my life

And other meaningless dwaddle.

I got my post title from a homemade sign in one of the ladies' bathrooms where I work. It was followed by "Gross! Give us a break!" Being the literal English nerd I am, I actually had to study the sign before I figured out that they'd meant to say "Please clean up your spit and toothpaste" (as, you see, "Please clean up your toothpaste and spit" is still ambiguous).

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I recently read a vignette about a fairly uneducated preacher who had a habit of saying that he took something "for granite," and actually wrote it that way in church bulletins.

That's an interesting twist to the phrase, isn't it?

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I slept well today, thank you. Passed out as soon as I could slip into my jammies this morning and woke only because my little brother called me at 4 this afternoon. That was good timing on his part, particularly since I hadn't set an alarm (there hasn't been a need yet) and I was apparently intent upon continuing to sleep. I think my body just figured out that night is day and day is night--which is predictable, really, as tonight is my last graveyard shift.

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I was listening to an interview with two men who trekked to the North Pole today.* They were talking about how most of their trip was in darkness, which we in the normal world can't really identify with. I try to imagine weeks or months in darkness, but even something that simple is beyond my ability to wrap my mind around. The darkness isn't complete, as I understand it. There are a few hours every day where there's a dusk-like quality. Or perhaps the "dusk" is pretty much constant.

But try to imagine an arduous trip through rough terrain in such conditions. Now think about this: just how special would a sunrise be to you after that?

* Speaking of ambiguity...

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I used to be a Northern Exposure fan. The show was just offbeat enough to float my boat just right. There was an episode in which Dr. Fleishman (I think his name was) was passing out headlamps to the townspeople to combat Seasonal Affective Disorder during the dark months. One of the townsfolk didn't want a lamp, because he'd always gotten along just fine without it. Everyone encouraged him, though, until he accepted it. After that, people saw him everywhere with it. The doc advised him that he should only use it two hours a day, and that overuse was detrimental to his health. He wouldn't quit wearing it, though, so the townsfolk had to have an intervention with him.

Maybe you had to just watch the episode.

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I went for a run a couple of days ago and found myself running past a veritable wall of wysteria blossoms. I stopped, stepped back and just gazed at it for a minute. I love wysteria, and it means it's springtime for sure. We also have dogwoods and irises and redbuds all about, as well as trees with huge pink blossoms. My Japanese cherry is struggling to burst into beflowerment, too. It's my favorite time of year, I think.

d