Mid-day update ..

Well, my divorce client's loan approval was on the fax this morning when I came in - very nice! I have some legal files to work on, but I'm so DAMNED unmotivated.

I feel like going home and having a nap, then baking some bread. I should stay here on the off chance that someone calls. I sit. I wait.

I wrote a new poem, I'll post it when I get home. I think I'm also going to pull my computer apart and find out why the printer won't work. Oh, yes - and the filing.

My friend Dave just sent me a link to an airliner parody website. Now, I have something to do!

A month? It's been a month?

Well, I guess ..

A fine Friday morning here; I have a new loan to work on when I get into the office, and I have some other work to crank out today. I have to manage my work flow, or I'll run out. If I run out, I don't even like going over to the office.

I have a totally free weekend - amazing! Rehearsal for tonight was cancelled, the Pride parade is tomorrow evening, but other than that, I have totally got nothing scheduled. I do want to go to this new loft complex over by the ballpark called Alexan lofts, and check out an apartment that I may want to move into around Christmas time. But, I so love my apartment now - it's just the right layout and size for me, and its location is primo.

My new job starts in just three weeks. Well, two weeks from Monday. I'm nervous about telling Michael that I'm leaving, and trying to figure out a way to break it to him that he doesn't go ballistic.

I have one and only one project for the weekend - to catch up on my filing here at home. I have everything in orderly piles next to the filing cabinet, and now, it remains for me to create the file folders, type up the labels, and put everything away.

I had a dream this morning about my "friend" Jenny, with whom I have strife from time to time. In my dream, I called her on the phone and she was still sullen and crappy - and I told her how the cow ate the cabbage. It was kind of a fun dream, actually.

Still wondering how I'm going to pay rent next week, since I haven't had any loan closings since early June. I have some money coming in from different sources, but will it all add up? Talking to this guy about rooming with me for a few months while my income gets ramped up - I emailed him last night, but haven't heard from him just yet.

Other than that, there isn't much to tell. I'm wondering why my car payment hasn't been deducted from my checking account just yet. I think I've lost a few pounds. Hm. That's about it.

I'll have more to say in the morning, I hope - thanks for waiting.

Divo ...

Okay, so I haven't had that much to say lately.

Another successful day at trying to move loans into closing. Things are going a little better than they looked on Friday morning, and hopefully two loans will close this week.

Since this is how I make a living, we think this is a very good thing.

Michael was in today - having the same conversation with yet another person who has no interest in being in the mortgage business. He seems to think that if he finds a bunch of people in real estate, insurance, stocks, etc. that he can talk into being loan officers, they'll magically produce business (that I will have to manage for free) and he will get richer.

I think he's not paying attention.

Anyway, my young friend David stopped by today, and I helped him with his resume. While working with him, I was extolling the virtues of employment search on Starbucks' website, and found two fine positions for my own self. One in San Francisco, and one in Seattle. Then, I read an email from the Mortgage Training Institute, with whom I just took a class, and they are recruiting for instructors. Hello, Mary! I'm there. I filled out my third online application for the day.

Other than that, I didn't get a whole lot accomplished. Got a file stacked and out for delivery. Did some quotes for potential new business. That was about it.

Talked to Jeffrey today about the Golden Girls thing in Austin. Boy, did I make the right call in not going. It was trailer park heaven with old cars. I had fun with Larry and his crew in Dallas.

Rehearsal tonight. Came home to find that Jackie had again busted out of the kitchen and peed in the living room. I haven't had the heart to check the bedroom yet.

She's now leashed to the laundry room door, where she will stay except when she's outside. I just had the carpeting shampooed, and she's now made two big wet spots.

Lovely.

I'm thinking about going dogless, frankly.

Other than that, nothing much is new. I got my car inspected today. I still love "Matrix Reloaded" regardless.

Why does nearly everybody miss the primary point of the whole movie?

And why does Rick think it's appropriate to attack me all the time now? He's such a horse's ass most of the time. I'm thinking about refraining from visiting there anymore.

Like starting this Sunday.

Well, keep your fingers crossed for me and the mortgage institute gig. That would be awesome!

Feelin' lazy -

Well, tax season is over, fans, and it's time for me to get back into the groove of doing mortgage lending. I have a voice lesson in a little while, and I haven't felt like working ALL day today. I have gotten a few things done and accomplished, but overall, I've just been seated here, surfing the net today.

Tonight, I'm having dinner with Brian, who's just the sweetest youn-un around. Tomorrow is a busy day, with two closings and a loan application in the evening. Friday is, of course, Good Friday, and the "tax season is over" party put on by my business partner.

It's Easter weekend, and I'm singing in our little "church" on Sunday. Then, I think that a number of us are headed to Galveston for lunch.

More after I have dinner tonight!

Time to relax, time to blog

Ah, I almost don't know what to say. All of the tax returns are done save one. I have people who need to come in and sign, and a number of people who have clamored for attention in these last four days of tax season, but I'm all caught up. Both of my loan closings are put off because of title problems. I have two new loans to work on in the most serious way, but I'm just about taxes today. Michael alleges that he will be here by 4:30, and so I'm going to be ready for him.

Tonight, I'm supposed to be going to Kurtis and David's to talk about our little business project.

Busy days and sleepless nights

I've been up to my nipples in tax returns, and my new marketing piece has the phone ringing every few minutes. I think I sold two new loans today, which is excellent. I have a bunch of loan work to get caught up on, and that's a good thing.

I'm just SORE - I've been typing all day, and talking on the phone. How is it that I feel beaten up?

B cancelled on me for our sort of dinner engagement tonight. So, that's fine. I can use a quiet night after I finish all the tax clients today. Matthew (remember him?) called today; I'm taking him to dinner tomorow night, and Curtis is still expected over last night at 8:00.

Yeah, sure.

I get to see Lloyd tomorrow - thank GOD.

So many things to spend money on. Ugh.

More later on, I'm sure. Just thought I'd post a note.

If there's ice cream, do you really need a man?

(this was from last night, but due to server issues, I couldn't get it posted)

It's a quiet Monday evening here at the casita de Divo, formerly known as the Divo House for Wayward Boys. I've watched an old episode of "Star Trek," mopped the tile floors, pulled the white clothes out of the dryer, washed the throw rugs and vacuumed.

That's enough for one evening. I still have to fold the white clothes, and watch the other episode of "Star Trek."

I'm back to spitting on the floor whenever I speak of men (spits on floor.)

Several developments relating to Curtis:

1.) Thursday last, Curtis dropped in on E and me. Curtis has a hard time understanding that gay men can share the same physical space without getting naked. During his visit, he wanted to get cleaned up so that he could visit some friends down in Sugar Land. While in the shower, E had to pee. Curtis was somewhat frisky while E was in there, and there are two digital photos of Curtis in the shower. On E's website.

2.) After the party, Curtis came back. I went to bed. E and C were up and chatting. Curtis (who, according to E, oozes sex from every pore) gave a sort of back-handed come-on. E went to bed.

3.) Friday night, Curtis said he was coming over. His water pump on his truck was going out; it was nearly 10:00 and auto parts stores were generally closed. He didn't think his truck would make it, so he was going to go to a friend's house. I went to bed.

4.) Saturday morning, Curtis was at my door at 7:15 a.m. I was barely awake. I shuffled about, made coffee, and Curtis got a call from his girlfriend. She and he had a screaming match at 7:45 in the morning that lasted until after 8:15. I'm sure my neighbors now visualize axles under my apartment. Trailer queen.

5.) I took Curtis to Auto Zone. Bought him a new water pump ($20) radiator hose and two gallons of Prestone (another $20) Dropped him off at his truck. Went to class, then to work.

6.) At work, around 5:00 on Saturday, Curtis called from a Suzuki dealer. He wanted to know if I would co-sign for him so he could buy an ATV. This from the guy that couldn't buy a rebuilt water pump for $20 that morning. I prevaricated.

7.) Curtis said he was coming over after 11:00 Saturday night to spend the night. I went to bed, sound in the knowledge that I would be undisturbed.

8.) Curtis called a couple of times Sunday. He kept asking about the ATV. Said he had to take his girlfriend to school Monday morning.

9.) Curtis called today, twice. Once in the morning, while I was making a bank deposit, and the other later in the afternoon. Said he was coming over straight away after work. ATV again. It's now 9:16 p.m., and I haven't heard from him. In a short while, I'm going to take the dogs outside and go to bed again.

10.) He just showed up; 11:15 at night - said he just got off work. He's whipped.

I've been promising myself that I wouldn't answer the phone when Curtis calls. I think that I should start doing that.

San Jac asked me to lunch today (resked from last week.) The dean of the continuing ed department showed up. The conversation had very little to do with me (nothing, in fact) and everything to do with free legal and business advice about setting up a consulting firm that they could market outside the college's area. So, I answered questions and gave advice -

Until -

The dean left, the instructor went to the bathroom, and I was able to ask the director of corporate education if there were any classes that I could teach coming up. The short answer = no.

I think I need to write to Auntie Rev.

That's enough for tonight, fans. More later.

D -

Impluse shopping

I have cleared off my desk to a degree; I have my homework from my Self-Mastery class sitting here, waiting to be worked on (I have class on Saturday, and I think I'm four weeks behind in the reading and such.) E leaves for LA tomorrow around 11:00; then it's all afternoon to work on it, I guess.

Last night, had Brian over, and I asked E if he would look at my Animatronics Marvin the Martin thing - Brian figured out that the volume switch also works as an on/off switch, it started right up .. and a gear broke inside. Now, it looks like I'll have to ship it off to have it repaired.

We went shopping at Fry's yesterday, briefly, and they have a hard disc recorder for the home stereo that is SO cool. It's marked down to $199 (from $599) and has a 10 gig hard drive. I could put all of my cassette music on it! I need it like I need another hole in my head, but ..

While there, I bought the 1975 version of "Rollerball." Talk about impulse buying. It was only ten bucks, but .. yeesh. I started playing it last night, and it moves SO slowly. The production values are very "Sonny and Cher" from the mid-1970s.

Going to see "Allegria" tonight -

This trip has been interesting - we're plotting to rebuild my home computer; new motherboard, new processor, new RAM memory, etc. We'd reuse the hard drive, the sound card, monitor, keyboard, etc. It's all going to cost about $400, I think. Eric and Brian will rebuild the D-machine in late April.

Still having major connectivity issues at home with my cable. It's the network card, or something. REALLY irritating.

Well, I've emptied my mind of the random blog-stuff. More later...

Happy April Fool's Day!

Been working today on taxes, and more taxes. Still can't get one balance sheet to balance, have another one that doesn't have enough deductions, etc., etc.

Not a peep out of San Jacinto college on the check issue. And to think I was teaching "customer service" skills. (shakes head)

Eric is being worked to death. We're going to R&Rs house tonight for dinner, and such. More later - have to print more tax returns!

My Karma ran over my Dogma

I'm just sure I have some fucked up karma from some past life, because I just have so much trouble getting paid for work effort - no one else I know goes through this crap.

Today, I was to meet the San Jacinto College women to discuss some scheduling and options; that meeting got cancelled. Still interested in picking up my paycheck, I asked and was told to drive over to their campus (21 miles each way) When I got there, I found out that not only was there no check, but that they had not processed my vendor paperwork that they've had for two months.

So, my career with San Jac is very short. VERY short.

I had this bizarre dream last night about teaching in front of a big room of people, teaching FHA loan procedures. I had half regular college students, and half industry regulars, and needed a microphone to speak in front of so many people.

I'm just wiped out. It's nearly 4:00 and I'm about to leave for home. Brian is coming over later; he's very upset about his boyfriend situation. Eric and I are going grocery shopping after work today.

In other news, Michael said he was going to pay me for the profit sharing, but he hasn't finished the book keeping. I don't know just what's going to come of that, but he says he's paying on the Monday after payday (which falls on a weekend.)

Have I mentioned that I'm ready for a nap now?

He should be on his mettle ..

So. The Supremes have had oral argument (in itself a double entendre) over whether same sex activity should be regulated by the State of Texas, or (on the other hand) whether it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution to only apply such laws to same sex couples and not mixed sex couples.

The arguments, if you haven't reviewed them, were bizarre, if not hypocritical.

The District Attorney for Harris County (where I live) inherited this mess, and found himself arguing against something that, in my mind, he clearly didn't think was any of the state's business.

Gotta love Renquist and Scalia - they'll distort and twist any logic path to reach their ideologic goals.

So, as of today, I'm still a criminal. Well, not TODAY.

Two days until E's arrival from YVR - and he's been silent today.

I figured out just how little I'm making doing these tax returns, and .. she's CRABBY about making a bad business deal.

Only 16 more days of tax stuff, and I can bag it.

I think I found the marketing direction that I want to take for the new line of business - once we get our FHA approval, anyway. I have to work on THAT with everything else that's going on.

Sandra Gunn has some stunning lofts available - three in the Renoir that I would love to live in. Come on, bring in those winning lotto numbers!

I don't think I've spoken much about my friend Tom (Owen) in Poznan, Poland. He's been out of touch lately - he caught his boyfriend cheating on him, went through a terrible depression for about two weeks, and then met some OTHER guy on the net, whom he claims he's marrying come May, and moving to Kobenhaven with.

Uh - hello? Rebound? Issues?

Anyway, I need to get off to bed - so I can get up and do more tax returns. Tomorrow, I have at least four to complete. All of my loans are in waiting for underwriting response or appraisals, and Michael's loans are dead in the water. Unresponsive clients.

No big surprise.

Well, good night all .. I'm still birthing that new poem.

When a man's an empty kettle ..

Nearly 16:30 and I have just a half hour left to go. I have a tax return that I'm taking a break from. Suddenly, I'm up to my nipples in tax returns. I have mortgages to work on, and this impedes my ability to work on both. However, I'll get more caught up tomorrow, and we'll just see where things go. Our $15 off campaign seems to be bringing people in out of the woodwork.

Time Warner cable now thinks that there is something wrong with my cable signal, and they're coming out tomorrow afternoon to check it out.

Last night, Matthew was perfectly willing to be picked up and fed, but he "just wants to be friends." I think he was angling for a personal reference. Over that, I was playing a computer game on my new 19" monitor about 11:00 last night, when Curtis called. Yes, the same Curtis whom I gave up on yesterday. He was drunk, had just had a fight with his girlfriend, and said he was headed over. He never made it.

Tonight, if he calls, I'm not answering the phone.

We have a big possibility of thunderstorms tonight. Fun!

Only three days to the arrival of E from Vancouver (YVR).

Finally heard from San Jacinto College today; lunch on Monday includes payday and the return of my passport.

I was beginning to wonder.

Tonight, I'm baking more bread, and have to do some more cleaning around the house. Damn, there is just so much that needs doing all the time! I shouldn't have played with Matthew last night.

I feel a poem coming on. It hasn't made it to the fore yet.

More later, if I have my cable connection.

Day five - in either direction

I need some coffee. It's about 10:30 in the morning, and I'm just sifting through the detritus on my desk, getting ready to start doing actual work. It's day five of the "war," and five days to the arrival of Eric from Vancouver.

Well, five days by the calendar. In number of hours, it's four days and some change.

Dallas was fun. It was nice to get away. I have new tires on Ruby - a Wal-Mart/Sams house brand of Goodyears that look great, seem a little nervous, and ride very quietly and smoothly. In fact, the car now rides like dream whip.

Made it home in 3 1/2 hours on the nose with no stops. Jackie had expressed her displeasure at being left behind with a big dump in my bedroom, which was mercifully dry.

I have a gazillion things to do before E arrives on Friday evening; bought a computer monitor from Larry in Dallas, which I need to install, need to get all of my record-keeping up to date and put away, clean, empty out a few drawers for E and his visit here, and figure out what the heck to do with my bicycle.

Aside from riding it, I mean.

I'm giving up on Curtis. Both on getting my money repaid (like that's ever going to happen - I knew better and had no expectations) and on him ever being more than just an occasional lay when it fits his schedule. And, I'm not going to make myself available for him as I have been doing.

No more favors.

Matthew called today; he was very excited about a job interview in the leasing office where I live. I guess we're going to hang out tonight for a while.

Okay, time for a break from income tax and to go home to empty the mutts! More later.

Another glorious day in Baghdad on the Bayou!

It's just gorgeous; sunny, clear, 70s. I've been working on loans today, which I've let slide while I worked on my friend's tax returns these last couple of weeks. I have three reluctant clients; I don't quite understand WHY they're so reoluctant, but they are.

I'm so looking forward to the trip to Dallas tomorrow.

Put Curtis' clothes in a couple of drawers - just had enough of having them in the laundry basket on the guest room bed. It was time. I think I have a substantial portion of his clothing - how does he get along?

Just chatted [briefly] with a boy from Dallas - he wants $1000 to meet for a night! Uh - I just was saying 'hello?'

Normal? Is this normal?

So, after a day of cleaning my apartment, catching up on my contact lists, and doing laundry, I went to R&R's for dinner and to pick up their tax stuff this afternoon around 4:00. The plan for the day was 1.) help get their QuickBooks up and ready for tax preparation, 2.) pick up tax information for all three tax returns, 3.) have pork roast (there's a bunch in the 'fridge for lunch .. yummy!) and 4.) watch the HBO Sunday night line-up.

Normal Sunday for the Divo.

I really wasn't expecting to hear from Curtis for a while - he was off to the rodeo with his girlfriend, et al. Richard (the R in R&R) is my best friend, and very easy to spend time with .. we noshed, drank red wine and generally hung out. Rick (the R in R&R) came home around 8:15, and jumped into the middle of "Six Feet Under" with us.

During the presentation of "Six Feet Under" [note to producers - make it interesting - hurry] the daughter's new "boyfriend," who's really not a boyfriend because he sees other people, and won't commit to the daughter has a brief conversation with Ruth, the mother. I'm thinking Ruthie is about to explore the sapphic side of her personality, but I digress. During this conversation, the boyfriend (who just has the most amazing body, and this goofy, boyish face .. ) is talking about how soon you can call after a date.

Now, Ruth hasn't had a date, she's had an outing with Kathy Bates, but things look frisky.

The answer was "at least a few days. You can't look like you're chasing them." Or something along that line.

So, I'm watching this, and I'm thinking "I'll just let Curtis cool off for a while and let him call me next."

Be careful what you wish for; you may get it.

About halfway through the [very well done] HBO movie "Normal," my cell phone rings. It's Curtis. He's drunk. He's outside the rodeo, and he's waiting for a ride home from his mother; his truck is in Humble, and he rode with some friends who had a fight and now, he needs a way back. He's very chatty, and again makes the assumption that all gay guys are fucking each other. I corrected him on that score, and asked him what he was doing after work tomorrow [Monday,] inasmuch as I wanted to see him before I left for Dallas on Friday afternoon.

Which lead to an examination [on his part] of my going to Dallas, what's in Dallas, why I was going to Dallas, where I was staying, &c. THREE (can you hear me roll my "r?") times he said "Erin won't let me go to Dallas." However, he started to ask her what was IN Dallas to see, and she wandered off.

At least she wasn't screaming at him.

Now, him being the behind-hand communicator that he is, and me having 44.4895 years of experience in dealing with such communication patterns, I'm thinking he's planning on going with me, and I'll find out Thursday night or Friday morning.

Should I warn Larry?

I'm just amazed and amused. Normal? What's normal, anyway?

Whirling dirvish ..

Curtis called last night about 8:30. He was in the neighborhood. Not that it wasn't an effort on his part to GET into the neighborhood - he lives nearly 30 miles away. He had worked from 8:30 to nearly 7:30, and was exhausted. His girlfriend was .. yes, you guessed it, screaming at him. He just wanted to be quiet, I guess, which fit into my evening plan just fine. He got here around 9:15, and flopped on the sofa, watching the movie I put in. I made him some scrambled eggs, and when the movie was over, he rolled over and fell asleep. I threw the afghan over him and went to bed.

This morning, he wasn't very talkative - got himself pulled together to go to the rodeo today; took his razor thing, but left all the clothes, as per the norm. I've had a basket of his laundry here for weeks. I am thinking of doing something radical like putting it into drawers.

Today, I had planned to work on my Quicken data entry and filing all of the receipts and documents that have taken over the guest room bed. HAH! I cleaned instead. Spent the whole day listening to "classic disco" on my TWC "Music Choice." I'm nuts if I think that I need XM radio; this is already paid for in my cable bill.

Have just a few more things that I have to get done before going to R&R's for dinner/HBO Sunday tonight. So, I need to jump on it.

And, sorry, Mikey for expecting you to be unhappy with me about leaving your birthday celebration early. =)

Just one day earlier, and it could have been Friday the 13th!

Today is my friend Mikey's birthday (observed.) So, he wants me to go out with him tonight, even though I have to get up and be out of the house by 8:00 in the morning to teach. So, he's going to be unhappy with me when I leave at around 10:00 to go home.

Another busy weekend; I have to get caught up on my financial record-keeping, and I have to start taking my bike out and riding it.

My friend Marty Wright is back in wholesale lending; and she is my account rep with Matrix - so, I talked to her today for a while - I just love her - and she is helping me get set up to do FHA lending and VA lending. WHOO HOO!

The whole plan is moving forward.

Not a word from San Jacinto - we were supposed to be getting together to discuss my further participation with them .. and nada.

Tonight may be a Curtis evening, but there are no reliable indicators of what will happen.

I haven't been a productive doo-bee today; I have moved a few things forward, but for the most part, it was spent getting concepts moved forward as distinct from actual work. I guess that's all the same thing - it all has to be done to get things moving. I just have to work on these tax returns, and I'm kind of .. over it? For the moment.

I'm so looking forward to going to see Larry in Dallas next weekend. I didn't get to see him in Dallas ALL of last year. So, this is going to be terrific. I get to write off the whole trip, since I'm going to go amend his tax returns, do his will and work on financing an investment property for him. It's a business trip!

I'm thinking that it's time for me to go on the Sugar Busters diet - I need to get the book and make it part of my living.

Finally had lunch with Karl the realtor - he's a neat guy; I like him. I hope he and I can start doing more business together.

More as the weekend develops!

What's wrong with this picture?

So, last night - was the closest to a "date" that Curtis and I have had. We went to the rodeo, had margaritas. When he came over, he got dressed out of the laundry basket that contains all of his clean clothes at my apartment. As per the norm, his girlfriend was demanding his attention over the phone - twice before we made it to the shuttle bus. I could hear her screaming at him as he told her that he had simply forgotten to take his phone with him. She accused him of intentionally leaving the phone behind so that he could avoid her and try to pick up women at the rodeo.

The new stadium is awesome - the tickets that my friend Kimberly gave me were terrific. Still, I sat there wondering WHAT I was doing there with Curtis, who couldn't leave well enough alone, and kept calling his girlfriend for more abuse. He's fun to be with, different from my norm, so it's all interesting. He looked like a working cowboy last night (as distinct from a city cowboy.)

That, and the rodeo is the rodeo - it's just NOT ever anything really different. Jerry Jeff Walker gave an inspired and lively performance, and Clint Black was terrific. Country music, however, just isn't my thing.

Also, I have to say that the loud beating of the drums of war put a damper on my mood. Clint Black performed a jingoistic song about attacking Iraq (free for download from his website! http://www.clintblack.com ) and Curtis was telling me on the way over that he thought the USA needed to attack Iraq to show the world we wouldn't take it [the 9/11/01 attacks on the USA] lying down.

Oh, and there was a three minute multi-media presentation at the beginning of the rodeo "show" hosted by Reliant Energy. It started off innocuously enough - images of the space shuttle with the entirely predictable "Proud to be an American" playing in the background. However, this morphed into images of USA weaponry flying and driving by, and fully half of the presentation was in the glorification of American military power.

Why do I feel so like it's the waning days of peace before the US attacked Spain in 1898? Or, worse, that this was what Germany was like in August, 1939 - right before they invaded Poland?

Anyway, after watching the whole show (we were among the fewer than 1000 people left watching the end of Black's performance) we walked outside to check out the midway (which was HUGE) and so on. Curtis wanted to ride the mechanical bull, but I wanted to go home.

He asked me several times why I wasn't more enthusiastic ...

Uh, it's because I'm at the rodeo with a young man that has no upside potential, and partly on this "date" with his girlfriend by phone, and bombarded with jingoistic sentiment?

However the evening did make me want to get Texans season tickets.

Tonight, Jeffrey and Steven have invited me over to dinner. Very nice. I'm going to try to see if I can help them with some financial advice.

Oh, and after Curtis having her scream at him the entire bus ride home from the rodeo .. he spent the night with me again.

Truth is stranger than fiction -

What a weekend.

Friday night, was quiet, and got ready to teach on Saturday morning. Saturday was a pillar to post kind of a day; up and out to teach at 8:45, then home, then immediately to lunch with Nicole, then to Richard's to help him with QuickBooks, then home to empty mutts and out to have dinner with Dr. John. Then, Curtis called and asked if I wanted to go bowling with him. In Conroe.

For those who don't know, I live downtown in Houston, and Conroe is .. 40 miles north of me.

So, I trekked to Humble (not on the way to Conroe except that it's north of me) to pick up Curtis, his girlfriend, and her brother - then cut over on 1960 to I-45 north and drove to the bowling alley in Conroe.

At 11:00 at night.

Of course, no one [but me] had any money, so I ended up paying for all four of us.

Curtis' girlfriend threw a fit because she wasn't bowling very well, and the rest of us bowled until about 1:45. As we were packing up, I asked Curtis if he was spending the night at his girlfriend's house.

Turns out, he had in mind to come spend the night with me, leaving his truck at his girlfriend's house, then me driving him back on Sunday.

In the car Saturday night, he was talking about how he and she would be married now if not for somethingorother, and blah, blah, blah. When she put our names into the bowling computer, I noticed that she was already starting to use his last name.

Then, yesterday, he asked me to introduce him to some nice downtown women - I said "I thought you were getting married!"

"No, he says, just because she's pregnant doesn't mean I have to make the mistake bigger by marrying her."

Good lord.

Okay, back to preparing tax returns. More later. Curtis is going to the rodeo with me tonight.

perhaps the third time's the charm

Okay, so this will be the third time I try to post this.

It's another rainy afternoon in Baghdad on the Bayou. My friend Larry calls Houston by that name, and I don't know if it's for the politics or the climate, but I like it.

So, it stays.

Saw Curtis last night. He came over about midnight, which woke me up, and spent the night. Seems he's gotten his 19 year old girlfriend pregnant, and he's very happy about it.

I think it's akin to putting a shotgun to your head and pulling the trigger. But that's just me.

My poem "Bumper Cars" has been selected for publication in a book by poetry.com "because of its unique perspective and vision." Plus, they want to sell me a book for fifty bucks.

Yep. Fifty bucks. Oh, if I want a personal profile about myself, I have to pay $25.00 for that.

Sounds like a scam. However, I can now add "published poet" to my list of accomplishments.

Curtis needed to borrow some money - he's been spending his time either sick or driving his girlfriend around for a family health emergency and hasn't been working. He paid me back once; I guess I'm pushing the envelope.

Speaking of bois and their needs, I heard from PJ last week. He sent a nice email; but after only an exchange of ONE set of messages, the truth came out - he wants something. This time - for me to create a fake tax document for him so that he can pretend he had a job and income and can get an apartment.

Yeah, right.

About to crack open some files and get more work done, then tonight, R&R are bribing me with dinner to continue helping them with their QuickBooks. Tomorrow night, Brian is coming over for divo-ghetti, which will be fun.

Did another tax return for a "displaced person" today. In other words, someone who had a job, lost the job, couldn't find other work and is now living at friends' homes or under a bridge. There but for the grace of God ..

Eric from Vancouver is coming down in the next few weeks to work on some websites for me and to generally raise the energy level. He operates at a pre-school/nuclear power plant level, and should make things quite lively. I'm looking forward to him coming down. He's just "right between the eyes" direct. Calls a spade a spade.

Other than that, things are same-ol', same-ol'. I complete five full years of living in my apartment at the end of this month - I think that this is the longest that I've lived anywhere since I moved from my mom's house.

Now, if I could just put down a nice, taupe ceramic or stone tile on the floor ...

And that's the way it is .. for hump day, March 5.

Safe travels...