Did I mention the ship? On Thursday our company outing was a two-hour tour on a four-masted schooner. I quite enjoyed it - except for the heat and humidity. It flattened me. Now I have a sore throat etc. But I got to watch them raise the main sails and unfurl the top sails. There were about a hundred people in the group and the ship had something like a crew of eight.

Somebody brought an albatross along, though. We had a hard time finding any wind.

PS. My brother arrived safely.

Books: Chapter 58 is finished! Now, moving on...

My brother and his wife arrive on Friday evening. There are a lot of things to do in preparation for his visit. I don't know how much work I'll get done on the book in the next week or two.

Books: Edits for the edits I made previously. That's what I get for letting people read this stuff.

Well, we went to the Cirque du Soleil this afternoon. Varekai. A friend got us miracle tickets - though there's really not a bad seat in the house. I must say - it was worth the money. Spectacle, confetti, old-fashioned clowns. Those people earn their paycheck.

I quite enjoyed the act they call the "water meteors" - it's hard to describe, but it involves lots of throwing and catching by small children.

Then there are the Russian Swings which always make an impression. Flinging people across the stage instead of objects - great fun.

I still think my favorite is the Aerial Straps act - wow. (And Sarah, I found out their names are Andrew and Kevin Atherton.)


Books: The end of the book is feeling very far away tonight. I'm working on chapter 58. Adding, subtracting, smoothing. Will this book ever end?

Apparently Thursday is the day for blogging lately.

I bought a $2 mood ring the other day. They make me laugh, but I've never spent actual money on one before because whenever I tried them, they never changed color. How boring is that? This one was only $2, so I forked it over and proudly wore my moodring to work.

It stayed the same, boring blue color all day.

I think that's one step toward "stressed" up from "normal."

Anyway, I was being glad I didn't spend more than $2 for my boring blue ring. At last it was time to go home for the night. As I headed out the door, I noticed the ring was changing color - moving toward calm. It's actually a circuitous route from my desk to the front door (but not strenuous) but curiously, by the time I actually went through the revolving doors onto the street the color of the ring was distinctly "happy."

Funny that. I guess leaving work makes me happy. Who would have guessed?

Books: Massive rewrites the next three chapters. One of them goes from being in the fight to just watching the fight. One of them goes from talking to someone to leaving a message. One of them gets moved around the timeline. I know it sounds like everything is getting more passive. Hopefully the end result will be suspense, though. Hopefully.