Thanks to all who sent me well-wishes and prayers. On this fall-sunshine-blue-sky day in November, I can tell you that my biopsy came back negative (sigh of relief inserted here.) So I am appreciating all the good things in life. Like today I had this great philly-style cheesesteak sandwich, which is (as you know if you ever lived in the midwest) hard to find in the Pacific Northwest. And the leaves are all turning, and the boats seem happy to be in the water today.

Had lunch with Colleen McElroy yesterday. It was good to catch up with her, and we talked about her new manuscript she wants to publish (which sounds fascinating) and how comic books provide feminist and multicultural role models, and how we like Joss Whedon shows (she’s a Firefly fan.) She said something wise to me about the anxiety that comes from sending out your manuscript and your journal submissions, about how we should look for people and editors who appreciate the kind of work we do. That’s good advice, I think. I ordered two books on the influence of pop culture heroines from Amazon yesterday. I am thinking I am going to do my big thesis paper on something like “The Female Hero in comics and other media and how they affect the voices of contemporary women poets.” What do you think?

Finally got to read through the new 88. Josh Corey has some quotes from a tongue-in-cheek essay there on poetry and the poetry biz at his blog. A couple of interesting things about this issue: one, that is has so many people from the blogging community in it, and second, that the editor states his preference for avant-garde and post-avant-garde poetry. Which surprised me quite a bit, since my poetry is not what I would label avant-garde. But maybe we are no good at labelling out own work. The poem of mine in the issue is called “Breathing In the Asthma Capital.” If you read it, let me know if you think this qualifies as avant-garde.

Finished up two big assignments, one on using XML in FrontPage, another on WS-Trust, WS-Policy, and WS-SecureConversation. Now, I only have “fun” work the rest of the year, like articles for Northwest Palate and Seattle Woman Magazine.

Now, to go out and enjoy a little bit of the November sunshine.