Yesterday was a grand day to blow off the last vestiges of the bug/virus that has been pursuing me for about half of January. Just that by itself was enough to turn me from a somewhat tired and overbusy person into a really rather unhappy one. Still, I am emerging from the other side of it and Saturday was the best day I’ve had in a while.
Why? Well, it started slowly. I got to sleep in a little (i.e. not get up at 4.30am) and then had a bit of time to shake off sleep and noodle on the laptop. The family then arose from its distractions and I whipped up a batch of cheese omelettes for the whole tribe. Once they’d breakfasted we retreated to various activities. I read a little, popped out a did a tiny bit of grocery shopping, watered the flourishing new plants, arranged lunch and so on.
After a relaxed day we hit the Aurealis Awards grand-tweetage. I really would have loved to have been in Brisbane for the Awards, showing off the tux, drinking champagne and so on, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a grand time tweeting and chatting with Tansy and others as the results came out. I was really delighted to see Eclipse Three pick up the Best Anthology award. It’s a book that about two dozen people worked really hard on. The writers were kind and generous, the publisher put everything they had into it, and it was in some ways just important for me. So I was delighted.
I was also thrilled to see friends like Cat, Justin and Scott pick up awards. Of course, every awards ceremony is bittersweet. I had some very good friends nominated for awards (hi Alisa, Sean, Tansy, and Tehani) who were up for some excellent work (Alisa’s 12th Planet had a grand 2009 and was justifiably all over the ballot, Sean had two strong novels under consideration, and Tansy had two very good stories up as well) and I would LOVE to have had the chance to cheer them on. I fully expect to see them and others dominating the Ditmars and featuring in the Hugos later this year, and again featuring prominently in the AAs next year.
Once the awards were done Marianne and I headed out for our 11th Anniversary dinner. Marianne had picked out the restaurant – a terrific modern Japanese place called Nine Fine Foods. We dined happily in murky candlelight and got the chance to catch up with one another in just the way that you don’t when you’re surrounded by kid chaos. It was a lovely night.
And now? Well, it’s Sunday morning. We’re planning some kid activities, then maybe some cricket and editing for me. It’s a long weekend and, for the first time since Christmas, I can feel my batteries recharging.