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Rain is ok. Cold is ok. Cold and rainy is not ok. There is no way I am leaving the house this evening. Well, there may be a way... but it's just not likely. Blech!

One healthy, happy, lil' doggie is running around the house filled with post vet visit exuberance. She was good... always well behaved, but this was a annual visit where they run tests and such so they spent some time around her "sensitive" areas and that made her understandably uncomfortable. She made a new fiend in the waiting room. A couple of girls had a toy poodle puppy that was slightly larger than Éclair's foot. I mean, the entire dog could have fit in her mouth. I wish I had a camera to snap that playful vignette. I can't wake up. I desperately need coffee and I have been too busy doing daddy stuff all morning to make a pot or stop and finance some. The Starbucks on the corner down from my house has some of the best interest rates in town. Dwayne is on his way over to pick me up for work. Yes, that's right... I said work. Fucktabulous day I'm having! The movie I rented is late... again. It doesn't matter if the rental agreement is 2 days or 5 days (or 50 days), I will always turn in the movie(s) the day after they are due. It's a curse. Thai food sounds good right now. Thai Spice has a buffet over in the village. Mmmmmn. Having a buffet in a restaurant (especially a tasty one) is like having a giant neon sign out front that says "Please come in and eat too much"... it never fails. Another staple of American society that contributed to Houston being the fattest city in the United States. Oh, well that and the fact that there are over 9000 restaurants in the Houston metropolitan area and the number is growing daily. If I had a nickel for every time Greg mentioned in awe how many restaurants he saw during his visit, I'd... um... well... have a lot of nickels. Fuck. I have to go to work.

Note to self: never schedule vet appointments this early on a weekend again. EVER.

I had dinner with Harry and stopped by the big Halloween bash over at Audra's loft for a little bit. There were lots of people there (in costume) and the decorations were fab but after saying my hellos to everyone, I realized I just needed to be alone. The rest of my evening was just a whole lot of nothing good... or was it good nothing? Either way, Eclair has a check up in the morning and I need to be up and get her ready to go.

"Hey, hey, hey. Don't be mean. We don't have to be mean because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are." - Buckaroo Banzai
Home at last. There is something in the air tonight. I can't tell you how badly I want to go do all the things I shouldn't do. Maybe I'll take a walk after all. Seeing the faces of a few friends and spending time getting wrapped up in live music might do me good. I've been living under a rock (and a mountain of work) all week. Fuck it.

Ok... maybe not President. Still though, there need to be some quality of life changes made around here. American life is just too fast paced. I don't think it's something you can describe to someone who has never traveled to Europe, but if you have been to Europe, you know what I mean. I have to work tomorrow... in the office. It somehow doesn't seem so bad when your sipping coffee in your pj's in your home office. The act of coming into the office and working on the weekend makes me shudder like watching the teeth-on-the-curb scene of American History X. I just did some calendar shading. It kinda freaked me out. I didn't realize I was traveling so much this month. I am gone for a week in Colorado and come back for three days for Jean-Paul's recital. I am really looking forward to his performance, but I still don't have a date. I would ask the treats-clayton-like-shit girl because she'd probably say yes, but I don't like being treated like a fashionable accessory that is only worn when it matches her mood or outfit. The morning following the recital, I'm on plane to LA for four days of California debauchery. At least that trip is not on business and I might have a little fun. How long before Chez Satan starts with the eggnog latte action?

Cross my heart and I hope to die... stick a motherfuckin' needle right in my eye for you. I am utterly floored by how slow this day is progressing. Much to my chagrin, I am not at home yet. Half day Fridays should be mandatory if ask me. I also believe in instituting the siesta here is the States. I should be President.

Ah yes... just as I am settling into the pleasant crisp atmosphere that comes with the onset of a new cold front and Houston actually begins to feel like fall peeking over the counter at winter, I am faced with 12 degrees Fahrenheit (-11 Centigrade) on Tuesday. So, since I didn't go out last night, one of my post vegetable soup tasks was to unearth some wintry clothing from the various stacked and hanging tombs they have rested in since my move to the land of three digit temperatures in the summer and shorts and t-shirts in the winter. It wasn't a successful journey. I discovered that anything "heavy" I had apparently ran away from home sometime after my move from New York. My favorite jacket in the whole world (which was easy to find), despite it's simple and sexy shell of smooth black leather, doesn't do much for that kind of temperature. It looks like I'm going to have to revert to the ancient Chinese secret of homeless street sleepers everywhere... layers. I always thought one of the sexiest fun things about naughtiness when I lived in New York was all the layers you have to unwrap during foreplay. It's like Christmas. It just seemed so much more involved... requiring coordination and cooperation. When you live on a beach (my next skip across the country) and the most layers encountered are two stands of dental floss making up the bikini instead of one, it's just not the same. Anyhoo, layers... yes. I need to find clothes that are relatively easy to don and doff. That's the bad part about layers... if you are taking them off to leave them off it's all good, but if you go in and out of doors requiring temperature regulation thus requiring the amount of clothing worn to be easily graphed in a sinusoidal fashion, it gets old quick. I love bananas. So, I'm off for more coffee. I am completely ecstatic that it's Friday. I must say that even though my deadline hasn't changed, I feel like a weight has been lifted. Friday's do that to me.