There is too damn much going on in my life right this minute.

But until shit just gets too insane to breathe, I’m still trying to go outside occasionally. Last week I managed to ride 51 miles on my bike. That’s not a huge amount for people who ride a lot, but it’s a medium-high amount for me. I got to ride to and from work once (godDAMN it’s hot out) and go on a ride with a friend and a ride with Chris. All good.

Yesterday Chris and I rode at the Veloway, and on our fourth lap, suddenly there was a giant rattlesnake on the path. Eeeek! We steered around it and then slowed down for a closer (but not too close) look. I wish I’d had a camera with me. It was a big fucker.

I did have a camera this afternoon when I got home from work and this was right at eye level by my front door. I am not ashamed to admit that I jumped sideways a little when I first saw it. Then I bravely came back to document the moment.

Okay, I’m over my fear of taking a class and back to being excited. I got my books today, and they look to be an intriguing mix of totally dorky and amazingly cool.

Work has been a bit overwhelming again, but mostly in good ways. We’ve been needing some better internal communications for . . . ever. And I’ve had plans to turn the intranet into something more than a place to enter travel expenses. So these past few weeks I’ve been redesigning it a bit, and I just wrote an internal newsletter. The director of the center demanded “make it funny,” and that was some pressure, but I added a few fart jokes, and I think that will satisfy him.

Novel progress stalled for a few days while I retreated into listening to comedian podcasts and playing Zuma. Sometimes, the heart wants what the heart wants.

I just got back from a ride with my friend Angie. We are mostly law-abiding, but at one point we came to a stop sign at the corner of a street that’s a dead end in both directions and has very close to zero traffic. We slowed and looked around and then went through it. . . . And an old guy started trotting across his lawn, yelling, “That was a stop sign! You are supposed to STOP!”

“Sorry!” I called.

“That applies to bicycles, too!” He was still coming!

I yelled back, “Yes, sir!” and we rode on and left him waving his arms at us from the sidewalk.

Did he expect us to stop so he could yell at us? Scofflaw I may be, but I am no fool.

For the rest of our ride, Angie and I carefully braked fully at every single stop sign, but at one point I admitted, “I’m not really watching for cars. I’m looking out for old guys.”

Speaking of biking, Chris spent the evening doing some research at the UT Latin American library. He parked his car off campus, because parking on campus is impossible, and he rode his bike to the library. He just called to say he’s leaving the library on his bike, and I pointed out that IT IS FUCKING DARK OUTSIDE. I am pretty sure that the only light he has on that bike is a tiny blinking tail light. So now I’m going to go fret in the living room until he gets home safely. Then I’m going to wave my arms and yell like an angry old guy.

After my stirring entry of yesterday, where I was all excited about taking a class, I signed up for it today. I even had to go to the office of the program’s grad coordinator and beg, because the class was closed by the time my registration time rolled around. I was overjoyed!

Then I got in my car to go home and immediately started freaking out. Is this what I really want? Extra work to do when I’m already trying to find time to write a novel? Extra work to do when I’m worn out most days after work? EXTRA WORK TO DO?

I also worried a bit about the money. Since I’m a UT employee, I get to take one class a semester free. But if I actually apply and get into the program, I will have to take more than that to make any progress. And I saw from my invoice this afternoon that one damn class is over $1600. I am certainly not going to be getting any more damn student loans. So . . . I have things to think about.

But if I leave out the money worries, actually, there’s not all that much to think about. It is extra work to do, but I think I’ll like it.

Other than that, today was generally all right. I got things done at work. And in the afternoon, one of my good friends and her daughter came to campus to go to the Blanton Museum. So I walked over and toured it with them.

I’ve been there several times, but it was funny going through it with a six-year-old who had no qualms about hurrying us through rooms full of paintings of chubby white dudes: “This is BORing.” And she had many, many questions about the reproductions of Greek and Roman naked statues—that room turned out to be her favorite. She rushed us through the special Matisse exhibit, but I saw some cool stuff there, and it was a very nice hour’s break from work.

I got home way later than usual, since I spent my after-work time hovering around that poor grad coordinator’s office. So I got in no workouts, and I ate like an idiot. But whatever. It was a day to stop and look at paintings from hundreds of years ago, and a day to think about my future as a possible student of information architecture. Dizzying, when you think of it that way.