I've been excoriated all out of proportion from every side because of the photo of my chair in yesterday's entry. I agree that I have no right to complain about my back hurting if I keep telling myself that sitting in a kitchen chair, however ingeniously modified with various items from the linen closet, is the proper way to work at a computer. I'm grateful for the people who wrote, because they convinced me that I have to get off my ass immediately (and literally) and get a real office chair. So that's in my plans for either this week or the first day or two after I get back from vacation.

Meanwhile, I have to figure out how to get all my ducks in a row by Friday so that the vacation actually happens. My Monday morning will be spent making a to-do list, the kind that will actually advance me toward the goal of being ready. My usual method is to disregard my highly organized lists and take care of whatever's on top of the pile on the corner of my desk. Yes, I miss a few deadlines that way, but not many, because I almost always get to the bottom of the pile in time.

Now, though, looking at the calendar, I've come to the conclusion that if I don't change my slackerly ways, I could be leaving Saturday with something undone that will cost me dearly, somewhere down the line. Therefore, I am going to make a pact with myself, and pledge that nothing will keep me from getting to the bottom of my list by Friday afternoon. I know it can be done, but only if I'm as tough on myself as I pretend to be.

I can't think of a better way to spend Sunday evening than with my sister and my nephews. David was with friends on the houseboat this weekend, but Eric was up from San Rafael and he and I had dinner at Suzanne's house. She's alone this week, until we all leave for Colorado. We're leaving from her house Saturday morning, and we'll be picking up John alongside the highway somewhere up near Truckee.

And if any of this makes sense, it's purely accidental, because we polished off almost two bottles of wine between the three of us.

Anyway, I was going to spend the day getting some work done, but I found my concentration lapsing about 3:30 this afternoon, so I headed over to her house. Mom would have come, too, but she had another engagement. Suzanne is taking a self-defense class from Eric's tae kwon do teacher, so they spent some of the evening practicing moves on each other. And the three of us have similar musical tastes, oldies, blues and swing being the common denominator here, so after watching the baseball game and a really great bad movie on TV, we managed to entertain each other singing along to the greatest hits of 1966 on CD. Even though that was ten years before Eric was born.

Dinner was wonderful, and the whole evening was a great mellowing experience for me. It's the best I've felt since my back started giving me serious trouble a week and a half ago. Could've been the wine, I know, but I felt no pain.

Just about the time Eric went home, David showed up, still glowing from his three days on Shasta Lake. He was in charge of the houseboat, and all went well, aside from a few minor inconveniences (problems with the stereo being the most serious). He's a heady young man, and when he's put in a position of responsibility, he handles it better than most people who are almost but not quite nineteen years old. Lots of fun, and nothing broken. What more could you ask for?

I stayed and talked to David for a while after he got home, and it was midnight before I left there. I came home and started writing, and this is the result. And now I'm going to bed to try to get ready for another manic Monday.