It's 7:50 a.m. and not even legally work time. So what's Moe doing here and how did he know the precise second he could walk into my office and catch me sketching again? (More hands. Hands are proving to be a difficult nut to crack.)

It's only 8:25 a.m.! What's the Tweenybopper doing here already? She shouldn't be rolling in for an hour yet. Coffee? Well, yes, I was going to get coffee. Well, okay, I'll walk over with you now. (Drat. I'm having a good hair day, but it's far too early for the BEHM to be there.)

8:53 a.m. Frogmorton is here now. What's up with everyone being early on a Monday morning?

I guess it's going to be one of those weeks. Everyone's showing up bright and early and getting on my nerves.

Ah, well. Buehler is in today. He said not to get used to seeing him, so I guess he'll be leaving again after this week. It's nice to see his bright and shining face, even just temporarily.

Okay, who am I kidding. Even those of us who like our bosses like to have them out from under foot, right? And those of us without enough work to do especially like having our bosses in another location so they can't see how we're spending our time.

So...I guess it's time for my usual boring litany of Things I Did Over The Weekend, right?

I ate lunch on Saturday and did some shopping. (I should just cut-and-paste that in every week.) This week's lunch was P.F.Chang's, where my diet was sabotaged by an inaccurate menu description. (I did not anticipate that "wok-fired" scallops would come battered. They were gorgeous, but high-calorie.) I was Bad on Saturday evening, as well, but I did a lot better (diet-wise) on Sunday. In fact, I restricted my caloric intake to the point where I came close to having not one, but two psychotic episodes in Target.

This week's shopping was the office supply store and Borders where, as usual, I drooled over blah, blah, blah and wound up buying blah, blah.

Drawing books are really expensive. This week's drooling was over the previously mentioned $55 volume. I'm not buying it, but by the time I've fondled it in the store for the next three months, I figure I'll have half the content memorized anyhow.

There was one on sale, an entire "Master Course on Drawing" on sale for $20 but the fool thing was about 400 pages long. I think I'd find that more intimidating than helpful, you know?

I don't aspire to Artistry. I just want to be able to produce a recognizable sketch of a tree or a scenic view of some kind, should the mood strike me. A little perspective, a little work on line, a little practice with tone and texture. My needs are modest, my ambitions humble.

400 pages. I wouldn't work my way through that if I were looking for a career as an artist (although I'm willing to accept that those with Talent or even Genius might find those 400 pages more enthralling than I did).

My Actual Purchases were, of course, MYSA-AS I've come pretty close to completing the various MYSA-AS series I started, so that I can quit bothering about them.

Annoyingly enough, my current favorite series is still in progress. I ask you...what is the point of coming to the party years after everyone else except for the pleasure of knowing that anything I want is going to be instantly available? Sheesh. Anyhow, I found the next book, available from the publisher, so I'm going to go ahead and order it. After that, I'll probably have to wait six months for the next one. I have no idea how fast these things get translated and published here.

Makes me cranky to wait, but everything makes me cranky these days.*

I was somewhat amused to see that various books I read about on-line as being "classics" but out of print in the MYSA-AS arena are now being re-released. I've bought a handful of the ones available. It's rather like reading Classic Slash. Interesting from a historical perspective and really shows you how far the genre has come. Some of the early stuff is really very primitive line drawings. Not that much different than the junk I'm currently turning out (given the differences in subject matter, of course).

In the meantime, now I've had breakfast, my daily bouillon, two of my many vitamins, and my morning coffee. I'm still hungry and I want more caffeine, sure signs that I overindulged on both this past weekend.

This might be a good moment to putter down the road to the office supply store and make a few copies for Buehler. Before those potato chips the Tweenybopper put in the kitchen start talking to me.

Later note: I fell on the way out the door...but only to the quantity of six chips. If that's the biggest Diet Mistake I make this week, I'll be in good shape.

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* I'm thinking I should switch to taking the HRT first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach. Maybe it will work better. I've got the Hot Flashes pretty much under control, but the mood swings are getting kind of scary. Maybe I'm not absorbing enough of the drug, taking it at night? The packaging doesn't say to take it on an empty stomach, but.... (My doctor says that as long as you haven't eaten for two hours, it counts as an "empty stomach" but there's never a point during the evening at which I haven't eaten for two hours.)