Today's Pearl: wear a tighter sweater!!

Today I got paid for my short story 'Palmerino's Dream' which will be published in an upcoming edition of Stupefying Stories. Which edition I don't yet know but it is always an excellent sign when you actually get paid - it means it's gonna happen. Editors do no part with cash willy-nilly.  This news was a little bright star in what has otherwise been a very draining week. The weather has been grey and wet and I have probably cried more than enough tears for one week. I have good intentions of making this a better year but I know it is not something that will happen without a fight.

Actually the other bright star for the week was my return to my Brazilian 'hairdresser'. Even though the 'haircut' can be (at times) somewhat excruciating, just listening to all these Brazlian women gossiping and laughing is a most wonderful tonic. Today my hairdresser showed me both her breasts and stomach just so I could marvel at the beautiful juxtaposition of both plastic and nature. What I loved more was her freedom, her lack of inhibition, her insistence that I start wearing 'tighter sweaters' to show off my figure.

Now I am back home and I find myself turning to Hafiz.

We Should Talk about This Problem

There is a beautiful creature
Living in a hole you have dug.

So at night
I set fruit and grains
And little pots of wine and milk
Beside your soft earthen Mounds

And I often sing.

But still, my dear,
You do not come out.

I have fallen in love with Someone
Who hides inside you.

We should talk about this problem--

Otherwise,
I will never leave you alone.