2005-02-08 - 1:26 a.m.

I called in sibk today.

I haven�t called in sick in maybe a year or so--yeah, it�s definitely been since today�s date or more ago since I�ve called in sick.

I actually am sick. I usually dodge the bullet (and I�ve gotten away with so much), but some little bug was going to find me someday, and it was today.

Of course I mourn the loss. I really try to time being sick to correspomd with as much time off as possible. trying not to burn a vacation day unless I�m really doing something awesome.

I listened to Sebadoh today, while I putzed around. I kept having to take little breaks, because I didn�t have all my strength.

I did two loads of laundry including my sheets and my red jacket, pledged the coffee table and all of the window ledges, did and put away four racks of dishes as well as some silverware and I cleaned the metal dish rack, cleaned the kitchen garbage can, washed the kitchen floor, cleaned the base radiator cover in the kitchen with windex and got underneath with mister clean, cleaned the coffeemaker and boiled a full pot of hot water, changed my guitar strings and wiped down my guitar and tightened all the tuning pegs, trimmed my fingernails in the kitchen and swept up one last time, murphys�d the baseboards in the kitchen, rinsed, and dried, cleaned my sneakers with tide and a loner sock and left �em to dry on the radiator, the millionth time I�ve cleaned my identical pairs of red sauconys this winter (yes, I can tell them apart), walked three bus stops to the convenience store to get some V8 and then to Dunkie�s where for the second Monday in a row I ordered a ham and swiss on a croissant, and then had to explain that I don�t want pickles and mayo and so on, and then got a turkey and american, again, same thing happened last Monday, got all the kitchen counters as well as the stove, threw some more garbage away, and the birds flew gracefully as the morning told me for the last time that it could not continue, as much as I�d like it to, and that there were precious few moments available to appreciate its predicessor, and I better get started.

I�m still working on my four red shoes, grilling them on the radiator, letting them cool in the window. We got a good winter, I wouldn�t mind a last gasp, but we�re almost done either way, so here�s to spring.

Things come in seasons, and we�re born and it�s summer and it�s fall and we die, and I can feel that later, but it�s not like if I look at a map of a city I can�t see a map of it�s streets. We don�t know it yet, but it�s time for good things to start. It�s on the agenda, and we can�t stop it.