07.05.01 - 2:11 p.m.

Everything here in the newsroom is automatic but nothing seems to work according to plan. For example � the bathroom sinks. They�re the kind with the sensor, but I can never figure out where to put my hands to activate it. So I always end up waving my hands around like some crazy bathroom magician in the hopes that the sink will suddenly turn on and I can be hygienic.

Now there�s a problem with CopyDesk. Never mind the fact that everyone else � sources, newsmakers, the professor in charge of the newsroom � is on vacation but we still have to come in and report, and what might have been a really good story for me is filled with holes because none of the key players at the Mayor�s office are here today, and I just want to leave so we can all go get pedicures, but NO ONE can edit my stupid story! I don�t even care what you do with it! Tear it apart � put it in the circular file � just let me out of here!

Everyone else seems to be so concerned with getting good stories, and hitting all the angles, and getting everything right. But all I care about is getting just enough to squeak by. I know what I need to be and should be doing, but it�s not exactly my cup of tea to call up random Chicago residents and ask them about their water bill. I wouldn�t want to read any of these articles. I don�t even read the paper unless it�s the only thing on the kitchen table. I just wasn�t meant for these times.

Oh, but I have two stories lined up for next week. Two! That are all about events, so I can just go to them and poke around and have all my sources available and in one place! And I bought a pair of $20 shoes (formerly $98) at Banana, which I then carried all around the Taste in 90 degree heat because I am also an addict, because everyone needs a pair of kitten-heel open-toe sage-green python mules. Don�t they?

Then again, I threw up my Froot Loops this morning.