Two weekends of running a jackhammer have left me with no zest for life - no joie de vivre, no gumption, no enthusiasm, no skip in my step, no bounce in my stride, no bomp in my bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp and no ram in my ram-a-lam-a-ding-dong.

So I'm sitting here working from home, and my banjo sits over by my office closet door, staring at me guiltily...

               

You can't play a banjo when you're tired. Not only that, but if you're tired, you can't even LISTEN to a banjo. A banjo demands movement (if played well, it forces you to dance; if played poorly, you have to get up and leave). And playing a banjo is a vigorous action, if only in a spiritual sense. To play a banjo, you have to smile and be happy.

All of that takes energy, or at least caffiene.

Maybe I should get some coffee.

But I can't - it's too late. I've sat here too long. Now I've reached that point in my orbit where I would have to have some coffee in order to get up enough energy to go get some coffee. Before long, I won't even be able to type about how much I need coffee.

Maybe I could send Ethel an email, asking her to bring me some coffee?....okay, I did that. No response yet....she's in her office, talking. Imagine that.

I'm now reaching that point where I stop believing in anything, where I don't even have enough get-up-and-go to do anything but give up.

and now look. i'm too tired to press the shift key. it's all lower case from here on out.

uh-oh. one eye is closing. productivity will soon grind to a complete halt. ethel still hasn't stopped talking long enough to read her email. i could call out her name...nope. vocal cords have ceased to function. all i can generate is a sort of hum.

i sure do hope that i don't get an itch - there's no way that i'd be able to scratch.

ethel's still talking....laughing....unaware that, just down the hall, i'm slipping into abysmal oblivion - the long dark night of the soul...i feel like the Hal 9000 in 2001 A Space Odyssey when Dave is pulling out his cortex components....daisy, daisy... give.. .me..... your...... .answer.... .do........

....i may have just gotten rescued - silas walked into my office, and i was able to whisper the words 'coffee....now' and he heard and seemed to understand. he left rather quickly - of course, he may have headed off somewhere to do some sort of teenage thing - no, i just heard the tinkle of silver, like a spoon hitting the counter...oh, there it is, in front of me now...must....raise.....arm.......

cold....did they refrigerate this coffee?...but coffee... nonetheless....okay, now wait.....

Okay. I'm better now. Time to pick up the banjo :)