The evenings in the past week have been much cooler, and therefore more conducive to sleeping. My schedule, however, has been exceptionally full, so while the quality of my sleeping hours has improved, the quantity has not. Thus I am in an odd limbo state where, because I am finally sleeping deeply for the first time in months, the transition from being asleep to being awake (usually precipitated by a small orange cat laying down on me and purring in my ear) is more jarring than it would be with the previous insomnia.

And also I continually feel slightly stoned.

Since no new reading material arrived in the past week, here is a photo of a praying mantis lurking in our back yard.

In reading news, I just started Shadows of Ivory by T.L. Greylock and Bryce O’Conner. I picked this one up just before ConFusion this year, in the hopes that I could get it signed by Greylock. Alas, she did not attend, but that gave me the chance to actually read the book before getting it signed, which is the polite way to go about it.

I am well on my way to finishing my stack of back issues of The Paris Review, having just opened the Spring 2020 issue. About ten more to go!

And in writing news, still not much going on. I only have so much space in my brain, and am currently operating at maximum capacity.

A couple of weeks ago I walked downtown to the office for the first time since March 15 of 2020. When I carded into the office I found I was the only employee on the premises. I logged in at my workstation and immediately discovered that several of the services I need to use for the project I’m on were unavailable from behind the firewall.

So I packed everything back up and walked back home. On the way home this butterfly – A Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) was sunning itself on the sidewalk about a block from my house. So the day wasn’t a total loss.

No new reading material arrived this past week, which is an increasingly common state of affairs as I get a handle on the fact that, with another person living in my house, there is only so much room for books, and only so much time available for reading.

In reading news, I am close to the end of Franco Berardi‘s The Uprising, and just past halfway through Michael J. Sullivan‘s Theft of Swords, and enjoying both immensely for completely different reasons.

My writing practice took a hit this week due to some unexpected chores and errands, and also the tail end of a project which sucked the life right out of me. I guess I’ll try again on Monday.