Who the heck do I think I am?

It's been a busy week with lots of time on the road.

Thursday - left Boston for Rochester.
Friday - left Rochester, met beatricedwinter for lunch (AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SIS!) and then proceeded to War Practice.

War Practice was WET. But it was also WARM, for a change. On Friday there was a lot of Scotch. On Saturday there was carbonated wheat beverage that failed to qualify as beer.

Sunday - broke camp and went to Pittsburgh. Fwump. grouchyoldcoot made delivery food happen. Watched the rest of the 5th season of "Weeds." (I've decided that "Weeds" is sort of my televised, x-rated version of "Twilight" for those who read that - it's 100% crack, and thrives on the "OMG, I can't believe they're going there!" factor.)

Monday - drove back to Rochester. Had dinner with our friends Mike and Toby and their grandson, M, who has officially entered foster care with family friends of theirs who live locally, as opposed to fostering in New York City. Complicated story - short version is that their daughter had some trouble a few years back and is not available at present to raise her 18-month son. He, however, is a cutie, and while he's no J, he's tracking just fine for his age, developmentally. He spent about ten minutes standing on my driver's seat checking out every available gauge and button and feature of my car. Adorable.

Tuesday - drove back to Boston. More fwumping.

I am still exhausted, but I must gather trash today and also the mighty hunter must capture milk. And I have an audition this evening. So, gotta get that ready. Oh, and apply for a bunch of jobs.

Other news:

Ticket saga, part II: Monday morning, we got a call from the Pittsburgh CLO. The tickets were returned as "undeliverable" - even though the address and zip were correct. So the lady from the office is hand-addressing them and will try again. If they bounce again, I'll just have them hold them at the box office, which all things considered is probably the easiest option, anyway.


And my parents. Okay, so anyone who has met both of my parents can probably agree that two more different people do not exist. It still mystifies me how they ever got married in the first place, but whatever. But occasionally they do things that show a glimmer of that sameness. For example, I called my mother on Sunday after confirming Monday's dinner, to let her know the plan. We talked briefly and hung up. Thirty seconds later, she calls me back. "What?" I ask. "Nothing, except I realized I forgot to say I love you."

Now, lemme stop here for a second. I don't have a problem telling the people I love that I love them. But I also don't think it's necessary to do so at the end of EVERY CONVERSATION. This is a point of contention with my mother, especially, who seems to think that if she doesn't tell me I will forget that it is true, or think that her affection has shifted. And conversely, that if I don't say it, it means somehow I have stopped. Um. Well ... no.

Okay, so Mom calls me back for the express purpose of making sure I know that she loves me. Yeah, I got the memo the last time, but thanks, Mom. I love you, too.

At some point, I got a message from my father, informing me of his schedule for the next few days (Outer Banks chillin'). Again, fine - no problem, I'm not nearly as worried about knowing where he is as he is about making sure I know. He says in the message that there's no need to call him back - so I don't.

Monday evening, he calls (right after we got back from dinner, actually - and at the very beginning of "Chuck") and during the conversation, he says, "I realized that I forgot to say I love you last time we talked. And I thought I should clear that up."

Yeah.

My parents, they are so weird. I told my mother. She laughed.


And finally, check it out:

BAF 3 is on Amazon!!!

Whoo-hoo.

I'll be doing a reading / signing in Auburn, MA, on June 12, but unfortunately I will not be at Balticon this year. (Though if you are going to Balticon, there's a bunch of fun stuff planned for the launch party.)