And it's not as if I haven't been getting enough sleep. I've been going to bed early every night. Well, early for me. I usually go to bed at one or two-- lately it's been more like eleven or twelve. I'm not used to being tired at eleven.

For instance, right now. It's 11:06 and I'm yawning. Goddamnit. If my glands were swollen or something, I'd suspect I had mono.

Maybe these new hours at work are taking their toll. Megan told me it'll take a month or so before I get used to it. I hope I get used to it faster than that. Tuesday's closing shift was terrible. My manager and assistant manager were fighting, and I was so exhausted by 8:30 that I could barely keep my eyes open, much less run the shift.

Or maybe it's because I haven't been able to ride my bike. If so, it's a cruel trick of my constitution. I didn't exercise for 26 years and I was fine. Now all of a sudden my body's like, "Screw you, I'm not gonna function without it." Man, that's what I get for exercising in the first place. My inner slug is laughing at me.

I got my bike back today, though. I'm so excited. If I had only gotten my ass moving at a reasonable hour this morning, I could have gone for a ride before class. Thankfully I have a day off tomorrow, so I'm going to go then. And to avoid having to walk or ride up the horrible hill with my knee still being kind of sucky, I'm going to pop the bike onto my new birthday bike rack and drive to some flat place. And not overdo it, I promise.

I need to get warmed up for next week: Bruce and I might go to Yosemite to ride a trail there, or through the redwood forest up here. That book of bike rides lists some great-sounding trails. I'm looking forward to it.

I hope that exercise will help my tiredness, that my knee holds up okay, and that this weekend's shifts are less sucky. That's a lot to hope for, considering that I have no hoping energy right now. Hell, I don't even have the energy to make that make sense. Sorry!

Thanks for all your birthday wishes! They continue to flood into my inbox. Consider this a blanket thank you-- I'm probably not going to be able to answer all of the mail with much more than a "thank you" but each one has been greatly appreciated in its own special way. I love you guys!

A few people wrote to tell me that oublier means "to forget" in French. And that an oubliette is a Pit of Forgetting, and you put people in an oubliette to forget about them, or something like that.

Also, in case you were wondering, someone explained the naked swimming woman on The Chris Isaak Show. She is based on a real-life naked swimming woman that swims around on a rotating table and is reflected upwards through the use of trick mirrors to look like she's swimming in an aquarium. She still freaks me out, but at least it makes sense.

I got more presents today! I got The Muppet Movie and the letters of Elizabeth Bishop from my cousin Lucy. One gift for Mo the intellectual and one for Mo the perpetual five-year-old. It's the perfect combination.

I got a bottle of Bacardi from Laurie. Joey bought me dinner. And one kind reader named Kathi sent me, among other things, a lot of chocolate. And links! I love being linked to more than anything-- it's like a present in my referral logs.

I don't have the energy right this moment to write nice juicy email replies or finish my Sims entry featuring the double birthday of Moey Weather and Mo Winslet-Pie. Normally all this love would function as a sort of positive reinforcement. But I'm kinda tired right now. Have I mentioned? I may have. I'm too tired to scroll back and check.

"One poem contains the line, in all sincerity, 'I want to cry tears onto your perfect toes and kiss them off.' That's right. Kissing tears off toes."