Yesterday was one of those days where so many things go wrong, they eventually stop feeling traumatizing and become funny instead. (Well, at least in hindsight.) It was a yucky, rainy morning, just as dark at 9 a.m. as it usually would be at 8 p.m. My back hurt from the huge backpack full of books, notebooks (and a zip disk) that I carried into town so that I could work on my thesis in the main computer lab at the university. I got all the way there, a forty-five-minute trip--and it turned out that the lab was closed for the day "for teaching purposes". Groaning, I turned around and walked a couple of blocks to the music department. No zip disk drives in the computers there! I collapsed down under the weight of the backpack, closed my eyes, and decided to go home. Luckily, I had to stop at Patrick's office first, and he suggested a different computer lab. I went there. Closed for the day! ("Desktop testing.") Gaah! I finally, finally found another lab, worked for a few hours, ate (packed-from-home) strudel with Patrick, walked down to the bus stop...and the bus didn't come. I waited for about half an hour, finally got on....and missed my stop. My twenty minute bus ride home turned into an hour! I got home, sighed with relief, and turned on the tap to pour some water. Guess what? The water for the entire block was off!

Sometimes things are just Too Much. By about twenty minutes into the Great Water Disappearance, I was actually laughing and taking everything--including myself--a lot less seriously. I called Yorkshire Water. The lady on the phone said it was very mysterious and they didn't know what was causing the problem. Two hours later, as Nika and I sat together on the couch and I contemplated fleeing back into town for fresh water, we heard a massive roaring gurgling in the pipes upstairs. Nika tore upstairs barking ferociously. I called Patrick and told him not to bring home bottles of water after all. Outside, the rain stopped and the grey clouds shifted. Nika and I had a gorgeous walk under bright sun and blue skies and white, fluffy clouds.

I'm nearly done with my new story (That Wolf One), which has a tentative title so embarrassing and cheesy that I can't even bring myself to mention it here. Last night we had a nice evening hanging out with a friend who happens to be a pro novelist, talking about agents and publishing and strategies, and I came out feeling much happier and more confident than I had for quite a while.

And now it's almost time for coffee....