Moves to Thailand: 1
Military coups in same: 1
Number of “Coup, schmoo” utterances: 40-11
Spam name o’ the month: Deaden K. Meatiest

Average daily highs: 98° F
Preachy movies about global warming seen in air-conditioned theaters: 1
Family beach vacations: 1
Ice cream cones with The World’s Greatest Nephew™: 4
Birthdays celebrated: 1
The answer to The Meaning of Life, The Universe, and Everything: 42

Friends who didn’t make it this month: 1
RIP Lin Dyer

Connecting flights from Lhasa to Bangkok missed: 1
Amount Northwest charged to reticket: US$380
Number of falls resulting in a black eye: 1
Number of calls trying to locate leeches: 17
Leeches procured: 0

Update: Friends who died while I was out of touch: 2
RIP Kinga Freespirit & Philip Butler Smith

Number of months since last news update: 4
New passport stamps: 1 (Vietnam)
New favorite city: Tie between Hanoi and Lhasa
Number of days in Tibet: 7
Number of arrests in same: 1

Refreshing adult beverages consumed: 0
Days until next adult beverage: 1
Slate assignments scored: 2

German cities visited: 6
Sausages consumed: 11
Holiday Party attendees: 70(ish)
Date cat died: December 14
Age of cat: 22
Number of tears shed: Countless

People fed at Thanksgiving: 14
Weight of turkey, in pounds: 22
Proper temperature for Chocolate Pecan Tart,
in degrees fahrenheit: 350
Temperature at which I baked it: 450
Other culinary disasters: 0

Major remodeling projects started: 1
New assignments: 3
Manuscripts procrastinated: 1
Halloween parties attended: 2
Slick gadgets succumbed to: 1
Young wannabe writers mentored: 2
Number of above who said “Thanks”: 1
(a well-raised Mizzou student, naturally)
Bush administration members indicted: 1
Bush cronies scared away from Supreme Court: 1
Spam name of the month:
Tie between “Vindictiveness P. Sundries” and “Savoy J. Hamsters”

Days in September: 30
Nights in own bed: 2
Chivas Regal consumed: Lots
Snakes encountered: 3 (2 cobra, 1 Malayan pit viper)
New passport stamps: 2 (Laos, Cambodia)
Miles flown: 22,448
Bush henchmen indicted: 1

The Slate stories appeared on August 1, the day after my birthday, and the hoopla began. Hooplah? We’ll go with ‘hoopla.’ No, we’re obsessive-compulsive so we’ll look it up. Hoopla it is.

On the whole, the series was well-received. My editors were happy, I got some lovely emails from readers, and an agent with one of the hottest literary agencies in the country wants to see the manuscript. Not too shabby for a girl who flunked Timbuktu 101.

This week, I’m partying like a rock star with my friend Diana, whom I met in Thailand a few years ago. Between the alcohol, the bands, and the 3:00 a.m. dinner parties, I’m behinder than behind on preparations for Cambodia. Summer is almost over, and when I’m back it will be full-on autumn. Ay-yi-yi-yi