This Weekend is Me Weekend

Matt is gone, in the Valles, hopefully getting a lot of field work done. Hopefully enjoying fall, or maybe winter at that elevation, and hopefully not getting shot by hunters. Surely enjoying his dinner at Los Ojos.

I am here.

I like to get up in the mornings, after Matt leaves, so I can have some me time. Taking the bus makes this kind of hard because I only get up early enough to eat, shower, and walk down the street. So this weekend I am catching up.

I am reading - I'm in the middle of two books. One I am reviewing - Managing Water: Avoiding Crisis in California by Dorothy Green. One I am enjoying - Plenty by Smith and Mackinnon. I will be sure to post about Plenty when I am done with it - I am sure I will recommend it to everyone, even if you don't have pipedreams like I do to someday follow a 100-mile diet.

Actually I'm also in the middle of Monkey Wrench Gang, an Umberto Eco book, and Milagro Bean Field War. Maybe more. I tend to get distracted when books don't immediately grab my attention. Sometimes I go through periods where I hardly read anything, and then I stumble upon a book I love and I remember that I love reading. I'm just very specific about what I want to read.

Reading has motivated me again to be more faithful in pursuing my writing. My first front page article came out this week - granted it was on The Independent, but I guess it still counts. The editor even managed to spell my name right this time. (Oh and I finally got paid by LAT.)

I also pitched a story to HCN, submitted to Writers on the Range, and sent an old essay into a literary magazine - something a professor suggested I do years ago.

And I have another job possibility - actually in my field this time. And since I'm taking some me time, I've decided that I don't have to feel bad if I leave my current job. I have to do what's best for me. Maybe the other possibility won't come through. Maybe I will decide I like my job. Maybe I will learn to be happy in the present rather than always searching for better things for the future. Maybe I will enjoy this moment.