Good morning, world!

For the record: On Friday, after making anxious phone calls and walking a bit, got a migraine and collapsed in bed a bit before 8 p.m., not getting out of bed for any length of time until a bit before 8 a.m. (not sleeping all that time--quite a lot of that time was spent curled up and whimpering). While many people use the name "migraine" for any severe headache, there is such a thing as a mild migraine, one which you can work around if you're careful without too much difficulty. Friday's migraine was not one of those.

It's been a long time since I've been bedridden for that long by a headache, and I hope it's a longer time before it happens again.

Yesterday the weather was colder and rather my idea of beautiful. Went walking on streets I've only walked on once before in the time that I've lived here. My thought was that, since I'd spent so much of the previous night in bed, I would stay up late Saturday night, maybe even till midnight. Heh. I went to bed a bit before 3 a.m. Oh well.

For those keeping track: I've had quite a few nights of seven or eight hours of sleep recently. Last night was only a bit over six hours, but I'm growing more confident that a decent night's sleep might become normal for me again. Sad to say, the extra sleep hasn't made me more alert in the daytime; I think I need to get back on medication & supplements for that, as well as continue making up for months of lost sleep. Dealing with the continuing anxiety is a high priority too. "Fear is the mind-killer" after all.

Made a point of seeing last night's eclipse, glad that we only had thin clouds rather than the thick overcast we seem to have had for all other celestial shows this year. There's something endlessly fascinating about a blood moon.

This morning is beautiful and cold, with bright blue skies, wind chill in the mid-thirties, and a predicted high temperature in the Fahrenheit forties. Today looks like another excellent day for a walk, though my body may not feel that way once I'm actually outside. Still a lot of muscle pain as well as some residual pressure in my head.

For the record: I need dark chocolate.

Alien at Home

This afternoon was one of those where everything seems surreal, but one doesn't know how to put the experiences in words conveying anything other than the most basic mundanities. All I can tell you is that as I was walking, my mind and my heart were continually shifting from one time and place to another so that I did not know how my feet could begin in one place and end up in the next without falling through the gap, yet I had faith that I would make it through somehow.

As for the walk itself, in its physical details, it was amazing. I can't remember the last time I walked so far and with such energy. I've no idea how far I did walk, actually, but I do know I managed to get to a neighborhood I last remember visiting in the early 1990s when a college friend of mine lived there. The weather was crisp and cold, sky blue, sun bright, all trees and plants shining forth in detailed glory.

After a while, I wandered back to the local shopping mall, looking at all the Christmas offerings without buying a thing, simply admiring the glories available for a price. If I had money, I would buy sweaters this year. Not having that much money, I sat in the food court for a while, savoring a candy bar I'd bought on the walk about an hour earlier.

At 6 tonight, I found myself an alien at a local church service in Spanish. Though I was offered translation devices--twice--I decided to sit through the celebration trying to follow along on my own, with whichever bits of all those years of Spanish classes decided to float up to the surface of my mind. I think I did get the gist of the sermon and the songs, though my understanding was somewhat impaired by the kids behind me. Small children with tambourines are not an aid to comprehension.

As I walked out, having declined the offer of a ride home, the senior (English-speaking) pastor of the church arrived in the parking lot and called out to me asking if the service was over. We talked and hugged a bit before he ran inside to apologize for being so late. I walked home in the relative silence of a nearly-winter night, now finding myself transported to Christmas Eve. Odd how these things happen.