chipotle | Stories and trip planning (Reply)

It’s just a little later this morning than it should be for me to be sitting around starting a journal entry, so this may be a fairly quick one.

Back on the 20th I mentioned that I’d finished a story; the story’s tentatively called “Sunrise,” although I’m looking for a more poetic and ideally somewhat Zen-sounding title, given that it’s basically a samurai story. “Sunrise” is with the writing group for comments I’ll get next Monday, I presume, although I’ll say I’m pretty proud of it in its current form. (Despite the title.)

I’m tentatively making plans to take a weekend, in just a couple weeks (around the 13th), to go down to the Channel Islands and the Ventura area. What’s in Ventura, other than proximity to the Channel Islands? Honestly, hell if I know, but I suppose I’ll find out. If any of you have any suggestions of things that Must Be Done, with the understanding that I’m not going to actually be there that long, let me know. (I plan to leave at some point on Friday and return some point on Sunday.) I have a vague idea that I’ll spend part of this vacation just sitting around the hotel room kickstarting a few projects. In practice, that usually doesn’t happen, but if I get recharged for the rest of the fall, that’ll be good enough.

Before then, I’m less-tentatively making plans to have my car in for service. It’s nearly at 150,000 miles and still runs pretty well, but needs a couple nits picked before making a big road trip. With any luck I can hang onto the car until it approaches 200,000 miles or so. At that point, the trade-in value will be roughly $500. I’ve never gotten more than $500 on a trade-in because darned if I don’t put a lot of miles on my cars.