Wow, hard to accomplish anything in goofing off time. I thought I'd spend the weekend leisurely laying around and taking my time doing projects I've been ignoring. HA HA. I can't even tell you what I've done except watch some super lame movies and went through some folders. I watched Vertical Limit on a screener video -- this is one of those movies with zero character development but one nail-biter scene after the other -- and often variations of the same nail-biter scene. Surprisingly, I didn't hate it and I'm not a big Chris O'Donnell fan but I liked him in this movie. Tonight I watched a straight-to-video movie with Julie Stiles called Wicked which was only 84 minutes long and otherwise super creepy in a "this movie never should have been made" way.

Went to Toyota today -- 90 minutes I had to wait. I read everything in my bag. I usually bring overkill on reading material -- this time I ran out. This is stupid. Insurance wants to put in a used stereo, Toyota thinks I'm nuts and should get a news one -- the price difference is over $1,000. I just want a car with seatbelts to drive. Being able to listen to the radio and music would be a nice plus. Insurance tells me they warranty the used part. Part of me doesn't care as long as I have a stereo that works another part of me is annoyed that I pay this insurance every year and now I have to dick around with the hand-me-down parts.

This car thing is such a pain in the ass. I called Toyota today, naively thinking that I would make an appointment and my car would be returned to me as I last drove it. HA HA HA. I forgot about the part where the insurance dickers with the fixers. So I have to take it into Toyota tomorrow for an estimate after the insurance adjuster already did an estimate. This doesn't sound good. I would really like to get the thing fixed because our current car distribution is not making either one of us happy.

I "finished" my writing project for my class. I use quotes because it's never really finished. I'm going to do more work after I get feedback. But my class ends on Monday and at least this weekend, for the first time since February I'm going to have a weekend with no writing. I have neglected virtually every non-essential errand and project and recreational activity and I am planning to see movies and read and organize my sock drawer and put some time in the yard for a change. I'll be back at it soon. Other than the additional work on the current project I have a whole new thing that I want to get cracking on.

In other news, my car got broken into on Saturday night. At first we thought it was just the car stereo and one window broken but when Bob when to get the window replaced, we clued in that the seat belts were stolen. What a world. We're still wrangling getting that stuff replaced. Bob is using my car since his commute is short and all on surface seats and I'm driving the boy car which is not as clean and fresh smelling as I might prefer. It's hard to believe that in 30 years we're so accustomed to seat belts that we wouldn't consider driving on the freeway without seatbelt.

From a recent issue of my favorite local paper, the Kourier based in Willow Creek California:

"The other day a message comes over the scanner. It's the police dispatcher in Eureka. "Patrol units. Be on the lookout for an old grey Ford van. Van driver has been camping in local market parking lot. No license number available but has a bumper sticker, 'Too many cats, too few recipes.'"

-- reported by Frank Woodman

My web browser is totally possessed -- now I'm paranoid what my computer's been up to this evening while I was eating dinner. Our big Pyrex exploded in the dishwasher -- how does that happen? I thought Pyrex was indestructible. Didn't the astronauts use it for something? It made a big mess but we got most of it out of there. Daylight savings is always nice but today it feels like I lost way more than one hour. The whole day is like, yikes, it's already Noon? It's already 6pm? And right now: it's already after 9pm? I need to try to wind down and get to bed. I have still been spending about 99% of my free time writing and neglecting everything else. I stopped early today so I could do our taxes. I normally have them done by the end of January but we owe this year because I converted a traditional IRA to a Roth. It had lost about 40% of it's value -- seemed like a good time.

We saw David Mamet on Weds at Arts & Lectures. He was fantastic -- very intelligent and lots to say but more restrained than I expected. He had opinions to share but I'd envisioned someone with more of a wild look and waving fist.

I finished watching Children of Dune this week. I found the Dune geeks online and I'm now fully aware of how little I know about the Duniverse. I put the books on the shelf next to the Lord of the Rings books I'm anxious to re-read but don't have enough time. Also speaking of books I read my first Neil Gaiman novel after looking forward to it for a long time. (American Gods) and I was disappointed and didn't enjoy it much. I thought the protagonist was passive and not terribly interesting and I found the story a little too hallucinogenic -- half the time I wasn’t sure where I was and where I was going. I guess it just wasn’t for me. Gaiman has a manic fans, I really wanted to like it.

APRIL THEME: perseverance