My excitement over the rain has proven to be entirely unfounded. Sure, it’s raining. But it’s just made things worse up here in the sauna known as Brisneyland. It’s stinking hot. Humid. I have an extra layer of skin that is entirely made out of sweat. My hair is perpetually wet (and not because I’m a rusalka, although that would be a much better alternative at this stage.)

Have I mentioned I’m hot?

Anyhoo. Schedule of events for today:

1. Try to finish a draft of Week 4 story (do-able, I think.)
2. Go to the dress shop–not for a dress!–to get a handbag for the AAs. The lovely girl that runs the shop said she’d keep an eye out for a gold clutch for me, so I’m dying to see how she fared.
3. Do some laundry.
4. Head back to Angela’s Jacaranda Villa (aka the Dr Who Haven of Comfy Beds) to have a good night’s sleep before the events of this weekend.
5. Try not to sweat every drop of water out of my body.
6. Have a rant about the word ‘gotten’.

gotten, ppl. a.

1. Obtained, acquired, won (chiefly with accompanying adverb).
3. gotten-up = got-up (GOT ppl. a. b). U.S.

I am fond of the word ‘gotten’. I was raised in a country where the word ‘gotten’ is frequently used, in speech and in writing. It is a familiar word. A polished word. Saying that "Bill had gotten out of bed" sounds so much less trashy to me than saying "Bill had got out of bed". Unless I want my characters to sound sort of trashy, I will continue to champion the use of the word gotten. While I’m ranting, the same thing goes for ‘forgotten.’ The sentence "Had he forgotten his notebook?" sounds much more refined, and has a better rhythm, than "Had he forgot his notebook?" I am fully aware that both forms are correct, but I prefer the former. No amount of underlining will make me change my mind on this one (again, unless the story warrants the use of ‘got’ or ‘forgot’. THEN and only then will I use the short form.) Sorry to all of you fans of ‘got’.
Rant over.