Got two pieces of good news this morning:

1. I was in the middle of snuggling with my lady in bed, when I got a phone call from my former boss at my former day job saying that they have need of some freelance drafting assistance and would I be interested. Seeing as I'm currently jobless (my position with the NC Lit Fest ended a week ago), I naturally accepted. Two of my co-workers there came to my wedding, and said that the quality of CAD work had gone down since I left, so I'll be coming back to show them how it's done. I'm not sure how many hours I'll be working, but my boss said it's flexible, and I already told him about teaching at the YWW. Hopefully, I'll have enough work for the summer, and maybe for next Fall as well.

2. This morning's email brought a message from Mary Anne Mohanraj announcing my acceptance to this year's Strange Horizons Workshop at Rockaway Beach, Oregon! Woo! I actually applied for the New Jersey workshop, since it's on the East Coast, and Gavin Grant and Kelly Link were to be the guest editors, but I found out I was the only person to apply for it, which blows my mind. I thought tons of people would be lining up to get their stories critiqued by Gavin and Kelly. So, because of the low interest, and the fact that the host house isn't available later in the year, Mary Anne said they're cancelling New Jersey. But the Oregon workshop had one space left, and she offered it to me, which was cool of her. So I'll be spending a weekend in July playing at an Oregon beach and walking in the sand and eating good food. Oh, and critiquing stories too. :) I'm curious to find out who else is going, so if you are, drop me a line in the comments section.

Yay!

The nice folks from Sears delivered our new bed Monday morning, and it has made a world of difference. It supports my back so much better, and is oh so comfortable to sleep on. Plus, it's nearly a foot taller than the old bed, which means I climb up into bed instead of down. It's kinda strange being up so high (the ceiling seems so much closer), but I like it. Janet and I got a fabulous deal on a great new comforter and bedskirt at Tarjay yesterday, and it goes with our new sheets perfectly. As my lady said last night, we have such a pretty bed now.

Yesterday, I was really industrious concerning fiction submissions, and I got six stories either sent out electronically, or ready to send out through the post. I have one story I need to revise and get back to John Klima at Electric Velocipede, and another I need to revise before the Oregon workshop. Then, I have three stories to finish hopefully by the end of the summer.

I've been playing with iTunes on my fancy shmancy new iBook, and having a lot of fun. I've bought five songs so far, and burned a bunch from CDs I already own. The new ones are "One I Love" by Coldplay, "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet, "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes, "Summer Sunshine" by The Corrs, and "Paradise By the Dashboard Lights" by Meat Loaf. They also do free downloads every week, and the second one by Josh Rouse is pretty good.

By the way, if you didn't see in the comments section two entries back, my email address has now changed to jelundberg@nc.rr.com. The mindspring account is kaput, and good riddance to it.

Now Reading:
Electric Velocipede no. 6

Stories Out to Publishers:
10

Books Read This Year:
30

Zines/Chapbooks/Fiction Mags Read This Year:
11