Today is Friday night/Saturday morning. I'm tired from too much Chinese food and cosmopolitans. And from laughing too hard at my neighbor's Chihuahua's obsession with licking (and I do mean licking, in a kind of dirty way) their cat's ass. Jalapeno, the Chihuahua, is consumed on a daily basis with licking their cat, Peel, in a naughty way. There just seems to be so very, very much animal boy-on-boy action at our house, it's just a bit silly.

Richard and I were checking out Myspace.com, being online stalkers for a little while. It's strange to see what has become of people, and how very accepting they are of placing personal details out where anyone can see them. (Says the girl in her blog, I know). However, I don't place a lot of terribly personal things out there, either, so I'm not sure what that says about me... Or them...

My workshop went well, I think. Generally complimentary, although the time structure of the story really seemed to baffle a few people. I'm not sure if I'll just leave it alone, or if I'll monkey with it. I have to wait a while and come back to them, I'm not really good at going right back to something after it has been discussed to death.

It is so very cold tonight, after the warmth we've had this week. I know I shouldn't complain, it's just that it seems so hard to switch from 90 degree weather to 50 degree weather in less than 48 hours. It makes 50 degrees so much colder.

I'm watching a documentary on dolphins, and they are cute, in an anthropormorphic kind of way, until you get closer and see their eyes. Which are actually a bit disturbing. Its just a dark spot until you can see the pupil distinctly. Then it is a huge animal staring at you. Understanding you. Which is scarier somehow than the knowledge in a chimpanzee's eyes, or in a gorilla's. Yeah, I'm not hot on them. They're just a little too smart for their own good, if you catch my drift....

It is now early Tuesday, and I am up for workshop on Thursday. It just occurred to me that I was going to go through it again. So soon, somehow. I am glad that this time snuck up on me- no time to get super worried and neurotic about it. I really have no idea what people are going to say about this one. It's really kind of strange, when you think about it.

This story just made me so annoyed when I wrote it. But now I kind of like it.

I'm sure after it's been workshopped to death I will detest it with a renewed vigor. At least this time I won't just want to cry afterwards. So that's a bit of a plus, a bright side, if you will.

I've been reading Flannery O'Connor this week. As a result, I am feeling just a tiny bit shaky, faced with the master. She is just simply amazing, this woman. If you haven't read her, you NEED to go buy a copy of "A Good Man is Hard to Find." That collection leaves you with your jaw hanging- she is just so good at this. I just love her.

I can't write this week, but I just love her anyway. I'll probably never write anything. (I should rephrase that. I'll never write anything good. I'll write masses of self indulgent tripe).

Anyhow, I am going to finish the hot cocoa my husband made me and go bed. (For almost seven whole hours of sleep. Woo-Hoo! That is a good chunk by my insomniac standards).

Catch y'all later.

I work with a girl from Vietnam, who came to America when she was a child. We were discussing tattoos the other day, and I mentioned a friend's LaCoste alligator tattoo. She said that the alligator was kind of puffy. "Puffy? You mean it sticks out, on the shirt?" I asked.

"No, I mean it's a fat alligator. In Vietnam, the alligators are skinny."

"I didn't know there were any alligators in Vietnam. Huh."

"Yeah, we have one. At the zoo. They don't feed him enough and he's really skinny."

So she made me laugh for about half an hour, and it's still good for a giggle now. So now I know that there is one alligator in Vietnam. And he could apparently use a couple extra meals.

-----

Last night we went to the Bridges auditorium to see Willie Nelson. It was fun, but I have to say (I'm not a true committed Willie Nelson fan) that after a couple of drinks, the songs all started to sound like "Crazy", the Patsy Cline song that Willie wrote. It struck me that this is the only concert that I have ever been to that has used a Texas state flag as a backdrop. There really aren't that many events I would actually attend that involve a Texas state flag.

The other little note I wrote to myself about the show was how I remembered going to see Johnny Cash at the Midstate Fair in Paso Robles when I was about 10, which made me remember that my grandmother was so excited to see Johnny Cash. She would have loved to have seen Willie Nelson, too. I wrote in my little notebook, "Willie's voice is sweet, and Johnny's is like a hangover with soul."

So I just got back from workshop, and it seems that I am work-shopping a story next week, the one below. One of the people who was going to workshop was ill tonight, so I gave my story to Lisa and she copied it and there we go.

I'm actually not nervous this time. I felt sick to my stomach every single time I thought about it last semester. I almost feel.... relaxed? about it this time around. This story is just different, somehow. I don't feel as personal about this one, and I kind of feel as if it were more finished, I guess.

I am so tired that my hands have started shaking and I'm having trouble typing, so I'm off to bed.

PA, if you're reading this, smile and enjoy the shade of your own tree. You have shaken free.

Good night, world.