In case any of you were not yet convinced of how cool I am (heh heh heh), I'll have you know that Geoffrey and I are the subjects of a rumor at my workplace -- very exciting! Not least because the rumor has made it (or perhaps is coming from) all the way to Japan. The story, circulating among my Stripes co-workers (that explains the Japan link), goes that Geoffrey and I got married in secret one weekend recently and are keeping it a secret. Just like J.Lo and Ben!!! Or Russell Crowe and whatsherface. I have no idea how this story started, but several co-workers have asked me about it now. It's all very glamorous, nice to know I have this mystique about me that people would think such a thing possible. Lest the rumor spiral out of control (I'm sure the tabloids will pick it up any day now), let me set the record straight: We are getting married October 10, 2003, and not before. As for the rumors of Geoffrey and I being secret CIA assassin ninjas, well, I'm not allowed to say ...

I got in all my stuff to apply for the Student Press Law Center fellowship. They are, it seems, ruthlessly efficient, which is a nice change of pace for me, working in a place with is anything but efficient (your tax dollars at work, folks!). I mailed my envelope from a post office branch on Thursday afternoon. Friday around noon, less than 24 hours later, I get a very nice e-mail from the SPLC folks saying they've gotten everything they need from me and will let me know when they've made a decision. Gasp! Efficient and courteous? It's almost too good to be true.

I think I got a raise at work recently. Seems a weird thing to be uncertain about, I know, but no one actually at work has said anything to me about it. I just got some weird government form in the mail last week that seemed to indicate, without giving a reason or explanation, that my annual pay is now a little bigger than it used to be. The form, being a government form, was very confusing and written entirely in government/military-speak, so it might not be a raise at all, but rather just some random numbers that some illiterate person is being paid $200,000 a year to pump out. If it is a raise, I'm glad, of course, for the money, but I don't know if I earned it. There's some weird across-the-board government raise that's been hung up in Congress a while that maybe applies to me, that maybe finally got approved. That could be it. Or maybe I did a good job but no one bothered to tell me. Or maybe it's because I've almost been here a year, though seems like I wouldn't get that 'til it's actually been a year, and even then I thought we got a one-time bonus, not a raise. Anyway, it does seem like somehow, whether deservedly or not, I'm getting more money, so yee-haw to that. I suppose it is not for me to ask impertinent questions.

Marcus is back in Anderson this weekend for a visit. He called me from his cell phone yesterday because he was following some folks up to the Krispy Kreme in Greenville and had gotten separated. Called me, of all people (yes, the shock is feigned), to give him directions. The sad thing is I was able to do so without missing a beat. Hope he ate a chocolate-frosted one for me as he was instructed.

LISTENING TO: Little bit of everything. Spent some time on the way back from Merlefest listening to some CDs I've bought recently but haven't been able to give ample attention to. There will be a lot of this since I am trying not to buy any more CDs for a while. Gotta be good. New STACEY EARLE and GILLIAN WELCH coming out in June, though, so my streak of being good (if it lasts that long), will be broken, and badly.