(no subject)

[lydamorehouse]

 
Image: Willow, aka Void Cat, is writing my novel for me.

The last few days here in St. Paul have been absolutely gorgeous. The temps have stayed below 80 F / 27 C and the humidity has been low. It's been windy enough that the smoke from the Canadian wildfires hasn't really choked us either. And have I been for a hike? No, I have not. I have barely left the house. 

To be fair, there has been a lot going on with Mason's imminent departure for college/university. Mason got notification of his housing and he lucked out, in my opinion, and got a pretty nifty place. He got slotted into a dorm that Wesleyan calls "Writers' Block."   You guys? This is like my personal dream home. The whole house is filled with other writers and they host all sorts of events like you would expect from lectures from visiting literature fellows and whatnot (there is some kind of on going "Distinguished Writers" series of lectures), but they also have things like READING CIRCLES, open mics, and BOOK SWAPS. And, you can do your own programming IN YOUR DORM ROOM. This is also a house that is full of upperclassmen as well as incoming freshmen. 

How f*cking cool is that???

I would have LITERALLY (in a figurative sense) murdered to live in a place like this... actually, I still might? Like, when the "if I had more money than god/had a million dollars" game comes up, I always imagine making a house into something like this. Honest to god.

So, I mean, even if Mason does have some trouble getting into the classes he wants (and he kind of has been having a bit of trouble because of Wesleyan's open curriculum -- the downside being if the class is cool, there are no restrictions on who can get into it,) he at least will have kind of an amazing living situation. DID I MEANTION READING CIRCLES AND BOOK SWAPS???

Shawn and I are also trying to organize this giant ass trip across the country loaded down with all of Mason's worldly possessions (including all the books he's going to want to swap!) in the back of our sad-a$$ junker car. We are trying to schedule in a sort of "farewell tour" of the grandparents, too, and I think that part is actually working out, but there will be at least one day where we're going to book it from Indiana to Buffalo, NY. 

And, of course, Shawn and I are planning to sob all the way home. 

Comments

[ihavenoarms]

cute

[lydamorehouse]

Heh, thanks! She is both cute and deeply mischievous... I mean, I guess I just described cats?? Anyway, thanks.

[sabotabby]

OMG, that sounds like The Dream. Like, that is what I pictured going to university would be like (spoiler: It was not remotely like that) and I'm so happy for him that he gets to experience it.

Looking forward to Willow's novel.

[lydamorehouse]

I actually trust that Willow will write something darned cool. She's a very clever girl.

Yeah, I just watched a You Tube tour of the "Block," and it is kind an ugly building, very dorm like, Brutalist (hence: the Block part of Writers' Block), but if it really has the kinds of programs it promises to have, I think he'll be quite pleased.

writer cat yeah :)

[thedarkpriestess]

Hello there, I just want to say your cat looks very inspired!
I am pretty sure they have many great ideas and write very sensible notes for you to use in your novel. Are you co-authoring, or will the novel be published just under Willow's name? :)

Re: writer cat yeah :)

[lydamorehouse]

Pretty sure Willow is enough of a cat that I will be lucky to be mentioned in the acknowledgements!

Re: writer cat yeah :)

[thedarkpriestess]

Yes, this is what you can expect from a serious author cat.

[oracne]

That sounds like the best dorm ever!!!!!

Good luck with the drive.

[lydamorehouse]

UGH. Not looking forward to some of that? I mean, normally I love a good cross-country road trip with the family, but this time it all just looks... LONG.

[oracne]

VERY long. I don't think you'll pass through Philadelphia, but if for some reason you need to, let me know; feklar42 and I have a house in West Philly.

[lydamorehouse]

I don't THINK we will? But thank you so much for the offer!!

[rachelmanija]

Adorable void cat, and lucky lucky Mason. That sounds incredible.

[lydamorehouse]

Doesn't it? I am jealous.

[duskpeterson]

I was about to say, "OMG, I WOULD HAVE DIED FOR A COLLEGE EXPERIENCE LIKE THAT!"

. . . except, actually, I sort of had it? Not so much of a writing experience, but definitely a booklovers' experience, both inside and outside the classroom. So I expect good times for Mason. :)

[lydamorehouse]

Mason REALLY wanted to get in at UChicago.... :-(

But, my father used to run a Great Books book club in my hometown of LaCrosse, so I read the Junior Great Books, which included some amazing science fiction stories. It's a neat program.

[pameladean]

Willow is a very elegant cat indeed. My goodness.

I too would have looooved to have the experience one hopes Mason will have in the Writers' Block. I'm not sure it was really available when I went to college, but I'm glad it is for him.

Your plan to sob all the way home seems very sound. What a gigantic undertaking it all is!

P.

[lydamorehouse]

I don't know that my college had "interest" houses. I know Carleton (which I did not go to, but many of my friends did) LATER had a science fiction house, but I went to Augsburg... we were lucky to have a library--in fact, I mostly just walked over the bridge to Wilson and pretended to be a U of MN student the four years I was there.

[pameladean]

Most of the interest houses during my time at Carleton were language houses, so people could have an immersion experience. I lived in the science fiction house the year the college took it away from the professor who was living there and hastily, ineptly transformed it into student housing. It was terrible. When my writing group was invited to visit that house some years later, I was astonished to see that eventually they had gotten their act together and made it a reasonable place to live in. P.