When I walked up the hill to Broadway Video today, I passed a patient from my clinic, who was walking down the hill. We greeted each other with smiles and nods. When I walked back down the hill, I passed another patient, who was walking up the hill. We greeted each other with friendly hellos. It seems that, in the process of becoming disillusioned with my church, I have found a more direct way to serve my community.

I rented House Of Wax and The Interpreter. We have eleven rentals left on our current 100-block of rentals. This block has lasted us over a year. Blocks go on sale this Friday, I was informed.

While waiting for the bus, and during the ride into work, I read an interesting article in The Stranger about what went wrong with The Seattle Monorail Project. I really do hope that someone learns from the mistakes and plans a better monorail someday.

The movie version of Harry Potter and the Golbet of Fire opens in theaters today. Aerial, the first album from Kate Bush in twelve years, was released this week. I have a copy of the DVD of Eraserhead - a film I've never seen - on reserve at the library. I realized a couple of days ago that I have never seen The Sound Of Music all the way from beginning to end.

After reading about it in Yes! magazine, I've been reading Muslim WakeUp!. MWU is an interesting, enlightening magazine, and a reminder of how little I know about Islam.

The complexities of Gladden's emotions continue to amaze and confound me. It is, perhaps, a mistake to anthropomorphize them - but they are certainly different than, for instance, a dog's or a cat's. I often feel that Gladden has a wider and deeper range of emotions than either Gladys or Squeak ever had.

Gladden loves the taste of his medicine. He comes running to the smell of it. He may even understand that it makes him feel better - I'm not sure about that, though. He seems to know that when I hold him in my hand and turn him onto his back, it is time for his medicine. He seems to know that all it takes is one quick squirt into his mouth and I will let him go. He doesn't seem to harbor any anger after I give him his medicine. Why, then, does he fight so hard against it? Is it merely because being held immobile is scary? It is merely because it is uncomfortable? Are the emotions so overwhelming that he forgets the reason for being held down?

I added a hint to "White Noise" this morning, and a geocacher logged a find that included the comment "Nice hide." I relaxed about this cache.

Barbara called me this evening. She was concerned about why I missed the Church Council meeting. When I sent out the email saying that I couldn't make the meeting due to a family commitment, she was concerned that something had happened to my father. She added that I was missed at Writers' Group. If more of my congregation were more like Barbara, I might not be so disillusioned about my church. If less of my congregation were like Barbara, I wouldn't be so torn about it.

Patient: "I forgot when my next appointment is. I may have already missed it."

Front Desk Person: "It's a week from Wednesday, at 11:00. Would you like a print-out of it?"

Patient: "No, I think I can remember it."

Playtime with me at 9 o'clock last night. Playtime with me at 5 o'clock this morning. Playtime with Phillip in the middle of the night that I tried to sleep through. If it were up to Gladden, there would have been about a dozen more playtimes last night. He runs and climbs and explores like we haven't seen in years.

What did the trip to the ocean do to Gladden?

What will I say when my coworkers ask me tomorrow how I spent my three-day weekend? That Phillip and I hid a new cache? That only two people have managed to find it? That after a lot of "Did Not Find" logs, geocachers seem to have stopped looking for it? That the cache container has already fallen apart once, and may fall apart again soon? Or that we looked for four caches today, and found all four?

Or will I accept that no one I work with seems to understand the appeal of geocaching, and tell them that we rented Star Wars III: Revenge Of The Sith, and that I liked it so much that I watched it twice, plus all of the DVD extras?

Will I tell them that Phillip and I really like shopping at Grocery Outlet, and that we bought five bags of groceries there today?

Will I tell them that I skipped not only church today, but Writers' Group as well? Will I add that I forgot that today was Writers' Group until Phillip reminded me yesterday?

Will I tell them that I spent most of Saturday loafing off? And that I didn't even bother taking a shower Saturday? Will I tell them that I read a great article in Yes! magazine about how precious time is - too precious to be turned into a commodity (as Americans tend to do), and that sometimes we need to stop bragging about our busy schedules, take our eyes off the clock, and just loaf off sometimes?