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The clock radio went off with the Steve Miller Band singing a song about “groove on El Paso,” which I took as a good sign. I saw the cutest departure couple at the Austin airport, in the pre–dawn gray, an elderly gentleman was obviously seeing his wife mistress? girlfriend? off, and the guy had on the same kind of sports sandals that I was wearing. Of course, he had socks and slacks as compared to my shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. That’s one of the things I like about traveling in Texas in the summer time — packing is really easy. I’m beginning to take a shine to this new airport, too, the music was playing Stevie Ray Vaughan and Saint Willie (Willie Nelson) first thing in the morning. All I remember from the landing in El Paso was there were no Jackalopes visible. Usually, whole herds can be seen, on the military reservation, right before landing at the El Paso airport. Apparently, it’s a restricted area, but commercial flights are allowed over it. I wonder if that’s why the herds have been moved. It seems like my luggage was moved with the herds because it didn’t show up at the airport. So much for a fortuitous start to what rapidly degenerated into a slow day.

I like working at small events where I get a lot of interaction with a diverse clientele. I use special tapes that are about 15 minutes in length for taping my readings, so that the client has a record of the wonderful weird prognostications and outrageous metaphors that invariably pepper a reading. This weekend was a special “tax exempt” weekend, for folks buying back to school stuff. State supported specials in retail heaven meant that the psychic mall was half empty. So just about everyone I read for on Saturday got a tape with stuff on both sides because I had a chance to be long winded and particularly colorful. I was bale to launch into lengthy explanations about upcoming stuff. I got to paint wonderful — in my mind — pictures for folks. I wasn’t bored, but it wasn’t particularly lucrative day. So much for auspicious beginnings.