Thursday's List (on Friday)

READING: Florian's Gate by T. Davis Bunn, which is either one of the world's most memorable names for an author, or one of the most ridiculous. I sincerely hope it's a nom de plume.

At any rate, the book is very intriguing. It's really just a pleasure novel, but somehow TDB has managed to include a lot of information about the antiques world of buying and selling and how collectors work. He even took me to an auction at Christie's, which was very interesting. The other side of the novel is a mysterious story about life in Poland after WWII and life in East Germany just before and just after the Berlin Wall came down. The main character, Jeffrey, has ties to both places through an elderly second cousin (whose antiques business he manages) and his lady love (who is studying the German and Polish languages at the University of London.)

LISTENING TO: Rain pattering down on the sidewalk outside the window. I love it.

FAVORITE NEW FIND: I don't have it quite yet, but I'm hoping to get a new cell phone to replace the one I LOST. I LOST MY STUPID CELL PHONE AFTER ONLY NINE DAYS WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME WHY AM I SUCH AN IDIOT IDIOT IDIOT!!!

*ahem*

Excuse me. Every now and then, I have to lie down on the floor and thrash around like a horse with colic and scream a little bit whenever I think of that phone.

FAVORITE THING TODAY: Today was the first day of HISTO Ancient Greece. It went really well and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves. One of my favorite things was hearing four or five students say, "I had such a good time today!" Yay! And you learned some history too, you little curtain climber. How's that for a great deal?

HOURS OF SLEEP LOGGED LAST NIGHT: I am in a really, really bad cycle of insomnia. It's just awwwwwwwwwful. If I were a drinker, I'd being doing tequila shots right now, lining them up on the kitchen counter and knocking them straight back, attempting to at least make myself pass out. At least. Of course, then I'd freak myself out with the worry that I'd be unconscious and choke on my own vomit if I got sick, which I undoubtedly would, so then to keep myself awake, I'd go outside to revive myself in the cool air and probably attempt to sing "Fernando," that old song by Abba and get arrested for public drunkeness and I don't think our local jail has Wi-Fi.

THE CAUSE OF MY STRESS: I want to go to sleep, but can't. I want to go to sleep, but can't. I want to go to slee-... As I got out of bed at 12:30 (I am typing this at 2:30 a.m.) my husband said groggily, "Honey, make yourself stay in bed. Just resolve to lie here and be still until you drop off."

I sighed. "You know, that's just like torture to me, right? Just lying there, staring at the ceiling? If I try to do that, my mind starts going a mile a minute and I have thoughts going around inside my brain like stock cars at Talledega. I can't just lie there and manufacture resolve."

"Ah, well, there's your problem," he said with the air of a man who has just solved a major problem in the universe. "You think to much. Way too much. You need to train yourself to be completely thoughtless."

"I did just lose my cell phone, nine days old. That was thoughtless."

"Okay! Now we're getting somewhere! You lie there in the dark, trying to fall asleep and leaving me alone and you think about what you did with your cell phone and where you might have put it."

"Thanks. You are such a big help. Huge."

"You're welcome. Good night. I love you. Stop talking to me, I mean, like, now. Go downstairs and play with your Webkins."

LOOKING FORWARD TO: Saturday, when my husband runs the Indy Marathon, halfway only, 13.1 miles.

Here's a song the girls and I made up for him a few years ago, when he signed up for his first 5K run. It is sung to the tune of "On Broadway." I sing the lead and the girls do backup. We are freaking awesome.

They say that I won't last too long in 5K
I'll pack my running shoes and leave, they all say
But they're dead wrong, I know they are
'Cause I can pass this speeding car
I'm gonna make the front-page Star for 5K
for 5K....
for 5K...

PRAYING FOR: My friend Jane and her family.