Our attempts to get a baby rat today were a bust. We went to a couple of Petco’s, but all they had were adults. Did Californians decide they no longer want pet rats or something? Of course we had to creep along the way to and from the stores some of the time because people drive so slow here. We lost most of the morning to stuff we wanted to do around here. When we got home we decided we’d cut down some dead trees in back and paint tomorrow. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get online for much of the day, but if not, that’s why. 

I wonder what it is about squirrels that make us unable to have them as pets. I’ve never seen a pet squirrel for sale in the pet store. Too bad. I’d love to have one of the cuties. 

No poverty dreams last night but I had another one of those infamous captivity dreams. At least it felt like I had to be where I was in the dream, but I’m not too sure. It was full of disjointed scenes. First I was looking through a glass wall case at colored paper with text on them so people could see what they’d look like with print on them. I wanted a piece of neon orange paper to write a letter on and couldn’t get anyone to help me get one. 

Then I approached some woman behind some glass counter, who my dream self knew to be a bitch, and waited for her to finish talking to whoever she was talking to. When it seemed like the discussion would never end, I shouted, “I just want someone to give me a plain piece of paper!” not caring if I got in trouble for the outburst. 

Suddenly, I thought some guy said, “Come with me.” 

“Did you just tell me to come with you?” I asked him. He looked at me as if I were crazy and said “No” in a very annoyed tone of voice. 

I walked down a hallway and out into a courtyard. I saw a few young girls in their 20s. One said, “Wow, you wasted away!” to another girl showing off her weight loss as if it was a big surprise. But I was older and I knew she was still young enough to lose the weight fairly easy enough. Bet you think you’ll be thin forever, I thought to myself with a laugh. 

Then I realized I was losing weight too, because I wasn’t fed much wherever the hell it was that I was staying. 

Tomorrow we’re painting the living room and that’s where my computer is. I don’t know how long it will be before it’s convenient for me to get online, and I expect the painting will take hours. Most of the time is spent taping edges and then painting along them. 

I completed chapters 5 and 6 of my book because of tomorrow’s painting excursion. It took me about 5 hours to do it.