Just a quick post to let you all know that I am alive. Saturday was my last day at CPM. I don't have any plans for the holidays except to avoid anything I would do normally. Laurie K., a former CPM co-worker, dyke and friend, has invited me to spend the day with her parents. We're bringing along another co-worker, Steve W.

I hope to catch up with the past week which included viewing two favorite movies, reviews should follow this next week when I have nothing more to do but wait for my first week of unemployment to pass.

Batman--The Complete History

This is a link that was lost in another one of my blogs. I'm not sure why I was looking at it other than Batman is an interesting archetype. I think I was intrigued by this book about him and the fact that there was a sequel to "The Dark Night" graphic novel recently being released. Yeah, I think that is what this was about...!

Volp the Vamp

Last Saturday went off without a hitch. Mark and I looked fabulous. Mark read from his dream journal, a very spooky and odd dream. I danced a Can-Can in two-inch heels and read some poetry. I think they liked us. We went to breakfast at Jack�s Roadhouse after changing and were under whelmed by the food and service. Considering the hour, the crowd that was there and the number of staff available I suppose it is understandable but I will avoid it in the future like I did Minnie�s on Broadway.

I�ve been helping Amy at pistilbooks.com figure out her scanner and teaching her about web graphics. She was very gracious and gave me an early holiday present of one of her Ex Libris recycled blank books. This is a rebinding technique to scavenge library books that have been removed from circulation and refill the sturdy bindings with blank pages. Her present to me was an experiment with an older binding from a German language book that was volume two of a collection of business books from the late eighteen hundreds or early twentieth century. It was lettered in gothic gold leaf with embossing on the faux leather cloth cover. Very exquisite and ostentatious without being gaudy. I�m looking forward to filling its pages.

I�m bursting to tell you all about the seahorse and the bat, but I don�t want to rush events that are only in my mind�s eye. Suffice to say that I received a fortune from a fortune cookie a few weeks ago that suggested that I would be traveling soon, I hope by �great waters� the fortune teller meant the Columbia basin and not the Pacific Ocean. With some luck, planning and good friends that fortune may become a reality.

Last night I was invited by Kurt, one of the former employee�s of CPM, to attend a small party at his residence on Capital Hill. He rents a room in a lovely and well appointed home near Lowell School on Capital Hill. There were several familiar faces there of people I know I�ve met before at parties over the years. I had a lovely time and managed to not embarrass myself too much although there was at least one incredulous moment when I suggested a prevention for prostrate cancer.

Volpane the Vamp

This week has flown by already. I've barely had time to breath. Monday was spent indoors at home recuperating from the past month. I put together the page for my NaNoWriMo Novel which now includes everything I�ve written so far. Some people have already been asking me whether I will be finishing it and my answer is I plan to write more on it when I am laid off from CPM, as a break from my current hunt for my next paying job. BTW, anybody reading this who knows of employment opportunities please email me now!

I hope to be posting my updated resume and ideas about where I�m investigating employment in the next week.

Tuesday and Wednesday found me answering email and chatting online.

Lost Luggage

Thursday I went to the Cuff with several CPM employees, my intention being that I only drink one martini�then a friendly local came over to express his condolences for the closing of one of Capital Hill�s institutions and bought us a round of Midori sours. A pleasant thought but it pushed me over the edge and I was well into a second martini before I realized that I should wend my way home.

Friday morning was an ordeal and I had to work very hard not to indulge my nausea for a good part of the day. Still, I was able to attend my friend Nancy�s birthday party held at her new home in North Seattle. Purple Mark, Carolyn and myself were all chauffeured by Jason, a long time friend from Montana who also knows Nancy. Purple mentioned his plans to attend Coffee Messiah�s Saturday Midnight Cabaret because, he said, the theme would be Moulin Rouge and he was wearing one of his �Can-Can� outfits and wondered if I might like to wear the other one.

So tonight, in another hour or so I will be joining him to attend Midnight Cabaret as Moulin Rouge dancers. If you read this before then�well, you should attend to see us perform, of course.

Some of the business at work slowed so that I ended up in a better mood than I have been. Thursday I went out with some co-workers to drink at the Cuff. Laurie, Trent, Steve and I all sat at a round table, talking above Fleetwood Mac playing over the sound system. Our conversations often crossed each other without much interference. I went home after two drinks, but that evening made me crave for some more nightlife Friday.

City People�s Merchantile (CPM) is closing an hour early so I�ve been getting off work with enough of the evening that I feel reasonable going out afterward. Friday I stopped by my friend Carolyn�s and asked her out. Her first words to me were about her friend Ryan, who�d just died in Portland. She agreed to accompany me for dessert since she�d already eaten. So I grabbed some take-out and went home to change.

At home I was logged online when Baxter instant messaged me. He�s a friend I made in the early nineties and hung out with on an almost daily basis but have since lost contact with over the past six years. We chatted a while online. As I was getting offline to dress for dessert Carolyn phoned and I am reminded that I can be flaky as well as following my own time schedule without notifying other people. So I was well on my way to Carolyn�s and when I arrived it turned out that she was doing a quick ritual in memory of her friend Ryan, saying that the last time she remembered dancing with him was when Erasure was playing.

We decided to visit Caf� Septieme on Broadway and had just a lovely time and conversation. After walking Carolyn home I ventured over to the Vogue and hung out drinking a beer. I was intrigued to note that the crowd resembled the same crowd who attends the fetish night on Sunday, save Purple Mark and my friend Craig who I tend to hang with. It was also relatively crowded so I left after an hour of dancing.

Baxter mentioned that he might be visiting the Eagle that evening so I dropped in to find him there as expected. But before we connected, I shed rain on a shirtless young man while waiting to purchase a beer. He didn�t seem to mind although he was much shorter than me and must have caught plenty of the rain shedding from my raincoat. Later while smoking in the open air backyard with Baxter, the same young man came out and proceeded to flirt with us by flexing his torso which was amazingly developed. I have to admit I was quite turned on.

Soon after that I trundled myself home as I needed to get some rest for work the next day, but sat up chatting on the internet, finally meeting a young man who recognized my name from a zine I did several years back. He lived in No. Carolina and seemed intelligent and talented. I thoroughly enjoyed our chat.

I was so exhausted Saturday that after meeting Laurie and Trent again at Thumpers for a martini I blew home, called Baxter to confess I was too exhausted to go out another night and promptly climbed into bed.

Today was somewhat pedestrian as far as Sundays go. Brunch was attended by Carolyn, Purple, John P, Judith and myself with Alex arriving as we were wrapping things up. Alex put us in stitches with his quips and anecdotes about work at his salon. I was struck by how truly funny he is and how he has a unique way of telling a story. I wish I could replicate that style.