almost done

my current story is about 8 pages long now; i think i should be able to finish a draft, at long last, today or tomorrow. i'm not sure how it's going to end yet, but that's all right. i'll probably go to the mandolin this morning, shortly, and read over what i've written so far, over coffee and bagel. it's verging on autobiographical, this story, stemming from the time when i was working at the bookstore north of seattle and a stripper acquaintance visited me a couple of times at work, after i'd visited her at work a couple of times. (i rather thought she wanted to date me, and that was kind of thrilling, as she had a fabulous body and fabulous tattoos and was a stripper, but in the end i asked kara to see pt anderson's magnolia with me and the rest is history.) the story is fiction, of course, but that event from the end of 1999/beginning of 2000 - the tail end, if you will, of that era of strip club visits - seems to have become the springboard for this story. i don't think there's anything wrong with that. i'll be glad to see the back of this story, though, and move on to the next one. another 2 or 3 pages and i should have it.

i don't yet know what the next one will be.

kara and i are talking about hitting such a club here in tacoma, and of course there are some in seattle worth visiting. so there could be a resurgence, though not really a resurgence, because we'll probably only go to maybe 3 places total (1 here and 2 in seattle) and not make a habit of it. and who knows if this will really even happen? a couple of days ago i was actually feeling kinda strippered-out, pooped of the whole scene, after reading that book and thinking about the topic ad nauseam, but then a friend of mine a couple of days ago went to those 2 places in seattle with her husband and she says she had quite a time. quite a time indeed. she talks about making a habit of it and i remember well that desire. so my interest is again rekindled. kindled (at least) a 3rd time.

anyway. who knows? we have no specific plans for anything as of this moment. kara has lots of schoolwork to do over the coming week and a half, so it won't be immediately. but we have a week off work together in the middle of january, and depending on other circumstances, maybe we'll manage a trip to seattle during that period of time. lots of unknowns here.

but the main point is, this story is probably almost finally done. so i'm glad.