Lauren is my editor-for-life, and my really good friend. We've known each other for years. When we work together, it's absolutely SERIOUS BUSINESS.
But she can also be really, really silly.
"Healing boo-boos with nom-noms"
I love this. I love her. My writing is serious stuff, and she's an amazing editor. But she's also silly and lighthearted and shares my love of the ridiculous.
I couldn't think of a better purrson to doctor my writing.
A few weekends ago I was down visiting Maya and Michael in North Carolina, to go to a Black Violin concert, together. This was during a big snowstorm, too. I got out of town early, and avoided most of the bad stuff that hit the DC area. North Carolina was a whole lot less snowed upon, although they got plenty.
When we went to the concert, I did have to scrape my car, Appa, off so we could go. Navigating the secondary roads in their neighborhood was not very fun, either. But once we hit the main roads, we seemed to be good.
We drove for an hour or so to East Carolina University for the concert, where there was no snow on the ground at all.
Looks like the whole trip was going to be without incident, right?
Well, almost.
We decided to get some Waffle House breakfast-for-dinner after the concert. Appa had this giant sheet of icy sleetsnowcrud (sure, it's a word) stuck to his roof. I got on the highway, and got up to high speed, not realizing that in the slightly warmer temperatures the car had sat in while we were at the concert, that icy roof-hat had melted some. Enough for the wind to get under it, and rattle it, seriously thumping the roof before it came flying free.
It didn't hit anyone else except us, but the weirdest thing happened when it did. The whole car rattled loudly, and one of my overhead dome light covers cracked, and fell right into Michael's lap!
Thankfully, the dome light itself still worked.
Appa's fancy new car part
And just a few days ago, I had my mechanic look into replacing the part, and it was only about $20. Whew!
So there's this thing that Squee and I have in common - we don't really like surprises. In my case, it's that I'm not fond of the related sneaking-around-and-lying related to it. It's not that I don't like people doing nice things for me, I really, really do. But I don't find that those things are improved by being a secret.
Squee's distaste for surprises is because she really dislikes being startled.
I get this. I really, really get it.
Leah, our girl Katie's partner, and I often joke around about being SorryNotSorry for something. (Like say, interrupting someone to hug them, because that's awesome.)
Similarly, there's a way to surprise someone while not surprising them.
MIssy and I sent Squee a very nice early-birthday present the other day. I wanted her to be on the lookout for the package, so I let her know it was coming, but not what was in it. (If you want to know, you'll have to ask her.)
She was so pleasantly surprised but not startled knowing we'd sent her something.
When she got it, she was even more pleasantly surprised. But not surprised.
See how that works?
I love when life circumstances teach me things about my partners and myself.
But that's not surprising.
I had an amazing day the other day. Even though I was not feeling it, I went to the gym, and swam before work. Then I threw code all day, working hard to surmount a technical challenge I'd been struggling with for days. I persevered, and eventually figured it out, even though I really, really wanted to throw in the towel, multiple times.
(Which I couldn't, because the towel was wet, and cold, and in my gym bag, in my car in the parking lot.)
But my crowning achievement of indomitable willpower for the day came late in the day. I was leaving the conference room, getting ready to go back to my desk and pack up to leave when I saw that someone had left a brownie out for anyone to eat in the office kitchen.
Instantly my Inner Demon woke up, and told me, "Say.... you worked out this morning, and have had a day filled with technical challenges. Wouldn't that brownie be just a fantastic reward?"
"No," I said. "I'm trying to get in shape, eat mindfully, too. I'm not hungry, and I really don't need a sugary treat just now."
"Are you sure?" the Inner Demon said. "It looks pretty tasty!"
"Absolutely sure," I said. "And it's just some store brownie, still wrapped in cellophane. It doesn't look good. It looks free. That doesn't mean I have to have it. Go away, Inner Demon."
And he did.
Scootylooty is one of our podcast listeners, and someone who follows both Spacey and me on Twitter.
He totally knocked me out the other day, with a single tweet:
"Random pic of me and my new plushie Mako Spacey in our car seats."
Brother and I both told him we were honored. How adorable is that?!
