Sun 5/11 - Mon 5/12/03

10:30pm Put some finishing touches on my part of the paper. A sigh of relief.
10:45pm Called Jason and we picked up some donuts. Many homeless were crowded in and around the donut shop.
11:20pm I arrived at Manja's (my writing partner) house, and planned to stay a few hours. Had a cup of coffee.
12:30am "Don't worry, it'll get done," I tell her.
02:30am I realize I'm not going home to sleep.
03:45am "I'm really starting to panic," an ordinarily-calm Manja says to me.
03:50am I'm freezing cold in her house, but don't want to give her any more grief.
04:30am "It'll be okay," I say again, "We have until 9." (It's due at 9:30am.) She tries to believe me.
04:45am I put on my shoes because I can't keep my feet off the icy wood floors.
04:55am "Mommy, is it morning?" Manja's 2-yr old son Sebastian asks.
05:15am "No, sweetpea, you need to sleep some more, " Manja tells Sebastian for the second time.
05:45am I cave in and ask Manja for a blanket and hot green tea.
06:00am The sky gets brighter. "I think I've gotten over the panic," she tells me. "We'll make it," I say.
06:45am I contemplate whether I should nap for a bit on the couch.
07:30am I read over the final draft. It still has holes in it, but it's getting there.
08:00am "I probably won't get any sympathy, but I overslept and missed a meeting," says Manja's husband.
08:40am Manja is still typing her part. I start working on the Table of Contents... Word formatting drives me crazy.
08:55am I start packing up my stuff. I start wondering if we really will make it.
09:00am We start printing two copies of the 25+ page monster.
09:08am We grab our stuff, shoes in hand and the leftover donuts and head to the car.
09:15am "Come on, come on," she says about the huge slow truck in front of us.
09:18am "I'm glad you're a California driver," she says to me.
09:24am I drop her off at the law school, then park the car.
09:28am "You still have five minutes," another classmate tells me, as I half-run through the hall.
09:32am I see Manja near Academic Services, empty-handed. "Is it in? Is that it?" I ask.
09:45am I drive her home and back in a half-daze. I also sing, "Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul...."