Back Out

Well, it's not out out. It's just that... well, let me start from the beginning...

Yesterday started with lots of driving around. More driving around than usual. Two round trips to WSHS, loads of errands, 'tis the season and all that. I dropped off a big box of stuff at Goodwill. Then I went to the local branch of a certain credit union and opened a checking/savings/line-o-credit combo. So by lunchtime I had twice as many bank accounts as I woke up having.

Then I headed to a certain local everything store and picked up a certain couple items for a certain couple children. And one of those items was stupidly heavy. And by stupidly heavy, I mean I was stupid to try to lift it into my rig, and then muscle it into the house by myself.

Stupidy, stupidy, stupidy.

So the rest of the afternoon was spent laying on an icepack on my bed. The upside was that I got to start reading John Steakley's Vampire$ again. It's probably my most favorite horror-adventure novel, because it's so easily accessible. Steakley knows how to write action and he plops the reader right in the middle of it. I rarely read a novel more than once. I think I've read Vampire$ a half dozen times. And this particular copy of Vampire$ is very special to me. It was a gift from my friend Dave Alpern (friend of Steakley and formerly a columnist for Gamer Dad), who sent it to me after the fire, when I'd lost all three copies of Vampire$ I'd had on my bookshelves. It's one of the original trade paperbacks, and inside Steakley inscribed:

For Todd -

Hear you've had one of those years.
I know I've had 'em.
But these times do end and Alpern, whose opinions I respect, says you have more than enough MAN to come back.

God Bless

Rock & Roll!

John Steakley

Now I've owned autographed books before, including a first edition hardcover of If Chins Could Kill, the Bruce Campbell autobiography (which said, "Todd - Stay groovy"). But this is so much more personal and has everything to do with my Year of Pain (April '05 - February '06). So it was a really nice experience to crack this particular copy of V$ and re-read.

Raechelle got home at the usual time and we got ready to attend the West Seattle Art Walk. We took the kids to Elliott Bay for dinner (loves me some seasonal Noale), then poked around for a few minutes before calling it a night.

It appears I will get far less done today than I'd hoped, given that the left side of my back feels like one of the tension cables holding up the Golden Gate Bridge. I wanted to string the rest of the Christmas lights on the front of the house before the arctic front moves in (we're supposed to get snow this weekend). But if that doesn't happen, I will have to be satisfied with the company of friends and some fine holiday movies and pizza. Drat.

At least I'll get some more reading done. ;-)