-- Friday, February 4, 2000 --

1:50 a.m. So the day of me, all me all the time is finally and blessedly and thankfully over. There's just so much pressure a person can take. Just so much fun you can have in one short winter's day.

Mostly, I slept. If I missed your call, it was because I was sleeping. Each time I got up I missed another call. But I know you are thoughtful and wonderful and you really really like me and I will call you back tomorrow.

Too many days of practically no sleep at all have taken their toll. I watered the plants. I took a nap. I took the vacuum cleaner out of the closet and I propped it up against the back of a chair and took another nap.

Soon, I will go to bed. Will the excitement ever end?

When I opened my eyes this morning I had a splitting headache deep deep down in my head and there was a gray rainy cast to the sky and I actually thought to myself, "Well, that's not fair."

But I have a nice big bottle of Excedrin Migraine pills, which really work. I bought them right before the end of last year, just in case. You know -- it's the end of the world as we know it and I've got this splitting headache ...

So, with a couple of these valuable pills and a goodly amount of coffee and the requisite time in grade, I crawled back to the computer and found some fabulous birthday greetings, including some snazzy new-fangled modern computer e-cards and what do you know -- the sun even came out!

You really *can* have it all.

Except what I don't have, of course, is a nice gray or white kitty to call my own. (Or a proper topic for tonight's piece.) Not that I'm complaining, but I was thinking that if maybe one of those poor shivering balls of fur from the cold Northeast wanted to take a little vacation ... why, my rodentia-enhanced residence would be quite the fun get-away.

I'll put down a saucer of milk. Fish! No problem. We have a sandbox big as the Ritz. I will write about your exploits and take fuzzy photos for ransom purposes. No need to freeze your paws in the snow and ice and slush when you can go west, young cat.

Really, it's no trouble. I'll leave the door ajar.