Why is it when you nap that you wake up grumpier and feeling more tired than before the nap? I woke up wide awake at 5 a.m. this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. Put the cat out at 5:30 and waited for Steve's alarm to go off so I could get up and read. So then at 8:30, I start to get tired and decide a nap for an hour or so would be good. Nope! I woke up grumpy, with an "I don't want to do anything" attitude. But, after listening to Mary talk about how tired she is working a full time job, a toddler in the house, and being pregnant, I decided whining was not the best way of dealing with my nap grumpies and got to work. I even washed a load of clothes and while I was outside thought about going to the beach, but that is as far as I got - a thought. It is still very hot down here!

The first thing I did was call US Air to make sure I had a reservation to take Sophie back with me and found out that basically I can't. They do not allow pets in cargo and she is too big to take as carry on. The pet and the carrier have to be less than 15 pounds and my chub of a cat is 15 lbs all by her lonesome. Called Steve to whine, but caught him at a bad time in the office so I didn't get to fuss about it. Looks like she is down here until Christmas and I will have to fly American in and out of Raleigh so I can take her back to NC with me. They will allow pets in cargo. GRRRRR!!! I am sure Steve is not going to be a happy camper as he is tired of being responsible for my cat and cleaning up her fur that flies all over. But, I can't very well starve her for a week to lose enough weight to cover the weight of a carrier.

So I buried myself in work. Just finished the review for Only 13: The True Story of Lon by Julia Manzanares and Derek Kent. It is listed as a memoir, but the story is from the first person point of view of a Thai woman who sold her virginity at age 13 and worked as a teenage prostitute in Bangkok and a seaside resort town in Thailand. She does not have pretty things to say about her country, her family, or Thai people in general. The bitterness she feels over having sold her body to send money home to an inappreciative family is scalding, but she never thought to stop doing so as it is expected of the oldest girl, who is often denied an education, to support her family. This is a culture I knew nothing about and, though this book is very poorly written, I couldn't help but want to know what this woman finally did to get herself out of the situation. She ends up marrying one of the men she had been seeing and moves to England with him, where they fight continuously, she attempts suicide, and then goes into a deep depression. Not a pretty book, but it certainly opened my eyes up to the sex-trade in Thailand that I had heard bits and pieces about in the past.

All for today. Other than my hour nap I have been working since 6 a.m. so I am ready to call it a day, at least for a bit!