Tuesday, September 30, 2003

Work Beckons ... and I Got This Really Old Car

Leave it to me to wait nearly two months to write in here again. Not that I really have time now to be writing in here, either, but it's been bugging me that this thing has gone untouched for so long. Right now I have a 400-page book sitting on my drafting table. I'm in the middle of proofreading it (a double-read, even better). Well, not right NOW I'm not. Right now I'm typing stuff in here. The book is still sitting on the table. Waiting. Waiting. Calling to me. Soft and high and sweet. Liiiiiiindaaaaaaa ... LINNNNNNDDAAAAAA ...

Good thing I have upper range hearing loss.

The drafting table was adapted by my dad, with an added shelf at the top/back to put dictionaries and the Chicago Manual of Style while I'm working. The clip-on lamp keeps the light focused on the small type I'm forced to squint at while working. And since it's all very lightweight, I usually move the whole contraption out into the living room to work on a longer project like this. It makes for a very comfortable working situation, all things considered.

Well, wait, did I REALLY consider all things? Probably not. Could anyone really consider ALL things? Do I have that kind of time? No, not really.

I got books in the mail yesterday. Two of my book club orders showed up on the same day (from different clubs). So now I have even more temptations not to work this week. I bought To Kill a Mockingbird, The Onion Ad Nauseam, The Weekend Novelist, and a four-part fantasy adventure series for Gracie that got very good reviews across the board. (It's not Tolkien or Rowling, but hey, it's getting increasingly tough to keep this girl in books. She inhales them!)

Another distraction yesterday: Transferring a car title from someone at church to us. An older woman at church is giving up her car at age 91 (that's her age, not the car's), and we're the blessed recipients of this little piece of metal. It's a 1989 Ford Escort, in quite nice shape, and although it's three years older than my Corsica (which makes it a 1992, for those of you from public schools), it's in better shape in most ways that count. (For a woman, "ways that count" means things like the engine, the trip odometer, the radio, the air conditioning, and overall cuteness. For a man, "ways that count" would mean horsepower, color, sunroof options, and whether or not it would make up for his lack of bedroom prowess.)

We're not entirely decided on which car I will keep driving and which one we will sell, but having the option of a car with vital working parts (A/C is a big deal in the summer, and replacing my Corsica's sound system alone would've cost half of what we paid for this Escort!) is making me lean toward the Escort.

It is, though, a compact car and feels like one. The Corsica feels more like a true sedan. Sturdier. Comfier seats. (Did I just make up the word "comfier"?) Still, better gas mileage and working parts .... Quite tempting.

Speaking of tempting, I really must stop this and get some work done this morning. My cup of coffee is calling me, and maybe it'll help me get my wheels spinning again. Oh, and the wheels on the Escort all spin nicely too .... Oops, there goes the distraction meter, off the scale again.

Time to go check to make sure the author stops using the words "bibliophily" ....

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