Rain creations

I went on a super-duper power-walk yesterday. The kind where you just keep going and going like a deranged Energizer rabbit from hell....I allowed myself to get lost in various alleys and side streets that I hadn't gone down before, and the rain & sun just couldn't make up their minds on who was the victor all day. Seriously, in the course of my one-hour walk, I think it went from bright blue sky to cloudy, drizzly rain and back again about four times. While I was walking down one alley, I noted that a huge puddle of water had formed in the shape of a cartoon paper heart, the kind you make when you fold construction paper in half and draw/cut the heart on each side of the crease. The heart-puddle was aimed right at this cute home with a gay pride flag on their porch and a Human Rights Campaign bumper sticker on their car....Not much farther down, the rain had drenched this concrete slab for a piece of above-ground property, and somehow the rain missed a section of the concrete on the side, and the dry patch resembled an owl, one of the kinds that has pointed ears at the top of its head. I mean it -- it looked JUST like an owl, without any second-guessing. Needless to say, I had an amazing walk.

Friday was just a lovely day for so many reasons. I had informal conferences with my students at Powell's downtown right after I got done teaching, and two of my students, A and C, joined me. We ended up chit-chatting for the better part of an hour and a half, about writing and school and hometowns and comics and more, and it was just a delight. I received a thoughtful present from A -- she'd taken a Tic-Tac box and decorated it (she wants to be a comic book illustrator) with a white rabbit (she even wrote "White Rabbit" at the top of it). Inside, she'd tucked dozens of little origami stars she'd made, with "Eat Me" written on each one of them. She proceeded to tell me that Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" is one of her favorite songs. I responded by saying it was also one of mine, and was part of the Holy Trinity of karaoke songs I like to sing, alongside BOC's "Don't Fear the Reaper" and Martika's "Toy Soldiers". When I got home from teaching, there was a lovely package from Karin in the mail -- I'd won the Oscar ballot contest she held, and she'd decorated the box with cool pictures from all the nominees. Inside the care package were lots of goodies, including candy to sneak into the theatre with and a scary-looking lamb Pez dispenser. Good ol' Karin. It was nice to chat with her yesterday....She and I are both going to see Snow Angels in theatres and then compare notes (she and I both have a love of indie drama-thrillers and Sam Rockwell, so I'm excited to chat with her post-viewing).

I'm off now to write; now that the short story is done, I'm back to working on the novel full force.

I've been busy but happy. Working at my new job -- and still teaching -- keeps me in more than chicken-with-head-cut-off status, but at least this chicken is a happy camper, albeit a decapitated one.