3.26.2003

Preventing further mental-lockup

Once again, I've permitted myself to bottle things up inside until I was immobilized with worry. So, here begins the releasing of as much as possible the gunk that's taken residence inside my head.

We've gone to war. On the night that the US launched the attack on unnamed 'leadership targets', I was watching the live coverage on cable tv, waiting for the president's address. Just minutes before that address, my neighborhood loses power. After the initial expression of shock amid the pitch-darkness, I, and probably other members of my family, had the panicked thought that the war, and our outage were related, for we live in the Secretary of Homeland Security's hometown. In fact, this outage occurred because many of my neighbors turned on their televisions to hear the Prez speak, and blew out a transformer.

Another personal moment of panic when one of the talking heads behind a desk went to a live report in Kuwait City, where a reporter was holed up in his hotel, reporting from a balcony with a gas mask on, and klaxons warning of an air raid. Going to that reporter, at that time, was sensationalist journalism at its best/worst.

After watching the news coverage on the broadcast networks and the numerous cable-news channels almost religiously the first few days, I've practically turned around 180 degrees, watching only the evening network news report tonight. Of course, I spent much of the day in bed. But that's neither here nor there.

Shifting gears abruptly, I spent much of last week fighting a terrible cold, including hacking cough, rivers of mucus, and bulging sinuses. Thankfully, I'm on the road to recovery this week, and will hopefully be fully recovered by the weekend.

For the current moment, that's what I'm able to get out, perhaps later I'll add more, goodness knows there's so much more I have to say, but first I need to play some web games to distract myself a bit.