Life

No matter the things that happen, life keeps rolling right along. Today marks the beginning of Spring Break for my university. We're off for a week. I gave a test yesterday but managed to get it graded. I also got rough drafts from my writing students so I'll be working on those over the break. But that will still leave me with some time to relax, and sleep. I'm always appreciative of such opportunities.

When I got home yesterday afternoon, Lana's friend, Katya, was visiting. We had some good talk. I drank a couple of beers. After Katya left I didn't want to stop having beers, so I had another six pack of 16 ounce Red Dogs. I topped that off with a bit of Jack Daniels and some Vodka. It's been a very longggggg time since I've done anything like that. Lana sat up with me and we listened to music until about 3:00 in the morning. A lot of ZZ Top for me, and Pink Floyd for Lana. We debated the merits of Billy Gibbons and David Gilmore, both of whom are phenomenal guitarists. I'm feeling surprisingly good, this morning, considering. And I don't think I'll need to do that again for a few years.

I also got news that my "Under the Ember Star" has been sent to the publisher and will be out soon. It's going to be a "Double" with another writer named Mark Burgess. His piece is a high octane tale that I think is a good match for mine.

Once I get a good nap today and put some protein in my belly, the week will begin, and we'll have to see how everything is going at the end of it. I'll let you know.
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30th Reunion

I missed my 30th class reunion, which was just held in early June. I was on my trip to Cross Plains, Texas at the time. But I saw the pictures today. Man my classmates have gotten old. It’s amazing considering that I’ve barely aged a day. Frankly, I wouldn’t have recognized 2/3rds of them on the street. Seeing the names, then making the connections to the pictures and maybe picking out a feature here or there that I recognized, really set the old nostalgia bone to tingling. I’ve never been much for nostalgia. I tend to look forward and most of the time it seems that my life now is much better than the emotional suffering I went through as a teenager. But once in a while…I think back. I wonder if that will get more frequent as I age.

In other news, I’ll be leaving for a bit again at the first of July to go see my mom in Arkansas. She was 90 last year and I understand from my brother that she is growing pretty frail. Because of all the hassle after Hurricane Katrina it’s been over a year since I’ve been to see her. In the meantime, my 19 year old son has strep throat, and my left rear tire has a slow leak, and…well…you know.

I will be a guest at BabelCon 2007 in Baton Rouge, where I’ll be on a panel about alien biology as related to alien intelligence. Not quite sure what I will say on the subject yet, but the con is not until August 4th so I have a bit of time. If you’re going to be in Baton Rouge around that time stop in.