I'm going to have to get up earlier in the morning or write here in the journal first thing or SOMETHING in order to get it down. I started with e-mail this morning, having gotten up early and was happily enjoying coffee alone, but by the time I got to this part, the hubby was up and eager to get on the computer. You never know what new things might have popped up on eBay in the last nine hours.

I had a nice experience yesterday. A bit of a reward for my practicing "being brave." There's a new Antone's Po'boy shop in our building. I guess it opened when I was on vacation because everyone at work has eaten there except me. I went out to drop of a letter at the mailbox yesterday afternoon and made myself stop in to Antone's to see what time they close. They close at 6 p.m., which is aggravating since I work so late into the evening. The people working there surpassed the friendliness level of the Jamba Juice folks by miles. I met Stefan and John and Sharon and they happily told me about all that they had. Since they close early they suggested I could get a sandwich and put it in our refrigerator at work until I was hungry. Good plan. I didn't have money with me so I told them I'd drop back by before they closed. Ten minutes later, John was in my studio with a nice Turkey and Swiss sandwich in hand for me. A nice surprise. I think he was flirting with me, but I'll take free food just about any way I can get it. It made me feel good to be brave and go into a strange place and meet new people.

If I were you reading this stuff, I think I would perceive me as the wimpiest weirdest whiniest person in Austin. Depression, attention deficit, spineless---that's me! It's all hidden from the world, believe me. Outwardly--perfectly normal.

Staff meeting this afternoon. Don't know if that means someone has been fired or not. I think only two people have ever been fired from our division. The first staff meeting I attended on the first day I started my job, the boss announced that one of the small group of employees had been fired. Then he introduced me. He assured the others that I had not been hired to replace the fired employee, it was just a coincidence that it all happened at the same time. Felt weird nonetheless since I hadn't met this guy and everyone seemed to have liked him. Several did tell me later though that they weren't surprised he had been fired.

I think today's meeting will simply focus on the new year and expectations for the coming weeks when the ratings begin. For once, I'm in a company that I look forward to the meetings. They are crowded (we have no good place to meet) and there is no food (a necessity for a really good meeting) but they are always humorous and light-hearted and "feel good" without sounding like a Zig Ziglar seminar.

I'm also going to get the new glasses in a bit. I'll be cool cool cool.

Okay, I've gotten a little bit of the meat of the week down on paper (figuratively) and Mark is back in the living room, minding his own business, reading the paper, but still it draws my mind off-track. I'll move on and start my rat killing for the day.