So, I feel like, in honor of the fact that today is my birthday, I'm going to write a little bit of a self centered and reflective post. Don't worry. I have a post ready for you for later today that's... of more general appeal.

I feel pretty good about the way things are going these days. I still have a pretty big todo list, of course, but I don't really find myself going to bed wondering "how did it get so late and what did I do with my day?" which is a sign that I'm in rough shape. Nonetheless, I've been distractable of late, to combat this I've been working more concertedly on the laptop, and using my desktop-rig as a more social environment. I'm not entirely pleased with this setup, but I'm getting work done, so that's worth something.

I've also been getting up early (wake-times before 7:00 am) and asleep whenever it feels required, usually 11 (on average), and while I haven't been exercising regularly (as in walks), I have been dancing a lot. It's Morris Dance season, so that makes up for things--slightly. Our ale, the gathering I go to every memorial day, is this weekend (of course) and that promises to be a lot of fun. In any case, I think good self-care/activity levels are a big reason of why I'm not in the loony bin. Also, I think my stamina has improved as a result and I'm able to do Morris dance without my knees giving me problems, and/or wearing myself out quite as much. At the same time I've spent a lot of time in recent days getting ready for the Morris Ale (it's amazing how many pairs of socks one needs/wants at an ale!)

I fear that I write with too many parentheticals. I'm able to counter this tendency in fiction, but I've failed at it in blog posts. My brain was made for footnotes, I suppose. I've not found a suitably fast markdown converter that supports footnotes, so I'm not writing with footnotes, and as a result parens usage goes through the rough. I wonder what's going to happen when I have to write real academic things again. As a corollary, I'm pretty sure that my blog-writing "sounds" very much like the way I talk, if you were wondering.

And that's about it. I'm not doing anything really special for the day, be in touch, though, it's always fun to talk to you all.

Cheers!