Friday
August 14, 1998









Email:
diana@sff.net

Ugh. First night of work. How exhausting.

Actually, work itself is not tiring in the slightest. It's an insanely easy job, but my shift started at 2am, and by about 7am I was wondering if I was going to make it the whole night. Logically I know that in a week or two my sleep cycle will be adjusted, but until then it's going to be rough. Luckily I don't have anything resembling a Real Life, so I am free to grab sleep whenever I want.

So, adjusting to the different sleep schedule will be a bit of a trial, but the harder thing for me to get used to again was all the damn smoking. I went 7 blessed wonderful delightful weeks of not having to suck anyone else's nicotine discharge. Now I'm trapped in a building with hundreds of them, with no way to escape. I can handle one or two smokers at a time, but the constant pall of it gets old, and by the time I left work my throat was sore and scratchy. I've managed to avoid illness the entire time I was gone, and I'm really hoping I can continue to do so. I really wish they would outlaw it in places like that though.

And, in fact, the smoking is another reason why I'm suddenly really itching to go find a place of my own to live. Tiffany's mother smokes, as does Tiffany on rare occasion, and sometimes it's tough to escape the smell of it. I think I'm going to have to give myself some sort of specific time frame for moving out. I really can't move for a few months, even though I can afford it, simply because I do save so much money living here, and my debt-load will get paid off humongously faster by remaining here a bit longer. Especially since I still intend to go to England this October. Just suck it up, Diana, for a few more months. Maybe after the first of the year. But man, I really do want to be off by myself. I have to deal with humans all day at work. I'd like someplace that is just mine, where I don't have to share a bathroom, and refrigerator space.

* * * * *

I sent my first post-Clarion submission off today. I rewrote "Extant" which was actually the last story I wrote while there. This weekend I'll plunge into "Road Rage."