and I thought 2005 was bad...

2006 is off to a bit of a dismal start. One member of our team at work committed suicide over the holidays and our supervisor just lost her father. Things have been a bit chaotic in general in the office and everybody has a good case of the grumpies. Myself included. But I still love my job. It's as close to acting as I can get. The other day I was teaching a seminar that had three lawyers in it - one lawyer in a seminar is one too many. They always seem to do a hostile takeover. But one of the lawyers came up to on one of the breaks and said, "So, clearly you have years of experience - have you ever run into 'this' experience?" It's a good thing I don't believe in hell - with all the lies I tell with a nice straight face...

Tomorrow I am flying up to the Oakland area. Soooooooo excited about Wednesday night - finally a new Veronica Mars. I'm going to head over to Erin's apartment and join them in watching VM. And there had better be some great Logan stuff.

Saw Brokeback Mountain. Yes, it is a simple story and even a melodramatic one. But that doesn't mean it isn't extremely well crafted. Because it is - cinematography, editing, music - all good. But really, Heath Ledger is the reason everyone must see this film. He IS a Wyoming cowboy. It is an amazing performance. Other guy is also very good - but Ledger is the main attraction.

Now I must go watch some cheesy TV and prep all my files that I couldn't get done at work today.

Yeast

At first I was a little sad, traveling about Florida on my own. A little lonely and homesick. It feels strange to have such open horizons - nothing but treetops - no mountains, no smog hiding the mountains, no hills... And then I had a great session in Tampa. Nice, friendly ladies. One of the ladies invited me to lunch and we talked shop for an hour.

After lunch I hit the road - in my rental car, a Chrysler Sebring Touring CONVERTIBLE. Yep, cruising across the alien Florida landscape, scattered clouds and even a few raindrops (expain how they hit the windshield, but never me?), wind whipping my hair about, sun warming me to the perfect temperature - and then I smell something delicious - the smell of yeasty, baking, mouth-watering bread. What the heck??? I continue driving for another mile and now the smell is distinctly cinnamon and raisin and yeast. Cinnamon raisin bread? How could an entire area smell like baking bread? How does this entire area bring this miraculous gift to the people of Florida? And then, in the distance, I see it - Pepperidge Farms factory. Can you imagine working INSIDE that building? If I lived near that place I would be eating bread ALL THE TIME. Wait. I eat bread all the time anyway.

Now I am in Orlando. I expected there to be more "city" - maybe it is off somewhere else. This just seems to be the land of clever shopping centers and ridiculous hotels (I'm staying at a pink DoubleTree "Castle" - my headboard has strange gold spires that resemble horns on an antelope, everything is gilded with gold and embedded plastic jewels - everything).

So, I've had a smile on my face all day. And better yet, my perm looks GREAT when it is seriously windblown for an hour. Really. Absolutely no sarcasm. Man, saying that makes it sound like I am being sarcastic - and I'm NOT. For some reason the wind made my curls separate into perfect ringlets with lots of flirty bounce. I think I need to buy a convertible. Although sitting in congested LA traffic probably won't have the same effect on my coif. Or on my mood. I feel effervescent. And by "effervescent", I do not mean gassy.

About that dancing

I think I am going to sign up for ballroom dance classes. Yep, just like so many other TV addicts, I have been watching Ballroom Bootcamp and it got me hooked. Plus, my local college offers dance class on Friday nights and I am usually in town on Friday nights. Usually. I wish I could join a gym but it wouldn't make sense - I'm just on the road way too much. I should get in the habit of using hotel workout equipment.

Erin is getting bored down here and wants to head back up to Berkeley. Now. While it makes me sad that she is going to cut her visit short, it does make me happy that she even WANTS to go back.

Next week I fly to Florida to teach Notaries how to stay out of trouble. Hmmm. I better get off the computer and get back to my studying. I wonder what other seminar presenter/teacher type opportunities there are for me out there if I ever get sick of this job?

Night night.