Fore word

dolores was her middle name
and now her mother's wondering
if i could see my wrinkled face
paint her lovely toenails red

Wow. I spent the whole week preparing for this weekend. And it's been great so far. No worries, no deadlines. No TV, either, because I watched it all already. Yes, I watched ALL the TV in the world. And now there's no more left for you.

Watched: Carnivale, Extras, Danger Mouse, Mysterious Cities of Gold, Tru Calling (2 episodes only), Lost (3 episodes only).

Okay. Extras? There has not been one episode where I didn't have to literally cover my eyes for a full minute. I just couldn't bring myself to move my palms away. Not a peeking-through-the-fingers gesture of empathetic embarrassment. It was so much worse than Curb Your Enthusiasm. But the day after I saw the Patrick Stewart episode, I couldn't stop laughing to myself every time I thought of it.

And, okay. Carnivale? Nick Stahl is soooo keeeyuuute!

Anyway, being on the computer kind of ruins the idea of no TV. Tomorrow is for entertainment (movies). Today is for books and swimming and meditating.

But here is a list of things I have to look forward to, in case I forget, because I often do. I keep a perfectly clear list of things I have to dread in my active thoughts, though.

• Seeing Slither some time this week
• My Mom coming to visit next weekend
• Going to LA with Willie the weekend after that
• Willie coming to Austin the weekend after that
• Passing all of my exams with 98% (here, I cleverly turn a dread into a goal, and trick myself into looking forward to it. Also note my non-perfectionism in a reasonable, unperfect grade goal)
• Going to New Orleans for 6 days when Willie graduates (every time I say that now, I cross my fingers; but as of now, he's still technically a high school student, so I'll keep crossing my fingers since it must be working).
• And I really have tomorrow to look forward to. I spent today at the spa, so will hopefully reap the rewards tomorrow. I broke two of my Lenten fasts, though. I had a piece of fish, hoping it would give me some extra energy to enjoy the day, and I had a cup of coffee. But I was still feeling torpid in the afternoon (it could have just been the sun, and the not having anything urgent to do; maybe this is just how people are supposed to be sometimes, but I investigated). It turned out my special coffee was DECAF! What a fool I was !

And things not to dread, but that I should not forget about:

• get driver's license before LA (Substeps: Get car inspected, registered in Texas, get Social Security Card, go to DMV and pray they don't make me take the driver's test again because I don't have my Louisiana license)
• My coworker at the doctor's office will be out of town for two weeks, so the 35+ hours of transcription work will fall to me and the lady that started last weekend. (this in itself isn't dreadful, though it does mean I'll be all the more pushed for time)
• I must not forget to write to that dude that wanted to make the reports I just did for my main job into a global process. I must not forget to write to him and tell him "No" in regards to my availability to do such a project. Telling some gazillionaire who is Blackberrying orders from his vacation in the South of France (he actually didn't say where he was vacationing) "no" will give me so much satisfaction, perhaps I should add this to the previous list.

Dolores, Freedy Johnston