As my dear character Madame de La Motte says to Cardinal Rohan: “There is always someone lurking around the corner to take your money from you by foul means of, worse, by fair! Credulity is the eighth mortal sin of France.”

Well, these things span time. I was credulous; it was painful. Apparently, I’ve been taken in by a conman posing as a literary agent. Yes, he got some of my money. Too much. I was stupid; I knew that there was something fishy with the situation. But instead of listening to my instincts, I let it go on. Complacency. So I got burned. Well, I found out last night for certain that I’d been taken in through messages on a messageboard. I was gutted and I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep. But my body works like clockwork so I fell asleep. Today I got some more info–apparently lots of people have been duped by this guy. But I’ve sent them an email telling them that I’m severing my contract and I will send an actual physical letter. The next step is to find a legitimate agent. I will get this book published. It deserves to be published.

But there are other, much happier tidings.

I got a ticket to the American Cup in New York City. It’s a big gymnastics competition at Madison Square Garden next week. I’l go home Friday, drive to Grandpa’s on Saturday afternoon, take the train into the city, and watch the competition. I’m really excited: Shawn, Shayla, and Nastia are on the women’s side, and Paul Hamm and Fabian Hambuchen are in the men’s competition.

And earlier this week, Hanson announced tour dates. They are going to be in northern Virginia and Pennslvania at the beginning of May. I am going to the concert in Lancaster, PA because it’s so darn close to home and to Karen and Amanda’s schools. And if I can get a ride, I’ll go to the Falls Church, VA concert; ironically it’s closer, but at the moment I have no wa to get there! I really have no friends arond here . . . it’s sad. What friends I do have don’t have cars or I don’t think they’ll come to the concert with me.

Well, that’s the excitement for the weekend. Hopefully in a few weeks I will have a REAL agent.