Almost forgot to give this a title...

Nice quiet day at the office, and a beautiful spring day outside, with the tulips just about to burst into bloom on the greenbelt that runs down the middle of Park Avenue. I walked out of my apartment this morning, my light spring coat practically too warm for the weather, and noticed the trees on my street in bloom. Isn't it funny how you never seem to notice them about to bloom, just suddenly -- they're covered in blossoms? It's neat.

Work's been busy this week, following up on notes from the London Book Fair that my colleagues attended earlier this month. I spent hours each day, it seems, noting interest, following up on material sent, and sending copies of books. Still more to do, but at this time of the day, at the end of a long week, it no longer seems as pressing. The rest of it can wait until next week. No, the rest of it will wait until next week.

Had my writers group on Tuesday night, and shared with them the latest version of "HtDaS," which is really coming together. Still need to do some more tweaking to get it ready to show editors, but then... eeks. Submissions. And then who knows? Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, here I come.

Working on other writing, too. Starting up a new Storyball for April, so I'll have fun, short little deadlines every few days, plus another deadline at the end of the month for another anthology by the people publishing "Coda." Got our story plotted out, mostly, just need to write it.

Not this weekend, though. Got an out-of-town guest again, so there will be fun and festivities, and a concert Sunday night that I'm really looking forward to. I'm hoping the weather holds, since we have some outdoorsy stuff planned, and it's no fun walking around the Big Apple in the rain. Well, ok, not in heavy rain.

Interview technique

I should be working. I certainly have enough to do. Instead, I am highly amused with the following proposed interview technique. A friend with a certifiably crazy boss gave notice a week or so ago. Her last day is tomorrow. (So, two weeks ago. There. Did the math.) Her boss, because of the whole "crazy", has managed to be out of the office for what seems like most of my friend's last days, and now, NOW, has asked my friend to interview her own replacement. The following is one suggested conversation.


My Friend: So tell me why you want to work at [company], Sparky.

Melissa: Um, are you making fun of me?

MF: No! Just kidding. But seriously, Melinda, why do you want to work at [company's better-known competitor]. Can we trust you?

Melissa: Um, it's Melissa?

MF: Are you asking me or telling me, Melinda?

Melissa: ?

MF: No, seriously, I think you're going to like it here, Melinda. You'll fit in well. We'll sit you right across from Will. Don't talk to him when his face is red or he's crying.

Melissa: ?

MF: So Melinda, I take this to mean that you're leaving your current job?

Melissa: Well, most likely, I . . .

MF: So, would you call yourself disloyal?

Melissa: No, I just . . .

MF: Sounds pretty disloyal. How about we leave that for now, Melissa?

Melissa: Oh . . . right. Melissa.

MF: Sorry. Melinda. So, what do you do when you're not stabbing your employer in the back? You got a hobby? You dance? You a dancer?

Melissa: I guess I . . . dance. Sometimes.

MF: I'm a very good dancer.

Melissa: That's nice.

MF: Would you like to see?

Melissa: Um . . . sure?

MF: (shaking head) Now, that wouldn't be very professional, now would it, Melissa?

Melissa: I guess not.

MF: You guess not? You're not really clear on what professionalism is, are you Missy?

Melissa: No. I am.

MF: Prove it.

Melissa: What?

MF: You heard me. Prove it.

Melissa: Uh . . . how?

MF: (crumpling resume into ball and tossing it over shoulder) I think I've seen enough.

Pre-order "Coda"!

Wow. I was just randomly browsing on Amazon, and thought, Hmm, lemme check if they have the anthology we're in listed yet. And they do! So you can pre-order it, though you have to wait until October, when it's official released in the US, or hie on over to the Amazon.co.uk site, and pre-order it there for an earlier delivery. Neither site has a picture of the cover up yet, though. The publisher doesn't either, but you can see the entire range of the series, if you want.

More updates later!

Sam moves on

I hope we haven't heard the last from him here on ktbuffy-a-go-go, but our friend Samuel L. Jackson seems to have (at least temporarily) moved on. Maybe we can entice him back later. Anyone have some snakes?

Spring fleurs!

Get some for yourself today! For they are the purty.

I think I *need* to read this book

From an Entertainment Weekly review:

This book is for anyone who's read one of Patrick O'Brien's 19th-century-set naval adventures and mused: You know what would make this better? Dragons.

You know you want to read it too. Let me make things easy for you.

And, coincidentally, it totally ties in with the whole "Snakes on a Plane," "Meerkats in an Elevator" theme we've got going. "Dragons on a Frigate."

Guest blogger--Samuel L. Jackson returns!

An anonymous cat asked me a question that Kate thought y'all should hear the answer to, so she asked me back. Listen up, bitches, I'm about to drop some serious science on your asses!

Dear Mr. Jackson,

Right now, I am a punk-ass bitch working in tech support. But I feel strongly that I am qualified to become a serious motherfucker. How can your new movie, Snakes on a Plane, be useful in this process of transformation?

Signed,
A fan

At a pivotal point in the movie, my character FBI agent Nelville Flynn declares "Enough is enough. I've had it with these motherfucking snakes." See, now all you have to do is identify the 'snakes' in your life and say to yourself "I want these motherfucking snakes off my plane!" Then, you too, will be on your way to becoming a badass like myself.

Spring, spring, spring!!

Feeling very spring-like today, with the sun shining and a big beautiful blue sky between the buildings I can see from my office. Yes, from my office, since I'm taking my lunch hour to work on "HtDaS" for my writer's group tomorrow. I got a bunch of stuff done this weekend, but not enough. And, of course, I have a bunch of other fun and exciting stuff to distract me.

Like this! Make those little gnomies dance! Or watch what other, more creative people have done with them. I like this one too. Wonder if there's similar stuff on CoH?

Letter from the past

So a couple of years ago, with the lovely Miss K, I was in a writers/creativity group, that used as our "textbook", so to speak, The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. One of the exercises in it, or one that our fearless leader suggested, was to write an encouraging letter to our future self, which she would hold onto and mail back to us eventually. Earlier this week, I got my letter.

Dear Kate -
Wow! You are sooooo cool. I love reading what you write, and am constantly entertained by the twists and turns your imagination takes.
Besides which, you're gorgeous! Beauty is much more than skin deep, and you are to-the-bone beautiful. Heart & soul & smiling blue eyes.
Just know that you have a fan. More than one, I'm sure. When things are going wacky, and I'm not asking "What would Buffy do?", I just do what Kate does.
So thanks for you.
- Me.

Which, if nothing else, proves my egotism.

A moment of gratitude, please...

... for my decision to remain anonymous, and to keep this blog and my personal life very very separate from my career. Sure, I talk about my job, but only in the vaguest of terms, and without (I hope) any distinguishing details. If you know me from elsewhere, you may know more about what I'm talking about than what is actually on the page, but if you don't, you won't. And that's a GOOD thing.

And for the record, for those folks that are writers and are looking for agents on the interweb, you may want to question the professionalism of an agent who blogs so explicity about her life. And I'm certainly not linking to anyone in particular. Not where it could be traced.

Because I am discrete.

Catch up

Wow. You know, you get busy at work, and with other stuff, and the next thing you know, Samuel L. Jackson has taken over your blog. Craziness! That man truly IS everywhere.

Been a busy week, dealing with the happy big deal I made for one of my authors last week, finalizing another one (selling an author's first book, to her utmost glee), and submitting another of my clients' first novel. All really good stuff, but busy-making, especially as I want to keep on top of foreign rights stuff too, which is still the main part of my job.

So, ok, what's been going? Lots of fun CoH-related stuff. Monday munchies on, you guessed it, Monday. Then played Tuesday with the Scooby gang I run with on another server. Just a small group, but taking Buffy-esque archetypes and twisting them for our own roleplaying purposes. Introduced the Angel character this week into a tight-knit group, with predictable, and highly entertaining, results. In other news, I aim to single-handedly rebuild the broken community!

No, not really. But steps were taken, and I'm really glad.

Wednesday night I had other geek-related goodness, and much hilarity hanging out with the guys. Oh, the Evil Lord Uncomfortable, we will conquor you yet! If we don't all get turned into bears first.

Last night I had a great time hanging out with the lovely Miss K and MJ, plus had a really good conversation with one of my sisters about stuff. You know all those questions I'd hoped someone would ask me? She did. Well, ok, not all. Still haven't told anyone about "Coda." Maybe I'll save that for Easter dinner.

This weekend, I'm looking forward to catching up on some tv, getting the rewrite done on "HtDaS" for my writers' group next week, and laundry. It's not like I'm ever really in danger of running out of clothes, but there are certain reasons why I haven't worn something in a good long while.

Oh! And I must remember to register for the Revlon Run/Walk. And decide what other races or events I might be doing in the near future. But for now, I guess I'll get back to work.

Guest blogger--Samuel L. Jackson!

Greetings, motherfuckers! Perhaps you've heard about my upcoming project, Snakes on a Plane. And you haven't, well crawl out from that cave, bitch, and get with the program!

And that ain't all! I'm here to tell you about my future projects! That's right, sucka, this is a fucking ex-clusive! In March of 2007, catch me in:

Bears on a Boat
Crocodiles on a Bus
Mosquitoes on a Submarine
Wolves on a Spaceship
Meerkats in an Elevator

Can you handle it?!

Pushing paper

Spent pretty much the entire day so far drafting covering letters for contracts, making copies of said letters and contracts, collating all the papers so they get distributed to the appropriate places, mailing them, etc. etc. I'm surprised my hands aren't absolutely covered in paper cuts. It's a boring task, and one I would love to hand off to an assistant, but oh. Wait. I don't have an assistant. Still, at least my desk looks neater with that giant stack of stuff off of it. Just got a few, smaller, more manageable stacks to deal with.

Oh, and I had a couple of good lunches recently -- yesterday at Les Halles, which is Anthony Bourdain's restaurant, for all you Kitchen Confidential fans. (The book, not the short lived sitcom. Although that too was based on Bourdain.) And today, met an editor (and blog-reader!) for lunch at My Most Favorite Dessert Company. Amazingly rich peanut butter pie for dessert. Wow. Though the heavy, delicious and filling meals I ate are probably contributing to my afternoon lethergy. Still, at least it's almost 5pm.

Going to try to hit the gym tonight, wherein the hard part isn't just going, but going home after work, getting my stuff, and then going back out. Because god forbid I have enough forethought in the morning to bring my gym clothes to work. Wish me luck!

Ask me a question

I think I'm a pretty open person, happy to share things. Heck, among my friends I know I am. And yet... I get among my family, and partly I wonder if this is because we're all so big and friendly and open and LOUD, but I want them to ASK me about myself. If I just burst out with something, it doesn't feel earned, or something. I want them to WANT to know more about me. And it's a weird thing, because part of me is maybe a little afraid of what I have to tell, is a little nervous about sharing something, but I still want them to ask.

Like "Coda." I haven't told anyone in my family that I sold a short story. Sold. As in cash-money. It's good news, certainly, but there's the part of me that knows that the full truth of it is something they might disapprove of. "Oh. It's about sex?"

And I WANT to share my happiness. Want to talk to everyone I know about the good stuff I'm thinking, or the great and amazing deal I did at work, or whatever, but I hold back, and wait for the questions to come, knowing that in a big, crowded, crazy world, or family gathering, they might never come.

And I'm ok with that? I think?

Really Tough Day

Wow. Yesterday was a tough day. I mean, I had to get up before 12 noon, to go down to the New York Public Library for a presentation honoring several of my authors (two, with three books, and several more of our agency's clients) who were selected for the library's annual "Books for the Teen Age" catalogue. Hung out with Fortitude, one of the Library's lions, who then settled down with the rest of the crowd of librarians, authors, editors, and agents for a speech by Chris Crutcher on censorship, and why authors of books for teens need to talk about the hard subjects. I know, right? Boring.

(Totally kidding, Mr. Crutcher! Don't hurt me!)

Then, the lovely MJ and I went downtown to the Great Jones Spa for a little author/agent celebration. And man! Talk about a rough day. An hour in the jacuzzi, with a couple of dips in a cold plunge pool; a refreshing shower followed by a 60 minute massage (Thank you, Peter!); a detoxifying spell in the steam room; after which we were joined by MJ's editor, and spent another hour or so hot tubbing and chatting. My life is HARD.

I tell you, it was all I could do to have the energy to go out for gnocchi afterwards, then come home and watch a couple of episodes of "Battlestar Gallactica." Phew. At least today I have something peaceful and relaxing to look forward to -- dinner at my mom's with most of my family. Now THAT'S a good time.

Until I get the other videos posted...

A little something funny... I mean, a heartwarming story of the love between two men... and a shark.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Erin go bragh!! And a happy St. Patrick's Day to you all! I'm looking forward to wandering over to Fifth Avenue at lunchtime and catching some of the parade, and enjoying quite a bit of Irish pride. I mean, not the liquid kind. The emotional one.

And on that subject, I think it's funny how today, I put so much more account into clothing choices. Not just green, of course (and I'm trying this text in green, but if it's unreadable, I'll switch it around some), but I also gave some very dirty looks today to people wearing orange. Though I guess, technically, it's Northern Ireland's holiday too. But still!

Anyway, I will take pictures later. And I have a bunch of green carnations on my desk to keep me happy when I'm not at the parade. Though I'll have to find a way to put one in my hair or on my coat, for when I am out. And as I didn't get to the gym last night, I will try to hit it tonight, get in a little steam room action (though my back's feeling a LOT better), and then commence my St. Paddy's Day celebrating. Slainte!!

Busy and in Pain

Much excitement today as I trade phone calls with publishers on a nice deal I'm working on. Makes me feel very agent-y. The downside of my other various "feelings" today, is that I slept crazy-wrong, somehow, and every move I make sends a twinge of pain across my back. I'm falling apart. Couldn't even manage to put on stockings this morning, or bend over to pick up garbage on the floor. Fun.

Argh.

Still, even in pain as I inched my way to the subway this morning, I was cheered by a garbageman -- excuse me, santitation worker -- singing "Start spreading the news" as he picked up trash. And then my iPod chose to shuffle to "New York, New York" by Ryan Adams in some kind of happy synchronicity.

Anyway, looking forward to trying to get to the gym tonight, going swimming, and then relaxing in the steam room.

Still beautiful, and yet, still winter.

Met my cousin and my sister for lunch today at the Rock Center Cafe, and had some amazing crabcakes (you may recall my love for crabcakes!). Gorgeous beautiful day to walk down to Rockefeller Center from my office, practically spring-like, and then I got to the restaurant, and we sit down with a fantastic view of the ice skating rink, and various skaters with various levels of skill, enjoying a New York winter vacation turned suddenly warm.

I just thought it was funny as I made an appointment for next Monday, the official first day of spring, and yet it's warm and sunny already -- though dropping back down into the 40s with a chance of snow for this weekend. This weather thing... man, it's funny. You gotta be some kind of expert, of "-ologist" to understand it!

*grins*

Multimedia Extravaganza!

So, a couple of shots from this weekend. First, as promised, the panaromic view from Matt and Alisha's swank feng shui-ed apartment.

Then, I got a couple of short videos from the Fenians concert. They're not neatly edited or anything, and the sound quality's not great. But, since I've been dying for a reason to add an upload from ifilm, here goes.


And another, shorter, slightly better sound. Tin whistle-y.

And randomly, so I can get the email with the link out of my work inbox...

Footie pjs for grown-ups!

New Yorker-y things

Had a friend in town this weekend, so did lots of fun exciting New York things. Ate at my favorite Mexican place Friday night, walked off a huge dinner along the East River, and got ice cream at Cold Stone (which I know is not particularly New Yorker-ish, but it's one of THIS New Yorker's favorite things, so there. :P). Saturday was a truly gorgeous, amazing, warm and sunny day, and everyone and their mother was out and about, so we went downtown shopping on the Lower East Side, strolled along Bleeker Street and through the West Village, then subwayed up to the Upper West Side and walked around the Duck Pond and through the Ramble in Central Park, joining what seemed like millions of other New Yorkers out for some Springtime perambulations.

Saturday night, went with the roomie and other friends to Alisha's birthday party at her and Matt's place, and it was fun to show off their view. I need to put together the six-shot panoramic photo I took, from their view of the Hudson to Times Square.

Sunday was a bit rainy, but we hung out and watched Mirrormask, which was very cool, then went down to the South Street Seaport and did some souvenir shopping. That night, met Bloom and D. and others for The Fenians' show at Rocky Sullivan's, and got some great pictures and video footage, which I totally intend to post when I can hook my camera up to my computer and upload them all. (See the sidebar for a link to their site, for I am the lazy.) (Also managed to chip my tooth on a bottle of cider, for I am the suave.)

So, big fun! Catching up now on blog reading and work, and found this, which is a bit of both. If you want to read what she's talking about in its entirely before reading the commentary, voila. (For those too lazy or busy or otherwise unable to follow the links, it's Naomi Wolf commenting on YA novels like Gossip Girl and The A-List, and Jennifer Weiner commenting on Wolf.)

Later, skater!

Quick catch-up

Had fun yesterday reading for my nephew's first grade class, and then went back to their house and played with them for a few hours until my sister got home, made some dinner, and hung out briefly before heading back into the city. Didn't get home until after 10pm, though, so it was a bit of a long day, but at least I made it into CoH for Puck's big ding, and was able to be a part of the massive team that accompanied her.

Today has been a bit of catch-up, going through emails and stuff that came in while I was out yesterday, and hoping to get a whole lot of stuff off my desk, so I can feel more relaxed and accomplished this weekend.

And I have a beautiful new picture to put up in my office that my four-year-old niece gave me, in my favorite colors, of butterflies and flowers. So cute! She is quite the little artist.

Back to school

On my way out to New Jersey to my nephew's school, to read a book for his first grade classroom. My bookseller buddy Bloom recommended "Arnie the Doughnut" (links later when I have more time), and I was hoping my sister would get doughnuts to bring to the classroom, but my nephew has indicated a preference for cookies with m&ms, so that's what he'll get. My sister, in fact, will not be there, since she took a "work at home" day yesterday, so had to come into the city today. Which confused me mightly when I got her call at 7-something this morning, that she was on her way into work. Still, she'll come home a little early, and we'll have dinner with the munchkins, and catch up and all that.

Laters!

Stuffed!

Had a big, important, meet-with-an-editor-about-a-client-and-an-offer lunch today, and I think I'm waddling. Went to a Greek restaurant near Carnegie Hall that I'd been to once before, and previously had a crab cake, which is one of my favorite things to eat. I'm not a huge fan of Greek food, so I headed over there today thinking, "Well, at least I know I liked the crab cake, and I can always get that." Get to the restaurant, and what do I find? No crabcake (must have been a special). So I try the lamb ravioli, and oh.my.god. Yum-my. And I forgot how good the pita pieces were that they served for bread.

Altogether, delicious, and a useful, interesting lunch in terms of work.

In not-so-happy news, we're still having leak problems from Crazy Dog Lady's apartment upstairs from us, and I've been leaving messages all over the place, trying to find someone at the landlord's office who can tell me something useful about what they're going to do to fix things. It was when I mentioned that having sewage leaks in our living space seemed like a good reason to not pay the rent that I think they started paying attention. Really don't want to have to deal with this over the coming weekend.

And finally, a little shout-out to the good taters over at the Museum of Television and Radio, who have an interesting blog about... you know... tv and radio stuff. Go check it out. Comment on it. Link to it. You know you want to. (Ok, ok, ok, so my friend's husband works there. But it's really good, I swear!)

Errands

Had my lunch meeting cancel, so I'm off shortly to run a few errands instead. Got a long list of things I want to do this week before a friend comes to town, not the least of which is to finally knuckle down and start that rewrite of "HtDaS"... which reminds me, I need to check my mailbox on the CoH boards, and see if I have a response from Statesman to my last PM. He was good enough to respond once, and indicated he was very interested in the project, so I'm hoping to work an interview with him into the book. I wonder if he's married...

Anyway, I checked, and he did respond, and told me to contact CuppaJo. Which I will.

In other writing-related news, I got the signed contract back off to the publisher for "Coda." They didn't agree to any of my requests for changes in the language of the contract, but I'm glad I asked anyway. Still no cover, but if you're interested in that sort of thing, I highly recommend Safira's new novel, Cat Scratch Fever.

And now, rather than look for something more to write about, I'm just going to toddle off (I had a meeting with a Brit this morning) and run my errands. Ciao!

Reading List

Via ***Dave, a list published in The Guardian of the books a group of British librarians decided every adult should read before they die. (Or at some point in their life, if you prefer a more positive spin on your list-making.) As Dave did, I'll bold the ones I've read already.

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• The Bible (well, most of it. Did Old Testament in a class in college, and I am a Catholic after all. Spent most of my formative years in Catholic school and religion classes.)
• The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien
• 1984 by George Orwell
• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (I think. I mean, I'm pretty sure I have. I own the book, which doesn't always mean I've read it, but I'm almost poisitive I have. Or I know it well enough from repeated viewings to feel like I have.)
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• All Quiet on the Western Front by E M Remarque
• His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman
• Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks (really don't think this needs to be there, since I found it a dreadful bore. So many other, better, WWII books. Almost anything by Jack Higgins, for instance.)
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
• The Lord of the Flies by William Golding (Kill the pig, drink his blood, blah, blah, blah...)
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
• Tess of the D'urbevilles by Thomas Hardy
• Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham
• Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
• The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
• The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
• David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
• The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
• Life of Pi by Yann Martel
• Middlemarch by George Eliot
• The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
• A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
• A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzenhitsyn

While I'm sure I could come up with some righteous anger at some of the authors or books they've left off the list (What, no Mark Twain?! No Alexandre Dumas!? No Danielle Steel?!?!?!?), for the most part I think it's a pretty interesting reading list. Not the be-all-and-end-all, but I'm ok with that.

Close, but no cigar

Watched the Oscars last night, with few vehement reactions to dresses (hated Naomi Watts', loved Rachel Weisz's), and a bunch of "eh"s. Jon Stewart was funny, though I'm amazed that all the Monday-morning media quarterbacks are saying he tanked. Big surprise that "Crash" won, which, if nothing else, proves how self-important the Academy thinks it is. I got 15 out of the 24 categories right in my Oscar pool, and briefly thought I tied for first, but the leader miscounted his own ballot, and I have to settle for second. Sigh.

Looking forward to reading the Go Fug Yourself recap of the fashion missteps on the red carpet. Until then, I guess I should do some work. I'm not at work on Thursday, to go read for my 6 year-old nephew's first grade class, so I have to try to do four days' work in three.

Spring Cleaning

Had an attack of the ambitious today, and convinced the roomie to help me with a massive Spring cleaning. As in, five loads of laundry, on hands and knees scrubbing the bathroom floor, out on the fire escape window washing, flip the mattress. Needless to say, having done all that, I feel extremely accomplished. My clothes are clean, my floor is mopped and shiny, my windows are... well, streaky, but a hell of a lot cleaner than they were before, and the bathroom is happily hairless.

It's enough to make a girl feel very good about her Oscar picks, and the opportunity to indulge in a serious night of couch-sitting and tv-watching.

Technical difficulties

Having a grand ole night sitting on my couch, watching first season episodes of "Veronica Mars." My email account's being a bit wacky, though, as was my wireless connection. Got one sorted out (obviously), but the other's still being weird.

In case you were trying to reach me by email or sumthin'.

Contractually delicious!

Got the contract yesterday for the short story we sold, and brought it into the office today to ask one of the guys in our legal department to take a quick look at it. Or so I thought. There's blue writing all over it now. Lots of suggested changes, all to protect the writer, but still... gulp. Hoping that the publisher doesn't bulk and toss me out of the collection for requesting a whole bunch of changes. I'm told that's very unlikely, but still...

Anyway, it will be published in August! Cover soon.

Flurries

Woke up this morning (from a dream in which I was auditioning drunk to play Ado Annie, I think -- from Oklahoma for those of you that aren't completely up on your Broadway character parts), and was have convinced I heard people shoveling outside. We'd been warned of another snowstorms -- flurries, they promised -- and I'm still enough of a child to get that thrill of waking up in the morning and seeing snow outside my bedroom window.

Alas, no snow. Just my imagination playing tricks on me.

Still, my good friend Al Roker continued to speak of inclement weather, and by the time I left my apartment, there was definite wetness falling from the sky. Not "I need an umbrella" wetness; more a kind of "I should have worn a brimmed hat." I had a sense, walking up Third Avenue, that the city was empty. That people heard the weather and decided to stay home -- or were stuck at home already in the suburbs or outer boroughs, where the weather always seems to hit first, and harder. Took the bus down Lexington Avenue, staring out the window at an ever-increasing swirl of snowflakes, clusters of white dancing, wondering if I could capture the image on my camera, or if it'd just look like any other street scene.

Walking from the bus stop to the office, I kept my head down, re-evaluating my decision to wear my glasses today rather than put in my contacts, moving among other pedestrians with a kind of Manhattan sixth sense. Now, sitting in my office, I watch bigger and bigger clumps of snowflakes falling past the 13th floor windows, some at different speeds, it seems. Some more sideways than down.

It's pretty. I like snow.

March Madness!

No, not about basketball. Man, do you know me AT ALL?

Anyway, today I am feeling especially agent-y. And busy. And I still have to submit my Oscar picks. More later.