Just a week

I haven't really forgotten about this, but this week is just one of those that it would have been better not to have begun, at least in regards to work. Since I don't like to just gripe and complain, I instead generally say nothing, so forgive the silence, but it is at least as enlightening as complaints regarding how maddening work can be. That said, I am out of here.

Now I have some backlight

Today should have been a holiday at work. Everyone sort of felt like it, but they decided that MLK day just doesn't deserve the extra holiday. If I were willing to argue for fewer days at Christmas, they might agree to rearrange the holidays, but I don't really want the enmity of everyone at work. The only people likely to complain about the Christmas arrangement are new hires with less than 90 days of service who don't get paid for any of it.

Wow, that is really nothing. I do think I need to resume my habit of having at least mildly interesting/amusing things to post, but that doesn't seem the case the last few. Is it possible that I have bloggers' burnout so soon? It doesn't much matter if I do or don't, because I like to pretend there is something therapeutic about the act of writing, so whether or not there is much here is of less importance than the act of putting words on the screen. Not words for there to be words, but words that express something, even if it is as inane as a day at work. The real pathetic part of things is that there are way too many people out there with lousy jobs. One of my coworkers (in another department) called in quits today. It is my understanding she was tired of being dumped on, though whether or not she tried to resolve things before leaving, which I believe she probably did, since the resolution didn't happen fast enough or was not to her liking, I can't do much but commend her on her decision. The rather funny thing was, when I told someone she did the right thing, they were appalled, and I still think they are, because if a job gives you health problems, you need to leave.

Sunday too soon

I think people always see the end of the weekend as something that happens too quickly. It was that way for me, yesterday was a blur of nothing productive except laundry. I really mean the nothing productive part. Today was the same, though I didn't do any laundry. It was midnight when I noticed the time, lamented that I missed a day, then finished whatever I was doing, likely drinking a beer, though Scotch is tonight's companion, then went to bed. I really need to be careful how I phrase things on here or I will sound like the town lush, when two beers is normally the nightly limit. Recently, I have been enjoying Full Sail's LTD in the sort of olive packaging, which is distinct from their LTD in the orangish packaging. Personally, I like the Olive LTD better.

Today's picture from the laptop cam:













I made a joke to someone about a daily webcam picture. This is not likely to be something regular, but when at a loss for words, it can show you my latest haircut. At least it would if I took the picture with any amount of light in the room.

Vertical Works

It does, really--though I don't actually know for how long. In truth, it is one of those things better off for being of limited duration, but even then, only the weaving and nodding really lets you know that it is time to move on, to that other state, the one that is not what it is now. Only time will tell, though there is a guarantee that you will make it, provided physics don't drastically change, or that one is imploded. I think spontaneous combustion, done right, might also prevent the change in states, but of course, rather than believe me, it is probably better to do some control experiments. The proof is in the science, not the hypothesis, and I, for one, would love to see the results of such tests.

Of all things, it is the end of the day, and that day happens to be a Friday. I am one of the lucky ones, as some of my colleagues have to go in tomorrow at my boss' request, but I have a real, full length weekend, with nothing planned, so I will consider myself doing well if I get entries in for each and every day this weekend, since no plans so frequently means nothing done.

Habits of hardly successful people

Hmmm.... I get home, and the past couple of weeks I have managed to do a bit of exercise (push-ups, crunches, and the like) shortly after arriving. I then ruin it all with a nice beer, but the exercise hasn't been a part of my daily regime in a while, unless you count the mile or so walk to work. Also, at some point, and I know someone has surely noticed, I throw a blog entry up. Not always an entertaining entry, but an entry. I don't really know what sort of audience I have, so I don't make much point in trying to write for them.

"Her tassles are tangled and what's worse my jingle won't jangle."

Minor distractions from the ipod causing quotes from no place, though Tom Waits would be a good place to begin looking for that last one. With that said, it is still early, but tonight was not one with a paint allowance (besides, I think my panel is still not quite dry, and I don't want muddied colors, but jewel tones for my homage to Rothko), so I am not sure what I will do, though perhaps a bit more of Camus is called for--life and the vagaries of an evening or 365 without television. It is odd, some nights I don't care to do those things I have available to me, and those nights it is fair to say I might be bored, but I am sure that if I had television, on those nights I would instead just spend the evening clicking through channels, because my ennui is much more powerful than a sit-com. If I am actually in the mood for a movie (I thought tonight might be one for Blake Edwards' "The Party", but as I don't have it, it isn't), I will watch it, even though it means the screen size it that of my desktop or laptop, depending on whether the watching is going to happen in the bedroom or some other part of the house.

There she is...

Though calling her Miss America may be a bit much. I apologize in advance for not balancing all the colors and whatnot, but I was rushing through it, before I got sidetracked on a thousand other things. Painting is not on tonight's agenda, though I am hoping to read some, which I haven't managed a few days because of one thing or another, last night it was a phone call and a plan to paint that I carried through with. What will happen with tonight's free time is still up in the air, but there are books to read, paintings to think about, and various other hopelessly pretentious garbage I can rummage through so I will sound erudite and active in my next post. Speaking of my next post, I do plan on doing one tomorrow. I may have actually burst through the wall of tedium, and moved into the round room of enjoyment, from which I will eventually flee due to lack of corners in which to hide. That is the way things go. Tedium at work is the name of the game, and today it involved doing things others were already doing, though I did find one thing that needed to be done that no one was working on... so I delegated, then moved on. Business is a scream, so it would be if I could have a sense of humor about it while I am there.

The progression is because someone asked for it. I think in this case it really shows how little was lost in the various transformative stages, but how much the painting improved. Personally, I am glad there is only this record of the early stages, as there really isn't a need for more (or even these). My guess is that if I actually work on something a bit more complicated, then maybe I will hope to go back to an earlier version, and of course you can't undo like you can in photoshop, so it will become time to recreate, or create some new variation, that maybe will work better.

Michigan & I painted

I paid minimal attention to the Michigan mess, but it looks like Romney will be in the game for a little longer. Perhaps he hasn't wasted all his money. (I am having more trouble keeping my laptop plugged in tonight: first, the adapter kept falling out of the wall, and just now I pulled the mag attachment out of the side--thank goodness for magnetic quick release.) Other than seeing the election results before writing this, I spoke with Dave earlier who, while not really, advised that bad writing is better than no writing. That is a major paraphrase and he probably wonders how I drew it from our conversation, but I did, though I don't feel like rehashing the conversation here, as it would be even more tedious than this sentence.

Daily updates and more fun pictures are my lot in life. Speaking of fun pictures, there will likely be another of my Mod Femme sometime soon since I did more work, and perhaps finished, her tonight. It all depends on what I think in the light of day. Anyway, the four stages will then be viewable, and people can see the progression/regression of a work of art, using that last phrase loosely.

"The shocking facts of grave robbers from outer space." I really like some of the random vocal snippets on my ipod. Plan 9 just doesn't come up often in regular conversation, so when I here the opening, it makes me smile, turn to my invisible neighbor and ask:

Me: Did you like it?
Invisible Neighbor: Welsh.
Me: What?
I.N.: That's how I like my rarebit--Welsh.

Later is Better

Now, while I am thinking of it is when I am doing the entry, not later, after I have relaxed more from work, and thought a bit more about it. Actually, the picture is the third version of the picture, and tonight I may touch up just a bit more and create a fourth, but I don't know yet. It might be better for me to wait until later this week, when last nights additions have time to dry. Personally, I rather like the picture, even though it also seems a bit amateurish. Since I have been painting with oils for less than a year, I am not terribly concerned with that. It is unfortunate that I haven't made the incredible leaps that Van Gogh made when he started, but I am not that driven, nor am I that talented, and finally, I haven't quit my job in pursuit of art, focusing solely on making it. If I did the latter, then I am sure things would progress rapidly, though I hardly believe I am as talented as Van Gogh, especially as I was interpreting Modigliani with this one, though I don't think I captured him at all, with the possible exception of the elongated face. This one has been fun, and now I am also trying to determine what is next. None of my canvasses are large, so everything will be small. Since my last self-portrait was six months ago, it may be a bit early for another, though that happens to be the easiest model available to me. If I could get a still life to spark me, I could do that, but without an initial interesting arrangement, the whole thing just seem like so much painted junk (one must also create a relationship, thematic or otherwise, between the elements). If I did a male portrait head in my variation on Modigliani, I could have a classic pair with their positions reversed, saying something by that very reversal. Ideas and writing them don't get me closer to picking up a paint brush, but they are fun.

Inexplicable Public Art on a Beautiful Day

I went out today to buy some painting supplies and ran across this piece on my way there. I think they are supposed to represent people, with their wire mesh forms being derived from household stuff. It didn't really strike me as anything but shiny, at least with clear skies and the sun at a good angle of illumination.

The sun being out has also made my apartment quite toasty, though that is a topic I know I went on in depth about last year, so nothing besides the brief comment today.

Today has been one of those rather nice days where not a lot happens or gets done, but both do. The art supplies have been on my to do list for a while, but I hadn't managed to get around to going to Utrecht, but my 20% everything not on sale coupon was about to expire (on 15 Jan), so it moved up quickly on my must do list. Amazingly, I did not make any detours to spend even more money are art books or magazines or any such thing. The market ends in an hour, but I don' have plans to get there. I will try to find something around the house to eat for dinner, or whatever I want to call my late afternoon meal.

Jefferson in Paris

I have no intention of writing about Jefferson in Paris, though the picture is exactly that.

I wonder if what is playing was supposed to be one giant mix. The last song sort of ended mid-beat and this one didn't fit very well as a continuation. Today has been spent doing stuff, like spending my Bop Street Records gift certificate (Ethel Smith's "Miss Smith goes to Paris"), though now I have to do the smart thing and get my turntable fixed. That has not been on my list of things to do, though I should probably make it something to do. I also took down my artificial Christmas tree, and since it is still only mid-January, I did a good job of getting it down at a reasonable time this year, as I think last year it lingered until February. Not only did the tree come down, the boxes actually managed to get put into storage, and for me, the fact they didn't sit around for a couple of weeks minimum is pretty good. Mind you, all of this is happening with no resolutions to change any of my habits, though I think a resolution to take down the tree before January 31st might have been a good one, as I could have kept it. Other than that, nothing terribly exciting going on, though with luck, maybe that will change.

Too drunk to blog

While I am sure that is not the case, this evening has been spent imbibing, generally Belgians, but early in the evening there was a local micro from the cask. Truth be told, it has been a fun evening at the Old Town (I don't think old has an "e"), and I had a decent conversation with my neighbors at the bar about all sorts of local things. Since I haven't been around the house reading, i don't have a clue as to what to say here, and my post is as much for reasons of posting as it is because I have something to say. Because of the conversation, I was distracted and didn't get to the local "record" shop to find the Ann Sorel song I was looking for. It seems, much to my dismay, that I deleted a song I really liked from the hard drive of my desk top. Even worse is that when I did it, I was sober, and it was a mistake I made because I thought it was a duplicate. I have actually asked for "Attention" to be reposted, but I don't know if it will happen.

The skates are cool. When I was in Paris, they had traffic stopped so skaters could continue their circuit. I am told this is a regular thing, which is very neat, and something that would not win over the locals around here because it would affect traffic.

Zombies to the fore

What a day of nothing. I did receive an enjoyable letter from Dave today, but work was on the dull side. I read a bit more Camus. As I approach the last 50 pages of the book, I wonder just what I will read next. Actually, evening reading works a bit like this, before dinner, I read Camus, during dinner it has been Gielgud, and after dinner, generally back to Camus if I read a book, or else mindless surfing of the web learning what is going on in the world via various online newspapers from around the world. Then there is the time I spend typing this, though perhaps I should take some time to write this before typing this, as opposed to typing as I write. The last few days I have been unhappy with the output. There can be a way to make this interesting, but I wonder if I have found it. Maybe I am just waiting for my Hillary moment, except that he died today, and that is a moment I am not looking forward to just yet, though a cement truck might find me on the way to work tomorrow.

Dave made an interesting resolution, which was to get a life, though in reality, as he explains in his letter, the resolution was to step out of his comfort zone on a regular basis. I am hoping his second resolution was to stop drinking Bud Light, but as he lives in Indiana, if he skips the Bud Light, Lite from Miller is the alternative, and that is no improvement at all. Honestly though, I think his resolution about getting out of his comfort zone on a regular basis is great, and I look forward to hearing how he does it.

In reading Camus, I did come across a nice YouTube debate question: "Do you think our society should legitimize murder?" This is his question for those advocating revolution, though it is useful now as well, even without revolution on the horizon. (Of course, the question of what is "murder" needs to be answered first.) Life as we know it shall continue, and none of the politicians running will make a difference. What needs to happen is a bit of reclamation of the rights of man. Everything is about to move to a stricter voter requirements (thank you Indiana, for enacting nasty strict legislation so you could remain red, while the rest of the country sees it), and we have already lost so much in the name of the "War on Terror" that I don't want to dwell there, but I did find it humorous that the FBI can't pay their phone bills so they keep losing their wiretaps.

Toilets & Terror

At the outset, I should apologize for the blurry picture, but these are the toilet seat pants I saw while I was in Paris. The guy was moving, and I was as well, so this is the best photo I could manage. I still don't understand the fashion statement involved with toilet seats painted on the backside of a pair of jeans. If only I could come up with such things and actually have them sell.

There is a real nice quote from Camus, "terror does not create a climate conducive of thinking." (p. 259) This is from some of his last work for Combat (featured in the book "Camus at Combat"). Here I think enough people have lashed out and flogged this horse often enough that if it isn't dead, it must surely be close, though with a constant python-esque refrain of "I'm not dead yet." To write of the absurd is to write of our times, and so much has been parodied, that there is little left to do. It does make me wonder though, is it really possible to attack the current times from a new direction, so commentary is fresh and perhaps a bit less referential than the mundane. What shoehorns people into their actions? Every so often something seizes on the vast malaise of men, and everyone runs about seizing the day (by drinking way too much and skipping work) to escape their quiet desperation. The change people are after is a change in outlook, because politics will remain the same with only a slightly different seasoning. We have had too many years of the parties at each other's throats and this incivility is what needs to change, as it carries over elsewhere too. It is impossible to put forward the proverbial good family front when the neighbors hear the fighting. [This needs some major editing, but I don't think I am up for it tonight.]

A thought...

Do you think, that just maybe, we should hope for a Republican in 2008? The place will be a mess and likely it will take more than a single term to sort it out, and as hope vanishes in 2012, a Democrat could come in and save the day. It would be a bit like the Carter/Reagan thing, except the parties would be reversed.

The only really bad thing about this idea is that it show just how cynical I have become in my judgement of the state of the nation and the path it will follow the next four years, regardless of who leads.

Pesky Frenchisms

Somedays, I have no problems whatsoever uploading photos, but on other days, it is a bear. I do wonder if blogger doesn't always communicate with tiger the way it should. Today, while reading Gielgud, it occurred to me that G W Bush was sort of like Marshall Petain. Petain signed the armistice with Germany in 1940 and ran Vichy. The comparison has more to do with Petain implementing all sorts of "security" measures and stuff. (I just edited out everything I had typed.) I don't even think it was the security measures that brought the comparison, but the fact that Petain and Bush brought their respective countries to the nadir of their respective histories. Bush keeps trying to see if we can go lower, while Petain's government is long dissolved, ask any French person if the legacy is forgotten. (This is much closer to what I had intended to write than what I was writing.) It is really too sad that our country didn't have the good sense to dump Bush after the first four years, though maybe we did, because there were still some contested elections that were swept under the rug. ( I heard somewhere that Diebold changed the name of its voting machine division to Premier Election Solutions.) While Petainism also refers to Catholicism, the parallel with Bush will still be religion, but not the church of Rome, which I still can't believe Bush visited, but some pole barn superstructure where 2,000 can sway to the easy melodies of the Lord.

I should quit now, before I offend more people, or come up with ever more preposterous comparisons.

Less than manic Monday

Since I spent time yesterday sorting through and editing pictures from China (deleting dupes, or cropping and color-fixing), it occurred that I should post some, though I still have plenty from my recent trip to Europe that haven't posted as well. Life is about all these sorts of decisions--the minor ones which may or may not end up being major in the long run.

For Christmas, Dave was kind enough to provide me with Gielgud's Letters, and as I was eating dinner and reading this collection, I began to wonder what he would make of this thing called blogging. (As an aside, I thought the same thing of Camus the journalist.) How much of this would be deemed "quality" communication? What sort of things make up communication of a significant nature? Is all communication significant? No answers today, but quite a few questions.

I wasn't there, and I don't know, but having seen stories already asking if Hillary's tearing up during a Q&A today will help or hurt her, and at least one comment about whether someone thought it was an act, really makes me regret the lack of substance that seems to be running the news. My frequent news source is The New York Times, and when I find things like that there, it makes me wonder what definition of "newsworthy" they use. It isn't as if she broke down crying on her husband's shoulder complaining of the stress and that people were being mean to her, so in that sense it doesn't seem to deserve that much comment. My few comments on that. The world is spiraling into a morass of mediocrity, and there is nothing I can do about it, though I will do what I can to point it out, and probably add to that morass, since there is no way I can be adding to an intelligent discussion of much of anything.

Starbuck's Forbidden City

I am told it is closed now due to some sort of outrage, but this miss if you blink Starbuck's, located in the Forbidden City, seemed to cause quite the stir over globalization. Not to sound too cold and callous, but from having been there, it is acceptable for tourists to be besieged while inside the Forbidden City to go to "Student Art Exhibits" wherein one can purchase any number of scroll paintings duplicated by the masses for the masses, but one coffee joint that doesn't send people out trying to lure customers and has forgone any lit signs, opting for the name painted on the windows as its demarcation. If there were other signs inside the City pointing to its location, they too were subtle enough that I don't recall them, so I don't really know what the fuss was about. China didn't have a coffee culture, and without Starbuck's would likely still not have one. The location, actually split with a tchotchke shop, probably still serves coffee of some sort, as well as the postcards and other mementos one can pick up in places like this. The only real question now is whether it is an improvement. One thing people forget about restaurant chains is that many of them source locally where they can, and many are owned by locals who have purchased franchise rights. There are likely still evils about them, but the businesses employ locals and pay local taxes. Personally, I don't think this particular store deserved the vilification it received for its location. I haven't heard anywhere near the chatter about the location in the Louvre that I heard about this location, and there is a cafe culture in France and the Starbuck's experience is nothing like it.

Me and my lazy Sundays

Originally, I had intended to do something today, but it turned out that this morning I spent time editing pictures from the trip to China I took three years ago, and, this afternoon, when I was about to go out shopping for paint supplies, it started raining, so I decided a nap was in order. Naps always seem to be in order on Sunday afternoons, but moreso today because I slept poorly last night. There was a short time I was sleeping well, but it seems far in the past, so now it is just trying to minimize the effects of it now. Grey skies and blowing rain do make for great napping weather though, and if I had not honestly tried to be out in the mess earlier, perhaps I would be regretting my nap-making more, but I gave up the enterprise while waiting for the bus.

With all that I have I can do, there is not much excuse to be doing nothing, and with it being not quite 3 o'clock maybe I will still get something done, leaving me time during the week to get my art supplies. I do think my weeknights are better times to go out looking for things, since I can do the running after work and before I get home, unless the bus involves riding down Market Street, then I can come home first.

With no promises from me that I can manage to do this daily, or almost so, for a year, I am beginning to wonder what sort of arc it would take, and what sort of perceptions of me it would give people. In my wrestling for resolutions, perhaps there is one, and it is one I may be able to do, though past performance raises doubts. Lazy Sundays or not, let's hope I can spare a few minutes regularly to try and update this regularly this year. No rules as to what constitutes a long break, nor any as to what I need to write, but an everyday sort of something. Life moves and flows with patterns that not everyone sees, and which I am not likely to see either, but that may make this more interesting as time goes on. How much to reveal and how much I keep to myself are, of course, the questions I get to handle regularly.

One more thing which may be totally off topic, but I had the utter surprise earlier this week when one a colleague of mine commented that it was leap year, to hear that she had no idea whatsoever that it was also an election year. My election year comment came on the heels of hers about the leap year, and it wrought a total stunned sort of response which sort of made me cringe, especially as she went on to acknowledge that she pays no attention to that sort of thing. I can only hope she doesn't vote, but "informed electorate" she is not.

Time for tea now, though just a mug of it, not the small meal sort.

Saturday is here (and a good deal done)

Mid-afternoon here in the wonderful land of whatever. My close by art gallery (OKOK) is open by appointment only this month, but I think that is because the proprietor is off living in some artist's boat in Rotterdam. I finally managed to get the balance of my Christmas presents mailed today, meaning everyone should have their stuff by the end of the next week. I really hope my grandmothers don't talk all that often, especially not in the next week or so. Also, I managed to get a haircut, which is one of those things I do too seldom, and only when my hair has gotten to be too long, which for me translates into long enough that I need to use a comb on it.

We are having the sort of foulish weather where it is sunny and everything, but still raining from the passing fluffy gray clouds. It does make is difficult to come up with solutions as to what to do on such days. I kept thinking about getting the paints out, and they may yet come out tonight, but found myself engrossed in all sorts of other errands (bank, post office, and barber chiefly). Now that afternoon is here, it is up to me to either nap or get busy, but I decided to type instead. As I said in an earlier posting, it is very easy for me to find excuses not to do things that I should be doing. I even managed laundry today. Speaking of laundry, I also managed to complain to the in house manager because someone was inconsiderate enough to start laundry at some point prior to 7 a.m. and at 1 p.m. the washer still had the same clothes it had in it this morning, as did the dryer, and the pile on the floor hadn't budged either. I ended up doing my laundry upstairs, but thought I would at least let the manager know someone was being inconsiderate. For whatever reason, just leaving a "remember your neighbors" sort of note did not appeal to me, probably because calling someone an inconsiderate lout is just not something that I want to do in a polite fashion as I wouldn't want them to miss the point, as it would be cloaked in euphemism as such polite missives always are. There is also the chance that something catastrophic may have happened to the clothes' owner, and if that was the situation, such notes seem horribly tacky faux pas in times of crisis. I will not promise an update on the laundry situation as I will probably have forgotten about it by tomorrow anyway.

1st Friday

This week was fairly horrible in regards to clock-watching as it seemed none of my co-workers were thrilled about being there, and that made it no easier for me. C'est la vie. Next week holds more surprises, I am sure, but I am not sure I am prepared for them. Friday at 7:30 and I am ready for bed. Tired from the work week and apathetic about doing just about anything. The art classes I was thinking about taking are even more inviting now, as they do a good job of dispelling general malaise, since they get me out of the apartment and working. I can't say that learning encaustic technique will be good for the floor and carpet, but it could make for some interesting possibilities when it comes to paintings. The other class is an eight week Sunday watercolor class. I don't see how learning how to use those would be a bad thing, and since it is a Sunday thing, I don't have to worry about a tight schedule after work. Somehow, I need to figure a way to keep moving on activities I want to stay involved in, unfortunately for me, it is easy for me to get distracted and find other things to do, sometimes reading, sometimes playing video games, and sometimes just finding an easy excuse not to do it, like laundry, which is such a reasonable excuse since everyone understands what it involves. Breaking old habits and training myself in new is really what it is all about, which always sounds easier than it is.

Day 2 at work in the new year

No easier than day 1, though I have to say I have gone through the two itty bitty teeny weeny trial size Maker's Mark bottles I bought during Dave's visit in case he decided he needed a bourbon Perfect Manhattan. While I enjoyed my garnish-less drink last night and tonight, I haven't decided yet on whether to buy a bottle of bourbon for that sole purpose. The delay on this decision is not doubt because decreasing my alcohol consumption was a goal of sorts this year, though more focused on beer, since my shape is reflecting the wide variety of good beers available locally. There is a name for the scotch variant, but I can't think of it right now.

With the way everything is going, all I can hope is that things at work pick up soon. I don't much care for the notion of creating work and looking busy, but if more stuff isn't late, I will be forced to such measures. Actually, it is nice that I am not constantly busy, but with too little, it throws me in that other awkward direction, of trying to look busy, and that is utter misery, as it means I am constantly looking over the same data and trying to find new things in it to follow-up on. Work is like that, they hire you to do something (get things to be on-time), and when you are done, something new has to be found, and they haven't quite found that something new, though I fear it will be to bring everything into some sort of order, and that is a tall order, as it involves keeping track of 4-5 buyers' purchase orders. If it comes to that, I think it will become an issue of too much for one person, so let's hope it doesn't.

It needed to be a half day

The decision at work today by those of us who were attempting that thing was that after extended periods of time off, everyone should only work a half day, allowing them some time to get back up to speed. Today was truly pretty dead at my desk, and my eyes glazed to such a degree that my eyelids kept wanting to slide down them. No sleep for the zombified, as I decided at that point the necessary balm was a walkabout. While at Fluke I would do this same sort of thing when life behind the screen hit that magic "dull beyond belief" moment and I had to fight off sleep. It has never seemed to me a good idea to nap at one's desk, especially if one is not on break--during break it is acceptable.

Oh well, my lean pockets thingy is ready, so I am off to my nutritious dinner.


****After eating lean pocket thingy****

Since I made chocolate chip cookies yesterday, using the last of the dough Dave bought, my house smelled like chocolate chip cookies while baking the lean pocket thingy. My guess is that is an improvement. For those concerned about me doing something proper an balanced for dinner, in addition to the lean pocket thingy, I had a banana and a beer. I will have a couple of the cookies later, though I still fear this won't make my dinner well balanced.

New Year, New Fun

Hey, it is time to sound like an advertising jingle. It is the New Year, and an election year at that, so the jingo will be in, even if it doesn't jangle. My evening last night involved sleep, and no champagne. Today has been one of those lazy sunday-like holidays where nothing is accomplished. Partly because of inertia and partly because I really didn't know what I wanted to do today. Now that I have said all that, and managed to get a post up today, I guess I can call it quits for now. It is absolutely amazing how doing nothing is so addictive. You do a bit of it, and you just want to continue doing it. One excuse leads to a whole parade of unfinished activities. The avalanche is incredible. If I stick to no other decision this year, I hope to keep the one that prevents the snowball of unfulfilled interests & incomplete projects from getting any larger. That said, I will see how long the blog goes on, and see if I can manage to surpass last years number of entries, and in doing so, prevent them from becoming navel gazing, as there is no real point in that--if you are going to navel-gaze, do it in front of the mirror in the bathroom.