A 3:30 a.m. wakeup call today. Whoa. I'm waiting to hit the wall this afternoon, but so far the five cups of coffee I've downed have been keeping me afloat. I could've gone back to bed while Drew had a snack (he went from 9 p.m. to 3:30, so I can't complain!), but I didn't do much writing yesterday, and I was antsy to get to work on my novel.

Chapter four of the baseball novel is fixed up and revised, and I'm digging it. I'm straightening out a lot of the motivations of George, my protagonist, and I'm really enjoying his voice -- after a character's sudden death in chapter 1, all of his players are coming up to him to talk about death and the afterlife, and he's acting all annoyed by it, but he's secretly intrigued. Fun stuff.

After getting my revising in (and skipping the gym once again), I got myself off to the daily commute, where I have a new experiment going. I'm using the old tape recorder I used way back during my unemployed newspaper-delivery days (don't ask!) to brainstorm short story ideas. I did this a year ago for one of my other stories, and it was kinda fun.

I've been taping myself in the morning and listening to them on the way back home at night. Yes, more talking to myself! But at least it feels productive, and I actually made some good headway on one of my stories about dogs and the forest and wood spirits. Now if I could only find a way to highlight the good bits amongst all my vocal fumblings and meanderings on the tape so I can use 'em later...

In other news, Drew stopped by the doc yesterday to check on a (harmless) rash he had on his face, and the young man has officially gained 4 pounds! He's up to 12 pounds, 10 ounces! And speaking of tape, he's still not two feet tall, though -- they claim he's 23 and 3/4 inches. I have my doubts about their measurements -- he's a good 2'1" if you ask me. Later!

Update -- forgot to mention that we watched "The Station Agent" last night on DVD. Cool movie, great characters. I don't know what it was about this quiet story, but it sucked us in. I guess it was the mix of the painfully quiet main character mixed in with the afraid-to-be-alone guy in the ice cream truck along with the mourning painter lady. Elizabeth thought the ending was a bit flat and abrupt, but I liked it. Reminded me of "Tree's Lounge" for some reason (maybe it was the ice cream truck).