TICK TOCK

The second hand slowly makes its way through the neverland between the numbers, but the clock's other appendages don't seem to move.

I still - almost 20 years later - remember that high school was over at 2:35 every day. I know that because I spent approximately 720 afternoons staring the clock waiting for time to stop standing still.

Now - with nine days to go until vacation.. I find myself in much the same position.. checking my watch two or three times in the same minute - wondering how the hours will pass when the minutes don't. My mind has already boarded the plane and gone west, making it much harder for my body to function here in the east. Pronouncing words (a rather integral component to the way I support myself) has been quite a challenge.

Hmmm... ok.. this passed six minutes. Not bad... maybe I'll clean my desk now. That could fill up the rest of the week..

TWO LASHES WITH A WET TENTICLE

I'm too tired to offer any deep thoughts - so here are a few simple ones.

I got stung by a jellyfish today.. one of the small ones with really long tenticles (or whatever they really are) behind it. It felt like what I imagine a lash with a whip would feel like across my chest. The pain is going away quickly - but I feel cheated because there's no mark on my skin. If it's gonna hurt.. you should have something to show for it.

I thought it was interesting to note that of New York, Detroit and Cleveland - it was Cleveland that had the only significant crime problem during the recent blackouts. New Yorkers have just been through too much to care about literal darkness after surviving (save for 3,000 brothers and sisters) the blackness of September 11. I don't know what the deal was in Detroit - maybe they just decided to behave to be different.

A follow up to my July 7 posting: The weeds are back. My sense of triumph is temporarily dashed.. mostly because I don't feel like going back and pulling them again. There's a metaphor here worth exporing sometime...

And finally tonight - it's time to cram for a final. A few months ago I decided to finish the classes required to sit for the Certified Financial Planner exam. I started taking them in 1993.. so I'm on the "extended study plan". I have two weeks to get ready and take the test (and, thankfully, two chances to take it). I just remembered that the things I liked most about school had very little to do with taking tests.