I’m home. I’ve changed into my favorite pair of baggy a**, well-worn UNM track sweats and a sports tank, plugged in the power supply, and settled into the dip in the couch for an intimate paper lamp-lit evening with my aging laptop. I’ve checked my email to find, among other things, a Google Alert for “Ms. Herr”.

Turns out I’ve been tagged, linked to, and commented on (not necessarily in that order) by Spectagirl. Yes, when we adults play tag, we touch each other vicariously via subtle strokes of the qwerty-kind.

Bacon chains aside, this is not the first time I’ve been tagged, and it may not be the only tag game I perpetuate, but it is the first one I’m following through on (I have one from over a year ago still on my 2do list where it will likely remain indefinitely). Why this one? Cause I like the randomness of the first four rules.

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences (sentences 6-9).
5. Tag five people.

The book closest to me happens to be both the last book I read and the one that I want to read the next time I find myself with a free weekend, a sunlit window, and my papasan chair.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

From that day on, the desert would represent only one thing to her: the hope for his return.

* * * * *

“Don’t think about what you’ve left behind,” the alchemist said to the boy as they began to ride across the sands of the desert. “Everything is written in the Soul of the World, and there it will stay forever.”

So who’s next? Who are the peeps and tweeps I want to hear from [and why]?

1. @CTri17 [ain’t no time like roomie time]

2. @soul4real / Alisa Cooper [my first tweet from The Alchemist is the one, I believe, that became the catalyst for our conversations]

3. @dykc / Clarence Smith, Jr. [a stretch goal as we don’t know each other IRL and hardly conversed via Twitter, but who oft asks “marinate”]

4. Santiago Martinez [a pleasure knowing: St. Santiago]

5. @brianshaler / Brian Shaler [for old time’s sake, despite my suspicion that he’s/you’re the least likely to respond]

6. Yadira Pagan [out of sight and out of correspondence doesn’t mean out of mind]

7. @sunnythaper / Sunny Thaper [triangulated somewhere between wild hair up my a**, comic relief, and introduction of an unknown variable]

OK, so I listed (in no particular order) seven peeps and tweeps, but it’s cause I’m doubtful the first five I thought of will come out and play. For those who do, please feel free add your excerpt as a comment here. Or blog it and provide the link.

I’m lookin’ forward to watching this one unfold. Happy excerpting. 🙂