Taking 5

A slight exaggeration of the proverbial "5 minutes". I'd thought about making it five days, but I don't think that's necessary; I'll run tomorrow. Or cress-country ski (you heard right. Cress-country. See my brother's blog* for the origins of this), depending on what it continues to do tonight. One of my common side effects of sleep deprivation - so much worse than looking more horrific than any zombie in that 28 Days Later flick and compromised judgment - is the raging sore throat that sets in from the hours of 9 pm to about noon. I swear, I think it's going to close up on my completely while I sleep. I've been cramming handfuls of Riccola and Halls lozenges into my mouth since Friday; I think my teeth are rotting out of my head.

Anyway, no run today. I drove back to Maine on Friday running on a cool 3 1/2 hours of sleep (on top of very little I'd gotten during the week).
What it's like to leave Delaware.
The Gateway to New Jersey
The elusive Tappan Zee Bridge...I nailed it the second time around.

Still, I was good to go. Did I hit the hay as soon as I walked in the door late Friday night? Heck no! An even better idea would be to have a friend over, eat bear sausage and pop in a documentary on the pillaging of European artworks by the Nazis. "Catching up" on sleep was snoozing till 8:30 (about 5 1/2 hours of shut-eye); I tried in vain to go back to sleep, and my bed felt even better than usual, having been laid out like a board on the couch in my parents' den for the four nights prior, but it wasn't happening. Anyway, I slept through my 8 am alarm this morning till 9:30, dined on Halls, a pint glass of orange Emergen-C, half a grapefruit, leftover bear sausage, and a pot of oatmeal with blueberries and walnuts.

I'm buckling down on stencil designs and practicing guitar for my lesson on Wednesday, and playing around on my new 10-string guitar, the Santa Rosa Puerto Rican Quatro, whatever that means.
Peace, hon.
Illustration sample; West African Cinderella. The Days Inn ballpoint pen was the dopest drawing tool I've used in years.
Will you take a look at this bad boy? 10 strings!!!

The sky has gone white, ready to usher in the snowstorm that will, if the fates are so kind, extend my already blessedly long winter break to ten days. Here's a taste of my dinner, sans the bear sausage; that was the first to go down the ol' hatch. In case a departure of trend hadn't been detected, I'm turning this into a conglomeration of my interests. Yes, I do more than make halfhearted efforts to run in the dead of winter. In the spirit of competition (to go up against my sister's food blog), I offer you a glimpse into my culinary handiwork:
the simplest of breakfasts. So perfect. And no, I'm not on a diet.
Leftover brussels sprouts from last night's bear feast. I will make it my life's work to convert the world to believers in this delectable vegetable treat.
A melange of ginger, carrot, miso, Bragg's Liquid Aminos, edamame, cabbage, sliced almonds, hot sauce and brown rice. Awesome.


*It should be noted that my brother's blog is some of the best reading since Foucault's Discipline & Punish. Actually, I'm just a wee bit jealous. Do yourself a favor.