I stopped by the chapel at the hospital. Every hospital has a chapel, right? This one did, but it wasn't a chapel really. It was a temple. Right out of Fiddler on the Roof. Complete with scrolls, and the ten commandment shaped carved box behind the altar. And the bible study advertisement said to bring your own Torah. Wow. I was a little nervous that the staff Rabbi was going to see me in there. There's something a little strange about crossing yourself in a Jewish temple. Then I saw the sign outside the door advertising roman catholic masses in the chapel three times a week.

So, the saga of finding the hospital. I decided to do a test drive last night, first of all because I'm staying 45 minutes south of the place, and secondly because I couldn't get ahold of Stacey to find out if she'd checked in before the surgery or not. So we looked on the map, and there it was -- very simple, right between three intersecting highways, in what looked like a four block square section of town. OH no. That would be too easy. I took the exit that I was told to, and wound up in the ghetto. L.A. ghetto is no laughing matter. So I started driving like a crazy woman until I wound up a mile north in some very expensive houses. I stopped a well dressed man walking three rediculously pampered dogs and asked directions to the hospital. It was two miles away. In Beverly Hills. I knew I was getting close by the kosher Thai restaurants on the corner. I finally found the hospital, 2 and a half hours later, but at least I wasn't lost this morning trying to get here at the crack of dawn.

Did I mention I'm thinking of getting my cat a kitten?

I'm in L.A. this weekend. A friend of mine was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and went in for surgery this morning. She made it through alright, and will spend a week in the hospital recovering. After that she'll be doing some rather nasty bits of chemotherapy, but they seem to think that even though the tumors were big, they caught it before it had time to spread elsewhere. I was at the hospital at just before 7am this morning, and there until noon. People need to write longer books. I finished my new one in 2 hours. Should have brought along Harry Potter. I'm going to be in L.A. until tuesday-ish, visiting Stacey in the hospital, and then I hope to come back down once a week or so to visit. Sucks to have one's life put on hold like that. She's only 34.

My cat is so cute. Have I mentioned my cat yet? I finally got one! Her name is Chloe, and she's the cutest thing alive. She's black tuxedo markings.....with white paws, and a dickie. Up until yesterday her main task in life was sleeping and eating. All of a sudden she decided that she's rambo of the forest (we have bushes three feet from our front door that she hides in). She catches flies, and the odd frog. She was so proud of herself she left its half-eaten remains on the bedroom floor to show off. Drea stepped in them barefoot. Chloe was so proud...

I'm here! For a change! Work is going well. I had a terrible day on monday. We've had a communications problem with the waitresses. They seem to think that if they sprint to our tables ahead of us, and take all of the cocktail orders, and then hand it to us to go run to the bar, they're entitled to our entire tip. So the manager talked to them. So then they set out to prove the we cocktail waitresses are superfluous. Let me put it this way. It was so horrible I cried. How many of you have ever seen me cry? So right now we're treading a very narrow ledge as the management tries to sort us all out. The waitress in question has been talked to, not that it really changed anything. At least tonight it the Barbeque. I can have the wine all to myself tonight -- sell as much as I want with no interference. We'll see how it goes!

Drea and I are working on a quilt. It's been very exciting so far. Good bonding time and all that. Last night, we discovered that we'd put three of the strips on backwards and had to undo nearly half of our work. Suddenly quilting isn't QUITE as much fun anymore!

Here I am. I can assume that everyone has now stopped reading this, since I haven't been able to update it more than once every fortnight or so (yes, I'm reading Jane Austin again....) Work has evolved into a schedule. I only work evenings, so I spend my days finding stuff to do. I've been working on a quilt, jogging or biking almost every day, playing with my kitty (her name is Chloe - she's the sweetest cat ever!), cleaning my sister and my very diminuative room, or going to the library. I'll soon be volunteering there a few hours a week. No dating yet. I hope that will change soon...

Does anyone know someone in Waco who needs an apartment starting June first? I'm going to have to pay two months rent for breaking my lease unless I can find someone to take mine over....blech....

I went to the Alisal bar last night to catch up with Bill, the pianist on tuesday (and wednesday?) nights. He's playing for me on my two gigs this weekend, one for the republican Women's fund raiser thingy, and one for the PCPA. I'm really really really excited about singing for people. Maybe they'll decide to help further my career along as a tax write off -- whatever. Rich people are the cheapest people alive. Anyway, I started rehearsing, and some people came in. I remembered them from last year. They found out I sing and requested that I thrill their daughter with 10 bars from Oklahoma! I did. This year I sang for them. They're so nice. They actually tipped me. Isn't that a change for the better? now if only the rest of the people I sang for would do the same....wouldn't that be great? Nah, they consider me an oddity -- amply paid for my singing by my wages as a cocktail waitress....go figure....