After messing up another two Sudoku puzzles this morning, I decided it was about time to find out if there was ever a chance of me getting one right. So I got on a bus and got off at the nearest psychic I could find.

The psychic was having a special this week. You know, read your palm, look into a crystal ball, and clean your plumbing all for $29.95.

I was met at the door by a young gypsy who turned down the lights, sat me down at her table, and advised me to give up on Sudoku puzzles. Being a gypsy art student in her spare time, she advised that instead of doing puzzles, I use my time to practice drawing.

"What could I draw," I asked her. She shoved a piece of scratch paper in front of me, handed me a pencil, and had me pose my left hand on her psychic table next the to the paper.

"Okay, draw your hand."

I did a pretty good job.

"Now take it home," she said, "and finish it off with a felt pen." Good idea.

Then the bad news. I was last in San Diego visiting my family in January of 2006 and Audrey was in Denver by herself in July of the same year. I was going to go back to San Diego in December of 2006 but lost my job in October instead, which meant I was hanging around Denver in December signing up for unemployment and looking around for a job when I would normally be on a bus to California.

The gypsy looked into her crystal ball and said that I wasn't going to see them all together again.

Then she gave me a small can, told me to mix it with water, and dump it down my drain. I took the can, paid her, and left. I tossed the can into the trash at the bus stop. When I got home I watched episode eight of the first season of Silk Stalkings. Good episode of one of my favorite TV shows of all time. Filmed in 1991. In San Diego.