1.  every time i leave my apartment, the dog tries to come with me.  when she thinks i’m getting ready to go, she races to the front door and stares at me, wagging her tail.  she knows the signs, too.  if i put on makeup, if i grab my jacket, if she hears my keys, if i touch my purse at all, she’s right there, waiting for me to open the door so we can go! go! go!  this is fine when i am bringing her with me, or if i’m just taking out the trash or checking the mail.  but when i need to leave her behind, it poses a problem.  to keep her from bolting into the hallway and prancing down the stairs, i have to hold my foot out towards her and talk to her as i ease out the door.

“i gotta go, maude, and you have to stay here.  stay here, puppy.  i’ll be back in a little while, okay?  you stay right here.  eat your food.  good girl.  good puppy.  i’ll be back later, okay?  okay?  bye.”

i had to do this yesterday when i went to run some errands.  i was talking my way out of the apartment and pulling the door shut when i noticed someone in the hallway.  it was one of the maintenance guys, the one who looks exactly like snoop dogg.  he’d overheard what i said to maude, and he was laughing.  at me.  i blushed.

“i was, uh, talking to the dog,” i said.  he didn’t say anything.

2.  i ran into my next-door neighbor last night.  a few months ago i gave her one of my business cards, and she said she’d look at my site.  last night we said hello as we passed each other in the hallway.

“hey, i checked out your jewelry site,” she said.

“oh, yeah?” i said.

“it’s pretty neat,” she said.  “i saw your other site, too.  bluishorange?   that was interesting.”

“yeah, i’ve been doing that one for about five years.  it’s fun.”

we talked some more about my writing and our respective jobs and dogs and stuff before she went inside.  only later did it occur to me to wonder if she saw any of the posts in which i talked about her.

3.  i hate the <p> tag.