it just confuses me. I talked to the folks and to Scott today, and wrote another random scene in the Not The Moose Book, and now I'm going to be reading more spy stuff and editing Reprogramming.

I can feel this book, the Not The Moose Book, being better than my previous books, people. I know it's time to write it, because I can just sit down and write random scenes from it every day, and I can see being able to do so until it's done. And I like my previous books. I like them better upon rereading them. But the Not The Moose Book -- definitely better.

It's good to know that one's improving.

And I love so much about this book. It's got geek culture. It's got funky Kalevalic magic. It's got Scandistuff and road trips and the Northern Lights and vacuum tubes and tests of friendship and cloudberries and oversized crows and British spies and little wooden fishes. And even an elk. No moose, but that's okay.

Hee. My book. I don't think anybody else could read this book and say, "Gosh, I wish I'd written that." Even if they think it's the most fabulous thing to come down the turnpike in ages. Because it's so much mine. I don't read other people's books and want to have written them, not if they're good books. (If they're mediocre books, sometimes I want to have edited them, but that's another story.) And so I'm happy that I don't think mine will do that, either.

And Kev, bless him, Kev is the Morphism Reader of the Week!, because the very same day as I mumbled about asking him about SUVs in Finland, he found me stats about vehicle use over the period I'm thinking of using, and some other stats that might be interesting as well. I knew it was a good idea to make friends with a reference librarian. It was all ulterior motives. Really. Every writer should have a librarian friend. It's so convenient.

We're going out for supper tonight up in Oakland with The Cool Kids From The In-Crowd. That is, Mark, Timprov, and I are BARTing up to meet Heather, Tim, David, and possibly Susan. (I have not heard about Susan yet.) I will, the plan goes, get to try Ethiopian food for the first time. I'll let you know how the food is. You can assume the conversation will be sparkling, brilliant and witty. And modest. That's just the kind of people we, collectively, are.

And excited about our books. Of course.