I'm at Dollywood this instant. We are on the tram, ready to head into the park. On the way here we passed an entire parade comprised on Shriners. It was the coolest thing I have ever seen.

Beyond Exhaustion
Most nights, it goes like this. I turn of my light and before my head hits the pillow, I'm asleep until the next morning. But not the last couple of nights. Despite only having a few hours allotted for sleep, my body has rebelled, granting me about 4 hours a night.

My hope is that the end result will be me, totally sacked out on the plane tomorrow instead of being awake and fretting that something will go wrong. Until then, I'm damn tired, dreamaing of being asleep.

The Home Stretch
Today is the last time I have to go to my tedious fiction class. I had this unrealistic expectation that being in the graduate version of the class would give me access to other stuggling/unpublished, yet still pretty talented writers. That whole grad student connotation would have you beleive that, right?

Wrong.

Granted, about half the class writes some really interesting stuff and has valuable insights about what works and what doesn't in my work. But the other half writes, well, crap that I'd also call drivel. In addition, the comments they made about my work, other people's work, was often so caught up in self-importance and making references to obscure authors that I thought I was in the latter Matrix movies.

Which did not help in my quest to write a whole novel that doesn't suck. And has decent dialogue.

In less than an hour I'll turn in my 63 pages of stuff that may not suck, that may make it into a whole novel one day, knowing that most of the improvements that I made came from the comments of just a few folks.

There's an undergrad version of the same class, I think I'll stick to that. Not because my crap stands out as being better, but because my classmates aren't so caught up in themselves that they can't make good, constructive comments about my work.

Farewell, stuffy grad students. Hello, punkass undergrads.

I can't help but get teary-eyed when I see gay couples getting married.

For the record, the day that it truly becomes legal here in the Bay Area, when I can get a marriage license, then proceed to the church of my choice and be legally married by the pastor of my choice (or just the guy at city hall, if that's my choice) with the state ready to recognize my union, that will be the day that I make all kinds of noise to Andrea about making an honest woman out of me.

So hurry up, people who make laws. Let me marry her already!

Big Pants Still = Sore Ass
So my new pants came and though they look super duper spiffy (it's all about coordinating with the stick) after two games I've found that they're simply too high-waisted for me to comfortably skate in. Yesterday, I fell down and couldn't get back up because they kept folding in at the waist. I laid on the ice forever trying to figure it out. Eventually I got back up but not without a scar on my stomach from where they'd cut into me during the process.

I must have fallen on my ass pretty hard then, too because today my left cheeck (and why is it ALWAYS my left cheek?) hurts just as bad as on other days after other falls in my current, much more mobile pants.

I played four (count 'em, four) hockey games in two days. That's like a tournament, but (as Jean says) without the dinners. Though a bunch of us did go out for lunch after the A-Team 2 game (another loss, but a good time had by all) and every time Annette or Jeannette got up to get a beverage, the Sharks scored. It was hysterical, they'd come back, armed with a full glass, returning to a room full of shouting, happy people. Their beverage needs worked out because the Sharks won the game and will be back here tonight ready to take on the Flames once again.

Dare to Dream
The A-Team 1 remains in first place, still undefeated. We're now in first by 3 points but more importantly, we've really gelled as a team. Finally. After 5 losing/.500 seasons, we've lost very few folks, and added just the right ones at the same time as our beginners have crossed the line from beginner to intermediate. More than once a game, I find myself smiling at their efforts, proud to be on the ice with them. All the work we put into finding the right combination of personalities and skill levels has paid off, we're a team. And we're winning. WOO HOO! I'm also racking up assists in almost every game I play, which is huge for me. Someday, I will score. On a goalie, not just an empty net. Oh yes, I will....