Lay a whisper on my pillow

2003-11-10 - 4:16 p.m.

I saw my mystery bird again today. I was sitting here working on my NaNoWriMo when I heard it's call. It was very loud and nearby. So I got up and slowly pulled up the mini-blinds in front of the sliding glass door to my backyard. At first all I could see was a whole flock of yellow-billed magpies. But I kept looking and finally I saw the mystery bird perched in a tree above me about thirty feet away. From where I was I could very clearly see its white breast with black speckles on it plus it's darker brown back with black striations. I could also see that it had red cheeks. I couldn't believe that I had so completely misjudged it the first time I saw it. Then it flew from this tree to another tree quite a bit farther away. I could see the red of its wings as it flew. I was standing behind the glass door looking out at the bird which was now perched far away when its mate suddenly landed less than ten feet away from me. This one was definitely the female that I had seen earlier. From where I was, I could see her striation and spots, but they were much less pronounced than the male. And I could also see that she had no red on her face. But she could see me too and I was making her nervous so she very quickly flew away showing me her red wings. So now I'm certain that the bird I saw was a red-shafted flicker and I don't feel so bad because she really didn't have many flicker-esque markings on her.

Last night we had dinner at a mexican restaurant called Jimboy's. We were all in a tostada mood so my mom ordered for us all. She ordered rather quickly and at the end, without being prompted, she said, "For here." Sergio, the hispanic guy who runs the register and knows us well, looked up in shock, "Four beers?"

I mentioned before that I got my flu shot last Friday. The lady stuck me with a needle and then put a band-aid over the injection site. I took the band-aid off the following morning before I took a shower. Even now, my skin is still bright red where the sticky parts of the band-aid were stuck to me. I must've been allergic to that band-aid. I'm so sick of being allergic to stuff! I'm tempted to call up the company that was giving the flu shots to ask them what brand of band-aid they were using so that I never use them again.

I've been working on my NaNoWriMo story again, of course. My goal is to catch up by today, but I still haven't yet. I still have several hours left to write. Anyway, today I got a pep-talk e-mail from the guy in charge of NaNoWriMo. He's really funny. Here's an excerpt: "There are amazing things on our literary horizons, the kinds of breakthroughs that will make us laugh and cry and shake our heads pityingly at friends and family members who wasted their Novembers on empty pursuits like conversation, bathing, and sleep." I think that might be part of my problem, actually. I haven't cut anything else out of my schedule. I do as much as I ever did. Plus the goal here is supposed to be quantity not quality, but I have trouble just writing and not worrying about the quality. And then I spend too much time going back and revising. I know I have these problems, but do I change them? No...

NaNoWriMo Progress: 13,190/50,000