AUSTIN, Texas, Mar. 30, 2006 — Has anybody been checking if I'd show up again? I know when my 'WEB reads' go missing for days and days I wonder if it's worth checking and if I'll ever see them again. If my readership was low before this should have brought it down to zero. Not that I had that as a goal. In fact, I don't know that I have any goals concerning the journal. I'm a little short on goals in general.

I am not feeling cheerful. My dad has been struggling with pain, maybe from a couple of bad teeth. One he's had removed. The world has contrived to show me its darker side, to emphasize pain and man's mortality. I've felt pretty good myself although not perfect.

I could be looking forward to going to Paris and I am, sort of. Yes, I know that there are hundreds of thousands marching there to protest a law that (Zut, alors!) would allow your employer to fire you. Surely people who have to have six weeks of vacation, a short of forty hour week and lots of holidays to relief the pressure of their jobs that border on sinecure will lose interest in marching and start lingering in cafes a month or more from now. Still it depresses me that people living in tourist destinations would make those destinations unpleasant for tourists. That's the job of the terrorists.

Yeah, so here I am, feeling oh so cheerful. But I did want to check in with the Wide World of the WEB, for some reason.

I thought of switching my WEB writing to a BLOG. I actually started one although I really signed up more to be able to comment on other peoples' blogs (particularly Rob's) than anything. It is in some ways easier to post. The software takes care of some things. But you have less control, of course.