After a brief span of improvement, Gladys Night has been getting worse. This past week, her illness has accelerated. She's lost a lot of weight. Yesterday, she hardly slept at all.

Today, the veterinarian told us that Gladys probably has cancer. This diagnosis didn't surprise either Phillip or me. There are still test results coming, but the vet has little doubt that it is incurable cancer.

This is the 393rd post. This project is one year old today.

I did a quick, lunchtime, walk through the downtown library today, in order to solve the mystery of the book spiral exit. I discovered that it's more than the growing pains I'd originally diagnosed - It is a rather curious design feature. Once you get above the fourth floor, there just are no down escalators or stairways. The only way down is on the elevators. That doesn't seem like an efficient way to move crowds. If I ever meet Meneer Koolhaas, I'd like to ask him what his reasoning was.

A friendly library employee volunteered a bit of information as I was waiting for the elevator on the seventh floor. This is still opening week, he pointed out, and a lot of people were there just to see the building, so the library won't always be this crowded. In the meantime, he informed me, one of the emergency stairways is open for general use.

I had an epiphany a few days ago. It came about as a result of the rejection from Glimmer Train and the acceptance from The Sun. I realized that I wasn't shocked by either event. I realized that I am more comfortable writing about smaller events - stories that last hours (or less) rather than years.

The recent re-emergence of Lew brought on a flood of memories from Ellensburg. These are fuzzy memories, damaged by holes and rips. I sat down to write about them, and soon felt that not only was I was taking on too much, I was also slowed down by trying to fill in the gaps. Then I had the epiphany. I started over. I started writing about one fictional evening in Ellensburg, based on events, sights, and people I do remember. I stopped worrying about getting all the facts right - it is fiction, after all. I'm consulting a map to make sure I get the geography right - but I'm not even worrying about that, since this will be a story about an Ellensburg of 25 years ago.

I took some time off this afternoon and revisited the new downtown library. Phillip and I are planning to go together soon, but I'm more of a walker than he is, and I wanted some exploring time on my own, at my own pace.

This is my second impression: I still love that building a lot, but it needs some tweaking here and there.

The first problem comes with a praise. I think the "book spiral" is a wonderful design. Book numbers are displayed at regular intervals on the floor that slopes gently up through the entire non-fiction catalog. (Seattle's library still uses the Dewey Decimal system.) You just find your book's number, get on the spiral, and follow the path until you get there - it's like all there books were magically located on one small floor. I found today, though, that once I got on the spiral, and walked for a while, it wasn't very apparent how to find an exit. I walked down to the very bottom of the spiral and came to a dead end. I could see the main floor below me, but no way to get there. I could see the escalator going up next to me, behind a glass wall, but no way to get there, and no sign of a down escalator. At various points along the spiral, there were exits to a stairway, and I could have followed the spiral back up until I found one, but I wasn't entirely sure if the stairs would take me to a main floor. I found the elevators on the other side of the floor, but with a building that big, with a constantly moving crowd, elevators (not centrally located) seem like an inefficient way to move people.

I kept finding spaces that weren't well thought out, or maybe not working the way they were planned. These could be easily corrected, though. Hand made signs were taped to doors and walls saying "Employees Only" or "No Exit" or "The elevators are behind you and to the left." In a couple of places, the most direct route from point A to point B involved squeezing sideways between a column and the shelves - The alternative involved walking all the way to the other side of the floor and circling around. Of course, most people chose the direct route.

I don't mean this to sound worse than it is. I suppose all planned spaces, no matter how much you study theoretical crowd patterns, get used in unexpected ways once they're put into real use. When I went to the grand opening of the Surgery Pavilion, I saw several people walk into the floor-to-ceiling glass wall, despite the small sign. A couple of days later, I returned and someone had moved several large planters in front of the wall.

I am a reader of magazines. I am proud of my ability to find at least one interesting article in any magazine I come across - any magazine written in a language I can read, that is. I blame my parents for instilling a love of learning in me.

I am currently waiting for my subscription to Wired magazine to run out. I've been subscribing to it for years, ever since some computer magazine I'd been subscribing to went out of business, and I was offered Wired as an alternative. I used to like Wired a lot. I still read Wired when it arrives, but it and computer technology don't hold my interest as much as they once did.

I subscribe to Utne magazine. I still enjoy it, for the most part, but lately its politics have turned in a direction I don't agree with. The last couple of issues, especially, have supported the practice of vandalism - picking flowers from parks and other public property, and public graffiti - in order to "beautify" your neighborhood.

I subscribe to Yes! magazine. I always turn to "the page that counts" first. (Rank of Nigerians among the world's nations for percent of citizens reporting that they are happy: 1. Rank of the United States: 16. Rank of Nigeria's per capita gross daily product (GDP): 211. Rank of United States' GDP: 1. Divorce rate of heterosexuals in Denmark: 46. Divorce rate of homosexuals in Denmark: 17.) Next, I turn to "Yes! But How?" Then I read the articles.

Of course, I subscribe to The Sun magazine. I turn to "Readers Write" first, then to "Sunbeams," and then "Sy Safransky's Notebook," and then the rest of the stories.

Maybe I shouldn't admit to this in writing, but the one magazine I read from cover to cover the day it arrives is Entertainment Weekly.

This evening, at a little before 8 o'clock, I finished the last page of the last volume of the Sandman series. It's been six months since I picked up the first volume. It's been a great story. It ended in a way I would have never predicted, but it ended exactly the way I think it should.

Right now, my favorite part of the series is that Death is an attractive, personable, and friendly young woman. It's those imaginative touches I've enjoyed so much. Death is Dream's older sister, because, as the story pointed out, a creature is able to die before it is able to dream. It's those thoughtful details I've enjoyed so much.

Phillip and I skipped church today and went to the grand opening of the new Seattle Public Library Central Branch, in the new building designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas.

It was a silly thing to do, really. We stood in line for 45 minutes, and squeezed our way through thousands of people, just to look inside a building we can see any day. The library is a short bus ride from home, after all - it's not like we saw a once in a lifetime event. But we went to show our support for our library, and that's not silly.

It is a fabulous building. From the outside, it seems like an odd mixture of angles and overhangs. From the inside, though, it makes sense. It was a sunny day today, and the inside of the library was filled with natural light. It was as if every part of every floor was next to a window - that's why those weird angles make sense. It is a huge building, full of vast, open vistas, as well as intimate small areas. Walking through the library, we were constantly surprised by different floor textures and wall colors. It is not a boring building.

On the other hand, I saw Barbara's objections to the building. Barbara works at the Central Branch. She also heads Writers' Group. Her writing lately has focused on the problems she'll face working in the new Koolhaas building. For a person afraid of heights, like Barabra, all those open spaces will be a concern. She'll be working on the tenth floor. I got a look at the employee kitchen and the employee catwalk that connects one area of the floor to another. It's a straight drop down to the first floor with only a chest high open-mesh fence to keep you from a ten story tumble.