Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Goodbye, Brain!

Every once in a while, you have to let go and just, as Dr. Leary said, "Tune out." This is one of those nights. I watched my brain open my head, hop out onto the desk with his little hat and suitcase, wave goodbye, and run out the door, but not before slapping the cat for sniffing him.
Seriously, I'm just having one of those nights where my brain isn't making the connections. I tried to get some writing done on my final project for my Master's class, but I ended up just staring at the screen feeling like a kid who's just seen a plane for the first time: Mouth opened nice and wide, eyes glassy with amazement, and that feeling of, "holy cow, what the heck is that thing." The white space seemed to stretch well beyond the screen to above the ceiling and below the floor. No matter how hard I pushed my brain, it just wouldn't click.
Now, I believe everyone has to have one of these nights. Heck, I am a huge believer in MHDs (Mental Health Days). The body, the mind, and the soul can only take so much punishment before needing to recuperate. Even my wife, who believes that you can NEVER take a sick day, has the occasional day where she just sits at her desk and pretends to go through the motions. She'll deny this to the high heavens, but her co-workers have told me that there is the occasional day where she just doesn't seem to be there.
It's not just me either. I talked to a colleague who said he called his wife and just stammered. He couldn't remember why he called her, he couldn't remember what to say, and then the English language just left him. He told me that 25 seconds of silence passed by. That may not seem like a lot, but count it out sometime. It ends up feeling like a lifetime.

We all have off days, but this is more like a "not even show up day." It's tough on the old brain, which is why he left town with twenty bucks and my first edition of The Dark Tower.
I wish I could be funnier or have more to say, but I don't. The whole brain leaving thing puts me at a disadvantage. Maybe tomorrow I'll have more to say.

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