I may be a slacker, but occasionally I get the job done.

I actually did something today that I've been dreading for the past two weeks--I made a phone call. And not just any phone call, but a phone call for research purposes. I may have said something about writing a non-fiction book (since I pretty reliably crap out on fiction after 100 pages). Today I actually called someone about the topic on which I'm thinking of writing. She wasn't there, so I had to leave her a voicemail on the general voicemail line, which was massively scary. She's done some research on the topic, and I wanted to a) make sure I'm not stepping on her writerly toes, and b) see if I could get a head start on my research by using hers.

Hey, to you that may be small change, but to me, that's practically finishing a full marathon! I hate telephones, and I especially hate asking people for favors, so to do both in one go was more bravery than I've had to show in what feels like centuries.

I also got a freebie today:

Isn't it swanky? It's huge--a full size desk with a credenza-thingie. It has all the mod cons--a nice, stable shelf for my printer (so no more shaky-shaky table when I need to print something), a place to fit a tower (although my cords aren't long enough to put my tower there, so it's becoming a bit of a junk cabinet), two drawers, a place for a cork board (which I am replacing; the one that came with has been upholstered in a nasty fabric) and a pencil tray in the top drawer. Once I get it cleaned out, I can get rid of my pencil holder and put the blue candy dish (by the curtains) up next to my tower. And just look at that prime desk top real estate. I could put nearly six notebooks side by side by side and still have surface left over!

My brother got this for me from the firehouse where he works. They were going to just toss it--can you imagine? It's too nice to dumpster! Ah, well. Their loss is my gain, and I begin to understand some of what my creativity coach is about with the 'when things don't work out the way you want them to, you might be getting a better deal down the road so go with it' bit. If I'd pressed the issue, taken the desk my brother's in-laws wanted to give me this past winter, I wouldn't have gotten this super nice one now. Or I'd have three desks (still haven't gotten rid of my old computer cart) and no where to put them. In any case, I'll have to say this situation has definitely worked out in my favor. This desk has much better space and features than the one I was going to get before. The credenza alone was worth the wait.

In other news, the Infinite Scarf proceeds apace. At least the yarn wad at the working end has gotten smaller. Not by much, but smaller. See:

Maybe I will finish the scarf before my 80th birthday!