I have Yamamotoyama ginger tea, which is smelling wonderful as I brew it a little too long to get a really strong ginger flavour, and I have the soundtrack to Carrington which is some of my favourite of Michael Nyman's work, and I did a huge amount of work on the release notes plus roleplayed on Pern, all of which has left my left arm and shoulder very tense. But now that I'm sitting still and writing here and doing my daily reading of other journals (Ceej and Liralen and a few others that I'm flirting with becoming a regular reader of) the tension is starting to drain slowly away. Having little to do and too much time is its own stress, I suppose; the release notes make me feel like I'm hugely busy but when I actually sit down and think about what remains to be done the tasks are very small. The stress is in the timing of it; I can't finish until we're in codefreeze, but nobody knows when we'll be in codefreeze. Maybe never.

Hmn. Brewing the tea longer increased the ginger flavour as I hoped, but also has made it a little too bitter. I should ask Gretchen where she got the wonderful ginger tea she gave me a few bags of while staying with Jim&I a few months ago. I think she said Whole Foods, but I'm not sure, and I know I don't remember the brand. It was really lovely, though, as good as the stuff we got at Emi's in Santa Cruz before it was replaced by a sports bar.

And I'm back, from a long break. I got caught up talking to Liralen; I've been reading her old entries and was struck by the unhappiness in them. I went to ask her if the sadness I saw was really there or if it was just mine and I was putting it there. She said it was real, and we talked a lot, and as we talked I discovered that the ginger tea was fine after all, it just needed to be swished around so the good ginger flavour on the bottom was everywhere. I may buy a box of this ginger after all, although I'm likely to still buy a box of the other, since it looks like I'm going to be going to Whole Foods on Sunday to pick up a fruit tray for Ambar's housewarming. This will give me a fine excuse to shop at Whole Foods, as well as doing a good deed, it being easier for those of us in Palo Alto to bring fruit to Calaveras County than for Ambar to drive here to pick it up.

While at Ambar's this weekend I'll be meeting the kitten who might become mine. Her official name is Billie, although Jim and I will probably call her something different if she comes to live with us. The last time I saw her she was about four days old, cute in a wriggly newborn kitten way but without much personality. By now she's matured into a two-month-old ball of Turkish Angora excitement, and Chuck reports that she's completely adorable, so if Jim and I like her and she likes us we'll probably make arrangements to acquire her for keeps once we're back from Chicago. I'm a little nervous about how Jinian will react; she's done well with a kitten in the house before, but that was a boy kitten and it was five years ago now, so I'm not sure if she'll deal well with a pushy female. I must remember to talk things over with Ambar to see what arrangements can be made in case Jinian can't cope.

It's getting late and I'm pretty hungry, plus I haven't seen Jim all day (he's working from home), so now I zoom.