Well, okay, that's not completely accurate. I already did two productive things today: I worked and I paid my bills. I also took care of a lot of other business matters in the process. For example, I called my health insurance company to figure out why I had one bill for $1 and one bill for $100, and if I had to pay these two bills on top of my $114 monthly premium. (The reason it was all so confused is that I finally moved from southern to northern California in their system, acquiring a new medical record number in the process.) I found out that my premium will cost me less money in northern California-- I think it's $100 or so, now. Woo!

Then the bad news. I thought I had an old checking account with about $400 in it. Turns out, it was an old checking account with a credit line, and I actually owed $473 or something. The bitch of it is, this account has been open for the past year, just adding finance charges every month. So basically, the entire balance reflects my own inability to closely read the statement and figure out what the hell is going on.

Suck.

All of this is completely boring to you, I'm sure, but it does prove that my head hasn't been entirely up my ass this afternoon. In fact, it could be said that I finally pulled it out of my ass long enough to figure out what I owed, send them a check for the balance and close the account.

This also required some creative shuffling of other accounts, and doing the one thing that I am most loathe to do: pay off one bill with a credit card. But there was no other way.

I did get my faculty registration packet in the mail today. Can I just tell you how freaking excited I am at the prospect of teaching next semester? Well, I'm freaking excited. That's all. Drive through.

Yesterday was my day off, and I spent it having lunch with a friend, and hanging out at the bookstore.

First, I met up with Kevin, who runs a fine site called Central Booking, a revamped version of which is launching sometime next week, I think. We had been talking about hooking up for lunch for a long time, and then I ran into him at my friend Hannah's party (weird) totally coincidentally, and we've been working on these lunch plans ever since.

We talked business, we talked pleasure, we talked books. Had a great time, Kev.

After that, I went to Barnes & Noble. I went and looked up Bee Season¸ a book I was leafing through when I was in Los Angeles last weekend, and I ended up sitting in one of their overstuffed chairs and reading the whole thing.

It's about a girl who is considered a typical underachiever until she begins showing a remarkable aptitude for spelling. (The title refers to spelling bees.) It's a portrait of a family barely managing to stay functional, and the story of how the youngest daughter's spelling talents tips the balance in favor of dysfunction for all. There's a heavy dose of religious mysticism thrown in, too. Quite interesting.

This is the second time I've read a book at Barnes & Noble in one sitting-- the first was shopgirl by Steve Martin. It always makes me feel vaguely clandestine. Are you really allowed to sit there for two hours and read a whole book and then not buy it? It feels like the equivalent of a free download.

Okay, this entry is boring the living shit out of me. I think I'm going to go clean out my file cabinet now. I'll try and come up with something entertaining next time. Really, I will.

"My sister used to cry at night because she had 'bad thoughts' and she couldn't make them go away. I intellectually accept that everyone has bad thoughts-- that it's healthy to have them sometimes-- but I know how she felt."