2003-07-06 - 11:59 a.m.

Escapee Sigh. Another long break. I started to write an essay about why I wasn't writing here, then I got bogged down, and got distracted. It's something I'll probably return to soon, but I think I need a little more time to mull it over.

In the meantime I've been working on a number of projects, doing some historical research, and, God help me, playing Planetarion again. I found that I missed it, the weird international camaraderie that forms around this silly text-based space game. It was nice seeing old friends again, but of course very soon after the game started I got into a little imbroglio with somebody. Ah, well. I'm debating with myself over whether I should bore you with tales of PA or not.

However, tonight we have a real crisis - I just discovered that Madame Mao the hamster is missing! She's always been a little climber, and apparently sometime last night or today she managed to escape. The problem is that there are so many places around here where a hamster could hide and there are some of them that I can't get to, like behind the refrigerator or the stove. Worse yet, she might find her way out of the apartment, and that would be the end of her. Hamsters seem rather ill-equipped to survive in the wild, especially around here.

Hopefully she'll do what nearly all hamsters do - just run out where I can see them, and I'll be able to catch her. I'm too tired to really look for her tonight, but I'm going to do a major search tomorrow Mainly I'm hoping to get lucky - generally, hamsters don't get found unless they want to get found.