Hello Cruel World,

It is Monday morning, and I'm not really sure how the weekend ended so quickly. I got next to nothing accomplished and do not feel relaxed in the slightest!

It started on Friday when I got a call from my sister reminding me that I had promised to visit this weekend. She lives in the same state, but a good 1 1/2 hours away on various forms of public transportation. Lazy ass that I am, I don't go out there too often, and she doesn't really ever venture out my way at all. So Saturday morning after what was supposed to be "sleeping in" and a leisurely breakfast (I woke up at 8 with a start for some reason, showered and futzed around with the new computer until it was almost time to leave) I took the Red Line to the Burlington and arrived in the 'burbs.

It was fun, I spent the day playing with Ben, the six year old who is the embodiment of nuclear fission. Together we put out fires, saved lives (he was Johnny I was Roy) attempted to use an errector set, watched "I want to be a Fireman" twice and then it was finally dinner time.

My sister surprised me by making a fabulous dim-sum type dinner complete with sticky buns, and then she brought out the pièce de résistance - an icecream cake by CARVEL - that's right CARVEL! The only ice cream cake I will eat, the only kind that thrills me to bits, which is alsy very difficult to come upon in these parts. Although it is two weeks early, they sang Happy Birthday and for the first time in his six years, Ben let me blow out my own candle and make my own wish. He's growing up! He also proposed to me again. What a persistant little guy...

That night I tried out my sister's jacuzzi. It has been in her house for 10 years or so, and I am just now trying it out for the first time. You know what? I wasn't missing a thing. It was cool of her to let me try it out though.

On Sunday they drove me home (Ben's Daddy got a "free day") so that they could pawn off their old filing cabinet on me. I have to put it together, but I am glad to have it. It will help me keep all my papers organized, and just might free up the top drawer of my dresser! Since I haven't been home enough lately to have food in my house (inventory: soy milk, Honey Nut Cherios, beer left over from Memorial Day a hot dog bun left from the same, and an onion) I went and got take-out from my favorite fast food place for lunch. The sister got gyros, I got a grilled veggie burger, and the neffie got a hot dog - chicago style.

Silly me! 6 year olds don't eat all that crap on a hotdog. However, Aunt Michelle was prepared to fix her blunder. I had to wash the hotdog (yes, I touched a NASTY intestine filled with "parts"!) warmed it up, gave it a new bun put some ketchup on there and voilá, one happy little boy had lunch. Except that he had devoured his fries and some of my onion rings and was no longer hungry by that time...

They left at 3, and I had about 7 hours to do everything I had wanted to get done that weekend. I called up a visiting friend and we went to the movies (The Importance of Being Ernest), then I came home and tried in vain to get my NEW computer's mic to work. (If Dell can't figure out how to fix it, how am I supposed to know this? I may send the sucker back). Downloading this and that, I ended up going to bed past the witching hour, and am braindead today. I still didn't get to spend the quality time with my computer that I wanted to, and I missed both chat sessions!!

And my groups Monday meeting is in four minutes. I hear the merry Bankers chattering away about fishing expiditions and golfing, so it must be time to file in. In preparation for my short attention span, I have brought a microcassette and digital microphone so that I can listen to the meeting later and produce coherent notes.

Happy Monday!