Houston, Texas: 9:28am May 14, 2003

in my little windowless cubicle at work, nibbling at a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, cilantro and pico de gallo and listening to the “About a Boy” soundtrack on my headphones. without my headphones, all i hear are people typing softly on keyboards and the occasional cough.

like most days lately, I’m staring at piles of work waiting for my attention…..work that’s mostly meaningless, uninspiring, and only reminds me of how small my daily world has become. and, like most days lately, i spend my free time pouring over rtw travelogues and lonelyplanet to fuel my dreams of leaving all this behind for a while to explore the world. on my drive to work this morning, i started to brainstorm places i could get part-time work on the weekends to help fund my trip.

my computer monitor cycles photographs of places i want to visit….Paris, Stockholm, London, Bruges, Budapest, Bangkok, Saigon, Kakadu National Park, Barrier Reef, Edinburgh, Ulaan Baatar, Beijing, the Trans-Siberian/Mongolian Railroad, Posnan, Moscow, etc., etc. my only consolation for being in this office is that forecasters predict that the heat index for houston would reach 100 degrees today.

i actually wouldn’t mind geting laid off. too bad that almost never happens to state employees.

in other news,

renegade democratic texas legislators hunted by state police made their stand against a republican congressional redistricting plan and holed up in a hotel across the border in oklahoma on tuesday….