Thinking about a walk instead. Hard to walk and sleep at the same time. Well. Relatively difficult.

Thanks for the birthday wishes, all.

Good job, kitty! Stay!

Happy birthday, Shir!

It's payday! We had a squeek-by month, so it's good to have coffee money again.

Good news: Emmett's state championship game is tomorrow. We've already beaten two of the teams we might face, and we're in the winner's bracket in a double elimination tournament. That means if we win tomorrow, we're the champs. If we lose, we would have another chance to play on Sunday. Also, we're starting our best pitcher.

Bad news: my book deal fell apart. Small publisher and their last book didn't sell well and they're not in a place where they can sign a new contract. Fuck. So my tentative plan to temp half time, and write half time (which worked fairly well last year with the Tom Waits book, the Oxford American articles and some liner notes), has gone kaput. Also, I haven't even had temp work this month.

Feh. I probably have to go find a permanent job again.

Good news: Emmett's state championship game is tomorrow. We've already beaten two of the teams we might face, and we're in the winner's bracket in a double elimination tournament. That means if we win tomorrow, we're the champs.

Excellent!

Bad news: my book deal fell apart. Small publisher and their last book didn't sell well and they're not in a place where they can sign a new contract. Fuck. So my tentative plan to temp half time, and write half time (which worked fairly well last year with the Tom Waits book, the Oxford American articles and some liner notes), has gone kaput. Also, I haven't even had temp work this month.

Bogus!

Oh Hec, I'm so sorry about the book, and it making all your plans go pear shaped.

Sorry about the book deal, Hec.

That means if we win tomorrow, we're the champs.

Are you and Emmett gonna sing "We Are the Champions"?

Speaking of which, Queen's Guitarist Publishes Astrophysics Thesis

The founder of the legendary rock band Queen has completed his doctoral thesis in astrophysics after taking a 30-year break to play some guitar.

Brian May's thesis examines the mysterious phenomenon known as Zodiacal light, a misty diffuse cone of light that appears in the western sky after sunset and in the eastern sky before sunrise. Casual observers, if they live under very dark rural skies, can best see the light two to three hours before sunrise as they look east, and many people have been fooled into seeing it as the first sign of morning twilight. A Persian astronomer who lived around the 12th century referred to it as "false dawn" in a poem.

...

"I have thoroughly enjoyed my years playing guitar and recording music with Queen, but it's extremely gratifying to see the publication of my thesis," May said. "I've been fascinated with astronomy for years, and I was happy to finally complete my Ph.D. last year and record my studies of the Zodiacal Light in this book."

May officially received his doctorate on Aug. 24, 2007, from the Imperial College in London. He also gained the appointment of chancellor for Liverpool John Moores University in November of that year, showing that he's not just any guitar hero.

Oh Hec, I'm so sorry about the book, and it making all you plans go pear shaped.

It's disappointing. I'd been enjoying the research so far.

On the plus side, the Tom Waits book is apparently selling pretty well and I should get a boost after I do the bus tour in LA this Labor Day weekend.

Mostly though I feel at loose ends. When you write it feels like "Ta da!" when you get published, but unless you're JKR it doesn't really change your material circumtances that often.

Then again, I felt the same way after the other two books were published so it's probably a normal part of the writer's cycle.

Are you and Emmett gonna sing "We Are the Champions"?

crosses fingers to avoid jinx

Should we prevail...Almost certainly. For all the District games we played in Antioch we sang along with "Bohemian Rhapsody" Wayne's World style as we drove there.

Damn, Hec. That sucks.

That does suck, Hec. But not the Emmett thing-- that sounds like good news (I don't know anything about sports), but the book thing.