Renaissance-ing

The class on Wednesday (7:50pm in Georgetown) affords me a little slack time after work - about three and a half hours - especially when I pack a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner and skip the table service, the bakery at Dean and Deluca, the line at Georgetown Cupcake, et cetera.

Of course, slack time gets chewed up quickly with irons in fires. All the reading done for my class, I realize (insert Homer Simpson brand "D'OH!" here) that I failed to print off MY piece for tonight's workshop. Thank the maker for the Kinkos on M Street.

In addition, the outline for my Capstone is done and questions for my intended victims - er, interview subjects - are drafted. A couple have already been approached for their commentary and candor. This weekend will be a big push, while I have a little time before the next memoir piece is due.

In the midst of all of this, the editor over at TOTU provided line edits for my story appearing in issue #30. Put simply, they were 95% embarrassing typos that got past myself and a couple of readers. Shameful. No points off this time. Lesson learned: speed kills. But I will say they've been incorporated and turned around, and TOTU #30 is targeted for this fall. Ten more and I have a collection. :)

So with an hour and forty to go, the battery on the laptop is getting low - I may need to relocate from the Barnes & Noble (with its free internet) to the Starbucks (with its free electricity) to hammer out final questions.

Nine mile run on Saturday. I've decided Memoir class piece two will be on training for and running in the Army Ten Miler. As a former fat kid who didn't run, I think it has some human interest. Well, at least eight pages worth.

Been firing on all cylinders the last couple of days. I like it. :)

Moved From Tumblr, The Phoenix Does His Thing...

Okay - this all began on Tumblr, which was nice and reachable from my Blackberry for photo posts and all that good stuff. But Tumblr has been... twitchy lately. It's not liking my photo posts anymore. It's not allowing me to make mobile updates. This morning, it's not loading at all. Now, I don't want to say the power of Google compels me, but if you have a slot, you might as well leverage it, and so... new address. Same old smartass.

Welcome to the start of the final semester of my Masters career, if all goes according to the plan of the Jade Monkey. First class for The Reported Memoir isn't until next Wednesday, but I need to turn the flame up under my Capstone and get to stepping on that. Some good thoughts, some research down, some contacts to make and some questions to write - mayhap some travel involved (dunno yet). But it comes down to that ol' debbil Dougie hurdle: Sit and Do.

I have a short story to draft this week for an anthology; call it Summer's Last Creative Hurrah (the effort, not the story; the story has no title yet). But it's a sweet idea if I can execute it, and I've done about as much research as I need to craft 4000 words or less, so we'll see what we see. And I still have all those submissions I got sidetracked on. SIGH. My life needs a new transmission. The existing gears are stripped from all the switching.

Speaking of transmissions, a week into the new car - a sporty blue Mazda 3 hatchback, in case you missed it - and I'm quite pleased with the decision. Watch this space for mo' better pictures.

Training continues in earnest for the Army Ten Miler - a successful six mile run was put in the books on Saturday; new Nikes (running shoes that fit = a good investment) adorn the feet, three three-mile maintenance runs are planned for this week, and Saturday brings the seven mile run - which will be a solo without Cousin Melanie because I'm going to be in Chicago with my lady love - summer's other Last Hurrah. But I've already got a tentative route mapped out, criss-crossing Grant Park north/south before turning towards Soldier Field and the museum complex. I just need to be ahead of the jazz festival crowds. And nice weather would help.