Weekend update

I've got a leaf taped over my hoo hah. After mulled cider and taco salad Chez Ben Bradshaw, went to Southpaw to catch the end of the Novemberfest burlesque show and see The Woggles at midnight--which turned into 1 AM when the burlesquers, uhm, kept coming on late. Got home at 3 AM, woke up at 8, and started working on --

Deadline City, Part 1. -- Three Dead Slaves. Back in October my friend DJ gave me a deadline of December 3 to finish the next section of the Roman mystery novel, and as of Friday I have a complete Book Two. Except that the ending limps. It still needs another chapter, so I start working on it at 8:30 and by 11:30 I've drafted the first third of it. I type up what I've written, print it out, go to a coffee shop, and finish the second third, before taking a 90-minute nap and heading into Hoboken to see --

The band that never fails to deliver. -- The Woggles at Maxwell's. It's cold as a landlord's heart as I walk down Washington Street, but as warm as a Cratchit Christmas when I get to the club. Saw The Ribeye Brothers (very good), The Hi-Risers (my new favorite band), The Black Hollies (pretentious and boring, but they packed the biggest audience so go figure), and The Woggles, kicking ass as usual but this time as the closing band, which meant a full hour of great music from them. Home again at 3 AM, slept in till 9 AM, and started working on --

Deadline City, Part 2. -- the final third of the final chapter, which I finished at 11:57 AM in the Au Bon Pain downtown, while singing Ragged But Right (a Woggles song) to myself. Called DJ and reported in, then typed up the changes, and printed out a copy while downloading pictures from Friday and Saturday and --

I wish I had a river I could skate away on. -- finishing the third and final version of this year's Christmas CD, replacing one long song with three small tunes I found online. Then I took the printed copy to --

Thank you, Newcastle Brown Ale. -- Cornelia Street, where I parked myself in front of Madeline the bartender, had three Newcastles and a steak dinner, made continuity edits to Book Two, and plotted out the rest of the novel based on what I'd just finished, said plotting including answers to three major questions which have been bugging me quite literally for years about the plot. Went home at 9ish, typed in the edit changes, fell asleep on the couch while watching Paprika, and went to bed at 1.