Lot of hard work yesterday, as my son and I helped my mother-in-law move HER mother out of the house and into an assisted living apartment complex (I think that's what they're called). She didn't have a whole lot of stuff, but some of it required extra attention and care (a glass china cabinet, for instance). It was sweltering hot, so the sweat was pouring. I guess it was worth all the labor...we got $75 a piece and dinner at my favorite restaurant (a nice, Mexican place called Rodolfos). To top it all off, she had an extra 17" computer monitor that she's replaced with a 19", and she said we could have it if we wanted it...Uhhh, all we've had was a 13", so yeah, we took it off here hands. It's all hooked up and it works fine, I am hoping that the larger screen will be better for my eyes (actually it's just "eye", the right one).

Stacie's asking me if I want to go to the lake. She should know I won't. First off, any and every lake in the state is going to be packed and overloaded today, since it's Independence Day. Second, and she's fully aware of this...I don't swim in lakes anymore. I haven't done so in several years. There's no way of knowing what kind of shit is in the water (and that, to a small extent, can be taken literally as well as figuratively). Many is the time I've been told about someone cutting their feet up badly having stepped on a broken bottle in the lake. Swimming is all we could do, seeing as how we don't have a boat. I would think a little more kindly of lakes if we had one. I would really enjoy getting out in the middle of the waters to do some fishing. But swimming? No thank you.

No, this 4th of July will be exactly like every other day of the year, with the sole exception being the fireworks display we'll be able to see from the comfort of our back porch.

Took some of the money I earned yesterday and hopped online, couldn't wait to go to Amazon.com. I ordered up the two albums that were left on my wish list after I got the last Sigur Ros CD. Within the week I hope to be enjoying the latest from Sun Kil Moon and Autechre. I've tried to think of something else I might want badly enough that I wouldn't want to wait until my SSD back-pay check comes in. There are a few I could think of, but they can stay on the back burner for now.

I ordered a DVD of "Wild Palms", which I've only seen once, and that several years ago. I remember how great it was and figured it would probably something I'd want to own...which is high praise indeed, as my DVD collection is very small.

Finally I bought the "The Complete Conversations With God" box set. I've been wanting to get this for a while, having long since gotten rid of the copies I once had. CWG is kind of a hot topic between Stacie and I. She has good reason to be leary of my wanting to read them again. The first time around the thing blew my mind to the point where it contributed to an episode that put me in the hospital. I stayed away from it after that, but recently I have wanted to read it again, partly to try and see just why it had that effect on me in 1998. Plus, I recall that much of what Walsch wrote in these books made absolute perfect sense. A lot of the Eastern mysticism and religious thought that I've absorbed to a certain degree is reflected in the CWG philosophy. I'm not afraid, because there were other factors that led to the "Conversations" commitment. I was a daily pot user, for one thing. Plus, I was not taking any medication for my bipolar disorder. Those issues are resolved, and have been for some time, so I honestly don't think I have anything to worry about. Except maybe Stacie's displeasure and abhorrance of the books......

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