Mental dump

I haven't posted for a while because, frankly, there hasn't been anything constructive, entertaining, or enlightening to say. It's been a busy couple of weeks. Between extra work hours, fetching Alex home from school, and a quick family visit I haven't had time to write or research. To be blunt, I've barely been keeping my head above water. The cold I'm fighting isn't helping my attitude. I have things to do but no energy to do them, and I'm too stubborn to give up and go to bed. I was going to enjoy this Christmas season, but so far it's just been Christmas as usual--work, shop, fight crowds and traffic, and try not to get sick. Yesterday my family did the Advent Candle at church, and all the way through I wondered how we'd gotten to the last Sunday in Advent already. I know--I'm starting to sound like a broken record.

Maybe I'd better just log off the 'net for the day and try to keep human contact to a minimum. Maybe if I sit in the hot tub later I can trick my body into thinking I have a fever and get it to kill this virus faster, which, I think will do more for my attitude than anything. It sure won't hurt my voice, now that we're three days from Christmas Eve.

Ditzkrieg

Spring and fall are my favorite seasons, which is strange because they're the ones in which my allergies are the worst. They've gotten better the longer we've lived here; it takes me years to get used to local pollen. The hardest part is how they affect my sleep. If I forget to take my meds for a couple days I toss and turn, and it always takes several days to get caught back up on the sleep I missed.

I'm in that cycle now. I only slept about half the night a couple of nights ago and now I'm in recovery mode. I've come to expect the loss of energy. I'm used to having to force myself off the couch to take care of basic household chores. The worst part is the mental blankness, almost as if my brain is in constant reboot mode. I have to fight to focus on things, especially things I don't much like to do. It's like being dropped in the middle of nowhere, and the only way back to civilization is to pick a direction and start walking. I know I'll get there eventually, and I'll get there faster if I eat well and go to bed a little earlier for a few days. Knowing and doing are sometimes different things.

I read an ancient Chinese proverb while I was studying a week or so ago. I can't give you actual wording without dragging my lazy butt upstairs, figuring out which of two books it was in, and finding the page. The gist of it was that the patient will remain sick until he's tired of being sick. That's about where I am these days.

Getting shorter

Not me; the days. This is the first year I've noticed it before daylight savings time ends. (First weekend in November, BTW, if you care.) I'm up by 6:30 during the week, and it's barely dawn now. Anything that needs to be done has to be finished before dinner because by 6:00 p.m. I'm a lump. It's pitiful. I can't ever remember being ready to go to bed that early without being sick. My energy is sapped in spite of the lovely weather, which tells me I probably need to pay close attention to my diet and get my lazy arse out walking every day. I'm open to suggestions at this point.

Aaargh! *bang* whimper

I've been working all day on Sword and Scabbard. It's coming together, but during the read-through I discovered I've been season hopping. One chapter talks about fall harvest, and two chapters later it's spring. This is truly the book from the place that has no snowballs. Of course, Scott's e-mail is down and he answers every fourth or fifth phone call. The good news is my schedule is pretty clear for the next several days, so I'm still on target to print and mail to Scott by Tuesday, assuming I haven't concussed myself beating my head on the table.

OK, I'm going back in...

OK, this is getting silly

It's three degrees cooler here than it is at my great-aunt's house in Vero Beach, FL. The calendar says it's fall. Enough of the heat, already!