SUNDRY

Ann and I blew off all the work we had to do today and went to Borders, where I was pleased to see new piles of City of Saints, the disease guide, and Veniss. Spoke to a very nice guy named Anthony who let me sign it all, so if you live in Tally (where we have no good indie bookstores, except for Paperback Rack, which rarely carries anything by me), go forth to Borders.

Then we went out to the Lafayette hiking trail, which goes around part of two beautiful, swampy lakes. There's no trail around the other side of the lakes, but we found a way by pushing our way through some long grass and finding the railway tracks, which we followed as far as we needed to hook up with the trail again. It was fun just walking along the tracks, over all that ground up stone, out in the middle of nowhere (well, we could pretend). I found some flowers and put one behind Ann's ear and another in my pocket. We didn't learn anything. We didn't accomplish anything. We just walked and talked and took in all of the lovely textures--the mild slash of the tall grass, the grumble of the stones under our feet, the slight vibration of the tracks, as if they held some echo of a train's passage, the satisfying muffled sound of shoe against pine floor trail. We saw a baby osprey poking its head out of its nest, a great blue heron stalking a fish, a sheepish night heron that should've been sleeping, a wood stork flying over head. A few times things rustled in the woods to our left that were bigger than squirrels.

After that, we went on a whim to see Transamerica, which we both liked. I thought there were a few problems in the execution, but in general, a really good movie with excellent acting. The theater was dark, but it was still disconcerting to see a woman and man walk to the row ahead of us and the man sit down in the aisle seat and the woman start to plop her butt down to his left...into thin air, catching herself at the last second as she realized...er, there was no chair there. Also, what the hell is it with getting into a theater first and then maybe four other people come in total...and they ALL sit directly in front of or behind you? Sigh.

In between all of this, we went to the post office and picked up our mail--which consisted of a lot of stuff for WF and IHG award consideration. O Bantam/Spectra, why must thou use huge envelopes with an inner lining of flaky sawdust that doth explode all over one's clothes and car when opened? Please stop. O Tachyon--thy envelopes are sturdy enough that thou need not tape them up as thoroughly as the FBI taped up Hannibal Lector. (Thy mighty 12-page press kits suffer irreparable damage from the consequential rippage.) O Unnamable Press I wish not to offend, will you ever learn that some padding is required that your books not arrive looking like roadkill?

Then it was off to Gill's tavern for salad bar and drinks. Two small drinks. Hardly any calories. Watching my beloved Gators make it to the NCAA basketball title game. Woo-hoo!

What a great day. And I accomplished nothing besides an April fool's blog post and half an introduction to Glen Cook's Dread Empire trilogy. How nice is that?

Next week will be a bear. After two straight weeks of excellent exercise, I've lost about 3.5 pounds while toning muscle. It won't be until another four weeks that I really see the benefit, though. I expect to lose another 4 or 5 pounds by then. It's important to do that gradually. I don't want to lose muscle mass with *too* much cardio. I've cut out my morning chai (150 calories), eliminated most white bread from my diet, cut out beer entirely. Now, of course, it's time to bear down and get rid of all white bread, reduce portions slightly, eat more lean protein, etc. I can already now fit back into the clothes I bought in Australia, so that's a good thing, but if I can get the body fat down to about 15% and keep it there, I'll be a happy guy. Ann, meanwhile, is a fit and trim 118 pounds, with discernable biceps and triceps and great tone in her legs, not to mention abs. I'm really proud of her.

Hope you all had a good Saturday, too. Now it's time to relax watching a heavyweight fight...and wake up in the morning to do TAXES!!! TAXES!!! Argghh! 2005 was my most successful year as a writer...which means I'm screwed. Eeek.

Over and out.

Jeff

Exercise
5-mile brisk walk
6 sets triceps (two 35-pound weights and using own weight and bench to exhaustion)
3 sets biceps curls (two 35-pound weights)