Starting to learn how to pull decent shots with my new Cafelat Robot espresso maker.

Finished rereading Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Boy do I have complicated feelings about this. On the one hand, the concepts are fascinating and the storytelling is top-notch. On the other, there’s a bunch of pandering to nerds and contempt for non-nerds, especially in the first half of the book, not to mention the casual sexism. (I would be curious to see what the book would have been like in the alternate universe where he wrote it today.) I used to recommend this book without reservations, but now it would be more along the lines of The Lord of the Rings (read this, but don’t fail to notice that the people with dark skin are bad guys).

Today’s kitchen victories, a rare multicourse meal: risi e bisi (risotto with peas and pancetta), brasato all’Amarone (beef braised in Amarone wine), polenta, and tiramisù. Mom came over.

Tonight’s kitchen grill victory: steak fajitas, the first time using the grill this cold, rainy spring.

Spent a couple hours with my good friend Jeff, who I haven’t seen for [mumblemumble] years, and his girlfriend Jen. Had a great time.

Drove Mom to Portland so she could go out with her two friends, who have stayed in touch since they were in first grade together.

Finished rereading Bad Machinery parts 1–10 by John Allison. Allison’s writing continued to mature over the course of these stories, with a clear trajectory towards Steeple.

Current earworm: “No You Girls” by Franz Ferdinand.

Finished reading Spear by Nicola Griffith, a short, fun novel retelling the story of Percival and the Holy Grail. (It’s just around a quarter the length of Hild!) A lovely digestif of a book.

Had a work meeting (!) this afternoon, with a customer who was in town. First time I’ve done anything like this in more than two years, of course.

Finished rereading Scary Go Round volumes 1–8 by John Allison. I first read these as they were published online (starting with 2004’s “1840 and All That”); it was very interesting to reread them as a whole work, seeing the progression of Allison’s artistic and storytelling styles and interests.

My recollection was correct: Hild does belong on the shelf next to Lavinia and Matrix.

Griffith has finished the first draft and at least the second round of rewrites of the next part of the story, Menewood.

Finished rereading Hild by Nicola Griffith, the first part of a fictional biography of the lightly-documented Saint Hilda of Whitby. I love this book, love how it centers girls and women in its well-researched portrayal of seventh-century life. I read this slowly enough that having the ebook was a huge advantage: Whenever a character I’d forgotten showed up again, I could quickly search to remind myself who they were.

Also yesterday, while out with a friend, the dude decided to head to Capitol Hill, despite never having ridden transit without me. He made it, with a few minor misadventures along the way. Super-proud.