Whee bike!

sarameg, I even usually ask for extra gravy. Because they don't give me enough gravy. MMM GRAVY.

t /tauntycakes

I also agree about beer = nast. Just out of highschool, I worked in a drivethru. The handle on a 24 pack of Bud bottles broke as I was pulling it out of the cooler, and half of them shattered in the drivethru. In 90 degree heat. It STANK. Haunts me still.

Allyson! When is your deadline? I was waiting to send you stuff after you were done, because I thought that tempting (I hope) distractions were the last thing you needed, and it would be a nice reward if I was clever enough to time it right. Which I'm probably not, but it's nice to pretend. So I keep meaning to ask and then thinking I should know, but I don't, because I suck.

My deadline to the publisher is July 1st. My personal deadline is June 1st, so I have time to mull it and get a beta or two on the complete thing.

I'm taking a week off at the end of May to complete it.

I can't wait to be done. I need to get to the next one. If I can sell the next one...damn. That'd be something.

Excellent. I'll mail stuff at the end of next week. It's all packed and everything, so I'm not even being absentminded like usual!

And then you can write your second book, and tell me what the hell to write a book about, and then we'll both be rich and famous and we can slam each other via our publicists, and ita will have to break up the fights we start when we run into each other at trendy clubs, and one of us will date the other's ex-husband, and Kristen can write a thinly-veiled sitcom about the whole thing, and there'll be a True Hollywood Story about it.

...I mentioned the beer before, right?

I had the cats chasing a laser dot earlier and now every time I pick up the tv remote they alternately scan the floor and stare at me.

Today was my second cruddy-to-blah birthday in a row. It really is all downhill once you're older than Jesus.

I'm sorry to hear that Corwood. Any chance it will pick up before midnight?

I hope next year's is better, anyway. And have a happy day after your birthday tomorrow.

Ugh, Corwood, I'm sorry. When I have crappy birthdays, what bugs me the most is feeling like I shouldn't complain because it's not a big deal. Which is why I will say: you shouldn't have had a lousy birthday. That's no fair, and it is a big deal. Please complain at length if you want to, and don't feel bad about it.

I give the gift of venting, because it's all I have to offer.

I'm sorry to hear that. But happy birthday, Corwood!

Having crappy birthdays was why I started holding my own birthday parties. I was tired of waiting around for someone to hold a party for me so I did my own planning. Maybe that's a way to go?