AUSTIN, Texas, June 22, 2005 — I agreed and RSVPed to a luncheon for women about the Long Center. It's at the Driskill. I committed us to a small donation a while back, equivalent to $100/month for three years. Multiplied over a large group of women this is supposed to help get the Long Center built. It is absolutely essential for the major arts organizations in Austin. That's all I have on the calendar today. So when I wake up, a bit fuzzy, and let the dog out and go back to bed for a bit, I formulate a plan. I will get up, make my welfare call to Dad, have some coffee, write and do a few tasks, clean up and go to the lunch. Then, and here is the part where you wonder if the plan will work, then in the

afternoon when the summer camps at the club are finished (I think) and maybe the club is calmer I will go have a long and good workout. Maybe I'll even swim.

I get the coffee. I call my dad. His guests have gotten away all right. He hopes his sister will come see him. Her granddaughter is coming to Austin to help a friend plan a wedding and bringing her along to see Dad, I think.

I remember that Wimbledon is on. I start the recorder. Then I have some more coffee and do a bit of writing with the tennis playing on the TV in my office. I clean up, peering at the Wimbledon coverage here and there and get groomed, dressed, make the bed, sort the laundry and start a load.

I decide to work on the family budget. I'm not sure if the budget helps us control spending or make spending and income match. But we certainly can see our sins. And when we dream about downsizing, we have some hard numbers about what we might change in our spending. So I start work on it, going over the checkbook, the credit card bills and receipts. Going over the credit cards between bills is a good idea, I think, just in case someone hijacks your account or something you'd see it right away.

So I work on that a while and then it's time to go to the luncheon. I'm a little early. I sit in the dark lobby of the Driskill for a few minutes, watching people and reading an old Science section from The New York Times. Then I go to the restroom and go upstairs. I sit with some people I don't know (well, one greets me like the do know me but with nametags people can fake it). All the usual suspects are there. I know a lot of the people. I get up to speak to one of them once. There is a long wait from the start time to the time people are seated and they actually serve a salad. I was getting hungry, too. I eat all the chicken over salad, the roll with a little butter and the berry tart, tea and coffee. Fabulous renderings of the Long Center and upbeat speeches ensue. One of my tablemates asks me, in effect, why I'm there. Most invitees are Ballet Guild or Opera Guild or Women's Symphony League. I think I've been invited because of our donation. Who knows? They are trying to get more of these people to pony up a new or additional donation. Lots of people come by and say 'hello' to me. Conversation surges around me about charity auctions ("we put together these baskets") and day care ("I stayed all day with her then three hours the next day") and summer travel ("we have a place near Telluride but we work from there"). I don't really belong here and yet I do. I guess. No, not really. Usually I'm sitting with people who now I'm not exactly like them but have long ago accepted who I am. I look around at the luncheon 'outfits.' The little pink jackets (and some purple outfits in honor of Long Center), the jewelry. I have on a blue suit (pants) and a simple white blouse with a white on white embroidery.

I'm not sorry when it's over. I'm a little bored.

I go home, fold some laundry, change into workout clothes. FFP goes to the club to sun, mosquito-free, for a few minutes. I go, too. I take a bag with some clean clothes, a swim suit, slides. I might swim. I sit down and talk to FFP for about two minutes. Wow. It's hot. I go into the air conditioning, do fifty minutes on the bike and some ab and lower back stuff and go home. Kids are flopping in the cool water. But swimming doesn't seem so inviting.

At home I eat some cheese and chips and hot sauce and some chicken FFP cooked. I run through the tennis on the recorder and watch a few films for the AFF review. I get stuck into the longer ones I took out and end up staying up, once again, until midnight. Sleep comes easily though.