Thrihyrne

I'm on the cusp of going on my first actual holiday/vacation type thing in about a year. Evan and I are going to Rockaway Beach, Oregon, tomorrow, staying in a large beachhouse with his parents, sister Arwen & family, and brother Dana & wife & daughter & granddaughter. I'm really looking forward to spending time at the beach, and sleeping, and doing some social things, and having a lot - lot - of downtime. :) There will be internet and phone and such, but I'm determined not to check work email at all and to put that part of my life completely on pause while I'm gone. I suspect it will be easier said than done, but I'll try to make it happen.

I printed up my Wraeththu novellas to bring with me to re-read and edit, and it makes me feel a bit odd that I've committed to doing this. I've never revisited any completed work of mine for a serious edit like this before, and I'm uncertain as to how the process will go, if I'll be appalled or if I'll enjoy reading it, if I'll be overcome by memories of what my life was like when I wrote them, and of the initial major overhaul/edit/rewrite from 2009. Hard to say. Hopefully it won't be traumatic or demoralizing. I'm also bringing my notebook to work on my Charliefic which I haven't written on in a couple of weeks. I suspect I'll get a bunch done on that while on break. This will be a very different situation from Evan and me going away together… although now I realize Evan and I have not actually had a holiday together yet, just the two of us. The trips we've made since we've been a couple have all been with our families— and we like our families, but I've just made a verbal commitment that after this trip and the one in September to go to Wenatchee to spend the better part of a week with my dad and stepmom, we will take our next trips just the two of us. I'm pretty sure that our five days together with his family (absent one sibling and progeny) will be just fine. As he pointed out, they are a family of introverts. But I bring with me from my own family of origin (at least to do with my mother) a sense of dread about doing my own thing and being seen as asocial and trying to isolate myself. I believe that there will be a healthy balance of doing my own very-much-needed-downtime activities (reading, editing, writing, reading, knitting and dicking around on the internet, walking, jogging on the beach, sleeping) and group meals, some organic conversation, and working on puzzles. Some of my worries are because I've only spent short periods of time with these folks (2 days) except for his sister Arwen and family, who I know well from when Evan lived with them. I'm probably worrying unnecessarily, but I articulated all of this to Evan and he (unsurprisingly) was very understanding.

So I'll have my computer and will definitely still be online, and hopefully quite productive while also being a lazy, lazy person. :)

Today's been great! I'm tired, having stayed up until ridiculous o'clock this morning (though it allowed me to have a nice IM with Callum) and then getting up at 9:00, but had a great day. I edited for three different people until 2 o'clock when I finished up the Wraeththu short story I posted, and showered and got ready to go meet up with evannichols, snottygrrl and her friend A. with whom she's staying until she finds her own place. We got to go 'shopping' through Evan's treasure trove of items from the storage unit he'd cleaned out. It was much fun, and I came away with all kinds of treasures thanks to his generosity! I got a bookcase, caddies, purple and pink plastic storage containers, an orange salad spinner, two beautiful glass vases (one green and one with a purple design), Hallmark stationery from his high school days, tape, and some other kitchen items and sundries. What a blast! It was great to see snottygrrl again and her friend. At first I was outnumbered as the three of them are Lewis & Clark graduates, but over dinner (excellent Mexican at Iron Horse) I realized that for once I was in a majority in that Evan, snottygrrl and I are all divorced. The weather was warm and beautiful and I've been productive which always feels good. I brought home my goodies and washed them all and washed down the bookcase (it's metal and had been in storage), and now I'm getting caught up on email. I also picked up a book from the library that Diana Gabaldon referenced as a resource for when she wrote Brotherhood of the Blade, Homophobia: A History. So I'll read a bit of that before bed. Early night for me tonight! Church/singing tomorrow, then I'll pack up a bunch of stuff to take to the new place. I'm excited that I'll be able to put some of my own former wedding gift things out on display and have nothing but my own art in my room. There's also space on the fridge for my fridge magnet collection. That might not seem like a big deal, but Julia's fridge was already covered with her own stuff, so no room for my things.

Oh and thanks to listening to EdgeRadio as I often do, I've now picked up the album Faded Seaside Glamour by the Delays. Great stuff!