I am thoroughly entertained

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. We got a lot of work done around the house and had some relaxing time as well.

My dad is lending me his USB turntable, with which I can transfer all my old records into MP3s. I cannot tell you how excited I am. All those records I collected when I was a kid (you remember, those round black vinyl things?) can now be enjoyed once again! The down side is that I have to sit here while it's recording and separate the tracks. But that's okay - I'm enjoying it.

The other thing I've discovered is Netflix. Well, I wouldn't say discovered so much as received a free month and figured I'd better use it before it expires. Back when we joined this before they didn't have instant movies available on the computer. How cool is that? I might be spending way too much time online in the very near future. Maybe I can watch movies while I transfer my old records! Oh, bliss!

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to my third son, who turns seven today!

Drop everything

We have a drop ceiling in our basement. You know, where a metal frame is installed below the ceiling beams and then tiles are suspended in the frame. Now, with a drop ceiling, you expect certain things. You expect the occasional spider to drop down at you. You expect bits of the tiles to drop off if you move them.

We didn't expect that a DROP of water, followed by many more drops, would DROP one of the tiles onto the basement floor in a gooey mess, but that's just what happened back in the fall (hmm... fall. Coincidence?). And we didn't expect last night to have a cat DROP out of the ceiling either.

Apparently my kitten discovered a way up into the ceiling through one of the missing tile holes and was making himself at home up there. My mom and I heard a loud crash as he jumped out, but at the time we didn't know what it was. It was only later when he once again climbed up there that my sons saw a little kitty muzzle sticking out of the ceiling. Now that he knows he can get up there, there's no stopping him.

So before he DROPS down into the wall and we have to pry the paneling off to get him out, we need to go the store and buy some new panels. He's a sweet kitty, but he's not the brightest bulb in the lamp.

Brain cloud

I have been feeling very odd lately. Well, not just lately. I think ever since we got back from China, I haven't quite been able to get myself back on track. Writing, blogging, or in any other way.

You remember the movie "Joe Versus the Volcano" where Tom Hanks is told he has a brain cloud? [for those who don't, it's not a real thing - the doctor made it up to scare the character Joe - it's very convoluted - just go rent the movie]. That's how I feel. Like I have a brain cloud. Everything is just fuzzy and not quite right.

Even though my time spent online has greatly diminished, I don't feel like I've been getting much done around the house. I go though all the necessary motions, but I don't feel fully engaged in many of them. It's bizarre.

It's not depression. I've dealt with depression before and this isn't it.

Maybe I need a French word like malaise or ennui to describe it.

It's like there's this huge gap between all the things I really want to do and being able to summon the motivation to actually do them. Maybe I need to get more organized. Maybe I need more sleep. Exercise? That could be it.

See, this post is just like my brain right now. Random, scattered, disorganized, chaotic. Maybe I need a few days on a tropical island with orange-soda-drinking natives?