I don't see shapes in clouds very often. And I hesitate to make it a subject in my diary. But... for five minutes all the little pieces of fog drifting over my back porch looked like scotty dogs.

Am I fooling myself? Do I just want to see scotty dogs, so I see them? And then a huge, perfect dog made-out-of-fog passes overhead. Is not just an inkblot resemblance, but a perfectly rendered Disney cartoon terrier. I scan the skies, there's one over by the bridge, and one chasing a tortoise into east Oakland. What are the chances that every cloud in the sky looks like a scotty dog? Slim!

But it happened, tonight.

I am taking a guy from Wales to see Xiu Xiu on Sunday. Intercontinental blind date! He's from an unpronounceable town with four consonants in a row.

What are the odds of that?