taste in words, and Grateful Thursday

Isn't it interesting how we all have preferences as to what we like to read and what we think makes "good" fiction?

That contest to which I entered my story-- they haven't picked the winners yet, but they've started to post stories they find particularly well written. So far, I'm not terribly impressed. A couple stories are good, obviously written by professionals, and one or two authors have caught my attention and made me want to read more of their work. But the problem is that most of them have a weird quirk about them, like the author is trying to be controversial or weird or just downright confusing. Just because the writing makes you go "huh?" or makes you cringe does not mean that it's interesting or groundbreaking. It may just mean it's confusing, poorly written, or in poor taste. I know I'm not the only one who must think this way, but apparently whoever is judging this competition disagrees with me.

If you could see me right now, you'd see me shrug my shoulders.

This has been a long week. Since Monday, other than hours spent sleeping, I have been at my house all of 6 hours. Monday was trivia night at a bar we frequent. We got all but one question right. The one we missed happened to be the last question, though, and we had bet it all because we were tied for first. How do I know which Presidents attended Harvard? Sheesh. Tuesday night I went to dinner with some work colleagues and out-of-town client guests. Last night was St. Patrick's, and being married to a man who loves to claim his Irish heritage, we went out for green beer and revelry. Well, no green beer, and no corn beef and cabbage (as he reminded me over and over as the night wore on and he had more and more Jamison and Harp). I went home about 8, but he was out til 11:30 with a couple friends until I ventured back into town, in my pjs, to pick him up. He was giggly-drunk, and I literally had to pull his shirt off him and push him into bed. No hangover though, he's truly blessed that way. He could black out and would wake up just peachy.

So today I'm grateful for a quiet night tonight. So quiet, in fact, that we're going to fill out our census papers. I'm also grateful for a night with just one friend tomorrow, at the John Mayer concert in Memphis, although I am a little nervous about being up there without a man to protect us. We'll probably park in the concert hall's parking garage and not venture downtown at all. And so far today I'm also grateful that I seem to be doing pretty well in my company's March Madness bracket. I picked my teams based on uniform color, as in, do I like red or green better? Red. I figure that's just about as scientific as anything anyone else does. If I win, I get about $75, which I will probably turn around and spend on a pizza party for the office, or something similar.

Also, lemon creme cookies. I really appreciate lemon creme cookies.