wasabi! also, ships

I'm sure many of my loyal readers have heard about what happened at the Lane Bryant in Tinley Park by now. If you haven't, the short version is that a gunman entered the store last Friday and shot five women dead. One woman survived to give a great description, but they haven't caught the murderer yet.

I work at Lane Bryant--not the same store where this happened, but the feeling is definitely more alert. Our security monitoring system gave us several "panic buttons" we can wear around our necks, and our security guard now stays until we leave, instead of taking off when the store closes. Even so, I nearly had a heart attack when someone knocked on the door and asked us if we were closed. It's incredible how quickly and easily this happened and it's scary thinking it could happen any time. After work, instead of hopping directly on the train I walked down to a Seven-11 for a gallon of milk (because not only have I drunk all my milk, I've drunk most of my roommate's). Several streetlights were off, and a sanitation truck was throwing some kind of haze into the air--I tried not think about what that was too much. The whole city was eerily lit and strangely empty. I can see why they filmed "Batman" here. It took me more than an hour to get home, the train packed with people when it's usually empty. For once, it felt good to be surrounded by people.

Instead of a McDonald's attack (my first option) I found a little pack of California sushi rolls at the Seven-11 for dinner, so now my nasal passages are on fire. Ah, wasabi. Even from a packet you are still good. Tomorrow I'm only working one job (yay) so I'm going to get to the library for the next book about Jack Aubrey. I can't get over how good these books are.

So I'm starting a new project. If you head over to www.bellhollee.blogspot.com you'll find a work in progress by Me, about a character that I've had rolling around in my head for quite awhile now. I think I've got the story worked out, but to induce me to keep writing, I'm going to publish it as I go along. The rules are: A, I must write every day even if it's only a line or two. B, No going back or erasing or revising, not yet. That's it. The story will involve some familiar faces later, so please don't make too much fun of me. There's plenty of historical lit to go around.