It's been a very nice, bum-around sort of weekend. Yesterday morning the weather was too perfect, so we strolled along the bay and out to the beach and had a relaxing breakfast at Seaside Cantina. Great place to watch waves and people.

Returned home after wading in the surf and caught a showing of Iron Man. I don't think I liked it quite as much as some people, but I really enjoyed Robert Downey, Jr.'s performance, and the suit was totally neat. Sometimes superhero movies turn into CGI cartoons in the last half hour, but there were enough shots of Tony Stark's face behind the helmet that I never felt I'd lost contact with the character and shifted into a different movie.

Stopped at the market on the way home from the movie for sandwich fixings, came home and quickly assembled a picnic, and then headed out to sit on the sand by the bay and munch. I even snuck a beer out there, which you're not supposed to do anymore on account of the hundreds of drunken knuckleheads who rioted last Labor Day. I quietly drank my beer and did not riot.

I've already gotten some feedback on the novel from very-first readers, who caught some stupid things I thought I could get away with, some dumb decisions I made with pacing, and various and sundry. Trying to fix some of that today.

Now, however, I am sleepy.

Many thanks to everyone who commented with nice things about the almost-finished draft of my YA novel, Flotsam. I spent the last two days going through it, doing the meatball surgery that will get it to the Army hospital in Tokyo. Now, it goes off to the Blue Heaven workshop in June. I think I'm going to give my brain a day or two to rest, and then I start work on a proposal for my next book. But right now, I drink beer.

Why am I wearing a hat, you ask? I think the better question is, why aren't you?

San Diego has a healthy microbrew scene, but as a beer drinking Rush fan, I'm very jealous of you Minnesotans.

Flat Earth Cygnus X-1

"This robust English style porter has an add (sic) twist, rye. Rye is used in making Canadian whiskey. It was created as a tribute to our favorite band - Rush. Cygnus X-1 has a creamy mocha chocolate flavor with a hint of spice. It has a slightly dry finish leaving you wanting more. English hops balance out this 6.5% ABV beer."

Scott Kerkmans is Chief Beer Officer for the Four Points by Sheraton hotel chain. His job is to drink beer and choose craftbrew selections for the chain's bars and restaurants.

The basement of his house is crammed full of fine beer. He mostly works at home.

"Something just seems a little bit wrong about drinking beer at 8 in the morning, every morning, for me, so I often will wait until about 10 on the mornings that I'm tasting. Not to say that there's anything wrong with having a beer for breakfast. I do that sometimes, too," Kerkmans says.

(Read story at NPR.)

***

I've been harassing some of my writer friends for tips on synopsis writing. I should have known that jaylake (Jay Lake) would have covered the topic thoroughly in his journal: Synopsis writing, according to Jay.

And I've been getting wonderfully generous tips and advice and examples from my other victims colleagues as well. I love my colleagues. Maybe I've got the best job in America. (Except for the lack of living wage part, of course.)

I'm aiming to make this a productive yet relaxing Sunday. I've already had one work session at the coffee joint, but I still need another 8 or 9 pages to hit my writing goal today. But I also need to give myself time to hang out by the tree and grill burgers and chicken, and there's Suns vs. Lakers (Kobe sucks!), so I'll be keeping my laptop handy while the TV's on.

Right now, I've got cheese puffs and beer for my second breakfast. I am so happy.

I was going to write this whole thing about kung fu and writing and whatever, but this afternoon the weather was perfect, blue and breezy and in the low 70's, so I sat in the shade of a friendly tree and grilled a tri-tip and BBQ'd some chicken and drank Pacifico and ate it with yummy salad and baked beans that Lisa fixed, and now I'm all buzzed on beer and protein, and all else pales in significance.

Also, the Suns beat the Lakers. Life is good.

(Writing did occur.)

Beer! I made beer! It pours like beer and fizzes like beer and foams like beer. When I unscrewed the cap, it didn't come rushing out of the bottle in a rifling pillar like Diet Coke and Mentos. And maybe it's not the best beer I've ever had, but neither does it taste like pickle juice. And most importantly, the bottles didn't launch themselves like rockets and smash holes in my ceiling. It's not munitions, it's beer!

I'd call that progress.

And now I am at an Ontario Airport bar that is charmingly done up in early NASCAR, drinking a much overpriced Sam Adams, and bobbing in waves of nostalgia as the Channel 7 Eyewitness News blares on the TV. The suspiciously named Dallas Rains apparently still performs the weather report. As I recall, he named his son Austin. Personally, I miss Channel 7's weatherman from very long ago, Dr. George Fishbeck. He wore a bow tie. He was born a 70-year-old.

My brain is all wadded up from two days of work stuff, not much gas left in the thank, but I'm typing here and there on fiction, and it feels very nice.

It's a short flight, so I could probably have another beer and not worry about having to climb over my seatmates to get to the tail-section lavatory.