NATE SILVER JUST SUBSCRIBED TO MY SUBSTACK!!!!!!!!!



Be still, my beating heart!

I am the biggest, sloppiest Nate Silver fangirl imaginable! :::Fanning myself & fainting anyway:::

###

In other news, one of Dr. Gaunt's minions called me up to tell me borderline BP, borderline cholesterol = cardiology consult.

And I got off the phone & thought, But I don't want a cardiology consult because I don't care if I drop dead.

And I don't care.

But I do care if I become physically incapacitated, which is the more likely result of any cardiac event.

So-oo-ooo.

Sigh.

I guess I'll schedule the damn thing for February when I should be seeing the results of my new All lentils, oatmeal, & salmon, all of the time! diet.

I mean, unless they're planning to put me on statins—not warranted by my LDL levels—all they're gonna do at this point is tell me, Modify your diet. I can do that on my own. The info I really need is: Did modifying my diet work?

###

Reminders of one's own mortality aren't happiness-inducing.

I spent the rest of yesterday in a very teary mood. I'm trying to resist saying things like The world could not be worse! because, of course, it certainly could be. But things on the news front are baaaaaad. In fact, I've decided to forgo Yom Kippur this year because the Jewish State of Israel should be atoning for Gaza, and they're not—which makes the entire Day of Atonement an exercise in hypocrisy so far as I'm concerned.

Plus, my workload right now is so hideous that I actually felt guilty breaking to exercise.

###

In the evening, real-life Flavia reached out to tell me about Open House New York.

Real-life Flavia is one of the most introverted people I know, so for her to reach out is a Very Big Deal.

We will spend at least one day weekend after next running around the City doing OHNY things.

Gotta say, I am feeling a little bit weird about real-life Flavia in the context of the Work in Progress: So far, the only mentions of the Flavia character have been as a rich, socially awkward diletante, and in her section of the novel, she will be grappling with a massive cocaine habit—not true in real life!—and I am thinking she is not gonna like any of that.

But this is always the problem when you base characters on real-life people that you know.

Which is why I prefer writing novels about June Miller, or Joseph Campbell & John Steinbeck, or the assassination of the Dalai Llama.

But this novel feels commercial and obviously wants to be written, so... :::Shrugs:::