Yesterday was relaxing, which is nice. Kris and I did get up at 4:30 a.m. (which is not relaxing) in order to get her to the airport for her flight to Virginia. On the way home, I stopped and Mac and Pam’s where they graciously served me breakfast. I also made a jaunt over to Powell’s Books where I picked up: Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain, the first volume of Proust’s Rememberance of Things Past (I think the first volume is called Cities on the Plains, but I’m not sure — it doesn’t matter since it’s one book in seven volumes), Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, and Contact by Carl Sagan.

I came home and played some Diablo II. Of course. I’m working on my hardcore Paladin (Linus Torvalds), but the going is slow. It’s slow because (a) I’m playing a Paladin, a character type with which I am unfamiliar (and find a little tedious) and (b) in hardcore, you just cannot take the risks that you can take in regular mode. I’m finding that I need to retreat far more often than I normally would. In normal mode, if you die you start back in town. In hardcore mode, if you die the game is over. So, I’m running away quite a bit.

I watched a little of the Mariners game, but they were getting blown out by the Toronto Blue Jays 11-3. The Mariners lost two of three to the Blue Jays, so after Seattle won its first nine series of the year, it finally dropped one. The team’s pitching has been a little shaky during the past week. I’m curious to see how things go over the next week or two. The fast (20-4) start was nice, but it’d be even better if the Mariners could play above .500 for the rest of the season.

After talking to Kris in the evening (her trip was fine), I played some more Diablo II. Before bed, I started Twain’s Life on the Mississippi. I’ve never read any of his extended work, only short bits here and there. He is a fine writer, I must say, easy with the language and able to tell a compelling story. Certainly a change from the drudgery of Asimov, which I’ve been trying to get through for book group. I’ve never read Huckleberry Finn before, but I think I just may do so after I finish Asimov’s Prelude to Foundation.