I'd made a lot of progress on my project at work - I'd gotten into the zone, I guess, and that always feels just great. A parser that I thought would be a big pain in the ass turned out to be no problem at all, my manager actually answered my questions in a more or less timely manner, and the project took on actual dimensions and acquired specifications. It was nice. I'm still mildly worried about getting the hardware to work, but I'm getting more optimistic.
Then, around the middle of the afternoon, I wound up chatting with Kris (and Braz, off and on) as we made our plans for next week more specific. The four of us are meeting in D.C. to go to an Eric Idle show, and we'd decided to make a day of it and do the tourist thing. So yesterday we decided that, since they were staying for a couple of days at a hotel, that Matt and I would meet them at their hotel and we would all go up to the Metro together.
Well, one thing led to another, and now Matt and I have a reservation at the same hotel for Tuesday night. I don't know why I feel less anxious about driving up on Tuesday night than Wednesday morning, but there you have it. Maybe because if I get lost Tuesday night, Braz and Kris aren't standing around anxiously waiting for us. Well, maybe they are, but it's not like they're going to miss half the stuff they wanted to do just because I can't navigate. (I'm making it sound worse than it is. Unless I'm going to Lynchburg or using 'net map-site directions, I hardly ever actually get lost. But I worry about it excessively. It's just something I do. Deal.)
And then, as icing on the cake, I decided that what with chatting and all, I wasn't getting much more done on my project that day (which was fine, because I'd already done more than I'd assigned myself for the day) so I thought I'd work on the Meade Hall story.
Now, Braz and I have been shooting a proposed outline back and forth for a while. Having an outline was my idea, because the last time I attempted a collaborative story with someone, it died because 1) my partner couldn't get his character to go where he was trying to steer him, and then 2) I couldn't keep writing without him, because I didn't know where the whole thing was going. No offense to Braz, here, but he's got something of a reputation for beginning a project enthusiastically and then dropping it. My thought was that if I could drag an outline out of him before he got bored, I could at least keep writing myself.
Whatever his reasons, Braz thought this was a good idea. So the last time we traded e-mail on the subject, we'd had the sequencing of the first half fairly well planned, but the second half was still a mess. I thought yesterday I'd play with possibilities for that second half, starting over from scratch. I started doodling on my note paper, and then this fairly nice scheme started pouring out of me. When I looked up, it was five o'clock and my server had dropped my Instant Messenger connection again, so I had no idea when Braz had logged out. I packed up and went home.
Okay, this is a little weird, but bear with me. If you are at all familiar with the BBC series BlackAdder, have you seen the episode in series 2 (Elizabethan) titled "Money"? I won't spoil the plot for those of you who haven't seen it, but it's one of my favorite episodes. It features a portrait painter, "the best portrait painter in England." When he arrives on the scene, Edmund asks him if he's any good, and he replies, in a snotty pseudo-Italian accent, "No-a. Aye em a jayn-ee-us!" That's the quote that kept bouncing around in my brain yesterday evening as I solved this idiot outline dilemma.
(Okay, to be fair, it may not actually be solved. Braz hasn't looked it over yet, and it leaves a couple of plot threads dangling, so there's still that to take care of. But it's a heck of a lot closer than we've gotten so far!) But I was just in a damn fine mood heading home after work. The radio even played Jackson Browne's "The Load-Out" which is one of my favorite songs ever to sing along with. I got home, quickly typed it all up for Braz, and sent it to him for his opinion.
The rest of the evening was much more low-key, but that's all right. I'm still feeling good, and I'm sure today will be just as fantastic.
Word of the Day: vicarious - done or suffered by one person on behalf of another; sharing in someone else's feelings through imagination or sympathy
*Laugh!* This is about two weeks too late.
Go ahead an insert your own comments here about living vicariously through the lives of our fictional characters. It's all too amusing for me to even begin to construct a paragraph.
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