Trees In Circles

This morning I woke up to the news that Asian stock markets had plummeted over night and our own stock market is likely to follow and the United States will probably have an 8% unemployment rate by early next year. What did I do? I smiled!

I have never felt so great about not having a job before! I figure this is fodder for another book, either titled, Wow That Was Stupid:Why Quitting My Job During The Worse Economic Crisis in Recent History Turned Out To Be Kind Of Like Jumping Headfirst Into A Toilet Bowl Filled With Piranhas OR The Best Move Of My Life: How I Made My First Trillion Selling Paperclip Sculptures On Ebay During The Worst Recession Of All Time, depending on how things turn out.

My morning far surpassed the previous evening. Scenario: I had eaten dinner and Anthony and I were about to run to the store to get soy milk and chocolate chips. He was going to have cereal for dinner and I was going to make some chocolate chip muffins for dessert. Then we were going to lounge on the couch and watch the unrated version of Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Reality: The moment I laced up my sneaks to head out the door, our friends called saying they had broken down about half an hour away and needed Anthony to pick them up; they'd buy him dinner in return for the favor. The problem is I drive a teenytiny truck and the maximum number of passengers it can fit is three, and to actually fit that many in one or two of them need to be the size of an 18-week-old fetus. Anthony drives a work van since he's a house painter, which can only seat two, plus a couple people tied up and gagged in the back. So we couldn't both go to pick our friends up. Anthony left to get them and I stayed home. I moped around for a while and watched Lindsay Lohan on Ugly Betty, but then I got off my duff and made this:

It's what I started working on this past weekend and it's not done yet. I'm not sure if I like it or not, but it's still a work in progress. Then today at work I made this (still stuck on the Sharpies):

What is it with me and trees and circles? I don't really know, it's a phase, I guess. I must say that since turning in my notice my creativity has been bursting out of me, I have all sorts of ideas for other books and art projects, not to mention the fact that next week I should get all of my pre-course homework for the life coach training I'll be starting in January. Which reminds me....my life coach has been in Spain for a week, she has no idea I've gone and made all these decisions!

Random person asking me a question: Jen, how long has it been since you submitted your chapters and query to Ten Speed Press?

Jen: 14 freaking weeks!!! And three weeks since I sent the inquiry letter wondering if my package was eaten by badgers and/or sea monkeys. What is going on??

RPAMAQ:I don't know, what about the package you sent to Chronicle Books?

J:It's only been about 2 months plus a week since I sent my stuff to them, it takes about 3 months to hear back.

RPAMAQ:How long until you hear from Skirt! about the essay you sent last weekend?

Jen: They take six to eight weeks, so I've got a long way to go.

RPAMAQ:Is there anything else you'd like to say?

Jen: Do you have any chocolate? Nevermind, but thanks for your interest. Have a great weekend!