thank god for sundays

[verbicide]

So yesterday pretty much ruled from start to finish.

Started the morning with two of my favorite people, devinluvsrussia and jeff_nw. As an added bonus, I finally got to meet the infamous Brian!

Devin had suggested Paul's Place in the U-district (it was excellent). Funnily enough, we ran into her parents there, just finishing their breakfast. They were such lovely people. It's clear to see where Devin gets her sweetness.

Jeff and Brian showed up shortly after. Brian was every bit as hilarious and adorable as Jeff has described. Brunch with Devin and two handsome men? Yeah, not complaining.


The judge's ruling on my hair was that it looked just fine and not like Gossamer, the red-hair monster creature in bugs bunny. I explained that the stylist kept stroking my hair and crooning that it was beautiful (it was having a particularly shiny and glossy day) and I just submitted to whatever he wanted to do, as long as he left the length alone. Well, I'm not crazy about how he did the layers, but it'll grow out and my hair is going to be shoved into pigtails for awhile.

Many topics were covered and I was excited to have Dev and Jeff finally meet. Jeff mentioned that he was determined to start our course reading, and I realized that um I'd forgotten to order my books. Oops. Jeff suggested we meet up and I could read one book while he read the other. Whew.

After dropping off Devin with instructions to begin her indoctrination into the world of Strangers in Paradise Vol I, I hustled home for my backpack and glasses. Met up at Jeff's place shortly after and walked down to Top Pot. If we weren't about to explode from brunch, I'm sure we'd have sampled one of their highly recommended donuts. As it was, we grabbed a table outside and commenced with the joy of Audience Analysis, Information Planning and Content Development.

Bill the Prof has assigned us 9 freaking chapters before the second class. It's remarkable. He didn't look like Satan.

Apologies in advance, Jeff, but this is too cute not to share.

As we were slogging through the material, Jeff looked up in anguish and eeked out an "Oh no!" I asked him what was wrong. He explained that he likes to underline his text, preferring that to the glare of highlighter pens. Totally agreed. But, see, he likes to use a ruler so it'll be nice and straight. Something about anal-retentive geekery makes me positively swoon. I think I showed remarkable restraint in not pinching his cheeks and cooing at his despair when he realized that alas! his ruler was at home. I forked over my pack of cigarettes as a straight-edge and crisis was averted. I had to stifle a giggle every time I looked over at his intent, focused underlining. Seriously, that is some adorable shit.

We were pretty good about actually doing the reading and made decent progress. The problem is that Jeff is so freaking fascinating, stupid Tech Comm can't compare and we always lapse off onto tangential discussions about travel, religion, family lunacy, global issues, etc.

The hour grew late, the wind chill factor unbearable, so we strolled back to his place. Where! I! Got! To! Meet! Brutus!!

I'm officially in LOVE. I felt like I was somehow cheating on Hobbes. Brutus-- Jeff's 20lb brown tabby with striking stripes and a sweet face--is the most remarkable creature! He looked like a small cougar or something! Huge rumbling purrrr and omfg yay! After more stimulating conversation, we grudgingly returned to reading our assignment. I managed to plow through all 9 chapters by glancing at headings and bold text and relevant seeming bits without lapsing into a coma.

Ok. GOT it. Fucking analyze your audience. Plan this shit out. THEN and ONLY then do anything. I get their fucking anvilicious point already. Brh.

As we were wrapping up, I got a call from Ellie about dinner. Yay! I haven't seen as much of them lately, so despite my post-brunch bloat, I agreed to meet them in Queen Anne. I was grateful it was at a sushi place, as I hate sashimi and knew there'd be no temptation.

Had some soup and Ellie'd brought the latest EW with the Pop Culture Quiz. It was a blast, and so good to see them all again! They're heading out this weekend for a family wedding in NYC so I won't see them again for a bit.

And even though it was like 7pm, the sun was still out and it was the end of a really nice, mellow weekend. Came home, puttered around for a bit and crawled into bed.


I feel all restored and happy today. Even, dare I say it, motivated to study? Jeff was kind enough to loan me his book for our Thursday class which he'd finished reading. Only a few, easy chapters there, so yay. Must read now.

Comments

[euphrasie.livejournal.com]

Tech Comm classes are such overkill... if people actually followed all of those steps, no one would ever get anything written. I think those classes and cert programs produce some of the worst writers because they never seem to focus on the actual mechanics of being a good writer... just an awful lot of planning and outlining and general muck.

Get through the classes and then ignore them ;)

[verbicide.livejournal.com]

Agreed. I'm tired of hearing the same message over and over again. Got it already.

Planning is great, but not every company provides that opportunity.

Good advice :)