Dear sweet pete, is it Friday yet?

I have a 4-day weekend coming up. I had assumed I would have this little break -- I did last year -- but what with the war and the extended hours there were threats that we'd have to be open the entire weekend, which would have definitely lessened my chances of getting the entire thing off. Luckily, my boss managed to convince her boss that since there was only one show going live, there wasn't any point in paying people to be here. So, four days off. Yay!

Honestly, I think it's the best thing they could have done, at least for my productivity. I'm really in a daze lately, plus this week I've been having all sorts of stomach pains, and I'm really looking forward to not having to carry on coherent conversations. As it is, I'm pretty sure there have been moments at work where I wandered off in the middle of a conversation. My co-workers already think I'm anti-social and don't talk enough; now, I'm sure they think I'm rude as well. But I'm not, I swear. I just have no powers of concentration. Well, that, and I keep forgetting that most people think small talk is a good thing.

I intend to use this weekend for sleep, among other things. I didn't realize quite how tired I really am until I fell asleep on the streetcar this morning and missed my stop. However, I'm determined to do at least one memorable thing this weekend, so that when I go back to work I will feel like I had a holiday.

And now I have Madonna running through my head. Sigh.

Booktalk

I don't seem to have read much this week, which I'm sure has absolutely nothing to do with the weekend of vodka and games. Nope.

Catherine Asaro The Quantum Rose

I read this because it was the 2001 Nebula award winner for novels, and therefore was on the lists. I enjoyed it, but it's part of a series, and as always, I have a hard time starting in the middle of a series. I'm sure there are nuances that I missed by having not read the 5 or so books written before this one. Still, I liked it enough that I will probably try others by the same author. Basically, the story is the traditional 'man from advanced technological culture meets woman from primitive agricultural culture', but with enough twists to make it interesting (some of which must be explored further in other books, because a few major points were only very briefly mentioned). And the universe that Asaro has created is pretty interesting.

Dan Savage Skipping Towards Gomorrah

Dan Savage, a funny funny man, takes on American right-wing pundits with this exploration of the seven deadly sins. C'mon, it's the author of Savage Love talking about swingers and gambling and guns -- what more do you really need to know?