The Truth about May 15 Gas Out

I've been in the e-mail game for a while now, and largely stay away from forwarded e-mails; most of my friends know not to send them to me. I get most of my e-mail from aggregate services. But when my father and Katie, two individuals as far as each other could be and still be human, both sent me the same

DON'T PUMP GAS ON MAY 15TH

e-mail within 24 hours of each other I realized it would be time to bring the thing to rest soon.

Carolyn sent it to me next, but with "The question ---- Does a Gas out really do anything?" I expediently conjured up snopes.com and sent its "MAY 15th GAS OUT: false" entry to her. She sent it to everyone on her list, giving me credit while also noting how speedily I'd managed it.

The moment before I logged in to BlogHarbor, I received a fourth version from my church in California.

People, please: If it really makes you feel better, remove your faded-to-white "Support our Troops" yellow-ribbon magnets and instead adorn your automobile with a car cover as many days a week as you can.

Another completed first draft

I have all these first drafts and fewer second drafts, but for now I can live with that. Count of Three (formerly Anna And...) is complete and DH has read it and his biggest critique of it is that he "wants more" of it. For those of you who don't write plays, any time someone reads a first draft of your play and invokes Beckett and Sartre and the term "deeply philosophical," well, that's a good thing. I couldn't be happier. And now it's time for "Lost," which is just the icing on the cake. Huzzah!

Quiet around here

Not much to say so I haven't been posting -- I'd hate to waste your valuable time. There was a recent study that Tai Chi helps seniors boost immunity to shingles, so I've been alerting reporters to the Rhythmball aspect of Tai Chi. Oh, and I'm in a play tonight -- an unstaged reading -- and the playwright has had me in mind for the lead ever since he started writing it, and my character is often referred to as "gorgeous," which is quite flattering to me, especially after my chili-dog-and-chocolate-cupcake diet this past weekend.

Good news is, the rain is mostly gone and it's supposed to hit seventy degrees this weekend. Now, if the baby would just stop whining, life would be perfect and I could take a nap or something.

I look cute!

For the first time in a long time since I was pregnant, I look cute again. It's just happened within the past couple of weeks. And hooray, tonight I actually noticed that I looked cute in my underwear. Monstro agreed. Happy Saturday night! Shock the monkey, indeed.

Kathy Sierra

I'm not sure what to think when I read a story online in the SF Chronicle about the Kathy Sierra death threats -- "...a world that many women in particular see as still dominated by men and where personal attacks often are defended on grounds of free speech" -- and at the bottom of the article is a Google ad for 99 Most Desirable Women.

The Bubblewrap is Gone

The bubblewrap is gone. So are the bags and boxes of packing pellets. The tubes of Crazy Glue, the rolls of masking tape, vanished. Every clean garbage bag in the house? Ditto.

Monstro and Slash and the cargo van we rented are off to ICON. They successfully crossed the Long Island Sound via the Port Jefferson / Bridgeport ferry, and were looking for "a big sports building" at the SUNY where the con is being held when I called him on our cell phone.

Oh, and who wants to help me put together our new bed before hubby gets home?

ICON, Monstro, new bed

And yet MORE writing

There's been this one-act I've been eleven pages into since 2004. Today I wrote 100% more. I think the first draft is nearly done.

The cool thing is, this one-act can be the prequel to another one-act play I've had some success with. And then I've got a two-act play, with an intermission act.

Whoo!

In other news, the baby is screaming, all excited about Springing Forward, I guess.

Happy Daylight Savings!

Best Website Ever

... and addictive, to boot! Check it out! (G-rated and work-friendly, I promise)

Yup, more writing that isn't a musical

I blame Anne for giving me a free idea, which dovetailed beautifully with an idea I had three years ago, topped off with another brand-new idea from moi. Basically, what I'm saying is, I'm writing a new play. I'm five pages into it. So far, it's not wretched. More info as I have it. In the meanwhile, I'm signed up for the first Playwright's Lab in April and looks like I'll be bringing this with me.

And, between the previously blogged stomach flu and Rhythmball (one of which was considerably more enjoyable than the other), I have NEVER looked hotter in my new jeans. Whoot!

And Yet Skinnier

This week's poundage droppage wasn't inspired by Rhythmball so much as the gastrointestinal virus that Baby picked up, which 12 hours into his recovery Monstro and I inherited; yesterday was nothing but tag-team baby care and hot-racking the bed (a military term I learned from my old buddy Jim, who was in the Marines).

Monstro was setting the alarm last night. "Weird."

"What's weird?"

"The alarm is set for 8:12, and right now, it's 8:12."

It didn't at the time occur to me that 51 years ago, we'd have to wait another minute.