A New Short Story.

So yeah.
Not a lot went on today, I didn't do a lick of work.
Wait. Actually, I talked about work for about 2 minutes, and answered a work-related email.

No check from Brats, surprise.
Whatever. I'll just wait a few weeks and sue them.

I wrote a short story today!
I'm really proud of it.

The idea came to me at about 4:00, and started to simmer...
By 4:20 I was typing feverishly.

When 5:30 came (when I usually leave work)
I felt obliged to stay and finish the story.

I finally finished it about 6:00.
It's not very long, like 1550 words.

It's the best thing I've ever written, and it literally brought tears to my eyes as I was writing it. (Wow, strong and manly I know.)

That's never happened before...
Does that mean it's really well done, moving? I dunno.
I'll try to publish it and see what happens.

I have not written a short story for years. I just checked my files, and it looks like 2 years. Jeez, that's a long time. Of course, now that I've started again, I'll keep it up for a while. I've done a lot of writing in that time, just not short stories.

Here's a link, for the interested.
It's called Just Around the Corner.

Weigh-In Note

Note to myself:

Weighed this morning - 201lbs.

Same as last week.

Mebbe I lost some fat and gained some muscle?
Hope so.

I mean, an hour a day of exercise, six days a week, has to do something.
And my heartrate was getting up there, too. No slow walkin for me.
As high as 171, at one point.

Sounds a little too high, really.

...Hmn, I just looked it up, and it seems that 170bpm is "danger zone".
Highest it should get is 164, for my age group.

Yeah, it Figures

So, no paycheck from Bratz. I've sent them several emails. I also researched the labor laws, which indicate that I can submit a legal form to the state, and then Bratz will have to pay me as if I worked all the days I waited, up to 30 days.

I mean- come on, folks. My last day of work for them was 21 days ago, and I still have no check.
Hmmmmm! I hope it won't come to the legal stuff.

Gym went well this morning. Got my routine down. Need to invent a bag insert that wicks sweat / water from clothes / towel. Might invent one tonight.

Note to self -
1) Solve World Hunger.
2) Make Tofu palatable.

Number 1 is actually easier, I suspect.

Today is really dragging. Usually I'm pretty good at conjuring up little projects to do, but today I just wanna go home and mebbe take a nap.

Freedom Force vs The Third Reich is coming out soon, I have it on order. That's a PC game, btw. I tested the first one while I was working at Crave, and it's a fun, campy game. I hope the sequel is good too. Hey, I'm getting it at like 60% off, how can I not try it out?

I've been surfing the web a lot lately, and reading blogs. Some are very well done, and others, not so much. There's one I'm enjoying lately about some crazy group of people Walking across the known world. That girl, she can ramble.

I asked Cindy to order me a book from her work... I'm reading Steinbeck right now, for the first time, and dayum, that man can write. "I hate him so much!"

Oh! I saw Sean of the Dead for the first time last night, (Yay!) and I'm really mad that I didn't see it in the theater. It's wonderful and funny and you gotta run out and buy it immediately.

And now I want Tater Tots and Spam. Dammit.

Where's My Check!?

In anticipation of the arrival of my check from Bratz, (someday) I was doing some online browsing for laptops. Or "Notebooks" as they are now known. The prices are of course pretty high, and it's easy to add on just a few simple features that raise the price $500.

Cindy suggested getting a cheaper laptop, instead of one with lots of bells and whistles - this is based on the understanding of how quickly PC technology becomes outdated, and how often you need to buy a new one.

I guess I can't argue that. When it comes to basic functionality, I'll be using the thing for word processing, wireless internet, and occasionally to watch DVDs on trips, play games on trips... For games, you want a good video card and lots of RAM. But really, the games thing isn't that big a deal, cause without a proper mouse and keyboard, games aren't as much fun.

So if I decide I won't be playing games (beyond the Hoyle Casino variety) on the laptop, I can get away with a crappy video card and less RAM.

Screen Size is not a huge deal, I'm more concerned about portability and battery life.

My big dream is to be Out and About (not Out in the alternative lifestyle way, just out in public) and relaxing at the bistro, getting my creative write on. But considering how little work I do, you know, at work, I have plenty of time to write while on the clock. (I'm not lazy. Right now they just want my butt in the chair)

In the end, the laptop will become a second PC for the house. We both love the internet and the PC and one of us is always on it when the other one is in the mood to use it. So as a second PC, shouldn't it be nice and robust?

I dunno...

Yikes! What Now??

Note to self - I had new tires put on the truck yesterday. In a year when I can't remember, I can look it up using the search function.

Holy Hoo Haa! That author's agent called me! (I'd written them about buying the rights to one of her works, for publishing on Ideagateway.com) They left a message on my cell, and I have not listened to it yet cause I'm too nervous. How silly is that? It's a message, it can't rush me, put me on the spot, etc. It's after 5pm in NY now, so I'm sure they're gone for the day. I can listen at my leisure and get back to them tomorrow. But what do I say? They're going to ask questions, so many questions! I need to get into the right mindset...

Went to the gym today, as per usual. Today is only the second day. My muscles are all rubbery, and I feel awkward. Also, my arm was a little shakey earlier with a little tremble. I'm really out of shape! Nothing bad, but I'm feeling the effects of finally using my muscles.

Still waiting for the Bratz people to pay me. If my check doesn't come by Friday, I'm allowed to be annoyed. I'm annoyed now, but I mean publicly annoyed, with the writing of the "where's my paycheck?!" emails.

I sent an email to Rite Aid (a drugstore), making a suggestion. See, when you pay with your debit card, 2 receipts are printed. One receipt goes in the drawer, and one receipt is handed to the customer. The problem is, the first receipt to be printed is the one that goes in the drawer. So you're standing there waiting for a receipt you don't want (cause I won't need to return this Nestle Crunch Bar, really.) while the cashier is handling the paperwork. Who at corporate thought that these steps were good ones? Did they test them? I don't think so.

Also, you have to fill out an awful lot of personal information to send Rite Aid an email. Name, address, phone, mother's maiden, etc. You'd think they'd want to streamline the process, to promote feedback from the customers. Guess not.

Bally's Total Naked

So this morning was my first exercise session at Bally's. I know that millions of people work out there every day, but this was my first gym experience ever, outside of public school.

They have lots and lots of beautiful equipment, and it's well-maintained. I was there at about 7am, and it was surprisingly busy, but not crowded. Liz met up with me, and we did 20 mins on the treadmill (3.5mph) and 15 mins on the Elliptical Trainer (which was very good, almost like running on the Moon, but needed better foot traction) and then 10 mins on the StairMaster. It was more like the StairAssistantManager, but hey. We'll be doing upper body tomorrow.

Almost everyone there was your average joe, I didn't see any idealized human specimen/god/goddess. Just out of shape people, trying to work off their excesses, just like me.

My big qualm was showering. I had showered with a group of other guys in high school gym class, (decades ago, for I am ancient) and I didn't like it one bit. So I wasn't really looking forward to getting naked with all and sundry. But I have to say, it wasn't bad. The thing that really set me at ease was the old guys.

There were a goodly number of retired gents getting their naked on, hanging out, talking, chillin. I have a gut that I'm trying to burn off, and it makes me self-conscious. But how can you be self-consious next to four elderly naked dudes? They're talking and laughing, and no one even glanced in my direction.

If you gotta be naked, it could be worse. There weren't a cadre of buff muscle-bound clods pointing at my gut and shrunken package, nope. Old dudes. Well all right then.

And I'd carried a little bottle of liquid soap with me, which it turns out I didn't need cause each shower alcove has its own dispenser. Cool. Trying to encourage my fiancee to get a membership too, but she's not comfy in group settings. Me neither!!

One thing I'm gonna have to work out is what to do with my wet towel and damp exercise clothing. If I leave it wadded in a ball, it'll mildew. If I spread it out to dry in my car, there will be a dank funk in my car all the time. I guess wadded, and in a plastic bag, and hang it when I get home.

I don't have a washer/dryer in my apt, I have to go downstairs and spend precious quarters to wash and dry... So it's not very convenient. Hmn, we'll see. I'll come up with some sort of system. Gonna need more exercise clothes though.

Note to self -
Weigh In = 201 lbs
Goal = 175

Actually, I don't give a damn how much I weigh, as long as I lose the gut. I could weigh 250, and as long as it's muscle, it's all good.

Bally Blah's

I just spent my lunch hour signing up for a membership at Bally's Total Fitness. The place is nicely equipped, the people were very friendly, but I feel like I have been swindled.

Now, I knew which membership plan I wanted to get when I went. And that's the plan I got. Actually cheaper than I expected. I wasn't talked into any weird extras, nothin.

And yet, I feel like I have been swindled. That somewhere buried in the fine print is an agreement to offer up my first born. There was a lot of fast talkin, upbeat chatter about the plans, contractual-speke that it felt like I was buying a car, or a house.

Just, an uneasy feeling. But Liz has been going to this place for months, and has nothing but good things to say. She and I will be going in the mornings, about 7am, work out for an hour, and then on to our disparate work places.

I'm gonna need a padlock, a water bottle, sneakers and mebbe a towel. It's gonna be weird, showering at the gym. I have not done that since high school...

Long Time No Blog

Wow, Somehow I got out of the habit.

Not a lot going on lately, working and sleeping mostly. Cindy and I are waiting for our tax money to arrive, so we can head out on a trip. Thinking of Oregon. I know, that's a really exciting destination. We're odd.

Squirrely, I'm sorry you had to resort to reading my crappy old posts, they were largely complaints about being bored at work. Payday - yeah, I've always awaited payday with much anticipation. That's why we work. Well, those of us with jobs that don't help mankind, anyway.

...Teaching, that's one of those jobs like Police or Fireman - necessary, important, not for me.

Still waiting for the Co I contracted for recently to pay me. I asked them yesterday and they said "By next Friday". Ugh.

It's Only Tuesday?

Hmn, my sense of what day it is went completely wacko a couple of weeks ago. I can no longer trust it. Today feels like a Friday, and that aint right.

Some people are out sick from work today, it's strangely quiet. And it's gray and overcast outside, so it's just an odd day.

Writing group meets tonight, I managed to pound out 601 words on my project. It's bad. I'm not proud of it. In a way, it needs to be fast and loose, and not weighed down by descriptions. It needs to be an easy read. Maybe it's just the simple voice of it that irks me.

I read the two Nani Power stories that arrived yesterday. They are definitely written by her... I'm torn right now - does she have a consistent quality and cohesive voice, or is she writing one big story separated by novels, shorts, starts and stops. Is it too much the same? Need to digest.

Don't be confused now - she's amazing. I'm just trying to understand how all her written works fit together, or if that's just my brain seeking a pattern that doesn't exist.

I still need to order the 2 Paris Review issues, and I will have read everything. Wait. There are 4 pieces I have not read... What are they...

I can leave work in 1.5 hours. I'm bored.

New Nani, Neato!

I'm procrastinating working on my writing assignment. It's not due till tomorrow night, and even then I don't think we're gonna be sharing them, just describing our progress. I plan to have at least a few hundred words done, which will probably be more than Cindy and Liz will have. They both work a lot harder than I do, and Liz is going to school. And both of them work a sizable amount of overtime every week.

No word yet from NP's agent. I'm guessing if they took my letter seriously - (I don't know if they have the patience for a small literary magazine) - if they did move forward on it, they'd probably have to contact Nani and find out her terms, and then put together a letter and or contract and send it to me. That could take a few weeks, for the whole process to - ah - process. If I ever get a response at all... They might round-file my letter.

I got a couple of the books I ordered, with NP stories in them. So I can read them tonight. It's kind of neat right now, there's still a lot of her writing that I have not read. One day soon, that won't be the case, and I'll have to wait for new stuff, with the rest of the world. Ick. I almost prefer discovering a writer after they're dead, and I can buy the collected works in one giant hardbacked tome.

Carnivale once again did not answer any questions. Well, ok maybe a couple. And I guessed what happened to Mr. Dolan before it happened heh heh I could write for this show! It feels like they are making this up as they go, and that gets old.

A League of Their Own

If it's on, and it is, then I have to watch it.

Which I am.

Big Plans! Hoo Boy!

I got up this morning after lying in bed for a good half an hour, blinking and thinking. A number of brilliant writing ideas came to me, poetic and simple, and they stood in an orderly line, waiting for their turn to be written down - immortalized - by me.

When I came out into the kitchen (where the computer lives... it knows well its destiny as a snack and surf altar) I stepped into the corner of a cold, 14 square foot puddle of dirty rainwater.

Sigh.

Half an hour later, after an intensive cleanup effort, all my brilliant writing ideas had scampered away into the forest, and were mocking me with giggles from behind the trees. Evil little brats.

Not an encouraging beginning for the weekend.

Funtastic Friday

Yay, it's nice to get paid!

I actually have some work to do today, it boggles the mind but it's true. It kept me busy all morning, and promises to do so for at least another hour. It's nice when I'm busy, cause the time goes by faster.

Cindy and I are supposed to go out and about tonight, she wants to see the movie 'Sideways'. I've heard nothing but good things about it, so that should be fun.

I've been lazy this week - I have not yet worked on my promised writing assignment, 'Distressed'. And I'm not really feeling like working on it today, so that's that. I don't think we're meeting till Tuesday - or is it Thursday? So I have a few more days, no matter what.

The secret project began yesterday, it has been set in motion! The world knows not what is about to hit it!! All will love the secret project and shower gifts, knighthoods, and endorsements upon me! Yes Yes Yes!!

Still waiting for my check from the recent freelance position... They better pay me soon or I will spread their secrets across the world like coins in a Sonic the Hedgehog adventure.

Who's Burning Breakfast?

I stayed up late last night playing a video game - Prince of Persia, Sands of Time. It's a brilliant work of art, and I recommend it to all comers. Most people with a PS2 have already played it. If you have not, stop reading now, and run out to buy it. It's only $19.99. Go!

Depending on which eye is open, this week is going by quickly, or slowly. Right eye, left eye. It's a weird week, what can I say? Payday is gonna be stinko tomorrow because it's only for 20 hours worth of work. Yucky.

Watched 'Alias' last night, under protest. This season stinks! It's too bad, cause they could have a lot of fun with that show. It's obvious that the writers are making it up as they go, and that's no way to run a sweatshop.

Got a haircut and a Roebek's Juice (cause they are renovating the smoothie place across the street). It was good, but now I'm ready for the real food. Something I can bite, chew and tear, smacking and munching with great alacrity, bloody and bad for me. Oh well, my fault.

Chicken Marsala Wishes and Lemonade Dreams

Just got back from lunch at The Macaroni Grill, an excellent restaurant that I highly recommend. It was a goodbye luncheon for Sinta, who is leaving us to run her own business. You go girl!

It's been a funky day. I've decided to once again begin regular infusions of caffeine, cause damned if I'm not useless without it. Listless, tired, unmotivated... Ready for bed at 9pm. No no, I have too much to do. I can't waste time sleeping.

No word, no email from the hosting company about the billing error, but the charge has been completely removed from my account. Not halved as I suggested, it's just gone daddy gone. I'm tempted to try my login and see if it works, but that might remind them to charge me. I'll wait until payday.

I'm thinking about suggesting a new schedule for myself, perhaps 7am-3:30pm. It would be nice to avoid traffic (not that I fight it now). But it would be neat to take off early, and do shopping, banking, errands, napping, etc - while people are still at work. I think this schedule would better suit the bathroom use between Cindy and I, so that would be good.

However, if I do my exercises in the morning before work as I do now, it would mean getting up at 4:30am. And damned if that aint early. Exercise for an hour, then shower, dress, eat, and depart in another hour... Ugh 4:30. I guess I could do my exercises after work, but I might sluff off and avoid them. Plus I think morning workouts are better cause it gets my metabolism going faster for the rest of the day. That has to be a good thing.

I'd be taking lunch when most of the other people would be showing up to work. That would be odd.

Everything is not solidified with my now upgraded position, so perhaps I'll wait a week and suggest the new schedule idea once things are more gelled. The boss types know that I am a good self-motivated type who doesn't need supervision. I'm in here alone working weekends all the time, so that is pretty clear. Hmn...

That Thing I Want to Remind Myself of

Yes.

That thing, with the doing and the mine all mine.

Come payday! Bwa ha haa haa haaa!

Dude! Low-key till then, all right? You never know...

No Canned Critters Here

It's Tuesday. Business as usual, really. Umm. I reserved Ideagateway.com from the hosting service. There was a snafu, and they charged me the regular price, instead of the sale price. $70 instead of $40. Still waiting for them to credit my acct.

I was kinda in a hurry to reserve the hosting, since I sent that letter to NP's agent and told them about Ideagateway, my online magazine was interested in buying rights to one of her unpublished works - In the Blood. Just imagine if they agree! And imagine if I could afford it! It's gonna be like $3000, and I'd happily pay that if I had it. But I don't.

Our writing group met last night, and went well. We came up with a name for the group, Jarbled Jive. We were all throwing out silly suggestions, and that one struck us as the best one. Liz came up with it, you go girl. So mote it be.

We'll be posting our works there from now on, at least one example of each person's work every week. Each of us comes up with an exercise, and the three of us write on that topic for ten minutes. A lot of them are silly exercises, but it's fun - and hey when 10 minutes is up, you have a paragraph or two that you didn't have before.

We'll also be working on longer works on our own through the week. I'll be writing the first story for FictionInteractive. I'll probably borrow some work time to do some work on that. It's a mystery entitled 'Distressed'. That's the 'arts-and-crafts' related title, not the 'Damsel in' title.

Cindy and I have a thriving barter system running now. She helps out with the chores and shopping, and I do her laundry. Works for me. A few minutes of work one morning (no one uses the laundry at 6:30am) for help through the week? Done deal!

Barter, we should use you more often in the present day. Too much love of money. Barter is very handy. I wonder if illegal activities (like, say, prostitution) would still be illegal if barter was used. I wonder how the laws are worded - is it the money, or the services that's the problem?

Since sex isn't illegal, I'm guessing it's the money...

Scratching Monday's Ears

Such a good Monday! Yes you are! Yes you are a good Monday! :::Tosses Monday a dog-bone:::

So yeah, today is shaping up nicely. Finally got word from the boss types, and my raise is effective immediately! It's a $5.00 raise, can you imagine that? I'm now making $17.00 an hour for a pretty damned easy job. Of course, my rent is $1050 a month, so everything's relative.

I got up this morning like a good lil trooper and took my exercise walk, and did my 180 reps with the weights. Since I had to leave for work a bit early, I skimped on my web work. There's not that much more I can do, until I get in the materials I've ordered, of the author's old works. They'll probably arrive in a week or two.

Supposed to meet with the other writing group peeps tonight - they don't seem as enthused as I am. Maybe their enthusiasm just doesn't carry very well through an email? Could be. Hope so. Liz is starting school next week, so we're gonna have to change the meeting night from Monday to some other night, hopefully to be determined tonight. I'd like for it to be a standard night, not floating from week to week. We'll see!

Mark My Words! Mark them!!!!

The San Francisco Chronicle and The New York Times both chose to decry Nani Power's excellent new book, The Sea of Tears. These are periodicals that enjoyed her previous work, and this new novel is the best one yet. So, what the hell is the problem? For a positive review, read mine, here.

It's got to be tough to be Nani Power today. Her books just keep getting better, but all people want to talk about is her first book. Everything gets compared to Crawling at Night. That would get old. "Hey, I wrote that five years ago, ok? Read the new book!" It would be tempting to publish under a pseudonym, and not have the preconceptions. Dye your hair, change your name, and win acclaim with book after book, for being the talented freshman.

When Cindy was at the publisher's conference in September, she asked the rep from Counterpoint/Perseus about Nani Power, and they just gave her a blank stare. Who? Ugh. Know your own authors, damn. How are you to promote the product? I mean, even if a rep dislikes a work personally, familiarity with their - small number, ahem! - of authors would help promote sales, and isn't that the bottom line?

I think in the end, The Sea of Tears will meet with acclaim. But right now, it seems like slow going. One day, after her fifth book appears, the right person will read it. The fiction buyer from Borders will decide to champion the book, ala The Da Vinci Code, and zoom, right to the top of the charts and next thing you know there's a movie deal, and all the old books are suddenly on Oprah. An overnight success after ten years of crummy reviews.

Wow! Consumer says "I like!"

Holy cow, if you have not tried this, you should! I was scrubbing the walls in the bedroom (cause, you know, there's nothing on TV on Sunday afternoon) and I came to that wall where the pillows rub against the wall.

You know the smudgy blur of pillowcase color that rubs off onto the wall (when you use cheap linens like we do) that you have to practically scrub the paint off the wall to remove?

Well, no longer! I tried the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, which is this innocuous white spongy material, and with nothing but water, the smudgy funk was gone! And I wasn't scrubbing my fingers off, either. Just wiping forcefully.

You know, I complain a lot about things that don't work well or that are poorly designed, but this product ROCKS! If you gotta scrub walls, (and you know, if you want your deposit back, you'll have to scrub walls at some point) scrub with this! It's excellent.

One point I'd like to make though - the little white spongy thing goes away as you use it. I don't know if it dissolves or goes back to Nirvana or The Happy Hunting Ground, but it becomes less and less a sponge and more and more a fragment as you use it.

That's fine, no problem. Anything that works this well (violating The Third Law of Thermodynamics) has to hide from Universal Physics Paradox by shifting into the forth dimension. So my point is, if you have a lot of wall to clean, get a bunch of these, because while they are amazing, they fall apart after X amount of wall is scrubbed.

- - Additional: Per an anonymous Mr. Clean representative, the sponge goes to Valhalla, and is lovingly tended by voluptuous Valkyries for eternity, for their good service. Hear hear.

Nice Day!

I just got back from a walk around the neighborhood. I stopped in to visit a library that I've often seen but never entered, until today. They're open till 8 on weekdays and till 5 on Saturday. Cool!

It's a charming little library, circa 1970 -

- - Will someone someday lean over my transparent sarcophagus and cryogenically chilled body in the LACMA Frozarium wing and say, "oh, a charming man, circa 1970", as they read the plaque, artfully lighted and stylish faux bronze - -

It's been a long time since I was in a library. I used to go all the time, a couple of times a week, in fact. I read - on average - a book a day for years, until I graduated from High School. Libraries are familiar and comfy, and you know what to expect while you are in one.

I think that in the present day, people mostly use libraries to check out movies on DVD and music on CD... I'm talking about the younger generations. Older folks still remember libraries are for books. But the days of heading to the library for research and reference is mostly passed, thanks to the internet.

This library has many cute study stations, maybe I'll go there and write sometime, just to get out of the house.

It's the 21st Century, Dammit

Per my 'Bathroom' rant from the other day, people are slobs. Once they dry their hands, they toss the paper towel lightly on top of the trash. Since everyone else has lightly tossed their paper towel, they quickly choke the top of the trash can and begin to spill on the floor.

We're sending probes to Titan, but we can't invent a better trash can? Come on. A trash can that can tamp itself down. Maybe we should put NASA on it. Grr.

I tamp public trashcans all the time. Carefully. Because other people are slobs. I'd hate to see their homes.

It's All Good!

I forgot to mention, we heard back from Julio, and all is well.

Now you can sleep soundly. I know I will.

Looking Forward to Monday. Tsk.

Yet another Bratz testing day, fun. Tomorrow is the last day, and I'm not sorry. It's pretty mind-numbing testing. Just got back from my post-lunch walk, and I have 3.5 hours of work left.

Thinking about completely starting from scratch on FictionInteractive.com. Big sigh. After my recent web work on IdeaGateway, the old site looks really crummy. Ugh Ugh UGH. Will it never be done?

Supposed to get a raise in pay here soon, perhaps as soon as Monday. Sounds good, bring it on!

Finally heard back from Liz. She's not avoiding us, she's just busy, and has a toothache. Feel better, Liz!

Nothing Happened Today.

I know it's hard to believe. It's true.

The BLT - Proof of Manifest Destiny, Manifested.

Today has gone by at a decent pace. I'm still testing the Bratz software, and no - that is not a misspelling. It's rife with bugs, rife I tell you!! It makes me wish that I was getting paid by the bug, or at least, would bonus if I reached certain number levels. But alas, no. No biggie, I'm making decent money for this project anway.

L is trying to get a response out of J - see what you've done, Squirrely? I used to throw names around like they were hundred dollar bills, but now I keep them close to the vest. Your wariness rubbed off on me, it has.

Ahh screw it. Julio isn't replying to Liz, and we're wondering what his deal is. Odds are, he's fine. Last we'd heard he was gonna go back to school. Julio, where are you?? :o)

Went out to lunch with Brian and Gabe at Johnny Rockets. I had a BLT and it was goooood. Such a simple sandwich, such a great stack of textures and tastes!

Little Bit of Fiction

Liz and Cindy and I started a writing group, the first meeting was last night. Here's one of the pieces I wrote last night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bathrooms are wet, unclean places with a huge pile of dank paper towels limp and brown sticking to the square squares of the mosaic floor, sticking to one another. The eldest of these paper towels are loose and curled - to the left and right of the main pile. There since 8:07am when A.H. verified the room as minty fresh and meeting corporate standards. The edges of the elderly wet paper towels are beginning to dry, ever so slightly, turning a lighter shade of brown, like frosted tips of hair.

The sink is a polished dark aggregate, so blotchy and freckled that the dirt is impossible to see. You can't even tell if it's wet. Puddles lie in ambush waiting snickering for the unsuspecting patron to lean against the counter and soak the front of their shirt. 'Ha Ha! Now it looks like you pee'd!' Thinks the sink – this is the only fun it has, no one loves it, cleans it, polishes it, no 409 and Comet – and they'd promised! No. The sink waits and broods and grows bitter. Inside, a tiny crack forms and begins to split, year after year, small increments of cracking until March 25, 2009 when it will split wide like a hungry, abused hippopotamus and kill Harry Sears, a cashier from Office Depot who came over during his lunch hour to buy a gift for his wife.

Bathrooms are forgotten, utilitarian closets of distaste and rough unprotected sex, quick dirty necessity performed in haste. Committed like a crime. Then hidden, pushed away under water - - washed away but not quite gone.

Note to Self

I mailed the letter to NP's agent this morning - I forgot it at home yesterday. So I mailed it today, I'd expect a good month before a reply.

If ever.

We shall see!