I have been formally invited by Nane to go with her to see a Turkish grunge band play in Munich, LOL. Yeah, I’ll just run halfway around the world and join her! All joking aside, I would if I could so long as it wasn’t snowing.

It started off with me sending an email saying that unless she’s just been too busy to read my book, she totally has my permission to tell me it sucks if that’s the case and that the manuscript ought to be used as toilet paper. That made her laugh, she said. She was just about to go to bed when she got the message and so I didn’t wait around for her to reply to my reply because I wasn’t expecting one. But when I finally got around to getting it she said she’s been sick, busy and planning her next trip to Morocco and so she hasn’t had time to read it yet.

I told her I hated to travel but that we might still take the Italy trip I won, and she said don’t cancel that trip! She said there are more exotic places than Rome, but she was in Rome two years ago and really loved it. Venice is nice too, she added.

If we ever do make it to Italy I’m hoping we can meet up with her at some point there. I let her know I’d give her all the hotel info as soon as I get it, and maybe she can drop down from Germany, though I doubt I’ll ever see anyone worth seeing that I’d like to see. Still, it’d be nice to try to line things up. Especially since she’s a travel fanatic who travels 4 or 5 times a year.

She said she can’t understand why anyone would hate to travel but that’s for me to know and her to find out. Well, it’s simple. I’ve always found traveling to be a hectic pain in the ass, and having a sleep disorder doesn’t help at all.

Either way, the possibility of seeing her, Paul and Marilena helps make the idea of a trip to Europe not seem so bad, and it motivates me to keep bettering my German and Italian. But there are no guarantees. If we can’t get the time for it, then we just won’t make it.

The rat’s taking a “track nap.” Lately, he likes to lie along the track of the slider up against the glass. He’s been banned from the bathroom again for chewing behind the toilet.