Ships and sails and sealing wax

This is a long'un, and none too fascinating, but it is time to update the far-flung friends. Otherwise I will have to read a textbook or something, and I'm not quite up to that this evening.

So... in chapter form:
1. I wrote another short-short story.
2. Luther and I started our own company.
3. I am apparently responsible for snow in Toronto and St. John's over the past week.
4. Luther started a new job today.
5. Stay tuned for Important News.

1. I wrote another short-short story.

Yes! This was great fun! Jason Evans again blessed us with a fun flash fiction contest, complete with inspirational photograph and 250-word limit. I promised myself I'd participate, then didn't have any energy and wasn't inspired, then wrote an exactly 250-word story, and then despite Wil's promising assessment (he reported that he almost cried), I decided to write a different story, something about a bike courier coming to a dead end (so to speak).

And then I didn't have any time, so I sent the original story to Jason.

I think he liked it! I placed second! Woot! Thank you, thank you, Jason, for another grand challenge and the really enormous ego boost. Your contests have been a lovely break from all the daily stupidities, and I'm truly grateful.

You can read my story here.

2. Luther and I started our own company.

Well, it is really a "sole proprietorship." I am doing more and more contract work, proof-reading and copy editing and document formatting and graphic design, and all the sundry little tasks that bind these things together. Our research suggested that it would be wise to lump the various jobs under a common heading, so that's what we've done. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you Virtual CKS.

Why CKS? If you know us, you may be able to figure it out. If you don't know us... Well, get to know us!

3. I am apparently responsible for snow in Toronto and St. John's over the past week.

"Write what you know," they say. Well you know, that story that I wrote for Jason's contest was very much inspired by real events in my youth. Dad and Sarah and I lived together in a flat in downtown Toronto, on Robert Street, and the kitchen door exited on a little space between the houses. Dad hired slow Russian movers, and my move was to a tiny 3rd floor bachelorette North of High Park. I think of the Robert Street flat and remember old walls, old grime, and noisy neighbors. But I also remember family, and the memories invoked in the writing of a little story made my recent trip to Toronto a little surreal. All that history! Sometimes it is difficult to hold the emotions in check.

I hung out with Dad and Sarah quite a bit. Isn't it strange how people can change so much and yet somehow seem just the same as always?

I again stayed at the Madison Manor Boutique Hotel, which is to say, next door to the Madison Pub. I highly recommend this location for your next visit to the greatest city on the planet -but please do understand that the Madison caters to young fools on Fridays and Saturdays, and from midnight to 2:30 a.m. it is not what you'd call... peaceful. If drunkenness offends you, stay at some lame airport motel. But if you want to pretend for a sweet few days that you once again live in the city... stay at the Mad.

I also saw some friends, though not nearly enough of them. Antun Bosanac spontaneously dropped by my hotel with a tin foil packet of homemade birthday cake -his Dad's specialty is divine! I was able to share dim sum and martinis with the beautiful and amazing Cheryl Zalameda, and catch up on at least some of what my adopted sister and our brothers (such as Jesse!) have been up to. I finally got to meet Martha Heder, who is making our friend Doug so very happy. And I had a nice, long talk with my oldest friend of all, Liz Bischof, who I first met when I was 11... and living in that very same little flat on Robert Street. See how it is all connected?

Next time, I need to see the wee Max. I need to be pampered by Catherine, the most amazing hair stylist in the world. I need to see JamesJames or he's really going to finally disown me as a friend. And damn, I might even finally get to see the infamous Danny Sadder again... if he knows what's good for him. But the visit was short. I was on my way to St. John's, Newfoundland.

Here's the funny part: It snowed. Apparently, it had been a mild winter thus far, but as soon as I show up, you know what happens. Yup. The sky fell, and it was cold.

It snowed Sunday. It snowed Monday. It snowed some more on Tuesday, but the storm had gone East... which is convenient, seeing as I was flying East myself. After an hour of circling over a runway in St. John's, my plane landed for refueling in someplace named Gander. What a crazy night! But thankfully, we took off again and gave St. John's another try, and this time it was more forgiving.

You know, it has only snowed in Georgia once since I moved here, and that time... happened to be when my Mom and Paul were visiting. So I don't know, there might be something about our family and snow. I need to be a bit more careful about scheduling these trips. I could at least warn people to get out the mittens and booties before I arrive.

St. John's was beautiful. I stayed with Mom and Paul in their incredibly gorgeous Victorian home (which is not a bed & breakfast anymore!), and only on the last night did I actually feel the wind shaking its foundations. Boris is as fat as ever, and being a very generous uncle to the newcomers, Cleo and Julius. We ate lamb. And we hung out at the Duke. Life in St. John's is really, really good, I have to say.

Alas, the visit was short, and I was once again headed home. Here's how geeky I am: I am actually intensely proud of finding my own car and driving my own self out of the airport. It's like I'm all grown up!

4. Luther started a new job today.

Luther is a full-time college student at Macon State College, studying for his Bachelor of Science degree in Business & Information Technology. What this actually means is that he wears earrings, flirts with all the girls and some of the boys, and does far, far too much homework.

Well, now he is also going to be working. He landed a position through a co-op program on Robins AFB. It's not clear what he's going to be doing, but I missed him all day! It was awful!

I really need to win the lottery. This thing of having Luther working just plain sucks.

But the money will be useful, that's for sure.

Congratulations, Luther. I'm very proud of you. I hope it isn't too horribly stupid for words.

5. Stay tuned for Important News.

After many long discussions, quite a bit of research (mostly done by Luther), and probably not nearly as much hesitation as it deserves, I'm about to try something new.

Only... I gotta actually set that up officially, first.

And then I'll write about it here.

That's it for now! There's your update! You want more, you'll have to come back again sometime.