Not dead.

Just stricken with ennui. What have I been doing? Listening to “Tusk” — a lot. Seriously. Thinking of how to make a photograph that involves ballet shoes and the oven but isn’t, you know, creepy. Figuring out how to fix a broken lifter on my hatchback, and wondering, given how seized up it is, how it didn’t break ages ago. Spending a night out with friends and playing bar trivia, with all of us ready to throw the game just so we could get home because it was flamin’ 9:30 already! (We’re OLD! We can’t be hanging in bars all night!) Proofreading books written largely in German, and largely in footnote. Turning some of the world’s worst photographs into something semi-suitable for publication. Reading about the history of France, twice, with a third to come. Searching for a good history of the Netherlands or Holland or whatever they call it. Experimenting with fantastic new eye drops. Enjoying both the REM and Rolling Stones channels on Sirius. Getting completely wrapped up in Celebrity Rehab. Doing basic plumbing for fun but no profit – and if you think spending hours on your back swearing at rusted out metal isn’t fun, you have something to learn. Getting in some spring rides, on those rare occasions it’s not raining. Wondering where my socket set could have gone. Ferrying daughters to ballet, to school, to dances. Making a serious wrong turn because I got distracted by the dead possum. Flossing. Converting em dashes to en dashes, and trying to remember the names of popular typefaces of the 1980s. Not eating cheese. Recycling electronics (but then finding even more hiding in nooks and crannies).

Did I mention, listening to “Tusk”?