I hear my watch ticking.

And the ticking of my watch indicates to me that I actually have one. It was a gift from my sister via my brother-in-law. It's a Mickey Mouse watch--classic, 'Steamboat Willie' Mickey--before he became the symbol of copyright law gone awry--which may be why I like him so much. My brother-in-law had it in his drawer for a year, unopened, so my sister asked if she could re-gift it to me. I'm not offended. I'm delighted.

I also have on contacts. This means that I blink almost as often as my watch ticks. It's my first time ever wearing contacts, and I dread the moment tonight when I have to grab my eyes and pull these lenses off of them. Perhaps I'll just lie backwards over a bucket and pour another bucket of water over my face. Then I'll carefully fish around in the first bucket until I find them...and I'll hope I get them back in the correct eyes in the morning. I think it's a pretty bad plan, but it sounds better than the alternative.

In the third bit of news, I just met two new characters. Only one of them is major, but yes, I just met another major character in this book. I like her. She is a voice to my ridiculous and optimistic observations. I have plenty of other characters to speak for my general depression and malaise, but Stacy is happy. It's nice to find her inside me.

So why am I telling you and not posting? Because I'm out of time to write today, and the section she's in has barely started. She has many bagels to sell and a few familiar characters to meet before I can put her on the blog. Sorry. If it's any consolation, I'll be weeping before the night is done. Trying desperately to pull these flimsy pieces of something out of my eyes.

While my watch ticks on.