Tuesday, 16 March 2004

I did read through my story and fix some typos and awkward sentences, and then print a new "final" version. It's at 4100 words now.

I also went over the comments I had from my critique and found several (mostly minor ones) that weren't addressed in this rewrite. Now I need to decide if I want to fiddle with them. Some are smallish, but none could be addressed in just a sentence. They're also not directly related to the story I'm telling, so my first inclination is to just ignore them.

I think I'll read the story one more time before I make a final decision.

Steven and mom arrived yesterday. We've been eating too well and generally having a good time.

Steven didn't have any interest in watching more Buffies, so we've been watching Firefly episodes instead. Everybody seems to be enjoying them. We have also squeezed in plenty of StarCraft.

One other thing we did is of some interest. We went to a couple of pawnshops looking for a banjo. (One of Steven's sons is interested in playing a banjo.) We found one rather nice (and very expensive) banjo, but no cheap ones. We did, however, find something I hadn't expect--swords.

I sometimes get catalogs of fantasy stuff, including fantasy swords: large, sharp pieces of stainless steel with handles carved into something fantastical--a cobra's head or a dragon or some such. I've never bought such a thing, but I now know to check out local pawnshops before paying list price.

I found it sad, but not quite as sad as the men's gold rings. Lots and lots and lots of men's gold rings. Each one, I imagine, a relic from a broken life.

Some were plain gold wedding bands, like the one I wear. Those, I suppose were just relics of failed marriages--sad enough. But there were others--fancier rings, some with tiny diamonds or other stones. I imagine those having been bought by someone who had some extra money and decided to buy himself something nice. But, since the ring ended up in a pawnshop, I can only assume that things went badly sometime after that. It is judgmental of me to think that buying the ring was a stupid waste of money, but I think so anyway. Wouldn't a savings account have made more sense?