I get the most interesting mail on Fridays.

In the mailbox this afternoon was a letter forwarded to me by The Sun. I'm a bit skeptical right now. The letter was written by a "no-budget indie filmmaker" who works for, or owns (I'm not sure which), Turnip Video. This filmmaker says he wants to make a short film based on my Second Chances piece, and needs my permission to go farther with the idea.

The last sentence of his letter is: "I assure him that little of no money is involved!" I think he meant or instead of of - but maybe that's a sign that it's not a form letter. The question that both Phillip and I have is "Whose money?"

I have an interesting life.

On an unrelated topic, in my email today was a rejection letter from Glimmer Train. They won't be publishing Alejandro Comes And Goes.

Also unrelated: The Wake, the last volume in the "Sandman" series arrived at the library today.

I filled up the gas tank this afternoon, at 3/10 of a tank. The Consumption screen read 336 miles and 41.8 MPG. Our Prius definitely does better in warmer weather.

I think I may have that gas gauge figured out, somewhat. It's not that it's random, it's that, for some reason, it moves faster from the 5th bar to empty than it does from the 10th bar to the 5th. It's like it builds up momentum as it reaches the bottom.

I bought a bottle of chai tea latte today. That's number seventeen.

1. yerba maté, 1 January
2. genmaicha, 9 January
3. South African Rooibos (with honey crystals), 10 January
4. chamomile lemon herb, 15 January
5. Northwest blackberry, 17-19 January
6. lime herbal teasan, 6 February
7. aged Earl Grey, 17 February
8. black cherry tea (organic Ceylon tea with black cherry flavor), 5 March
9. black tea blend (organic), iced, 17 March
10. oolong, 19 March
11. iced green tea with apple, peach, ginger, and elderberry juices, 21 March
12. artificially flavored "raspberry tea", iced, packed with dyes, preservatives, and possibly tea, 24 March
13. True Blueberry™ herb tea, 19 April
14. raspberry yerba maté (iced), 6 May
15. white (with orange blosson and ginger), iced, 14 May
16. Morning Dew™ (organic Chinese green), 19 May
17. chai tea latte (iced), 20 May

I got an email from Lew today. It turns out that his web page hasn't been updated in two years, but most of the information in it is still current. He's still in Portland. We have some catching up to do.

Lynn and I went out to dinner and a walk this evening. She introduced me to Teahouse Kuan Yin, in Wallingford, and its menu of teas. I chose Morning Dew™ from the green, China menu to go with my chickpea curry. Lynn chose Wu Wei™ from the herbal menu, and a cucumber sandwich and a desert.

My tea was served with the two pot method. When the sand in the timer reached the bottom, I poured the tea from the first pot, through a strainer, into the second pot. This, I was told, prevents the tea from turning bitter. My tea was then ready to pour into my cup and drink. It was delicious.

Lynn's tea, because it was herbal, needed only one pot. I got the impression that The Teahouse knows its teas and cares about their quality.

My 2004 Tea/Tisane Log (9 more to go)

1. yerba maté, 1 January
2. genmaicha, 9 January
3. South African Rooibos (with honey crystals), 10 January
4. chamomile lemon herb, 15 January
5. Northwest blackberry, 17-19 January
6. lime herbal teasan, 6 February
7. aged Earl Grey, 17 February
8. black cherry tea (organic Ceylon tea with black cherry flavor), 5 March
9. black tea blend (organic), iced, 17 March
10. oolong, 19 March
11. iced green tea with apple, peach, ginger, and elderberry juices, 21 March
12. artificially flavored "raspberry tea", iced, packed with dyes, preservatives, and possibly tea, 24 March
13. True Blueberry™ herb tea, 19 April
14. raspberry yerba maté (iced), 6 May
15. white (with orange blosson and ginger), iced, 14 May
16. Morning Dew™ (organic Chinese green), 19 May

I first heard about the author Elmore Leonard from a customer, a young man, at the Barnes & Noble I used to work at. The young man was an enthusiastic fan of Elmore Leonard's books, which the young man described as "mystery stories." That's not one of my favorite genres, so I never looked into any of Mr. Leonard's books.

This past weekend, we rented Jackie Brown - a great movie, by the way - which was based on an Elmore Leonard novel. I remembered another movie based on an Elmore Leonard novel, which I had also enjoyed: Get Shorty. I did some research on the interview, and discovered some interesting things: Elmore Leonard is not black. (I'm really wondering how I got the idea that he was. What did that young man say to me?) Elmore Leonard had written a lot of books, in several genres. Elmore Leonard does not consider himself a mystery writer.

I did some more research this evening and discovered Elmore Leonard's wonderful Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle. "If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it." - I love that!

A few weeks ago, The Sun sent me a complimentary issue - the one with my Readers Write story in it. Phillip suggested that I mail it to Kelly, but I had already thought of that.

This morning, I walked up to QFC to make some copies. When I came back, there was a UPS truck parked outside of our apartment building. As I stepped onto the front parking lot, the UPS delivery guy was walking away from the front door, carrying a package from 1-800-flowers. Obviously, the flowers' recipient wasn't home. I was heading toward the side door. I wasn't expecting a package, and certainly not flowers, but something told me to check the front door. I changed course. There was a "Delivery Attempt" notice with my last name on it.

I was able to catch the delivery guy before he left. We joked about my "perfect timing." I looked at the package. It was addressed to "Rico." There's only one person in the world who calls me that. Kelly sent me flowers?

The card says, "Congratulations on your first published work!"

There is at least one inaccuracy in my previous post. Lew and I were never roommates. It suddenly came back to me. He was almost my first roommate. When I first checked into the dormitory at Central Washington University, I was given a choice of roommates: a guy from Philadelphia, and a Christian. Neither description mattered to me, but in hindsight, I should have picked the Philadelphian. Michael and I never got along. I don't remember how I met Lew. It might have been at a dorm social function. It might have been in an art class. It might have been through a mutual friend. Lew was more in the DJ circle. I was more in the John circle. There must have been some overlap. Maybe it was Mel - I remember her being in both circles.

My memories of that time are muddled. I can't even remember, right now, what year I was first married. I remember that my now ex-wife and I first moved to Capitol Hill in 1984. That was the awful apartment at Bellevue & Denny. We lived there for only six months. Then we moved to Bellevue & Mercer. We eventually lived in two apartments at Bellevue & Mercer.

I do remember that Lew's car/home was outside of one of our apartments at Bellevue & Mercer. I have a clear memory of looking out of our living room and seeing Lew's station wagon down on Mercer Street. We must have exchanged letters before then. There was at least one phone call - a masterpiece of timing. We found a message on our answering machine one day. Lew was somewhere in California, out of money, and asking us to help him out. The message ended with "Please call me. My phone number here is" - and the tape cut him off right there. We somehow got ahold of each other, I think, and I asked him to come to Seattle and be my best man. He showed up with a hitchhiker. The unexpected companion was the reason we made Lew sleep out in the car, rather than on our living room couch.

After we got back from The University District Street Fair last Saturday, I realized that I was thinking about my long lost friend, Lew. The most likely explanation would be that I saw some work of art that reminded me, almost subliminally, of Lew's style.

Lew and I were friends in college. He was my first roommate. We were fellow art students. He went back to Philadelphia after graduation, but he never stayed anywhere for long. Right before my first wedding, Lew showed up in Seattle, penniless, living in his car parked outside our apartment building. He soon found a job and a room less than a mile from us. He was my best man at the wedding. We didn't part on good terms. He didn't take it well.

Now I'm thinking about him again. How many years has it been? More than 15, but less than 20 - I don't know right now. I did a Google search for his name, and there he was. I found an old Geocities home page with his photo. There's no doubt it was him. The site didn't have much information - only that he was living in Portland, Oregon and teaching in Vancouver, Washington. The problem is, there was no indication of how old the web site is.