With apologies to Langston Hughes

First of all, congrats to Heather and Tim on the arrival of their baby girl! Heather is a purple belt, and Tim is a brown belt, so their little one is bound to be hip escaping and judo rolling all over the playground in no time.

Second, thank you to Cynthia, who had to put up with me whining about how you can't get Winesap apples in LA, so much so that she took pity on me and sent me some! What an awesome, thoughtful thing to do.

Third, thank you to Steve72 for a favor he's doing for me.

(See what I mean about having lots of blessings? Goddammit.)

My mood is still of the crankypants variety. I've been thinking a lot about the poem A Dream Deferred. The term just keeps popping into my mind. I guess that's how I'm feeling about the book project and some of the other stuff I've been wanting, because I'm working pretty hard on my consulting project. (BTW, not looking for sympathy. Just venting. It's my blog. It's what I tend to do.)

That's one of the dangerous things about art and literature: When you read something that speaks to you, you may start to think your suffering is noble, because YOU can see it reflected in a creative work. That's cool, and is at least one reason I knew so many English majors in college--myself included. However, in this poem, Langston Hughes was probably referring to the treatment of African Americans in 1920s America, not my personal irritations that my life isn't on the track I want it to be on. And it's a little presumptuous of me to feel like what I'm experiencing is on a par with the poor treatment of an entire demographic.

And yet, I'm still weary and put-upon. Translation: Still an asshole.

I have a deadline on Tues and have been working this week and weekend to meet it. I'm hoping to relax a little tomorrow, go to CrossFit, train, maybe see a movie. I went to a Halloween party last night, which was a pleasant diversion. There were also lots of people wandering around in fun costumes. I discovered it IS possible to eat your weight in peanut butter cups. Good to know.