I have mosquitos in my bathroom. Perpetually. Never a lot--just one or two. And I have no idea how they get in there--whether they migrate there from the outside world and decided it's nice because it's usually warm and moist, or if they have some other nefarious way of getting in. They're never really bothersome, but it's just strange that there always seems to be at least one mosquito in there. The latest game has been to try and snatch them out of the air one-handed. But even when I manage to slay all the mosquitos, by the next day there are two more.

I seem to be getting the confusion with my mortgage lender straightened out to a degree. I sent them a copy of the letter that stated that my first payment was due 1/1/99. I spoke to the guy at the bank, and he assured me that I would not be charged any late fees, and there would be no negative reports made on my credit rating, since I'd been making my payments in good faith according to the schedule that I'd been provided with. I'm still not sure if they're going to make me pony up that other missing month's mortgage, but they'll have a fight on their hands if they do. I'm simply not in any position to pull another extra month's mortgage out of my ass.

But in other money matters, I did my federal taxes today, and am pleased to see that I will be getting a nice chunk of change back. Yes, I know that if I'm getting money back then my place of employment is taking too much out--but I don't want to owe, and it's kind of a nice surprise to get a sorta unexpected parcel of money. I claim zero deductions, and have an extra $25 taken out on top of that. Originally I'd started doing that because, sure, for my income and my income alone enough taxes were being taken out, but when it got combined with my husband's income, we got dumped into a much higher tax bracket, and suddenly nowhere near enough had been taken out. We ended up owing some hefty piles of money a couple of times. Most unpleasant.

So basically I don't care if the feds get to hold onto my money for most of the year and earn "free" interest off of it. This way it's like a mini-jackpot.

Had a couple of weird-ish things happen today. First thing was at work, when a couple of black ladies who were playing on one of the blackjack tables in my pit kept pointing at me and whispering to each other. I caught "Yes, she is" "No, she isn't" and so I asked them what they thought I was or wasn't. One of the ladies asked me, "Are you the lady who was in that Master P movie?"

And here I'd thought everyone had forgotten about that. You see, a few years ago the rap music star Master P filmed a couple of scenes of his movie, "I'm Bout It," in our casino. And there are some very clear shots of me in the movie sitting box on a craps game that the stars of the movie were playing on. Right after the movie came out (direct to video) I had every rap music fan on the Gulf Coast who came into our casino asking me if I was the one in the movie.

It figures. My fifteen minutes of fame, and it's as an extra in a gangsta rap movie.

The other piece of weirdness was a tad bit more unsettling though. I came home from work this morning, and as I was walking to my front door my neighbor called over the fence to me and asked me if I'd been expecting anyone to come by the previous Saturday morning. Then he proceeded to tell me about how he'd seen a strange car with two guys in it pulling out of my driveway at about 5am (a time when I am away from home at work.) My neighbor then saw the car driving real slowly around the block a few times, so he got into his car to follow them to see what they were up to, and then they exhibited even more suspicious behavior--stopping and looking at houses--and then sped off when they saw my neighbor's car.

So I'm going to be more diligent about setting my alarm system, and I plan on calling the Sheriff's department to see if there've been any break-ins in the area. And I'm also really considering getting a dog. I've never really been into dogs as pets as much as cats, but I do have the perfect yard for it, and it would be a touch more security for a woman living by herself. Something to ponder at least.

And I've decided not to run the Crescent City Classic 10K. I do plan to keep running, but I would have to take a day off of work (since the race starts early in the morning when I would normally still be at work) and I decided that running it wasn't worth a day's pay.

I did go running on Sunday, and today I even got motivated and bicycled to the gym. Had a pretty nice workout too. I didn't have to be anti-social since I was the only person there (other than staff.) I've pretty much given up on the Dog Boys...er, the K9 cops as workout partners. I don't think either one has been in the gym in a month. I've run into them around town a time or two, and they insist that they've just been busy doing cop stuff. But I think that they're just being lazy bastards.