you can't tame the white supremacist power structure with cheese

[kleenexwoman]

Hokay, so. This spacematchbook update less of a scene than a way of tying up the loose ends of the Prof's odd behavior in the last chapter, I think. Yes, oddzade, he has been telepathically influenced by the alien to make him not want to bother it, and the alien is having a little trouble keeping him under control, and he's probably clouded his mind in order to make him not see the ship. I don't know if that got through clearly in the story.
It's been pointed out to me that the dialogue is a little unrealistic, which worries me because I'm usually pretty good at dialogue. I gave more thought to the dialogue in this part--this also meant that I only wrote 1,200 words instead of my target of 2,000, but I'm behind by 4,000 words anyway. Whatever. I wonder if I can get away with skipping my Sociology class on Tuesday to write. Probably not.
Also I stole a line from another fic I wrote to shove in there. Because I'm really lazy and I couldn't think of a good way to end it.

There are fledgling Herbertette Wests running around New York. From overheardnyc:

College girl: Is it possible to bring back the dead?
Professor guy: Well, for now, scientists are working on making a single cell, which is creating life. That's not the same as bringing back the dead. That poses the "life after death" question.
College girl: I think about zombies all of the time.
Professor guy: All of the time?
College girl: Yeah, I'm always thinking about zombies.
Professor guy: What do your parents think?

Also, while messing around baby name websites to find out if there was a feminine equivalent to the name Herbert, I found out that "Herbert" literally means "Army of Brightness." That amuses me.

Have to edit stuff to send in to Central Review before the 9th. Also have to write story for j_crew_guy's Askew Christmas challenge before December 1st. I signed up to do 8 drabbles involving Chanukah because nobody else did Chanukah, but I only have 2 ideas and I'd go to hell for one of those. So it may just turn out to be a regular-length story involving Chanukah and Jay and Silent Bob and Seasonal Affective Disorder and whatnot.

My voluntary YIM exile is starting to bug me. (I'm staying off YIM because of multitasking issues--I try to write and talk at the same time, and I don't write.) I can get kind of nervous and jealous (I think that's what it is, anyway) if I don't talk to certain people online at least once every few days, and I am starting to question the importance of this book in terms of giving that up. The writing does help with that, though. I think it's because I have something to do to keep my mind off not having contact with these people. And anyway, I know that a couple of them are enjoying the fruits of my labor.
Huh. People are starting to take precedence over work. That's new. Maybe I'm turning from an introvert into a really shy extrovert.