TIRED

Oh, what a week. The sleeping part of the pregnancy has been over for quite a while, but this week, well, sleeping is just something that happens to other people. Luscious is in horrible pain: the baby's huge, her pelvis is in all sorts of bother, and she has to wear a support belt when she walks. Which doesn't help when she's lying down and can't get comfortable. Or when her hayfever is so bad she can barely breathe.

Given the problems we had early in the pregnancy it seems petty to be whining about hayfever, but we're both so goddamned tired...

Added to which, we spent half of Monday night combing the streets of Morley because one of the kids got into an argument with their father and took off. They ended up safe and sound at a friend's place (said friend being a right prannet decided to try to hide kid from said friend's parents, only exacerbating the situation). Let me tell you, it's bloody cold at 2am in Morley.

Thankfully, errant child was safe and sound, and came out to Lunch with Luscious and I yesterday where we alternated between telling child off and wanting to hug child to death. I love these kids. I've been thrown into teen-parenting many years before I was expecting it, and I've been surprised by how deeply they affect me. It doesn't please Lyn's ex-husband to hear it, because I think he feels I'm trying to usurp his role (nothing could be further from the truth, but it's an emotionally difficult place for a father to be in to see his kids spending time with another man, I know. My own parents split up when I was Cassie's age, and I have distinct memories.) but I love these kids like they were my own. I don't think I breathed properly from the moment we got the call to say errant child was missing until we went to lunch and we could make sure child was really okay with our own eyes.

SPECIAL MENTION TO GEOFF

Want to throw a big vote of thanks in Geoff Maloney's direction. I'm currently assembling a package to pitch a short story collection to a US publisher who might be interested, and Geoff's done a power of work choosing stories, offering opinions, and pretty much reading my entire opus to date in an effort to stop me embarrassing myself. Thanks to him I'm one or two steps away from having a running order worked out and beginning the polishing of stories ready to envelope the whole thing. I've always been a big fan of Geoff's writing (check out his collection Tales From the Crypto-System) but just as rewarding hs been the friendship we've built up over the last year or so.

So far I'm calling the collection Through Soft Air, mainly because Luscious looks at me in a funny way if I mention The Beginner's Guide to Virgin Sacrifice. The project is at the very early stages, but if the publisher buys it, I'll let you know. Oh, how I'll let you know!

LAST OF THE KID-FREE WEEKENDS

If all goes to plan, the kid-free weekend in November will be our last one before Connor comes. Don't ring :)

RECENT ADVENTURES IN THE VIRGIN-SKINNING BUSINESS

It's a more interesting title than "What we've done recently" :)

Bad movie night on Sunday was Hudson Hawk, thanks to Splanky. And bad it was. It's such an odd movie-- filled with so many great little moments it's hard to put your finger on why the whole thing stinks like a month-old nappy. My opinion is that it's the editor's fault: it should be a high-paced farce, but the editing makes everything so excrutiatingly slow that it misses the mark. Of course, there are so many other reasons too... Strangely enough, Luscious says it's the first bad movie night where she's enjoyed the movie. Ooookaaaayyy.........

Saturday night we attended a board games night at Splanky's place. Poor old Luscious' hayfever kicked into overdrive (see above) once the cat came wandering into the room, and we got stuck playing Boggle with a couple whose ideas of Boggle are, well, I wouldn't let the kids get away with it, dig? Pity: I was really looking forward to the night, but in the end we had to leave at just after 9, and chuntered all the way home about the Boggle couple. We finished the night with me showing Lyn the animated Tales From The Darkside, so it wasn't a total loss :)

We both really like Splanky, and feel guilty if we have to cut out of one of her occasions early. Sigh. Maybe next time.

SWANCON THIRTY APPROACHETH

Went to a programming meeting for Swancon on Sunday. To my credit, I only volunteered for 5 panels. I admit it: I'm a panel junkie. It's my only real chance to get in touch with my inner dancing monkey boy. Anyway, despite not being available all day Saturday in preparation for the wedding, and not being available at least Sunday morning because of the wedding night, there's no guarantee I'll only be on 5 panels come the Con. 2003 I volunteered for 6 and was on 15 when I arrived. Of course, this year the programmer is my best man, which might help :)

I'm really looking forward to this Con. Apart from the wedding, it's just shaping up as a hell of a lot of fun. And I get to re-stage the Alternative History Game Show. It was huge success at this year's con- wild and crazy, and the audience was hanging off the rafters. I'm going to have to do something special next year to top it.

I've been dry of ideas so far, but last night I did have an idea about recreating the assassination of Julius Caesar with shaving cream pies...