The Ballad Of Ben and Yoko

Yesterday, I got my many blond hairs cut ... well actually just the ones on my head. That meant I got to go to the barber shop and visit Yoko - the wonderful, sweet woman from Japan who cuts my hair. She is always so funny and nice, it's impossible to leave that place without a smile on your face. She talks machine-gun fast, with an ecstatic, squeaky voice and lots of hand motions and body emphasis. Often, her rants include numerous quotes, like a story. For example (while vigorously imitating someone shaking a parental index finger): "And then my mother, she says to me, "Now look here, my little Yoko, you come back to Japan and visit your mama before she dies in a typhoon!'".

She earns generous tips.

Afterwards, I went to the Witchy Woods for a time. I hiked the trails and spotted all the places with the names I gave them. That was very nice. I had not done this in ages. It was a luke warm day and all the ground was covered with leaves.

I came home and kept trying to sleep, but it just wasn't working out. So I made the most of my day; called the folks and Aunt Sally. There's a job available with the Plano Public Libraries, so I may go and apply for that.

I want to be successful. So I'll have to define what success means to me before I can achieve it.

After a few hours of alternately deep and disturbed napping*, I travelled (with baggy eyes and slurred words) to Barnes & Noble to visit Lisa. A number of familiar faces were still around, like Nick, James, and Scott. Lisa and I sat back in the kids department at one of the hobbit-sized tables where we talked for a lengthy period about a subject of some importance. I may offer details later, but not for now.

Speaking of Barnes & Noble, the mysterious object pictured at the end of my previous entry is actually the punch clock from the days at B&N. They were going to throw it away when the system was updated, but I snatched it from the jaws of the trash compactor (in the nick of time), and brought it home as a memento. Everybody's social security numbers are still in it and, if you plug it into a regular electrical socket, you can still punch in and out. Unfortunately, nobody pays you for your time.

Last night I ran five miles -- far from my best, but not bad considering I haven't hit the trails in months. I felt I could do quite a lot more, but I like to ease my aging joints into the longer distances, so they don't start creaking like an old boat.

And while I push for change and growth, I can still say this:

Days off are precious.

* I had disturbing dreams about Lisa, JCP, Jordan & Amanda, Junkill, both Suzi and Suzy, my parents, Rerun, Mara, Aunt Sally, Dani, and the girls of Flying Pig Produtions. And there was something about a half bull, half camel monster that loped out of a copse of trees and picked a territorial battle with me as I was taking a shortcut (on foot) across the back acres of the Haggard ranch near my house (which would be trespassing and I would never do it in waking life). I was, somehow, armed with a crowbar and ready to defend myself. The weird creature raised up on its hind legs as a way of asserting its dominance in this region (it was very tall that way), but I stood my ground, thinking that fear or flight on my part would give it courage. However, when it started bellowing and then charged me, I woke up in a fright! In several of my dreams, however, I managed to take control and actually utter the words, "This is just a dream" thus disempowering several would-be nightmares (or daymares, actually).