10 June 2004

I have passed the point where I'm trying to keep all of my juggling balls in the air. I am dropping juggling balls like crazy. I'm just trying to be entertaining about it as I do it.

The car took four hours to get fixed. They were out of loaner cars. The nice manager man dropped me off at T.G.I.Friday's for lunch and picked me up again on the way back from his own lunch hour. I hadn't eaten at T.G.I.Friday's since September 12, 2001, and while the service was significantly better this time, I don't regret my long absence from their establishment, nor do I intend to go back again soon. Mediocre food, obnoxious atmosphere.

Anyway, while I was there, I finished Wizard of the Pigeons (recommended) and read Finnish Art Over the Centuries and The Darkangel and started City of Diamond. I'm glad I took that many books with, because while I wrote some in my paper journal, I was not in any condition to write a heck of a lot, or I'd have sat there and cried in the car place. Not indicated.

Came home. Worked a bit. Went and got some food for us and some booze for the party. Came home again. Worked some more. Determined that Mark was in the mood to go out for supper, especially as C.J. has a scanner we could borrow, and as C.J.'s car is behaving a little temperamentally right now. So we piled in the car, Mark and Timprov and me, and we acquired a C.J. On the sidewalk in front of C.J.'s house, Mark said, "When was the tree guy going to come again?" And I said, "[word you don't know because you're too nice a person, I feel sure]!" Because it was 6:55, and the tree guy was coming at 7:30, and we were 15 minutes away from home and had not eaten supper. So we drove home again, with the intention of ordering in Chinese instead of going to First Course as originally planned. The tree guy was waiting (early, you will note). He gave us his estimate and went away. Leaving us no reason to order in, so we went to Cam Banh Bay down by Buck Bump, and it was lovely. Really good stuff. Worth driving south for (we're just not in the habit of driving south much -- we eat in the immediate vicinity or go into the city or St. Paul or eat near a specific friend's house).

At this point, C.J.'s house still had our photos and Mark's laptop, and we still had C.J. So Mark dropped Timprov and me off at home and took off with the C.J. I came upstairs to check my e-mail.

...and found that Mark's grandmother's memorial service is Sunday, this Sunday. We had thought -- because Mark's mother had thought -- that it would be next weekend, Saturday or Sunday.

On the phone to Mark at C.J.'s; mad scramble.

So after much reshuffling, we have cancelled the party for this weekend. We'll have it some other time this summer. I don't yet know when. We have a flight out Saturday evening and a flight back Monday morning; we have a rental car and a hotel room and a plan. Kev will be coming next weekend instead of this, and Mark's business trip has been moved by a day on both ends of the trip. So it'll be another hectic week for Mark in particular, but we'll be able to work it out.

We ordered me a new computer this week. This is good, because my old one is making squeeeeeeeeeking noises. Which is not a good thing for a computer to do. It did it yesterday, and we immediately backed everything up. Because, really, what I need this week is to lose a couple of novels entirely. Backups Good.

That's going to have to be it for right now. I'll say more when I know more.