I'm still trying to find a new name for the journal. If y'all have any ideas, let me know. I'm always open.

I had a rather nice weekend, by the way. On Saturday I went to a friend's graduation from George L. Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Sandra had earned her Master's degree in Business Management through their Fully-Employed MBA program, which meant she was burning the midnight oil and the candle at both ends. After the graduation ceremony there was a quick reception nearby, then Sandra and her friends met for a celebratory lunch at the Broadway Bar and Grill on Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade.

(The Promenade is an over-crowded, over-priced shopping walkway that can still be pretty fun, when I'm in the mood for that sort of thing. My favorite shops on the Promenade are Shiva Imports, Hear Music, Muskrat Vintage Clothing and Midnight Special Book Store. One street over, on Fourth Street, is the Border Grill, owned by Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger�better known as the Too Hot Tamales.)

(I got to ride in Sandra's brand new 1990 Toyota 4-runner while she took me to my car. Quite a change from the little car she had before. And it is very pretty.)

There were a couple of people there that I knew or had met, but I met some of Sandra's friends that were only names to me before. Very nice people. It's always nice meeting new people, even when I'm feeling shy. But I wasn't feeling shy on Saturday. Not at my most talkative, but still very comfortable with everyone. It was fun.

Afterwards I called up my friend Mary and her hubby Warren. They live really close to the Promenade, so I invited myself over. They were about to sit down to watch videos, but were more than happy to have me join them. So I picked up waaay too much candy from the Candy Baron, made my way over to their place through the thick traffic, and enjoyed myself thoroughly as we watched Waking Ned Devine (a light, sweet film), made ourselves ill from the candy, picked up some dinner, then watched Living Out Loud (a nice, light comedy).

(Queen Latifah is awesome. I've recently started watching Living Single in syndication, which I really enjoy. But I love Queen Latifah. She's sexy and strong and so very real. I loved the outfits she wore and her voice is pretty damned good, though it was the tiniest bit flat in the first song of the movie.)

I went home around midnight and fell asleep about 2am. Sunday I woke up late, vegged in front of the TV for a couple of hours, then showered and took myself to my folks place for laundry, dinner, a manicure and pedicure from my baby sister Teresa (who's expecting her own baby boy next month, as is my brother and sister-in-law), and just general hanging out with the family.

(Lest you think I was there just to take, take, take, I gave Teresa my last coffee-maker, since I just bought a new one, and I provided all the fixin's for yummy garlic bread to go with the spaghetti we had for dinner. And yes, the coffee-maker was working fine. It just doesn't get the coffee as hot as I like it. Teresa is less picky than I am in these matters.)

As usual, I got home waaaay too late, set my alarm incorrectedly (don't do this when you're half asleep) and woke up really late yesterday. I left a message for my boss Gail (after getting the voicemail of everyone else whose extensions I could remember) and got into work an hour late. Turns out she called in sick, so no one knew where I was. But that was ok. My other boss Dan wanted to go for a coffee run (an almost daily ritual), so we went off to Starbucks, where D. and I exchanged significant, yet hopefully subtle, looks, phrases and handclasps.

All in all, a nice weekend.

I looked at my Art page and noticed that everything that's been put up there are of women, and most of them are of naked women. Not a big deal, but I just found it interesting. It's just an effort to make my art less static looking (you should see some of my really early stuff). But all the naked women are really just facets of me.

I know, I still haven't put up anything more about my vacation. Give a little time, will ya? There's a lot to it and I still don't have a computer at home (next week, please!). I'll try my best to put something together in the next week or so.

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