Cuparius.com

Halloween being the ancient Celtic New Year, I decided to fulfill one of my resolutions from the other New Year and try a new coffeeshop today. They only had one non-flavored coffee, Vienna Roast (ho hum), but it gave me the jolt I needed to continue home from a hard day's work and jump into the update you are now reading. I am in the midst of a 16-day working spree between days off, and I must tell you, 16 days is too long between days off. If the work consisted of writing, my attitude would be different, but this is "work" work. You know what I mean, and I'm too tired and simultaneously wired to phrase it less clunkily. This is Halloween, by the gods. It is one of my ancestral holidays, and I am free to phrase things as recklessly as I like today. That's my rule starting now.

Unrelated (but it gets my Irish up nonetheless), I am calling for the abolition of "Daylight Savings Time" forever. It is confusing, inconvenient, and most of all, asinine. We should start a worldwide movement. Stop Daylight Savings Time Now and From Now On. I may rant on this subject a little more later, but I've just been distracted by another thought.

Damn. I forgot it. Don't worry; my mind is not disintegrating. I'm just worn out, and one cup of coffee is not enough to revive me for the time it takes me to write one of these Web monologues. One cup of coffee at the end of a hard shift causes the mind to race a little bit, but it doesn't really go anywhere special. It just hits lots of potholes without the benefit of functioning shock absorbers, which leads one to nitpick or engage in mild road rage.

That reminds me: friends who know my driving habits would be astounded by how rarely I experience road rage nowadays. I may mutter an epithet now and then, but it's nowhere near as bad as my Ohio-Michigan commuting days. And compared to my nicotine withdrawal rage of Homeric proportions when I gave up cigarettes by going "cold turkey" (stupid expression, but that's another topic), my occasional anger at the wheel doesn't even register as a blip on my radar screen of rage. In other words, I'm a bit calmer.

And that reminds me of something else: I believe this is the third anniversary of my quitting cigarettes. Hurrah for me! Please indulge my self-directed cheers. I need to congratulate myself on a yearly basis for achieving something that felt impossible for years, and for continuing to resist the occasional little temptation to buy "just one pack." So, I'm patting myself on the back. This is a Celtic holiday; I can do whatever I want.

That's all for now. Sorry I didn't do anything frightening or amazing. Maybe later. I wish all of you the best in the Celtic New Year!