Fat and slow

My day has concluded.

4:38 am

Nothing. Go back to sleep.

The things I care about

I was scrolling through a local chat board about city events and news this evening. I couldn't find a thing there I wanted to read about. I went to the Huffington Post and found only a couple of things I was interested in. I checked Americablog, another progressive blog, and found next to nothing there.

I'm finding it harder and harder to find anything worth attention.

There is stuff going on in the world that I feel like I ought to care about, but I can't seem to generate any enthusiasm, indignation or even amusement about them. I think I'm turning into a genuine misanthrope.

Lose the gut and speed up!

"Lose the gut and speed up!" was the advice I was given Thursday evening. But I don't remember what it was in relation to.

I've mentioned before I would benefit from losing weight, and perhaps I will.

This 'speed up' thing has been hanging around my neck almost all my life. I remember in second grade I was scolded for being too kinetic, and that was the last time that happened.

By third grade I needed to 'show more enthusiasm', and I was in my forties before I figured out that meant I should do pretty much the same thing I was already doing, only with more animated facial expressions and body language. And even that wasn't because it would make me more productive - it was just to increase the comfort level of those around me who had grown up in families where everyone rolled their eyes and gasped and exclaimed and enthused and thrust their heads forward and nodded emphatically and carried on about everything like you see them do at Junior League events and the Evil Empire Starbuck's.

When I was in TV, they told me I needed to 'look urgent.' That meant look as if I was saying something really really interesting and important, even if it was actually horse shit, which most of the time it was.

My idea of 'looking urgent' was the expression on the faces of guys lined up outside the rest room at a bar, but that was not the look my bosses were after.

Now we come to the thing about how slow I walk. Some people, I am told, are 'offended' by how slow I walk - people who have invested a lifetime in purposeful striding. I don't anticipate this will change, so if my slow walking offends you, perhaps you should just cover your eyes or look the other way when I'm walking. I wouldn't want to outrage your brisk, perky sensibilties.

Wednesday evening

I have nothing to report.

The lights are still on

Two days of sleet, snow and freezing rain, and I still have electricity... for which I am grateful.

Danielle Ate the Sandwich

Discovered via BoingBoing:



I wonder what makes this video so charming to me. Is it the open refrigerator door? The corny old Mamas & Papas arrangement of the tune? The eyeglasses? The ukelele?

Her YouTube channel is called Danielle Ate the Sandwich

Tuesday evening: I'll be your huckleberry

Another day of hacking and wheezing. I don't feel bad at all, but the cough sounds terrible. I spent part of the afternoon at the Red Cup, but I gave up an went home because the coughing was driving me crazy and, I suspect, annoying others. I was carrying on like Doc Holliday in the last reel of 'Tombstone.'

But this will clear up, eventually.

Monday morning

Blah. Urgflbtz. Shit.

48 hours

I'm coming up on 48 hours with this cough. This is not unheard of for me during the winter - I've had coughs like this last for weeks.

But my throat is raw from all the hacking, and the reflex muscles in my chest are sore.

And here's Saturday

I didn't sleep very well last night, which isn't surprising. I went to Jimmy's Egg with Nurse K and ate about half of a breakfast, and had a bowl of black bean soup at the RC later in the day. Other than that, I've mostly been in bed. The sinus pressure had eased, and I'm not having chills anymore, but I'm still coughing a lot.

All in all, nothing I can't deal with.

That's my Friday

I ate a bowlful of sliced fruit for brunch (I hate that word!) and other than that, haven't had a thing to eat today. I've been in bed most of the day.

I had the chills for a couple of hours, and supplemented the big fuzzy red blanket with a second one. Now the chills seem to have passed, but my sinuses hurt, the joints in my legs ache and my mouth feels hot and dry.

That's my Friday.

This is for all the single people, thinking that love has left them dry

From The Press Association:

A man accused of breaking into a adult shop to have sex with blow-up dolls has been arrested by police in Australia. The 23-year-old broke into the shop in the northern city of Cairns several times, having sex with a doll named "Jungle Jane," the Cairns Post newspaper reported.

More here.

Awake again

Fell asleep about ten, then woke up about midnight. Fell asleep again about 4 am, almost immediately had another creepy TV news dream and woke up again. Still coughing and hacking, plus discomfort from sinus pressure.

I'll apologize right now

My winter cough has returned.

Some of you will recall winters past when I developed the dry, croupy cough that sounded like I might send a lung flying across the room.

I suppose that once again, the cough will drag on into March. I apologize in advance for the annoyance.

A forecast high of 72

I've been feeding the birds all through the fall and winter, but today is the first day in weeks I've spent the afternoon in the back yard watching them

The wrens are still around, but the jays and my one red-headed woodpecker seem to have moved on. I still have some doves, but not as many as were here in September and October.

I saw one male cardinal, and there are a couple of grackels out here.

I've seen one squirrel, sitting on the roof of the garage for the house behind mine.

I wish I could go back to sleep

I've been up killing some time this morning. I worked on an art project, did a quick cat shit safari, and then surfed the web for awhile. I wish I could go back to sleep.

Yoga update

Well, the yoga thing didn't happen, after all. Maybe Friday.

But I got plenty of exercise hauling shelving out of the house today.

Exhaustion

This just about wore me out. Stretching, straining, twisting muscles long unused. I feel drained.

And that's just cleaning out the back bedroom. I still have yoga later this evening.

I have to go now. Ms. HRP is calling me to move another box of old computer parts.

Yoga: Change We Can Believe In

Yoga classes begin tomorrow evening - a two-week trial. These are the classes Ms. HRP persuaded me to undertake.

We'll see how it goes.