Today was an excellent day in the mail. I got two birthday cards, one from my sister, and one from my old friend Amy. I'm not very used to receiving little things in the mail, and it's hugely exciting if it happens when I'm not expecting it. Which I wasn't. Hugely exciting.

And I also got installment seven in the Sandman series, the last one I needed to have the entire story. It seemed like it took forever to arrive, but that's mostly because I was dancing in my pants as I waited. And I am still dancing in my pants.

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Whoah. A cat outside is screeching in such a way that I can't tell if it's getting in a fight, mating, being harmed, or vocalizing. It's really disconcerting, I have no idea of how to interpret emotion in such a noise.

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Since I've been injured, they've been sending me to the back to do all the little sit-down pricing jobs at the store. I've made friends with RV, the guy who works as the receiver. He's a bacla, a gay Filipino; he's super funny and is totally the store's center of gossip.

The chiefest thing I've learned from him is, as I guessed: a young workplace is a hotbed of drama and desire. Many people have many crushes on many other people. Nice to know I'm not the only one.

And my guesses about Michael were wrong. It's because of a girl. And that girl is not far away. In fact, she works at the store.

D-So how long have they been seeing each other?

RV-Practically since he started working here. They were quick about it.

-(looks away and hides a pout) Oh.

-Why, what?

-I kind of had a crush on Michael.

-Really? So what, you want to enter into a love triangle? (forms his fingers into a little triangle)

-(confused) What? Uh, no?

-Because he has a history with that. Another girl who worked at the store.

-Whoah. Weird.

Which confirms my opinion as to Why It Is Not Good To Start Relationships With Co-Workers (unless under extreme conditions, ie true love). But you know, *shrugs* it worked for my parents.

But it occurred to me last night, thinking about it in a more detached manner, that Michael is not all that I want a man to be. (I mean, I'm not holding all my crushes to that standard, because I'm not looking for that man yet, but it's good to keep that in mind in the wake of mild disappoinment.) He's an indoor person. No man who wears a sport coat every day is the type to frolic out-of-doors. Me, I want someone who will be eager to lie next to me on a riverbank.

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I do not find Paris Hilton at all attractive. I don't know what the fuss is about.

10:43 p.m. 2004-02-04�