Titles by Kij Johnson are available for purchase online

(Locked Patreon post is here.)

Thanksgiving is always a week of one-offs for me, everything an exception to the usual run of things. Since I don’t have any Thanksgiving traditions (my dad preached church services in the morning and then we went to a buffet), this is even more true. This year I had dinner with Chris and Lauren and their charming cockatiel, Peepers; in previous years I’ve had dinner at fancy restaurants, gone to the houses of friends, or eaten an omelet at home while bingeing some show or other.

One of the real gifts of being solitary is that I can do whatever I like with regard to holidays. Do I want a tree? Do I want to take it down on the 26th, or in mid January, or on December 21s, because I’m tired of it? Do I want to eat fondue with friends on Christmas eve, or drink champagne alone? Do I want to open cards and presents as they show up, or on Christmas Eve, or on the 29th of December, when I finally get around to it? I rather thought this would be a Christmas tree year, and so it is. I bought the tree Tuesday, put it up Wednesday, and trimmed it Friday.

I am still working on this grant: feeling somewhat intimidated and a little weary of the whole thing — but we advance.

Hmmm, five things….I have only two more classes this semester, so that would be Thing 4, I guess? I’ll just accept that this week was sort of weird and mad and very busy but not very documentable, and turn to today’s tasks: prepping for that class, working on that grant. More anon.