Thanks to Ceri’s presence yesterday, I hit 14,448 words. Yes, that’s about 5,500 words in one afternoon. There’s nothing that makes you write like the sound of someone else madly typing. I wanted to double my word count, but hitting 18,000 was a dream; I was so exhausted by seven o’clock that I had to admit defeat. Still, 5,500 is just shy of two-thirds of my goal, so I’m pleased. Ceri made me a little sticky-note with a secondary goal of 15,200 words on it on it, and I almost reached it. Granted, these goals were deliberately exaggerated, but they certainly kept me going! We also discovered that the perogies from the Russian shop nearby are absolutely delicious (thanks for the tip, Bev!), so the day was a remarkable success all around. Ceri made yummy spaghetti sauce for dinner, too.

I woke up feeling somewhat human this morning, which is a really pleasant switch from the sub-human feelings I’ve been experiencing lately thanks to this cold. I passed up the Remembrance Day services downtown at Place du Canada in favour of staying home where it’s warm; I’m not going to risk a relapse when I’m so close to getting rid of it. Every year I do a small ritual for Remembrance Day at eleven o’clock if I’m home, and this year was no different. I burn rosemary and a yellow candle, and marvel every year at how the beginning of November is full of ceremonies honouring the dead: Samhain, All Souls, Day of the Dead, Remembrance Day. CBC Radio Two sucker-punched me this year by playing the ‘Nimrod’ movement from Elgar’s Enigma Variations directly after live coverage of the Ottawa ceremony, reducing me to tears. This is a piece of music that unabashedly rips your heart to bits, and playing it with my second orchestra this year has only made me more sensitive to it.

On to writing! Let’s see: got my tea, my afghan, my laptop, my cats, and my stuffed ferret. I’m set.