Journal of a Sabbatical

December 20, 1999

good thing gray is my favorite color

Today's Reading: Autumn from the Journals of Henry David Thoreau edited by H.G.O. Blake, From Ponkapog to Pesth by Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Every time I get near the kitchen now Wilbur runs to the back door and howls to be let out. He even ignores his food dish in favor of meowing at the back door. He'd rather go outside and eat dried grass and throw up than stay in and eat Feline Maintenance Light? Should I be worried? I can't even open the door without intercepting his mad dash for the promised land of dead grass and broken asphalt. At least he hasn't made it across the parking lot to the dumpster yet.

The drizzle has returned. So has my headache, scratchy throat, and sniffles. But I do not have a cold. I have no idea what I have but it isn't a cold or flu or anything normal like that. It seems to be psychological. I am totally without motivation to work on outfitting myself for my trip or finishing the MRFRS newsletter. Didn't I just do a newsletter? Has it been a month already?

I curl up with coffee and From Ponkapog to Pesth, which is a scream. It's not so much a travelogue as a commentary on tourism. Y'know it is strange that tourists spend so much time in cemeteries when they're abroad and wouldn't go near them at home. Well except for birders, who spend a lot of time at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. But that doesn't count as they're there to see warblers, not gravestones. This is pretty easy reading and very funny, good for a gray day like this.

As the sky gets darker and the clouds get closer to the ground, I decide it would be a good idea to buy some paper for the new printer. So it's off to Staples where I browse the aisles of office supplies like a kid in a toy store. All of life's problems can be solved by office supplies you know. If you have the right organizer, you'll never be late for a meeting or forget the name of a customer contact. If you have the right pen, your signature will have authority. The right post-its get your note noticed. The right palmtop gets you taken seriously at the highest echelons. Anyway, I got lots of different photo quality papers from Epson, HP, and Kodak as well as some greeting card stock, mini-card stock, envelopes, and regular old paper.

The drizzle turned to torrential rain beating at the windows and drowning out thought. It's a good thing gray is my favorite color.