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Location: Work.
Drinking: Hot tea, new morning beverage of choice.
Listening: "The World Can Wait" ~ Over The Rhine.

The weekend ended on a quiet note. Scott and I spent Sunday afternoon and early evening up in Los Angeles, eating lunch at The Omelette Parlor in Santa Monica (where I was convinced that our heavily-accented waiter replied "We have no luck and I don't work here" when I asked for sugar for my coffee), strolling down Main into Venice and then down the boardwalk to Small World Books (my favorite independent bookstore in LA). He updated me on the comings and goings of friends and acquaintances from 'SC and tried to convince me to drive to San Diego with him to see a band from St. Louis (where he currently works for a federal judge). I passed and then returned home, where Peter and I played more EverQuest, watched cable, and generally lazed around until I fell asleep.

Monday, I slept until ten, woke, played more EverQuest, tried to tidy up a little, and then went back to bed. Napped until four when I woke, dressed, went down to Belmont Shore to drop off the rent check, window-shopped and then returned home to play even more EverQuest prior to Peter waking at nightfall. We ordered Papa John's, watched some mediocre comics on Comedy Central, and eventually determined to go back to bed. He woke up at three after having an odd dream and went into the den to write it down. I slept fitfully until about seven, when he came in and woke me with kisses and tickles.

I need more days like these past three. I've gotten more than enough sleep, managed to read about three chapters on poetics, and am in the process of finishing up laundry. Dishes are next, followed by a general cleaning and rearranging of the apartment, and then settling in for what I hope will be a really productive fall. I've already got the following sitting squarely on my plate:

1. The Persephone Project.

Those who are familiar with some of my recent creative work know that I have a fascination with the myth of Persephone and Hades. I've determined that, in an effort to thoroughly dissect, reinterpret, and generally experiment with this myth, I am going to embark on a project much like the one poet and textile artist Jan Haag is currently working on--an effort to compose a poem in each of the known forms used in English-language poetry. Jan's discussion of her "Desolation Poems" led me to Turco and to a desire to re-educate myself in the use of verse and prose forms before attempting to experiment further with my fiction. I'll likely be posting at least some of the pieces here as they are completed and critique will be welcome.

2. Graduate School.

I've finally determined my desired course of graduate study and I'm putting the wheels in motion in the next few weeks. My plan is to receive my M.A. in Book History from Drew University in New Jersey before continuing on to a dual M.A. History/MLIS (with a specialization in Archives and Preservation) from UCLA interspersed with summer courses at Rare Book School at the University of Virginia. You had no idea it took so much to be a Special Collections and Rare Books librarian did you? Well, technically it doesn't--this is just the progression that I feel will give me the best background to achieve my own personal goals (which include, of course, world domination). The first necessary step in all of this is to write letters to Jonathan Rose at Drew and Michele Cloonan at UCLA and solicit advice as to how to get accepted into their respective programs. I'll be working on this this week, because if Drew will consider me for entrance next fall (or if I need to take some extra courses before applying), I need to start making plans now.

3. catachresis.com.

catachresis.com is my currently woefully outdated little site. It's supposed to be the central hub for my various projects (the jupiter press, persephone (art book hand press), europa (photography/film), io (music), and ganymede (erotica)), but I haven't put any substantial work into it since May. I was hoping to get Benchley (the computer I'm planning on building) up and running prior to returning to catachresis, but since my rough deadline for Benchley's inception is Christmas, I've determined that I can't let cat languish for that long. So back to work I go--I'll be posting improvements and updates here. Visit as you like.

4. Clothes.

This seems like an odd goal for me--and it is. Normally, things like clothes interest me only marginally; however, I've noticed that the majority of my wardrobe is left over from late high school and early college days. In other words, I could use a little refreshing. I got a head-start on this while window-shopping yesterday. I found my winter coat--a black lambswool pea coat--and a matching black '20's style cloche at Banana Republic and, when I ventured into the store, found some beautiful cuffed shirts and a blazer. A little bit of a return to my "yuppie" roots, but never fear--Scott got me contemplating tipping my hair electric blue, so they can't yank my card just yet. Considering that I'm going to putting more aside into my savings in the next few months, clothes updates will be infrequent, but I'm sure I'll be a girl and mention it when I get something neat.

So yes--it's going to be a busy fall, which suits me just fine. In addition to everything else, I need to get tickets for Tori Amos's November stop in LA, find a dojo for Peter and I to start martial arts (likely Hap Ki Do) lessons in, keep working on my photography, and try to get my car fixed so that I can trade it in next year.

Speaking of Peter and parenthetical statements, I keep wanting to try to explain the sense of complete wonder I have when I think about how happy I've been over the past (almost) nine months--but I can never seem to put anything down that doesn't sound like a greeting card. So I'll simply say that I'm a writer--and I can't find words to adequately describe how deeply he has affected me and how the time that I spend with him keeps getting better. He's absolutely exquisite--and I appreciate every minute that I get to spend tangled up watching TV, grocery shopping, smoking and talking or just falling asleep on the sofa, listening to him type.

That's all, really--but it's more than enough.