Oh For Pete’s Sake…

C.L. Wilson, in a show of arguably misplaced gratitude, has tagged me and pretty much everyone else I know (thereby neatly preventing me from tagging anyone else) with that Eight Things Meme that I tried really hard to avoid last time. Here goes (see if you can spot the theme):

1. A high school classmate forwarded me a letter from our reunion chair that included me on a list of “lost alumni.” The classmate was as baffled as I that I could possibly be considered “lost.” Especially given that the alumni coordinator at my high school attended my launch party in 2006. Oh, and Google pretty much has me nailed. And I get a couple of emails a month from people who knew me when I was six, saw my book in a store, and figured that “Peterfreund” isn’t a common name.

2. I have a new book out this week. It’s called The World of the Golden Compass, published as a Borders Exclusive by BenBella Books, edited by Scott Westerfeld, and available in all your Borders Stores. (Not to be confused with the Scholastic book by the same title, which is a behind-the-scenes film tie-in.) My essay is called “Ghost in the Machine.” Other essayists include Ned Vizzini, Maureen Johnson, Ellen Hopkins, and Linda Gerber. I’m incredibly excited about this book and I’d love to link to it here, but it appears neither on the Borders site nor on the BenBella Books publisher’s site.

3. I’m sick. So is Sailor Boy.

4. I got this chain letter in the mail. The actual mail. I haven’t gotten a chain letter in the mail since I was about 13. I ignored it when I got the exact same chain letter over email, but I feel inclined to respond to this one, because of the sender and the sender’s earnest admonitions on behalf of the person she received the letter from. Problem is, I loathe chain letters on principle, even harmless “let’s share recipes” ones.

5. Extras is out. I’m still in the middle of revisions.

6. Apparently, certain retail corporations find it entirely acceptable to ship items to your home without any kind of notation informing you who purchased these items for you, which makes it a tad tough to thank the giver. Why do they think this is acceptable?

7. I missed my Yoga Nidra class this week (see #3) and to make it up, I have to drive to the yoga place’s other location.

8. I finally got to see the second season of the hilarious How I Met Your Mother, but now I’m two episodes behind on the third.

There. That theme should be pretty obvious, I think…