Bunny got me out of bed at 6 AM this morning -- which I guess was okay since I have to get back on that post-holiday schedule around here. Still, I was super sleepy. When I went into Fluffy's room, though, to feed her, I could see the full moon through the upstairs window shimmering down on the world full of snow out in the backyard. Making it look like a dusting of tiny diamonds all over the ground. And a few stars were still out and some clouds were rolling around in the dark sky. So that was that. I had to throw on my clothes, get my bowl of Kashi & a cup of black chai tea, come down to my office that looks out over the backyard and is nothing but huge windows -- and now a new heater is in here, too. Yay -- since it is a whole ten degrees out there! I put on some ethereal British-pop-music/girl singer songwriter stuff and sat in the dark and watched the moon.

It was so moving, gang. That girl-singer's ethereal voice. With all those ancient trees with their bare branches silhouetted against the dark sky; a few enormous pine trees towering up here & there, the stars peaking out. One lone chimney directly below the full moon, puffing its smoke out in billows through the trees that looked just like winter should look. And all those diamonds of snow glinting all over the shimmering yard. It was perfect.  And a couple of the houses outlined in the distance still had some Christmas lights on.

It made me recall the dream I'd been having just before Bunny had awakened me. I was living in New York again, but staying in someone's apartment. It was one of those really staggeringly well-appointed apartments, with lots of marble and statuary and roman columns in the bathroom. Hard to describe, really. But just so much affluence. It was jaw-dropping. And the view at night was spectacular. Lots of huge windows. However, something about the skyline didn't look like Manhattan. I kept wondering if maybe I was in Paris or London. I couldn't figure it out. And there was this young blonde neighbor girl -- sort of early 20s -- and she was totally nude, behaving really provocatively. And I was appreciating that view, too, but also feeling like I didn't really have time for it. I had things to do with my life, you know?

Which then reminded me that, here in the physical world, it was now January and I have so much I want to accomplish this year. Not the least of which is pre-production on my CD, Recipes from Hell's Kitchen and work on my memoir, Manhattan, Mon Amour (the 2 projects are related and interconnected, but are not one and the same, but deal very much with my biological father and my search for him and my ultimate relationship with him).

And this weekend -- today, in fact -- is the photo shoot for the cover of my novel Freak Parade. The shoot is happening in New York City and it involves a Latino (male) model, a mattress, an otherwise bare bedroom -- the non well-appointed apartments of New York.  I will be there in spirit. I am so excited about it. Although I am still up to my eyeballs in the final edit of the manuscript. And of course, my novel about early Hollywood, Twilight of the Immortal, keeps landing on more and more and more editors desks, and now the film rights are being shopped, too. So it's a lot of waiting. It makes me very impatient so I try my best to just not think about it and focus on the next deadline/lifeline sitting on top of my desk. Which is: writing 2 new short stories for my publisher in France.

Needless to say, I am praying I don't get stuck with Federal Jury Duty this month. I have so much that I want to fucking do. Christ.