Emerging from the Haze
Category: Blogathon...
Posted Sunday, July 30, 2006 at 07:58 PM [GMT-6]

Well, that was fun. ;-)

Let's recap. Following 76 posts, over 8,000 words (that's what I've been doing since 8:00 a.m., counting words), 300 comments, 3,000 page views, 11 quizzes and contests, $3,000 in pledges, and 25 hours without sleep, I sat down to a lovely breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs, bacon, grapefruit, and fresh berries. The coffee, oddly enough, lacked appeal to my caffeine-infused carcass, but I downed a cup anyway, knowing what was ahead.

I made it through the worship service without falling off the camera stand or blowing any shots, although I could never understand why the director wouldn't take my perfectly framed pan of the pink camel with dragon's wings strolling down the church aisle at one point. We got home shortly after 11:00 a.m. and, following 28 consecutive hours without sleep, I took a nap. A wonderful, glorious nap, from which I arose freshened, alive, ready to shake the world's hand, spit in its eye, and wrestle with angels. Yeah, right.

I was still whipped, but in a less death-march-like fashion. We both were hungry so we hied ourselves to On The Border for some high-fat pseudo-Tex Mex, and then to $tarbucks for [non-caffeinated] frappuccinos. Returning home, I fell into the recliner and snoozed, snorted, and snored my way through the ending of Bram Stoker's Dracula and the beginning of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, it being Pervert The Classics Day on the Sci-Fi Channel. (And what's up with SFI running a wrestling show? OK, we all know its fiction, but, still...)

Which brings us up-to-date. The head's beginning to clear, and I think I can stay awake until bedtime, and I expect to be fully recovered in time for the usual 5:30 a.m. wakeup alarm in the morning.

It's tempting to say that I'm getting too old for this sort of thing, but I'm pretty sure that's what I was tempted to say last year, and I'm fairly certain it's what I'll say next year. I'm still punked enough at this point to look to you, dear readers, and claim that if you can dish it out, I can take it.

And, man, can you dish it out!

We'll be announcing the final contest winners in the morning. It's not too late to submit entries for both the header photo contest and the photo caption contest. Nor -- need I remind you? -- is it too late to make a pledge on behalf of Midland Fair Havens.

In closing, in the belief that if I'm going to get on your nerves it ought to be for incessantly thanking you -- thank you!