an unexpected victory

After all the doomful predictions of how it would die in the Senate, it appears that the repeal of the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward gays has passed.

Dear Congress: thank you for my early Christmas present. It's about bloody time.

in-flight wireless, facilitating Yuletide silliness

So I discovered I have longer to write "Coyotaje" than I thought, which means I was able to let myself stop pushing on a stone that really doesn't want to roll yet. Still need to get the thing written soon, but as long as that one wasn't moving forward, I let myself write a silly little treat for Yuletide, above and beyond the story I was assigned. The recipient is somebody I don't know in the slightest -- which pleases me, because there's something delightful about total strangers writing stuff for each other. Friends writing stories as gifts is also nice, but when it's a stranger, it's all about shared love for the source. Somebody else going, "omg, you've seen/read/heard that, too? Isn't it fabulous?"

After the brain-drain that was With Fate Conspire, this is, indeed, what I needed. Stories as play, without having to put on my professional hat. December is a good time of year for recharging, and I can feel myself getting excited about other things now. We'll see how much I can get done before the calendar ticks over.

Right now, though, I'm on a plane, which was okay for polishing that Yuletide story, but not terribly good for drafting something new. Plus, I'm very sleepy, and can't let myself nap. Time to find someway to keep myself awake.