A new project has appeared, involving a television script. I’ve never worked on a TV script before, so this is both daunting (hello new format!) and exciting (hello, new format!). Deadlines are tight, even tighter than print media can be, so that’s also high on the daunting scale. But on the exciting scale, I’ll get to see the final results in a short period of time. Still waiting to hear from the publisher on Big Project. Not sure what the holdup is, but traditional publishing has always moved at the speed of never. Otherwise debating if I can afford to go to a conference I’m really looking forward to in April. Someday, I hope that I can at least offset these costs with income created by writing. Sadly that day isn’t yet.

In other news the crows who visit my yard daily have started leaving me gifts. This week it was an iridescent piece of glass, laid reverently in front of a stone frog sitting in the middle of the garden box. It now rests on the frog’s head, as it didn’t seem right to take it from where they put it for some reason. Perhaps the crows know something I don’t.

The sun appears occasionally, in the midst of rain we should’ve been getting all of December but didn’t. People are starting to complain about the gloom, but I don’t mind it much. Waiting for spring, and waiting is the default mode of this February. Waiting on a book contract so I can announce the project. Waiting on postdoc funding applications, so I can afford to allot time to get the dissertation published. Waiting on PayPal to release $300 it’s holding due to duplicate transactions, which is aggravating because that was already allocated to bills and groceries - and now I have to wait on those. Too much waiting and not enough movement.

The anemones have started to bloom in the garden box. They weren’t supposed to last another year, but I expect the lack of winter has them thinking it’s still the same year. Now I’m wondering what else will arise from the dirt of the last decade.

There’s a metaphor for life in general in there somewhere.

Wrote my biography for the university’s graduate profiles website today. Had a further realization around how far I have come since I started graduate school 22 years ago, and how not only my research interests but my general goals shifted over all that time. Sure, part of it has to do with a change of academic study area, and some has to do with the reality of going from being 28 years old to being 50 and how much a person changes in that amount of time. But underneath these changes I also get a glimpse at the unexpected paths we take, especially when the roads we thought we were going to walk are unavailable, or terrain requires detours. Would 28 year old me be surprised I’m writing on sectarian violence, for example? Back then I was just interested in hieroglyphs and museums.

Clearing out the to do lists and preparing for another week. I got to read an upcoming book for someone this week in order to write a review for the back cover. I’m excited for him - I think it will be very well received and delighted he’s finally written this. Also got some very good news on one of my own book projects today. Still can’t share it, but we’re closer to that day.

Middle of a set of three 12-hour days. Many things going on, some very good and I cannot wait to share them. The weather is wreaking havoc on my sinuses (just pick a season, please) but otherwise things are moving right along. Zigzag is sleeping nearby, occasionally throwing me a look as if to say “you could nap, too.” Not quite yet, but hopefully soon.