I'm afraid of heights, so I'm not sure why I wanted to climb up the high stone tower beside the parking lot. The views are supposed to be beautiful though and by the time I'd reached the fourth landing, clutching onto the thin metal railing on the inside of each turn, I would have to agree. Still, that was plenty high enough. The cars in the parking lot were like toys and even though the tower was sturdily constructed of stone and concrete, I couldn't imagine the view from the top would be any better. I went back down slowly, clutching that rail until I hit solid ground and wandered back to my car.

As I drove away, another car was coming into the lot and had stopped on the opposite side of the crossing, a wide ford across a stream. I thought I was on the wrong side of the road, so I went to the left and immediately realized I'd driven off the edge directly into the water. "Well, this is not good," I thought, unbuckling my seat belt and reaching for the door handle. When I looked out the driver's door window, though, I could see that the water had pushed the car against the stone foot of the tower and I wouldn't be able to push it open. The water was also much deeper than I anticipated and as I sat there I could feel it rising up and lapping at the corner of my mouth. Even though I knew I couldn't get out, I kept fumbling with the lock and handle on my door until I sat up and thought, "That's twice now I've dreamt I would drown."

I think that means I need to balance my checkbook. Or something.

Ooooh!!! That's one of my quests on the top of page 2! The folks who did the voices for the npcs on this quest did a great job. It's so cool to listen to someone else say something you wrote and it sounds exactly as you imagined it. :) In a related note, I was giddy with delight over one of my npcs whose voice sounded so familiar I wondered what TV commercials he'd done. Turns out he'd done the voice for one of my favorite npcs in KotOR too. How cool is that? :)

Mittens has always been highly observant, just not very bright. Rob and I used to watch him trot across the living room in his clueless way when *zoinks!* he'd spot a piece of lint or a twisty bread tie. Then he'd become a fierce jungle predator or perhaps an English hunting dog as he would freeze and point at the unfamiliar object.

Maggie showed practically no interest in her surroundings; all she wants is her food bowl, some water (the magic, refilling porcelain urn was perfectly acceptable) and a someplace to lie down. The only things she finds compelling are catnip and going outside to survey her domain. Nothing outward distresses her, even the day she schlepped around stuck in the handle of a paper bag.

Last night I brought Mo home from work, since we are off this week. Mittens was so busy with the pile of catnip on his little rug that he didn't observe me changing Mo's water or putting Mo on the top of the cable box (where it's warm) before going to sleep. Early this morning, however, Mittens finally saw Mo. Early this morning. Very early.

From the sounds of it, Mittens thought Mo was going to attack (which he might have been; he's a fighting fish). I awoke to the sounds of Mittens yowling and realized he'd seen Mo. Mo swam gracefully around his bowl, unaware of the attention he'd attracted. Mittens pined for him and after I threw some pj's at him (they were all I had on hand), he stopped trying to climb onto the cable box to get a closer look.

Instead, Mittens sat entranced for over a half hour, watching Mo circle lazily. Mittens is perched on the edge of the bed now, still longing to visit Mo up close but Mo is not a stupid fish. He's stopped circling and is now spreading his fins in a display of virility to scare my cat. Now I see why Sylvester and Tweety were so funny; the antics that Mittens will go through to try and get this fish will be interesting to observe.