personal

So began the winter of my thirty-fifth year…

I rang out the year by watching The Dirty Dozen, which seemed vaguely appropriate. I saw the ball drop in Times Square but skipped the rest of the Rockin’ New Year’s Eve bash.

I spent the day pretty much like I would have almost any Sunday, even back in that long-lost era of 2011. I did the Sunday crossword. I read a little. I watched a little TV. I took the Christmas lights down from outside. I did a little cleaning. I did a little research on local apartments. Not exactly setting the world on fire in the new year, but it was a pleasant enough day.

Oh, and I officially launched the new Kaleidotrope issue. I hope you’ll visit and enjoy the stories, even if you haven’t subscribed in the past. It’s all free — although donations are always welcome — and there’s even a forum, where you can comment on what you’ve read or ask any questions, make suggestions, etc. Again, I hope you’ll visit and help spread the word.

Tomorrow, I go back to work after more than two weeks off. It’s going to be an adjustment. I’ve almost forgotten what it was like to go to bed at a reasonable hour, but I’m looking forward to a little more structure to my days. If only because it means I’m likely to get some more reading done. Except for a little over Christmas weekend, when I struggled to read in the car to and from my sister’s house, and a few short stories today, I really haven’t done much reading since taking off. That wasn’t the plan, but that’s what seems to have happened. I’m looking forward to my morning commute if only because I can spend it with a good book.

Some writing in the evening would be good, too.

Now if I just didn’t have all those Downton Abbey and Vampire Diaries episodes to still get through…

It was a nice vacation while it lasted

An unexciting day, one spent mostly finishing putting together the Kaleidotrope website in preparation for its launch on Sunday. I think it’s finished. I mean, all the content is there, and there’s a forum that I hope people will use to comment on the stories and poems, but it will be an interesting learning process. I have another issue coming out in just another four months, so we’ll see.

Oh, and I need artwork. I’m open again to submissions on Sunday as well, but artwork and nonfiction are probably the only things that could squeeze into an issue this year. (Don’t let that deter you, fiction writers and poets: January 2013 is right around the corner!) Send submissions to kaleidotrope at gmail dot com, and feel free to pass the word along!

Beyond that, just winding down the vacation — and along with it the year. Where did both of those things go?!

For all I know, this could be Thursday

The cold and wind continued today. At one point this evening, I even wore gloves.

I spent the early part of the day running a few errands, getting a haircut and my monthly train ticket for January. Which means, I guess, that I’ve resigned myself to the idea that my vacation is actually ending and I will have to go back to work. We don’t get off on Monday for the New Year, unfortunately, but after thirteen days (and counting) off, I’m not really complaining.

The rest of the day was spent working again on the Kaleidotrope website — nearly finished, I think, and almost ready for unveiling — and watching a couple of movies, Hello Dolly and Enter the Dragon. They make for an odd double feature, admittedly, but both were quite entertaining.

And that was…whatever this day was. They tell me it was Thursday, but I honestly have my doubts.

They say it’s a Wednesday

I’ve lost track of the days, although not enough to be unaware that I’m quickly running out of vacation, just four short days left in this end-of-the-year run before heading back to work. I spent this day doing some of the same as yesterday, working on the Kaleidotrope website. It’s not a major overhaul, at least in terms of design, but it’s taken more than just a few tweaks to go from being a print to an online zine. I’m sure it’ll be a whole new learning process even after I launch.

When I wasn’t doing that, I watched “An Unearthly Child,” the first batch of episodes ever of Doctor Who, from 1963. I received a DVD set of William Hartnell’s first episodes as a Christmas present, and while I’d seen some of the Dalek episodes that followed these, I’d never seen the very beginning. It’s…well, maybe it’s easiest just to say it was a rather different show back then from what it is now.

This evening, I picked my parents up at the eye doctor, since they both had appointments, and their eyes were too dilated afterward to drive safely. We went out to eat at a new Latin place that had been written up in the New York Times (and for which we had a coupon), which turned out to be quite good. Even if service was a little confused. Friendly and attentive, but confused. And even if getting into the bathroom was a ridiculously complicated production number: first through a very heavy beaded curtain, into a dark room where you had to stumble around to find the light switch, only to discover to discover the toilet was behind you. Limited space, but a little ridiculous.

Anyway, the food was quite good.

And then we came home and I watched All About Eve, which was really terrific. Bette Davis, in particular, gives a deservedly iconic performance, but the whole film’s great fun.

And meanwhile, it’s gotten remarkably cold and windy the past couple of days. One might almost be tempted to start believing in winter again.