Here I am, puttering around in my little cubicle, happily taping bits of paper together before I really get busy with variously sized and hued highlighters, assorted sticky-notes, and five colors of pens, when--the thrill is gone. Just like that. I just really don't care any more.

It's not a permanent condition. Just one of those days when I got so focused on doing what I do that I forgot to eat breakfast until 11:00, sending my blood sugar deep into the doldrums.

Another major contributor to the problem was music. I finally remembered to bring my walkman, some batteries, and my favorite cassette tapes into the office all at the same time. I was lost in Mozart for hours.

Which is, of course, joy unbounded, but the occasional sandwich is still a necessity.

In passing, and not really inviting comments but more just updating those who care but who are respecting my injunction to please, fortheloveofgodmontressor, not to mention these things at all? The diet is at a stalemate--I'm not losing any more at the moment, but at least I'm not putting any on, right? And the NSP is going--well, awkwardly. I'm doing very well for 23 hours and 58 minutes of every day. And, by "very well" I mean, I'm really over the insane, constant obsession with the activity. As soon as I conquer that last two-minute "break" that I haven't been able to resist for the last week (it's really only been 10 days since the official NSP went into effect), I'll be in business.

Although, before we leave related topics entirely, I would like to point out to the, you know, rabidly anti among you? That there are worse things I could do.

You may now return to not mentioning the Forbidden Topics at all and thankyouverymuch for your consideration.

For those who feel they need a bit of economic 'news' in their day? Read this about the deficit forecast.

I found it depressing, so I stopped to read some of the stories about the GOP Congressional members who are holding mock-sessions in the House and demanding the Majority Leader Pelosi call Congress back into session and "deal with the energy crisis" or the Repubs are gonna refuse to fund the government this fall.

To paraphrase one of them (from Texas, natch), "if we don't get permission to deep drill America's coastlines and put up environmentally unsound oil rigs in the middle of already fragile ecosystems and prolong, by any means possible, America's dependence on fossil fuels, thereby enriching our most valuable corporate constituents, then we're doing to do our darndest to bring about an economic Armageddon that will teach those liberal weenies a thing or two about messing with a Texas oilman!"

Or, you know, something to that effect.

The bottom line is they gotta get it now if they're going to get it at all (permission to drill the ocean shelf, I mean), because at least some of them are smart enough to see the writing on the wall and they know that the Worst President Ever and his sidekick, Torture Czar Cheney's bid for Iraq's oil was a dismal failure, we're not tough enough to take on (much less beat) Iran, and Republicans are coming in at position #3 in the popularity poll of the country's two-party system, so the odds of another wingnut Republican hitting office before the current windfall oil profits peter out is pretty slim.

Grammar and punctuation--right out the window in that sentence. Sorry.

In today's funny news, stop and picture George Bush having to get on a plane and fly to Bejing ten seconds after the Chinese government told him to shut up and mind his own business. Hee.

And, as long as I'm being, you know, sort of political?

Obviously I am too smart to go see the new X-Files movie. The previews I saw would have discouraged me even if I had not previously taken a lifelong oath to refrain from ever again putting a single dime in Chris, I Really Didn't Have A Plan, Carter's pocket. (Yes, I hold a grudge.)

Anyhow, as I started to say, I won't be seeing the movie, but the R.C. saw it last night and came home bubbling over with priceless plot points and moments of mirth.

I won't spoil it for you if you intend to see if for yourself, but I hear that there's one scene you really should watch for. It's a scene where they go into FBI headquarters and the camera goes into close-up of a doorway. On one side, it lingers on a picture of the current WPE. The camera pans over to a picture of Hoover--and the movie breaks out the X-Files theme music for the first time. Hee.

I'm not suggesting anything, or saying I believe those very prominent rumors we all heard. No, I'm mentioning this because just the knowledge that this scene exists? May be enough to rehabilitate Chris Carter to some extent.

From what the R.C. said, this may be 2008's Gayest Possible Movie. Which would be funny if the plot, as she described it, had not convinced me that no one on the planet has enough spare brain cells to risk losing twenty-seven million of them by sitting through such an aggregation of crap.

Raise your hands, everyone, if you sekritly wish that I'd start taking the time to proofread and even edit my blog posts.