I kept feeling more burned out at work lately - even weekends don't seem long enough to get back my energy. Then I checked my leave-time on the med school website. I've got over 8 weeks vacation time accrued! I'm taking some time off in November to take my board recertification tests but then I'm gonna take some time off in December to just sit on my ass.....

Here's a bit of conversation between Robert and me last night. We live in a mostly gay-couples neighborhood of older homes, but it is thankfully less dramatic than some neighborhoods I've lived in, but we do have our occasional gossip tid-bit. Our neighbor across the street is currently single and is the Gladys Kravitz (sp?) of the area and told Robert about the following incident.

Robert: Did you hear that some guy broke into Jim and Ed's house down near the end of the block?

Me: No, did they steal anything?

R: No, get this, Jim was sleeping in the bedroom and Ed was out of town. Jim hears glass breaking and figures out it's the side doors which are French doors. He's scared shitless but  grabs something as a weapon and goes into the room after he's called 911.

M: Shit, I would've stayed quiet or got out to wait for the police!

R: Well, he peeks around the corner and sees this young guy, half dressed staggering around looking very puzzled. Jim finally figures the guy's drunk and/or high and won't be much of a threat if he tries anything so he turns on the lights and tells the guy to not move that the police are just outside. The guy looks at him very puzzled and (long story short), he's been staying with someone else on the block, got drunk and thought this was his friend's house. The police arrive and they somehow resolve it without taking him to jail.

M: Wow, I'm glad it wasn't a real burglar.

R: Yeah.

M: Hmmmmm......

R: What?

M: Well, was the guy hot?

R: *Laughing* You WOULD make a break-in story into a porn set-up, wouldn't you?

M: I'm just asking........

Life's been pretty tame at the moment (which is fine with me!). Spring is really taking hold around here. We had a really wicked bunch of storms in the last few weeks. At one point Robert and I took shelter when the sky got deathly still and had that sickly green color that seems to happen when a tornado is a strong possibility. Thankfully all we got was a a lot of rain and some hail.

Robert's going to stay at the house while I make a short trip up to Little Rock this weekend. My sister's wanting to do a final go through my parents' house. We decided to get someone to come in and do an estate sale. If all goes well they will come in and clean the place, price all the items, run the sale for 3 days and then take anything left to a battered women's shelter. They charge 30 percent of the total money made which is just fine with me. It's worth it to have all that cleaned up and ready for the painters and the carpet guys. My brother will be there as well which should be nice since I haven't seen him since the funeral, but he can get bossy at times so there might be some friction (but nothing horrible). There isn't much left that I really want except for my dad's rototiller and my mom's St. Francis statue from the back yard. The rest has no sentimental value and can all be sold off.

I'm not sure why, but I'm dreading this trip. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm very anxious about going and would like nothing more than to just stay home, but it's only for a few days and then I'll be back home. That I can do.....