reading: half magic by edward eager
listening to: still jack johnson; i boogied to derek webb and the darkness yesterday
watching: jay and silent bob strike back
world-wide-webbing: ebay and half .coms, doing some christmas shopping

"oh, are they?"

it was a dark and rainy night. the rain had mostly stopped, but the roads were a bit wet. i was so very tired. i was so tired, in fact, that i fell asleep while driving.

i woke up in the middle of an intersection. the car had been flipped, and there was glass in my face; lots of glass in my face. well, it felt like "lots", anyway. it was so cold when i crawled out of the car, that i was more concerned with getting a blanket than calling an ambulance. in fact, i did neither. someone else (most likely many someone elses) called emergency, and i did not get a blanket until i was in the ambulance. ironic, huh? if i had asked for an ambulance first, i could have killed both birds with a single, smooth stone.

this was 330am last friday morning; a week ago. i am still sore in my right shoulder, but i have also not taken any pain killer. i was given codone, but wanted to be macho. i have taken less than 10 ibuprofen since coming home from the hospital about 6 hours after the wreck. the 8 sutures in my face were removed last night.

i guess that is all of the news. it has been a frustrating week because my body has not allowed me to be as active as i either usually am or wanted to be this week. i have yet to see the third and final movie in the lotr trilogy, and THAT, dear readers, is a trag- um, travi- trad?... negative thing.

on a slightly happier note, there is a friend whom i only know through the web. i have never met said friend in person, but they live in orlando's metro area. it is my new mission to hang out with them. i have offered before, but they are wary of internet friends. i ask you however; how could anyone be wary of me? i rest my case. this mission will be accomplished, even if it takes 15 years.

i should be on here before "the big day", but channukah does begin at sundown, roughly 5 hours away in this city. in other words, happy channukah. that is what i was trying to say.

lastly, commenting is next to cleanliness and godliness.

i love sitting here... in the middle of my mother's classroom surrounded by second-graders. i love days like this one... when the kids are scurrying across the floor, doing errands for their teacher; my mom. chris is straightening quilts on the reading chair. he wants it to be just right, you know, lest he displease his teacher in any way. precious, these little ones.

i am well. i am enveloped in creative focus... writing, reading, working on a character for a play later this month, forming travel plans.

things do not always go well; often they go south of the way we might expect/want/hope/demand they go. go north, young man. phone calls with friends who live all over make me laugh(not always because something is funny) and cry(not always because something is sad). it's not bad, really. it is just life and love... and other mysteries. (hehe, i couldn't resist.) love includes the giggles and the tears, and before you go youth camp on me, i do not only mean romantic love.

i am working on a play, for a play-reading later this month, about a russian poet/soldier named mikhail lermontov. i read the part of lermontov, and the soul of the play is so very shrouded and scarred from life's suckerpunches and switchblades. come to orlando and see it on 21 december. the playwright is directing, and on saturday, our first rehearsal, he told me, "ben, you are just about there; very close." wow. i want this character to have the heart this man gave it. it is up to me to bring that heart to the surface, if slowly. i love to act.

momma murph is reading to the children now, as they sit on the story rug... why christmas trees aren't perfect... a tale about how outward appearances do not dictate what the inside holds. a good thing for us all to hear.

i am going to dunkin donuts now, for coffee and a bagel. maybe the newspaper, too.

"baby, close your eyes
to the lullabies
of the news... tonight"

i like jack johnson. bye.