I wish there was an accurate way to transcribe the opening notes of the theme from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, because it is the perfect soundtrack for my day so far, and here it is only 9:30 AM.

Ooodle-oodle-ooo! Wahn-WAHN-wahn�.

Yes, that is exactly perfect, conveying the wistful lonesome bravery of my morning here in Santa Barbara. Maybe that first part should be like, Ooo-ee-oo-ee-ooo. It�s a work in progress, but if you�d just keep that song in your heads and hearts as you read along, it�ll be like you�re watching a small, dark movie of my life.

According to the horoscope calendar given to me by a coworker, today and tomorrow are my �challenging� days. I received the news with mixed feelings, because tonight, as I have mentioned many times, is my band�s great, great gig, which I would rather not view as a challenge. And yet: It is! Mainly in the arena of fashion.

The Keelhauler came home yesterday, and we went looking for outfits suitable for stage wear. It was, after several hours and a meltdown on my part, a complete bust, and I required great effort and bolstering before my confidence had risen to the level of being able to order red wine and pizza necessary to survival.

I give the Keelhauler major props for his efforts in Macy�s, our last bastion of hope after all the thrift stores closed. He found several outfits that would have worked, including a number of theoretically excellent wrap dresses, but I couldn�t make it work. The prospect of appearing onstage raised my level of self-criticism to a torturous level, rendering every outfit hideous in my mind. I finally selected a dress, but my idea of wearing it over jeans was shouted down. �But that�s how girls are wearing them!� I argued, like an anthropologist rather than a girl myself. He argued strenuously against the jeans/dress concept, and I have no idea why I argued for it, because I have never before worn jeans with a dress, and can only cite stress for my inclination toward it now.

We babysat Orange Cat last night, who stared lovingly at us with her giant, baleful eyes as we slept. This morning, the Keelhauler dropped me off at work and headed south to do more thrift shopping. I caught up with him as he parked the car, and he informed me that he�d stopped at the lesbian coffee shop on the way, �And guess what they were talking about!� �Coffee,� I guessed. �Wearing jeans with dresses!� he yelled, happy, happy and caffeinated. �For or against?� I asked. �They said it was so wrong,� he said, �So I had to chime in.� From there, a discussion had ensued wherein he outed me as a jeans-and-dress wearer to the lesbians, who encouraged him to talk me out of it.

�They said that that boho look is so wrong,� he said, �and I told them that you call it �faux-ho,� and that I didn�t know what you were thinking, because you�re not usually like that.� The lesbians then performed a cursory outfit review on the Keelhauler, deeming it good, but recommending Chuck Taylors instead of the shoes he had on.

�Why didn�t you defend me to the lesbians?!� I asked, perturbed and yet secretly grateful for the smack in the head on the jeans/dress issue. He claimed that he had, but I think we all know the deal.

So, now he is text-messaging me images of various outfits he�s finding in the thrift store. It�s very entertaining. Probably tonight I will end up wearing a bathrobe and roller skates, or one roller skate, but that is rock and roll, baby, so dig it.

Also, today, a coworker told me that I�d been looking �leaner� this week, which I am pretty sure I�m not, but will accept with thanks. Thanks, Ali! Shortly thereafter, another coworker brought me an apricot danish. It all evens out in the end, beautiful friend.

Ooodle-oodle-ooo! Wahn-WAHN-wahn�.

Star of the day. . .Grace Slick