“Testing the Waters”: 1544

Chiro appt, errands. Here’s a fact that may prove useful to some of you out there. If you buy something at Staples (say, a purse/DayRunner combo), and you use it regularly but not roughly for, say, six months, and suddenly one of the purse straps has a falling out with the edge of the purse and the two are no longer connected—do not bother to go back to Staples. You can’t return anything after one month. Not even if it’s defective. I called DayRunner and they said I can mail it to them and they’ll fix it, but only once, because they have no actual warranty. I’m irked because I’m coming to the conclusion that this item, which I thought was the coolest thing on earth when I got it, isn’t exactly what I’m looking for. The purse area is way too small, for one thing. Plus when the DayRunner is open, it doesn’t lay flat because of the purse. I saw a cool DayRunner at Staples (where I’ll be refraining from shopping in the future), that has a space for the Palm inside the cover. Or am I more apt just to throw the Palm in my purse? (The purse I don’t yet have, obviously.) Must think on this.

Got home, ate a yummy Reuben sandwich, caught up on e-mail…and then crashed. For some reason I got depressed and negative about my writing. Not good. I ended up unpacking a huge box in the garage, of random stuff (the missing sheet from the set for our bed, the knife I never finished making, cassettes, bandannas, knickknacks, and PsychoClucker, my wonderful favourite alarm clock). So that felt good. I’ve also read the newspaper and sat in the hot tub. I’m feeling better, and will dive back into the story soon. (Or maybe the proposal that I need to edit.)

So, Ken and I have decided that we don’t go to the beach enough. We live what, live five miles away? so this makes us truly pitiful. To rectify this, on Friday when he gets home from Portland, we’re going to pack a picnic, go to the beach, and watch the sun set. I’m thinking tuna on crunchy wheat, pickles, bbq chips, potato salad, cherries, lemon cake, sodas. If anyone has any other suggestions, feel free to tell me!

I spent more than an hour on the phone tonight with Ken, much of it talking about my negativity about my writing and from where it stemmed (which I knew). He didn’t tell me anything I didn’t know, but reinforced some important things. We also talked about some work stuff he needed to work through. A good balance.

One thing I’ve learned today is that writing a letter (with the intent of deleting it immediately) that starts out by referring to the receiver as a buttmunch really does help release a lot of tension. And yes, that’s all I’m going to say on the matter. I know a good portion of the folks that read this journal, and it’s not about you, so don’t get all weird on me. [kisses]

The story is now going pretty well. Will I finish it tonight? Tempting to try. I don’t have anywhere to be tomorrow morning. Although I am tired. I’ll forge ahead and see where I get to.

Way sleepy now. Up to the last scenes. Will finish tomorrow. Honest.