Ugh. I�m all bleary-eyed this morning. I�m working half days while brother Shawn is in the house and so far, this morning, I�ve done not one damned thing. Except read my email. Which brings me to my current dilemma. Actually this is a rather pleasant problem, for a change. I got an email from the college where Frances has been known to teach�she, godblessher, gave my name to the fellow in charge of getting teachers on board. He�s offered me a choice of two classes. Hmmm. (Thank you thank you, Frances my darling). The dilemma: this campus is about a 40 minute drive from me (I think). The pay is about half what I�d get paid to teach here. But, as far as I know, I�m not getting a teaching gig here. So I should just grab this opportunity, shouldn�t I? And maybe I could even get a second class here. At which point, I�d be teaching 2 classes plus working a full-time job. But I�d have money for once. Hmmmm. I�m going to sit on it for a couple of hours. Think it over. Ask brother Shawn for advice which he adores giving because he, after all, is a member of my family, the bossiest crew around. And he�s the littlest one so I think he compensates by being extra bossy and expert about everything. Luckily he�s usually right.

This morning at 6 am we were both up and Basho was ever so happy because he LOVES Shawn and loves to sit next to him and kiss him on the face and just be with him all the time. We cut up the most beautiful cantalope you�ve ever seen and ate outside in the tall grass and talked about nothing much. It�s great to have company in the form of a favorite little brother.

Walking up the steps, just know, I teetered for a moment and almost fell to my death, I�m sure. It gave me pause. How many times do I almost die every day?

Then, I threw out my empty drink can and I felt bad because I was not giving it to Sam the Can Man, my old neighbor and character extraordinaire round these parts. He�s ancient and good and spends his days collecting cans. When he was my neighbor he would mow my lawn in secret. When it snowed a great snow, he shoveled out all the cars on our block before anyone even woke up. I want to give him all the cans in the world.

I think I�ll be saying yes to Frances�s college.

I think, also, that Ted Chiang is grand. I think everyone should read Ted Chiang. Ted Chiang is my number one recommendation of the year.