Just a quick little entry for today. It's hard staying away from my journal. I guess I should seek help for my problem, huh?

My body has decided to get back at me for not getting enough sleep. It's decided that it needs to be sick.

The last few days I've felt the tell-tale tickle in my throat and my chronic post-nasal drip growing more irritating. (Ooh, I know that men find post-nasal drip in a woman very sexy, especially the coughing that accompanies it. Well, I've had it since I was about 15. Come and get me, boys!) I tried to push it away, telling it that I just didn't have time to be sick right now, especially after my three week sick-fest at the end of 1999.

Needless to say, my personal "ugly bag of mostly water"* decided not to listen to me and blessed me with a stuffy nose. Oh, what fun.

Thing is, I still don't have time to be sick. Not until March. I can't take a day off of work this week because, not only do I have next Monday off (which is already filled with cleaning and laundry and taking my computer over to the folks for an installation of a zip drive and new CMOS battery), but I'm taking a vacation day that Friday and the following Monday, because I'm flying out to Tucson to visit Risa and Joe (and, of course, their little fledgling). Perhaps I'll just go to sleep really early on Tuesday (not scheduled to page, thank heaven).

Ok, stop laughing. No really. I can go to bed early, really I can. Oh just leave me alone.

* That's a Star Trek:The Next Generation reference, from Home Soil.

The temporary powers that be in my department are trying to lift morale. Day after tomorrow is a department outing! Last time they did something like this was two years ago (they were planning on making it a monthly thing, but of course that didn't happen). That time we went to Disneyland. Oooh, there's a surprise, especially since the department didn't have to pay to get in (just for the lunch at the Blue Bayou, which was with overhead funds).

Ok, I'll admit it. It was actually kind of fun. I do enjoy Disneyland, heaven help me. I've always been a sucker for rides, and I absolutely adore the carousel in Fantasyland. (Next time any of y'all go, look at the jester's head at the top. Doesn't that look like Danny Kaye?)

This time is lunch at a California Pizza Kitchen and team bowling. I think I'll go, because I like to bowl, though I'm very, very bad at it.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, a day that most single people try to pretend doesn't exist. I was all set for a night of vegging in front of the TV, or working on my site.

Not only did that not happen, but I had a fun time while it didn't happen.

Ok, let me 'splain. Yesterday I had lunch with an old friend, L.. He and I don't get to see each other much, due to our conflicting schedules. Plus he leads a very busy life. Well, after much talking over the phone for the past few weeks, we arranged to get together for lunch, and this time it actually happened (we've had to postpone before).

So we're eating lunch and catching up. Then I see a notion flicker across his face.

"Carol, did you say you're not busy tonight?"

"Believe it or not, I'm actually free."

"I'm going to see a film tonight, and it's the only night it's showing. Do you want to join me?"

"Sure."

So I spent my Valentine's evening watching an interesting foreign film with a dear friend of mine, then talking until the wee hours of the morning about anything and everything. Music, films, our lives, psychology, life as we see it, I mean everything.

Then again, for us, that's not unusual. We've always been able to talk for hours at a stretch. There were a couple of things that he said, though, that struck me as incredibly funny.

After asking me what I thought of Titanic, I told him in no uncertain terms that I thought it was visually beautiful movie, but they should have killed off the leads within the first ten minutes so that we get to the interesting parts of the movie. He laughed heartily (agreeing with me, I think), and said. "All my friends are contrarians."

At one point we were talking about something, I forget what, and he again laughed and just looked at me with smile. "Carol, you are such a character."

Who? Lil' ol' me?

I've been linked!

Catherine of Naked Eye linked to my art page after I submitted it for the Digital Artists section of her WebLog (issue #14), which was very nice of her.

But then she says in the blurb about the Strand, "This site also has a very compelling journal from a very upbeat and positive person."

I'm upbeat! I'm positive! And, above all of that, I'm compelling (or at least the journal is). That means a lot to me.

Thank you very much, Catherine. I really appreciate it.

Are you ready for...

A boy and his 'bone.