I checked the TCW mail on the way into work this morning, and then, on a whim, stopped at the Cup A Joe’s on Hillsborough Street to see if the June edition of The Urban Hiker had come out yet. To my absolute delight, it had!
I grabbed about 6 copies, and left. I didn’t open it all the way into work, as I wanted to have time to take it in when I did.
In the office, I closed my door and opened the magazine. There it was, the third story in the table of contents:
My Detainment……………………………………………..John Martin 33
“He kept looking at his computer screen, looking up at me, and back.”
I really liked the editing done to, and illustrations included with, the article. The “cut outs” were great, too. I absolutely loved the teaser they’d put just under the title on page 33. It said, “JOHN MARTIN meets a suspicious character: himself” Too funny, and just perfect. I had only two minor complaints about it: 1) My opening sentence was relocated. I agree that the opening left was a better one, but I didn’t at all like the place to which it was relocated. It just doesn’t flow there. Though, I have to say, I assessed where it might better have fit, and couldn’t find a place. 2) They put my bio at the end of the second to the last page of where my story ends. So it looks like my story ends there. However, if you stop reading there it is decidedly not a good ending, precisely because there’s more on the next page.
Silly as I am, I have placed a yellow sticky over my bio that says, “Story ends on the next page,” in the copies I’ve given out.
I presented our pillar’s work on Effectiveness Analysis to the TIGR team at our weekly meeting, and Jennifer was really impressed with the work. Finally, someone gets it.
Only Suzanne and I showed up for bookclub, and we had a good time catching up. She told me about her sailing weekend, which was a very fun story.
I was on an absolute high today about being published, and shared the news with different people throughout the day. During the afternoon, Robert and I made plans to celebrate tonight at 518 West. They have this killer dessert there that we’ve been looking for a good excuse to indulge in. Voila!
Knowing I was going to eat a lot tonight, I walked 5 miles after work tonight. I had a brilliant (so I think) thought while walking today. At Carmichael, it’s 6.5 laps per mile on the indoor track. It’s really a hassle to keep track of your laps, especially if you’re going to walk five miles: that’s 32.5 laps!
I had told Steven yesterday when we were walking that I keep meaning to look in the sporting goods section of K-Mart or Wal-Mart the next time I’m there to see if they have any of those little clickers that you can just hold and click once every time you come around to the start area.
Well, today, while walking, I just happen to have my cell phone with me in case Robert called about coming over early or being late or anything. While I was walking I thought of using it to keep track of the laps! So, I used the calculator function to count the laps. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to do add one each time: press the “select” key to select +, then the number 1, then the “<" key to back up to the equal sign, the "select." Coolio. This has the added advantage of having a good excuse to have your phone with you while you walk. 🙂 I tried to call Robert on my way home, but there was no answer. When I got to my place, he was already there. I showered real quick, and we left for our 8:00 reservation. We were a little early, but they had a table available, so we were seated right away. We had both already perused the menu online, so pretty much already knew what we wanted. I ordered a bottle of the house champagne, and we ordered the focaccia bread with herbed artichoke dip for an appetizer. Robert ordered the Lemon Linguine and I had The Crab for entrees. It was all good, and the dessert was beyond belief:
Fresh Banana Brioche Bread Pudding – Caramelized bananas baked between custard soaked layers of rich, house made egg bread. Topped w/ cinnamon ice cream, toasted walnuts & caramel sauce.
We had great dinner conversation, and I felt so good for the way my life is going right now. I thought about how in some sense, I feel like my life is racing toward something. It’s a weird feeling. It’s so good, and it’s getting better almost exponentially. Where does something like that end? I feel like my writing has gotten incredibly prolific lately, which I love, but wonder, “Why?” It’s just weird. Though wonderful.
It was just a great, great day today, seeing my story published. I was so grateful to have a wonderful man in my life to share the moment with me, too.